The Bribery Act comes into force on 1 July 2011. It brings into force an entirely new offence of the failure of a commercial organisation to prevent bribery. The only defence is to have in place adequate procedures to prevent bribery. Linked to this offence is the need for commercial organisations to consider the procedures and obligations for self reporting bribery offences. We provide guidance on why a commercial organisation needs to understand the dynamics of self-reporting, the benefit of doing so and the likely severe consequences of not doing so. Written by Jonathan Brogden, Partner, and Martin Butterworth, Partner, at Davies Arnold Cooper LLP.