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Bribery Bill [HL]

Paragraph 13 of the Select Committee’s report states: ""Even in the event that compelling evidence is brought forward demonstrating a clear need for the defences in clause 12(1)(a) and clause 12(1)(b), the use of these defences should be made dependent upon prior authorisation"." It is ambiguous. It could mean that you could not use the defence unless you had authorisation for it, but I do not think that was the intention. The other plain meaning is that you cannot use the defence unless there has been prior authorisation for the act of giving that is the subject of the particular offences. That is an ambiguous statement, but I think the meaning of the Select Committee is clear.