Polly Dyer & HHJ Michael Hopmeier assess the role & impact of DPAs at home & abroad
- Section 45 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 enacts Schedule 17, which provides for the introduction of Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs), is expected to come into force in February 2014.
- DPAs will not be available for individuals, whether for individual crimes or for action untaken on behalf of an organisation.
- DPAs can be used in relation to conduct pre-dating the commencement of the legislation.
- Lessons learned from other jurisdictions.
The government’s latest instrument in the fight against economic crime is the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA). A DPA is a voluntary agreement between a prosecuting authority and a commercial organisation whereby, in return for complying with a range of stringent conditions including, eg the payment of a substantial financial penalty, requirements to make reparation to victims and participate in monitoring for a set period, the prosecutor will defer a criminal prosecution. If the required conditions are fulfilled, then the commercial organisation can reasonably expect that no prosecution will follow.
