Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA)
Definition
An agreement between a prosecutor and a company in which criminal charges are filed but prosecution is deferred in exchange for cooperation, payment of penalties, and implementation of remediation measures. The primary resolution mechanism for corporate anti-corruption cases in the US and UK.
- Parties
- Prosecutor and a company
- Key jurisdictions
- United States, United Kingdom
- Field
- Corporate anti-corruption enforcement
- Typical terms
- Cooperation, penalty payment, remediation
Common questions
What happens to the criminal charges under a DPA?+
Charges are filed with the court but their prosecution is paused for an agreed period; if the company meets the agreed conditions the charges are typically dismissed at the end of that period rather than proceeding to trial.
Why do prosecutors favour DPAs over trials for corporate cases?+
They let enforcers extract admissions, penalties, and compliance reforms quickly without the cost, delay, and collateral harm to employees and shareholders that a full corporate trial and conviction can cause.
Related terms
- Adequate Procedures
- The defence to the Section 7 corporate offence under the UK Bribery Act. A commercial organisation must show it had in place...
- Facilitation Payment
- A small payment to a government official to expedite a routine official action. The FCPA exempts such payments; the UK Bribery Act...
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
- A US federal statute that prohibits US-listed companies, their officers, and agents from bribing foreign government officials. Applies extraterritorially, meaning the conduct...
- OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
- The 1997 OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, requiring its 44 signatories to criminalise active...
- UK Bribery Act 2010
- A UK statute that criminalises both public and private sector bribery, covers any person (not only government officials), and creates a strict-liability...