The United Kingdom’s Export of Corporate Criminal Liability

        White-collar crime traditionally encompasses offenses committed for financial gain through deception, abuse of trust, or misuse of authority. Common examples have traditionally included fraud, bribery, insider trading, tax evasion, and money laundering. However, the United Kingdom’s Crime and Policing Act 2026 expands corporate criminal liability beyond traditional economic offenses. This creates a new form of prosecution that has huge implications for multinational corporations operating across jurisdictions.

        According to the United Kingdom’s Home Office, this reform strengthens corporate accountability by addressing the difficulties prosecuting large organizations where decision-making authority is dispersed across business functions. As the corporate landscape in the United Kingdom became increasingly global, the reform makes it clear that the United Kingdom wants to make it easier to hold companies criminally liable for offenses committed by senior managers.

        Section 250 of the Crime and Policing Act replaces the senior-manager attribution provision of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, corporate liability was limited to specific, more traditional white-collar crimes. The Crime and Policing Act  broadens this approach by extending liability to criminal offenses to a new range of white-collar offenses as well as to senior managers acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority.

        This expansion expose corporations to liability for new forms of white-collar crimes. These new forms may include offenses involving environmental protection, workplace safety, and data protection. This development challenges the traditional distinction between white-collar prosecutions and broader corporate wrongdoing, potentially making criminal liability relevant across virtually every area of business operations in the United Kingdom and abroad.

       The Crime and Policing Act also adopts a functional definition of “senior manager,” emphasizing an individual’s responsibilities rather than formal job title. Rather than relying exclusively on formal titles, the assessment focuses on an individual’s responsibilities and role in managing or organizing a substantial part of the organization’s activities. Under this definition, senior managers do not just include of executive board members but can easily trigger prosecution by actions of regional directors, department heads, or even data protection officers.

        For multinational enterprises, this approach is complicated when managerial authority is distributed across subsidiaries and international offices as any senior manager’s conduct may expose the parent company to prosecution by the United Kingdom. While Section 250 does not automatically make a foreign company liable for every crime committed outside the United Kingdom, foreign companies are restructuring their business activities, and decision-making processes to avoid exposure to white-collar prosecution in the United Kingdom.

         The United Kingdom’s enactment of the Crime and Policing Act  illustrates how domestic legislation can reshape the international risk landscape for global businesses. By broadening the offenses covered and the personnel whose conduct may be attributed to corporations, the Crime and Policing Act makes coordinates cross-border governance increasingly important. Multinational corporations operating in or connected to the United Kingdom are starting to approach criminal liability as global compliance concern rather than a risk confined to traditional, domestic white-collar criminal activity.

Article Written By: Amelia Dias

Sources:

Andrew Reeves, et. al., The Crime and Policing Act 2026: Key concepts for businesses to understand, Norton Rose Fulbright (July 6, 2026) https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en/inside-disputes/blog/202607-the-crime-and-policing-act-2026-key-concepts-for-businesses-to-understand (last visited Oct. 12, 2026)

Army Morin, Ailish Oxenforth & Poppy Williams, Corporate criminal liability for EHS offences in the UK: Does the Crime and Policing Act 2026 really change the dial?, DLA Piper (July 21, 2026), https://www.dlapiper.com/en/insights/blogs/environment-health-safety-and-product-compliance/2026/corporate-criminal-liability-for-ehs-offences-in-the-uk-does-the-crime-and-policing-act-2026 (last visited Oct. 12, 2026)

Crime and Policing Act, 2026, c. 20, § 250 (U.K.)

Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, 2023, c. 56, (U.K.)

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, Corporate Criminal Liability in the UK: Senior Manager Attribution, HSF Kramer Notes (Jun. 29, 2026) https://www.hsfkramer.com/en_US/notes/fsrandcorpcrime/2026-posts/corporate-criminal-liability-in-the-uk-senior-manager-attribution (last visited Oct. 12, 2026)

Home Office, Circular 004/2026: Crime and Policing Act 2026, 52-60 (2026) (U.K.)

Home Office of Ministry of Justice, Crime and Policing Act 2026: serious crime factsheet, 2026 (U.K.)