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Acronyms (colloquial) | FEPA |
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Enacted by | the 118th United States Congress |
Legislative history | |
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The Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA) is a United States federal law that enables US authorities to prosecute foreign officials who demand or accept bribes from a US citizen, US company, or within a US jurisdiction. FEPA was signed into law by Joe Biden on December 22, 2023, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.[1]
Analysts stated that FEPA addresses a longstanding gap in US anti-bribery legislation by tackling the "demand" side of bribery. At the same time, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) focuses on the "supply" side of bribery.[2][3]
One expert noted that FEPA is "probably the most important U.S. anti-bribery effort since the FCPA itself became law. The law amends the federal domestic bribery statute to add a new subsection punishing foreign government officials for demanding or receiving a bribe. The law is quite specific in that it is intended to be extraterritorial in nature. This means that demanding or receiving a bribe, even if done somewhere else, is now a crime punishable in the United States."[4]