For those who advise clients on matters relating to cross-border compliance, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§78dd-1, et seq. (FCPA), has been the primary federal anti-bribery law since 1977. That was until Dec. 22, 2023, when President Biden signed into law the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, 18 U.S.C. § 201 (FEPA), as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. In doing so, the federal government filled a longstanding gap that was unaddressed by FCPA: the “demand side” of foreign bribery and corruption.

FCPA focuses only on the “supply side” of bribery and corruption: it applies to “issuers” (public corporations; 15 U.S.C. §78c(a)(8)) and “domestic concerns” (U.S. citizens, nationals, residents and business entities; 15 U.S.C. §78dd-2(h)(1)) who engage in bribery or corruption of a “foreign official” (15 U.S.C. § 78dd-2(h)(2)).