Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

DPA definition

What does DPA mean? In legal practice, DPA is an abbreviation used in two main senses: the data protection Act or a deferred prosecution agreement; the intended meaning depends on context. Data Protection Act: In the UK, DPA typically means the Data Protection Act 2018, which, together with the UK GDPR, replaced the data protection act 1998 and regulates the lawful processing of personal data. In Ireland, it usually refers to the Data Protection Act 2018, which implements and supplements the EU GDPR. These Acts are statutory and set out duties for controllers and processors, data subject rights, accountability and transparency requirements,...

Legal professional privilege in DPA negotiations: SFO expectations, internal investigations, waiver strategy and collateral risk management in England and Wales

Published by a LexisNexis Corporate Crime expert

Practice notes

Companies confronted with criminal or associated proceedings in England and Wales have three principal routes to avert prosecution—obtaining an out-of-court disposal, pursuing civil enforcement like civil recovery orders, or entering deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs). This Practice Note concentrates on DPAs, and on the core considerations for businesses when handling any voluntary disclosure of documents shielded by Legal professional privilege (LPP). For broader guidance on DPAs, see the Practice Notes: Deferred prosecution agreements, DPA process, and DPAs in practice. For detail on out-of-court disposals and civil enforcement, refer to: Out of court disposals in criminal cases—overview, and Civil enforcement as an alternative to criminal prosecution—overview. Although the UK DPA framework has been comparatively underutilised since its 2014 launch (see Practice Note: DPAs entered into to date—tracker), evolving policy and legislation suggest DPAs may feature more often, requiring more companies to wrestle with questions concerning privileged material. The limited number of DPAs so far reflects the historically narrow contours of corporate criminal liability in the UK, because the likelihood of a conviction is a key factor in whether a DPA is viable or attractive for both the authority and the company. In contrast to the preceding options outlined above in this note...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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