After enacting a new law in December following heated debate, France is finally ready this year to apply its version of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) program for corporate misconduct. And the United Kingdom in July reached its second DPA, this one with a subsidiary of an unnamed U.S. company.

The growing use of nonprosecution (NPA) and deferred prosecution agreements outside the United States is a “dramatic and positive development” for general counsel of U.S. companies, according to Joseph Warin, co-chair of the white collar defense and investigations practice group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.