The trend of internationalization of U.S. investigation and settlement techniques was confirmed with the introduction of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) in the U.K. in February 2014. Under a U.K. DPA, a company that admits certain economic and financial offenses, cooperates with the authorities and commits to significant remediation will be able to avoid prosecution if it complies with set conditions that include the payment of financial penalties. Notably, this disposition was available but rejected by the SFO in the long-running and heavily contested Alstom matter — in July 2014, the SFO charged the U.K. subsidiary of Alstom with corruption in the transport sector in India, Poland and Tunisia that allegedly occurred between 2000 and 2006. The lack of a DPA is an aggressive approach adopted against Alstom and suggests that the SFO will only offer DPAs to companies in selective circumstances.