If you’re worried there are too many bottles of wine bearing “Happy Christmas” messages from your suppliers, it’s worth checking out the facts and ensuring staff know the right and wrong way to go about corporate gifting to comply with the Bribery Act.
The Bribery Act came into force in 2011, simplifying and consolidating existing laws on corruption and creating a new crime of failing to prevent bribery. When it became law, many commentators thought it might end all corporate hospitality. That wasn’t the case, with the Ministry of Justice’s later guidance saying: “hospitality is not prohibited by the Act”, but any gifts must be reasonable and proportionate. So, companies who splash out and are over-generous in their gifting could break the rules and get themselves and the recipient into deep water.
Bribery is defined as giving or offering a person a financial or other advantage to induce them to act improperly. It is also a crime to ask for or to receive an inducement in return for acting improperly.
Our white-collar crime expert, Vinay Verma, said:
“When it comes to gifts or any form of hospitality, the simplest thing is to have a clear threshold that’s appropriate to the sector you’re operating in, whether giving or receiving. Then, if anything offered has a value beyond that, employees must obtain permission. It’s also sensible to make sure everything, however small, is logged in a central register.”
As well as looking at the price ticket on gifts or hospitality, companies must demonstrate that they do it with the right intentions. A gift given at Christmas time is less likely to be problematic than something offered during contract negotiations or when an extra invoice has been submitted. Similarly, hospitality that doesn’t involve any opportunity for business development on the giver’s part is likely to raise questions.
Vinay added:
“Entertaining your customers at a Christmas party, or providing a modest bottle of wine, is unlikely to cause problems. But if you offer a pair of theatre tickets and a dinner reservation for two at a high-end restaurant to a key contact and their spouse, that is much less likely to pass the “reasonable and proportionate” test. Where there’s a clear opportunity to promote the company supplying the hospitality, it’s more likely to be seen as reasonable business development.
“Preventing bribery is important for any business, whatever their size, and every company must demonstrate they are taking it seriously. That includes undertaking risk assessments, making sure staff know the procedure, and setting everything out in writing.”
Since introducing the Bribery Act, the Serious Fraud Office has shown a tough attitude to enforcement and seeking out corruption. In one recent high-profile case, a construction and professional services company was ordered to pay £2.25 million due to a conviction arising from a failure to prevent bribery. In short, where bribery has occurred, it is a separate offence to fail to have adequate measures to prevent it in place. We can help you ensure that those measures are in place and effective.
Call partner Vinay Verma today for more information.
Note: This is not legal advice; it provides information of general interest about current legal issues.