Next April will see the implementation of the Bribery Act which will consolidate existing laws on bribery and reform criminal law to create a set of specific offences designed to combat bribery in the public and private sectors.
While the Act provides a much more effective legal framework to combat bribery it also presents HR directors with an additional legislative checklist and regulatory burden. HR teams should take action now in order to familiarise themselves with the legislation and effectively prepare for the Act or risk major financial penalties, and, in some instances, jail.
Corporate hospitality: How prepared is your business?
The Act covers day-to-day practices of businesses, including corporate hospitality. Draft guidance issued by the Ministry of Justice has indicated that all businesses – regardless of size or sector – will have to keep records of the hospitality they receive or give, from Christmas gifts and free events, to hotel accommodation offered to potential clients for in exchange for their attendance at product launches. Companies will have to think twice about the full range of corporate hospitality, as many aspects of it could be interpreted as a bribe.
With this in mind, the Business Crime and Regulation team at law firm Russell Jones & Walker has launched a UK-wide survey of businesses to assess their understanding of, and preparedness for, the implementation of the Act.
The survey, targeted at key decision makers and executives of SMEs with an annual turnover up to £100 million, is being conducted primarily across the finance and banking, media, and property and construction sectors.
To participate in the survey, please click on the link:
https://web.questback.com/russelljoneswalkersolicitors/briberyact2010survey/
A full report of the survey findings will be available in February 2011 and distributed to all participants.
3 Responses
The bigger threat is private sector
In some respects the OJEU rules in the public sector should make it harder for suppliers to unduly influence and most already do have to complete logs etc. To me the biggest potential is in the private sector where policies often don’t exist and procurement is done by any number of people who may or may not be aware of the implications of accepting gifts/hospitality.
Of course for me it’s not so much bribery in it’s truest sense (which I have to say I’ve never come across) but the ability for those small acts to influence decisions made at an unconscious level.
I look forward to the continued sharing of knowledge over the coming months.
Covering it more
Thanks for the comment Alison. We’ve put this up to try to help gauge knowledge currently but rest assured we will be covering this in depth on HRzone and examining the outcome of the survey.
It’s interesting to see how public sector is subject to quite strict regulation but private sector is much less affected presently.
Best wishes
Charlie
It’s certainly best practice
As a procurement professional I can't agree more on the need for hospitality logs and even a policy on what can and can't be accepted. Having worked for organisations where policies have been in place to for example prohibit accepting any gift over £25 and only accepting corporate hospitality where it can clearly be shown not to be getting in the way of a tendering exercise it never fails to amaze me that many organisations don’t.
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) has a code of ethics for members which includes:
The key for me is ensuring that procurement / purchasing teams have responsibility for administrating the log rather than HR. That way those that need to understand the activities of suppliers have access to the data and have responsibility for improved and increased dialogue with internal stakeholders regarding the benefits of adherence to the policy, the benefits of supplier conditioning and ensuring a consistent approach to suppliers.