Bribery Act 2010 for Hotels

From 1 July 2011, under the Bribery Act 2010, hotels may need to have a procedure in place to prevent acts of bribery.  This will be necessary if, following an assessment, there is a risk that an agent, subsidiary or other person performing services for your business might carry out such acts.

The Act provides :

• a general offence of bribery, which is defined as giving someone a financial or other advantage to induce them to perform their functions or activities improperly, or to reward them for having already done so
• an offence of bribing a foreign public official in order to win business, keep business or gain a business advantage for the organisation
• an offence relating to failure by a business to prevent a person associated with it from committing the above offences on its behalf in order to win business, keep business or gain a business advantage for the organisation

You will have a statutory defence to the last of these offences if your business has adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery on your behalf.

To prevent bribery and have a defence in case a charge of bribery is made against you, you should :

• assess whether your business is at risk and, if so, the level of that risk
• put in place procedures proportionate to the risk you have identified, the scope and size of your business, and the country/ies in which you do business
• show your clear commitment to the prevention of bribery
• use due diligence to assess who you are dealing with and who you appoint to represent you
• communicate, train and raise awareness among employees and business partners
• monitor and review your procedures

Note that you will be able to continue to provide genuine business hospitality and to carry out proportionate and reasonable promotional activities.

Contact us for more information about working with flexis.