Bribery Act 2010
The Bribery Act 2010 received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010 and came into force on 1 July 2011. It
is now incumbent on organisations to ensure their staff, volunteers and representatives are not
engaging in corruption. BIFM complies with this new legislation and does not engage or knowingly
engage in this type of conduct; therefore all BIFM staff and employees are to ensure that they
comply with this legislation.
Bribery can be defined as giving someone a financial or other benefit to encourage them to perform
their functions or activities improperly or to reward the person for having already done so (active
bribery) or requesting, agreeing to receive or acceptance of a bribe (passive bribery).
The Act has made it a criminal offence
-
to give, promise or offer a bribe
to agree to receive or accept a bribe
to bribe a foreign public official
for a commercial organisation to fail to prevent bribery
- this includes associated persons performing a service on its behalf (JV, service provider, subcontractor, facilitation payments), unless it can be proved that adequate procedures are in place to
prevent bribery
There are six compliance principles which are about effective business management and reflect best
practice for good corporate governance.
Principle 1
Proportionate procedures - to bribery risks faced by BIFM and its approach to
mitigate specific bribery risks.
Maintaining controls over and records of gifts and hospitality
-
-
Example:
BIFM holds a gift register. If any member of staff , executive and non-executive
Directors, volunteers of a Board working group receive a gift, this includes
invitations and corporate hospitality and extends to partners, then this should be
recorded in the gift register, managed by Governance Executive
Reasonable and proportionate hospitality or promotional business expenditure
reasonable to BIFM is not prohibited. This may be to improve the image of
BIFM, better present BIFM’s products and services and is considered an
established part of doing business
A small business may be able to rely heavily on periodic oral briefings to communicate
its policies while a large organisation may rely on extensive written communications.
Table: Authorisation Limits for giving/receiving gifts
Presenting a gift including
invitations and hospitality
(includes partner)
Receiving a gift including
invitations and hospitality
(includes partner)
< £50
Staff
£50 - £200
Head of
£200 - £1,000
Executive
> £1,000
Board
Staff
Head of
Executive
Board
Principle 2
Top-level Commitment - a commitment from the Executive to carry out BIFM’s
business fairly, honestly and openly, includes effective leadership in bribery
prevention. BIFM has a Code of Conduct which it adheres too.
Principle 3
Risk Assessment - this can be carried out using BIFM’s business objectives.
There are five external risk groups; country risk, sectorial risk, transaction risk,
business opportunity risk, business partnership risk.
Principle 4
Due Diligence – Know who you are dealing with to help protect the organisation. This
should be undertaken on persons who will perform a service on behalf of BIFM but
should be undertaken as part of a wider due diligence framework. This is not
applicable to people supplying goods to BIFM e.g. stationery.
Maintaining controls over and records of other voluntary payments (charitable
contributions and political contributions
Example:
Principle 5
The appropriate level of due diligence required for a commercial company contracting
for the performance of information technology services will be low to reflect the low
risks of bribery on its behalf. In contrast a company selecting an intermediary to assist
in establishing business in foreign markets will require a higher level of due diligence
to mitigate the risk of bribery on its behalf.
Communication of policies, including training – BIFM’s anti-bribery stance. The
internal communications “tone from the top” can focus on policies and procedures in
areas such as decision making, financial control, hospitality and promotional
expenditure, facilitation payments, charitable and political donations and the penalties
for breaching rules and articulation of management roles at different levels. This
should also be communicated externally to JV and people performing a service for the
BIFM.
There must also be secure, confidential and accessible means for the reporting of
bribery, and BIFM has a “speak up” or “whistle blowing” procedure in place.
BIFM’s Whistle Blowing Policy can be found in the staff handbook and in the Board
Regulations which can be found on the website.
Some training is required to educate and make staff aware of the threats posed by
bribery to BIFM. This should also take into account the monitoring of staff who raise
the issue surrounding data-protection and employee privacy. Staff who regularly
attend or organise events should be given guidance.
Principle 6
Example:
Monitoring and Review
BIFM will continually monitor, evaluate and review its processes, procedures and
standards to ensure these are being complied with and kept up-to-date with the
changing environment in which it operates.
Review of good and bad practices in trade body publications.
The above principles do not stand alone and there may be a combination of interrelated principles
relevant to the BIFM policies and procedures. BIFM is also required to show evidence that policies and
procedures are in place and staff are being training correctly within their business area.
The BIFM Board will undergo anti-bribery training as part of the Strategic Away Day and will be asked to
sign a copy of this policy to ensure they endorse the principles.
The penalties given by the Act for bribery by an individual is 10 years imprisonment. A company
convicted of failing to prevent bribery could receive an unlimited fine.
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