ICC Guidelines on Gifts and Hospitality
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has developed a set of Guidelines on Gifts and Hospitality. This new anti-corruption tool will provide guidance to enterprises on business ethics related to these practices.
ICC members have expressed the need for greater training material on anti-corruption compliance, namely regarding Gifts and Hospitality. The Guidelines offer recommendations on how to establish and maintain a policy on this particular issue, based on the most recent international, regional and national rules, as well as on commercial best practice.
Companies can be solicited to make gifts or provide hospitality while conducting commercial activities, or may wish to do so at their own initiative. While such practices are not per se illegal, they can, in some cases, create a suspicion of impropriety or be considered as bribery.
Among other recommendations, the Guidelines state that enterprises should establish a policy which provides that Gifts and Hospitality are limited to expenditures that are business-related, are made transparently, and recorded fairly and accurately in the company’s books and records. Such practices should also be appropriate considering the culture and living standards in the country where the advantage is received.
The Guidelines will complement ICC’s suite of anti-corruption tools, which includes the Ethics and Compliance Training Handbook. ICC is also conducting work to identify how due diligence practices may be streamlined and will also soon organize and deliver a global training programme on corporate integrity and compliance in collaboration with National Committees and chambers of commerce worldwide.
As part of ICC’s series of actions aimed at promoting business integrity, Viviane Schiavi, Senior Policy Manager of the ICC Commission on Corporate Responsibility and Anti-corruption, also co-chaired a Panel at the Basel Institute of Governance Conference end June on Collective Action to counter corruption. The conference gathered representatives from business, government, academia and civil society.
Read the ICC Guidelines on Gifts and Hospitality.
Learn more about or purchase a copy of the ICC Ethics and Compliance Training Handbook.
ICC Commission on Corporate Responsibility and Anti-corruption