It is a common practice or custom for business operators to, out of courtesy, offer gifts and hospitality (known as “advantages”) to their business contacts, which is generally acceptable provided that the advantages so offered carry no corrupt motive and are permitted by the principal of the recipient. However, under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO), it is an offence for any person to offer any advantage to a public servant in return for any favour, to keep him / her sweetened for possible future favour, or simply while having dealings with the government department or public body in which the public servant is employed. From past ICAC cases, we note that some business operators or their employees may not have adequate awareness about the legal restrictions and integrity standard applicable to public servants, thereby exposing themselves to the risk of breaching the law.
To help maintain a high standard of integrity in interactions between business operators and members / employees of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, who are public servants under the POBO, the Corruption Prevention Advisory Service of the ICAC has produced the captioned Guide for reference by private organisations. It provides:
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an introduction to the legal provisions (e.g. POBO) and administrative rules and regulations governing the interactions between business operators and public servants;
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case studies developed and modified based on past corrupt practices covering different kinds of dealings between private entities and public servants; and
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advice on the good practices in managing relationships with public servants and on measures that may be adopted by business operators and private organisations to ensure their staff follow the expected standard of integrity when dealing with public servants.
The electronic copies of the Guide and a Quick Starter Guide are available for access and download through the following links:
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The Guide:
http://cpas.icac.hk/EN/Info/Lib_List?cate_id=3&id=226 -
Quick Starter Guide:
http://cpas.icac.hk/EN/Info/Lib_List?cate_id=3&id=224
Business operators and their employees who have business dealings or interactions with public servants are advised to study the Guide, and adopt the practices recommended in the Guide where applicable. If hardcopies of the Guide and / or Quick Starter Guide are required (which may be provided in limited quantity subject to stock availability) or further corruption prevention advisory service is needed, please complete and return the attached Corruption Prevention Advisory Service Request Form to us by fax (2522 0505) or by email ([email protected]), or simply call our hotline at 2526 6363 (Mon – Fri, 9:00 – 18:00, except public holidays). The Service Request Form is also available online at: https://cpas.icac.hk/EN/Form/Service_Form?cate_id=30.
Corruption Prevention Advisory Service