Bribery Bill [HL]

Unfortunately, the Minister cannot escape from facilitation payments, even on Amendment 1. I am afraid that they will be around for a bit. In the earlier discussion on the Bill, we decided that we would draw this as widely as possible. That is what we have done. We have included facilitation payments in the Bill as bribes, which is a bold approach and has the advantages of a bold approach. It is fully defensible vis-à-vis international opinion, and so on. However, it has the disadvantage to which the noble Lord referred; that is, that others are not covered by this broad approach, such as traders from the United States and so on. We have a straight choice between sticking with the broad approach, with its advantages—and let us remember that there are advantages—or go back in the other direction and make some distinct exception for facilitation payments. There is no amendment down to do that, although it is effected by the amendment that we are now discussing. I make the point now, so that I will not have to do so later on, that if we stay with the current approach, in giving advice or making information available to companies, particularly small companies, it is extremely important to emphasise that, although these types of payments are covered by the Bill, there is an existing discretion for the prosecutorial authority. That is a second best in one sense, but it is extremely important that they should understand that because, unlike noble Lords in this Committee, they will not have it all in their heads. Some companies and organisations will be quite worried that what we might call a minute payment of some kind might bring them into serious difficulty. It is very important to keep that in mind when we come to the later stages of the Bill.