Facilitation payments, called in English “facilitating payments" either "grease payments", are illegal or unofficial payments performed in exchange for services to which the payer is entitled without the need to make said payment and whose purpose is ensure or expedite the course of a procedure, specific business or necessary action.
What are these payments like?
These payments are normally small amounts and are made to public officials to ensure or expedite compliance with a “routine or necessary action”, to which, as we have previously mentioned, the person making these payments has a legal right.
Some examples in which facilitation payments can be made would be the following: border procedures to introduce or remove perishable foods (transit of goods across the country); register for electricity or telephone supplies in third countries; the permit obtainment, licenses or other official documents to allow a person to do business in a foreign country; obtaining certain government documents such as visas or work permits or police protection, among others.
Facilitation payments and bribes
Now, taking into account the description of this type of payments, you can see how fit perfectly within the concept of bribery. So much so, that in most places they are considered bribery and are treated as such.
However, and although in most jurisdictions this phenomenon is prohibited, as is the case of Spain, there are other countries, such as the United States, where Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) admits under certain circumstances the making of these payments of facilitation.
In this sense, it is sometimes difficult to determine when bribery has occurred and when it is the exception allowed by the FCPA, since there is a very fine line between both behaviors.
And this is where we see the importance of having a Robust Compliance Management System and a great involvement of the organization's Senior Management. All of this is in line with the growing trend towards promoting a culture of compliance within organizations and eliminating these types of actions.
