A small business support organisation has welcomed new guidelines explaining firms’ liabilities during corporate hospitality under the forthcoming Bribery Act.

The Forum of Private Business believes the revised guidancewill be make it easier for smaller companies to understand their obligations under the new Act, which comes into force on 1 July.

The Forum has welcomed the new guidance as a way of clearing up confusion and apprehension surrounding the introduction of the act and the impact it could have on small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The aim of the Bribery Act is to ensure the UK is at the forefront of the battle against bribery, allowing the country to clamp down on corruption without being burdensome to business.Following a consultation period with non-governmental organisations and businesses, the government has this week published detailed guidance about the Act and the procedures that organisations can put in place to prevent bribery.

Widespread concerns had been raised over the legality of corporate hospitality under the Act, with questions over whether or not business owners could fall foul of the new laws simply by entertaining their clients.

Many business owners were also worried that they may have had to put in place time-consuming internal procedures in order to comply with the new legislation and guard against prosecution, irrespective of the nature of their business.

However, the new guidance for businesses states that these concerns are unfounded.

It explains that normal methods of entertaining clients will not be outlawed and SMEs only need to put new anti-bribery processes in place if they believe they are at high risk of exposure to bribery - for example, if they carry out a lot of overseas work in countries with a known culture of corruption.

Forum chief executive Phil Orford said: “I think it’s fair to say that the new guidance is a big improvement on the previous draft guidelines published last September and will make it much easier for SMEs to understand their obligations.

“Obviously, the guidance around any new legislation has to have a certain degree of vagueness because the law is often highly dependent on particular circumstances, and the Government has to be careful not to make businesses think they are complying with the law when they are not.

“However, as far as is possible, the new guidance explains what businesses do and don’t need to do in plain and concise English. It also emphasises a ‘common sense’ approach to complying with the legislation, which will come as a breath of fresh air to the many business owners who spend a lot of their time trying to interpret confusing legalese in regulatory literature.”