PROCEDURE REGARDING RECEIPT OF GIFTS, SERVICES ETC.
1. PURPOSE
The purpose of this guidance for receipt of gifts and services is to prevent infringement of your capacity and integrity as a government employee or challenging the Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO)’s impartiality as a government purchasing organisation.
2. MEASURES
Pursuant to section 144 of the Danish Civil Penal Code, government employees may not receive gifts or contributions or the like from suppliers exceeding modest customary gifts given on special occasions or small items distributed purely for advertising purposes.
Many suppliers are today aware of the restrictions imposed on government employees. As an employee of DALO you are employed by the largest purchasing organisation of Den-mark’s national defence, and you must therefore be especially careful not to leave room for suspicion that you are interested in personal favours that may influence your decisions, for instance when negotiating and concluding agreements with suppliers.
When assessing what is acceptable in situations where there is a clash between politeness and permissibility, you must rely on the following guidance that relates to the scenarios described below. Moreover, similar problems are also mentioned in the Danish Defence Procurement Directives, Part 2, paragraph 3.8.
2.1. Anniversaries, birthdays, retirement, festive events, etc.
You are allowed to receive personal gifts from other government employees and colleagues.
Complimentary products and the like may only be accepted in the form of small promotional gifts of limited value bearing the company’s name. Gifts with your own name and valuable gifts must be consistently refused.
However, you may receive traditional gifts in the form of a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates and the like for Christmas or an anniversary, provided you announce simultaneously that the gift will be enjoyed during an official arrangement. The gift must therefore remain at the place of work and not be taken home. This does not apply, however, if your employment with the National Defence is terminated, for instance in connection with your res-ignation or retirement.
2.2. Contact with suppliers.
Contacts with present and potential suppliers should basically take place on DALO’s premises, unless it is important for the subject of the meeting that it takes place at a different location, such as a production facility or similar.
You should normally decline meeting a supplier in a more private context or at a place which seems to have been chosen to enable anything but professional activities.
Moreover, you should only participate in lunches or dinners that have a natural connection with the official activity.
2.3. Official journeys.
If you participate during an official journey in meetings, seminars or other arrangements where commercial undertakings are represented, and you believe that for official reasons you are entitled/need to participate in an arrangement where you should normally decline the invitation, you should apply for your superior’s written permission when sending in the application for the journey. If you have not obtained your superior’s written permission, and you are in doubt as to whether you should accept the offer to participate in the arrangement, you must decline the invitation.
If you participate in lunches or dinners during an official journey, you must remember to specify the number of meals received at no charge in your statement of travel expenses.
3. PUBLICATION
This guidance will also be communicated to our suppliers via DALO’s website. Thus all you need to do is refer to it, and no explanations will be needed.