DP1
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/91#DP1
Properties
Instance of
Decision Point Id
DP1
Decision question
Should Engineer A provide cash payments or in-kind property to foreign government officials to obtain and retain engineering contracts, or must he refuse regardless of home-country legal permissibility and competitive disadvantage?
Focus
Engineer A, an NSPE International Member practicing outside the United States, is offered an opportunity to provide cash payments or in-kind property to foreign government officials through Engineer B's proposed 'business arrangements' in order to obtain and retain engineering contracts. Under Engineer A's home-country law, such payments are not only legal but tax-deductible. The core question is whether Engineer A must refuse these payments despite their legality and the competitive disadvantage refusal creates.
Option1
Decline to authorize, facilitate, or participate in any cash payments or in-kind property transfers to foreign officials regardless of home-country legal permissibility, tax incentives, or resulting competitive disadvantage, treating the NSPE Code prohibition as categorical and non-negotiable.
Option2
Treat home-country legal permissibility as the operative ethical standard for international practice, reasoning that NSPE membership obligations were designed for US-licensed engineers and that a non-US member practicing under a sovereign legal framework permitting such payments is not ethically bound by a higher standard than his own law requires.
Option3
Distinguish between large cash payments designed to corrupt procurement decisions and smaller culturally customary gifts or hospitality, participating only in the latter on the grounds that local gift-giving customs represent a different ethical category than outright bribery, and that the NSPE Code's prohibition targets corrupt inducements rather than cultural courtesies.
Role
Engineer A Non-US NSPE Member International Engineer
TTL
@prefix case91: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/91#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix proeth-cases: <http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case91:DP1 a proeth-cases:DecisionPoint,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "DP1" ;
proeth:decisionPointId "DP1" ;
proeth:decisionQuestion "Should Engineer A provide cash payments or in-kind property to foreign government officials to obtain and retain engineering contracts, or must he refuse regardless of home-country legal permissibility and competitive disadvantage?" ;
proeth:focus "Engineer A, an NSPE International Member practicing outside the United States, is offered an opportunity to provide cash payments or in-kind property to foreign government officials through Engineer B's proposed 'business arrangements' in order to obtain and retain engineering contracts. Under Engineer A's home-country law, such payments are not only legal but tax-deductible. The core question is whether Engineer A must refuse these payments despite their legality and the competitive disadvantage refusal creates." ;
proeth:option1 "Decline to authorize, facilitate, or participate in any cash payments or in-kind property transfers to foreign officials regardless of home-country legal permissibility, tax incentives, or resulting competitive disadvantage, treating the NSPE Code prohibition as categorical and non-negotiable." ;
proeth:option2 "Treat home-country legal permissibility as the operative ethical standard for international practice, reasoning that NSPE membership obligations were designed for US-licensed engineers and that a non-US member practicing under a sovereign legal framework permitting such payments is not ethically bound by a higher standard than his own law requires." ;
proeth:option3 "Distinguish between large cash payments designed to corrupt procurement decisions and smaller culturally customary gifts or hospitality, participating only in the latter on the grounds that local gift-giving customs represent a different ethical category than outright bribery, and that the NSPE Code's prohibition targets corrupt inducements rather than cultural courtesies." ;
proeth:roleLabel "Engineer A Non-US NSPE Member International Engineer" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T06:47:03.812270"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 91 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Generated
2026-03-01T06:47:03.812270
Generated by
ProEthica Case 91 Extraction