DP1

DecisionPoint
http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint

DP1

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Engineer A Non-US NSPE Member International Engineer