The Bribery Act comes into force today, and understandably it's generating a great deal of coverage. On the radio news this morning someone pointed out the bleedin' obvious - how can this be squared with the fact that 'baksheesh' is the norm for doing business in many, many countries around the globe?

Those fortunate enough to be scoffing strawberries and quaffing Champagne in the corporate hospitality suites at Wimbledon today can relax, though, and reach for another prawn sandwich. The implementation of the bill was delayed specifically to iron out concerns about corporate junkets being seen as bribes - as long as they're proportional, that is.

While the new act is unlikely to trouble too many domestic printcos, it will surely give pause for thought at the individuals and organisations on each end of some of the industry's biggest contract negotiations.  

And it's bound to cause concerns at our UK manufacturers who export kit to many corners of the world, to the sorts of territories where the aforementioned baksheesh is standard practice, or where things are even murkier than that. I happened to speak to a veteran in the world of capital equipment sales about this very topic a while back, and he confirmed that in order to do business in some countries manufacturers have to have ways of facilitating what the new act would no doubt deem inappropriate payments. That's just a fact of doing business in some parts of the world.

If you've time for a little not-so-light reading KPMG has produced an informative report about all of this, it includes the top five countries (top as in worst) in Transparency International's 'Corruption Perception' index, and they are: Russia, India, China, Brazil, South Africa.

So, the world's soon-to-be-biggest economy along with all the other BRICs. Good-oh.