ONE of the busiest periods for organizations is the yearend holidays due to the volume of corporate gifts that need to be purchased and distributed. While an established practice in many jurisdictions, including the Philippines, corporate gift-giving can be a tricky exercise if concerned parties play fast and loose with the rules or, worse, are not aware of the regulations at all.

There is no shortage, for example, of public officials who have found themselves in hot water for accepting lavish gifts, even from personalities with no pending transactions with their offices. Just this month, the US Supreme Court released its first formal code of conduct governing the ethical behavior of its justices following a stream of exposés on the extravagant gifts and trips certain justices received from wealthy benefactors. In the Philippines, a justice with the anti-graft court was dismissed after he was found to have accepted excessive favors from a private citizen.