It's not really a bribe

An enabling payment is a gift to an official, paid in order to induce them to actually do their job.

Back in the old country...

Under various international standards of conduct, the payment of bribes is forbidden, and many companies (such as Phillips, where I became aware of this), enthusiastically sign up because bribes waste money. Unfortunately, in certain places you just can't get by without an "enabling payment". As paying them is not corrupt, it is allowed under the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. And because it would be bad for business if it weren't.