CHIEF OFFICIAL ETHICS COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT

Transcription

1 Integrity Trust State CHIEF OFFICIAL ETHICS COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS About the COEC 4 Introduction 6 Elements of Activities of the COEC 8 Control 10 Declaration 16 Preventive Coordination 18 Targeted Education 20 Lobbying 22 International Cooperation 24 Legislation 26 Vilniaus str. 27, Vilnius, Lithuania Tel Fax vtek@vtek.lt Goals 28 Definitions and Abbreviations 30

3 4 5 ABOUT THE COEC Focus on risks and success factors We seek to achieve transparently functioning public sector which is guided by values and efficiently represents the interests of people. For this reason, targeted, consistent and systematic official ethics management is required. The main objective of such management is to promote appropriate conduct of the persons working in the civil service by virtue of guidance measures that would help to clarify the operating environment and awareness of people working in the public sector. During the 2015 the (hereinafter - COEC) modified its strategic goals and organisational structure making emphasis not on the investigation, but on the identification of reasons of non-ethical behaviour and preventing them. The COEC is a collegiate supervisory authority, charged with supervising adherence to institutional ethics standards, regulating public and private interests in civil service, and controlling lobbying activities according to the competence assigned to it by the Law. Members of the COEC are appointed for the term of five years by the Seimas (the Lithuanian parliament) RESPONSIBILITY for the measures under the National Anti-Corruption Programme: Establishment of the Register of Private Interests. The aim is to improve processing of declarations of private interests, to assure lawfulness of data and to enforce dissuasive sanctions. Setting principles of transparent cooperation between public and private sectors. The purpose is to assess legal regulation and to identify problems. Therefore develop a strategic approach, outlining objectives and priorities that address risks and success factors. Creating official ethics training programmes. In order to support ethical awareness and responsibilities, to foster sets of documents facilitating and promoting creation of anti-corruption environment in public and private sectors. Gražina Imbrasienė Prof. Dr. Saulius Katuoka Member of the Commission Nominated by the Prime Minister Member of the Commission Nominated by the President of the Republic of Lithuania Romas Valentukevičius Chairman Nominated by the Speaker of the Seimas COOPERATION with the international organisations in the area of competence: OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), GRECO* (Group of States against Corruption) etc. * Explanations of the above definitions and abbreviations are laid down in section Definitions and Abbreviations, p. 30 Dr. Virginijus Kanapinskas Dalia Paulauskaitė Member of the Commission Nominated by the President of the Supreme Court of Lithuania Member of the Commission Nominated by the President of the Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania

4 6 7 INTRODUCTION We help state institutions to serve the people In 2015, the COEC has made significant efforts to develop the necessary infrastructure for enhancing integrity in public service. Ensuring impartiality of decisions and monitoring of self-exclusions. The Law on Adjustment of Public and Private Interests in the Civil Service (hereinafter The Law on interests or The Law ) has been supplemented with regard to the proposals put forward by the COEC. Now the authorities are obliged to notify the COEC of the decisions not to accept a self-exclusions of the persons by electronic means. The information system of declaration of private interests has been improved and allows COEC to monitor authorities. Investigations. COEC seeks to strengthen the competence of the entities of control of official ethics. Thus, development of prevention activities partially resulted in a decrease in the number of investigations conducted by the COEC, but the number of internal investigations has increased by three times. Declaration, publicity and control of private interests. The number of public declarations has increased by 57 per cent, the level of declaration of private interests by the members of municipal councils has reached 100 per cent. In 2015 the COEC started preparations for establishment and creation of the Register of Private Interests. Identification of the risk of conflicts of interest. Monitoring of the risk of conflicts of interests has been carried out, proposals for systemic changes have been put forward. More than 10,000 risk situations have been evaluated during the reporting year. Improving competences to identify the situations of misconduct. The COEC has created a virtual official ethics advisor allowing the persons to find out if they may be involved in dealing with the respective official issues, represent other persons or accept gifts. This tool allows quickly and efficiently verify information on the private interests of the persons. Ensuring a coordinated and comprehensive integrity system. The authorities have been provided with: over 250 recommendations on proper implementation of the provisions on official ethics; the resolution on acceptance of gifts and gratuitous services; practical advices have been provided in 54 municipal administrations. Reinforcing the self-control measures. The number of persons executing control of declarations in institutions has increased up to 1000; a new annex to the declaration of private interests has been approved. AIMS OF THE COEC SUPPORTING A CULTURE OF INTEGRITY Ensuring impartiality of decisions and monitoring of self-exclusions, conducting of investigations Control and publicity of declaration of private interests Managing conflicts of interests - identify and mitigate risks RAISING AWARENESS Promoting civic education, public values and ethics among citizens Implementation of the models corresponding to variety of specific sectors Reinforcing the self-control measures

5 8 9 ELEMENTS OF ACTIVITIES OF THE COEC Efficient system as a possibility to uphold higher standards of conduct We seek to achieve transparently functioning public sector guided by values and which efficiently represents the interests of people. Thus, targeted, consistent and systematic official ethics management is required. To reduce the number of breaches of official ethics and identify misconduct by people, it is of particular importance that possible doubtful situations were identified as early as possible and the persons working in the civil service were offered the ways to deal with such situations provided for in the Law. To this end, the COEC applies the respective measures: guidance, i.e. targeted preventive actions, encouraging the respective institutions to assess the level of its progress in the area of official ethics and set further objectives (the aim of activity of the COEC for the year 2015 was declaration of the private interests of all members of local authorities); legislation initiatives, i.e. improvement of the legal acts governing official ethics with regard to the problems arising due to shortcomings of legal regulation (in 2015, 6 laws were improved on the initiative of the COEC); education, i.e. training, creation of publications, periodic examination of knowledge and consultancy (in 2015, an example of activities of the COEC could be installation of a virtual official ethics advisor on the website of the COEC); risk assessment, i.e. comparison of the data available in the declarations of private interests and the content of the decisions taken by the respective authorities resulting in identification of the problem areas and offering appropriate decisions on the actions of the persons (what, when and how they should act in order to meet high standards of official ethics). The results of the afore-mentioned measures are twofold. On the one hand, liability of the persons working in the civil service, realisation of their possibly imprecise actions in the area of official ethics and striving to act in line with the good examples have increased. On the other hand, the society more quickly identifies misconduct, has become intolerant to it and notify the respective supervisory authorities that assume the actions provided for in the Law; thus, the control of the persons working in the civil service has been reinforced. In both cases, this results in positive return, i.e. persons try to comply with the provisions of the legal acts governing official ethics and public confidence in the public sector institutions has increased. ELEMENTS OF THE INTEGRITY SYSTEM The COEC has applied a set of measures aimed at increasing integrity in public service. This has resulted in a growing responsibility, higher standards of conduct, better competences of the society to identify misconduct, intolerance to it, i.e. increasing control. DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS IDIS SOCIETY INCREASING CONTROL Controlling authorities GROWING RESPONSIBILITY persons to whom the Law is addressed Assessment of risk factors Education Law making initiatives Management frameworks COEC INFORMATION AND SUPPORT

6 10 11 CONTROL Integral control helps to decrease opportunities for misconduct The COEC shall investigate notifications, complaints and requests of natural and legal persons regarding the conformity of actions of the persons in the public service with the provisions of the Law and takes the respective decisions. The COEC also has the right to start an investigation on its own initiative if the mass media, anonymous report or the other resource provides reasonable information that the Law had been breached. It should be stressed that during the 2015 the number of unreasonable requests to initiate investigation, as a rule into activities of state politicians, has increased. In such cases the COEC acted in a principled manner and in accordance with the provisions of the Law only. Thus, the COEC has resisted and still resists the attempts to misuse the COEC powers for political competition or other improper intentions. In 2015 investigations into misconduct of state politicians prevailed in the activities of the COEC - they made even 43.4 percent of conducted investigations. The rest of investigations regarded: misconduct of career, statutory civil servants or servants of political (personal) confidence percent; evaluations of officers percent; evaluation of conduct of other persons in public service (heads of municipal enterprises, budgetary institutions, etc.) percent. During the reporting year the COEC mostly assessed: failure to self-exclude then conflict of interest arise; misuse of office for obtaining personal benefit; misuse of official vehicles for private purposes; misuse of state or municipal property for private purposes; failure to act in compliance to disclosure requirements; breach of restriction to represent private groups or persons and protect their interests in state or municipal institutions; breach of restrictions after cease to hold public office. INVESTIGATIONS, NOTIFICATIONS, ASSIGNMENTS OF THE COEC Persons to whom the Law is addressed persons 1 % politicians 43,4 % investigations Investigations conducted by the COEC The politicians make only 1 per cent of all persons to whom the Law is addressed, but in 2015 the investigations regarding the conformity of the conduct of politicians with the provisions of the Law made even 43 per cent in the activities of the COEC. Received notifications of possible violations 50 % approved for investigations 36 % violations Detected violations In 2015, the COEC initiated investigations according to a half of the received notifications. In more than one third of cases, violations of the Law have been detected. COEC assignments to conduct investigations Investigations conducted on the initiative of other institutions Number of investigations conducted by other institutions during the respective year In 2015, the COEC examined 108 investigations conducted by other institutions. One fifth of the investigations were initiated on the initiative of the institutions themselves. The COEC carried out 3 times more evaluations of the conclusions of investigations as compared with the previous year.

7 12 13 CONTINUATION OF PAGE 10 COEC is orientated on preventive activity mostly, not on imposing on sanctions its main goal is to manage conflicts of interest, identify respective risk factors and impede them expecting to reduce number of potential breaches. Important role in that case is to be done by the heads of public institutions. Under the Law the heads, bodies or authorized representatives of the state or local institutions are obliged to perform internal control on implementation of this Law. In a case of reasoned suspicions that person employed in respective institution has breached the Law, the institution - on its own initiative or by the COEC instruction - has to conduct an investigation, make a decision, submit it to the COEC, and, when the COEC disagrees with it, COEC may instruct to conduct investigation repeatedly or conduct investigation itself (i.e. COEC investigates) and take its own decision. In accordance with the position of OECD and EC, state and municipal institutions have to be engaged in the efficient prevention of conflicts of interest. Hence, the COEC calls on the institutions to conduct more internal investigations themselves. The benefit of that is twofold: the institutions learn to interpret and apply the requirements of the Law properly; legal gaps could be identified; besides that, the COEC human resources may be directed to preventive activities and new general anti-corruption projects, which bring more benefits than evaluation of individual cases. This tendency is also reflected in statistics: in 2015 the COEC examined three times more investigations conducted by other institutions in comparison with the previous year. These institutions frequently evaluated such activities as: failure to submit declaration on private interest; improper management of raised conflicts; using of the state or municipal property in private interests; cases of nepotism. 69 Investigations RECOGNIZED VIOLATIONS 36 % NOT IDENTIFIED AS VIOLATIONS 46 % DISCONTINUED INVESTIGATIONS 18 % SUSPENDED INVESTIGATIONS 1 % 108 Examinations of institutions conclusions APPROVED CONCLUSIONS OF THE INVESTIGATION 48 % NOT APPROVED CONCLUSIONS OF THE INVESTIGATION 52 % INCLUDING ASSIGNED TO INVESTIGATE REPEATEDLY (not corresponded to the COEC assignment) 91 % CONDUCTED BY COEC INDEPENDENTLY (possible influence to the investigation) 9 % 138 Not initiated investigations EXPIRED LIMITATION PERIOD OF 3 YEARS 3 % DOES NOT FALL WITHIN THE COMPETENCE OF THE COEC 33 % CIRCUMSTANCES ALREADY INVESTIGATED BY THE COEC 5 % NO OBJECTIVE DATA ON THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST 59 % Monitoring and supervision ASSESSMENT OF RISK SITUATIONS > RISK SITUATIONS PREVENTIVE ACTIONS CARRIED OUT ON THE BASIS OF THE CONCLUSIONS 1665 STATE POLITICIANS > MEDICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL SPECIALISTS

8 14 15 CONTINUATION OF PAGE 12 Regarding revised investigations in 2015 the COEC provided remarks or substantially disagreed with the drawn conclusions on more than a half of them, thus, respective institutions were instructed to conduct investigations repeatedly or specify the conclusions according to the COEC remarks. This also means that COEC could identify points to be refined and strengthen ability of the heads of institutions as well as local ethics commissions to manage interest conflicts (educate them). The most common reasons for disagreeing with provided conclusions: municipal ethics commissions assessed the compliance of actions of the politicians with provisions of the Code of Conduct for State Politicians instead compliance with the Law, or didn t make any decision at all, limited themselves to consideration at the commission; decision was unreasonable; breached provisions of the Law weren t specified or fixed inaccurately. Since the 2015 COEC pays special attention to the complex control of particular groups of persons. COEC makes the wide-ranging analysis of content of given disclosure declarations and compare results with the data on acts (e.g. passed decision) made by respective persons. The aim here is not to punish, but to detect reasons of unethical behavior and to guide particular institutions as well as violators expecting to eliminate conditions for breaching the Law. During the 2015 COEC evaluated more than 10 thsd. risk situations. As a result the cooperation with the bodies of particular sectors has been started. One of the COEC goals for 2016 is to examine internal regulations on official ethics of such institutions, identify the risk factors and provide the instruments to manage these factors. The decisions of the COEC may be appealed against to the court. There were 38 per cent less of court proceedings then in 2014 and neither of them was canceled in It seems that the COEC has taken more reasoned and fair decisions. PRINCIPAL SCHEME OF CONTROL OF THE COEC 7,2 % MONITORING MADE BY COEC YES INVESTIGATION DECISION SOURCES OF INFORMATION 89,9 % NOTIFICATIONS OF PERSONS AND INSTITUTIONS? IS THERE SUFFICIENT INFORMATION ABOUT VIOLATION? 2,9 % MASS MEDIA INFORMATION NO MONITORING AND SUPERVISION ASSESSMENT OF RISK FACTORS GUIDANCE AND SUPPORT

9 16 17 DECLARATION Effective disclosure process DECLARATION SYSTEM ON INFORMATION ABOUT PRIVATE INTERESTS AND SELF-EXCLUSSION SELF-EXCLUSION Persons who must declare DECLARATION In Lithuania, the duty to declare private interests is implemented not only by the persons working in the civil service or applicants to the civil service. The provisions concerning declaration of private interests are also applicable to the chairmen, deputy chairmen of the political parties, public consultants, assistants and advisors of state politicians. Till 1 March 2015 the above duty had to be fulfilled by the members of ministries, colleges and the Compulsory Health Insurance Council as well as physicians, dentists and pharmaceutical specialists working in the budgetary public institutions or enterprises owned (more than ½) by the State or a municipality. The responsibility for supervision of compliance with the provisions of the Law on interests lies with each head of the State and municipal institution. Thus, during the reporting year, the COEC gave priority to the projects enabling the heads to control compliance with the provisions of the Law on interests in a more efficient manner. In 2015, the IDIS, i.e. electronic information system of declaration of interests administered by the COEC, was further strengthened. The heads or the authorised persons thereof may see all declarations of private interests of the persons holding office in the respective institution, observe the history of changes in such declarations and make the respective recommendations. In 2015 the COEC has supplemented the form of the declaration of private interests with a new annex in which persons may disclose data on the relationship that may raise doubts about impartiality of their activities or a possible conflict of interest arising while they hold office in the civil service. COEC seeks to create such declaration of private interests which would be oriented to the service for the person. Preliminary individual declarations should be provided to the persons who are obliged to declare their private interests on the basis of the data processed in the Register Register of Private Interests (Register). The Register would serve as a tool of warning the declarants of identified data inconsistencies allowing the COEC and other institutions to use the human resources allocated for this purpose in a more efficient manner. In 2015, the COEC commenced preparations necessary for establishment of the Register. Provided electronical declarations COEC IDIS Risk assessment Not acceptance of self-exclusion WORKPLACE STATISTICS IDIS 24h STI EDS Public declarations +10% +57% supervising persons

10 18 19 PREVENTIVE COORDINATION Disclosed private interests: more transparent local self-government For the purposes of compliance with the provisions of the Law, State politicians had to declare their private interests within one month from the date of their election. The diagram below lays down the results achieved within half a year due to application of the COEC measures. May 19% Declarations submitted in a timely manner Written reminders of the COEC to the members of municipal councils who have failed to submit declarations of private interests in a timely manner June 34% Commencement of the information campaign EFFECTS OF THE PREVENTIVE ACTIVITIES OF THE COEC +78% presentation of the map of declaration of private interests conference on declaration and other issues of official ethics to the representatives of municipalities held in the Seimas 70% July Publication of the names of the municipal politicians who have failed to declare their private interests in the interactive map on the website of the COEC 97% August The COEC assigned to the municipal ethics commissions to conduct investigations in respect of the members of the council who have failed to declare their private interests 100% November Auditing of the investigations conducted by the municipal ethics commissions Only 41 per cent of the members of municipal councils (term of ) have declared their private interests. Due to an intense information campaign by COEC, which lasted for 5 months, 97 per cent of municipal politicians declared their private interests. 3 per cent of the members of municipal councils have failed to declare their private interests; thus, 57 investigations were initiated. As the result, private interests were declared by 100 per cent. During the period of September-October, COEC held meetings with the representatives of municipalities of cities and districts and the members of all the municipal ethics commissions of the country. Consultations on practical issues of official ethics have been provided.

11 20 21 TARGETED EDUCATION COEC assistance to the persons in the civil service Training and guidance to increase awareness and skills for exercising appropriate judgement for integrity, improvement of the tools of control executed by the persons responsible for compliance with the provisions of the Law, development of transparency infrastructure are one of most efficient measures of fight against corruption. For the purposes of familiarising local government politicians with the provisions of the Law, in the autumn of 2015 the COEC organised a cycle of public practical consultations on management of conflicts of interest. The representatives of the COEC met with the representatives of city and district municipalities and the members of municipal ethics commissions in ten counties of the country. The afore-mentioned consultations are mostly aimed at assisting politicians to identify conflicts of interest, avoid them, and deal with the arisen risk situations. The consultations were attended by representatives from 54 municipalities: mayors, administration directors, chairmen of municipal ethics commissions, secretaries of the councils as well as the persons to whom monitoring of implementation of the Law has been assigned. In 2015, the COEC also drew up guides to politicians containing brief information on disclosure of private interests and the necessity for avoidance of conflicts of interest. The COEC has consistently underlined that a situation of conflict of interest in no way implies a violation of the Law. In the event of a situation of a real or apparent conflict of interest, the conduct of the person and notification of the manager of a possible conflict of interest is of particular significance. It is particularly important to identify and manage the conflict of interest. To this end, in 2015 the COEC prepared the virtual tool, i.e. official ethics advisor, so everyone may easily find answers to different questions concerning official ethics. Certainly, more detailed analysis may be required, but the application may answer the principal questions concerning official conduct. Thus, the person working in the civil service is enabled to effectively and quickly receive individual recommendation (clarification) of the concern of application of the provisions of the Law on interests. STRATEGIC GUIDANCE The COEC has conducted a survey among the representatives of municipalities (mayors, members of municipal councils, administration heads etc.) aimed at finding out the needs of the municipalities. 70% THE COEC AS A PREVENTIVE AUTHORITY 10 COEC WEBSITE: PROACTIVE APPROACH 80% NEED FOR METHODOLOGICAL SUPPORT WEBSITE ATTENDANCE INCREASE IN % DATA OF THE SURVEY AMONG REPRESENTATIVES OF MUNICIPALITIES 54 OFFICIAL ETHICS ADVISOR 85% municipalities installed 52% LACK OF COMPETENCE OF ETHICS COMMISSIONS 55% CONFIDENCE IN THE COEC 286 COUNTIES MUNICIPALITIES REPRESENTATIVES OF MUNICIPALITIES

12 22 23 LOBBYING A year of changes in the area of control over lobbying activities CREDIBLE NUMBER OF LOBBYISTS AFTER AMENDING THE LAW Lobbying may improve the quality of decision making enabling the professionals with specific knowledge to help legislators in dealing with the issues of increasing complexity. In 2015, the draft Law Amending the Law on Lobbying Activities (hereinafter referred to as the Draft ) was presented to the Seimas. The Draft is aimed at ensuring that regulation of lobbying activities was based on broad definitions including all entities engaged in lobbying activities and all main objectives of lobbying activities. Urgent and proper regulation of lobbying activities is important in the context of accession of Lithuania to the OECD. This should be done taking into account the recommendations proposed by the OECD. From the point of view of the COEC, all lobbyists should be registered; thus, the arising administrative burden falling with the lobbyists and the COEC should be reduced as much as possible. Ensured monitoring of lobbying activities and binding nature of the requirements OECD Recommendations on lobbying Transparency of the persons working in the civil service through cooperation with lobbyists Clearly defined terms of lobbying and lobbying activities Information on lobbying activities is sufficiently transparent and accessible Database of lobbyists with information on customers, legal acts being improved, affected persons Automated crosscheck, notifications of inconsistencies Clearly defined terms of lobbying and lobbying activities (Draft) Simple registration and minimum registration fee REGISTERED LOBBYISTS TODAY Objectives of the COEC

13 24 25 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Partnership with international organisations In 2015, the COEC tried to properly represent Lithuania in the international community showing that we are in the forefront of declaration of private interests, the legal acts governing conflicts of interest and the measures preventing them are sufficiently detailed. The COEC drew up the positions of Lithuania on recommendations of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development): Recommendation on Guidelines for Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service (C(2013)107); Recommendation on Improving Ethical Conduct in the Public Service Including Principles for Managing Ethics in the Public Service (C(98)70/FINAL); Recommendation of the Council on Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying (C(2010)16). Meetings with the representatives of the European Commission presenting the legal framework and good practice of Lithuania in the area of declaration of private interests Drawing up of the legal acts and other information governing the activities of the COEC in English Political obligation to promote ethical rules should encourage ethical conduct of the persons working in the civil service Clearly established guidelines on cooperation between the public sector and private sector Proper regulation of lobbying activities meeting the OECD recommendations OECD ethics management principles The decision making process should be transparent and open The governance strategies, procedures and ways should promote ethical conduct ACTIVE COOPERATION WITH THE OECD, GRECO AND OTHER EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS The persons working in the civil service should be familiarised with the rules of ethical conduct The rules of ethical conduct should be clearly and properly reflected in the legal framework Presentation of the position of Lithuania on 3 recommendations of the OECD GRECO (Group of States against Corruption): the COEC should pay more attention not to creation and adoption of new rules concerning official ethics (the rules are sufficiently comprehensive), but make every effort to ensure that the rules in place were well understood and properly complied with. The COEC acts independently. Politicians should act in an exemplary manner and avoid using the rules of official ethics only for political purposes Clearer regulation of lobbying activities, cross-checks in respect of lobbyists and persons in respect of which influence is sought The declaration system should be improved, achieve not only declaration, but also ensure monitoring and self-control Development of control and selfcontrol measures adapted for the particular segment of the public sector Ensuring training of persons and periodical examination of knowledge by electronic means More comprehensive recommendations on implementation of the established rules of conduct should be drawn up Objectives of the COEC

14 26 27 LEGISLATION More efficient implementation of the principles of official ethics While executing control and supervision of activities of the persons working in the civil service the COEC has identified certain gaps in legal regulations, saw possibilities for improvement. Thus, the COEC has exercised the granted right to make recommendations on improvement of the provisions of the legal acts governing the standards of official ethics and conducts of the persons working in the civil service and in 2015 drew up drafts of six interrelated laws: the Law on the ; the Law on Adjustment of Public and Private Interests in the Civil Service; the Law on Civil Service; the Law on Local Self-Government; the Code of Conduct for State Politicians; the Code of Administrative Offences. Drafts were presented to the Committee on State Administration and Local Authorities which supervises the activities of the COEC in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania adopted the amendments to the legal acts presented by the COEC on 15 December The afore-mentioned laws have created legal instruments ensuring more effective activities of the entities of control of ethical standards. The functions of the COEC and the heads of the state and municipal institutions and bodies, collegial institutions in executing control of the conformity of the conduct of the persons working in the civil service with the requirements of the Law have been more clearly defined. The legal regulation of declaration of private interests of the persons working in the civil service and the self-exclusion from the issues that may lead to a conflict of interest has been specified: the duty of the heads of institutions to notify the COEC of rejected self-exclusion has been established. Furthermore, the prohibitions and restrictions imposed for violations of the provisions of the Law have been differentiated (the term of a serious violation and liability for this have been envisaged), the limitation period for a violation of the provisions of the Law has been set. Besides, the Law on the COEC provides for administrative liability for the persons for hindering the COEC from performing its functions and failure to provide information within the set time limit without urgent causes. AMENDMENTS TO THE LEGAL REGULATION IMPLEMENTED IN 2015 Provided legal possibility to stop publicity of the declaration of private interests if the person loses the status of the declarant The duty of the members of municipal councils to self-exclude has been specified The COEC has been granted the right to declare that the person has seriously breached the Law, i.e. the liability has been accordingly toughened The duty to notify the COEC of rejection of the self-exclusion has arisen The decision to limit oneself to consideration taken by the ethics commission of municipal councils has been abandoned and the municipal councils were obliged to notify the COEC of the decisions The scope of powers of the ethics commissions of municipal councils has been extended The list of institutions that may verify the data of declarations has been extended Specified contents of the declaration of private interests The limitation period for a violation of the Law on interests, i.e. one year, and in case of a serious violation, the limitation period of three years, has been set Administrative liability of the persons for hindering the COEC from performing its functions has been established The COEC has been enabled to approve the criteria for rejection of self-exclusion

15 28 GOALS COEC goals for 2016 Engage competent institutions and state organisations in preventive activities with a view to identify the risk factors of breaches in the particular sectors, create targeted information campaigns In an orderly manner establish and foster the Register of Private Interests Reduce the number of breaches of official ethics rules by increasing the intensity and diversity of preventive measures To propose new legislative initiatives increasing transparency of activities of healthcare personnel To focus on such measures of prevention and control of the breaches of official ethics that build the competences of local supervisory institutions Provide guidance and consultation mechanisms to help public officials apply integrity standards in their daily work, and to respond properly to conflict of interest situations Increase transparency and accountability in lobbying by proposing new legislative initiatives and maintaining public register of lobbyists Vilniaus str. 27, Vilnius, Lithuania Tel Fax vtek@vtek.lt

16 30 31 Definitions and Abbreviations Close persons - the spouse, cohabitee, partner where the partnership is registered in accordance with the procedure laid down by the law (hereinafter referred to as the partner ), parents (adoptive parents), children (adopted children), brothers (adopted brothers), sisters (adopted sisters), grandparents, grandchildren of a person in the civil service, as well as their spouses, cohabitees and partners. (Article 2(5) of the Law on Adjustment of Public and Private Interests in the Civil Service) COEC - the, i.e. a collegiate supervisory authority of persons working in the civil service and engaged in lobbying activities, set up by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and accountable to it. (Article 2(1) of the Law on the Chief Official Ethics Commission) Conflict of interest - a situation where a person in the civil service, when discharging his duties or carrying out instructions, is obliged to make a decision or participate in decision-making or carry out instructions relating to his private interests. (Article 2(4) of the Law on Adjustment of Public and Private Interests in the Civil Service) Declaration of private interests - the process where a person in the civil service and a candidate for a position in the civil service and other persons to whom the legal persons assign such duty declare their private interests by submitting declarations of private interests in accordance with the procedure prescribed in the law. It is accomplished using the Electronic Declaration Information System (EDS) of the State Tax Inspectorate under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania (STI). EDS - the electronic declaration information system of the State Tax Inspectorate under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania (STI). Ethics Commission of the Municipal Council - a commission set up by the municipal council for the duration of its term which oversees the compliance of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Local Self-Government, the Code of Conduct for State Politicians, the regulation, other legal acts governing the activities and conduct of the members of the municipal council by the members of the municipal council. (Article 15 of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Local Self-Government) GRECO - the Group of States against Corruption which was set up in 1999 by the Council of Europe for the purposes of monitoring how the states implement the anti-corruption standards established by the Council of Europe with regard to the changing mutual assessment process. In 1999, Lithuania became a member of the GRECO. The GRECO helps to identify the deficiencies of national anti-corruption measures, encourages assuming necessary legal, institutional and practical reforms. Besides, the members of the GRECO may share the best corruption prevention and investigation practice. Today 49 Member States belong to the GRECO (48 European countries and the United States of America) IDIS - an electronical information system of the COEC for declaration of private interests. It is aimed at providing the institutions with information necessary to ensure prevention of the Law violations, improvement and modernisation of administration, use and control of data provided in the declarations. Internal administration - an activity aimed at ensuring independent functioning of an entity of public administration (structure arrangement, management of documents, personnel, available material and financial resources) so that it could engage in public administration. (Article 2(3) of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Public Administration) The Law - the Law on Adjustment of Public and Private Interests in the Civil Service. NACP - the National Anti-Corruption Programme OECD - the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development establishment in The OECD is a forum in which the experts of Member States discuss, share experience and develop new economic and social policy guidelines transposed into practical life. Today 34 countries belong to the OECD. In 2015, Lithuania also initiated the accession process. The spectrum of issues dealt with by the OECD is rather wide, i.e. macroeconomics, environmental protection, education, science, technologies, innovations. Other international economic organisations and financial institutions appreciate the studies arranged by the OECD that are based on surveys and analyses and review the policy of different areas implemented by the particular countries. Person - a natural person or a group of natural persons, a legal person or an entity without the rights of a legal person (a commission, general meeting of members, permanent session). (Article 2(13) of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Public Administration) Personal considerations - a moral debt, moral obligation, pecuniary or non-pecuniary advantage, or any other similar interest of a person in the civil service (or a person close to him). (Article 2(6) of the Law on Adjustment of Public and Private Interests in the Civil Service) Private interests - private economic or non-economic interest of a person in the civil service (or a person close to him) which may affect his decision-making in the discharge of his official duties. (Article 2(2) of the Law on Adjustment of Public and Private Interests in the Civil Service) Public administration - activities of entities of public administration regulated by laws and other legal acts, which are intended for the implementation of laws and other legal acts: adoption of administrative decisions, control of the implementation of laws and administrative decisions, provision of administrative services established by laws, administration of the provision of public services and internal administration of an entity of public administration. (Article 2(1) of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Public Administration) Public interests - the public s expectations with regard to impartial and just decision-making of the persons in the civil service. (Article 2(3) of the Law on Adjustment of Public and Private Interests in the Civil Service). The case-law adopts the position that the public interests is foremost the interest of the society. According to the case-law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, the public interest is deemed to be something that is objectively relevant, necessary and valuable to the society. State politicians - persons who are elected, in accordance with the procedure set forth by laws, as a Member of the Seimas, the President of the Republic, a Member of the European Parliament, a member of a municipal council or mayor of a municipality or appointed as a Member of the Government or a deputy mayor of a municipality. (Article 2(1) of the Code of Conduct for State Politicians)

17 Vilnius / 2016