PUBLIC SECTOR

INTEGRITY
OECD country experiences and lessons learned
 Outline

• Context: Trust, Transparency and Integrity

• How can the OECD help
• Transparency in government
• Conflict of interest
• Post-public employment
• Political advisors
• Lobbying
• Codes of conduct
 Context after crises:
Common challenges for governments

CAPACITY
Steer, lead,
provide visibility
Building
Trust!

CITIZENS,
CONSOLIDATION INVESTMENT
Balance budgets PRIVATE Respond,
Reduce unemployment SECTOR innovate,
mobilise

TRANSPARENCY
Clean and open
Impact of crises on confidence in government:
Gallup World Poll 2007 and 2011
Confidence in national government compared to
confidence in financial institutions and banks (2011)

Source: Gallup
 How OECD supports countries?

• Comparative data
• Comparative and evidence-based analysis

• Offering country-specific advice based on peer

reviews through bringing all stakeholders on
board to sustain reforms
• Setting international standards for OECD & G20
 Lesson No 1:
Transparency and Integrity matters

Frequently stated core public service values (2000 and 2009)

 Lesson No 2:
Transparency for whole-of-government
Breadth of central government freedom of information laws (FOI) (2010)

•Most OECD countries have freedom of information laws for the

Executive branch
Legislative branch Judicial branch
Lesson No 3: Transparency is becoming
the rule even in private sphere
Level of disclosure of private interests and public
availability of information

Source: OECD Survey on Conflict of Interest (2012)

Note: Data for the Czech Republic, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are from 2010.
 Lesson No 4: : A range of measures needed
for effective implementation

Initial dissemination of conflict of interest policy/ies to public 96%

officials upon taking office and/or new post 4%

Ensuring online availability of conflict of interest policies for access 82%

by public officials 18%
Yes

79% No
Provision of training to public officials, including examples of real-
life conflict of interest situations and how they were addressed 21%

Provision of official advice when public officials have doubts or 71%

questions regarding conflict of interest policy/ies 29%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
 Lesson No 5: Countries Learned that
Accuracy of Disclosure Matters

100%

90%
25%
32%
80%

70% 61%
Procedure not conducted
60% 14%

50% Procedure conducted for only

some required to submit
40% disclosure form
75% Procedure conducted for all
30% those required to submit
54% 21%
disclosure form
20%

10% 18%

0%
Verification that disclosure form Review that all required Internal audit of the submitted
was submitted information was provided information for accuracy
Country actions taken following the collection of
disclosure forms
Verification that Internal audit of the
Review that all required
disclosure form was submitted information for
information was provided
submitted accuracy
Australia   
Austria   
Belgium   
Canada   
Chile   
Denmark   
Egypt   
Estonia   
Finland   
France   
Germany   
Hungary   
Iceland   
Ireland   
Italy   
Japan   
Korea   
Luxembourg   
Mexico   
New Zealand   
Norway   
Poland   
Portugal   
Slovak Republic   
Slovenia   
Spain   
Sweden   
Switzerland   
Turkey   
Ukraine   
United States   

 Procedure conducted for all those required to submit disclosure form 22 16 5

 Procedure conducted for only some required to submit disclosure form 0 4 7
 Procedure not conducted 7 9 17
Total 29 29 29
Procedure conducted for all those required to submit disclosure form 76% 55% 17% oecd
Procedure conducted for only some required to submit disclosure form 0% 14% 24% oecd
Procedure not conducted 24% 31% 59% oecd

Source: OECD Survey on Conflict of Interest (2012)

Lesson No 6: Emerging transparency on
ministerial advisors
 Lesson No 7: new rules focus on risks such
as post-public employment

Officials with specific post-public employment prohibitions and restrictions

Source: OECD 2010

 And for lobbying ...

%% ... is transparency a solution?

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

Lobbying firm Corporation Non-profit

 Lesson No 8: lobbying is no exception
to transparency
What information should be made public?
60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
 Lesson No 8: Clear standards by rules are
essential to set boundaries for conduct

• Criminal laws penalise specific forms of corruption

• Other laws set (minimum) standards in relation to:
o using official information and public resources
o receiving gifts and benefits
o working outside the public service
• Supplementary guidelines are provided for specific
groups, professions working in sensitive areas
o tax, customs, law enforcement, political advisors etc.
• Code of conduct:
o single framework for the whole public service
o Specific context in organisations
 Lesson No 9: Putting values and
standards into effect is the hard part.

… starts with communication

• Training to raise awareness and develop skills for
handling ethical dilemmas (CoI, conflicting values)
• Advice in concrete situations
o mainly from superiors, managers -- but also from external
sources
• Involving staff
o success factor for implementation
• Use of new technology
o Internet, interactive CD-ROMs
• `Assess implementation and impact
o Factors for success: leadership by example, socialisation
open climate to discuss dilemmas, timely advice
 Thank you
Janos Bertok (janos.bertok@oecd.org)

For more information on OECD experience on managing conflict of interest

www.oecd.org/gov/ethics