Abstract text
Date of entry into
force:
October 26, 2014
The Law approves the principles of the state anti-corruption policy in
Ukraine (the anti-corruption strategy) for 2014 – 2017 (hereinafter referred to
as "Anti-Corruption Strategy").
The General Provisions of the Anti-Corruption Strategy state that solving
the corruption problem is one of the priorities for the Ukrainian society at
the current stage of the development of the state. Research data shows that
corruption was one of the reasons that led to mass protests in Ukraine at the
end of 2013 – beginning of 2014.
According to the Global Corruption Barometer
research conducted by Transparency International in 2013, 36% of Ukrainians
were ready to take to the streets to protest corruption. According to the
public opinion survey conducted by the International Foundation for Election
Systems in late 2013, corruption was included in the list of the largest
problems of the population and caused high levels of concern in 47% of
citizens.
According to the Corruption Perceptions Index research conducted by
Transparency International, Ukrainians believe their country to be one of the
most corrupt in the world: in 2012 and 2013 Ukraine ranked 144 out of 176
countries in the research. Such high level of corruption perception by the
citizens is explained by the lack of effective reforms in the corruption
counteraction sphere and by ineffective work of law enforcement bodies related
to discovering corruption-related offences and bringing the offenders to
liability; this is demonstrated, in particular, by Ukraine's unsatisfactory
fulfillment of its international obligations to implement anti-corruption
standards: of the 25 recommendations of the Council of Europe Group of States
against Corruption (GRECO) provided based on the results of the first and
second assessment rounds, only 13 recommendations were implemented, despite 6
years of work and three rounds of progress assessment; while out of 16
recommendations provided based on the results of the third round, only three
have been implemented.
Of the anti-corruption recommendations in the Action
Plan for the European Union (EU) Liberalization of the Visa Regime for Ukraine,
only a small part has been implemented, related to criminalization of
corruption. The key recommendations of the Council of Europe Group of States against
Corruption (GRECO) relating to creation of anti-corruption institutions,
reforming the prosecutor's office and civil service, creation of control
systems to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure asset integrity of
officials remain unimplemented. Furthermore, the National Anti-Corruption
Strategy for 2011 – 2015, adopted by Order of the President of Ukraine N 1001
of October 21, 2011, failed to become an effective instrument of
anti-corruption policy.
One of the main reasons for the failure to implement
the National Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2011 – 2015 as the main program
document in the anti-corruption field was the lack of clear status indicators
and implementation efficiency indicators, in spite of international experience.
The above Strategy also lacked a mechanism for monitoring and assessment of its
implementation – it failed to provide how appropriate work was supposed to be
carried out by the National Anti-Corruption Committee, and how the community
was supposed to be involved in such processes. Therefore, it can be stated that
as of today, Ukraine de facto lacks an effective corruption counteraction
strategy that would take into account the acuteness of the problem and the
pressing nature of the situation. Due to the above, a new strategic document
must be approved, which would determine the top-priority measures to prevent
and counteract corruption that must create a basis for further reforms in this
sphere.
According to Section 2 of the Anti-Corruption Strategy, Ukraine de facto
lacks a clear legislative and institutional basis to form and implement
anti-corruption policy based on cooperation between state authorities and the
community. Its purpose is to create a system for decision-making related to
anti-corruption policy in Ukraine, based on the results of analysis of reliable
data about corruption and officials that cause it, in particular, statistical
observation and monitoring the implementation of these decisions, and of their
impact on the status of corruption prevention issues, conducted by an
independent specialized body with involvement of civil community
representatives, as well as forming community support for combating corruption.
The following measures
are envisaged:
· on the legislative level, determine the principles for
organization and operation of the specially authorized body for corruption
prevention, responsible, in particular, for a complex of measures aimed at
creation and implementation of the anti-corruption policy. The above body must
have guarantees of independent operation, with ensured broad participation of
civil community representatives, and charged, among others, with the following
functions: 1) preparing an annual report on the status of the Anti-Corruption
Strategy Implementation and a draft of the report on implementation of the
anti-corruption policy principles; 2) analyzing the status of
corruption-related issues, preparing proposals for measures of normative legal,
organizational and staff-related nature; 3) monitoring and coordinating
implementation of the anti-corruption program; 4) controlling adherence to the
legislation on conflict of interests, and declaring of property, incomes,
expenses, and financial liabilities; 5) involving the community in creation,
implementation and monitoring of the anti-corruption policy; 6) spreading
information on corruption, implementing measures to create a worldview of
intolerance to corruption;
·
draft an act of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to
adopt the national methods of corruption level assessment according to the UN
standards, hold annual research, with community involvement, related to
corruption perception, public trust in the bodies responsible for corruption
prevention, readiness of the public to take part in corruption prevention
measures, incidence and types of corruption behavior models, and corruptogenic
risks in appropriate spheres;
·
hold annual hearings in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
related to the national report about the status of corruption prevention
issues, prepared by the specially authorized body in the issues of
anti-corruption policy, and promulgate the report together with the conclusions
and recommendations of the parliamentary hearings;
·
ensure implementation of international standards of
cooperation between the government and the community for decision-making in the
sphere of anti-corruption policy, in particular, those established in the Code
of Good Practice for Civil Participation in the Decision-Making Process adopted
by the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organizations at its
meeting on October 1, 2009, and move on to new cooperation forms, such as
dialogue and partnership;
·
conduct regular information campaigns oriented at
different social groups, aimed to eliminate corruption tolerance and increase
the degree of cooperation between government and citizens in corruption
counteraction.
Section 3 of the Anti-Corruption Strategy determines the problems,
objective, and measures for corruption prevention:
·
corruption prevention in representative government
bodies;
·
creating a trustworthy public service;
·
corruption prevention in the operation of executive
authorities;
·
corruption prevention in the sphere of government
procurement;
·
corruption prevention in the judicial system and
bodies of criminal justice;
·
corruption prevention in the private sector;
·
access to information.
The objective, envisaged by Article 4 of the Anti-Corruption Strategy, is
creating a system of instruments that will enable efficient discovery and
investigation of corruption-related offences, confiscation of property that was
the subject of criminal activity or acquired through such activity, and
bringing persons involved in corruption-related offences to liability. The following measures are suggested to
this effect:
·
adopt laws aimed at: 1) amending the Criminal Code of
Ukraine to: a) define and list corruption-related offences; b) make it
impossible for persons who committed corruption-related offences to be relieved
of liability and punishment, in particular, through admission by bail, due to
active remorse, probation, etc.; c) bringing Article 368-2 in correspondence
with Article 20 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and
implementing civil law mechanisms for seizing unlawfully acquired property; 2)
regulating issues of managing corporate interest and other arrested property in
order to preserve its value, and creating a specialized unit (body) authorized
to search for property that may be confiscated; 3) creating possibilities for
pre-trial inquiry and court proceedings, and for seizing into state revenue
(confiscating) property acquired through criminal activity, if the suspect
(defendant) is evading investigation or trial; creating guarantees for
effective management of such assets, in particular, using community control
mechanisms (for example, by creating a specialized fund); 4) creating the
specially authorized body in the issues of discovering and investigating
corruption-related offences, on the following principles: a) sufficient
guarantees of independence (open and transparent competitive selection of the
head; clear grounds for dismissal of the head, as determined by law, excluding
the possibility of dismissal for political reasons; principles for financing
the body, as determined by law, and the amount of remuneration for its
employees; prohibition to interfere with its operation); b) transparent
competitive selection of the main staff of the body, in order to reduce the
risk of illicit influence on decision-making, and selection of qualified staff
that meet the integrity criteria; c) specialization of the body on
corruption-related offences committed by high-ranking officials, judges,
prosecutors, and other persons provided that the corruption-related offence has
a high degree of social hazard; d) incentive mechanisms, including material
incentives (for example, a certain percentage of the confiscated criminal
incomes), aimed at discovering facts of corruption; e) community control and
openness of the body, bi-annual reporting on operation; f) incentives for
cooperation with authorized state bodies in order to discover facts of corruption;
g) introducing positions of specialized anti-corruption prosecutors, assigned
to the specially authorized body in the issues of discovering and investigating
corruption-related offences;
·
create a working group that will include
representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, bodies of criminal
justice, business, and civil community, and will monitor the implementation of
the legislation on criminal legal proceedings to legal entities; prepare the
necessary methodic materials for employees of bodies of criminal justice, and
for judges; organize trainings for specialists that will apply the law;
organize a broad information campaign for explaining provisions of the law and
the necessity to ensure business integrity, with civil community and business
involvement; based on the results of the law application monitoring, prepare
amendments for the law;
·
create a unified state register of legal entities
involved in corruption, in order to exclude the possibility of their
participation in fulfilling government orders and contracts, receiving
government loans, tax preferences, subsidies and subventions; ensure free
access to such register through the Internet;
·
expand the concept of "public official" in
the legislation on preventing and counteracting legalization (laundering)
criminal incomes to include national public officials and officials of
international organizations.
One of the most substantial factors in overcoming corruption is the public
attitude to that problem. Results of studies conducted in Ukraine in recent
years, over a half of the population are inclined to commit corruption-related
offences if that may facilitate solution of a problem. Furthermore, a large
portion of the population, due to lack of appropriate knowledge, does not classify
certain types of behavior as corruption-related, while nevertheless
acknowledging that such behavior does not meet the norms of morals or
professional ethics. Through efficient awareness-building work, the population
may change their attitude towards such practices as unacceptable and
corruption-related, and therefore, the anti-corruption potential of the society
will increase significantly. Attention must be given to measures related to
ensuring more active participation of the public in reporting facts of
corruption that became known to them to bodies authorized to counteract
corruption.
The portion of such population is low, in particular, due to the
high level of public loyalty to corruption, condemnation of reporting
corruption as behavior that conflicts with ethical norms, low levels of trust
in the work of law enforcement bodies, lack of faith in the effectiveness of
anti-corruption measures, and the fear of punishment for reporting corruption
suspicions. At the same time, the anti-corruption potential of measures to
involve the public in discovering and reporting facts of corruption is high, as
shown by experience of foreign states.
Creating special conditions that will
facilitate a change of social views on reporting facts of corruption is one of
the priorities of the state anti-corruption policy (Section 5 of the
Anti-Corruption Strategy). Due to this, an action plan shall be adopted, in
cooperation with civil community institutes, oriented at different social and
age groups, and aimed at comprehensive solution for the problem of public
tolerance of corruption, providing, in particular, for:
·
conducting regular information campaigns aimed at
creating a public mindset for the unacceptability of corruption as a method of
problem solving;
·
increasing the level of legal awareness of the
population, in particular, in the part of citizen awareness of their rights and
freedoms, the mechanisms for their exercise, and means of legal protection;
·
explaining the most important anti-corruption measures
carried out in the state, provisions of the legislation on corruption
prevention and counteraction, in particular, in the part of defining types and
forms of corruption behavior;
·
systemic implementation of educational measures on
behavior models in various situations with possible corruption risks;
·
implementing a culture of reporting facts of
corruption-related offences to specially authorized entities in the sphere of
corruption counteraction;
·
overcoming the public passivity in respect of
corruption counteraction, involving broad circles of the population to take
active part in anti-corruption activity.
Section 6 of the Anti-Corruption Strategy states that successful
implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy shall enable decreasing the
level of corruption in Ukraine, increasing the level of public trust in the
government, increasing the level of foreign investment in the national
economic, and creating a basis for further anti-corruption reform. To implement
the Anti-Corruption Strategy, it is envisaged to draft and approve a number of
laws, in particular, on:
·
the principles of organization and operation of the
specially authorized body responsible for implementing a complex of measures to
create and implement the anti-corruption policy;
·
creating the specially authorized body in the issues
of discovering and investigating corruption-related offences;
·
implementing the recommendations of the Council of
Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) in the part of increasing the
transparency of political party and election campaign financing;
·
creating legal foundations of lobbying;
·
increasing community control over decision-making by
elected officials, in particular, through the mechanism of preliminary
community discussion of socially important decisions;
·
amending the Law of Ukraine "On Civil
Service" adopted in 2011, with regard to suggestions of the SIGMA program;
·
conducting inspections of the integrity of public
officials;
·
amending laws and subordinate normative legal acts in
the part of implementing the standards of the OECD (Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development) Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned
Enterprises of April 22, 2004, in the work of state-owned companies in Ukraine;
·
amending the Constitution and Laws of Ukraine aimed at
reforming the judicial system and the status of judges based on European
standards;
·
amending the Constitution and Laws of Ukraine aimed at
reforming the prosecutor's office based on European standards;
·
amending the Criminal Code of Ukraine in the part of
making it impossible for persons who committed corruption-related offences to
be relieved of liability and punishment, in particular, through admission by
bail, due to active remorse, probation, etc.; to bring Article 368-2 in
correspondence with Article 20 of the United Nations Convention against
Corruption; and to implement civil law mechanisms for seizing unlawfully
acquired property;
·
regulating issues of managing corporate interest and
other arrested property in order to preserve its value, and creating a
specialized unit (body) authorized to search for property that may be
confiscated.
The effectiveness of the Anti-Corruption Strategy shall be assessed on the
basis of:
·
results of annual research of the corruption status in
Ukraine conducted through broad statistical observations and analysis of
practical application of anti-corruption legislation;
·
determining the degree of implementation of
international standards in the sphere of anti-corruption policy.
Based on the results of corruption status research, indicators of
successful implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy can be:
·
an increase in the portion of the public that has a
negative attitude to corrupt practices;
·
a decrease in the portion of the public with own
experience of corruption behavior;
·
an increase in the number of citizens ready to report
facts of corrupt practices, and citizens who reported facts of corruption in
their respect to competent authorities.
The degree of implementation of international standards shall be determined
based on the following indicators:
·
implementation of the recommendations provided for
Ukraine by the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO);
recommendations provided in the framework of monitoring the Istanbul
Anti-Corruption Action Plan of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development) Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia;
implementation of the Action Plan for the European Union (EU) Liberalization of
the Visa Regime for Ukraine in the part of corruption prevention and counteraction;
and of the action plan in the Open Government Partnership Initiative;
·
improving the Corruption Perceptions Index published
by the international non-governmental organization Transparency International;
·
achieving a high level of correspondence of standards
of international initiatives (the Extracting Industries Transparency
Initiative, the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative, the Open Budget
Index, etc.).
Abstract text
Date of entry into force:
October 26, 2014
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