GOVERNANCE « Trust in Government ETHICS MEASURES IN OECD COUNTRIES Trust in Public service is a public trust. Citizens expect public servants to serve the public interest with fairness and to manage public resources properly on a daily basis. Fair and reliable Government public services inspire public trust and create a favourable environment for businesses, thus contributing to well-functioning markets and economic growth. Public ethics are a ETHICS MEASURES prerequisite to public trust and a keystone of good governance. IN OECD COUNTRIES At a time when there is a growing consensus among governments on what should constitute the essential elements of an effective and comprehensive ethics strategy, this book constitutes a unique source of comparative information on ethics management measures in OECD countries. It is designed to facilitate mutual learning and to support the development of modern ethics strategies in both OECD and non-member countries, by providing, for the GOVERNANCE first time, a comprehensive overview of ethics measures in all 29 OECD countries, including overall trends and promising practices http://www.oecd.org/puma Trust in Government Trust www.oecd.org ISBN 92-64-18519-4 42 2000 06 1 P -:HSTCQE=V]ZV^\: 2027en.fm Page 1 Wednesday, June 21, 2000 10:30 AM © OECD, 2000. © Software: 1987-1996, Acrobat is a trademark of ADOBE. All rights reserved. OECD grants you the right to use one copy of this Program for your personal use only. Unauthorised reproduction, lending, hiring, transmission or distribution of any data or software is prohibited. You must treat the Program and associated materials and any elements thereof like any other copyrighted material. All requests should be made to: Head of Publications Division Public Affairs and Communication Directorate 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. Trust in Government Ethics Measures in OECD Countries ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on 14th December 1960, and which came into force on 30th September 1961, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shall promote policies designed: – to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of the world economy; – to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries in the process of economic development; and – to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis in accordance with international obligations. The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The following countries became Members subsequently through accession at the dates indicated hereafter: Japan (28th April 1964), Finland (28th January 1969), Australia (7th June 1971), New Zealand (29th May 1973), Mexico (18th May 1994), the Czech Republic (21st December 1995), Hungary (7th May 1996), Poland (22nd November 1996) and Korea (12th December 1996). The Commission of the European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention). Publié en français sous le titre : RENFORCER L’ÉTHIQUE DANS LE SERVICE PUBLIC Les mesures des pays de l’OCDE © OECD 2000 Permission to reproduce a portion of this work for non-commercial purposes or classroom use should be obtained through the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC), 20, rue des Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris, France, Tel. (33-1) 44 07 47 70, Fax (33-1) 46 34 67 19, for every country except the United States. In the United States permission should be obtained through the Copyright Clearance Center, Customer Service, (508)750-8400, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 USA, or CCC Online: http://www.copyright.com/. All other applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this book should be made to OECD Publications, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. FOREWORD In April 1998, the OECD Council Meeting at Ministerial level requested that a report be made on the implementation of the 1998 OECD Recommendation on Improving Ethical Conduct in the Public Service. This book is based on the results of the survey that was conducted in the 29 OECD countries. The report was prepared by János Bertók of the OECD Public Management Service. The author would like to thank the OECD countries that participated in the survey and especially the members of the OECD Reference Group on Public Service Ethics who assisted in the preparation of the report. The book is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. 3 © OECD 2000 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface............................................................................................................................................................ 9 Summary......................................................................................................................................................... 11 I. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 21 I.1. OECD Ethics survey....................................................................................................................... 21 Structure of the report......................................................................................................................... 21 Methodology and scope........................................................................................................................ 22 I.2. Background to the report.............................................................................................................. 22 OECD’s comprehensive approach to review the public service environment ............................................. 22 Defining an Ethics Infrastructure......................................................................................................... 23 Two main approaches in the OECD area.............................................................................................. 25 OECD Recommendation on Improving Ethical Conduct in the Public Service......................................... 26 OECD also targets the “supply side” of corruption............................................................................ 27 Outreach to non-member countries ...................................................................................................... 27 I.3. Why ethics now?............................................................................................................................. 28 Reforms in public management............................................................................................................ 28 Consequences and challenges for ethical concerns.................................................................................. 28 Decisive environment .......................................................................................................................... 29 II. Delivering a Sound Ethics Infrastructure ......................................................................................... 31 II.1. Values-based public service ........................................................................................................ 31 In what forms are the core values available? ......................................................................................... 33 Updating core values ........................................................................................................................... 34 Communicating values ........................................................................................................................ 35 Knowing values and acting according to them ....................................................................................... 36 II.2. Putting values into action ............................................................................................................. 37 Forms for stating standards of behaviour............................................................................................... 38 Additional specific guidelines ................................................................................................................ 39 Legal regulations ................................................................................................................................ 41 II.3. From provisions to compliance.................................................................................................... 42 Developing a supportive working environment....................................................................................... 43 Human resources management measures.............................................................................................44 Informing and training public servants on ethics issues .......................................................................... 46 Disclosure policies ............................................................................................................................... 49 Procedures to report misconduct, suspected corruption...........................................................................