Subsection 1.1 Lowering Corruption Opportunities
Justification and sources
An effective solution of the conflict of interest issue requires strengthening of control over declarations of politicians and high level public officials on their conflict of interest. First, it is necessary that these declarations are evidenced by relevant documents. Otherwise it is not possible to check their accuracy. These declarations and substantiating evidence shall be published in an electronic form and supervised by a central and sufficiently independent body which would not get under political influence. In addition, politicians shall be obliged to disclose corruption of other politicians in order to break up the corruption solidarity of the closed political elite. Those politicians who would announce corruption should not be punished even if they should be involved in this corruption.
Sources:
- UN: United Nations Convention against Corruption, 14 December 2005
- OECD: The 10 Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying, 2013
- OECD: Guidelines for Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service, June 2013
- OECD: Revolving Doors, Accountability and Transparency - Emerging Regulatory Concerns and Policy Solutions in the Financial Crisis, Expert Group on Conflict of Interest, Paris, 28 April 2009
- European Commission: Staff Working Document, European Commission, Report on the Czech Republic, (COM(2015) 85 final)
- Czech Government Anti-corruption Conception for years 2015 - 2017
- Czech Government Anti-corruption Action Plan for 2015
- Transparency International: Curbing Corruption in Public Procurement, A Practical Guide, 2014
- Transparency International Czech Republic, Conflict of interest – Czech Republic [online]
- Oživení: Analysis of conflict of interest of the civic association Oživení: [online]
- Oživení: Proposal of a code of ethics for a representative [online]
- Titl, V., Palanský, M., Skuhrovec, J., Analysis of gifts by legal persons to political parties, Center for Applied Economy, 2014
- Revealing corporate structures of public contractors, Center for Applied Economy, October 2013
- Kraus L., Fadrný, M., Principles of the reform in the area of lobbying regulation, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic – Environmental Law Service
- Information about a further action in the area of lobbying regulation in the Czech Republic and principles for the proposal of an Act on lobbying
- Transparency International: Corruption risks in the Visegrad Countries – Visegrad Integrity System Study, 2012
- Profitability of firms with paper bearer shares in public procurement, Center for Applied Economy, 15 May and 30 August 2011
- Novotný, J., Lichard, T., Palguta, J., Corruption: Not only a fiscal problem and its solutions) in Kohout, P. andcoll., Collection of texts of a working group for the fight against corruption, National Economic Government Council, June 2011
- The Parliamentary Institute (The Parliament of the Czech Republic):Legal regulation of the conflict of interest of deputies and other public officials, A Comparative study of regulations of selected EU countries, April 2005
- Lunn, P., Regulatory Policy and Behavioural Economics, OECD Publishing, 2014
- Vondráček, O., Havrda, M., Corruption as a Parasite – Manual How to Combat It, chap. Not to Be in the Conflict of Interest, 2013
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#1 Proving of declarations of honour made by politicans and public officials
Politicians and other public officials shall substantiate all statutory declarations they make, i.e. notification of personal interest, of actions, assets, income, gifts and of commitments, by relevant documents.
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#2 Disclosure of contracts and other relations between the state and the entities owned by a politician or public official
If a politician or other public official declares or attest that he/she owns shares or interests in a company (firm), with the exception of those acquired at the stock market (regulated market), he/she shall be obliged to submit a statement of the company’s management whether the company is receiving public funds of any kind (public procurement, subsidy, lease, rent, sale or purchase of public property etc.). Politician or other public official shall be prohibited from any activity in the sector where those companies exercised their business (the revolving doors principle).
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#3 Revolving doors principle
Politician or high public official should be prohibited from doing business in the sector where he worked when was in the public office (the “revolving doors” principle). Politician should have a duty to report if he/she learned that other politician got into the situation of conflict of interest situation or corruption.
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#4 Publication of declarations mady by politicians and public officials by a central authority
A central authority should actively publish information submitted by politicians or other public officials in accordance with the Conflict of Interest Act, as well as sanctions for non-compliance. Citizens shall have a possibility to see the conflict-of-interest statements made by politicians and public officials, including the documents that substantiate their statements. These information and documents shall be available on the internet free of charge as it is in the company register, not in the written form based on a request as it is under the Conflict of Interest Act.
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#5 Independence of the central authority
To avoid that the central authority is under an undue influence it shall be composed of representatives of various public institutions (for example, Public Defender of Rights (ombudsman), Supreme Audit Authority, Supreme Administrative Court and/or Constitutional Court) so that influencing its decision-making is as difficult as possible and the authority is not misused as a political weapon.
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Subsection 1.2 Monitoring of lobbied politicians through public electronic diary
Justification and sources
Transparency in communication of politicians is key both from the perspective of corruption prevention and equal representation of different societal interests. The most economically and socially damaging forms of political entrepreneurship are always those activities which are the least transparent. Therefore, it is necessary to set the rules in a way that non-transparent activities are publicly disclosed, or in other words, to ensure that due to the threat of public disclosure politicians would not dare engage in corruption practices at all.
Sources:
- European Commission: EU Anticorruption Report, Annex Czech Republic, Annex 3, COM(2014) 38 final
- OECD: The 10 Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying, 2013
- World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2015, Country profile: Czech Republic, indicator 1.04 – Public trust in politicians (138th place out of 144 countries)
- The Obama Administration’s Commitment to Open Government: A Status Report, 16 September 2011[online]
- Myerson, R., Democratic Decentralization and Economic Development, Chicago University, February 2013 [online]
- Analysis of the Green Circle – Legislative amendments of deputies, Rekonstrukce státu, 2013
- Fadrný, M., Kraus, L.,Position document of the Environmental Law Service on the issue of transparency of the legislative process and lobbying regulation, 31 January 2013
- Kraus L., Fadrný, M., Principles of the reform in the rea of lobbying regulation, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic – Environmental Law Service
- Information about a further action in the area of lobbying regulation in the Czech Republic and principles for the proposal of an Act on lobbying
- Conclusions of the expert tables on lobbying, Respect Institute - Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic - Lenka Andrýsová, 2011
- Lunn, P., Regulatory Policy and Behavioural Economics, OECD Publishing, 2014
- Weiss, T., Reinforcing the transparency of the legislative process in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Europeum, Institue for European Policy, p. 6
- Vondráček, O., Havrda, M., Corruption as a Parasite – Manual How to Combat It, chap. Electronic Public Diary, 2013
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#6 Electronic public diary of politicians
Politician should keep an electronic diary where he/she would enter all his/her meetings.* The contents of the electronic diary is published in “real-time” on the internet.
* It is not necessary to disclose internal meetings and communication, for example, a minister should not disclose meetings and communication with the employees of the ministry or with the members of his party. The precise definition of an internal meeting and communication would be specified.
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#7 Request of a meeting with a politician by email
Any meeting with a politician should be requested in advance by e-mail.* The purpose of the meeting and the person who is to attend the meeting shall be stated in the subject of the e-mail. If the politician confirms the meeting, he/she should publish it (subject and the persons attending) in the public electronic diary before the meeting takes place.
* It is not necessary to disclose internal meetings and communication, for example, a minister should not disclose meetings and communication with the employees of the ministry or with the members of his party. The precise definition of an internal meeting and communication would be specified.
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#8 Protected smart applications for the public electronic diary
Politicians have tablets or phones with public electronic diary functions with installed smart applications or software protected from hacking and espionage so that the administration of the diary is as easy as possible.
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#9 Putting the individual meetings in the public electronic diary
If there are other persons or subjects involved in the meeting than originally stated, the politician adds them to the public electronic diary after the meeting.
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#10 Putting large scale meetings into the public electronic diary
If a politician attends a banquet or a reception where he cannot possibly know who he/she meets, and if he discusses there any work issues he/she puts it immediately (or no later than next day) into the electronic diary indicating the persons involved and subject of the debate.
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#11 Putting the unforeseen meetings into the public electronic diary
A politician should also be obliged to retrospectively publish information about unplanned meetings in the electronic diary if he/she discussed public affairs in those meetings.
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#12 Meetings of politicians in their office
A politician should, if possible, hold meetings in his/her official office. Since persons who attend the meeting usually have to go through the reception where their arrival and departure is registered, it would be possible to cross-check the data in electronic diary against the list of visitors.
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#13 Meetings of politicians outside their office
If a politician attends a meeting outside his/her office, for example, in a cafeteria or restaurant, he/she should prove that the meeting took place by an invoice (there is usually a time-stamp on the invoice that enables to verify the data stated in the public electronic diary).
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#14 Activities of politicians in the public electronic diary
A politician describes his/her daily business in the electronic diary. He specifies the amount of time spent on preparing his/her comments on draft laws, the amount of time spent replying citizens’ questions etc.
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#15 Creating legislative trace from the records in the public electronic diary
Information from politicians’ electronic diaries related to law-making, executive decision-making, including meetings, time spent on the elaboration of laws or decisions etc., should be published as an attachment to the draft law or decision, and thus, generate so-called legislative or administrative footprint.
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#16 Saving information in the public electronic diary
Politicians and other public officials should record emails and other electronic or written communication. However, they should not publish those records, but only save them so that they are available, if necessary, to criminal law enforcement authorities.
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Subsection 1.3. Counteracting the “diversion of public funds business” by monitoring of encrypted phones
Justification and sources
The use of encrypted phones allows politicians and affiliated political entrepreneurs to act beyond the area of law. This leads to the misuse of democratic procedures. Citizens as well as law enforcement authorities are helpless vis-à-vis such anonymous communication means: citizens cannot control activities of elected representatives, law enforcement authorities cannot obtain evidence about the contents of the communication performed through the means of encrypted communication. Without the regulation of encrypted telephones and means of anonymous communication between the politicians and political entrepreneurs activities of a certain group of privileged persons will continue to stay beyond the reach of law and justice.
Sources:
- Vondráček, O., Havrda, M., Corruption as a Parasite – Manual How to Combat It, chap. Political Entrepreneurs without Immunity, 2013
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#17 Prohibition of using encrypted phones and anonymous communication for politicians
Politicians should not be allowed to use encrypted phones nor means of anonymous communication.*
* Anonymous communication refers to any form of communication in which persons can exchange message via fictitious or non-personal boxes, profiles or accounts. The following can serve as an example of the means of anonymous communication: mailbox (xyz123@email.cz), fictitious or false profiles on social networks, for instance on Facebook, or internet communication accounts, such as Skype accounts. If a minister and a "political entrepreneur" communicate through anonymous Skype accounts , they do not have to fear that they would be discovered since contents of such communication almost cannot be detected. Moreover, even if the contents of such communication were detected, it would not be easy to prove that the communication took place between those two persons because due to the use of anonymous accounts this communication will not be attributable to the concrete identifiable persons).
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#18 Exception to the prohibition of using encrypted phones and anonymous communication for politicians responsible for the basic state functioning
An exemption should be foreseen for selected public officials (indicated on a special list) who are responsible for ensuring basic state functioning.
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#19 Using of phones by politicians
A politician or other high public official who is not on the special list of persons allowed to use encrypted phones could have, for example, two mobile phones, one for private and one for work communication. He/she should not be allowed to use other phones while in public office.
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#20 Emails of politicians and their profiles on social networks
A politician should have only one work e-mail address and one profile on social networks both under his/her name. Politicians and high public officials shall not be allowed to use anonymous e-mails or to exchange information through internet phones services or anonymous profiles on social networks.
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#21 Identification of politicians in electronic communication
All the work and communication of politicians and high public officials should originate only from clearly identifiable sources (mailbox, social networks profile, VoIP accounts) and should always include politician’s name and a statement that he/she is a public official.
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#22 Sanctions for politicians for an illegitimate use of encrypted phones and anonymous communication
If a politician or public official used encrypted phone or anonymous means of communication, he/she would commit a public or criminal offence.
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#23 Disclosure duty for politicians regarding the illegitimate use of encrypted phones and anonymous communication
A politician should be obliged to disclose if he/she found out that another politician illicitly used encrypted phone or anonymous means of communication.
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Subsection 1.4 Asset declaration and non-corruption statement
Justification and sources
According to psychologists Lammers and Galinsky the power makes people morally blind.* The protection against misuse of power by the elected representatives is next to the Act on conflict of interest their solemn promise to exercise their function in ccordance with the Constitution, laws and ethical principles. This solemn promise is, however, only general and unenforceable. Therefore it is necessary that the general declarations contained in this solemn declaration are completed by concrete requirements under through an asset and non-corruption statement. This statement made before election would define in a precise way which obligations candidates for public office shall disclose and which obligations they shall observe once elected. To avoid that the asset declaration and non-corruption statement is only a different type of political statement, it is necessary that the obligations contained therein were enforceable. * Lammers, J., Galinsky, A. D., Gordijn, E. H., Otten, S., (2008). Illegitimacy moderates the effects of power on approach. Psychological Science, 19, 558-564.
Sources:
- OECD: Guidelines for Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service, June 2013
- World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2015, Country profile: Czech Republic, indicator 1.04 – Public trust in politicians (138th place out of 144 countries)
- Czech Government Anti-corruption Conception for years 2015 – 2017
- Czech Government Anti-corruption Action Plan for 2015
- REST. Electronic asset declaration as of the date of entry into a public office, Reconstruction of the State, 2013
- Lunn, P., Regulatory Policy and Behavioural Economics, OECD Publishing, 2014
- Myerson, R., Democratic Decentralization and Economic Development, Chicago University, February 2013 [online]
- Transparency International: Corruption risks in the Visegrad Countries – Visegrad Integrity System Study, 2012
- Transparency International Czech Republic, Conflict of interest – Czech Republic [online]
- Vondráček, O., Havrda, M., Corruption as a Parasite – Manual How to Combat It, chap. Candidates' Asset Striptease, 2013
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A binding asset declaration and non-corruption statement shall contain at least the following items:
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#24 Asset disclosure before becoming a candidate
Declaration of all property acquisitions before becoming a candidate for public function (“asset declaration photo”) attested by the relevant documents which should be published on the internet;
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#25 Commitment of not to unduly enrich oneself in the public office
Commitment that if elected, the candidate will not to unduly enrich himself/herself in the public office;
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#26 Asset declaration at the moment of termination of public office
Commitment that if elected, the politician or public official republishes the asset declaration at the moment of leaving public office following the same pattern;
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#27 Commitment to prove which income finance acquisition property when in public office
Commitment that if at the moment of leaving the public office the value of his/her property increases, he/she will prove that this increase is based on justified and authorised income only (unjustified or unauthorised property acquistions should be surrendered to the state);
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The non-corruption statement shall include at least:
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#28 Commitment of fair behavior in the public office
Commitment that the politician or public official will not engage in undue behaviour, for example, that he/she will not misuse confidentiality of communication with closely related person(s) while in the public office;
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#29 Commitment to disclose undue behavior
Commitment to disclose information that any other politician or public official engaged in pre-defined abusive behaviour;
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#30 Commitment to transparent behavior
Commitment to behave in the public office in a transparent manner.
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Additionally binding declaration on enforceability shall be attached which should include:
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#31 Binding character of declarations and commitments
Declaration that the candidate considers that all his/her commitments made in the non-corruption declaration are legally enforceable;
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#32 Enforceability of declarations and commitments
Declaration that the candidate the demands that any trespassing of the aforementioned commitments is enforceable by the geographically competent court within the constituency where the candidate was elected;
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Subsection 1.5 Change of the electoral system with the view of reducing the corruption
Justification and sources
The more open the electoral system, the lower the intensity of corruption as evidenced by studies which studied the dependence of corruption and electoral system in many countries. Citizens could elect politicians less prone to corruption, if they could get to Chamber of Deputies the party candidates whose names they earmarked on the voting list rather than the parties as such. The current electoral system however protects the order of candidates as determined by the political party which prevents to elect politicians wanted by people in favour of politicians wanted by the political party. A change of electoral system capable fo reducing corruption, cannot be limited to the to change of the voting method. Citizens can select better representatives only if they have easily accessible information about them.
Sources:
- Council of Europe: Recommendation Rec (2007) 15 on measures concerning media coverage of election campaigns, 2007
- Navrátil, V., Preferential Voting at the Time of the First Czechoslovak Republic, Revue Politics, 10/2013
- Kudrna, J., Preferential Voting in the Election to the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, Scientific project, MSM 0021620804, 2010
- Lebeda, T., Municipal elections mislead. Short essay on problematic aspecs of the electoral system for municipal councils, Acta Politologica, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2009
- Vondráček, O., Havrda, M., Corruption as a Parasite – Manual How to Combat It, chap. Vote circles, 2013
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#33 Preferential votes as the main criteria for MPs election
It should be ensured that the party candidates with the highest number of preferential votes are elected to the Chamber of Deputies (the lower Chamber of the Czech Parliament).
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#34 Abolishing of the five percent limit constraining moving up on the candidate list to a place ensuring election
The 5% limiting threshold which the candidates have to overcome to move up on the candidate list of a political party to a place which would ensure him election to the Chamber of Deputies (the lower Chamber of the Czech Parliament). This artificial threshold causes that up to three quarters of preferential votes are forfeited
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