The OECD facilitates countries in updating their conflict-of-interest management strategies by pinpointing vulnerable areas and positions within public organisations. The OECD Guidelines for Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service outline fundamental principles and standards for developing and implementing conflict-of-interest policies. The OECD guidelines establish a practical framework for reviewing and modernising existing policies in alignment with best practices, and most OECD countries have strong regulations in place: on average, OECD countries have adopted 76% of OECD criteria for regulations on conflicts of interest.
Conflict of interest
Preventing and managing conflicts of interest in the public sector is crucial to help governments strengthen and enhance public integrity. Left undetected or inappropriately managed, they can undermine the integrity of public officials, decisions, agencies and governments. If conflicts of interest are left unresolved, they may ultimately lead to private interests capturing the policy process.
Key messages
This can be done in a number of ways, such as raising awareness by publishing the conflict-of-interest policy, giving regular reminders, developing learning tools to help employees apply and integrate the policy and by providing concrete advice when need arises. Organisational practices should encourage public officials to disclose real, apparent or potential conflict-of-interest cases, and provide reasonable measures to protect them from retaliation. Public organisations should also create and sustain a culture of open communication and dialogue to promote integrity, while providing guidance and training to promote understanding.
Movement in and out of the public sector allows governments to benefit from a transfer of skills and knowledge, yet most OECD countries do not know whether they are adequately mitigating revolving door risks. Only nine OECD countries collect data on the frequency within the past five years with which ministers took up positions in a private sector organisation that operates in their former area of responsibility. Only eight collect the same data for the most senior civil servants.
Context
Verifying interest declarations and improving processes to resolve conflicts would better safeguard the public interest
Of the 26 OECD countries surveyed, in only 8 countries has the responsible authority verified over 60% of declarations filed over the last two years.
Many OECD countries are not resolving conflicts of interest when a conflict is detected, and some countries are unable to evidence whether resolution has occurred at all: only seven OECD countries can demonstrate that responsible authorities have issued recommendations for resolving conflicts of interest within 12 months for all cases of conflict of interest detected for the past three years.
Few countries verified at least 60% of declarations
Enforcing conflict-of-interest requirements is key to deterring non-compliance and ensuring trust in integrity systems.
Out of 33 OECD countries surveyed, 25 (66%) have defined sanctions in the regulatory framework for breaching conflict-of-interest provisions. In practice, 10 (26%)have issued sanctions in the past three years for non-compliance with disclosure obligations, non-management or non-resolution of a conflict-of-interest situation.
Sanctions for breaches of conflict-of-interest violations and their implementation
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