Contextual factors

 Overview

 Anti-corruption strategy

On average OECD countries fulfil 45% of criteria regarding the quality of the strategic framework, and 36% for the implementation. However, Spain has no national anti-corruption strategy.

 Corruption risk management and audit

As measured against OECD standards on risk management, which includes internal control and internal audit, Spain fulfils 92% of criteria on regulations, and fulfils 37% of criteria on practice, compared to the OECD average of 67% and 33% respectively. Regulations define IC and IA according to international standards, the managerial responsibility regarding implementation of IC and IA, specify the objectives of IC, and establish annual IC and IA reporting activities. Furthermore, the risk management framework explicitly addresses public integrity risks, delegates responsibility for conducting risk assessments to management, and requires public institutions to adopt an integrity plan. However, despite being one of the top performers in regulatory safeguards for risk management, in practice Spain does not collect data from the central budget organisations to monitor the implementation of risk management, including coverage and implementation of IA and the implementation rate of IA recommendations.

 Lobbying

As measured against OECD standards on lobbying, Spain fulfils 25% of criteria on regulations and 0% on practice, compared to the OECD average of 38% and 35%, respectively. While regulations establish cooling-off periods for public officials leaving office, there are no regulations on lobbying, and no lobbying register. Spain is in the process of developing legislation aiming to regulate interest groups (lobbyists) and increase transparency of lobbying activities through the creation of a lobbying register.

 Conflict of interest

As measured against OECD standards on conflict of interest, Spain fulfils 78% of criteria on regulations and is a top performer on practice, fulfilling 89% of criteria, compared to the OECD average of 76% and 40%, respectively. The regulations list incompatibilities between public functions and other public or private activities, define circumstances and relationships that can lead to conflict-of-interest situations for public officials, and institutional responsibilities as well as submission, compliance, and content verification procedures for interest declarations. Any member of the government, parliament, and newly appointed or reappointed top-tier civil servant of the executive branch must submit an interest declaration as a minimum upon entry and any renewal or change in public office. However, there is no such obligation for the members of the highest bodies of the judiciary and high-risk office holders. In practice, all members of the government and members of the parliament have submitted interest declarations for the past six years, and all newly appointed top-tier civil servants submitted interest declarations in the past four years. Furthermore, all the declarations filed during the last two calendar years were verified by the Office of Conflicts of Interest, and the Office issues recommendations each time a conflict-of-interest case is detected.

 Political finance

As measured against OECD standards on political finance, Spain has fulfilled 80% of criteria on regulations, and 57% on practice, compared to the OECD average of 73% and 58%, respectively. The regulations establish sanctions for breaches of political finance and election campaign regulations in proportion to the severity of the offence, ban contributions to political parties from publicly owned enterprises, foreign enterprises, and foreign states. Furthermore, all political parties must report their finances during electoral campaigns, and make financial reports public, including all contributions exceeding a fixed ceiling. In terms of practice, the Court of Auditors has the mandate to oversee the financing of political parties and election campaigns, has certified auditors on its payroll, and has published reports and rulings with information on number of cases related to breaches of political finance regulations, number of investigations conducted, and a breakdown of the different types of sanctions issued. However, while all political parties submitted annual accounts within the timelines defined by national legislation for the past five years, not all political parties submitted accounts related to elections within the timelines defined by national legislation for the past two election cycles, and financial reports from all political parties are not publicly available.

 Transparency of public information

As measured against OECD standards on public information, which includes access to information and open data, Spain is one of the top performers by fulfilling 89% of criteria on regulations, and 81% on practice, compared to the OECD average of 67% and 62%, respectively. The regulations establish that everyone, including legal persons and non-citizens, has the right to access information in all forms, and the only restrictions to access to public information allowed are listed by law and in line with the Tromso convention. Furthermore, there are statutory deadlines for processing requests for information, and information holders are required to provide information in the requested format. In terms of practice, legislation, the state budget, results of the last national elections, legislative proposals of the government, government sessions agenda, Minister’s agenda, land registry, salaries of individual senior civil-servants, public tenders announced by central government and the results of the public tenders awarded are all accessible on respective government websites. Company registry, and asset and interest declarations of members of the judiciary are not disclosed publicly.