The High Authority takes part in the work of the OECD on public governance

In the framework of the activities of the Public governance committee of the Organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD), the High Authority for transparency in public life participated, on 3-4 November 2016, in the senior public integrity officials working party of the OECD.

This group of delegates from about thirty member and observer countries of the OECD aims at promoting the implementation of public integrity policies, notably by sharing experiences and best practices. Organized on a biannual basis at the conference center of the OECD in Paris, this meeting reinforces the work of the international organization in order to provide the different countries with tools to strengthen their integrity systems.

On 4 November, the Deputy secretary general of the High Authority, Mr. Éric Buge, participated in a session on “strengthening integrity through proactive risk management”. He explained its mission of counsel to public officials and institutions and of elaboration of recommendations as in the report on parliamentary “clubs” and on ethics in public cultural establishments.

He also mentioned recent legislative developments on public integrity. He elaborated on the fact that any civil servant can consult an ethics officer for guidance, which is a provision of the law of 20 April 2016. He also talked about the future creation of a French anticorruption agency, which will be in charge of auditing procedures to fight corruption within administrations and local authorities and about the implementation of a mandatory lobbying register.

The discussions that followed allowed to discuss about the control of revolving doors between public office and private sector for ministers and high locally-elected public officials led by the High Authority and it verifies notably the declarations of interests that are transmitted to the institution and more broadly speaking, detection and prevention of conflicts of interests procedures.