Participation in Drafting the New Anti-Corruption Strategy (HR0022)

Develop a new anti-corruption strategy Necessary resources: HRK 50,000 Implementation indicators: decision of the Government/Ministry of Justice on the establishment of a working group/coordination body for managing the process of drawing up the Draft strategy, detecting corruption risks in all sectoral areas encompassed by the Draft of the strategy, formation of sectoral teams for drawing up the draft strategy, public consultation conducted on the draft strategy, number of staff of public authorities included in the process of drawing up the draft strategy, number of civil society organisations included in the process of drawing up the draft strategy, draft strategy drawn up before 30 September 2014, strategy adopted by the Government before 30 December 2014 Lead institutions: Ministry of Justice Supporting institutions: Information Commissioner; Conflict of Interest Commission; Ministries Start date: Not specified End date: 31 December 2014

✪13. Participation in Drafting the New Anti-Corruption Strategy

Commitment Text:

13.1. Develop a new anti-corruption strategy

Necessary resources: HRK 50,000

Implementation indicators:

•  decision of the Government/Ministry of Justice on the establishment of a working group/coordination body for managing the process of drawing up the Draft strategy
• detecting corruption risks in all sectoral areas encompassed by the Draft of the strategy
• formation of sectoral teams for drawing up the draft strategy
• public consultation conducted on the draft strategy
• number of staff of public authorities included in the process of drawing up the draft strategy
• number of civil society organisations included in the process of drawing up the draft strategy
• draft strategy drawn up before 30 September 2014
• strategy adopted by the Government before 30 December 2014

Lead institutions: Ministry of Justice

Supporting institutions: Information Commissioner; Conflict of Interest Commission; Ministries

 Start date: Not specified   End date: December 2014

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aimed to develop a new Anti-Corruption Strategy, including the allocation of necessary resources. The previous Anti-Corruption Strategy was in place since 19 June 2008 and had several action plans aimed at achieving its goals.^{[Note 67: Strategija suzbijanja korupcije, Narodne novine, 19. lipnja 2014., http://bit.ly/1qyilm4 [Anti-Corruption Strategy, Official Gazette, 19 June 2014].]} The previous strategy was a time-limited strategic document that passed through several previous administrations. In early 2013, the Ministry of Justice announced that a new Anti-Corruption Strategy was to be drafted;^{[Note 68: Ministarstvo pravosuđa, http://www.antikorupcija.hr, http://bit.ly/1xuSyjF [Ministry of Justice].]} however, the drafting process did not start until June 2014 when a working group was constituted.

Status

Midterm: Complete

The IRM researcher found that this commitment was completely implemented within the requisite time frame.

The draft strategy and the accompanying form for participation in the consultation were published on the website of the Ministry of Justice.^{[Note 69: https://pravosudje.gov.hr/pristup-informacijama-6341/savjetovanja-sa-zainteresiranom-javnoscu/okoncana-savjetovanja/okoncana-savjetovanja-2014-godine-7897/7897.]} During the public consultation, there were two thematic roundtables (one on 19 November 2014^{[Note 70: https://pravosudje.gov.hr/vijesti/odrzan-okrugli-stol-na-temu-strategije-suzbijanja-korupcije/7601.]} and the other on 9 December 2014). In addition, other thematic meetings were held on this topic in November and December 2014. After the proposed strategy was finalised and the strategy was adopted on 27 February 2015 (Official Gazette, No. 26/2015), the next step was the development of the accompanying action plan. It also went through a period of public consultation (from 22 May to 21 June 2015) on the e-consultation portal^{[Note 71: https://esavjetovanja.gov.hr/ECon/MainScreen?entityId=1155.]} and was adopted on 16 July 2015.^{[Note 72: http://www.propisi.hr/print.php?id=13679]} A total of 20 comments were received during the consultation process, all of which were commented on by the competent authority and three of which were declined.

The interviewed stakeholders all stated that the described process was open and participative and that the finalised documents represented an example of good practice.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Marginal

Civic participation: Outstanding

This commitment included activities intended to shepherd the new Anti-Corruption Strategy from the drafting phase through adoption by the government. Its potential impact was transformative, since creating this type of cross-sectoral document meant that the government had to significantly extend its established procedures in order to provide more information and encourage civic participation. The interviewed stakeholders^{[Note 73: The participants were interviewed in the period between September and October 2015. For more information, see the IRM midterm report. ]} all stated that the described process was open and participatory and that the finalised documents represent an example of good practice.

The effect on improving the quality of available information was marginal since most of the information required for creating the strategy was available, though it had to be gathered and analysed by the sectoral working groups. On the other hand, the government created outstanding opportunities for the public to inform and influence decisions in the creation of the document, setting the standard for other such strategic decision making. For example, the representatives of GONG emphasised^{[Note 74: The interview was conducted on 22 September 2015. For more information, see the IRM midterm report.]} that the Ministry of Judiciary mostly worked in line with GONG’s proposal for a participative approach to the creation and adoption of the strategy.

Carried forward?

The next action has not been drafted or released by the government in accordance with the OGP schedule.