Preventing Corruption (NO0060)

Preventing corruption
January 2019 to June 2020
Responsible body Ministry of Justice
Description
What problem for the general public
is the commitment aimed to solve?
Need for better dialogue between the authorities
and the population to prevent corruption
What is the commitment? 1) Systematisation and support of more, and better,
dialogue between the authorities and the general
public to prevent corruption, by improving the
coordination of information to the population on
the authorities’ initiatives to combat corruption,
among other things
2) Better access to information for the general
public with regard to the requirements that apply
to good work to combat corruption and the consequences of inadequate implementation or breach
of the regulations. Strive to make risk and threat
assessments in the area of anti-corruption better
known to the general public.
How will the commitment contribute
to solving the problem?
An overall clarification of the authorities’ attitudes
towards corruption, various measures for the
prevention and detection of corruption and the
consequences of violations, are expected to have
a preventive effect in relation to both the general
public and the public authorities.
How is this commitment relevant to
the OGP’s fundamental values?
Open dialogue between the authorities and the
population regarding work to combat corruption.
This can also prevent corruption.
Additional information For example, costs, other government initiatives, strategies,
sustainable development goals, etc.
30
Milestones Start date End date
Start-up 2019
Comment by the Ministry of Justice:
It is difficult to set milestones for this
work, because the start-up date has
been set to January 2019. The first
item on the agenda will likely be to
establish an outline for further work,
which will include milestones.”
Contact information
Person responsible from the
implementing body
Mona Ransedokken
Entity Ministry of Justice and Public Security
E-mail/Telephone mona.ransedokken@jd.dep.no / +47 22 24 51 77
Other public participants The commitment entails the necessary dialogue
with other public actors who work to prevent and
combat corruption.
Collaborative civil society
organisations, cross-sectoral
working groups, etc.

7. Preventing corruption

Main Objective

"1) Systematisation and support of more, and better, dialogue between the authorities and the general public to prevent corruption, by improving the coordination of information to the population on the authorities' initiatives to combat corruption, among other things

2) Better access to information for the general public with regard to the requirements that apply to good work to combat corruption and the conse­quences of inadequate implementation or breach of the regulations. Strive to make risk and threat assessments in the area of anti-corruption better known to the general public.

An overall clarification of the authorities' attitudes towards corruption, various measures for the prevention and detection of corruption and the consequences of violations, are expected to have a preventive effect in relation to both the general public and the public authorities."

Milestones

Comment by the Ministry of Justice in the action plan:

"It is difficult to set milestones for this work, because the start-up date has been set to January 2019. The first item on the agenda will likely be to establish an outline for further work, which will include milestones."

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Norway's action plan at https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/norges-handlingsplan-4---open-government-partnership-ogp/id2638814/

Commitment Analysis

This commitment aims to strengthen the dialogue on anti-corruption among public authorities and between them and the public. Norway performs well in measures on anti-corruption and corruption perception. The country ranked 7^th out of 193 countries in Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), [37] and has ranked in the top 10 in the CPI for the past 10 years. [38] However, Norwegian civil society has claimed that a comprehensive anti-corruption policy is needed to guide the government's anti-corruption efforts. [39] A cooperative forum with representatives from several Norwegian ministries and government agencies relevant to anti-corruption has been established in 2019. [40] The purpose of the forum is to improve coordination of governmental anti-corruption work, and several government institutions have met several times to discuss their work. According to an interviewed representative from the Ministry of Justice, a next step envisaged is to launch a platform to inform the public on anti-corruption activities, though this is not provided in the commitment text. [41]

The commitment lacks specific activities that would allow for the verification of its completion. The Ministry of Justice notes that the first activity will likely involve outlining further work (which will include milestones). While the commitment calls for strengthening dialogue between the authorities and the public, as well as access to information regarding work to combat corruption, it is first and foremost about coordination among public authorities. It does not contain measures for actual change of policies and/or legislation. Theoretically, this commitment could result in more publicly available information on anti-corruption measures, but the work appears to mainly focus on improving coordination of anti-corruption work among public authorities. In addition, the lack of verifiable or measurable activities makes it difficult to assess the commitment's potential impact.

After the Ministry of Justice determines the specific activities for this commitment, the IRM recommends developing a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy for Norway in collaboration with civil society.

Commitment 7. Preventing corruption

· Verifiable: No

· Relevant: Unclear

· Potential impact: None

· Completion: Limited

· Did it open government? No early results yet to report

This commitment was modified to include milestones in the amended version of the plan. [40] Although the original commitment was not verifiable and was considered to have no potential impact, the amended commitment included milestones that made the commitment verifiable, and the IRM determined that it would have minor potential for results. The commitment sought to strengthen the dialogue on anti-corruption among public authorities to ensure a more comprehensive overview of ongoing activities across different bodies and agencies and to better inform the public on these activities by publishing them on a dedicated online platform.

The commitment achieved limited completion. A Cooperation Forum on Anti-Corruption was established in spring 2019 with a mandate from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. It involves representatives of various public authorities. [41] An interviewed representative of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security [42] further confirmed that the platform was created with the goal of sharing this information to the broader public, but that COVID-19 slowed the effort, and the webpage is not currently active or populated with content. In addition to COVID‑19, other identified challenges to completion include limited resources to collect relevant content. Once launched, the platform is expected to work as a repository showcasing all anti-corruption efforts that government agencies have implemented, such as ethical guidelines for public employees, penal code provisions, and recommendations from international bodies. No dissemination or awareness-raising efforts are planned to inform the public of this new initiative. At this stage, the commitment has not opened government; rather, it has focused on strengthening cooperation within the public administration only.