Gerhard Levy Baku, 21 May 2013 Workshop on Rules on Ethics and Conduct of Civil Servants

Head of the Department (Bureau) for Internal Affaires (BIA) – tax inspector, tax investigator 1992– Senior investigation officer 2003upwards - Head of Department for Internal Affairs and Legal Expert for Tax Fraud Teacher and trainer at the Federal Academy of the Tax and Customs Administration and at the Federal Academy of Business Administration in ethics, integrity, anticorruption seminars, STE and Project Leader of EU-projects

Our Topics - Regular inquiry on situation with observance of the ethics conduct rules by civil servants; - Acceptance of complaints and information about violation of the rules by civil servants and other persons; - Proposals, recommendations and presentations of solution of issues arisen from incoming information; - Establishment of the ethics attorney institute in state bodies 3

General questions What do we know (or think we know) about ethics, moral, integrity, compliance …? Factors which may influence professional ethic behaviour? Social environment (wealth, poverty) Working environment (wages, trust) Government environment (trust, fairness) Judicial environment (law enforcement, independence) and others – (history, culture, religion …) 4

What‘s the point? Civil servants within a magical triangle Civil servant Official Duties Salary, wages Favours, Gifts

Professional Ethics „Compliance Pyramid“ Criminal Act – punishment for crimes and serious offences – Repression Civil servants Act – rules of duties and responsibilities, disciplinary procedures Prevention / repression Professional Ethics – guidelines and codes of ethics, Compliance programmes, education, seminars Prevention

Ethics conduct rules A functioning bureaucracy indicates partly unethical or corrupt behaviour: Balance between trust and control (internal control mechanism, risk analysis) Balance between trust and responsibility (discretion versus overwhelming rules) Complaints- and information system (for citizens, entrepreneurs, civil servants …) Balance between gathering useful information and denunciation – “whistle-blowing systems”). 7

Acceptance of complaints Professional complaints management Strict distinction between Mistake / error / fault Negligence Offence with intent Binding rules for further procedures are necessary Clear responsibilities for involved executives Adequate consequences Transparency 8

9 Disciplinary Law - Austria Violence of Service Duties A civil servant, who violates his/her service duties culpably, has to be “hold accountable/liable”. Disciplinary Punishment - Reprimand or Censure - Administrative penalty (fine) – up to a half monthly salary - Financial penalty – up to five monthly salaries - Dismissal

10 Disciplinary Law - Austria Assessment (sharpness) of penalties - Seriousness of the offence - Preventive necessity - Extenuating or aggravating causes - personal obligations - economic resources No punishment for a violence of service duties is allowed: - six months after the Service Authority has knowledge of a violation of service duties - three years after the violation of service duties has ended

11 Raise awareness Human beings act with rationalization and (personal) utilization Benefit – cost comparison – f. e. Perceived benefits (personal - legal or illegal - gain of an action) minus (mis-)perceived risks (likelihood of investigation or detection) multiplied by (often quiet incorrect ideas about) consequences (law enforcement, punishment). “Trade-off between right and wrong”

12 Austrian initiative The Austrian Code of Conduct – The RESPONSibility rests with me Preamble Impartiality Acceptance of advantages Secondary Employment Official Secrecy Responsibility of Executives Responsibility of the Organization

13 Austrian Code of Conduct Preamble – prevention, raise awareness, challenge taboos, reliability / objectivity of the public service Impartiality – objectivity, avoidance of conflicts of interests Acceptance of advantages – (favors, gifts, bribes) – questions of ethics Secondary Employment - not engage that - prevents a public servant from performing official duties - leads to suspicion that there is a conflict of interest - poses a threat to other official interests

14 Austrian Code of Conduct Official Secrecy – versus civic right of information Responsibility of Executives - ethical values, social responsibility, respect, trust, support, supervision, raise awareness, managerial responsibility, control measures (protection of staff and organization), goals of organization, communication and behavior, transparency. Responsibility of the Organization - competences and responsibilities, internal control systems, spirit of trust, education and training opportunities, role model function

15 Austrian Act on Civil Servants Service Obligations towards Superiors … shall support the superiors and comply with their instructions. Service Obligations of Superiors … shall ensure that their staff members fulfill their service obligations lawfully and expedient, economic and thrifty … shall guide the staff members, give them instructions (if necessary) to remove errors and deficiencies that have occurred, … … shall promote the career advancement and direct their deployments in correlation with their abilities and skills

16 Ethics attorney institute Ethics commissioner (attorney) Ethics commission Compliance officer Integrity commissioner Anti corruption agency (commission) … Important - Separation between prevention and repression “good guy – bad guy”

17 Challenge - initiative NeedsInputOutputOutcomeImpactLong-term Goal Evaluation Crutial - causality

18 Comments - Questions Open questions Topics for afternoon session with regard to solutions for further development