PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS REGARDING LAW ON CONFLICT OF INTERESTS DeFacto Consultancy, July 2015

I NTRODUCTION REMARKS  This is one of the rare longitudinal surveys in Montenegro  This is the fifth survey wave, it started in 2007 and continues till today  Methodology is quantitative  Questionnaire contained 47 questions  1000 people were surveyed, selection of the respondents was conducted using representative sample for Montenegro  Interviewing was conducted face to face  Standard error of measurement was %

F AMILIARITY WITH THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK Have you heard of Commission for prevention of conflict of interests?

F AMILIARITY WITH THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK Are you familiar with the changes of the Law on preventing conflict of interests of public officials?

F AMILIARITY WITH THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK If you are familiar with the Law, do you believe that is is…

F AMILIARITY WITH THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK Do you know who the Law applies to?

F AMILIARITY WITH THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK Do you know how many public officials need to obey this Law? Do you think that the number of public officials that need to obey this Law should be increased or reduced? (yellow for 2013 and green for 2015)

F AMILIARITY WITH THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK If you believe that the number of public officials should be increased, do you think it should also include customs officers, doctors, professors and others?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Do you agree with the following provisions of the Law on the prevention of the conflict of interests? What should and should not public officials be allowed to do while in office?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Procentage of those that agree with the fact that public official must not be a member of the management body of a company or public institution Do you consider justified legal provision that states that members of the parliament cannot be members of the governing, oversight boards or management of public companies and institutions?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS The Law states that public officials need to report their property. Do you agree with the following claims related to this issue?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Percentage of people that believe that public officials should report the property of all the members of their households Percentage of people that believe that public officials should report the property at the beginning and at the end of their term

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS After termination of public service for how long should a public official submit the report on income and property?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS What do you think about the latest change of the Law on prevention of the conflict of interests which states that public officials must report the source of the significant increasing of their property?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Can a public official after termination of his/her public service work on private business that is directly related to his work as public official?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Do you believe that the reported property of the public officials is realistic?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Do you believe that the information related to the property of the public officials should be public?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Should a public official when taking the office state the source of his/her property before becoming a public officer? What should be the punishment for not reporting accurate information about one’s property?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Percentage of people that believe that the punishment of not submitting information about their property should be removal from the office Percentage of those that believe that the punishment for not submitting accurate information about property should be prison

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Should the punishment be different for those that conduct their work as professionals related to those that do not?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Should the number of positions that a public official can hold be limited?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS The Law states that the initiative for starting a procedure with the Commission for prevention of the conflict of interest can come from any person. Would you submit one if you had the knowledge of a public official breaking the Law on prevention of conflict of interests?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Should a specific value of the each property item that is not being officially registered be determined? People mentioned different amounts between 1 and eur. The most frequent response is 1000 eura (23,6%).

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Does the Commission for prevention of conflict of interests have the right to enforce other legal provisions (laws, bylaws, ethical regulations etc.)? Which should be the punishment for public officials if they disobey the Law on prevention of the conflict of interests?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Percentage of those that believe that public officials should be punished with dismissal from the office and financial fee Percentage of those that believe that the punishment should be prison Percentage of those that believe that the punishment should be dismissal from the public office and life long prohibition of working in public sector

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Did you know that the changes of the Law brought tougher financial punishment for public officials that disobey it?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Percentage of those that believe that it is a real problem unavailability of information about the work of the government Do you agree with the statement that the following are real problems?

A TTITUDES ABOUT SPECIFIC LEGAL PROVISIONS Would you vote for the public official…

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION How would you evaluate the work of the Commission for prevention of conflict of interests?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION Do you believe that having in mind impartiality and the nature of its work the Commission needs independent budget?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION Do you believe that the Commission adequately checks property of the public officials? What is the most efficient way to collect and check the information about property of the public officials?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION Should a public official when taking the office provide consent that his/hers banking account in the country and abroad could be checked? Should be the data about the property, banking accounts, companies etc. of the public officials be protected from the public in accordance with the Law on private data protection

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION Do you believe that the public official that does not sign a consent allowing access to banking accounts is trying to hide his/her property? Is it justified that a public official can earn money from only one working bodies and commissions?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION The Commission uses data from other state bodies in order to check the information about the property of the public officials. Do you believe that other legal entities in private sectors should be obliged to provide information for the Commission? Are you are of the fact that public officials after leaving the office cannot sign contract for providing services whose value exceeds 500 eur yearly?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION Do you believe that hiding the property of the public official should be considered as criminal act? Do you believe that the report on property and income of the public officials should be treated as an official document?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION Having in mind that current legislation does not stipulate that the statement about change of the bank is obligatory, do you believe it should become? Do you know that the public official needs to disclose private interest if there is a conflict?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION Have you so far requested any information from the Commission for prevention of the conflict of interests?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION If not, why?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION If you did requested such information what are your experiences?* * Total number of respondents was 41

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION How do you mostly get informed about the work of the Commission for the prevention of conflict of interests?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION The main channels of receiving information about the work of the Commission?

A TTITUDES ABOUT THE WORK OF THE C OMMISSION Is better cooperation with countries of the region necessary when it comes to implementation of the conflict of interest legislation? Should the Commission for preventing conflict of interests use more marketing resources in order to better inform the citizens?

C ONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS  Most citizens are aware of the fact that the Commission for prevention of the conflict of interests exists  The number of those that are familiar with the Law on prevention of the conflict of interests is almost twice smaller  Although the number of people that report knowledge about the Law is decreasing, the number of the people that evaluates it as a good one increases  The Commission is trusted by the citizens  Less then half of the citizens is prepared to personally initiate a procedure against a public official  Information are not available about the work of the government bodies and this is one of the major problems according to citizens’ perceptions  Citizens approve of the idea that reports to the Commission are used as public documents