Strategic approach

Vision

The vision behind the strategy is to strengthen the national system for prevention and combating corruption by consolidating the mechanisms for identification and management of risks, threats and vulnerabilities associated with this phenomenon, in order to safeguard the professionalism and efficiency in the public sector as well as citizens’ safety and to support a well-developed social and economic environment.

The advancement of organizational integrity in the public sector, as well as in the private one, is able to decrease the occurrences of corruption, fraud and integrity incidents in those sectors exposed to corruption. Also, a robust integrity environment should support Romania in achieving the objectives undertaken at international level in the field of anti-corruption and the rule of law. On this background, the advancement of Romania’s foreign policy objectives, also by improving the image of Romania at international level, will speed up the process of joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (hereinafter OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, adopted in Paris, on 21 November 1997, which entered into force on 15 February 1999. 

The resources of the state must be mobilized in a coherent and effective manner in order to investigate and hold accountable those involved in activities related to corruption, also through strengthening the mechanisms for inter-institutional cooperation and the capabilities of competent institutions and authorities, so that an integrated approach of the phenomenon should be provided.

Additional to the measures reserved for combating corruption, the strategy includes measures that are aimed at the prevention and education of officials, as well as of citizens, in relation to topics such as: organizational integrity and mitigation of corruption risks, the national framework criminalizing acts of corruption, human rights, access to public information, decision-making transparency, impact of “petty” corruption over public services etc.

Mission

The practical implementation of the vision relies on the following pillars:

• political will – the political decision-makers understand the importance of a corruption-free society and will work together to implement the measures provided for in the current strategy;
• integrity – the representatives of institutions and public authorities have the obligation to declare any personal interests that could contradict the objective exercise of work related duties and to take all required measures in order to avoid such situations;
• priority of the public interest – the representatives of the public institutions and authorities have the obligation to consider the public interest to be above all other interests in the exercise of their work related duties. They should not use the public function to obtain any undue advantage for themselves, their families or persons close to them;
• transparency – the representatives of public institutions and authorities shall ensure free access to information of public interest, the transparency of the decision making process and the consultation of the civil society during this process.

General principles

Every measure is underlain by the following principles, whereas the compliance with these is paramount for building a modern and efficient public administration: 

• the principle of the rule of law which establishes the primacy of law as all citizens are equal before the law. This principle is based on the respect of the human rights and implies the separation of powers;
• the principle of accountability according to which state authorities are held accountable for the fulfilment of their duties and also for the method of implementation of strategies;
• the principle of the responsible management of risks generated by behaviours characterized by lack of integrity, as an integral part of the management process conducted by every organization;
• the principle of proportionality in the elaboration and implementation of anti-corruption procedures: public institutions have to develop, implement and uphold strong procedures which are proportionate with the institutional risks and vulnerabilities and sized depending on the resources and complexity of the organization;
• the principle of responsibility at the highest level of engagement: Integrity policies will only be efficient as long as there is a clear response coming from the highest level of the administration that bribe is not tolerated. The highest management at each level of the administration has to initiate, monitor and lead, by the power of personal example, the implementation of an anti-corruption policy, recognizing the fact that bribery contradicts the fundamental value of integrity, transparency and responsibility and that it undermines organizational efficiency;
• the principle of the prevention of integrity incidents according to which the early identification and removal of the preconditions for the occurrence of corruption acts are a priority and a must. Both public and private institutions have to be diligent in the evaluation of partners, agents and contractors. Each entity should evaluate the integrity risks associated with entering into a partnership or contracting other entities and subsequently have to conduct periodical risk evaluations. When concluding contracts, they have to verify if the respective organizations have policies and procedures in place which comply with these principles and guidelines;
• the principle of efficiency in fighting corruption which is based on the continuous evaluation of the activity of institutions involved in this field, both in respect of the full achievement of the goals pursued in order to trigger the positive effects which the society expects as well as in terms of the organizational management;
• the principle of inter-institutional coherence based on which the institutions involved in the prevention and combating of corruption have to closely cooperate, ensuring a unitary understanding of the goals to be pursued and of the measures to be taken;
• the principle of the public-private partnership which acknowledges the importance of the involvement of the civil society and of the business environment in the concrete activities of implementation of the anti-corruption measures;
• the principle of the free access to public interest information and of the transparency in the decision making process;
• the principle of international active cooperation, which is aimed at active cooperation within formats that are made operational at European Union level, as well as at the level of other European and international organizations that Romania is a part of [Council of Europe, United Nations (hereinafter the UN) Convention against Corruption (hereinafter UNCAC), the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (hereinafter RAI), OECD, etc.] as well as assuring an active role for Romania at international level.

Definitions:

• integrity incident - one of the following events in relation to the situation of an employee of a public authority or institution or of a structure within such institution: disciplinary termination of the employment relationship following a deviation from the deontological rules or other similar regulations meant to protect the integrity of the public function, including those established through second-level and third-level legislation which stipulate such sanctions; prosecution or conviction for the perpetration of a corruption offence or an offence related to the violation of the interdictions, incompatibilities, conflict of interest or declaration of assets; an act issued by the National Integrity Agency, concerning the violation of the legal obligations in the area of wealth whose origin cannot be accounted for, the conflict of interest or incompatibilities, that was rendered final (definition included in the Standard methodology for assessment of corruption-related risks within central public authorities and institutions, approved through the Government Decision no. 599/2018);
• organizational integrity agenda – represents the overall institutional priorities and objectives undertaken by the management of the entity in order to comply and implement the legal integrity standards, in order to advance an organizational integrity environment. The organizational integrity agenda provides the milestones to be taken into account when drafting the integrity plan;
• integrity plan – the whole range of measures identified by the management of the institution as remedies for the institutional corruption risks and vulnerabilities identified.. The measures envisaged may refer to the prevention of corruption, including through training of the employees, and also of the target group aimed at by the activity of the institution/authority, public company, as well as the fight against corruption. The training of the employees will focus on the new developments in this sector, such as the use of behavioural interventions or managing the change of the internal environment (the use of the theory of change). The public authorities and institutions will make sure that the vocational training aimed at integrity will take into consideration specific objectives and will be delivered in a sustainable manner. For public enterprises, the integrity plans will incorporate the instructions included in the OECD Good Practice Guidance on Internal Controls, Ethics, and Compliance. The integrity plans are assumed by legal acts, such as orders or decisions issued by the management of the institution;
• integrity legal standards – those measures of institutional transparency and prevention of corruption provided for in the domestic legislation and reflected in the inventory attached to the NAS.
• open contracting data standard - represents the process of making the public procurement process and the execution of contracts transparent by making the data possessed by the public authorities available and involvement of the public and business environment in the identification and solving of the problems in the field. The process is made up from two main phases: opening up the data and involvement of the citizens and business environment. The opening of the data and their publication are performed according with standards which are validated as good practices at international level - Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS). The opening of the data is not limited to the procurement process, but also refers to the contracting stage and execution of the contracts. The involvement of the public and of the business environment is beneficial by finding alternative solutions, more efficient ones, for the use of public funds, as well as in terms of overcoming some problems in the winding-up of the procurement process or execution of contracts. Among the benefits the following can be mentioned: efficient use of public funds; offering the possibility of accessing public funds by a larger spectrum of participants, reducing the costs by increasing the competition; offering the possibility of increasing the quality of goods and services contracted through public funds; corruption prevention; promotion of a participative analysis of the data in order to find solutions to the problems of the public sector and of the communities;
• pantouflage – this concept covers post-employment interdictions for public institutions.

New approaches in the management of the public sector, alongside with extended work possibilities, have changed the relations between the public sector and the private sector, as well as the public perception on these relations. The need to keep alive the public’s trust, especially at times of change, increases the importance of the development and retaining the systems which approach conflicts of interest, including the ones which occur when public officials migrate to the private sector. The most frequent goals of a system which approaches the migration of the public officials from the public sector to the private sector are: (1) to make sure that certain information acquired during the exercise of the public service is not misused; (2) to make sure that the exercise of the authority by a public official is not influenced by the personal gain, including the hope or expectation in relation with a future employment and (3) to make sure that the access and contacts of the current and former public officials are not used for undue benefits of the public officials or other people.