The European Commission has published the Handbook of Good Practices in the Fight Against Corruption (the Guide), which identifies the Law on Corruption Prevention of the Republic of Lithuania (Law) as an example of good practice in creating a corruption-proof environment. The purpose of the published document is to provide an overview of various anti-corruption practices in the European Union (EU) Member States that have proved to be useful in solving problems related to corruption, and which can inspire similar initiatives elsewhere.
This Guide, as an example of good practice, highlights the new Law, which received a lot of attention from representatives of the public sector, was prepared on the basis of recommendations of international organizations, also characterized by systemic corruption prevention and clear rights, duties and responsibilities of persons responsible for creating resilience to corruption environment.
The Guide emphasizes that the Law is in line with new standards of anti-corruption progress. The main innovation of systemic importance is that public sector bodies and their heads have direct responsibility for preventing corruption and ensuring they live up to the new standard of anti-corruption progress. The Law provides for the development of methodologies for determining the likelihood of corruption and the level of resistance to corruption for public sector entities. An entity to which another body is subordinate will assess anti-corruption practices, their quality, and the effectiveness of their practical implementation.
Another important aspect is that the Law foresees that public sector entities should increase their anti-corruption capacity and conduct anti-corruption training for their employees. They are also obliged to publish information about corruption-related violations detected over the last three years (including their number, specifics, and actions taken to mitigate the impact).
As a good example, the Guide also mentions the “Integrity Academy”, an initiative created two years ago and rapidly developing, where top experts in transparency standards share their experience and advice on how to create an anti-corruption environment in an organization.
The European Commission's Anti-Corruption Good Practice Guide can be found here.
