The bill on the National Integrity Center, which is to take over the duties of the current National Integrity Commission, needs to be substantially improved, consider experts of the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption (CAPC), who appraised the draft law. Improvements should be made concerning the eligibility of the head, deputy head, members of the Center and of the integrity inspectors as well as the method of selecting them and the method of examining the property in case of challenges, etc.

In a news conference at IPN on March 17, appraisal author Iulian Rusu said that one of the recommended improvements refers to the financing of the Center. The bill says that he financing depends on the Ministry of Finance, but specifies that functionaries of this institution will also be examined by the Center. “We consider other special rules should be laid down as regards the formation of the budget of the National Integrity Center because otherwise there will be a conflict of provisions and of interests,” said the expert, noting that this institution’s budget should be independent from the Ministry of Finance.

The appraisal showed that amendments are also needed to the mechanism for nullifying documents issued by violating the rules concerning the absence of conflicts of interests, especially for normative and legal acts. Changes are also needed as regards the level of responsibility of members of the National Integrity Center and persons who notify the Center for illegal acts, exclusion of limitations regarding the confiscation of property of successors, etc. It is also necessary to specify the role and duties of the members of the Integrity Council that forms part of the National Integrity Center, including the working method and their remuneration.

The appraisal report says the draft contains some omissions. One of them is the non-adjustment of the provisions of the legal acts subject to modifications to the special provisions concerning the impossibility of imposing disciplinary penalties when the integrity regime is violated.

The CAPC assessed the bill within the project “Vulnerability appraisal of draft normative and legal documents” that is financially supported by MATRA Rule of Law and Good Governance of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.