Experts of the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption (CAPC) say the bill on the creation of the Main Ethics Commission that is to examine the income and property statements of the functionaries will not achieve its aims. In a news conference on Thursday, representatives of the Center said that if the commission is constituted in accordance with the current bill, the procedure for examining and solving the conflicts of interest risks remaining unregulated, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the Center, the creation of the Main Ethics Commission is indispensable in the process of implementing the law on the conflicts of interest, which came into force in May 2008. “The main problem does not reside in the imperfection of the provisions concerning the procedure for declaring incomes, but in the finality. If the appropriation of funds is not considered an offence and is not punished criminally, there will be no finality,” said Mariana Kalughin, expert of the CAPC. The Center’s experts said the bill on the creation of the Main Ethics Commission meets the international standards, but these standards provide only a general framework for instituting a mechanism for declaring the incomes and property and for dealing with the conflicts of interest. Under an informative note to the bill, the Ministry of Justice, which drafted the bill, applied the model of Romania, which already has a similar body, called the National Integrity Agency. The CAPC experts consider that the employment of this model without offering solutions that anticipate the possible institutional shortcomings is argued insufficiently. Mariana Kalughin said the bill should contain an economic and financial justification for its implementation. According to the CAPC, there is a possibility that the rights and freedoms of the persons will be prejudiced. The bill on the creation of the Main Ethics Commission was discussed by the Parliament’s law commission on May 25. The approval of the legislative initiative and its inclusion in the agenda of the legislative body’s sitting had been postponed for two times as the members of the commission demanded amending the status and composition of the Main Ethics Commission. This expertise was realised by implementing the project “Coruption Proofing of Draft Legislative Acts – Phase V”, financed by Civil Rights Defenders and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.