Regulation on gifts needs improvement, CAPC

24.08.2012 13:31
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3 minute(s)

The regulation bill on the evaluation, monitoring, keeping, use and compensation of gifts needs some improvements, but is, nevertheless, a balanced one. This is the conclusion reached by specialists from the Center for Analysis and Prevention of Corruption (CAPC), who tested the bill at the request of the Ministry of Justice, reports Info-Prim Neo. Mariana Calughin, the expert who analyzed the bill, claims that it is a good one, but some provisions have room for improvement. Referring to the deadline for a public employee to declare the gift, the expert believes that it could be extended, in order to be realistic. The bill currently stipulates a 7 calendar-day term. CAPC proposes to extend it to at least 7 business days, not calendar ones. The regulation bill mentioned that public authorities may compensate their gift, if it costs more than 1,000 lei, by paying the difference. Galina Bostan, CAPC president, claims that this provision violates other effective laws, and that the person concerned should pay the entire cost of the gift, not only its difference. Additionally, CAPC experts hope that authorities will later on propose some administrative sanctions for those who do not declare gifts received. One issue mentioned by CAPC is the fact that authorities don’t have any mechanism to check whether someone receives gifts or not. In this case, it is based on the functionary’s honesty, or on other channels that allow finding out whether one has received a gift and has not declared it. The proposed regulation stipulates only the cases of receiving gifts, not of offering them. Meanwhile, it refers only to public authorities and does not regulate the relations between professors and students, or their parents, between doctors and their patients. Additionally, CAPC experts claim that they expected some special provisions, e.g. public functionaries cannot accept gifts of any kind from entities that they supervise, such as banks or certain companies. However, Mariana Calughin and Galina Bostan believe that this project should be adopted, in order to regulate corruption acts. The regulation bill on the evaluation, monitoring, keeping, use and compensation of gifts was elaborated by the Ministry of Justice, and is to be submitted to the Government for approval as a resolution bill.