Latest Documents

This report analyses Bulgaria's legal framework for administrative penalties. Administrative penalties are crucial for ensuring accountability in the public administration. The report assesses the subjective scope of their application, the typologies and levels of administrative penalties, and the proceedings for applying them. The report highlights relevant good practices from other EU Member States, and provides recommendations on how to address key challenges as well as legislative proposals for building a comprehensive legal framework.

The OECD Integrity Review of the Slovak Republic provides concrete recommendations for strengthening the Slovak Republic’s Anti-Corruption Policy, in particular through identifying key corruption risk areas. It analyses integrity standards, including on conflict of interest and post-public employment, and pinpoints where to close gaps in the current legislation to reinforce a culture of integrity across the whole of government. The Review also suggests tools for strengthening engagement with businesses and citizens to understand and uphold their roles and responsibilities for integrity. Finally, the Review assesses the government decision-making process and identifies measures for improving its transparency and integrity for more accountable and equitable policies.

The OECD Integrity Review of Thailand 2021 assesses three key elements of Thailand’s integrity system: disciplinary mechanisms and sanctions, risk management, and integrity in policy and decision making in the public sector. The Review presents concrete reform actions on how to make the disciplinary regime more coherent and effective, and provides recommendations for strengthening corruption risk management practices. Finally, the Review assesses the government decision-making process and provides options for increasing its transparency and integrity for more accountable and equitable policies.

Mainstreaming integrity policies throughout a public administration is a common challenge in many countries. Brazil’s Office of the Comptroller General (CGU) has implemented a series of measures to do so, including establishing the Public Integrity System of the Federal Executive Branch (SIPEF). This report analyses these recent developments and provides recommendations on how to better promote a culture of integrity through the Integrity Management Units with targeted support by the CGU. The report also highlights opportunities to improve the clarity and coherence of policies to promote public integrity and public ethics, manage conflicts of interest, and foster integrity risk management by streamlining these areas under the umbrella of public integrity.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments face both old and new fraud risks, some at unprecedented levels, linked to spending on relief and recovery. Public grant programmes are a high-risk area, where any fraud ultimately diverts taxpayers’ money away from essential support for individuals and businesses. This report identifies how Spain’s General Comptroller of the State Administration (Intervención General de la Administración del Estado, IGAE) could better identify and control for grant fraud risks. It demonstrates how innovative machine learning techniques can support the IGAE in enhancing its assessment of fraud risks in grant data. It presents a working risk model, developed with datasets at the IGAE’s disposal, and maps datasets it could use in the future. The report also considers the preconditions for advanced analytics and risk assessments, including ways for the IGAE to improve its data governance and data management.

Spain has undertaken a series of reforms over the last decade to strengthen the government’s ability to deliver high-quality services to citizens and businesses, while enhancing transparency and accountability. One major effort spearheaded by the National Audit Office (Oficina Nacional de Auditoría or ONA) is the continuous supervision system (SSC), a risk-based methodology that acts as a litmus test for the financial health, effectiveness and sustainability of public institutions. Drawing on interviews, a comparative analysis of leading practices, and research, this report provides recommendations to support the ONA in further strengthening its management of the SSC by improving its strategy, use of data, and co-ordination mechanisms across government.

Public integrity is necessary to respond to corruption, sustain trust in public institutions and manage crises such as COVID-19 effectively. This report analyses the institutional responsibilities on public integrity in Ecuador. It proposes concrete recommendations to address fragmentation and to build a public integrity system involving all relevant actors at national level. The report also reviews Ecuador’s strategic approach to public integrity and proposes a roadmap toward a long-term state policy in line with national and international development objectives. Finally, it examines how Ecuador could mainstream integrity within the public entities of the executive branch.

Lobbying, as a way to influence and inform governments, has been part of democracy for at least two centuries, and remains a legitimate tool for influencing public policies. However, it carries risks of undue influence. Lobbying in the 21st century has also become increasingly complex, including new tools for influencing government, such as social media, and a wide range of actors, such as NGOs, think tanks and foreign governments. This report takes stock of the progress that countries have made in implementing the OECD Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying. It reflects on new challenges and risks related to the many ways special interest groups attempt to influence public policies, and reviews tools adopted by governments to effectively safeguard impartiality and fairness in the public decision-making process.

This report takes stock of approaches taken by public organisations to counter external fraud in social benefit programmes (SBP) and suggests areas for improvement. It provides insights on preventive and detective measures, and promotes a risk-based approach to addressing fraud and error in SBPs in line with the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Public Integrity. It explores how public organisations can leverage data-driven approaches to improve fraud detection, and how strengthening evaluation activities can promote continuous improvement of anti-fraud measures.