In Europe
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The High Authority for Transparency in Public Life – HATVP
France
Creation date : 2014
Number of employees : 50
The High Authority for Transparency in Public Life is an independent institution whose role is to ensure the integrity of public life in France. Its duties include both prevention and monitoring.
Almost 14,000 public officials (elected officials and senior civil servants) in the country are subject to declaration requirements and must respect a reinforced code of ethics in order to ensure that they perform their duties with dignity and integrity.
The Authority is responsible for checking public officials’ declarations of assets and their declarations of interests, verifying that they do not enrich themselves illegally and that their personal interests do not interfere with their public responsibilities. I It also verifies the tax situations of members of the government to ensure that they respect their fiscal obligations.
The Authority is also responsible for monitoring the “revolving doors” of certain public officials. It ensures that their departure does not lead to conflicts of interest arising from the risk of collusion between public and private sectors.
Additionally, the Authority advises public institutions on ethical matters. It answers ethics-related questions and helps institutions implement in-house conflict of interest prevention measures.
From 2017 onwards, the High Authority is in charge of lobby regulation. The High Authority manages a public register of lobbyists, mandatory for private firms and associations that strive to influence the decision making process, particularly for a law or regulation, through interactions with public officials.
Finally, it contributes to the promotion of transparency by publishing (in open data) certain declarations of assets and interests and the lobbyist register. This publicity allows citizens to know their public officials and their interactions with lobbyists in the public decision process.
The current legal framework grants investigative powers to the High Authority so that it thoroughly fulfills its missions. It can gain access to information of other administrations and, in the most serious cases, it may submit files to court for penal prosecution. The powers of injunction conferred to the High Authority enable it to end conflicts of interest and to put on public notice lobbyists who fail to respect their obligations.
Its independence is guaranteed by the functions of its executive board and by its financial and administrative autonomy.
Jean-Louis Nadal
President of the High Authority for transparency in public life
“I am convinced that transparency helps create a virtuous system where everyone – regulators, citizens, elected officials –helps prevent conflicts of interest. Voters have a vital role to play since they have the opportunity, if they have knowledge of elements not included in thepublished statements, to informthe High Authority.
The first virtue of transparency is to dispel rumors and fantasies. It allows citizens to know who their elected representatives are. I am convinced that the current transparency movement is helpful to democracy. It builds better-informed citizens.”
