In the Russian Federation, mainly formed and are functioning legal and institutional frameworks for combating corruption. A serious anti-corruption potential is in the Concept of administrative reform in the Russian Federation in 2006 – 2010 and action plans for its conduct, approved by order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated October 25, 2005 № 1789-r, as well as in the legislation of the Russian Federation governing matters of public service.
Despite the measures, corruption, as the inevitable consequence of excess administration by the State, still seriously hampers the normal functioning of all social mechanisms, prevents social transformation as well as improvement of the national economy, raises in Russian society serious concern and distrust to public institutions, creates a negative image of Russia in the international arena and is rightly regarded as one of the threats to security to the Russian Federation.
In this regard, the development of anti-corruption measures, primarily to address its root causes, and implementation of such measures in the context of the development of the country as a whole is becoming imperative.
Section I
Measures for legislative provision to combat corruption
1. Preparation and submission to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation, a draft of the federal law ”On countering corruption“, which stipulates, in particular:
a) definition of ”corruption“ — as a socio-legal phenomenon, ”corruption offence“ — as separate manifestations of corruption involving disciplinary, administrative, criminal or other responsibility, and ”anti-corruption“ — as coordinated activities of federal bodies of state authorities, public authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, the local government bodies and municipalities, institutions of civil society, organizations and individuals to prevent corruption, prosecution of perpetrators of corruption crimes, and minimization and(or) liquidation of their consequences;
b) measures to prevent corruption, which include:
special requirements for persons applying for replacement of judges, government posts of the Russian Federation and positions of Public Service, list of which is defined by normative legal acts of the Russian Federation, including also control over income, assets and liabilities of property nature of the specified persons;
development of the institute of public and parliamentary monitoring over the compliance with anti-corruption legislation of the Russian Federation;
improvement of the mechanism for anti-corruption examination of regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation;
the designation to the state and municipal employees of a duty to notify of the known to them in connection with the performance of their official duties cases of corruption or other offences, as well as the brining to the disciplinary and other liability for failure to comply with this duty;
c) identification of key areas of public policy in the sphere of combating corruption, which include:
improving systems and structures of public authorities, optimization and specification of their powers;
develop a system of measures aimed at improving the order of passing state and municipal services and encouraging the faithful execution of duties of state and municipal service at a high professional level;
reduction in the categories of persons against whom the special procedure is used in criminal cases and introduction of operative-search activities;
introduction of anti-corruption standards, that is, establishing for the relevant field of social work a uniform system of prohibitions, restrictions, duties and permits aimed at preventing corruption;
ensuring fair and equal access to justice for all and improving the timeliness of consideration of cases in the courts;
development of procedures of pre-trial and extrajudicial settlement of disputes, especially between citizens and public authorities.
2. Preparation and submission to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation a draft of the federal laws on introducing into the legislation of the Russian Federation amendments aimed at:
a) establish administrative responsibility of legal persons involved in corruption offences and also state and municipal employees who have committed administrative corruption offences, with application to them of disqualification as an administrative punishment; assigning the administrative investigation of cases in this category to the authorities of the Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation;
b) clarification of the requirements to judges, persons, who claim for the substitution of judges, members of the Federation Council of Federal Assembly of Russian Federation and State Duma deputies of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation, deputies of legislative (representative) government authorities of subjects of the Russian Federation and local government bodies of municipalities, members of electoral commissions, the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber of the Russian Federation, his deputy, auditors Accounting Chamber of the Russian Federation and Central Bank officials of the Russian Federation;
c) imposing on public and municipal employees, additional prohibitions, restrictions and duties;
d) ban on the hiring to law enforcement service and service in the federal security of citizens who have (had) a conviction, the prosecution in relation to whom is stopped under non-exculpatory grounds, or citizens, dismissed from government service under defamatory circumstances;
e) the development of a legislative mechanism for the prevention of corruption and resolving conflicts of interest on state and municipal service;
f) establishment as a task of operative-search activity the detection of property to be confiscated;
g) creating the possibility of implementation of operative-search activities at the request of the representative, (the head) or an officer, possessing such powers, for validation of the submitted by aspiring to substitute judges, magistrates, persons deputies to the federal public service posts, state service of the subjects of the Russian Federation, state and municipal employees information on income, property and liabilities of property nature with the observance of the guarantees, stipulated by the legislation of the Russian Federation;
h) bring the penalties for crimes of corruption, responsibility for which is provided by the Chapter 23 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in line with sanctions for corruption crimes, responsibility for which is stipulated by Chapter 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
i) ensure the rights of citizens and organizations for information on the judicial work of courts of general jurisdiction.
Section II
Measures to improve public administration in order to prevent corruption
1. Implementation of a set of measures aimed at improving public administration in the socio-economic sphere and which include:
a) regulation of the use of public and municipal property, state and municipal resources (including in the provision of public and municipal assistance), transfer of the rights to use such property and its alienation;
b) creation of conditions for fair competition in the commodity and financial markets, the removal of discriminatory conditions of access to infrastructures of natural monopolies, increase the degree of responsibility for organizing cartel agreements;
c) improving the rules governing the implementation of procurement for state and municipal needs, in order to avoid the possibility of their arbitrary interpretation, discrimination and undue advantage;
d) control over fulfillment of contract obligations, transparency of procurement procedures, preferential use of the mechanism for auction and exchange trade during alienation of state and municipal property;
e) detailing the mechanism for monitoring the performance of public functions by the federal state authorities, state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation and bodies of local government of municipalities; compliance with the rights and legitimate interests of citizens and organizations, including the introduction of administrative regulations on each of these functions and assessment system of quality and implementation.
2. The implementation of measures aimed at improving the functioning of the state apparatus and which include:
a) transfer of part of the federal power to the regions while introducing the system of evaluation of their work and the transfer of part of the functions of government bodies to the non-state sector, as well as seizure of property from public bodies, not used for the implementation of their duties;
b) the realization of the rights of citizens to obtain reliable information, increasing the independence of the mass media;
c) establishing a system of monitoring the activities of public and municipal officials from the institutions of civil society;
d) reduction in the number of excess public and municipal employees while attracting for state and municipal service of qualified specialists and the creation of adequate financial incentives depending on the volume and results of works;
e) increasing the responsibility of federal authorities of state authorities, public authorities of subjects of the Russian Federation, the local government bodies and municipalities and their officials for failure to adopt measures to address the causes of corruption;
f) development and implementation of standards of public services and regulations of performance of public functions, as well as optimization and specification of powers of state bodies and their employees, which should be fixed in administrative regulations;
g) formulation of the optimal system interaction of institutions of civil society and media with state bodies, excluding the possibility of undue interference into the activities of public officials.
3. Consideration of the issue on the feasibility of establishing with the composition of personnel services of federal government bodies (except federal enforcement bodies, which provides for military service and other special services) units to prevent corruption and other offences with the imposition of the following functions:
a) assuring the observance by the civil officials of the general principles of official conduct, approved by Decree of President of the Russian Federation dated August 12, 2002 № 885 ”On approval of the general principles of official conduct of public officials“;
b) provision of the work of the commissions to resolve conflict of interest;
c) take measures to prevent conflicts of interest including after leavin
d) providing advice on matters related to application in practice of the general principles of official conduct by public officials;
e) assuring the implementation of the responsibilities of government officials to report on the become known to them in connection with the performance of their official duties, of corruption or other offences, as well as validation of such data and information about income, property and liabilities of material nature presented by the public employees;
f) conducting investigations into manifestations of corruption;
g) cooperation with law enforcement authorities.
4. Development of methodology for assessing the effectiveness of internal systems for detecting and preventing corruption risks in the federal public bodies, government bodies of subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-government of municipalities.
5. Based on an examination of the existing mechanism for accounting of the interests of political parties, social groups, legal entities and individuals in the development of federal laws, laws of the subjects of the Russian Federation and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation consideration of the preparation of regulations governing lobbying.
6. Consideration of the issue on the feasibility of mandatory insurance of risks of social nature (compulsory medical insurance, liability insurance).
7. Improving the quality and timeliness of delivery of most socially significant services, particularly through the application of the system of a ”single window“ and the electronic exchange of information.
8. The resolution of the issue on manner of the transfer to trust management, belonging to public officials and brining income securities, stocks, shares in the authorized capital of organizations.
Section III
Measures to improve the professional level of legal personnel and legal education
1. To improve the professional standards of legal personnel the following are required:
a) improving the quality of educational programs in the field of jurisprudence, including increasing practical training of students;
b) improving the system of preparation and increase of qualifications of teachers of federal state Higher educational institutions and postgraduate professional education, implementing programs in the field of jurisprudence;
c) nurturing by the law enforces of respect for law;
d) strengthening anti-corruption component in teaching of academic disciplines that assume study of legal and ethical aspects of management activities in the federal state education institutions of Higher and postgraduate professional education;
e) strengthening state control over the quality of work of Higher educational institutions and secondary professional education, conducting training of legal personnel;
f) development and implementation into practice of mechanism for obtaining Public accreditation of federal government Higher educational institutions and postgraduate professional education, implementing programs in the field of jurisprudence, in public educational, scientific and industrial structures;
g) legislative documentation of the rule under which a federal court judge, appointed for the first time, is obliged to undergo professional training.
2. To improve the quality of legal education there is a need to:
a) support by the State of a wide participation of ”All-Russian public organization ‘Association of Jurists of Russia’, and other public and religious associations in activities aimed at forming in the society intolerant relation to corruption;
b) formation in society and the state apparatus of a respectful and careful attitude to private property;
c) improving the legal culture of society as a whole;
d) ensuring the conditions for broad access of the public to specialized legal television channel ”Law — TV“
Section IV
Priority measures to implement this National Plan
1. The Government of the Russian Federation and the Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation within its competence:
a) Take action:
to comply by the state officials with general principles of official conduct, approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated August 12, 2002 № 885 ”On approval of the general principles of conduct by public officials“;
to ensure the efficient functioning of the commissions to comply with requirements to official conduct of civil servants of the Russian Federation and the settlement of the conflict of interest, creation of which is envisaged by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated March 3, 2007 № 269 ”On the commissions to comply with requirements of official conduct of civil servants of the Russian Federation and resolution of the conflict of interest“;
b) on the adopted measures and proposals to report to the Council of the President of the Russian Federation on anti-corruption actions before October 1, 2008.
2. The Government of the Russian Federation:
a) should provide for the development and financing of activities:
for the creation and use of innovative technologies of state governance and administration, that enhance the objectivity and transparency of administrative processes, in particular to implement the transition to electronic tendering ”on-line“ with the sale of property to be confiscated, of the bankruptcy proceedings of the enterprises in default and in procurement for state and municipal needs;
to expand the network of state bureaus of legal aid and centers of social assistance to the population, as well as to ensure their methodical work by bodies of Justice of the Russian Federation;
to build a unified information technology and telecommunications infrastructure, ensuring inter-departmental electronic interaction of public authorities, as well as the interaction of the specified bodies with citizens and organizations in the provision of public services;
to create multifunctional centers to provide citizens and organizations with state and municipal services;
For placing on the relevant websites in the Internet of the decisions of courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts;
to increase the quantity and improve the quality of television programs on legal education;
b) before February 1, 2009 to introduce in the established order proposals for improving the monetary assistance and pension provision of state and municipal employees;
c) based on discussions with representatives of various public associations, prepare and before February 1, 2009 to introduce in the prescribed manner proposals for action directed at:
improvement of the mechanism of responsibility for the prevention, restriction or elimination of competition;to increase the speed to challenge transactions, committed in violation of laws of the Russian Federation;
at enhancing public control over the use of the federal budget, the budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local budgets;
to improve the Higher and postgraduate professional education in the field of jurisprudence, giving, along with the implementation of the measures described in Section III of this National Plan, special attention to the development of federal state educational standards of higher professional education, the question of the feasibility of implementation of programs of Higher and postgraduate education in the field of jurisprudence in non-core universities, optimizing the number of theses councils;
d) to prepare and during the III quarter of 2008, to introduce in the established order the draft of the act of the President of the Russian Federation, defining pursuant to paragraph 13 of article 46 of the Convention of the United Nations against Corruption of 31 October 2003 and article 29 of the Convention of the Council of Europe on the criminal responsibility for corruption from January 27, 1999, central authorities of the Russian Federation responsible for implementation of provisions of the anti-corruption conventions relating to mutual legal assistance in corruption cases;
e) develop and during the I quarter of 2009 to introduce in the established order proposals to introduce into practice rotation mechanism of public officials.
3. Attorney General of the Russian Federation and the subordinate prosecutors in order to prevent corruption and to combat it to strengthen supervision over law enforcement by bodies engaged in operative-search activities, inquiries and preliminary investigations, with the initiation, investigation and termination of criminal cases on crimes of corruption, as well as intensify the work of coordination meetings, the establishment and functioning of which is provided under Article 8 of Federal Law ”On Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.“
4. Attorney General of the Russian Federation:
a) organize verifications of legitimacy of the use of state property. The results of verifications, adopted measures and corresponding proposals to report to the Council of the President of the Russian Federation to counter corruption before March 1, 2009;
b) when presenting in accordance with Article 12 of the Federal Law ”On Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation“ to the Chamber of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation and President of the Russian Federation annual report on the state of law and the rule of law in the Russian Federation and the work done on their strengthening pay special attention to issues relating to preventing and combating corruption;
c) inform every six months the Council of the President of the Russian Federation on anti-corruption actions on the results of work of the internal affairs bodies of Russia, authorities of Federal Security Service and other law enforcement bodies to combat corruption offences;
d) to organize conduct of anti-corruption examination of the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation.
5. The heads of federal government bodies, government bodies of subjects of the Russian Federation within its competence to develop and before October 1, 2008 to adopt anti-corruption plans in the relevant federal state bodies and public bodies of subjects of the Russian Federation.
6. Chairman of the Presidium of the Council of the President of the Russian Federation on anti-corruption:
a) before September 1, 2008 together with the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation to submit to the Chairman of the Council of the President of the Russian Federation on anti-corruption, proposal to hold during the IV quarter of 2008, meeting of the referred to Council, at which address issues of protection of the rights of individuals and legal entities, that have become the victims of crimes, as well as reimbursement to legal entities and individuals losses from unjust decisions and failure of reasonable time frame for consideration of cases in the courts of specially created for this purpose fund;
b) to ensure the preparation of drafts of federal laws, specified in Section I of this National plan, and their presentation to the President of the Russian Federation before 15 September 2008;
c) to monitor the execution of this National Plan and the presentation every six months to the Chairman of the Council of the President of the Russian Federation on anti-corruption report on the progress of its implementation and proposals for the improvement of activity for combating corruption.
7. The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in 2009:
a) jointly with the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation to develop and implement a monitoring system for law enforcement in order to timely adjust legislation of the Russian Federation;
b) organize the implementation of anti-corruption examination of the drafts of laws and other regulatory legal acts of Russian Federation.
8. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation together with interested federal law enforcement agencies:
a) during the IV quarter of 2008, to submit proposals on the feasibility of signing of the Convention of the Council of Europe on Civil Liability for corruption from November 4, 1999, based on an analysis of conformity of this Convention to the legal system of the Russian Federation and assess the possible consequences of its signing;
b) within the framework of the Rome/Lyon Group of Experts of the ”Group of Eight“ initiate implementation of practical measures to expand cooperation in the field of anti-corruption, in particular for the return of property derived from committing offences of corruption. The results should be reported in the IV quarter of 2009.
9. First Deputy of the Attorney General of the Russian Federation — Chairman of the Investigation Committee of the Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation and Chief of the Investigation Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation to strengthen monitoring of the legality and validity of procedural decisions rendered in criminal cases concerning the seizure of assets, property and moral rights, money of the enterprises, the so-called ”raiding“.
10. Commission on compliance with the requirements to official conduct of civil servants of the Russian Federation and the settlement of the conflict of interest created in the federal government bodies, annually, by 1 February, to report on corruption prevention and measures to improve this work to the Council of the President of the Russian Federation on anti-corruption.
ANNEX
to the National anti-corruption plan,
approved by President of the Russian Federation
LIST
of priority drafts of the legislation of the Russian Federation
to be adopted in connection with the National anti-corruption plan
1. Submitted to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation, a draft of federal law ”On assuring the rights of citizens and organizations to information on the judicial work of courts of general jurisdiction in the Russian Federation.“
2. Drafts of federal laws, prepared:
1) ”On countering corruption.“;
2) ”On amending separate legislations of the Russian Federation in connection with the ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption of 31 October 2003 and the Convention of Criminal Liability for Corruption of 27 January 1999 and the adoption of federal law ‘On countering corruption’ and ‘On making amendments to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation on clarifying the status of judges, members of legislative (representative) government authorities of subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-government of municipalities, election commission members, Chairman of the Accounting Chamber of Russian Federation, Vice-Chairman of the Accounting Chamber of the Russian Federation and auditors of the Accounting Chamber of the Russian Federation and employees of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in connection with the adoption of federal law ‘On countering corruption’, which proposes to amend the following legislation of the Russian Federation:
Law of the Russian Federation dated April 18, 1991 № 1026–1 ”On police“;
Federal Law ”On Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation“;
Law of the Russian Federation dated June 26, 1992 № 3132–1 ”On the status of judges in the Russian Federation“;
Regulations on the Service in the bodies of the Internal affairs of the Russian Federation, approved by the Decree of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation dated December 23, 1992 № 4202–1 ”On approval of regulations on the service in the bodies of the Internal affairs of the Russian Federation and the text of the Oath of the officer of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated May 8, 1994 № 3-FL ”On the status of a member of the Council of the Federation and status of deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated January 11, 1995 № 4-FL ”On the Accounts Chamber of Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated April 3, 1995 № 40-FL ”On Federal Security Service“;
Federal law dated August 12, 1995 № 144-FL ”On operative-search activity“;
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
Federal law dated July 21, 1997 № 114-FL ”On the services in the customs bodies of the Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated January 8, 1998 № 7-FL ”On the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated March 28, 1998 № 53-FL ”On military duty and military service“;
Federal law dated May 27, 1998 № 76-FL ”On the status of military personnel“;
Federal law dated July 25, 1998 № 128-FL ”On state fingerprinting registration in the Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated October 6, 1999 № 184-FL ”On general principles of organizing legislative (representative) and executive bodies of state authority of the subjects of the Russian Federation“;
Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation;
Code of the Russian Federation on administrative offences;
Labor Code of the Russian Federation;
Federal law dated 14 March 2002 № 30-FL ”On the bodies of judicial community in the Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated 12 June 2002 № 67-FL ”On basic guarantees of electoral rights and the right to participate in the referendum by citizens of the Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated 10 July 2002 № 86-FL ”On Central Bank of Russian Federation (Bank of Russia)“;
Federal law dated 6 October 2003 № 131-FL ”On general principles of the organization of local governments in the Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated 27 July 2004 № 79-FL ”On state public service in the Russian Federation“;
Federal law dated 2 March 2007 № 25 — FL ”On municipal service in the Russian Federation“.