International Activities

International Organisations and instruments

Several international organisations act in the field of the fight against corruption, and more broadly speaking, for the promotion of integrity of public officials, both at the regional and global level. This is the case of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with the United Nations convention against corruption (UNCAC), the World Bank, the anticorruption Working group of the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):

_ The High Authority was a part of the French delegation to the Conference of State parties to the UNCAC in Vienna in November 2017.

_ The High Authority takes part in seminars and best practice sharing organised by World Bank experts, such as a seminar that was organised in Mexico in May 2017.

_ As the prevention of corruption and management of conflicts of interests are given increasing attention in the anticorruption working group of the G20, the High Authority is invited to share its experience in this field and in lobbying oversight.

_ The High Authority is represented at the Senior Public Integrity Officials Working Party of the OECD twice a year. This working party worked on the revision of the 1998 recommendation on integrity in the public sector that led to the adoption of a new Recommendation on Public integrity in January 2017. The Working party now works on a toolbox to support Member States in the implementation of the recommendation.

At the European level, the Council of Europe set up a group of states against corruption (GRECO) in 1999, which also includes the European Union in its activities. The GRECO is tasked with the monitoring of the Council recommendations. In 2017, it launched its fifth evaluation round, about preventing corruption and promoting integrity in central governments (top executive functions) and law enforcement agencies. This new evaluation round allows to reflect on the implementation of interest and asset disclosure systems, prevention of conflicts of interest, but also monitoring of revolving doors and regulation of lobbying. As these are core issues in the missions of the High Authority, it is invited by the GRECO and the French authorities to take part in the plenary sessions and conferences of the GRECO and of the Council of Europe.

Since November 2017, the High Authority is a member of the European Partners Against corruption (EPAC) Network. It was invited to attend its annual conferences in Riga in 2016 and Lisbon in 2017 to talk about “revolving doors” and monitoring assets and interests of public officials.

The High Authority may also be invited by civil society organisations such as Transparency international. It was represented to the International anticorruption conference in Malaysia in September 2015 and in Panama in December 2016 and was invited to present its mission of regulation of “revolving doors” by Transparency International EU, the European chapter of the transnational civil society organisation, in January 2017.

European Union Projects

The international action of the High Authority is also shaped by its involvement in European Union projects providing technical assistance to other countries. This is especially the case for twinning projects, designed to support deep reforms with long-term provision of expertise financed by the EU, for candidates and countries of the Eastern Partnership and Mediterranean neighborhood. The High Authority also takes part in TAIEX projects, designed by the European Commission with its beneficiaries in order to provide specific short-term expertise on a precise topic.

The High Authority is also invited to take part in conferences organised by the EU institutions, such as the workshop on lobbying regulation organised by Members of the Europe Parliament in May 2017.