Topic Guide: Codes of Conduct

The International Code of Conduct for Public Officials was approved by the UN General Assembly Resolution 51/59 in 1996. The two-page code is extremely brief, general and broad, but covers the universally applicable aspects essential to any code for public officials: prioritisation of public interest, impartiality, conflicts of interest, asset disclosure, and policies on gifts and political activity.

See also: Implementation of the International Code of Conduct for Public Officials. UN General Assembly, 2002.  

Model Code of Conduct for Public Officials. Council of Europe, 2000. https://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/greco/documents/Rec(2000)10_EN.pdf  

In 2000, the Council of Europe approved a model code of conduct for public (non-elected) officials. The code is a useful resource and covers all the general issues normally thought to be necessary in codes of conduct, including general principles, conflicts of interest and reporting requirements, political activity, gifts, reaction to improper offers, duties on leaving public service. Like The International Code of Conduct for Public Officials, it is rather broad and, as the literature on codes of conduct stresses, will need to be tailored to local legal, institutional contexts to tackle specific corruption challenges.