Topic Guide: Conflicts of Interest

Revolving door watch. Corporate Europe Observatory. http://corporateeurope.org/revolvingdoorwatch    

This is a living and frequently updated database of commissioners, MEPs and officials who have gone through the revolving door into lobby or industry jobs, dating back to 2007. Lobbyists who have taken jobs with EU institutions are also featured. Run by the Corporate Europe Observatory, Revolving Door Watch seeks to expose how EU institutions – the commission, parliament, council and other agencies – have failed to take effective action to block the revolving door.    

Regulating conflicts of interest for holders of public office in the European Union: A comparative study of the rules and standards of professional ethics for the holders of public office in the EU-27 and EU Institutions. Demmke, C. et al, 2007. http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/policy...  

This study compares and analyses the existing rules and standards for holders of public office with regards to conflicts of interest in EU member states and in EU institutions. It focuses on the analysis and comparison of the various laws, regulations and codes of conduct for government ministers, MPs, judges, and members of audit bodies and central banks. The study provides a wealth of empirical data on the various conflict of interest regimes across the EU to analyse the accumulated evidence about the effectiveness of such regulations. Key findings include: (1) a trend towards greater transparency and new forms of accountability, (2) in almost every country, codes of conduct are tailored to individual institutions rather than applied to the whole government sector and (3) the category of post-employment is the least regulated conflict of interest area among EU member states. Finally, the report establishes that the older members of the EU generally have fewer regulations and design their disclosure mechanisms to focus on prevention of conflicts of interest, while newer members of the EU are generally more regulated and shape their asset disclosure systems to both prevent conflicts of interest and combat illicit enrichment.  

The Global integrity report. Global Integrity, 2011. https://www.globalintegrity.org/global_year/2011/  

The Global Integrity Report is a guide to anti-corruption institutions and mechanisms around the world, intended to help policy makers, advocacy practitioners, journalists and citizens identify and anticipate the areas where corruption is likely to occur within the public sector. Although currently on hold, the country reports from 2010 and 2011 contain detailed surveys examining whether conflict of interest provisions exist in law and whether they are effective in practice for all branches of government and the civil service. It includes a large number of useful indicators on conflict of interest provisions, such as policies on recusal, gift and hospitality, independent auditing, post-public employment restrictions and asset disclosure. For instance, see the example of legislators in the United States here.  

Public accountability mechanisms: Conflict of interest. The World Bank, 2012. https://agidata.org/Pam/Map.aspx  

This is an unparalleled searchable dataset of legal provisions for conflict of interest for different kinds of public officials (including heads of state, government ministers, MPs and civil servants). The database provides 87 country profiles describing economic conditions and government structure, links to country‑specific institutions responsible for the enforcement of accountability mechanisms, as well as a historical timeline of relevant legislation and notable incidents of corruption. It also provides summaries of specific indicators related to the accountability mechanisms of income and asset disclosure, freedom of information, conflict of interest, immunity protections and ethics training. For conflict of interest restrictions, each country is examined in terms of: (1) legal framework, (2) coverage of public officials, (3) business activities covered, (4) sanctions and (5) monitoring and oversight. For example, see France's entry here. Interactive graphs displaying the percentage of countries from different income groups/regions that conform to a whole range of conflict of interest regulations are also available here.