Group of States Against Corruption - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

GRECO
GROUP OF STATES AGAINST CORRUPTION
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Founding members (01.05.1999):
Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Joined subsequently:
Albania (27.04.2001), Andorra (28.01.2005), Armenia (20.01.2004), Austria (01.12.2006), Azerbaijan (01.06.2004), Belarus (13.1.2011), Bosnia and Herzegovina (25.02.2000), Croatia (02.12.2000), Czech Republic (09.02.2002), Denmark (03.08.2000), Georgia (16.09.1999), Hungary (09.07.1999), Italy (30.06.2007), Latvia (27.07.2000), Liechtenstein (01.01.2010), Malta (11.05.2001), Monaco (01.07.2007), Moldova (28.06.2001), Montenegro (06.06.2006), Netherlands (18.12.2001), Norway (06.01.2001), Poland (20.05.1999), Portugal (01.01.2002), Russian Federation (01.02.2007), San Marino (13.08.2010), Serbia (01.04.2003), Switzerland (01.07.2006), Republic of Macedonia (07.10.2000), Turkey (01.01.2004), Ukraine (01.01.2006), United Kingdom (18.09.1999) and the United States of America (20.09.2000)

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Seat: Council of Europe, Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

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Bureau Members: Mr Drago KOS (Slovenia - President), Mr Marin MRČELA (Croatia - Vice- President), Mr Edmond DUNGA (Albania), Mr Dimitrios GIZIS (Greece), Mr Matthias KORTE (Germany), Mr Richard M. ROGERS (USA), Mr Georgi RUPCHEV (Bulgaria)
Executive Secretary : Wolfgang RAU

The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Council of Europe

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...

’s anti-corruption

Political corruption

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

monitoring body with its Headquarters in Strasbourg (France),
was established, in 1999, as an enlarged Partial Agreement

Partial agreement

Partial agreement is a term used within the Council of Europe to refer to a major activity of European cooperation that is organised by the Council of Europe but does not include all of its member states. This form of activity dates from a resolution adopted by the Council of Europe's Committee of...

by 17 Council of Europe member States. GRECO, which is also open to non-European States, currently has 49 members, including the USA. Since August 2010, all Council of Europe members have been members of GRECO.

Purpose

GRECO’s objective is to improve the capacity of its members to fight corruption by monitoring their compliance with Council of Europe anti-corruption standards through a dynamic process of mutual evaluation and peer pressure. It helps to identify deficiencies in national anti-corruption policies, with a view to prompting the necessary legislative, institutional and practical reforms. GRECO does not have a mandate to measure the occurrence of corrupt practices in its individual member States. Other organisations/bodies are better equipped to deal with this important matter. A widely known example is Transparency International

Transparency International

Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...

(TI), which issues annually a Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) - ranking more than 150 countries according to perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.

The OECD

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade...

, the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, ICPO-Interpol

Interpol

Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...

, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Founded in 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Its mission was to support the formerly communist countries in the process of establishing their...

(EBRD) and the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

were associated with the preparatory work leading to the establishment of GRECO. The need for efficient monitoring mechanisms in this area was widely accepted by these organisations which contributed to discussions held under the aegis of the Council of Europe which eventually led to the establishment of GRECO.

GRECO monitoring comprises an evaluation procedure based largely on information gathered via questionnaires and on-site visits and a compliance procedure designed to assess the measures subsequently taken by its members to implement the recommendations emanating from GRECO’s evaluations.

Topics and provisions subject to mutual evaluation

The themes and provisions to be evaluated within an evaluation round are decided on by GRECO. Members are called upon to implement the recommendations issued by GRECO within a period of 18 months. The ensuing compliance procedure assesses the implementation of each individual recommendation and establishes an overall appraisal of the level of a member’s compliance.

GRECO’s First Evaluation Round (2000–2002) dealt with specific provisions of the Twenty Guiding Principles for the Fight against Corruption: independence, specialisation, means and resources of national bodies engaged in the prevention and fight against corruption, and the extent and scope of immunities enjoyed by certain categories of holders of public office and/or elected representatives in respect of the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of corruption offences.

The Second Evaluation Round (2003-2006) dealt with themes based on specific provisions of the Twenty Guiding Principles and associated provisions of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173): identification, seizure and confiscation of corruption proceeds, anti-corruption policies and mechanisms in public administration, prevention of legal persons being used as shields for corruption, tax and financial legislation to counter corruption, links between corruption, organised crime and money laundering.

Any member having joined GRECO after the close of the First Evaluation Round (i.e. as from 2003) is subject to a joint evaluation of the First and Second Round topics.

The ongoing Third Evaluation Round (launched on 1 January 2007) covers two distinct fields, namely

the transposition into domestic law and practice of the incriminations provided for by the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173);
the transparency of party funding as understood by reference to several articles of Recommendation Rec(2003)4 on Common Rules against Corruption in the Funding of Political Parties and Electoral Campaigns, and – more generally – to Guiding Principle 15 (i.e. “to encourage the adoption, by elected representatives, of codes of conduct and promote rules for the financing of political parties and election campaigns which deter corruption”), as laid down in the Twenty Guiding Principles for the Fight against Corruption.

Practicalities of GRECO evaluations

At the opening of each Evaluation Round, GRECO adopts questionnaires with guidelines and a provisional time-table for evaluations. Members designate a maximum of five evaluators for any given Evaluation Round. The profile of evaluators is determined by the thematic scope of each Evaluation Round. The principal stages of the evaluation procedure are dessribed in the table below.

Evaluation process
STEP 1	A first analysis of the situation in a member State is carried out by the Secretariat on the basis of replies to the questionnaires.
STEP 2	An Evaluation Team, supported by a member of the Secretariat, carries out an on-site evaluation visit (up to 5 days) during which further information is gathered through high-level discussions with key domestic players; the visit also includes talks with representatives of civil society (NGO’s, media, professional organisations, etc.).
STEP 3	The members of the Evaluation Team submit their individual written contributions to the draft Evaluation Report, including proposals for recommendations, and a first draft of the Evaluation Report is prepared by the Secretariat and submitted to the Evaluation Team for comments.
STEP 4	A second draft is then drawn up by the Secretariat and sent to the member undergoing evaluation for comments.
STEP 5	The Secretariat consults the Evaluation Team on the comments made by the member. If the views of the evaluators differ, a solution is negotiated; if necessary, a coordination meeting between national representatives, the Evaluation Team and the Secretariat is arranged.
STEP 6	A third draft is then sent to all GRECO members.
STEP 7	Draft evaluation reports are examined by GRECO during its plenary meetings and a revised draft containing any changes required by the debate is prepared for a second reading before adoption by the plenary.
STEP 8	Adopted reports are published with the authorisation of the country concerned.

Overall, the various stages of the compliance procedure are similar to the above. A key ingredient of the procedure is the so-called Situation Report prepared by the member concerned, which has to be submitted 18 months after the adoption of the relevant Evaluation Report. On the basis of the Situation Report, a Compliance Report is prepared which assesses the level of implementation of each recommendation issued by GRECO in the Evaluation Report. The assessment can lead to three possible conclusions, namely that a given recommendation

has been implemented satisfactorily or otherwise dealt with in a satisfactory manner;
has been partly implemented;
has not been implemented.

Members are required to report back to GRECO on the action taken in order to address partially or non-implemented recommendations within another 18 months. The additional information submitted is appraised by GRECO and leads to the adoption of an Addendum to the relevant Compliance report. The adoption of the Addendum usually terminates the compliance procedure in respect of the country concerned.

All information pertaining to evaluation and compliance procedures is confidential. However, it is standing practice for members to authorise the publication of Evaluation and Compliance Reports, usually shortly after their adoption by the plenary.

The reports (Evaluation reports, Compliance reports and Addenda to Compliance reports) relating to the First, Second and Third evaluation rounds are made available on-line in the public part of GRECO’s website, once authorisation to publish has been given by the member State concerned.

Particular strengths of the GRECO process

The experience gathered in connection with the GRECO process suggests that, ideally, evaluations should be limited in scope, with clear decisions having been taken as to the relevance of certain topics and sub-topics; key questions need to be carefully phrased. Evaluations should also be based on clear and identifiable standards.

One of the most important lessons learned by GRECO, throughout its years of operation, is that the collection of first-hand information during on-site evaluation visits (a fundamental feature of GRECO’s modus operandi) contributes significantly to the quality of evaluations. On-site visits are a major asset for the credibility of the whole process in that they enable evaluation teams to hold thorough discussions with domestic key players (including representatives of civil society), to request additional information on-the-spot, and to shed light on often blurred and contentious issues.

On-site visits also have the potential of adding value to the “mere” evaluation of legislation. Issues of interpretation of certain legal concepts, relevant to the corruption offence (e.g. “undue advantage”, “breach of duty”), the ensuing jurisprudence, as well as the problems involved in properly applying the legislation under scrutiny cannot be adequately addressed without the possibility of discussing these matters with domestic practitioners.

External links

Third GRECO Report

Normative standards under GRECO’s purview

In 1996, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a comprehensive Programme of Action against Corruption and, subsequently, issued a series of anti-corruption standard-setting instruments:

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