As the government intensifies efforts to curb corruption in public service, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has introduced draft guidelines requiring civil servants who encounter illegal lobbying or are subject to undue influence to formally register such instances with authorities. Government agencies concealing or suppressing any information will be severely penalized.
At a political affairs meeting on July 18, Premier Sean Chen was briefed by the MOJ on plans for making lobbying more transparent. The premier also reviewed the details of the ethics guidelines drafted by the Agency Against Corruption (AAC), which contain directions for the Executive Yuan, its subordinate agencies and public schools on reporting lobbying activities. Key points of the draft include designating agencies and personnel to process the reports, establishing databases on lobbying cases, creating systems for random and proactive inspections, and imposing tougher penalties for violators.
After listening to feedback from heads of various agencies and ministers without portfolio, Premier Chen directed the AAC to be explicit in its wording about the definition of lobbying and to whom the guidelines apply. The AAC was also urged to explain the policy in clear and concise language so as to avoid unnecessary confusion after implementation. Moreover, the guidelines should not have any conflict with existing laws, particularly the Government Procurement Act, the premier noted.
According to the MOJ, the draft guidelines will apply to all who are subject to the Public Functionary Service Act, including civil servants, contract employees, state-run enterprise personnel, and teachers concurrently working administrative jobs at public schools. If any of these people are involved in an activity where personal connections are used outside of lawful means to influence official action, they should report the case to an ethics office within three days. Ethics offices should submit all reports monthly to the appropriate Cabinet-level agency, which in turn will compile and forward the information to the AAC for further investigation.
The MOJ also indicated that the lobbying registration guidelines are urgently needed to implement the Lobbying Act and the Ethics Directions for Civil Servants in an integrated fashion, as the two regulations differ in their legal ranking and apply to different agencies, people and scopes. Establishing such administrative protocols will not only help standardize registration procedures and bring greater transparency to lobbying, but also create mechanisms for random inspection and internal control. To root out corruption in accordance with the rule of law, the guidelines should be made into law after a period of implementation.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) reported that since the Lobbying Act took effect in 2008, 298 lobbying cases have been registered. Among them, more cases of lobbying took place in the legislative than administrative branch, more at the central than local government level, and more in written than verbal form. Nevertheless, since the scope of the Lobbying Act is limited to only regulations, policies and bills—making it easy for interest groups to find loopholes—Premier Chen asked the MOI to continue monitoring the effects of the act as reference for making future amendments.
The Research, Development and Evaluation Commission will design the forms for registering lobbying cases while setting up simple, expedient registration procedures. The Directorate-General of Personnel Administration will be responsible for establishing principles for award and punishment.