REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW
ON THE ADJUSTMENT OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INTERESTS
IN THE CIVIL SERVICE
2 July 1997 No VIII-371
Vilnius
(As last amended on 1 July 2008 No X-1667)
Chapter one
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Purpose and Tasks of the Law
The purpose of this Law is adjustment of private interests of persons employed in the civil service and public interests of the community, ensuring that holders of public office make decisions solely in terms of the public interests, securing the impartiality of the decisions being taken and preventing the emergence and spread of corruption in the civil service.
Article 2. Definitions
1. Persons in the civil service means state politicians, state officials, civil servants, judges, servicemen of professional military service who carry out operational activities, officers of professional military service, persons who are employed at state and municipal undertakings, budgetary institutions and who have administrative powers vested in them, persons who are employed at public establishments, which are financed from the Lithuanian national or municipal budget and funds, and who have administrative powers vested in them, as well as other persons who have administrative powers vested in them.
2. Private interests mean private economic or non-economic interest of a person in the civil service (or a person close to him) which may effect his decision-making in the discharge of his official duties.
3. Public interests mean the public’s expectations with regard to impartial and just decision-making of the persons in the civil service.
4. Conflict of interest means a situation where a person in the civil service, when discharging his duties or carrying out instructions, is obliged to make a decision or participate in decision-making or carry out instructions relating to his private interests.
5. Close persons means the parents (adoptive parents), children (adopted children), brothers (adopted brothers), sisters (adopted sisters), grandparents, grandchildren, spouse, cohabitee, partner, when the partnership is registered in accordance with the procedure laid down by law, of a person in the civil service, as well as children of the spouse, cohabitee, partner, when the partnership is registered in accordance with the procedure laid down by law, the spouses, cohabitees, partners, when the partnership is registered in accordance with the procedure laid down by law, of the children, brothers, sisters, grandchildren.
6. Personal considerations means a moral debt, moral obligation, pecuniary or non-pecuniary advantage, or any other similar interest of a person in the civil service (or a person close to him).
Article 3. Obligations of persons in the civil service
In order to ensure the supremacy of public interest, persons in the civil service must:
2) avoid conflict of interest in accordance with the procedure and measures laid down by legal acts, and act in such a way as to avoid suspicions about the existence of such a conflict;
4) in the process of decision-making be guided by laws and the principle of equality of all persons;
5) refrain from using and prevent others from using official or other information, pertaining to their official duties, in a manner and to the extent other than that laid down by laws or other legal acts;
Article 4. Declaration of private interests
1. A person in the civil service shall declare his private interests in accordance with the procedure laid down in this Law and other legal acts, by filing a declaration of private interests (hereinafter referred to as the declaration). The provisions of this Law concerning a declaration of private interests shall also apply to chairmen of political parties and their deputies.
2. The provisions of this Law regarding the declaration of private interests shall also apply to the heads or deputy heads of the companies with share capital in which the state or a local authority possesses more than 50 per cent of the authorised capital or shares, as well as to candidates for Seimas member, President of the Republic, members of the Government, municipal councillors and mayors, members of the European Parliament. Candidates shall present declarations in accordance with the procedure laid down by election laws.
Article 5. Filing of the declaration
1. A person in the civil service shall, within one month of the date of being elected, employed or appointed to an office in the civil service, file the declaration with the head or an authorised representative of the head of the central or local administration institution in which the person is employed.
2. Persons holding offices specified in Article 10(1) of this Law shall file the declaration with the Chief Official Ethics Commission.
3. The declaration may be filed not only with the head or an authorised representative of the head of the central or local administration institution in which the person is employed but also with other structural units, where this is provided for by the legal act regulating the manner of business of the institution concerned.
Article 6. Contents of the declaration
1. The declaration shall contain the following information about the person concerned and his/her spouse (cohabitee, partner):
1) the name, surname, personal number, number of the social insurance certificate, place of employment (places of employment) and position;
3) his/her individual activities or individual activities of the spouse (cohabitee, partner) as defined in the Law on Personal Income Tax;
4) membership in and duties to undertakings, establishments, associations or foundations, with the exception of membership in political parties or organisations;
5) gifts received from close persons during the past twelve calendar months if the value thereof exceeds 50 minimum living standards;
6) gifts received from other persons (except close persons) during the past twelve calendar months if the value thereof exceeds 5 minimum living standards;
7) services rendered by close persons to him/her or his/her spouse (cohabitee, partner) during the past twelve calendar months free of charge or expenses paid by close persons for the services or needs of any other type obtained by him/her or his/her spouse (cohabitee, partner), if the value thereof exceeds 50 minimum living standards;
8) services rendered by other persons (except close persons) to him/her or his/her spouse (cohabitee, partner) during the past twelve calendar months free of charge or expenses paid by the said persons for the services or needs of any other type obtained by him/her or his/her spouse (cohabitee, partner), if the value thereof exceeds 5 minimum living standards;
9) information about the transactions concluded by him/her or his/her spouse (cohabitee, partner) during the past twelve calendar months, if the value thereof exceeds 20 minimum living standards;
2. The person concerned shall also give other data or specify other circumstances which, in his opinion, may give rise to a conflict of interest.
Article 7. Confirmation and modification of the data in the declaration
1. If the data given in the declaration about private interests of the person concerned and his/her spouse (cohabitee, partner) have changed, the person concerned must revise the declaration within 30 calendar days from the day of change in the data.
Article 8. The form and storage of declarations
1. The form and the instructions for the completion, modification and filing of declarations shall be prescribed by the Chief Official Ethics Commission.
Article 9. Verification of the data in the declaration
The right to check the veracity of the data given in the declaration shall be vested in:
1) the head or authorised representatives of the head of the institution in which the person concerned is employed;
Article 10. Publicity of data on private interests
1. The data on private interests of state politicians, judges, chairmen and deputy chairmen of parliamentary political parties, heads and deputy heads of state or municipal institutions, civil servants of political personal confidence who perform the duties of heads of structural divisions of institutions or establishments shall be public and published in the webpage of the Chief Official Ethics Commission.
2. Taking into consideration the data officially provided by the heads of state and municipal institutions and establishments, the Chief Official Ethics Commission shall approve a list of the positions of the persons referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, whose data on private interests are public.
3. Data contained in the declarations of private interests of other persons in the civil service may be made public on a justified decision of the Chief Official Ethics Commission.
Article 11. Duty of self-exclusion
1. A person in the civil service shall be prohibited from participating in the preparation, consideration or passing of decisions or from otherwise influencing decisions, which may give rise to a conflict of interest situation.
2. A person in the civil service must notify, prior to the commencement of or during the procedure of the preparation, consideration or passing of the decision, his direct chief or the person authorised by the institution head, also persons who take part in the above procedure of preparation, consideration or passing of the decision, of the existing conflict of interest and must exclude himself from participation therein. The head of the institution or his authorised representative may refuse to accept the declared his self-exclusion and obligate the person to take part in the subsequent procedure.
3. A person in the civil service must fulfil written preliminary recommendations of the institution head or his authorised representative specifying the decisions from the preparation, consideration or passing whereof he must exclude himself. Said recommendations are made for a specific situation on the basis of annual declarations or the person’s request. The person in the civil service may make the preliminary recommendations public at his own discretion.
4. A person in the civil service is not allowed to contribute to the work of commissions of supervision, investigation or other institutions of the type if this results in the conflict of interest.
5. The institution head or his authorised representative may suspend a person who is in the civil service from participation in the preparation, consideration or passing of a specific decision if there are ample grounds to believe that his participation would result in conflict of interest.
6. The provisions of this Article shall not be applicable to the President of the Republic, members of the Seimas, judges, prosecutors, investigators, persons conducting the inquiry, as well as other officers for whom the methods of safeguarding supremacy of public interests are defined by the laws regulating their activity.
Article 12. Restriction of the right of representation
1. A person in the civil service may not represent the state or municipality, or state, municipal institutions:
1) when he is dealing with natural or legal persons from whom he or persons close to him receive any kind of income;
2. A person in the civil service may not represent private groups or persons and defend their interests in state or municipal institutions except where they act as legal representatives. Examination, investigation and consideration of complaints shall not be considered as representation of private groups or persons.
Article 13. Restrictions related to official duties
1. A person in the civil service may not use his duties, authority and name in order to influence other persons’ decision, which would result in the emergence of a conflict of interest situation.
Article 14. Restrictions on the acceptance of gifts or services
1. A person in the civil service may not accept or grant gifts or services if this may give rise to private and public interests conflict named in the Article 2 thereof.
2. The above restriction shall not be applicable to gifts or services accepted pursuant to the international protocol or customs usually connected with the official duties of the person in the civil service.
Article 15. Other restrictions and prohibitions
Persons in the civil service who are recognised in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts as violators of the requirements of this Law may not be given incentives, promoted for a year following the day the violation has come to light, and in case of expiration of official duties on any grounds may not be accepted to the civil service for three years following the day the violation has come to light.
Article 16. Obligation to notify of the received proposals
A person in the civil service must notify the institution head or his authorised representative of all new job proposals, where such proposals may cause for the person a conflict of interest situation.
Article 17. Obligation to notify in writing of the accepted proposal
A person in the civil service must forthwith notify the head of the institution or his authorised representative of his acceptance of new employment offer. Upon ascertaining the person’s close official relation to the future employer, the head of the institution or his authorised representative must promptly take measures to avert the threat of a conflict of interest.
Article 18. Limitations when concluding employment contracts
After leaving office in the civil service a person shall have no right, within a period of one year, to take up employment of company head, deputy head, company board or management board member and run other offices directly related to decision-making in company management, property management, financial accounting and control sphere, provided that during the period of one year immediately prior to the termination of his service in public office his duties were directly related to the supervision or control of the business of said undertakings or the person participated in consideration and making of favourable for these companies decisions for obtaining state orders or financial assistance in the course of public contests or otherwise.
Article 19. Limitations on entering into contracts or enjoying individual privileges
1. A person, following the expiration of the term of office in the civil service, or an undertaking in which he or his close relatives or family members hold over 10% of the authorised capital or material contribution, or are employed in the management or audit institutions, shall have no right for a period of one year to enter into contracts with the institution or seek individual privileges provided by the institution in which the person held office for the last year.
2. Limitations prescribed by paragraph 1 hereof shall not apply where the contract has been concluded prior to the person’s entry into office in the civil service, or when the contract is extended, also with respect to a contract which is awarded by public tender and to contracts the value whereof does not exceed LTL 10 000 per year.
Article 20. Limitations of representation
1. After official separation from office in the civil service, a person may not for a period of one year represent natural or legal persons in the institution in which he held office for a period of one year immediately prior to his leaving the service.
2. After official separation from office in the civil service, a person may not for a period of one year represent natural or legal persons in other central or local institutions on the issues which had been assigned to his official functions.
3. A person in the civil service shall be prohibited from keeping official relations with former office holders in the civil service in respect of whom the limitations specified in paragraph 1 hereof apply. A person in the civil service must promptly notify the head of the institution where he holds an office or his authorised representative of such official relations.
Article 21. Exemptions from limitations
Exemptions from limitations laid down in Articles 18-20 shall be established by the Chief Official Ethics Commission in each specific case where the application of limitations may be detrimental to the interests of the community or the state.
Article 22. Control institutions and officers
1. Compliance of persons in the civil service with the provisions of this Law shall be controlled by:
2) heads of appropriate state or municipal institutions, establishments or their authorised representatives;
2. Heads of state or municipal institutions or representatives authorised by them shall provide recommendations on implementation of the provisions of this Law for the persons subordinate to them, who are in the civil service.
3. Upon receipt of a justified information regarding the non-compliance with the requirements of this Law by the person, heads of state or municipal institutions, establishments shall, on their own initiative or on the instruction of the Chief Official Ethics Commission, carry out investigation official activities of the subordinate person who is in the civil service. Results of the investigation shall be communicated to the Chief Official Ethics Commission which shall enjoy the right to evaluate the findings of the conducted investigations. If the Chief Official Ethics Commission does not agree with the findings of the investigation conducted at a state or municipal institution or establishment, it shall enjoy the right to instruct to conduct a repeat investigation or conduct it itself and to take a decision.
Article 23. Chief Official Ethics Commission
The Chief Official Ethics Commission shall supervise the fulfilment by persons the provisions of this Law in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on the Chief Official Ethics Commission, this Law and other legal acts.