05 Global Corruption
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Figure 2 Who can be consulted if an official is in doubt? 30
Number of countries
25
20
15
10
5
0 Manager
Dedicated person within the organisation
Dedicated person outside the organisation
Telephone help desk
interests regularly. Although the governments argued that no single instrument can be characterised as the most effective in avoiding conflicts of interest, they identified a combination of mechanisms – especially those that raise awareness and ensure transparency – as effective in several countries. In countries that rely on individuals to disclose their private interests, governments named the following key mechanisms: the annual updating of statements on private interests (in Australia, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United States) and training and consultation (in Australia, Hungary, Norway and South Korea). In countries that rely less on individual disclosure (for example, Austria and Germany), the maintenance of relevant legal regulations was seen to be the key. Figure 1 indicates which sources of conflict of interest were identified as most problematic. Secondary employment in the private sector was seen to hold potential for conflicts of interest by the largest number of governments (26 out of 30). Many governments indicated that sources of conflicts of interest also include partnerships, shareholdings, investments and involvement in entities with a contractual or regulatory relationship with government. As indicated in figure 2, public officials in most OECD countries can turn to their managers or immediate superiors when they are in doubt as to how to resolve potential conflicts of interest. In some countries, they can also turn to dedicated personnel or legal staff within the organisation, or to external organisations (such as the Public Offices Commission in Ireland, the State Services Commission in New Zealand and the Office of Government Ethics in the United States). Data and research
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