Document Type : Article
Author
Associate Prof., Department of Human Rights, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Managing conflicts of interests is a means for preventing corruption and increasing public transparency, efficiency, accountability and trust. Every government employee may face a conflict of private and public interests. Therefore, conflict of interest in the public sector must be properly managed, otherwise it could lead to corruption. Many countries have adopted laws on the management of conflict of interests but there is no specific law on this matter in the Iranian legal system; although some general laws on combating corruption have made explicit or implicit references to this concept. Nonetheless, in recent times a political will for addressing the problem of conflict of interest situations in the public sector has emerged. In fact, a bill about this issue has been drafted by the Iranian government, and, some general laws such as the Commerce Code have been amended for this purpose. Based on a comparative study, this paper intends to conceptualize conflict of interest management and then to elaborate the main areas of conflict of interest in the public sector and methods by which they can be managed.
Keywords
- A) Books
- A group of writers (2005), Political Thought in Alavi Discourse, Institute of Islamic Sciences and Culture, First Edition (In Persian).
- Amid Zanjani, Abbas Ali (2007), Rules of Jurisprudence, Vol. 3, Public Law Section, position (In Persian).
- Ansari, Bagher (1397), The Right of Access to Information, Office of Media Studies and Research, First Edition (In Persian).
- Auby, Jean-Bernard, Breen, Emmanuel, & Perroud, Thomas (Eds.), (2014), Corruption and Conflicts of Interest A Comparative Law Approach, Cheltenham (UK), Edward Elgar.
- Davis, Michael & Stark, Andrew (Eds.), (2001), Conflict of Interest in the Professions, Oxford University Press.
- Javadi Amoli, Abdullah (2011), Judicial Literature in Islam, Research and Arrangement by Mustafa Khalili, Esra.
- Kikery, Sonita & Nellis, John (2008), Privatization in Competitive Sectors, Report on the Current Situation, Private Sector Consulting Services Center, World Bank, Translation of the Privatization Agency's Office of Studies and Evaluation. www.ipo.ir/ (In Persian).
- Langst, Peter et al. (2008), Global Anti-Corruption Programs, translated by Amir Hossein Jalali Farahani and Hamid Bahremand Beg Nazar, Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (In Persian).
- Lo, Bernard, & Field, Marilyn J. (Eds.), (2009), Conflict of interest in medical research, education, and practice, Washington: National Academies Press.
- OECD (2007), Integrity in Public Procurement, Good Practice from A to Z, https://www.oecd.org.
- OECD (2010), Post-Public Employment, Good Practices for Preventing Conflicts of Interest, OECD Publishing.
- Sharif Al-Qurashi, Bagher (2000), Government and Administrative System in Islam, translated by Abbas Ali Soltani Golshiekhi, Islamic Research Foundation, third edition (In Persian).
- Trost, Christine, & Alison l, Gash (2008), Conflicts of Interest and Public Life, Cross-National Perspectives, Cambridge University Press.
- B) Article
- Parsa, Mojtaba & Larijani, Bagher (2009), "Fee splitting , concept, history and moral codes", Special Issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics and History (In Persian).
- C) Reports & other resources
- ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific (2008), Managing Conflicts of Interest, Proceedings of the 5th Regional Seminar on making international anti-corruption standards operational, Held in Jakarta, Indonesia on 6–7 August 2007, Asian Development Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- A Review of the World Literature of the "Revolving Doors" Phenomenon (Movement of Persons between the Private and Public Sectors) (December 2016), Motivations, Consequences and Strategies of Regulation (1), High-Risk Areas and Experiences of Selected Countries (2), Report of the Office of Economic Studies Islamic Consultative Assembly Research Center. (in Persian)
- Demmke, C., Bovens, M., Henökl, T., van Lierop, K.,. Moilanen, T., Pikker, G. & Salminen, A., (2007), 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, study carried out for the European Commission Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA).
- Díaz, Miranzo (2017), The Procedural Treatment of Conflict of Interes in EU Public Procurment, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3078302.
- Flowers, M. Claire (2018), Facing the Inevitable: The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine and the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, 75 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 2207, https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr/ vol75/iss4/9.
- 29. Gifts, benefits and hospitality (2016), A guide to good practice, Corruption and Crime Commission, Office of the Information Commissioner, Office of the Auditor General, Public Sector Commission, and Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations.
- House Ethics Manual (2008), U.S. Government Printer Office.
- Identifying conflicts of interests in public procurement procedures for structural Actions( 2012), A practical guide for managers, elaborated by a group of Member States' experts coordinated by OLAF's unit D2-Fraud Prevention, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, EUROPEAN ANTI-FRAUD OFFICE (OLAF).
- Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Crime and Misconduct Commission (2004), Toolkit on Managing Conflicts of Interest in the Public Sector, www.icac.nsw.gov.au and www.cmc.qld.gov.au.
- Moilanen, T., Salminen, A., (2006), Comparative Study on the Public-service Ethics of the EU Member States, A report from the Human Resources Working Group , EUPAN. https://vm.fi/documents/10623/307711/Comparative_Study_ on_the_Public_Service_Ethics.pdf.
- Mooney, Joseph (2015), Conflicts of Interest by Public Officials, icclr.law.ubc.ca/ sites/icclr.law.ubc.ca/files/publications/pdfs/Chapter%209%20.pdf.
- OECD (2003), Managing Conflicts of Interest in the Public Service, OECD Guidelines and Overview.
- OECD (2005), Conflict of Interest Policies and Practices in Nine EU Member States: A Comparative Review, SIGMA Papers, No. 36, OECD Publishing, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5kml60r7g5zq-en.
- OECD(2011), Asset Declarations for Public Officials: A Tool to Prevent Corruption, OECD Publishing, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/ 9789264095281-en.
- Public Service Commission of Republic of South Africa (2006), Report on Managing Conflicts of Interest in the Public Sector, www.psc.gov.za.
- Reed, Quentin (2008), Sitting on the fence: Conflict of interest and how to regulate them. U4 Anti-corruption Resource Centre, U4 Issue 2008:6. (http://www.u4.no/publications)
- Reed, Quentin (2010), Regulating conflicts of interest in challenging environments: The case of Azerbaijan, U4 Issue, 2010:2, https://www.u4.no/publications.
- Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (2009), U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
- Transparency International(2010), Regulating the Revolving Door, TI Working Paper, http://www.transparency.org/.
- Venice Commission (2016), Rule of Law Checklist, Endorsed by the Ministers’ Deputies at the 1263th Meeting (6-7 September 2016), Council of Europe, https://www.venice.coe.int.
- Victorian Ombusman (2008), Conflict of interest in the public sector.
- Wolfe, S., Worth, M., Dreyfus, S., Brown, A. J.B., (2014), Whistleblower Protection Laws in G20 Countries Priorities for Action, Transparency International Australia, http://transparency.org.au.