Anti-Corruption Office Issues New Regulations of Procedures on Public Ethics and Conflicts of Interest

On October 2, 2023, through Resolution 5/2023, the Anti-Corruption Office approved the new Regulation of Procedures on Public Ethics and Conflict of Interest, establishing a new procedure for all formalities related to compliance with public ethics duties in Law 25188 and complementary regulations. The Regulation replaces the "Internal Regulation of the Directorate of Transparency Policy Planning", approved as Annex II of Resolution MJS and DH 1316/2008.

The Resolution aims to provide the Directorate of Transparency Policy Planning with new tools adequate to achieve its institutional goals and aligned with the need to adapt administrative procedures to new times, phenomena, and technologies. Thus, the Resolution seeks to create efficient mechanisms to control the current regulations on public ethics and the interaction between the public and private sectors.

The new procedure includes the regulatory amendments issued in recent years (for example, Decree 202/2017 and Decree 456/2022) and covers the investigation of possible violations to public ethics rules, the prevention of acts related to individual situations of public officials, and consultations on ethical issues.

Article 2 of the Resolution states that, within 60 days, the Directorate for Transparency Policy Planning must change and adapt all procedures in progress under the previous regulations to comply with the new ones.

Finally, article 3 establishes that the Directorate of Transparency Policy Planning can file away cases without further procedures if:

1. they refer to people no longer in public office,
2. two years have passed since the facts of the case and the statute of limitations for applying disciplinary sanctions has not been suspended or interrupted, and
3. the circumstances of the case do not involve acts that may be declared null and void, pursuant to article 17 of Law 25188.