Anti-Corruption Office to Develop a Process for Registering Civil Servants' Private Activities

The Anti-Corruption Office has entrusted onto the Directory of Transparency Policy Planning the task of designing a System for Monitoring Private Activities Before and After Serving in Public Office (the “System”). This System aims to verify compliance with the legal obligations of public officials with respect to their connections with the private sector before and after holding public office.

In the Recitals of this new resolution, the Anti-Corruption Office recalls that Argentina: "has committed to formulating and implementing coordinated and effective anti-Corruption policies that promote the participation of the community and reflect the principles of the rule of law, proper management of public affairs and public property, integrity, transparency and accountability, with the aim to establish and promote effective practices for preventing corruption.”

To understand the context, it is important to remember that the Public Ethics Law establishes that public officers must abstain, during their term in office, from participating in matters related to persons or matters in which (a) they were involved in the previous three years or (b) they have an interest or stake.

Furthermore, the Code of Ethics of the Public Function establishes a one-year grace period for those who leave the civil service. During such year, the person must not (a) carry out or sponsor for third parties any administrative procedures or formalities, whether they are directly under their own care or not, or (b) sign contracts with the Federal Public Administration related to the activity performed as a public official.

In addition, the Anti-Corruption Office explains that the entry and exit from highly important public offices from and to the private sector implies risks of “capture of public decision-making that may damage the public interest for the benefit of private interests” due to the use of confidential information or the lack of impartial and unbiased judgment, among other conducts contrary to public ethics.

From the point of view of the private sector, these situations also represent a high-risk environment in relation to the conducts described in Article 1 of Argentine Anti-Corruption Law No. 27,401 (for example, bribery, negotiations that are incompatible with public office, illegal enrichment of public officials and employees, among others), and for which companies may be criminally liable.

The System is expected to "[record] background, connections and private interests of people who enter high ranking positions in the Federal State —up to THREE (3) years before taking office, as well as activities carried out by these people upon leaving the public function—up to ONE (1) year after leaving office.”

Although the resolution does not expressly state that the System will be available to the public for consultation, in its Recitals the Anti-Corruption Office emphasizes that the “application of active transparency policies implies the proactive publication of information in a clear, structured and understandable form for citizen control,” which leads to the assumption that this information will be public and freely accessible to the public.

In the framework of a company’s compliance program, this register will provide particularly valuable information to be considered.