“Public officials’ job solicitations in the private sector and unjust requests for doing personal tasks prohibited”

The Code of Conduct for Public Officials, which provides for restriction on employment of family members of public officials in the private sector and prohibition of seeking personal benefits, including requirement of reporting on contracts entered into with a duty-related party, took effect on April 17

April 15, 2018

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

Such activities as illustrated in the aforementioned cases are entirely prohibited starting from April 17, and public officials who violate this become subject to disciplinary measures.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Pak Un Jong) announced on April 15 that stricter Code of Conduct for Public Officials, which has incorporated new provisions aimed at preventing in advance situations where fair performance of official duties are impeded by a public official’s pursuit of private interests when the public official discharges his/her official duties, comes into force starting from April 17.

Notwithstanding reinforced behavioral standards for public officials after the implementation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, people from all sectors of society have raised their voices, demanding that the institutional foundation should be laid in order to prevent corrupt acts, which have been more sophisticated and clandestine, including employment irregularities and the receipt of money and other valuables under the disguise of monetary transactions with a duty-related party, etc.

Against this backdrop, the ACRC has revised the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, a behavioral standard for public officials in Korea, to require public officials to report to the head of their agency in cases where their family members, etc. are duty-related parties.

The tightened Code has introduced nine provisions to be effective from April 17 in earnest for the purpose of containing public officials’ profit-seeking activities. For instance, such provisions specify that: public officials shall be obligated to make notifications to the head of their agency if they plan to play golf, travel or engage in other leisure activities with retired public officials related to their duties; and public officials shall be subjected to disciplinary measures, etc. if they exert their authority or influence to make their junior colleagues or duty-related parties do personal tasks for them.

<Contents of Major Revisions>

More specific regulations, which have been newly inserted into the Code or modified through this revision, are as follows:

▴ Prohibition of Unjust Requests for Doing Personal Tasks

A new provision has been introduced in the Code to ban public officials from exerting their authority or influence to make their subordinates or duty-related parties do personal tasks for them, etc. as in the case of ‘a military general’s abuse of power toward soldiers assigned to his residence.’

▴ Obligation on Public Officials to Report Their Private Interests

The previous provision of Prevention of Conflict of Interest, which had briefly provided for a public official’s obligation to request for consultation regarding the avoidance of his/her private interests-related duty and the obligation of his/her agency’s head for taking necessary measures, has been supplemented in a way that public officials should report their private interests to the head of their agency. Under this supplemented provision, the scope of private interests, which may hamper public officials’ fair performance of duties, has been more specifically defined, and more systemic management procedures have been set forth, for instance, by requiring the head of the agency concerned to record and maintain his/her measures, such as the reassignment of duties, and the current status of notifications of private interests, requests for consultation, and measures taken.

※ (Scope of Private Interests) where a duty-related party is the public official himself/herself; his/her spouse; his/her relative within the relationship of third degree; corporations or groups for which he/she or his/her family members work as executives/employees or outside directors

▴ Obligation on Public Officials to Submit Records of Their Activities in the Civilian Sector

Senior officials, including those appointed to positions of vice ministerial level or above, and the heads of local authorities shall be required to submit records of their activities in the civilian sector to the head of their agency, which contain the list of corporations/groups for which they had worked for the past three years before their appointment or the commencement of their office term along with the specification of their works done in such corporations/groups. What has been stated on the records shall be also used as grounds for the reassignment of duties, etc.

▴ Prohibition of Duty-Related Profit-Seeking Activities

Under the revised Code, public officials shall be prohibited from conducting profit-seeking activities that can cause conflicts of interest, including being paid for offering private consultation to companies that are related to their duties, and assuming other positions related to their duties.

▴ Restriction on the Employment of Public Officials’ Family Members

Senior officials shall be also prohibited from exercising their influence or authority to have their family members hired by the agencies for which they currently work or its affiliated agencies.

On top of this, public officials handling affairs of appointment, promotion, job transfer and any other personnel management at an agency shall be forbidden from exerting unjust influence to have their family members hired by the agency, and in the case of public officials handling the said affairs at an affiliated agency shall be forbidden from exerting unjust influence to have their family members hired by the affiliated agency.

▴ Restriction on Signing Private Contracts

Under the revision, senior officials and their family members shall be prohibited from signing any private contracts regarding goods, services and construction, etc. with their agency or affiliated agencies. In addition, public officials handling affairs on contracts at an agency and their family members shall be forbidden from signing private contracts with the agency, and officials handling affairs on contracts at an affiliated agency and their family members shall also be forbidden from signing private contracts with the affiliated agency.

▴ Prohibition of Using Good Offices or Making Solicitations to Those Who Are Not Public Officials

Since the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act took effect, cases of improper solicitations made to public officials have been banned. However, improper solicitations made by public officials to civilians had been often pointed out as blind spots in the law.

In line with this, a new provision has been introduced into the Code to ban public officials’ influence-peddling or solicitations to civilians.

Types of solicitations highly likely to be made by public officials using their influence, such as solicitations for contributions/sponsorship and employment, have been specified, and other types of improper solicitations that are banned for each agency shall be specified by the head of the agency.

▴ Obligation on Public Officials to Report Their Personal Meetings with Retired Officials

Where a former official who has retired from an agency is in the process of filing for civil petition or applying for license/permissions, or is a duty-related party such as a party to a contract (within the past two years after his/her retirement), public officials shall be required to report to the head of their agency if they personally meet with the retired official to play golf, travel, and engage in other leisure activities. Types of personal meetings and things to be reported, etc. shall be determined by each agency. This provision aims to prevent in advance any chance of granting privileges to retired public officials for their former posts or colluding with them, thereby increasing transparency among the incumbent and retired public officials.

▴ Obligation on Public Officials to Report Transactions with a Duty-Related Party

Where a public official himself/herself, his/her spouse and his/her lineal ascendants/descendants living together with the public official engage in any monetary or asset transactions, or sign contracts for goods/services or construction, with a duty-related party or duty-related public officials, the public official shall report to the head of his/her agency; provided, however, that this shall not apply to cases where transparency of transactions can be secured through separate procedures, as in the case of loans from financial institutions, public auctions, auctions, bidding, public drawing, etc., or to signing of contracts with unspecified individuals repetitively in accordance with customary practices.

The ACRC said that ahead of the implementation of the revised Code of Conduct for Public Officials, it has been striving to promote the new provisions of the revised Code and provide public officials of agencies of various levels with operational guidelines and work manuals for each agency so that they can have substantive understanding of, and better adapt to, the new provisions of the revised Code.

The director general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau at the ACRC, Lim Yoon-ju said that “I expect the revisions made to the Code of Conduct for Public Officials this time will elevate Korean public officials’ behavioral standard to the next level.”

□ Backgrounds and Operation system of the Code of Conduct for Public officials

○ The Code of Conduct for Public Officials was established in 2003 to specify code of conduct for public officials in performing public duties, aiming to enhance ethics level and spread an integrity culture in the public sector.

※ Applicable Act: Article 7 (Obligation of Public Organization Employees to Maintain Integrity) and Article 8 (Code of Conduct for Public Organization Employees) of the Act on the Prevention of Corruption and the Establishment and Management of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

○ Code of conduct for employees of Central and local administrative agencies, code of conduct for constitutional agencies, and code of conduct for public service-related agencies are operated in accordance with Presidential Decree, internal rules, and by-laws, respectively.

□ Main contents of Code of Conduct for Public Officials (21)