Financial disclosure of public servants (asset declaration) is a disclosure of financial information by

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

s. It is a requirement of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

History

Not counting states in the USA, the first

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

which made declarations available to public was

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1974, when the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

introduced the

Register of Members' Financial Interests The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is an officer of the British House of Commons. The work of the officer is overseen by the Commons Select Committee on Standards. The current commissioner is Kathryn Stone. Duties The commissioner is ...

. Following the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

financial disclosure of public officials was made a requirement in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by its

Ethics in Government Act The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is a United States federal law that was passed in the wake of the Nixon Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. It was intended to fight corruption in government. Summary The Ethics in Governmen ...

of 1978. In 1980-th most of European countries disclosed public assets declarations. Italy in 1982, Portugal - 1983. In Eastern European countries (ex-USSR) declarations were not gathered not before 1990. Asset declaration aims to increase transparency and the trust, prevent and resolve

conflicts of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

, and monitor wealth either to discourage from misconduct or to provide additional evidence.

Conflict of interest control

The UNCAC states that the conflict of interest is a criterion which determines what information should be disclosed. The

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...

(OECD) defines conflict of interest as "a conflict between the public duty and private interests of a public official, in which the public official has private-capacity interests which could improperly influence the performance of their official duties and responsibilities".

References

{{Reflist Anti-corruption measures

History

Conflict of interest control

See also

References