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Armenia

Ensuring Transparency of Asset and Income Declarations of the RA High-Ranking Officials (AM0019)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Armenia, Second Action Plan, 2014-16

Action Plan Cycle: 2014

Status: Inactive

Institutions

Lead Institution: Ethics Commission of High-Ranking Officials (upon consent)

Support Institution(s): Ministry of Justice of the RA, Ministry of Finance of the RA “Freedom of Information Center” NGO (upon consent), “Transparency International” anti-corruption center (upon consent)

Policy Areas

Asset Disclosure, Legislation & Regulation

IRM Review

IRM Report: Armenia End-of-Term Report 2014-2016, Armenia IRM Progress Report for 2014-2015

Starred: No

Early Results: Did Not Change

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion:

Description

The list of data of declarations on property and income of high-ranking officials subject to publicity established by the Government Decision N 1835-N of December 15, 2011 does not provide a fully transparent list of all operations of property of high-ranking officials and their affiliated persons included in the declarations. In particular, those are restricted by the price thresholds of operations. The Commission plans to reduce such restrictions and want to expand the list of available data to public and thus increase the accessibility of declarations to the public. Ensuring transparency of declarations of property and income of the RA High-ranking officials

IRM End of Term Status Summary

4. Asset and Income Declarations of High-Ranking Officials

Commitment Text:

The list of data of declarations on property and income of high-ranking officials, subject to publicity established by the Government Decision N 1835-N of December 15, 2011, does not provide a fully transparent list of all operations of property of high-ranking officials and their affiliated persons included in the declarations. In particular, those are restricted by the price thresholds of operations.  
The Commission plans to reduce such restrictions and want to expand the list of available data to public and thus increase the accessibility of declarations to the public.

Ensuring transparency of declarations of property and income of the RA High-ranking officials.

Responsible Institution: The Commission on Ethics of the High-Ranking Officials (upon consent)

Supporting Institution(s): Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finances

Start Date: November 2014...                                                            ............. End Date: June 2015

Commitment Aim

This commitment aims to enhance transparency of the asset disclosure of high ranking public officials in Armenia. At the time of adoption of the second action plan, certain thresholds were defined for the value of owned assets to be reported. The Government committed to removing these thresholds with a goal to make more information on public officials’ wealth available to public.

Status

Midterm: Complete

The progress report specified that the Government approved the decree on “making amendments to Government of Armenia Decrees №1835-N from 15 December 2011 and №1819-N from 15 December 2011” that removed the thresholds on assets and transactions to be declared by high-ranking officials. Since 2014, declarations of many high-ranking officials have been available on the website of The Ethics Commission  The Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials, accessed June 12, 2017, http://ethics.am/en/  .

Did it Open Government?

Access to Information: Did Not Change  

Most high-ranking officials had already presented their declarations for 2015 in the revised format. However, media reported that not all declarations of high-ranking officials were available online  “What is the secret mark”, shame.am, September 3, 2016, http://bit.ly/2sVHsVa. For more media reports on instances of officials’ non-compliance of income declarations, see usaarmenianews.com, September 7, 2016, http://bit.ly/2s4As8N; Alisa Manukyan, “Shushan Upper Field”, blognews.am, September 5, 2016, http://bit.ly/2rpfShg.  . The media did not publish information about any new findings based on reduced thresholds.

As pointed out in the progress report, political power and economic interests tend to be closely intertwined in Armenia and the Commission of Ethics has no mandate or resources to verify the declarations or to sanction non-compliance. If the verification of declarations is not performed, high ranking officials’ declaration of transactions bigger or smaller than USD20K/USD100K are rendered irrelevant. As specified above, despite Armenian media and CSOs’ close monitoring of the publications of assets and income of high-ranking officials, there was no uncovering of new data following removal of thresholds.

Carried Forward?

The commitment related to the declarations of high ranking officials was carried forward in the third action plan for 2016-2018. The Government decided to improve the electronic system of asset and income declarations of high-ranking officials and individuals related to them. The commitment in the next action plan envisages publishing details of officials (subject to income disclosures) who fail to submit declarations within the time limits specified by law. It also entails ability of interactive extraction of data from the system in an open data format.

Commitments

  1. Open Data in Official Declarations

    AM0035, 2018, Asset Disclosure

  2. Government Grant Transparency

    AM0036, 2018, Fiscal Transparency

  3. Beneficial Ownership Register

    AM0037, 2018, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  4. Modernization of Community Website

    AM0038, 2018, E-Government

  5. State Water Cadastre

    AM0039, 2018, E-Government

  6. Land Cadastre

    AM0040, 2018, E-Government

  7. Integrated Social Services

    AM0041, 2018, E-Government

  8. Unified Information System for Management of Education

    AM0042, 2018, Capacity Building

  9. Exploring Medical Assistance Program

    AM0043, 2018, E-Government

  10. Platform for Submitting Petitions

    AM0044, 2018, E-Government

  11. Public Service Dashboard

    AM0045, 2018, E-Government

  12. State Travel Transparency

    AM0027, 2016, E-Government

  13. Accountability for Grants of the Government

    AM0028, 2016, E-Government

  14. Transparency of the State Budget

    AM0029, 2016, Fiscal Transparency

  15. "Open Data" in Official Declaration:

    AM0030, 2016, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  16. Portal for Community Decisions.

    AM0031, 2016, Capacity Building

  17. Accountability Licensing

    AM0032, 2016, Capacity Building

  18. Accessibility of Integrated Social Services

    AM0033, 2016, E-Government

  19. "One-Stop-Shop" Pilot Project Within Military Registration Offices

    AM0034, 2016, Capacity Building

  20. Digitization and publication of data in the “Republican Geological Fund” SNCO

    AM0016, 2014, Extractive Industries

  21. Ensuring Transparency in Mining

    AM0017, 2014, Extractive Industries

  22. Ensuring Public Awareness About Health Care Financing

    AM0018, 2014, E-Government

  23. Ensuring Transparency of Asset and Income Declarations of the RA High-Ranking Officials

    AM0019, 2014, Asset Disclosure

  24. Online Broadcasting of the State Procurement Appeals Board Sessions

    AM0020, 2014, E-Government

  25. Community Microsurvey Introduction in 10 Communities

    AM0021, 2014, E-Government

  26. Ensuring Open, Transparent, Participatory and Accountable Process of State Policies and Legislative Reforms

    AM0022, 2014, E-Government

  27. Public Awareness on the Lawmaking Activity of State Governance Bodies

    AM0023, 2014, E-Government

  28. Ensuring Transparency of the Election of Governing Boards of the RA General Secondary Education Institutions and of the Annual Budget Planning and Expenses of Ra General Secondary Education Institutions

    AM0024, 2014, Education

  29. Knowledge and Capacity Building of Public Servants in the Freedom of Information and Anticorruption Field

    AM0025, 2014, Capacity Building

  30. Ensuring Transparency of Local Self Government Bodies of Large Communities

    AM0026, 2014, E-Government

  31. Reviewing the Regulatory Normative Legal Acts (Regulatory Guillotine Project)

    AM0001, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  32. Improving Internal Audit System for the Public Sector

    AM0002, 2012, Audits and Controls

  33. Improving Procurement Procedures

    AM0003, 2012, Capacity Building

  34. Improving Budget Planning and Reporting Systems Through Full Utilization of Program Budgeting

    AM0004, 2012, Audits and Controls

  35. Promoting Transparency and Objectiveness in Tax Administration

    AM0005, 2012, Conflicts of Interest

  36. Fight Against Corruption

    AM0006, 2012, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  37. Introduction of a Unified Payment System (Portal)

    AM0007, 2012, E-Government

  38. State Car Inspection Improvements

    AM0008, 2012, Infrastructure & Transport

  39. Implementation of an Electronic System for Consular Services

    AM0009, 2012, Citizenship and Immigration

  40. Implementation of Mail-Armenia System

    AM0010, 2012, Citizenship and Immigration

  41. Introduction of e-Statistics System

    AM0011, 2012, E-Government

  42. Introduction of e-Documentation Sharing System in Urban Communities

    AM0012, 2012, E-Government

  43. Ensuring Transparency of Asset Declarations

    AM0013, 2012, Asset Disclosure

  44. Standardization of Offical Websites Content

    AM0014, 2012, E-Government

  45. Improvement of Knowledge and Skills of Public Servants on Access to Information

    AM0015, 2012, Capacity Building