An International Convention or Agreement on Financial Transparency (NO0029)

Norway will initiate an international dialogue on stricter rules for financial transparency,
for example, in the form of a convention or agreement. The work will be long-term and
promote the normative agenda of financial and economic transparency.
Norway will build a common understanding with like-minded countries about what
such rules might entail. The objective of the dialogue will be to develop rules to
promote transparency in international financial transactions in order to help prevent the
illicit financial flows. It may involve obligations to register and exchange information on
financial transactions across borders or mutual legal assistance in tracking the flow of
money.

The Government will initiate an international dialogue on stricter rules for financial
transparency

18. An international convention or agreement on financial transparency

Commitment Text:

[…]Norway will initiate an international dialogue on stricter rules for financial transparency, for example, in the form of a convention or agreement. The work will be long-term and promote the normative agenda of financial and economic transparency. Norway will build a common understanding with like-minded countries about what such rules might entail. The objective of the dialogue will be to develop rules to promote transparency in international financial transactions in order to help prevent the illicit financial flows. It may involve obligations to register and exchange information on financial transactions across borders or mutual legal assistance in tracking the flow of money.

[…]To assess the need for and the content of a possible convention or agreement, it would be appropriate to have an international dialogue. This dialogue will aim to identify the relevant forums to develop new rules and the subsequent enforcement procedures, strategic alliance partners. The content of any obligations must be adapted to national legislation and obligations under other conventions such as the EU/EEA regulations. Objections of a procedural nature, including the costs of possible new reporting obligations, must be considered.

COMMITMENT DESCRIPTION
The Government will initiate an international dialogue on stricter rules for financial transparency.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Foreign Affiars

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: 1 January, 2013              End date: 1 October, 2014

Editorial note: The text of the commitments was abridged for formatting reasons. For the full text of the commitment, please see http://bit.ly/1QlVIja.

Policy Aim

This commitment was intended to work towards improving the international regulatory framework for combatting transnational corruption and illicit financial flows.

Status

Mid-term: Officially withdrawn.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Did not change
Public accountability: Did not change

This commitment was officially withdrawn due to a lack of international support for an international convention or agreement on financial transparency. Therefore, no action was taken under this commitment.

Carried forward?

This commitment has not been carried forward in the Norwegian government’s third national action plan, which is available on the OGP website.^{[Note 103: ”Norway’s third action plan Open Government Partnership (OGP),” Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, accessed September 4, 2016, http://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Norway_2016-17_NAP.pdf.]}