Promoting Transparency in the Decision-Making Process By Setting Up a Transparency Register (RUTI) (RO0039)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Romania Action Plan 2016-2018
Action Plan Cycle: 2016
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry for Public Consultation and Civic Dialogue (MCPDC)
Support Institution(s): Ministry of Justice Chancellery of the Prime-Minister; Private sector partners and NGOs that will join the process following public consultations
Policy Areas
Anti-Corruption, Anti-Corruption Institutions, Capacity Building, Conflicts of Interest, E-Government, Fiscal Openness, Legislation & Regulation, Lobbying, Participation in Lawmaking, Private Sector, Public Participation, Publication of Budget/Fiscal Information, Regulatory GovernanceIRM Review
IRM Report: Romania Mid-Term Report 2016-2018, Romania End-of-Term Report 2016-2018
Starred: No
Early Results: Marginal
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information
Implementation i
Description
Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment Presently, there is not sufficient transparency in the interactions between public institutions and interested parties from the private sector that promote their interests in relation to various legislative initiatives. Equally, the central public administration has limited resources to proactively identify interested parties from the private sector with which to maintain transparent communications and consultations in the various phases of initiating and developing public policies initiatives. Main objective Ensure transparency and integrity in the decision-making process Brief description of commitment Improve the transparency of the public decision-making process by disclosing interactions between high public officials and interested parties from the private sector that promote their interests in relation to various legislative initiatives. RUTI is a register of interest representatives from the private sector that willingly provide data about the entity they represent. The RUTI also includes information about the registrants’ interactions with decision-makers from the public sector. In this respect, dignitaries, high-level public servants and general directors of state companies will also publish on this platform information about their meetings with groups from the private sector, the subject of the meeting and brief conclusions. This aspect is a continuation of MCPDC’s efforts to publish the agendas of high-level officials from the central government, a requirement that was included in the Memorandum for on improving transparency and standardizing public interest information. The register will managed by the MCPDC, in partnership with the MJ and CPM. OPG challenge addressed by the commitment Increasing public integrity Relevance Access to information and accountability by improving transparency in the decision-making process Ambition Ensuring transparency in the decision-making process
IRM End of Term Status Summary
10. Promoting transparency in the decision-making process by setting up a Transparency Register (RUTI)
Commitment Text:
Improve the transparency of the public decision-making process by disclosing interactions between high public officials and interested parties from the private sector that promote their interests in relation to various legislative initiatives. RUTI is a register of interest for representatives from the private sector that willingly provide data about the entity they represent. RUTI also includes information about the registrants’ interactions with decision-makers from the public sector. In this respect, dignitaries, high-level public servants and general directors of state companies will also publish on this platform information about their meetings with groups from the private sector, the subject of the meeting and brief conclusions. This aspect is a continuation of MCPDC’s efforts to publish the agendas of high-level officials from the central government, a requirement that was included in the Memorandum for on improving transparency and standardizing public interest information. The register will managed by the MCPDC, in partnership with the MJ and CPM.
Main Objective:
Transparency and integrity of the decision-making process
Milestones:
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- Develop the concept of the Unique Transparency of Interests Register (RUTI)
- Development of the gov.ro platform
- Public consultation with the civil society and private sector on the proposed mechanism
- Launch and testing of the platform
- Assessment of the results
Responsible Institution: Ministry for Public Consultation and Civic Dialogue (MCPDC)
Supporting Institution(s): Ministry of Justice, Chancellery of the Prime-Minister
Start date: 2016 End date: February 2017
Editorial Note: The commitment text is abridged. The full text can be found in the OGP 2016–2018 national action plan.
Commitment Aim
This commitment aimed to increase transparency of meetings between public officials and groups or individuals seeking to influence political decision makers, by publishing meetings between public officials and private sector members that seek to promote their interests in relation to various legislative initiatives. This commitment aimed to design and develop the RUTI platform (Milestones 1 and 2), in consultation with civil society and private sector stakeholders (Milestone 3). The commitment also aimed to launch and test the platform where meetings between companies and legislators can be registered (Milestone 4) and to evaluate the results of the platform (Milestone 5).
STATUS
Midterm: Complete
RUTI (the concept and platform) was developed in consultation with civil society and was launched and tested by midterm. The assessment of the platform’s impact on increasing transparency and integrity in the decision-making process was not started.
The assessment of the platform’s impact was completed. The government’s 2018 self-assessment report provides some statistics on the degree to which RUTI is used—i.e. the platform has 194 registered public officials, 2,020 registered special interest groups, and approximately 2,300 registered meetings—all of which show the platform is steadily receiving traction among public servants and potential lobbyists. [84]
Did it Open Government?
Access to information: Marginal
At the time of writing this report, 194 decision-makers have their information on the RUTI platform. [85] However, the platform has not been used by any major watchdog or anti-corruption NGOs, as information provided on RUTI is insufficient to uncover abuse of power. [86] Ideally, the information provided on the RUTI portal would be high-quality, centralized, and downloadable in a machine-readable format, and rich in data-points, would cover all relevant actors in real time and could be used to corroborate other information on members of the public administration (e.g. the transparency register or the register of financial declarations), such that “anomalies” could be detected. [87]
Carried forward?
This commitment will be continued in the 2018–2020 national action plan as Commitment 6: “Extending standards on access to public information at the level of local public authorities.”
[84] “National Action Plan 2016-2018: Self-assessment report”, Open Government Partnership, 2018, pages 43-44, available [in Romanian] at https://bit.ly/2vv2yw7.
[85] The Memorandum on the Establishment of the Single Register of Transparency of Interests concerns only the decision-makers in the central public administration (e.g. Prime Minister, Head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Secretary General of the Government, State Securities, State Councilors, leaders of rank of dignitaries of other institutions or central bodies of the public administration subordinated to the Government or ministries). The Memorandum is available [in Romanian] at https://bit.ly/2Z0Ag98.
[86] “IRM Romania Progress Report 2016–2017”, IRM, 2018, page 55, available at https://goo.gl/AHqzEe.
[87] See as example “Open data to fight corruption. Case study: the EU and lobbying”, Transparency International, 2016, available at https://bit.ly/2V4xZHZ.
Commitments
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Standardize Public Consultation Practices
RO0048, 2018, E-Government
-
Open Local Government
RO0049, 2018, Capacity Building
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Citizen Budgets
RO0050, 2018, Capacity Building
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Youth Participation
RO0051, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Register of Civil Society Proposals
RO0052, 2018, E-Government
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Access to Information – Local
RO0053, 2018, Capacity Building
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Online Business Sector Information
RO0054, 2018, Capacity Building
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Digital Consular Services
RO0055, 2018, Capacity Building
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Transparency in the Funding of Political Parties
RO0056, 2018, Access to Information
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National Investment Fund Transparency
RO0057, 2018, Access to Information
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Civil Servant Training
RO0058, 2018, Capacity Building
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Raise Awareness About Corruption
RO0059, 2018, Capacity Building
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Transparency of Seized Assets
RO0060, 2018, Access to Information
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Access to Social Services
RO0061, 2018, E-Government
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Open Access to Research
RO0062, 2018, Access to Information
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Open Education
RO0063, 2018, Access to Information
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Evaluate Open Data
RO0064, 2018, Access to Information
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Open Data
RO0065, 2018, Access to Information
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Improving the Legal Framework and Practices Regarding Access to Public Interest Information
RO0030, 2016, Access to Information
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Centralized Publishing of Public Interest Information on the Single Gateway Transparenta.Gov.Ro
RO0031, 2016, Capacity Building
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Promoting Open Parliament Principles
RO0032, 2016, Capacity Building
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Improved Management of the Applications Submitted for Granting Citizenship
RO0033, 2016, Capacity Building
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Standardization of Transparency Practices in the Decision-Making Procedures
RO0034, 2016, Capacity Building
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Centralised Publication of Legislative Projects on the Single Gateway Consultare.Gov.Ro
RO0035, 2016, Capacity Building
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Citizens Budgets
RO0036, 2016, Capacity Building
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Improve Youth Consultation and Public Participation
RO0037, 2016, Capacity Building
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Subnational Open Government
RO0038, 2016, Capacity Building
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Promoting Transparency in the Decision-Making Process By Setting Up a Transparency Register (RUTI)
RO0039, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Access to Performance Indicators Monitored in the Implementation of the National Anticorruption Strategy (SNA)
RO0040, 2016, Access to Information
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Improve Transparency in the Management of Seized Assets
RO0041, 2016, Access to Information
-
Annual Mandatory Training of Civil Servants on Integrity Matters
RO0042, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Improving Access to Cultural Heritage
RO0043, 2016, Capacity Building
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Open Data and Transparency in Education
RO0044, 2016, Access to Information
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Virtual School Library and Open Educational Resources
RO0045, 2016, Capacity Building
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Open Contracting
RO0046, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data
RO0047, 2016, Access to Information
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Publishing the Public Interest Information on a Single Government Portal: Transparenta.Gov.Ro
RO0019, 2014, Access to Information
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Making an Inventory of the Datasets Produced by the Ministries and Subordinate Agencies
RO0020, 2014, Access to Information
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Ensuring the Free Online Access to National Legislation
RO0021, 2014, E-Government
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Amending Law 109/2007 on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information
RO0022, 2014, Access to Information
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Opening Data Collected from the National Health System
RO0023, 2014, Access to Information
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Opening Data Collected from the Monitoring of Preventive Measures as Part of the National Anticorruption Strategy 2012-2015
RO0024, 2014, Access to Information
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Open Contracting
RO0025, 2014, Anti-Corruption
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Opening up Data Resulted from Publicly-Funded Research Projects
RO0026, 2014, E-Government
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Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data
RO0027, 2014, Access to Information
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Human Resource Training in the Field of Open Data
RO0028, 2014, Access to Information
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Disseminating Information on the OGP Principles and Promoting the Open Data Concept in an Accessible Manner
RO0029, 2014, Public Participation
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Designating a Person Responsible for Publishing Open Data in Each Public Institution
RO0001, 2012, Access to Information
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Identifying Regulatory Needs, Logistical and Technical Solutions
RO0002, 2012, Access to Information
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Making an Inventory of Available (High-Value) Data-Sets
RO0003, 2012, Access to Information
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Priority Publishing on the Web Pages of Public Institutions of Specific Data-Sets
RO0004, 2012, Access to Information
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Initiating Pilot-Projects, in Partnerships
RO0005, 2012, Access to Information
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Organizing Public Debates on the Utility of Open Data, in Partnerships
RO0006, 2012, Access to Information
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Uniform, Machine-Readable Publishing Format for Open Data
RO0007, 2012, Access to Information
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Procedures for Publication of Data-Sets Based on Civil Society Recommendations
RO0008, 2012, Access to Information
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Procedures for Citizen Complaints Pertaining to Open Data
RO0009, 2012, Access to Information
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Consultation Mechanism Between Suppliers and Beneficiaries of Open Data
RO0010, 2012, Access to Information
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Creating a Rating System for the Assessment of High-Value Data-Sets
RO0011, 2012, Access to Information
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Routinely Publishing Specific Data-Sets on Web Pages of Public Institutions
RO0012, 2012, Access to Information
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Integrating Open Data from Public Institutions in a Single National Platform
RO0013, 2012, Access to Information
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Inventories of Data, in Order to Facilitate Public Access
RO0014, 2012, Access to Information
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Institute a Monitoring Mechanism of Compliance for Open Data
RO0015, 2012, Access to Information
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Stimulating the Market for Innovative Use of Open Data
RO0016, 2012, Access to Information
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Routinely Publishing Data-Sets on the National Platform, 25% High-Value
RO0017, 2012, Access to Information
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The Public Procurement Electronic System (SEAP). the Electronic Allocation System for Transports (SAET)/B.1 C) Expanding the On-Line Submission of Fiscal Forms. Ensuring the Free On-Line Access to National Legislation. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage Subpoenas and Facilitate Access Toinformation Regarding Legal Proceedings. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage the Procedures Related to Obtaining the Romanian Citizenship. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage the Procedures Related to the Creation of Non-Profit Legal Persons. the Integrated System for Electronic Access to Justice (SIIAEJ)
RO0018, 2012, Access to Justice