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Romania

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 Institutions, Capacity Building, Conflicts of Interest, E-Government, Fiscal Transparency, Legislation & Regulation, Lobbying, Private Sector, Public Participation

IRM Review

IRM Report: Romania End-of-Term Report 2016-2018

Starred: No

Early Results: Marginal

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion:

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:

    • 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.

Romania's Commitments

  1. Standardize Public Consultation Practices

    RO0048, 2018, E-Government

  2. Open Local Government

    RO0049, 2018, Capacity Building

  3. Citizen Budgets

    RO0050, 2018, Capacity Building

  4. Youth Participation

    RO0051, 2018, Capacity Building

  5. Register of Civil Society Proposals

    RO0052, 2018, E-Government

  6. Access to Information – Local

    RO0053, 2018, Capacity Building

  7. Online Business Sector Information

    RO0054, 2018, Capacity Building

  8. Digital Consular Services

    RO0055, 2018, Capacity Building

  9. Transparency in the Funding of Political Parties

    RO0056, 2018, E-Government

  10. National Investment Fund Transparency

    RO0057, 2018, E-Government

  11. Civil Servant Training

    RO0058, 2018, Capacity Building

  12. Raise Awareness About Corruption

    RO0059, 2018, Capacity Building

  13. Transparency of Seized Assets

    RO0060, 2018, E-Government

  14. Access to Social Services

    RO0061, 2018, E-Government

  15. Open Access to Research

    RO0062, 2018, E-Government

  16. Open Education

    RO0063, 2018, Capacity Building

  17. Evaluate Open Data

    RO0064, 2018, Capacity Building

  18. Open Data

    RO0065, 2018, E-Government

  19. Improving the Legal Framework and Practices Regarding Access to Public Interest Information

    RO0030, 2016, Capacity Building

  20. Centralized Publishing of Public Interest Information on the Single Gateway Transparenta.Gov.Ro

    RO0031, 2016, Capacity Building

  21. Promoting Open Parliament Principles

    RO0032, 2016, Capacity Building

  22. Improved Management of the Applications Submitted for Granting Citizenship

    RO0033, 2016, Capacity Building

  23. Standardization of Transparency Practices in the Decision-Making Procedures

    RO0034, 2016, Capacity Building

  24. Centralised Publication of Legislative Projects on the Single Gateway Consultare.Gov.Ro

    RO0035, 2016, Capacity Building

  25. Citizens Budgets

    RO0036, 2016, Capacity Building

  26. Improve Youth Consultation and Public Participation

    RO0037, 2016, Capacity Building

  27. Subnational Open Government

    RO0038, 2016, Capacity Building

  28. Promoting Transparency in the Decision-Making Process By Setting Up a Transparency Register (RUTI)

    RO0039, 2016, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  29. Access to Performance Indicators Monitored in the Implementation of the National Anticorruption Strategy (SNA)

    RO0040, 2016, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  30. Improve Transparency in the Management of Seized Assets

    RO0041, 2016, Asset Disclosure

  31. Annual Mandatory Training of Civil Servants on Integrity Matters

    RO0042, 2016, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  32. Improving Access to Cultural Heritage

    RO0043, 2016, Capacity Building

  33. Open Data and Transparency in Education

    RO0044, 2016, Capacity Building

  34. Virtual School Library and Open Educational Resources

    RO0045, 2016, Capacity Building

  35. Open Contracting

    RO0046, 2016, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  36. Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data

    RO0047, 2016, Capacity Building

  37. Publishing the Public Interest Information on a Single Government Portal: Transparenta.Gov.Ro

    RO0019, 2014, E-Government

  38. Making an Inventory of the Datasets Produced by the Ministries and Subordinate Agencies

    RO0020, 2014, Open Data

  39. Ensuring the Free Online Access to National Legislation

    RO0021, 2014, E-Government

  40. Amending Law 109/2007 on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information

    RO0022, 2014, Legislation & Regulation

  41. Opening Data Collected from the National Health System

    RO0023, 2014, Health

  42. Opening Data Collected from the Monitoring of Preventive Measures as Part of the National Anticorruption Strategy 2012-2015

    RO0024, 2014, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  43. Open Contracting

    RO0025, 2014, Open Contracting and Procurement

  44. Opening up Data Resulted from Publicly-Funded Research Projects

    RO0026, 2014, E-Government

  45. Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data

    RO0027, 2014, Open Data

  46. Human Resource Training in the Field of Open Data

    RO0028, 2014, Capacity Building

  47. Disseminating Information on the OGP Principles and Promoting the Open Data Concept in an Accessible Manner

    RO0029, 2014, Records Management

  48. Designating a Person Responsible for Publishing Open Data in Each Public Institution

    RO0001, 2012, Open Data

  49. Identifying Regulatory Needs, Logistical and Technical Solutions

    RO0002, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  50. Making an Inventory of Available (High-Value) Data-Sets

    RO0003, 2012, Open Data

  51. Priority Publishing on the Web Pages of Public Institutions of Specific Data-Sets

    RO0004, 2012, Open Data

  52. Initiating Pilot-Projects, in Partnerships

    RO0005, 2012, Open Data

  53. Organizing Public Debates on the Utility of Open Data, in Partnerships

    RO0006, 2012, Open Data

  54. Uniform, Machine-Readable Publishing Format for Open Data

    RO0007, 2012, Open Data

  55. Procedures for Publication of Data-Sets Based on Civil Society Recommendations

    RO0008, 2012, Open Data

  56. Procedures for Citizen Complaints Pertaining to Open Data

    RO0009, 2012, Open Data

  57. Consultation Mechanism Between Suppliers and Beneficiaries of Open Data

    RO0010, 2012, Open Data

  58. Creating a Rating System for the Assessment of High-Value Data-Sets

    RO0011, 2012, Open Data

  59. Routinely Publishing Specific Data-Sets on Web Pages of Public Institutions

    RO0012, 2012, E-Government

  60. Integrating Open Data from Public Institutions in a Single National Platform

    RO0013, 2012, E-Government

  61. Inventories of Data, in Order to Facilitate Public Access

    RO0014, 2012, Open Data

  62. Institute a Monitoring Mechanism of Compliance for Open Data

    RO0015, 2012, Open Data

  63. Stimulating the Market for Innovative Use of Open Data

    RO0016, 2012, Open Data

  64. Routinely Publishing Data-Sets on the National Platform, 25% High-Value

    RO0017, 2012, Open Data

  65. 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, Citizenship and Immigration