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Romania

Transparency of Seized Assets (RO0060)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Romania Action Plan 2018-2020

Action Plan Cycle: 2018

Status: Active

Institutions

Lead Institution: Ministry of Justice (MJ) - the National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets (ANABI)

Support Institution(s): National Agency for Fiscal Administration

Policy Areas

Access to Information, E-Government, Judiciary, Justice, Open Data, Open Justice

IRM Review

IRM Report: Pending IRM Review

Starred: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information , Technology

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion: Pending IRM Review

Description

Improving transparency in the management of seized assets
2018-2019 Lead implementing agency/actor Ministry of Justice (MJ) - the National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets (ANABI) Other actors involved State actors National Agency for Fiscal Administration CSOs, private sector, multilaterals, working groups What is the public problem that the commitment will address? According to art. 40 of Law no.318/2015 for the setting up and operation of the National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets, (1) ANABI publishes in an open format and on a quarterly basis data and public interest information generated from the national integrated information system for recording proceeds of crime. (2) Until the information system is operating, the Agency publishes, on a quarterly basis, data and public interest information regarding its activities. In addition, to ensure transparency in the process of reuse of immovable property, according to art.31, (3)” the Agency publishes on its website updated information about each immovable property seized from criminal proceedings, including its legal situation, position, photographs, the date when it became private state property, as well as other relevant data”. Commitment description What is the commitment? ANABI will develop a platform that will ensure access of public institutions from the judiciary to information regarding the management of proceeds of crime. The development of such an application will increase the national institutional capacity to manage the seized assets by providing detailed and up-to-date evidence of these assets in Romania. In addition, the system will increase transparency in the debt recovery process by providing open data to the public and generating reliable statistics for tracking 30 the debt recovery process. How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? According to art. 38 para. (2) of the Law no. 318/2015, the Integrated national computer system for recording of claims arising from criminal offenses will include data on: a) the precautionary measures ordered in the criminal proceeding, administration, capitalization or return of the assets subject to these measures; b) the precautionary measure of seizure and the use of confiscated property, both in the case of special confiscation and extensive confiscation; c) the confiscation of bail, provided by art. 217 par. (5) of the Law no. 135/2010, as amended and supplemented; d) the execution of orders for the seized assets issued by another State; e) the execution of confiscation orders issued by another State; f) the disposal of confiscated goods within the meaning of Art. 265 of the Law no. 302/2004, republished, as subsequently amended or supplemented, or agreements providing for the sharing of confiscated assets; g) damages granted to the State, authorities or public institutions for the compensation of the damage caused by the commission of the offense and the execution of the provisions of the decision regarding them; h) the fine imposed as the main punishment and its execution in the manner prescribed by the law. Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Institutional transparency Milestone activity with a verifiable deliverable Responsible agency / partner Start Date: End Date: Develop the national integrated system for the registration of proceeds of crime. ANABI 2016-2018 NAP December 2019 31 Additional information Budget The National Integrated System is developed under the project "Supporting the Achievement of National Anti-Corruption Strategy Objectives by Increasing the Recovery of Crime Products" and benefits from funding from the Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Program to reduce the economic and social disparities within the enlarged Europe. 866.021 CHF Correlation with other government programs/strategies National Anticorruption Strategy 2016-2020, Strategy for the Development of the Judiciary

IRM Midterm Status Summary

13. Improving transparency in the management of seized assets

Commitment Text: "ANABI will develop a platform that will ensure access of public institutions from the judiciary to information regarding the management of proceeds of crime. The development of such an application will increase the national institutional capacity to manage the seized assets by providing detailed and up-to-date evidence of these assets in Romania. In addition, the system will increase transparency in the debt recovery process by providing open data to the public and generating reliable statistics for tracking the debt recovery process."

Milestones:

    • Develop the national integrated system for the registration of proceeds of crime.

Start Date: National Action Plan 2016-2018 ...............................................

End Date: December 2019

Editorial Note: The commitment text is abridged. The full text can be found in the OGP 2018-2020 national action plan.

Context and Objectives

This commitment was continued from Romania’s third action plan (2016-2018). As described in the IRM progress report for the third action plan, prosecutors investigating white collar crimes freeze suspected proceeds of crime in order to confiscate them if the final conviction is issued. [123] The National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets (ANABI) was established through law 318/2015, and mandated to disclose in an open format, on a quarterly basis, how the state manages seized assets. To this end, this commitment aims to create the National Integrated Information System (SIIN) to record and manage the information required, which will clearly improve the public’s access and specialized authorities’ access to information on seized proceeds of crime. Moreover, SIIN will allow the public and the government to evaluate the performance of ANABI and the efficiency of the management of seized assets. The solution is specific enough to be verified, with the full text of the commitment providing a detailed list of the various data the platform will make available.

Although citizens can already assess the performance of ANABI from its yearly reports and from data already published on its website, [124] the topic of seized assets is difficult for the public to understand. According to an interviewed ANABI representative, SIIN will present ANABI’s data in a more intuitive way (e.g., relying on visuals and storytelling) and will help explain to the public what the seizing of assets means, why it matters, how it is conducted and by whom, etc. [125] Also, SIIN will allow the monitoring in real-time (as opposed to the current annual monitoring) and at a granular level (as opposed to what is now macro-level information) of the performance of stakeholders such as the police, public prosecution, the Ministry of Justice, and judiciary in seizing and managing seized assets. This could also generate new insights, such as trends and new leads for law enforcement. [126] As a result, this commitment has the potential to be transformative in what constitutes judicial transparency.

ANABI already modelled SIIN, in partnership with experts from the Basel Institute in Switzerland, [127] in 2018, and now moves towards a proof of work for SIIN. Nevertheless, early results suggest that finding suppliers capable to create SIIN on the basis of its earlier specifications is cumbersome. Consequently, ANABI plans to develop an in house, simplified proof-of-work in partnership with Code4Romania, to ensure that it completes this commitment on time.

Next steps

This commitment is a clear priority to ANABI. Consequently, while the simplified version of SIIN that ANABI is developing with Code4Romania would fulfill the commitment, [128] ANABI could still push to receive the necessary funding to implement the original SIIN version. 

[123] "2016-2017 IRM Progress Report on Romania", OGP, available at http://www.opengovernmentparthership.org.

[124] According to the ANABI representative, progress in the direction of increasing access to data has already been made as ANABI centralizes and presents more data on their website.

[125] Interview with Cornel Calinescu, National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets (ANABI), 2 September 2019.

[126] Interview with Cornel Calinescu, ANABI, 2 September 2019.

[127] "ANABI will have an integrated electronic system of criminal assets", ANABI, April 2016, available at http://bit.ly/2kLMLYb.

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, Access to Information

  10. National Investment Fund Transparency

    RO0057, 2018, Access to Information

  11. Civil Servant Training

    RO0058, 2018, Capacity Building

  12. Raise Awareness About Corruption

    RO0059, 2018, Capacity Building

  13. Transparency of Seized Assets

    RO0060, 2018, Access to Information

  14. Access to Social Services

    RO0061, 2018, E-Government

  15. Open Access to Research

    RO0062, 2018, Access to Information

  16. Open Education

    RO0063, 2018, Access to Information

  17. Evaluate Open Data

    RO0064, 2018, Access to Information

  18. Open Data

    RO0065, 2018, Access to Information

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

    RO0030, 2016, Access to Information

  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. Starred commitment 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

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

    RO0040, 2016, Access to Information

  30. Improve Transparency in the Management of Seized Assets

    RO0041, 2016, Access to Information

  31. Annual Mandatory Training of Civil Servants on Integrity Matters

    RO0042, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  32. Improving Access to Cultural Heritage

    RO0043, 2016, Capacity Building

  33. Open Data and Transparency in Education

    RO0044, 2016, Access to Information

  34. Virtual School Library and Open Educational Resources

    RO0045, 2016, Capacity Building

  35. Open Contracting

    RO0046, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  36. Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data

    RO0047, 2016, Access to Information

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

    RO0019, 2014, Access to Information

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

    RO0020, 2014, Access to Information

  39. Starred commitment 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, Access to Information

  41. Opening Data Collected from the National Health System

    RO0023, 2014, Access to Information

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

    RO0024, 2014, Access to Information

  43. Open Contracting

    RO0025, 2014, Anti-Corruption

  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, Access to Information

  46. Human Resource Training in the Field of Open Data

    RO0028, 2014, Access to Information

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

    RO0029, 2014,

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

    RO0001, 2012, Access to Information

  49. Identifying Regulatory Needs, Logistical and Technical Solutions

    RO0002, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0003, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0004, 2012, Access to Information

  52. Initiating Pilot-Projects, in Partnerships

    RO0005, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0006, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0007, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0008, 2012, Access to Information

  56. Procedures for Citizen Complaints Pertaining to Open Data

    RO0009, 2012, Access to Information

  57. Consultation Mechanism Between Suppliers and Beneficiaries of Open Data

    RO0010, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0011, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0012, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0013, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0014, 2012, Access to Information

  62. Institute a Monitoring Mechanism of Compliance for Open Data

    RO0015, 2012, Access to Information

  63. Stimulating the Market for Innovative Use of Open Data

    RO0016, 2012, Access to Information

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

    RO0017, 2012, Access to Information

  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, Access to Justice

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