Create Draft Legislation to Extend the Right to Recommend Candidates for the Post of Attorney-General. (SK0116)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Slovak Republic National Action Plan 2017-2019
Action Plan Cycle: 2017
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice in cooperation with the Attorney-General
Support Institution(s): NA
Policy Areas
Legislation & Regulation, Public Participation, Regulatory GovernanceIRM Review
IRM Report: Slovakia Implementation Report 2017-2019, Slovak Republic Design Report 2017–2019
Starred: No
Early Results: Did Not Change
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Not Relevant
Implementation i
Description
According to the current law42, proposals for the appointment of the Attorney-General are submitted by the Members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic ("the National Council") to the Speaker of the National Council, who assigns them to the Constitutional Committee of the National Council. The Constitu-tional Committee passes the proposal along with its opinion to the Speaker of the National Council who then schedules the proposal along with the opinion of the Constitutional Committee for the next meeting of the National Council. Members of the National Council vote for the candidate who is then proposed to the president for appointment. This method is not satisfactory because in the end result the nominee is chosen only by political parties and the nominee's selection process is subject to the political struggle.
Therefore, the right to propose candidates based on their professional qualities should be also granted to the representatives of legal professionals (such as the representatives of the professional chambers, the academic community, including prosecutors, and the public defender of rights). This requirement is also apparent from the report of the Venice Commission on European Standards relating to the Independence of the Judicial System, Part II - Prosecution43. In the opinion of the Attorney-General's Office, it is necessary to pay close attention to the circle of persons and entities who should have the right to recommend the candidates for the Attorney-General to the National Council. At the same time, the relevant parliamentary committee should keep the competence to decide which nominees will be submitted to the National Coun-cil for voting, but under strict conditions, so that unfair exclusion cannot occur.
Commitment No. 59: Create draft legislation to extend the right to recommend candidates for the post of Attorney-General.
IRM Midterm Status Summary
THEME - Improve prosecutors
Comm 58, 59, 60, 61
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan[Note : The Office of the Plenipotentiary, “Open Government Partnership National Action Plan of the Slovak Republic 2017 – 2019”, http://bit.ly/2QYIlHV ]:
Commitment 58: “Prepare and submit to the Government a draft of the Act amending Act No. 154/2001 Coll. on prosecutors and Lawyers of the Public Prosecutor's, that will ensure the publication of the seat of office of individual prosecutors”.
Commitment 59: “Create draft legislation to extend the right to recommend candidates for the post of Attorney-General”.
Commitment 60: “In a participatory manner, conduct an analysis of disciplinary proceedings in prosecutors' affairs and create draft legislative changes in order to increase the transparency of these disciplinary proceedings.”
Commitment 61: “In a participatory manner, analyze the selection procedures for the prosecutor's office, including draft legislative changes, in order to increase their transparency.”
Start Date: Not specified
End Date: 31 July 2018
Context and Objectives
According to the reports from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) the indictment rate was 18% in Slovakia 2017[Note : European Anti-Fraud Office, “The OLAF report 2017,” http://bit.ly/2Kw2EKQ ]. The EU average indictment rate was 42% in 2017. The Transparency International Slovakia informed that although there have been some improvements in punishing corruption, and for instance, the number of solved cases of bribery above a thousand euro has increased, the number of cases of grand corruption linked to high-level public officials has been continuously very low and enjoyed impunity[Note : Transparency International Slovakia, „Napriek zlepšeniu „veľké ryby“ stále nechytáme“ (Despite improvements we still do not catch ‘big fish’) http://bit.ly/2Tcb7d0 (in Slovak)]. Prosecutors, along with the police, play a crucial role in investigating and prosecuting cases of corruption, as they file indictments to courts. The Office of Special Prosecutor, which is responsible for ‘corruption agenda’, has accused the lowest number of people since 2009. As Transparency International concludes it might signalize that prosecutors overlook corruption cases[Note : Transparency International Slovakia, http://bit.ly/2BPtH0E (in Slovak)].
The latest report by the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) and Council of Europe (CoE)[Note : Group of states against corruption and Council of Europe, “Second compliance report Slovak republic: Corruption prevention in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors”, http://bit.ly/2BwFTDy] concluded that as regards prosecutors, “several developments are to be welcomed”. In particular, they praised the adoption of the Code of Ethics, an introduction of the obligation to declare gifts and liabilities above a certain threshold. GRECO and CoE also welcomed the amendment of the Act on prosecutors and prosecutors’ candidates[Note : SLOV-LEX (Legal and information portal), The Ministry of Justice, “The Act on prosecutors and prosecutor candidates no. 154/2001 Coll.”, http://bit.ly/2b7Pc1P (in Slovak).], which included an obligation to disclose publicly and regularly update a list of all prosecutors’ names on the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Since then the Prosecutor General’s Office has updated this list regularly with the latest update being made on 19 November 2018[Note : The list of prosecutors published on the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office, http://bit.ly/2aYKyk2 (in Slovak).]. The experts interviewed for the previous IRM report agreed that this was an important first step towards greater transparency and an achievement that would not be possible without OGP action plan in place[Note : Mária Žuffová, Open Government Partnership, “Slovakia Special Accountability Report 2014 - 2015”, http://bit.ly/2EzH4Ws]. The public availability of prosecutors’ names also addressed the problem with access to affidavits and asset declarations. In addition to that, the Prosecutor General’s Office made available a tool for searching asset declarations by name on its website[Note : The tool for searching prosecutors’ asset declarations is available on the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office, http://bit.ly/2TJpO4s (in Slovak). ].
New commitments aimed at greater transparency, such as Commitment 58 to disclose the seat of prosecutors is useful and specific enough to be verified. Currently, the appointment of the Attorney General is political, as MPs propose the nominees. Commitment 59 to extend the right to propose nominees for the post of the Attorney General to legal professionals is a positive measure, which makes the appointment of the Attorney General less political. However, this commitment is not relevant to any of the OGP values of access to information, civic participation or public accountability.
The interviewed experts stated in the previous IRM report that the executive powers of the Attorney General should be reduced, and both selection and disciplinary procedures should be made more transparent[Note : Mária Žuffová, Open Government Partnership, “Slovakia Special Accountability Report 2014 - 2015”, http://bit.ly/2EzH4Ws
]. Commitments 60 and 61 to analyze selection and disciplinary procedures for prosecutors could potentially address these issues and help to trigger changes. However, commitments do not specify how the analysis could be used and what the consequences of it would be, therefore the potential impact of these commitments is minor.
Next steps
The IRM researcher recommends that the Prosecutor General’s Office makes the analyses on selection and disciplinary procedures publicly available and clarify how it will further use the findings.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
Commitments
-
Publish Implementation Plans for Regulations
SK0126, 2019, E-Government
-
Regularly Publish Government Datasets
SK0127, 2019, Access to Information
-
Publish Data on Use of EU Grant Funding
SK0128, 2019, Aid
-
Publish Beneficial Ownership Data
SK0129, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
Educational Resources Portal
SK0130, 2019, Capacity Building
-
National Open Science Strategy
SK0131, 2019, Capacity Building
-
Continuous Education for Participatory Policymaking
SK0132, 2019, Capacity Building
-
Report on Public Participation in Lawmaking
SK0133, 2019, Public Participation
-
Civil Society - Government Partnerships
SK0134, 2019, Public Participation
-
Legislation Materials Portal
SK0135, 2019, Access to Information
-
Monitor Fulfillment of the Next Action Plan
SK0136, 2019, Public Participation
-
Open Data Portal
SK0058, 2017, Access to Information
-
Submit a Draft Law on Data to the Government.
SK0059, 2017, Access to Information
-
Public Administration Employee Training
SK0060, 2017, Access to Information
-
Data Publication Standards
SK0061, 2017, Access to Information
-
Update Open Data Portal
SK0062, 2017, Access to Information
-
Open Data Publication
SK0063, 2017, Access to Information
-
Open Data Awareness-Raising
SK0064, 2017, Access to Information
-
Survey About Open Data
SK0065, 2017, Access to Information
-
Publish Open Data
SK0066, 2017, Access to Information
-
Analysis of Open Data
SK0067, 2017, Access to Information
-
Open Data Strategy
SK0068, 2017, Access to Information
-
Develop Standards for Publicly Available Application Programming Interfaces and Submit Them to the Commission for the Standardization of Information Systems in Public Administration.
SK0069, 2017, E-Government
-
Ensure Open Data Publication
SK0070, 2017, Access to Information
-
Survey of Public Demand for Application Programming Interfaces
SK0071, 2017, E-Government
-
Publish Application Programming Interfaces
SK0072, 2017, Access to Information
-
Enable the Disclosure of Source Code and Development Using Open Methods for Newly Developed Plug-Ins and Extensions of Web Browsers and Client Applications.
SK0073, 2017, Access to Information
-
Custom-Made Information Systems
SK0074, 2017, Access to Information
-
Publish Open Source Software Data
SK0075, 2017, Access to Information
-
Study About Open Source Software
SK0076, 2017, Access to Information
-
Feasibility Study on NGO Satellite Account
SK0077, 2017, Access to Information
-
Define the Minimum Scope and Structure of the Disclosed Data on the Use of European Structural and Investment Funds, the EEA Financial Mechanism, Norwegian Financial Mechanism, the Swiss Financial Mechanism and Subsidy Schemes From the State Budget.
SK0078, 2017, Aid
-
Publish Financial Data
SK0079, 2017, Access to Information
-
Propose Changes to Central Register of Contracts Regulation
SK0080, 2017, Anti-Corruption
-
Create Space for the Publication of Local Self-Government (Municipality) Contracts in a Single Central Repository.
SK0081, 2017, Anti-Corruption
-
Establish and Operate a Repository of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic for Storage, Long-Term Archiving and Access to Educational Resources.
SK0082, 2017, Access to Information
-
Open Education Resources
SK0083, 2017, Access to Information
-
Reach Out to Partners Who Have Provided Educational Resources After 2008 to the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic Or to Its Directly Managed OrGanizations, with a Suggestion to Make Educational Resources Available Under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Public License.
SK0084, 2017, E-Government
-
Enforce Public Licensing
SK0085, 2017, Education
-
Make Educational Resources Available in Local Langage
SK0086, 2017, Education
-
Ensure Availability of University Textbooks
SK0087, 2017, Access to Information
-
Introduce Specific Rules for Open Publication and the Obligation to Provide Free Access of Selected Publicly Funded Publica-Tions
SK0088, 2017, Access to Information
-
Analyze the Possibility of Applying Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Public License As Standard for Selected Works Mandatorily Published in the Central Registry of Theses and Dissertations.
SK0089, 2017, E-Government
-
Awareness-Raising About Open Education Resources
SK0090, 2017, E-Government
-
Publish the Outcomes of the Approval Process of Educational Resources on the Web-Site of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.
SK0091, 2017, Access to Information
-
To Introduce the Basic Principles of Open Access to Scientific Publications Under a Public License Under the Operational Program Research and Innovation.
SK0092, 2017, Access to Information
-
Ensure the Implementation of Public License Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
SK0093, 2017, Access to Information
-
Establish Contact Office for Open Access.
SK0094, 2017, Access to Information
-
Establish Conditions for Passportization of Open Research Data Under a Public License and Monitor Its Implementation in Practice.
SK0095, 2017, Access to Information
-
Establish and Operate a Repository to Provide Storage, Long-Term Archiving and Ac-Cess to Slovak Scientific and Academic Publications, Research Data and Gray Literature.
SK0096, 2017, Access to Information
-
Design Systematic Benchmarking Monitoring Mechanisms for the Measurement and Comparison and Propose Further Analyses Related to Acquiring, Processing and Re-Use of Research Data and Open Access Scientific Publications.
SK0097, 2017, Access to Information
-
Raise Awareness About Open Access in Academic Community
SK0098, 2017, Access to Information
-
Participate in International Coordination on Open Education Reforms
SK0099, 2017, Access to Information
-
Participatory Public Policy
SK0100, 2017, E-Government
-
Citizen-Traingin on Public Policy Making
SK0101, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Create Engaging Public Policies
SK0102, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Government Employee Peer-Exchange
SK0103, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Evaluate Identified Participatory Processes of Creation and Implementation of Pub-Lic Policies and Disseminate Examples of Good Practice Based on This Evaluation.
SK0104, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Promote Partnership and Dialogue Between Public Authorities, Citizens and NGOs at National, Regional and Local Level in the Area of Participatory Public Policy-Making.
SK0105, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Propose a Recommendation of Internal Guidelines on the Use of Free On-Line Tools in Participatory Creation of Public Policies.
SK0106, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Create Learning Tools in the Field of Participation.
SK0107, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Use Educational Tools About Participation in Formal Education Using Informal Learn-Ing Methods.
SK0108, 2017, E-Government
-
Develop Recommendations for Embedding Participatory Processes Into Organiza-Tional Processes, Internal Guidelines and Other Documents for the Needs of Central Government Bodies.
SK0109, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Reassess the Implementation of the Publication of Assessments of Judges in Terms of the Clarity and Making Further Analysis Easier
SK0110, 2017, E-Government
-
Specify Which Court Decisions Do Not Need to Be Published.
SK0111, 2017, E-Government
-
Standardize Submission Requirements for Slov-Lex Portal
SK0112, 2017, Access to Information
-
Draft Legislation About the Responsibility of Judges
SK0113, 2017, E-Government
-
Draft Legislation to Ensure Public Scrutiny of Judges
SK0114, 2017, Judiciary
-
Prepare Legislation That Will Ensure the Publication of the Seat of Office of Individual Prosecutors
SK0115, 2017, E-Government
-
Create Draft Legislation to Extend the Right to Recommend Candidates for the Post of Attorney-General.
SK0116, 2017, Legislation & Regulation
-
Participatory Analysis of Prosecutor's Affairs
SK0117, 2017, E-Government
-
In a Participatory Manner, Analyze the Selection Procedures
SK0118, 2017, Justice
-
Awareness-Raising About Anti-Social Activities
SK0119, 2017, Anti-Corruption
-
Analyze and Evaluate Preliminary Information and Reports on Public Participation in the Process of Drafting and Commenting on Draft Legislation.
SK0120, 2017, E-Government
-
Analyze and Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Electronic Collective Petition.
SK0121, 2017, E-Government
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Identify the Person Responsible for Implementing the Tasks of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019 in the Organization.
SK0122, 2017, E-Government
-
Coordinate the Working Group on the Implementation of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019.
SK0123, 2017,
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Develop the Final Evaluation of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019.
SK0124, 2017, E-Government
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Prepare and Submit for the Government of the Slovak Republic the OGP National Action Plan for the Following Period.
SK0125, 2017, E-Government
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List of Open Data Datasets
SK0023, 2015, Access to Information
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Publish Open Data
SK0024, 2015, Access to Information
-
Survey of Open Data
SK0025, 2015, Access to Information
-
Publish Relevant Open Datasets
SK0026, 2015, Access to Information
-
Open Data Publication Strategy
SK0027, 2015, Access to Information
-
Grant Scheme Open Data Portal
SK0028, 2015, Access to Information
-
Web Portal Promotion Campaign
SK0029, 2015, Access to Information
-
Evaluate Grant Funding Open Data Application
SK0030, 2015, Access to Information
-
Digital Education Resources
SK0031, 2015, Access to Information
-
Map Existing Repositories
SK0032, 2015, Access to Information
-
Analyze Procurement Process for Education Resources
SK0033, 2015, Access to Information
-
Textbook Procurement Process
SK0034, 2015, Access to Information
-
Pilot Procurement Process
SK0035, 2015, Access to Information
-
Raise Awareness of Education Resources
SK0036, 2015, Access to Information
-
Join Multilateral Activities in Europe and Beyond That Support the Creation, Improvement, Sharing and Re-Use of Open Educational Resources.
SK0037, 2015, Access to Information
-
Map Existing Scientific Repositories
SK0038, 2015, Access to Information
-
Identify Barriers to Open Data Access
SK0039, 2015, Access to Information
-
Submit Analysis of Open Data Publication
SK0040, 2015, Access to Information
-
Data Publication Mechanism
SK0041, 2015, Access to Information
-
Raise Awareness About Open Access in Academic Community
SK0042, 2015, Access to Information
-
Assist Other Countries with Open Access Strategy
SK0043, 2015, Access to Information
-
Participatory Policy-Making
SK0044, 2015, Public Participation
-
Workshops on Public Involvement in Policymaking
SK0045, 2015, Capacity Building
-
Develop Public Policy with Civil Society
SK0047, 2015, Civic Space
-
Develop Criteria for Evaluating Participation in Policymaking
SK0048, 2015, Public Participation
-
Evaluate Policy Creation
SK0049, 2015, Public Participation
-
Map Legislative Environments
SK0050, 2015, Open Parliaments
-
Carry Out a Public Campaign to Promote the Collective Electronic Petitions.
SK0051, 2015, Capacity Building
-
Publish Evaluation of Justices
SK0052, 2015, Judiciary
-
Analyze Publication of Judicial Decisions
SK0053, 2015, Judiciary
-
Uniform Reporting of Judicial Decisions
SK0054, 2015, Judiciary
-
Publish List of Names of Prosecutors
SK0055, 2015, Judiciary
-
Final Evaluation of OGP Action Plan
SK0056, 2015, Public Participation
-
Develop Next Action Plan
SK0057, 2015, Public Participation
-
Open Data Portal Launch
SK0001, 2012, Access to Information
-
Publishing Datasets
SK0002, 2012, Access to Information
-
Datasets Mapping
SK0003, 2012, Access to Information
-
Data Standards
SK0004, 2012, Access to Information
-
Improved Register of Contracts
SK0005, 2012, Fiscal Openness
-
Continuous Dataset Publising
SK0006, 2012, Access to Information
-
ITMS Dataset
SK0007, 2012, Access to Information
-
EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring
SK0008, 2012, Fiscal Openness
-
EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring – Prepare Tender for Web Application
SK0009, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring – Portal Launch
SK0010, 2012, E-Government
-
Participatory Policy Making
SK0011, 2012, Capacity Building
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Apply Participatory Policy Making
SK0012, 2012, Public Participation
-
Lawmaking Public Participation Rules
SK0013, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
-
Participatory Policy Making
SK0014, 2012, Public Participation
-
Collective e-Petitions
SK0015, 2012, E-petitions
-
Collective e-Petitions – Draft Amendment
SK0016, 2012, E-petitions
-
OGP Steering Committee
SK0017, 2012,
-
Transparency Council and Openess Barometer
SK0018, 2012, Access to Information
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Develop Criteria for Transparency Council and Openess Barometer
SK0019, 2012, Access to Information
-
Conduct First Evaluation Using Openess Barometer
SK0020, 2012, Access to Information
-
Whistleblowers Protection Act
SK0021, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
2014-2015 Action Plan Development
SK0022, 2012,