For the purposes of the document, the “violation of the principles of integrity” means commission of such crimes as corruption, trading in influence, extortion, illegal acquisition of interest, misappropriation of public funds and favouritism.

The authors of the Guide highlight that the violation of the integrity principles is a major basis for liability of officials of local government bodies.

In order to enhance effectiveness of the fight against relevant offences, the authors of the document recommend:

1. Assessing corruption risks

Assessment of corruption risks should take into account the characteristics of a specific local government body, in particular, the tourist attractiveness of the regulated territories, its real estate development etc.

The AFA experts consider the following areas as the most vulnerable to corruption risks:

• Human resources management;
• Municipal procurement;
• Allocation of subsidies;
• Urban planning and land governance.

1. Implementing measures for preventing violation of integrity principles

According to the document, the measures for preventing violations of the principles of integrity include:

1. Adoption of the codes of conduct.

In adopting and implementing codes of conduct, it is necessary to:

• Take into consideration the provisions of the Charter for the Local Elected Officials (La charte de l’élu local);
• Include the provisions concerning, in particular, conflicts of interest, acceptance of gifts (invitations), hospitality expenditures, whistleblowing, use of the municipal property;
• Include examples of misconduct in the codes to illustrate the corruption risks inherent to the respective body and information on the persons responsible for ensuring compliance with the ethical norms.
  1. Appointment of the persons responsible for ensuring compliance with the ethical norms.

Since 1 June 2023 the French local government bodies have been obliged to appoint the persons responsible for complying with the ethical norms. The appointment of such persons is subject to the following requirements:

• The candidate does not hold a municipal post or other municipal service position in the relevant local government body at the moment of appointment;
• The candidate did not hold municipal positions in the three years preceding the appointment;
• The candidate does not have a conflict of interest.
  1. Regulation of acceptance of gifts (invitations).

The authors of the Guide stress that the gifts can have different forms: food, books, gift certificates, invitations to restaurants, sports and other entertainment events, payment for travel, other goods and services of different value. Any gifts (invitations) can potentially be provided with the aim to influence the decision-making process with regard to the giver. Consequently, the local government body should have clear rules for regulating the acceptance of gifts (invitations) depending on their character, price and context in which they are given.

These rules can contain such provisions as:

• Separation of symbolic, acceptable and unacceptable gifts (invitations);
• Establishment of the cost threshold, for example, at €70 or €150;
• Prohibition to accept gifts (invitations) in the event that the giver is subject to any municipal decisions;
• Consulting the person responsible for ensuring compliance with the ethical norms before accepting the gift (invitation);
• Obliging the official to declare the gifts (invitations) accepted, including the indication of the name and position of the giver and the circumstances of their acceptance.

All officials should be informed about the existing rules for accepting gifts (invitations), and it is recommended that the rules be published for information of any counterparties of the local government body.

1. Conflict-of-interest management.

In spite of the fact that there is no requirement at the national level to file declarations of interest for all categories of officials in local government bodies, the authors of the Guide recommend that municipal authorities provide for such a requirement for all officials.

In case of a conflict of interest, the official should refuse to participate in decision-making and/or to cede the interests that cause the conflict-of-interest situation (where possible).

In order to determine that an official is in a conflict-of-interest situation, the authors of the document suggest answering such questions as:

• “Do I hold another position?”;
• “Do I participate in the activities of any associations and/or other entities?”;
• “Do I have other professional activities?”;
• “Do my relatives and/or other persons in close relationship with me undertake any activities with regard to which I can take decisions also potentially?”;
• “Do I have a personal interest that can influence the fulfillment of my duties?”.

The Guide underlines the importance of settling conflicts of interest of officials involved in the management of organisations with the participation of local government bodies (municipal organisations, organisations with the mixed participation of local government bodies and private companies, public associations etc.). In order to avoid conflicts of interest, it is recommended that officials be prohibited from participating in making decisions related to:

• The interaction with the body and organisation where the official holds a position;
• The appointment of such official to a position in the organisation and payment for his/her work.
  1. Regulation of other paid activities.

As per the document, the key measures for regulating the undertaking of other paid activities of officials include:

• Regular awareness-raising of officials about prohibition (restrictions) to undertake such activities;
• Development of convenient procedures for officials for filing requests to undertake such activities (if possible);
• Control of such activities undertaken by officials.
  1. Awareness-raising.

An important component of countering misconduct consists in raising awareness of officials about such issues as:

• Compliance with the provisions of the existing code of conduct;
• Compliance with the existing procedure in case of violations of the principles of integrity;
• General understanding of the causes, forms and consequences of corruption crimes, including disciplinary and/or criminal liability measures.
  1. Integrity in recruitment.

In order to ensure compliance with the principles of integrity in recruitment and compliance of the candidate with the existing requirements for the position, the authors of the document recommend:

• Compiling and publishing the duty regulations for the open vacancies;
• Publishing vacancy announcements also on the websites of the local government bodies;
• Developing and applying single objective criteria to the evaluation of the candidates to a post;
• Interviewing the candidates, recording their performance and include the question on potential conflicts of interest in the interviews.
  1. Transparency of municipal procurement with the value below the established threshold.

Due to the fact that the value of municipal procurement is often below the set thresholds, this area of activities of local government bodies is subject to high corruption risks due to the lack of strict requirements.

In order to prevent corruption offences, the authors of the Guide suggest conducting procurement in several stages, including the following measures:

• Preparatory stage: definition of transparent criteria for selecting the winners of tenders, ensuring neutrality of technical requirements and management of conflicts of interest where applicable;
• Tender stage: invitation of anyone interested to bid, maintenance of minutes of negotiations with such persons and subsequent collegial analysis of bids;
• Execution stage: thorough analysis of compliance of the goods, works and services with the terms of the contract, responsibility for infringements, and acceptance of the goods, works and services by the person different from the one who signed the contract with the contractor.

At the same time, the local government bodies should pay closer attention to the cases of conclusion of contracts with the same contractor, and publish the information on the contracts concluded on a regular basis.

1. Control of allocation of subsidies.

In order to prevent violations in allocation of subsidies, the Guide recommends that local government bodies adopt the following measures:

• Define in a clear manner the rules for allocating subsidies, including drafting a single form of application for subsidies;
• Discuss allocation of subsidies (which is mandatory in case of allocation of over €23,000);
• Instruct a collegial body to consider the bids and/or develop a scheme of their consideration including a stage (stages) of additional controls;
• Adopt measures for managing conflicts of interest once detected;
• Conclude agreements with the recipients of subsidies and monitor compliance with their provisions.
  1. Responsible urban planning and land governance.

In order to mitigate the violations of the principles of integrity in urban planning and land governance, the authors of the Guide suggest developing and adopting relevant projects in several stages:

• Preparatory stage: setting clear objectives of the project, recording all its discussions and removal of the persons having personal interests with regard to the project from participation in and implementation of it;
• Public discussions stage: wide public awareness-raising about the project and recording of all mandatory and additional discussions with public participation.

In order to prevent corruption offences in issuing construction permits, it is recommended that local government bodies:

• At the stage of application for construction, inform the public about the rules of filing the applications, assign a unique tracking number to them, and remove the individuals having personal interests in the relevant issue from participation in taking decisions on applications;
• At the stage of consideration of applications, use the checklists to verify the applications, consider the applications in a collegial manner, and verify the legality of automatic approval in the lack of return;
• At the control (oversight) stage, after the authorization to conduct verifications, record all comments and interactions in the framework of control (oversight) measures and hold the applicant liable in case violations are detected, including suspension of the construction activities.

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Besides the recommendations provided in the Guide, its authors remind of the possibility to refer to the Recommendations on preventing corruption in organisations that can be adapted to the needs of local government bodies taking into account the peculiarities of their application in authorities and public entities as described in the document.