It will combine the provisions of the Parliament (Integrityof Members of Parliament) Act, theCorruption Prevention Act and theContractor-General Act, fully replacing the former and partially repealing the provisions of the other two.

The main innovation of the Law is the creation of a special anti-corruption body, the Integrity Commission, whose functions will be, among others:

• investigating alleged or suspected acts of corruption;
• prosecution of corruption offenses;
• taking measures to prevent corruption in state bodies, methodological support of corruption prevention (development of codes of ethics, recommendations, guidelines);
• monitoring of existing anti-corruption practices of state bodies, legislative and administrative practices to combat corruption, international practices, preparation of proposals to improve anti-corruption policy;
• monitoring and, if necessary, investigating the validity of decisions on awarding public contracts;
• development of mechanisms for raising public awareness and training on anti-corruption issues, etc.

The Law establishes the procedure for the formation of the Commission, its powers, the specifics of interaction with other institutions, the specifics of the Commission's investigations and prosecution of corruption violations, and emphasizes that the Commission is an independent body beyond the control of other authorities.

According to the provisions of the normative act, anyone can file a claim with the Commission about a noticed or suspected fact of corruption, while the provision of false information is punishable by a fine of up to $1 million or imprisonment for up to 1 year, and harassment or harm to a person who reported corruption is punishable by a fine of up to $500 thousand or imprisonment for up to 6 months.

Parliamentarians, officials and other persons performing public functions are obliged to submit to the Commission declarations of theirincome, assets and liabilities in the prescribed form, as well as declarations of income,assets and liabilities of their spouses and minor children. These provisions may not apply to persons whose annual salary is less than $3.5 million.

The Law also establishes the obligation of officials to declare in the prescribed form the gifts received, the value of which exceeds $100 thousand, except for personal gifts from relatives.

The declaration shall include information on:

• bank accounts, other savings in excess of $500,000;
• securities at their disposal;
• real estate owned (houses, land plots, agricultural buildings);
• funds invested in a mortgage or commercial enterprise;
• vehicles, including rented or leased vehicles;
• funds held in individual safe deposit boxes;
• existing insurance policies;
• other property owned by the official, his/her spouse, children, including property transferred to other persons for trust management;
• income received from various sources, including salary supplements, money for an apartment, funds for representation expenses, income from renting out housing;
• financial obligations, including surety bonds;
• any property acquired or transferred in the last 12 months;
• gifts received;
• repayment of debts.

Declarations shall be submitted upon appointment, annually as of December 31, and at any time requested by the Commission. The deadline for submission of declarations shall be 3 months from the reporting date, with the possibility of extension by 30 days.

The Commission verifies the declarations and is empowered to organize investigations into possible corruption violations related to the information submitted.

Failure to comply with the deadlines for filing declarations or refusal to provide the required information during the review of declarations is subject to a fine of up to $500,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 6 months, as well as possible additional financial penalties of $20,000 for each month of delay. Failure to file a declaration may also be subject to a fixed fine of $2,500 without liability if paid within 21 days of the Commission's decision.

For knowingly providing false information in declarations or in the course of an audit, the Law establishes a fine of up to $2 million and/or imprisonment for up to 2 years.

The Bill was introduced back in 2011 and was originally titled theCorruption Prevention (Special Prosecutor) Act 2011, but was then introduced without the approval of the oppositionPeople's National Party (People's Party), was withdrawn for reconsideration after its election victory, and remained pending until 2014, when the delay prompted a negative reaction from Transparency International and Jamaica's subsequent drop of 14 positions in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) (69th in Corruption p CPI 2016The 2017 law, according to the country's Justice MinisterDelroy Chuck, is 99.8 percent identical to the 2011 bill. However, according to the authorities, 103 amendments were made to the 2016 bill presented to the Senate before it was passed.