Tunisia Completes Three Anti-Corruption Draft Laws

Tunisia - Thursday, June 19, 2014

As part of the Republic of Tunisia’s efforts to build a more effective anti-corruption legal framework, in accordance with the national context and in line with related international standards, the “Ministry of State in charge of Governance and Public Function” established a steering committee for developing Tunisian laws related to governance and anti-corruption. The committee includes representatives of the mentioned Ministry of State as well as the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Transitional Justice, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Court of Accounts, the Committee of General Control for Public Services and the Services of the Counselor for Law and Legislation of the Government. The committee worked in collaboration with UNDP’s Regional Project on "Anti-Corruption and Integrity in the Arab countries" to develop a series of anti-corruption draft laws namely related to (1) whistleblower protection, (2) illicit enrichment and (3) assets disclosure. The first law was completed at the end of the first meeting held in Gammarth on 21-24 May 2014. The committee continued its work during its second meeting held in Beirut on 2-5 June 2014 which resulted in a draft illicit enrichment law and a draft assets disclosure law. Both meetings also contributed to the development of main axes describing the rationale for each of the three draft laws. Committee members benefited from specialized expertise in each of the three themes provided by the Arab Anti-Corruption and Integrity Network, and learned more about related international standards, as well as good practices and lessons learned from comparative experiences. It is expected that a final reading of the draft laws will be conducted before they are sent to the National Constituent Assembly for discussion and adoption. It is also expected that the Commission will continue its work to develop related executive regulations for the three laws, in addition to developing other laws, namely on conflicts of interest, expanding criminalization in the Penal Code and introducing the necessary amendments to Criminal Procedures with a view to activate the prosecution of corruption crimes, in addition to developing the “Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Authority"’s law, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Tunisia.
Source: The Arab Anti-Corruption and Integrity Network