International Treaty on Exchange of Data for the Verification of Asset Declarations
The International Treaty on Exchange of Data for the Verification of Asset Declaration will be signed in Vienna, Austria on March 24th tentatively. Austria is determined to continue supporting the countries in the SEE Region with concluding the International Treaty. For this purpose, Austria is hosting the signing ceremony.
The purpose of the International Treaty on Exchange of Data for the Verification of Asset Declarations is to prevent and to combat corruption by providing for direct administrative exchange of information concerning asset declarations between the Parties of the Treaty (for a on-page introduction see page 3 of the draft). The Treaty will enable anti-corruption bodies to communicate formally with each other regarding data on foreign assets and interests, and thus significantly enhance verification of declarations.
The basis of the Treaty is the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and States Parties Resolution 6/4, which encourages Member States to consider the possibility of concluding multilateral agreements on civil and administrative matters relating to corruption, including international cooperation.
The Treaty has been developed under the Southeast Europe Regional Programme on Strengthening the Capacity of Anti-corruption Authorities and Civil Society to Combat Corruption and Contribute to the UNCAC Review Process, which is being implemented by the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (RAI) in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and with financial support by the Austrian Development Agency.
Text subject to signing
Treaty on Exchange of Data-FINAL ENG VERSION
Explanatory Notes FINAL: ENGLISH
Albanian
International Treaty – unofficial translation
Explanatory Notes – unofficial translation
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin
International Treaty – unofficial translation
Explanatory Notes – unofficial translation
Bulgarian
International Treaty – unofficial translation
Explanatory Notes – unofficial translation
Macedonian
International Treaty – unofficial translation
Explanatory Notes – unofficial translation
Romania
International Treaty – unofficial translation
Explanatory note – unofficial translation
Page updated in December 2019
The 2nd Negotiation Meeting on Draft Treaty on Exchange of Data for the Verification of Asset Declaration was held in Podgorica, Montenegro on March 23rd 2019 organized by RAI Secretariat and hosted by the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro. The Meeting was supported by the Austrian Development Agency as part of the South East Europe Regional Programme on Strengthening the Capacity of Anti-corruption Authorities and Civil Society to Combat Corruption and Contribute to the UNCAC Review Process.
Participating delegations agreed upon a final draft of the International Treaty, for full text please go to following LINK. The Treaty text is accompanied by the comprehensive Explanatory Note.
As the next step, the International Treaty shall be signed at a ceremony foreseen in the second half of 2019. The Treaty is also open for signature or accession outside of the SEE region.
Please see the Agenda of the Meeting, Conclusions of the Meeting, as well as the final List of Participants.
Page updated in May 2019
The 1st Negotiation Meeting on International Treaty on Exchange of Data for the Verification of Asset Declarations took place on 3-4 October 2018 in IACA Laxenburg. It was hosted by the Ministry for Europe, Integration, and Foreign Affairs of Austria and organized by RAI Secretariat. The Meeting lasted for two days and attending delegations demonstrated commitment to the Treaty and were actively engaged in the discussions over the Treaty text. The atmosphere was very positive with excellent exchanges, resulting in an improved text of the Treaty.
RAI Secretariat is fully aware that there is a long road ahead, but successful completion of the 1st round of negotiations represents a major milestone in the process of enabling exchange of data for verification purposes in Southeast Europe. Bulgaria and Montenegro nominated their countries as potential hosts for the second negotiation meeting. Delegation of Serbia nominated Serbia as a potential depository of the Treaty.
Please see the Conclusions of the Meeting, as well as the final List of Participants.
For more information about the event please go following news item link.
Page updated in December 2018
Aiming to prevent and to combat corruption by providing for direct administrative exchange of information concerning asset declarations between the governments, Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative, in cooperation with its member states and partners, has developed the Draft International Treaty on Exchange of Data for the Verification of Asset Declarations. The Treaty shall enable and streamline communication and simplify the present time-consuming processes in verification of public officials’ asset declaration. Respective anti-corruption bodies from the region will be able to communicate formally to each other in an effective and efficient manner compared to the current state of affairs. The purpose of the Treaty is to prevent and to combat corruption by providing for a direct administrative exchange of information concerning asset declarations between the Parties to the Treaty.
This activity directly implements Resolution 6/4 of the sixth Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, from November 2015, which urges Member States to consider the possibility of concluding multilateral agreements on civil and administrative matters relating to corruption, including international cooperation.
This Draft Treaty is the result of a series of three workshops held in 2015 and 2016 with representatives of integrity bodies in South-Eastern Europe and of international stakeholders (Basel Institute of Governance, UNODC, UNDP and World Bank). Detailed information about the workshops are available on the following links:
The European Commission also provided written input to the Draft Treaty.
Western Balkan governments committed to the International Treaty on Exchange of Data in Asset Disclosure and Conflict of Interest at the Western Balkans Summit held in Trieste on 12 July. This marks the commencement of the political negotiations that will lead to Treaty signing anticipated for 2018.
The Treaty development and technical negotiations were financially supported by the Austrian Development Cooperation through the Southeast Europe Regional Programme on Strengthening the Capacity of Anti-corruption Authorities and Civil Society to Combat Corruption and Contribute to the UNCAC Review Process.
Page updated in March 2018
Background
Many corrupt public officials spend their actual wealth abroad: they buy real estate, own businesses, or deposit money on foreign bank accounts. Hiding this wealth is relatively easy. The public officials simply omit declaring these foreign assets. Similar is true for the disclosure of private interests.
Integrity bodies in charge for verifying the veracity of asset declarations can only access domestic state databases. Unless the foreign data is open source, integrity bodies cannot access it. At the same time, verifying asset declarations is a purely preventive task. Thus, integrity bodies cannot make use of mutual legal assistance mechanisms available in criminal matters.
In the area of taxation, the same challenge exists: dishonest taxpayers hide their true wealth abroad. However, in order to verify the veracity of tax declarations, countries have for many years exchanged data among each other. To this end, more than 100 states have used the OECD Model “Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters” in order to formally exchange data “relevant to the determination, assessment and collection of such taxes” .
In the area of financial disclosure for integrity purposes, such an international exchange of data does not take place yet. Reflections on possible model agreements have just begun to emerge (ReSPA, Feasibility Study on Data Exchange for Income and Asset Declarations (2014)). Given the stark similarities between verifying tax declarations and verifying asset declarations, a similar mechanism is needed to facilitate international exchange of data.
With this activity, RAI intends to set up a mechanism for international data exchange in the region and beyond. To this end, it cooperates inter alia with ReSPA and the World Bank.
This activity implements Resolution 6/4 of the sixth Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption on 6 November 2015, urging Member States to consider the possibility of concluding multilateral agreements on civil and administrative matters relating to corruption, including international cooperation.
Page updated in May 2015