International

Working Party of Senior Public Integrity Officials (SPIO) holds spring session

At the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) SPIO meeting on 4 May 2021, Austria was represented by the BAK (Federal Bureau of Anti-Corruption) Unit 2.1 (Prevention and Basic Research). The video conference was chaired by the Director for Public Governance of the OECD, Elsa Pilichowski.

Once the meeting was opened by the Chair and Co-Chair and the agenda was adopted, participants from the USA, Greece and Italy shared their insights and challenges reflecting on integrity and anti-corruption during COVID-19.
Representatives of the German Federal Ministry of Finance, the Chief Official Ethics Commission of Lithuania and the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of Latvia then presented their latest digital tools to help implement public integrity.
The next item on the agenda was "Quality of Anti-Corruption and Integrity Strategic Framework – OECD Public Integrity Indicators". At this point, Jesper Johnsøn (OECD) presented first results of the OECD questionnaire. An in-depth discussion followed in which Austria and Germany contributed their expertise on measures within the framework of legislation currently in force but not considered as measures by the OECD. France and the Netherlands criticised the short timeframe for responding to the questionnaire. The OECD took note and agreed to allow more time for preparation and discussion for the planned questionnaire in 2023.
Finally, speakers from the United Kingdom, Greece and Malta outlined their experience in improving residence/citizenship due diligence in investment schemes.