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Description
The Latvian Code of Ethics for Prosecutors was developed and approved in 1998, that is, 23 years ago. The document has not been revised or updated during these years. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2021 study on the activities of the Prosecutor''s Office in Latvia identified the need to review and update the Code of Ethics for Prosecutors, as well as to ensure that it is not seen as a formal document without any influence on prosecutors. The OECD conclusions were also endorsed by the State Audit Office in its audit report on the activities of prosecutors, emphasizing in particular the need to "vitalize" the code of ethics. Delna and The Prosecutor''s Office has agreed to cooperate in the development of the updated Code of Ethics and the promotion of "vitalization". The aim of the project is to contribute to solving the problems identified by the OECD and the State Audit Office, as well as to strengthening the integrity of the Prosecutor''s Office. The achievable result of the project is the development of an updated Code of Ethics for Prosecutors, as well as the development of a "vitalization" plan.
Summary of project results
The Code of Ethics for Prosecutors was developed and approved in 1998, that is, 23 years ago and it has not been revised or updated during these years. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2021 study on the activities of the Prosecutor''s Office in Latvia identified the need to review and update the Code of Ethics for Prosecutors as well as to ensure that it is not seen as a formal document without any influence on prosecutors. However given the very short timeframe for the updated document, project promoter - Transparency International Latvia - had reason to suspect that the hastily drafted document would not contain a sufficiently comprehensive analysis of the field and would not be in line with international practice in this area, and that the resulting document would continue to be a formality, as identified by the OECD. Project promoter and The Prosecutor''s Office has agreed to cooperate in the development of the updated Code of Ethics and the aim of the ACF Action project was to contribute to solving the problems identified by the OECD as well as to strengthening the integrity of the Prosecutor''s Office.
The achievable result of the project was the development of an updated Code of Ethics for Prosecutors, as well as the development of a "implementation" plan. The following activities were implemented during the project:
1. Involvement of foreign experts in the evaluation of the existing Code of Ethics of the Prosecutor''s Office and the related internal integrity system.
2. Remote/ face-to-face meetings between representatives of the Prosecutor''s Office, project promoter and foreign experts on the content of the revised Code of Ethics, recommendations of its "implementation" plan and related risks, including the internal integrity system.
3. The drafting of the final version "implementation" plan of the revised Code of Conduct.
4. Meeting with representatives of the Prosecutor''s Office on the coordination of the "implementation" plan and the first steps of its implementation.
The project objective - to contribute to solving the problems identified by the OECD and the State Audit Office, as well as to strengthening the integrity of the Prosecutor''s Office - has been successfully achieved as the Prosecutor''s Office has listened to the views of Transparency International Latvia and the experts engaged by project promoter on the importance of the Code of Ethics and has taken into account project promoter’s arguments on the need to spend more time than initially envisaged on reviewing the Code of Ethics.
As a result, when comparing the wording of the Code of Ethics initially proposed by the Prosecutor''s Office with the one that is being submitted for approval, there is no doubt that without the cooperation with Transparency International Latvia the Prosecutor''s Office would not have drafted a document of such high quality, in line with international practice, as it is today. The project has significantly contributed to the involvement of CSOs in decision-making processes, especially in the drafting of documents of national importance.