The Ethics Committee was established under Article 74 of Law 4622/2019 within the National Transparency Authority. It is a five-member collective body and consists of: (a) the President of the Management Board of the National Transparency Authority, as President, (b) two (2) members of the Legal Council of the Hellenic State with the rank of Vice-President or Advisor, (c) one (1) a member of the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection with the rank of Vice-President or Advisor, and (d) the Greek Ombudsman or an Assistant Ombudsman.
The Committee has the following competences:
1) Deals with any matter referred to it by the Prime Minister, regarding issues of ethics and conflicts of interest of top senior officials under the personae scope of Article 68 par. 1 of Law 4622/2019, namely: (a) the members of the Government and the Deputy Ministers, (b) the General and Special Secretaries, the Coordinators and Secretaries of the Decentralized Administrations, (c) the Presidents or Heads of Independent Authorities and the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Governors, Deputy Governors, managers or authorized advisers of entities under public or private law, who are appointed by the Government, with the exception of the joint-stock companies which are outside the broader public sector (Chapter B of Law 3429/2005).
2) Examines the applications for permission by the Committee, of the aforementioned persons, who are obliged, for a cooling period of one (1) year after leaving their position, to obtain permission, for any professional or business activity, related to the activity of the body to which they were previously appointed, if it may create a situation of conflict of interest, namely any situation in which the impartial performance of their duties could be objectively affected (article 73 par. 1, 2 of Law 4622/2019).
3) Reviews ex officio, the implementation of the provisions laid down in the of Chapter A of Part D «TRANSPARENCY AND INTEGRITY», (Articles 68-76 of Law 4622/2019) which define the rules on ineligibility, incompatibilities and the prevention of conflicts of interest of the persons falling within the personae scope of Article 68 par. 1. with an eventual proposal to the Governor of the National Transparency Authority to impose the sanctions provided for in Article 75 of Law 4622/2019 (imposition of a fine or prohibition of appointment to the positions of Article 68 of Law 4622/2019 for a period up to five (5) years).
4) Gives its opinion on draft codes of conduct for the persons appointed to the positions foreseen in Article 68 par. 1 of law 4622/2019 or for other public servants, referred to it by the Prime Minister.
5) Examines, ex officio or following a petition, a possible violation of the obligations stipulated in article 76 of law 4622/2019 regarding the impediments, incompatibilities and issues of conflict of interest, applicable to non-permanent appointed personnel and special advisers and proposes the imposition, by the Governor of National Transparency Authority, of the sanctions of the article 75 of law 4622 /2019.
The Committee’s decisions are posted on the website of the National Transparency Authority.