On May 20-21, the Georgian Parliament’s Permanent Council on Open and Transparent Governance and its Civil Society Consultative Group held a meeting discussing the MP Code of Ethics. Improving the Code of Ethics is one of the commitments (4.4.) in the Open Parliament Georgia 2015-2016 Action Plan.

According to the Action Plan, the parliamentary code of ethics must become an effective baseline document that will define the norms of behavior of MPs. The document must include clear and consistent provisions on the acceptable and unacceptable behavior for MPs, disclosure of information about their personal interests, asset declarations, use of state funds and benefits.

The meeting was organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), which is also the initiator of developing the code of ethics. Participants included MPs, representatives of the Parliamentary Staff and the Chairman’s Office, and representatives of the Consultative Group member non-governmental and international organizations. Also present were Paul Solis, deputy chief of the US Office for Congressional Ethics, and OSCE/ODIHR special representative Peter Mossop, who shared their experience.

The participants discussed purpose and the essence of the code of ethics, its main principles, legal form, enforcement mechanisms and the procedures for its adoption. The experience shared by the US and OSCE representatives was also taken into account.

The revised draft version of the code of ethics will first be sent for consideration to the Permanent Parliamentary Council on Open and Transparent Governance and its Consultative Group, and then submitted to the Parliament for review and approval.