Conflict of interest in public service and restrictions for post-public servants in Ukraine and Lithuania

Abstract

Resolving conflict of interest in public service is one of the key mechanisms for combating corruption. Its principles are defined in international legal documents. The United Nations (UN) Convention Against Corruption states that each State Party should strive, in accordance with the fundamental principles of its domestic law, to establish, maintain and strengthensystems that promote transparency and prevent the appearance of conflict of interest. All State Partiesshall endeavour to establish, maintainandstrengthen measures that promote transparency and prevent conflicts of interest, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law. The article raises the problem that the confusing legal regulation and the variety of situations that arise in public service result in public servants not always correctly identifyingconflictsof interest, not avoidingconflicts of public and private interests,andpersons who have ceased to work in the public service not complyingwith restrictions on work, restrictions on concluding contracts or using individual benefits,andrestrictions on representation. The aim of this article is to reveal the peculiarities of the legal regulation of conflict of interest, to analyse means of resolving conflicts of interest in the public service and restrictions for post-public servants in Ukraine and Lithuania. The authors set outa number of tasks in the article: (i) to define the concept of conflict of interest in the public service; (ii) to identify means of resolving conflictsof interest in the public service in Ukraine and Lithuania; (iii) to compare the restrictions (limitations) for post-public servants in each country. The research methods employed included: (i) comparative method, comparing the regulations on conflict of interest in each country; (ii) generalisation method, to formulate conclusions; (iii) document analysis method, focusing on the legal acts and documents of Ukraine and Lithuania; (iv) statisticalmethod, to reveal the number of investigation identifying conflictsof interest in public officials' activities.