Although a number of the recommendations from a corresponding report in June 2014 have now been signed off, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) is of the view that the Storting should continue to work on certain factors.

GRECO, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body, conducts regular reviews of its member states’ regulations and practices within the field of anti-corruption. As part of its fourth evaluation round, “Corruption Prevention in respect of Members of Parliament, Judges and Prosecutors”, GRECO assessed the Storting’s anti-corruption rules and practices.

Following up the 2014 evaluation

In an evaluation report received by Norway in June 2014, GRECO made seven specific recommendations. After receiving Norway’s response, which included an update on changes made in light of the recommendations, GRECO sent a fresh report to Norway in December 2016.  

Still room for improvement

GRECO is satisfied with Norway’s response to several of the recommendations, but is of the view that the Storting still has room for improvement in three areas:

• GRECO believes that practical implementation of the Storting’s ethical guidelines may be improved. The Storting interprets this as referring to the Regulation on the Register of Members of the Storting’s Appointments and Economic Interests; the Ethical Guidelines for Members of the Storting; and the Guidelines on Gifts for Members of the Storting. GRECO points out that to meet this requirement, it would be sufficient for the Storting to include training and guidance on these themes in the induction programme for new Members at the beginning of each new parliamentary term as well as in the e-learning platform currently under development.
• GRECO is of the view that the Storting should develop an ad hoc system of disclosure for conflicts of interest as a supplement to the Register of Members of the Storting’s Appointments and Economic Interests. GRECO recommends that the Storting could set up a system for verifying that the information provided by MPs in the Register of Members’ Interests is correct.
• GRECO believes that the scope of the Register of Members’ Interests should be widened to include all business-related liabilities over a certain amount. At present, Members are only required to state liabilities to former employers.

The Storting will now assess how best to follow up these three points. The deadline for sending a status report to GRECO is 30^th June 2018.