I. Standards for Ethical Behaviour
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| Employees shall have pride as national public officials, recognise their mission, and behave, taking as the standards for ethical behaviour, the General Ethics Principles prescribed in the National Public Service Ethics Law and listed (1) to (3) below, and provisions listed (4) and (5) below. |
| (1) |
Employees shall not give unfair, discriminative treatment to the public, such as giving preferential treatment to any party of the public with respect to information gathered in the performance of their duties, and shall always engage in their duties with fairness, recognising that they are servants of the whole nation and not of any group thereof. |
| (2) |
Employees shall always distinguish between public and private affairs and shall not use their duties or positions for private gain for themselves or the organisation they belong to. |
| (3) |
Employees shall not take any actions that create public suspicion or distrust against the fairness of public service while performing their duties, such as receiving a gift from entities influenced by their duties. |
| (4) |
Employees shall, in performance of their duties, aim at increasing public interests and exert their utmost efforts. |
| (5) |
Employees shall always behave recognising that their actions may influence the trust in the public service, even outside of their official hours. |
II. Interest Party
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| 1. "Interest party" means: |
| (a) |
for those employees who deal with permissions or authorisations:- |
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(1) |
a corporation or an organisation (including a director, an employee and a representative that acts on behalf of the corporation or the organisation. Hereinafter referred to as a "business entity".) which conducts business having permission or authorisation, |
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(2) |
a business entity or an individual that is applying for permission or authorisation, and |
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(3) |
a business entity or an individual that is evidently going to apply for permission or authorisation, |
| (b) |
for those employees who deal with granting a subsidy:- |
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(1) |
a business entity or an individual that is conducting a subsidised business on receipt of the subsidy, |
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(2) |
a business entity or an individual that is applying for the subsidy, and |
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(3) |
a business entity or an individual that is evidently going to apply for the subsidy, |
| (c) |
for those employees who are engaged in inspection, a business entity or an individual that is under the inspection, |
| (d) |
for those employees who are engaged in giving a disadvantageous action, a business entity or an individual, the process of the disadvantageous action subject to that is ongoing, |
| (e) |
for those employees who are engaged in giving administrative guidance, a business entity or an individual that is requested to take or not to take, certain action by the administrative guidance, |
| (f) |
for those employees who are engaged in the development, improvement or co-ordination of business under the jurisdiction of the department or agency, a business entity that is conducting the business, |
| (g) |
for those employees who deal with contracts of national government expenditure and other types of contracts ruled by the Account Law:- |
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(1) |
a business entity that is under the contract, |
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(2) |
a business entity that is proposing the contract, and |
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(3) |
a business entity that is evidently going to propose the contract, |
| (h) |
for those employees who are in charge of examining the request of the budget based on the Finance Law, an organisation of the national government whose request of the budget is examined, |
| (i) |
for those employees who are in charge of examining the request of setting the number of personnel in each grade of salary schedule based on the Remuneration Law, an organisation of the national government whose request is examined, |
| (j) |
for those employees who are in charge of examining the request of setting the number of staff of the national government based on the Management and Coordination Agency Law, an organisation of the national government whose request is examined. |
| 2. |
Notwithstanding 1., those parties which the head of a ministry or agency designates by the instruction as those parties the interests between which and employees remain latent, or those parties over which employees have little discretionary powers, are excluded from "interest party". Officials or employees of a foreign government or an international organisation are also excluded from "interest party". |
| 3. |
For highly-ranked officials at the headquarters (Deputy Director-General level and above), the interest parties for the employees in the ministry or agency that the highly-ranked officials work for (limited to those listed in 1. (a), (b), (c), (h), (i) and (j) ) are also regarded as the interest parties for the highly-ranked officials. |
| 4. |
When an employee is appointed or transferred to another position, the interest party at the previous position continues to be the interest party for three years after the appointment or transfer. |
| 5. |
When the interest party of another employee approaches an employee evidently for the purpose to benefit by letting the employee use the influential power based on his position over the other employee, that interest party is regarded as the interest party for the employee. |
III. Prohibited Actions
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| 1. |
Employees shall not |
| (a) |
receive a gift of money, goods or real estate (including a farewell gift, a celebration gift, a monetary offering to the departed soul and a flower gift at the funeral) from an interest party; |
| (b) |
get a loan from an interest party (excluding a loan from a financial institution with payment of normal interest); |
| (c) |
rent free goods or real estate from or at the expense of an interest party; |
| (d) |
receive free provision of service from or at the expense of an interest party; |
| (e) |
receive stocks that are not held public from an interest party with or without payment of the price; |
| (f) |
accept hospitality of an interest party; |
| (g) |
dine with an interest party; |
| (h) |
participate in any inappropriate game, or golf with an interest party; or |
| (i) |
travel with an interest party (excluding official travel). |
| 2. |
The following actions are excluded from the prohibited actions: |
| (a) |
accepting a gift from an interest party which is distributed widely as advertisement goods or as a souvenir, |
| (b) |
accepting a souvenir at a party attended by many people; |
| (c) |
using goods at the office of an interest party on an official visit; |
| (d) |
riding in a car provided by an interest party on an official visit to the office of the interest party (as far as the use of the car is regarded as reasonable in consideration of the public transportation around the office and other factors); |
| (e) |
accepting a provision of refreshment at an official meeting from an interest party; |
| (f) |
at a party attended by many people, accepting refreshment from an interest party, and/or eating with an interest party; |
| (g) |
at an official meeting, accepting a provision of modest food and drink from an interest party, and consuming modest food and drink with an interest party; and |
| (h) |
dining with an interest party if an employee pays his own expenses. An employee must get the approval of the Ethics Supervisory Officer if he dines with an interest party at night (excluding modest dining at an official meeting or negotiation). |
| 3. |
When an employee purchases goods or real estate from an interest party at a price extremely cheaper than the market price, or rents goods or real estate, or accepts a provision of service from an interest party at extremely cheaper costs than the market price, the difference between the real price or cost and the market cost is regarded as a gift. |
IV. Exceptions of Prohibited Actions
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| 1. |
Employees may take actions stipulated in III.1. with the interest party with whom they have a private relationship, that means the relationship which is not related to being national public service employees, only if taking that action is regarded as not causing public suspicion or distrust on the fair performance of public duties in consideration of the situation of interest between the official duties and the interest party, the history and current situation of the private relationship and the nature of the action. |
| 2. |
When an employee is not sure whether the action concerned is permissible or not, he shall consult the Ethics Supervisory Officer and follow the direction. |
| 3. |
An employee may dine with an interest party on an occasion of the gathering of people who used to work at a certain bureau or office of national government, or who participated in a training course provided or directed by the government. |
V. Prohibited Actions done with Persons who are not Interest Parties
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| 1. |
Employees shall not accept hospitality or provision of financial interest beyond ordinary social courtesy, such as accepting frequent hospitality, from any business entity. |
| 2. |
Employees shall not make any business entity pay the price of purchasing goods or real estate, renting or accepting any service, that does not attend the meeting. |
VI. Regulation on Speech and other Activities
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| When employees make a speech, attend a discussion, hold a briefing, instruct at a training course, write, edit, or appear on radio or television with receiving reward from an interest party, based on the request of the interest party, they shall get prior approval of the Ethics Supervisory Officer. |
VII. Consultation with Ethics Supervisory Officer
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| When employees are not sure whether the counterpart with whom they act falls into the interest party, or whether the action that they are going to do is prohibited or not, they should consult with the Ethics Supervisory Officer. |
Supplementary Provisions
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| 1. |
This Code shall be enforced from April 1st, 2000. |
| 2. |
The National Public Service Ethics Board shall, within five years from the enforcement date, review the implementation of this Code and other matters, and make a recommendation to the Cabinet about the revision of this Code based on the review, if necessary. |
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