CSTO PA model legislation is an effective tool against corruption

At present, Member States of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) rightly consider corruption as a threat to national and collective security.
Therefore, the need to expand cooperation in preventing, combating and minimizing the consequences of this public menace remains relevant and even increases.
It would be too presumptuous to claim that prior to the development of model legislative acts within the framework of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, the Organization’s Member States were not combating corruption. They were, for which purpose, for example, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly developed anti-corruption model legislative acts and the states themselves created strong national legislative anti-corruption systems.
Nevertheless, as studies have shown, they need if not correction, then harmonization, further systematization and, in some cases, a fair amount of detailing.
Alas, corruption is an international phenomenon, it knows no state borders and can only be eradicated through joint systematic and comprehensive efforts.
The 8th Plenary Session of the CSTO PA on October 26, 2015 adopted the Recommendations on the Harmonization of the CSTO Member States’ Legislation Regulating Relations in the Area of Prevention and Countering of Corruption that were developed by the Russian Federal Security Service Research Centre in accordance with the 2011–2015 CSTO PA Action Plan.
By the time the Recommendations were created, the CSTO States’ legislation in general provided measures to combat corruption. For example, over 20 model legislative acts regulating relations in this area were adopted within the framework of the IPA CIS alone.
In addition, as part of international cooperation many CSTO States have ratified most of the international anti-corruption conventions, which was an important prerequisite for improving the regulatory framework for preventing and combating corruption in the CSTO States.
Accordingly, the CSTO PA Recommendations have been prepared taking into account the provisions of international legal instruments, such as the 2000 UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; the 2003 UN Convention against Corruption; the 1999 Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption; the 1999 Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption and the 1997 OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
Moreover, the content of the draft Recommendations is consistent with the provisions of the IPA CIS model legislative acts and recommendations in the area of combating corruption. At the same time, the model document under consideration is an example of a systematic approach to the issue.

The 9th Plenary Session of the CSTO PA on October 24, 2016 adopted the Recommended Glossary of Terms and Definitions of the CSTO Member States in Regulatory Support of Combating Corruption that was developed by the Russian Federal Security Service Research Centre in accordance with the 2016–2020 CSTO PA Action Plan.
Given the focus of the CSTO States’ model legislation on the approximation and harmonization of national laws, the conceptual framework of the Recommended Glossary is the main tool for further harmonization of the CSTO States’ legislation in the area of combating corruption.
It contains key concepts, terms and definitions in the area of anti-corruption contained in the model legislative acts and recommendations adopted by the IPA CIS and CSTO PA, as well as definitions formulated by the authors of the Recommended Glossary based on the analysis of national legislation and law enforcement practice of the CSTO Member States.
The terms included in the Recommended Glossary are listed in alphabetical order, with an indication of the source that confirms the legality of the concepts cited.
By the 10th anniversary Plenary Session of the CSTO PA on October 13, 2017, the Recommendations on the Assessment of Propensity for Corruption of Public and Municipal Offices in the CSTO Member States were completed and proposed for adoption by the Assembly.
The document provides a definition of the assessment of corruption-proneness of public and municipal offices of the CSTO Member States: it is a specialized type of analytical activity carried out by experts of special departmental and interagency bodies (commissions, agencies), controlling and supervising the anti-corruption compliance of public and municipal employees, as well as developing measures to combat corruption in the CSTO States. It provides a detailed review of the main and auxiliary criteria for assessing the corruption-proneness of public and municipal offices, criteria for identifying corruption-prone functions of public and municipal agencies, ways to identify the signs of propensity for corruption in a certain position of a public (municipal) office, etc.
The Recommendations on Approximation of the CSTO Member States’ Laws on Confiscation, not Constituting a Criminal Law Measure, of Property in the Interests of Combating Corruption, Financing of Terrorism and Other Types of Crime were adopted by the 12th CSTO PA Plenary Session on November 5, 2019.
The document examines confiscation measures used in various legal systems and jurisdictions around the world in order to determine the most appropriate model for the CSTO Member States to use.
The Recommendations consist of five parts. The first part defines the purpose of the work, identifies the types of confiscation, depending on the subject generating the state’s obligation to apply a protective measure.
The second part analyses the international legal norms that oblige the state to apply confiscation measures in connection with crimes committed.
The third part analyses the potential of legal systems for the implementation of civil forfeiture, primarily in terms of types of legal systems.
The fourth part analyses the CSTO States’ legislation in terms of the specificities of the confiscation systems of the states, highlighting the best practices for possible implementation by other CSTO Member States.
The fifth part draws conclusions from the study and provides recommendations to the Organization’s Member States on the improvement of confiscation issues.
The 2021–2025 CSTO PA Action Plan is currently being supplemented; the improvement of the model anti-corruption legislation can be continued.
​