ZAGREB, January 31, 2018 – The National Council for Monitoring Anti-Corruption Strategy Implementation on Wednesday backed an initiative for a new law on the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures which would prevent corruption risks and define the status of members of the commission.
Members of the state commission are not appointed pursuant to a public competition and are apparently politically appointed. They are not considered to be state officials yet are subject to the Law on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest and when leaving their post, they cannot be employed in jobs dealing with public procurement for at least one year, said Goran Matešić, chairman of the commission, which is a sponsor of the proposed law.
The commission, he recalled, was established in 2003 when the first law was adopted that contained only 25 articles. That institution is similar to courts yet they are subject to a law consisting of some 80 articles, which means that the commission is under-regulated, Matešić said.
He denied however that the state commission was not functioning. On the contrary, the commission is working well thanks to good practice, he said.
