Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
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Vol. 39, Nº 68 (Enero - Junio) 2021, 882-895
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Recibido el 23/09/2020 Aceptado el 22/02/2021
Legal basis for ethical behavior of civil
servants in Ukraine: some
problematic issues
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3968.57
Zvarych Roman Vasylovych
1
*
Havretska Maryna Yosypivna
2
**
Andrukhiv Oleh Ihorovych
3
***
Kaleniuk Oksana Mykolayivna
4
****
Boiko Ihor Yosypovych
5
*****
Abstract
The objective of the article is to consider the legal basis for
regulating the rules of ethical conduct of civil servants in Ukraine
and, at the same time, to compare them with the relevant
legislative framework of other countries. The subject of the study
is the analysis of the legal basis for regulating the rules of ethical
conduct of public ofcials in Ukraine. The research methodology
includes the following methods: normative and dogmatic method,
hermeneutic method, method of analysis and synthesis, dialectical method,
legal and comparative method, legal modeling method. It is concluded that
there is only one special legal act to regulate the ethics of public ofcials in
Ukraine, but it is not binding, as it does not have the appropriate legal means
of inuence. Practical involvement. Based on international experience, it
was concluded that Ukraine should adopt its own Code of Ethics for public
ofcials.
Keywords: code of ethics; civil servant; misconduct; legal basis;
international ethical experience.
* Doctor of Law, Professor, Dean of the Social and Applied Sciences Department King Danylo University
Private Higher Educational Institution. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3296-9591. Email:
roman.zvarych@ukd.edu.ua
** Ph. D, Associate Professor of the Department of Law of King Danylo University Private Higher
Educational Institution. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6743-7854. Email: maryna.
havretska@ukd.edu.ua
*** Doctor of Law, Professor of the Department of Law of King Danylo University Private Higher Educational
Institution. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4871-0143. Email: oleh.andrukhiv@ukd.edu.ua
**** Ph.D in Law, Assistant Professor, Vice-chancellor for Scientic and Educational Work of King Danylo
University Private Higher Educational Institution. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3443-
8209. Email: oksana.kaleniuk@ukd.edu.ua
***** Head of the Department of State History, Law and Political and Legal Studies of Faculty of Law of
Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Doctor of Law, Professor. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-
0003-1377-2328. Email: boikoboiko@ukr.net
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Base jurídica para el comportamiento ético de los
funcionarios públicos en Ucrania: algunas cuestiones
problemáticas
Resumen
El objetivo del artículo es considerar la base legal para regular las reglas
de conducta ética de los funcionarios públicos en Ucrania y, al mismo
tiempo, compararlas con el marco legislativo pertinente de otros países.
El tema del estudio es el análisis de la base legal para regular las reglas
de conducta ética de los funcionarios públicos en Ucrania. La metodología
de investigación incluye los siguientes métodos: método normativo y
dogmático, método de hermenéutica, método de análisis y síntesis, método
dialéctico, método legal y comparativo, método de modelado legal. Se
concluye que sólo existe un acto jurídico especial para regular la ética de los
funcionarios públicos en Ucrania, pero no es vinculante, ya que no cuenta
con los medios legales de inuencia adecuados. Implicación práctica. Sobre
la base de la experiencia internacional, se llegó a la conclusión de que
Ucrania debería adoptar su propio Código de Ética para los funcionarios
públicos.
Palabras clave: código de ética; funcionario público; conducta impropia;
fundamento jurídico; experiencia ética internacional.
Introduction
Civil service is a manifestation of special trust on the part of society and
the State; it places high demands on the moral qualities of civil servants. In
order to be effective, civil service should be based on a solid spiritual and
moral foundation. The goals of civil service, its guiding principles, norms,
professional requirements for its staff have a moral aspect, which decisively
determines its focus and the main dominants. The moral atmosphere in the
authorities, dishonesty of the responsible ofcial can seriously discredit any
good intentions of the government. The authority of civil servants is rightly
associated primarily with their decency, justice in public opinion.
The ethics of public service is closely linked to the social structure of
a particular society and is clearly dened by it. This, as a rule, reects the
traditional ideas of the community about the status of their society in general,
the superiority of their civilization, etc. At the same time, the ethics of civil
service is a combination of universal rules that are applied throughout the
civilized world. All this necessitates the constant understanding, research
and improvement of ethical norms of the civil service, which, in turn, will
contribute to the achievement of strategic goals of the State.
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Kaleniuk Oksana Mykolayivna y Boiko Ihor Yosypovych
Legal basis for ethical behavior of civil servants in Ukraine: some problematic issues
In the light of the foregoing, the aim of the article is to consider the legal
basis for regulating the rules of ethical conduct of civil servants in Ukraine,
to compare them with the relevant legislative framework of other countries
and to draw relevant conclusions and propositions.
1. Methodology
The methodology of the Article is based on general and special methods
of scientic knowledge. For example, normative and dogmatic method as
well as the method of hermeneutics were used in the process of studying
domestic legal acts and the legal acts of foreign countries regulating the
problem of ethical behavior of civil servants. The method of analysis and
synthesis helped to clarify the content of legal mechanism governing the
studied issue in Ukraine and in some other States. Dialectical method
allowed to identify the problems of legal framework for ethical behavior of
civil servants in Ukraine. Legal and comparative method was applied when
comparing legal foundation for regulating ethical behavior of civil servants
in Ukraine and in some other countries. Legal modeling method made it
possible to formulate the relevant conclusions and propositions.
2. Literature Review
The analysis of foreign literature made it possible to identify modern
approaches to the ethical education of civil servants in Western democracies.
The works of a number of scientists (Dewey, Edlem, Savarin, Wright) are
devoted to the problems of teaching ethics to civil servants. They developed
two approaches in their researches. The rst one is broad, represented by
Dewey (2008). He argues that education builds up character, and therefore,
every discipline teaches ethics through proper maintenance. Since public
administration as a scientic eld covers politics, law, management, ethics,
economics, business, sociology, psychology, mathematics, etc., the content
and methods of each discipline should be considered in the context of the
subject of this phenomenon (Wright, 1994).
The second approach is to introduce a special course in professional
ethics into the curriculum. Western scholars pay considerable attention
to the problem of ethically conscious management of subordinates. This
is due to the peculiarities of formal management relations in the system
of “manager-subordinate”, primarily their asymmetric structure. Besides,
the manager, in addition to the institutional responsibility for the results
of work, also has humanitarian responsibility (Kuhn and Weibler, 2004).
The practice of government ethics and the responsibility of ofcials has
been an important topic of research by foreign authors in recent years.
This is due to the transition to a “new government” – managerialism, and
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the development of the European Union as a community of democracies.
These studies are presented by scientic works of foreign authors on
the ethics of civil servants, which were carried out within the Public
Management Service of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development – OECD, materials of discussions at seminars on ethics in
public administration (ENA), annual international conferences on ethics
(Easton, 1962), publications of Transparency International.
Some of the issues of the ethical behavior of civil servants were
considered by Kolomoiets et al. (2019), Kolomoiets et al. (2020), Malimon
and Shevchenko (2015), Sorokina (2017) and others.
3. Results and Discussion
Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine (LU 254k/96-VR/1996, June
28) stipulates that “State authorities and local governments, their ofcials
are obliged to act only on the basis, within the powers and in the manner
prescribed by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine”. The main of such laws
is the Law “On the Public Service” (LU 889-VIII/2016, December 12), Art.
8 of which sets ethical requirements for civil servants. Thus, in accordance
with the provisions of this article, he (she) is obliged to: 1) comply with the
Constitution and laws of Ukraine, act only on the basis, within the powers
and in the manner prescribed by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine;
2) adhere to the principles of civil service and rules of ethical conduct; 3)
respect human dignity, prevent violations of human and civil rights and
freedoms; 4) treat the State symbols of Ukraine with respect; 5) use the State
language in the performance of their ofcial duties, prevent discrimination
against the State language and counteract possible attempts to discriminate
against it; 6) ensure, within the limits of the powers granted, the effective
performance of the tasks and functions of State bodies; 7) conscientiously
and professionally perform their duties and the terms of the contract for
civil service (in case of conclusion); 8) execute decisions of the State bodies,
orders (instructions) of the heads on the basis and within the powers
provided by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine; 9) comply with the
requirements of the legislation in the area of prevention and counteraction
to corruption; 10) prevent the emergence of a real, potential conict of
interest in the course of civil service; 11) constantly increase the level of their
professional competence and improve the organization of ofcial activities;
12) keep State secrets and personal data of persons who became known to
him (her) in connection with the performance of his (her) ofcial duties,
as well as other information that is not subject to disclosure in accordance
with the law; 13) provide public information within the limits set by law.
Besides, the above-mentioned Law contains other articles, the title of
which, although does not explicitly state the requirements for the conduct
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Kaleniuk Oksana Mykolayivna y Boiko Ihor Yosypovych
Legal basis for ethical behavior of civil servants in Ukraine: some problematic issues
of these subjects, but their content is directly related to this issue. Thus, Art.
10 enshrines the requirement for political impartiality of a civil servant. The
latter should impartially carry out lawful orders (instructions), instructions
of heads, regardless of their party afliation and political beliefs. He (she)
has no right to demonstrate his (her) political views and commit other acts
or omissions that may in any way indicate his (her) special attitude towards
political parties and negatively affect the image of the State body and trust
in the government or threaten the constitutional order, territorial integrity
and national security, for the health and rights and freedoms of the others.
Art. 36 prescribes the duty of a civil servant to take the Oath of a civil
servant when appointing to a civil service position for the rst time. If a
person refuses to take the Oath of Civil Servant, he / she shall be deemed
to have refused to hold a civil service position, and the act on his / her
appointment to the position shall be revoked by the subject of appointment.
The text of the Oath indicates the priority role of the Constitution. The
civil service is based on constitutional provisions. They are the ethical
constraints on the actions of a civil servant and the basis for public trust.
In case of conict between the Constitution and another normative act or
order of the head, an employee who adheres to ethical principles will be
faithful to the Constitution (Sorokina, 2017).
Section 8 “Disciplinary and material liability of civil servants” provides
sanctions for persons who violated the requirements of regulations in the
area of civil service, committed an act incompatible with the status of a
civil servant, did not perform or improperly performed their duties, etc.;
that is, this section is also directly related to the ethical conduct of civil
servants. Another legal act that regulates relations in this area is the Law of
Ukraine “On Service in Local Self-Government Bodies” (LU 2493-III/2001,
June 07). Art. 8 of this Law establishes that the main responsibilities
of local government ofcials are: 1) adherence to the Constitution and
laws of Ukraine, other regulations, acts of local governments; ensuring,
in accordance with their powers, the effective operation of local self-
government bodies; 2) observance of human and civil rights and freedoms;
3) preservation of State secrets, information about citizens that became
known to them in connection with the performance of their ofcial
duties, as well as other information that is not subject to disclosure in
accordance with the law; 4) constant improvement of the organization of
the work, increase of professional qualication; 5) conscientious attitude to
performance of ofcial duties, initiative and creativity in work; 6) respectful
attitude to citizens and their appeals to local governments, care for a high
level of culture, communication and behavior, the authority of bodies and
ofcials of local government; 7) prevention of actions or omission that may
harm the interests of local self-government and the State.
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Another Law that directly sets out the requirements for the ethical
conduct of civil servants is the Law of Ukraine “On Corruption Prevention”
(LU 1700-VII/2014, October 14) (Section 6). According to the provisions of
this section, civil servant is obliged to strictly observe the requirements of the
law and generally accepted ethical norms of conduct, be polite in relations
with citizens, managers, colleagues and subordinates; act exclusively in the
interests of the State or territorial community when representing them;
adhere to political neutrality; avoid demonstrations in any form of one’s
own political beliefs or views; not to use ofcial powers in the interests of
political parties or their branches or individual politicians; act impartially,
regardless of private interests, personal attitude to any person, their
political views, ideological, religious or other personal views or beliefs;
honestly, competently, timely, effectively and responsibly perform ofcial
duties and professional duties, decisions and instructions of bodies and
persons to whom they are subordinated, accountable or controlled; prevent
abuse and inefcient use of State and communal property; not to disclose
or otherwise use condential and other information with limited access,
which became known to him (her) in connection with the performance
of his (her) ofcial duties and professional duties; refrain from executing
decisions or instructions of management if they are contrary to the law,
regardless of private interests.
Requirements for ethical conduct of civil servants are also indirectly
contained in a number of other laws of Ukraine. Thus, the Law of Ukraine
“On the clearance of the authorities” (LU 1682-VII/2014, September 16)
was adopted in order to prevent the participation in the management of
public affairs of persons who by their decisions, actions or omission carried
out measures (and / or facilitated their implementation) aimed at usurping
power by the odious former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych ,
undermining the foundations of national security and defense of Ukraine
or unlawful violation of human rights and freedoms, i.e. in order to prohibit
them from holding certain positions (in the service) in public authorities
and local governments. Accordingly, this Law establishes certain ethical
norms of conduct for persons performing the functions of State power and
local self-government.
The Labor Code (LU 322-VIII/1971, December 10) establishes mandatory
discipline requirements for all employees (including civil servants). Thus,
employees are obliged to work honestly and conscientiously, timely and
accurately follow the instructions of the owner or his (her) authorized
body, comply with labor and technological discipline, the requirements of
regulations on labor protection, treat the owner’s property carefully (Article
139).
The issue of ethical conduct of civil servants is covered by some laws
of Ukraine, but, unfortunately, it remains insufciently regulated. This
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Zvarych Roman Vasylovych, Havretska Maryna Yosypivna, Andrukhiv Oleh Ihorovych,
Kaleniuk Oksana Mykolayivna y Boiko Ihor Yosypovych
Legal basis for ethical behavior of civil servants in Ukraine: some problematic issues
is due to the number of problems related to the formation of the level
of ethics of civil servant: rstly, there is a great need for highly qualied
personnel knowing theory and practice of regional development; are
able to work in conditions of erce professional competition and have a
high stress-resistant threshold and adhere to ethical and moral norms in
business relations. Secondly, it is the lack of appropriate professional (and
sometimes specialized) education and the level of professional training,
which is a mandatory requirement for holding public ofce. Thirdly, it
is insufcient legislative and legal enshrinement and coverage of moral
norms for civil servants, as well as insufcient responsibility for violating
these norms (Sorokina, 2017).
That is why in 2012 a special Law “On the rules of Ethical Behavior”
(LU 4722-VI/2012, May 17), which dened the guidelines for the conduct
of persons authorized to perform the functions of the State or local self-
government and the procedure for prosecuting them for violating such
norms, was adopted. In addition to such general principles of service as
observance of the rule of law, priority of interests of the State or territorial
community, political impartiality, tolerance, observance of the principle of
objectivity, honesty, competence, timeliness, efciency and responsibility in
the performance of ofcial duties, condence in government, condentiality
execution of illegal decisions or orders, the Law prescribes such important
rules as prevention of conict of interests, prevention of illegal benet or gift
(donation) and declaration of property, income, expenses and obligations
of a nancial nature.
However, in 2014, this Law expired on the basis of the enactment of
the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption”, which we have already
considered above. No special law was adopted instead, but in 2016 the
National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service approved the Rules of ethical
behavior for civil servants and ofcials of local government (General Rules)
(Order of the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service Affairs 2016,
August 05). These General Rules are generalization of the standards of
ethical conduct for civil servants and local government ofcials, which they
are obliged to follow in the performance of their duties.
The Order consists of ve sections. Section “General Provisions”, in
particular, states that the main purpose of the work civil servants and local
government ofcials is to serve the people of Ukraine and the territorial
community, to protect and promote the rights, freedoms and legitimate
interests of an individual and a citizen. The behavior of civil servants and
local self-government ofcials should ensure public condence in the civil
service and service in local self-government bodies. Ethical behavior of civil
servants and local government ofcials is based on the principles of civil
service and service in local governments.
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Section 2 is entitled “General Responsibilities of Civil Servants and
Local Government Ofcials”. It stipulates that civil servants and ofcials of
local self-government should act only on the basis, within the powers and in
the manner prescribed by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, as well as
international treaties, recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine when
performing their ofcial duties. Civil servants should honestly, competently,
effectively and responsibly perform their duties, take the initiative, as well
as evasion of decision-making and responsibility for their actions and
decisions, timely and accurate execution of decisions of State bodies, local
governments, orders, instructions of managers within the powers; in case
of receiving the order (instruction), which civil servant considers illegal or
such as threatening the rights, freedoms or interests protected by the law
of separate citizens, legal entities, the State or public interests, he (she) has
to inform about it the head of the body in which he (she) works in writing
immediately.
Section 3 “Abuse of ofcial position” stipulates that a civil servant and
a local government ofcial should use their ofcial position exclusively to
perform their ofcial duties and instructions of managers, provided on the
basis and within the powers provided by the laws of Ukraine. In short, a
civil servant is prohibited from abuse his (her) ofcial position to commit
acts of corruption. It is also impossible not to mention the prohibition
for civil servants and local government ofcials to abuse their ofcial
position for political purposes, as well as in personal (private) interests or
in illegal personal interests of others, including the use of their status and
information about the place of work in order to obtain illegal benets for
themselves or others.
Section 4 is entitled “Use of resources of the State and the territorial
community”. The resources of the State and the territorial community are
understood as movable and immovable property, funds, ofcial information,
technologies, intellectual property, working hours, reputation, etc. It is the
duty of civil servants to use State and communal property rationally and
carefully, to constantly increase the efciency of its use, avoiding excessive
and unnecessary costs, and to prevent the abuse and use of State or
communal property or funds in private interests. It is also emphasized that
the working hours of a civil servant and local government ofcial should be
used to perform their ofcial duties.
Section 5 “Use of Information” contains rules related to prohibitions and
restrictions on the processing of personal data of individuals, condential
and other information with limited access in accordance with the law. Thus,
if civil servants or local government ofcials become aware of the threat
or facts of unauthorized dissemination of information with limited access,
they must immediately notify the immediate supervisor.
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Legal basis for ethical behavior of civil servants in Ukraine: some problematic issues
Section 6 “Information Exchange” sets out the rules that civil servant
and local government ofcial should follow when communicating in the
performance of their duties. In particular: 1) to provide information with
the indication of the data conrming it; 2) timely provide, in accordance
with the legislation, to other civil servants and ofcials of local self-
government the information necessary for the performance of their ofcial
duties; 3) present information materials and messages clearly, concisely
and consistently for their unambiguous perception.
Besides, civil servant is obliged to adhere to the established protocol
in relations with representatives of foreign authorities, international
organizations and foreign institutions.
However, such an important issue as conict of interest is presented
in the Order only by the following sentence: “Civil servants and local
government ofcials should prevent conicts in relations with citizens,
leaders, colleagues and subordinates” (Subparagraph 2, Paragraph, Section
2). Most likely, this is due to the fact that the Law of Ukraine “On Corruption
Prevention” dedicates Section 5 to this issue.
As one can see, the legislation in this area is fragmented, and the
provisions governing the ethics of conduct of civil service are contained
in a number of regulations. The General Rules is the only special act that
regulates relations in this area. However, as Malimon and Shevchenko (2015)
correctly point out, the provisions contained in the General Rules are mostly
justied and aimed at increasing the authority of a civil servant in society.
However, unfortunately, these Rules are not provided with adequate legal
means to inuence civil servants. The Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service” did
not stipulate the obligation of civil servant to comply with the requirements
set forth in the General Rules of Conduct for Civil Servants. The absence of
direct measures of responsibility for violating the rules of conduct of civil
servants does not ensure their proper implementation, and the legal culture
of civil servants and integrity in the exercise of ofcial authority has not yet
reached such a high level to be limited to voluntary compliance.
Therefore, according to the view of the authors (which we fully support),
it is advisable to enshrine moral and ethical principles of the civil service in
a legislative act (possibly in the Law “On civil service”), which will increase
the degree of their binding on the civil servant. The same applies to local
government ofcials.
From this point of view, the way of regulating ethical principles of public
service in Estonia is well thought out. The Estonian Law on Public Service,
having established the obligation to abide by the Code of ethics, submitted
it in the annex to the Law. The Code of ethics for public service is the system
of norms that determine the behavior of public servants and provide the
principles of high service culture of public servants. For example, this
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Code enshrines such norms as: the use of public power only in the public
interest; the exercise of public power on the basis of law; accompanying the
exercise of public authority; preventing the creation of even an imaginary
situation, which may call into question the impartiality and objectivity of the
proceedings, etc. The Code outlines ethical principles of ofcial conduct of
a person, violations of which can be regarded as grounds for the imposition
of disciplinary measures, the list and method of application of which are
enshrined in Section 3 “Disciplinary liability of the ofcials” in the same
Law On Civil Service (Tymoshchuk and Shkolyk, 2007).
In the United Kingdom and the United States this issue is regulated
otherwise: the Civil Servants’ Codes of Ethics apply in these countries.
Thus, in the United Kingdom, this document, on the one hand, regulates
the ethics of professional activities of employees, ranging from the provision
of services to the public to political advice to ministers, and on the other
hand – recognizes the mutual responsibilities of employees and ministers.
Therefore, the Code of Ethics consists of two parts:
1. Requirements for the service of ministers.
2. Requirements for other employees.
The Code is based on the need to implement the following principles:
decency, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. Ofcials in their work should
be guided by the following basic principles: 1. Serving only the public
interest – the refusal of any action to achieve material and nancial benets
for themselves, their family and friends; 2. Incorruptibility – prevention of
any nancial or other dependence on external persons or organizations that
may affect the performance of ofcial debt; 3. Objectivity – an impartial
solution to all issues; 4. Accountability – responsibility for actions taken
before the public and the provision of complete information in the event
of a public inspection; 5. Openness – the maximum informing of the
society about all decisions and actions, their validity (thus reduction of
the information is admissible if necessary observance of the higher public
interests); 6. Honesty – mandatory notication of their private interests
related to public duties, taking all measures to resolve possible conicts
in favor of public interests; 7. Leadership – adherence to the principles of
leadership and personal example in the implementation of standards of
public life (European Information and Research Center, 2017).
The United States have developed their own code of ethics for each type
of civil service. Thus, there is a Code of Ethical Conduct for Members of
the Senate of Congress and a Code of Ethical Conduct for Members of the
House of Representatives, the Law on the Ethics for Public Servants, etc.
However, the most well-known and widely used document is the Standards
of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch.
892
Zvarych Roman Vasylovych, Havretska Maryna Yosypivna, Andrukhiv Oleh Ihorovych,
Kaleniuk Oksana Mykolayivna y Boiko Ihor Yosypovych
Legal basis for ethical behavior of civil servants in Ukraine: some problematic issues
This Code (Final Regulation of the U.S. Ofce of Government Ethics,
2017) establishes the following basic rules that all civil servants should
follow: adhere to the Constitution, laws and ethical principles without
regard to their own interests; have any nancial interests that run counter
to the conscientious performance of their duties; they are prohibited from
demanding or accepting any gift or other item of monetary value from any
person or organization; are obliged to make every effort to perform their
duties; they are prohibited from using ofcial position for own benet;
they are obliged to act impartially and give no preferences to any person or
organization; they should protect and preserve federal property and not use
it for purposes other than those provided by law; they cannot be engaged in
other work or activities, etc.
The Code is differentiated and its rules provide for more severe r
sanctions for high-ranking ofcials. Penalties for violating the Code of
conduct (from reprimand to dismissal) can be determined depending on
the violation and the position of the employee, but in the case of public
service personnel, such sanctions should be carried out under the standard
administrative penalty procedure used in the public service.
It should be noted that the moral codes for ofcials also apply in France
(“Code de déontologie”), Canada (“Conict of Interests Act”), the Czech
Republic (Ethical Code of Ethics and Substitution of Public Affairs), as well
as in Croatia (Etički kodeks državnih službenika).
We believe that Ukraine should adopt the best practices of progressive
countries and adopt its own Code of Ethics, which would fully reect the
principles of civil servants, set standards of ethical conduct, as well as
sanctions for violations of these rules, regulate issues of prosecution for
committing corruption offenses in the workplace and resolving conicts of
interest.
Conclusions
In this article, we reviewed the legal framework for regulating the
rules of conduct for civil servants in Ukraine and found that this issue is
regulated by a number of regulations. The main ones are the Constitution of
Ukraine, the Laws of Ukraine “On Civil Service”, “On Service in Local Self-
Government Bodies”, “On Corruption Prevention”. Some aspects devoted
to this issue are reected in a number of other legislative acts of our State.
A special legal act regulating service ethics is the General rules of ethical
behavior for civil servants and ofcials of local government, but due to
the lack of an indication that the General Rules are mandatory in the Law
of Ukraine “On Civil Service”, the former are not provided with adequate
remedies.
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That is why, based on the study of foreign experience, we concluded that
Ukraine should adopt a single Code of Ethics for civil servants, as is done in
many progressive countries.
Indeed, codes of ethics are considered an important means for combating
corruption and secrecy. These codes are aimed at ensuring respect for public
authorities by the society, establishing a productive, healthy atmosphere in
the professional teams of public ofcials, limiting arbitrariness in relations
with citizens and in internal professional relations (Vasylevska, 2015).
The drafting of codes of ethics for ofcials is also supported by
international organizations. For example, Recommendation № R (2000) 10
(Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to Member States 2000)
emphasizes that the governments of the Member States should encourage,
in accordance with national law and the principles of public administration,
the adoption of national codes of conduct for civil servants, based on
the Model Code of Conduct for Civil Servants, which is an annex to this
Recommendation. The application itself denes international standards of
honor and conduct for employees and prospects in this area.
In order for the code to be relevant and effective, it should include
the following realistic goals: 1) promoting high standards of conduct; 2)
strengthening public condence in civil servants; 3) assistance in making
management decisions.
In order for the code to be realistic, it must contain ve elements, in
particular: a) purpose; b) list of positive values to focus on; c) conceptual
standards of what is possible and what is impossible; d) real sanctions; e)
system of procedural guarantees. The code of conduct should ll the gap
between the abstract provisions of the law, which are general principles of
conduct, and specic recommendations and rules of conduct in everyday
situations. It should reduce the degree of uncertainty and give advice on
where the employee should address when such a difcult situation arises
(Malimon and Shevchenko, 2015).
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Legal basis for ethical behavior of civil servants in Ukraine: some problematic issues
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Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
en enero de 2021, por el Fondo Editorial Serbiluz,
Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo-Venezuela
Vol.39 Nº 68
