Royal Court adopts Professional Code of Conduct

Upon directives by His Majesty King Abdullah, the Royal Hashemite Court has adopted a Professional Code of Conduct for its senior officials, advisers, and directors, in an effort to enhance work procedures.

The Code builds on existing legal and regulatory frameworks currently implemented under national integrity laws, with the aim of bolstering commitment to them, embodying the status of the Royal Hashemite Court as a model for public institutions in good governance, integrity, transparency, and accountability at the highest institutional and professional standards.

The Code’s adoption is aimed at cementing the system of professional conduct governing the work of Royal Hashemite Court employees and to enhance its level, in accordance with the principles of integrity, transparency, and accountability.

The article on “Full Financial Disclosure” is one of the key sections of the new Professional Code of Conduct. It builds on the policies and internal procedures currently in place in the Royal Hashemite Court’s work contracts and regulations, the Civil Service By-law, and the Illicit Gains Law.

Provisions under “Full Financial Disclosure” ensure the comprehensiveness of disclosure, encompassing the spouses and children of the Royal Hashemite Court’s senior officials, advisers, and directors.

They also cover a timeframe that precedes the assumption of duties at the Royal Hashemite Court and continues after leaving office.

The financial disclosure provisions require officials to submit bank statements and statements of property disclosing their moveable and immoveable assets inside and outside the country to the department responsible for ensuring compliance within the Royal Hashemite Court.

Financial disclosure provisions also stipulate that “officials must disclose their membership on company boards, or their involvement in any commercial or financial venture, prior to their appointment”.

The Code also focuses on issues of confidentiality and conflict of interest, requiring officials “to immediately disclose any conflict that arises involving their personal interest and that of the public” and ensuring that “public interest must come first when resolving the conflict”.

Officials are also not allowed to use their official capacity or the information they obtain while undertaking their duties to further their personal or financial interests or those of their families, friends, close associates, or their areas of origin or residence.

In addition, the Code stipulates that officials must avoid establishing close relationships with individuals or institutions whose interests primarily hinge on their decisions.

Officials are also required to maintain the confidentiality of official information and documents they obtain or are privy to in the course of their work, be they in written, oral, or electronic form. They must not disclose them to others, unless required by law, professional duties, or court.

Under the Code’s provisions, officials must also refrain from using classified or unannounced information they are privy to in the course of their work for personal or financial gain, or to benefit their families or any other person.

Upon leaving office, officials must also “pledge not to pursue personal gain through information that is not publicly available and had been obtained while in office. They must not utilise or disclose unannounced information that was available to them while in office for any whatsoever reason, and otherwise must be held legally liable”.

Other similar obligations that extend beyond leaving office require officials to “refrain, for the duration of one year from the date of leaving office, from working with or providing counsel to any internal or external party with financial or contractual relations with the Royal Hashemite Court that works within the scope of responsibilities previously assigned to the officials while in office, except in the case of acquiring a written approval from the relevant responsible party at the Royal Hashemite Court”.

Moreover, the Code of Conduct includes a number of general provisions that cement integrity and ensure the performance of duties honestly, accurately, professionally, and impartially.

“Officials must refrain from using public office to interfere directly or indirectly in the hiring of any person for a permanent or temporary job in the private or public sector by overstepping relevant procedures and principles,” the Code stipulates.

The Code also requires officials to “commit full-time to undertaking their duties; withdrawing from any other professional practice or business; and refraining from offering services to any other party with or without pay if that does not fall within official required duties”.

The provisions also require that officials “maintain transparency, integrity, and fairness when appointing, promoting, training, rewarding, evaluating, transferring, or seconding employees, or taking any other measures thereof, based on merit and competitiveness, and without any biases related to family, friendship, or gain, and any discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, age, or religion”.

Source: Fana News