Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760

Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760

14th Cortes Federales
Long title	An Act to forbid improper solicitations made to public officials and the acting upon them; to forbid public officials from receiving, and connected persons from giving, gifts and other benefits, and to set the thresholds below which ordinary courtesies are allowed; to require the reporting and the return of prohibited benefits; to place the enforcement of these duties with the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Ombudsman without establishing a new agency; and for connected purposes.
Introduced by	Council of State (Government of the Federal Accord), sponsored by Elias Marchand (AJNA / Secretary of Justice) and Tomás Iñiguez (CGA / North Lyrica)
Extent	Entire Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie
Dates
Royal Assent	7.IX.1760 AN
Commencement	7.IX.1760 AN
Other legislation
Amendments	None
Related legislation	Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721 Anti-Corruption Agency (Mandate and Resources) Act, 1756 Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760 Government Code of Conduct

The Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760 (Alexandrian: Loi sur les sollicitations indues et les cadeaux publics, 1760; Martino: Ley de Solicitudes Indebidas y Regalos Públicos, 1760; Wechua: Mana Allin Mañakuymanta Llaqta Suñaykunamanta Kamachiy, 1760) is a law of Nouvelle Alexandrie, passed by the 14th Cortes Federales on the proposal of the Council of State of the Federal Accord and given Royal Assent on 7.IX.1760 AN. It does two things the Federation's law of corruption does not. First, it forbids the making of an improper solicitation to a public official, and the acting upon one, whether or not any money or benefit changes hands. Second, it forbids a public official from receiving, and a connected person from giving, a gift or other benefit, and sets the modest thresholds below which an ordinary courtesy is allowed, whether or not the gift can be tied to a particular decision.

The Act creates no new agency. It is enforced by the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Ombudsman under the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721, which already investigate, compel, and prosecute, and it protects a disclosure made under it as that Act protects a disclosure to the Agency. It stands beside the Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760, the Accord's companion integrity bill now before the Cortes, which would reform the institutions of integrity and the finance of political parties; where that measure reaches the audit of public money and the conduct of ministers, this Act reaches the everyday dealings between a public official and the people who want something from the office.

Background

The Federation has punished bribery since the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721, which created the Anti-Corruption Agency under the Ombudsman, with power to compel testimony and to prosecute, and required every public official to disclose meetings, funding decisions, spending, and personal finances. Bribery, though, must be proved as a bargain: the law reaches a gift only when a prosecutor can tie it to a particular act of office. A retainer paid to keep an official friendly, a dinner bought while a license is pending, a gift sent by a company that expects nothing today but much next year: these shape a decision without a provable exchange, and the law of bribery does not catch them. The conduct of ministers is held to the Ministerial Code of Conduct, and the Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760, the Accord's companion bill now before the Cortes, would give the body that holds that Code an independent footing and the power to compel; but the Code binds ministers and their staff, not the wider public service, and it turns on judgment rather than on a bright line.

The Federal Accord came to office pledged to clean government, a promise its coalition agreement carried into the first session. Two earlier attempts to widen the law had failed, both pressed by the Civic Governance Alliance: the Clean Government Act, 1750, drafted after the Pact of Shadows scandal, stalled for four years and never reached a vote, and its successor, the Clean Government and Political Reform Act, 1754, was defeated in the Federal Assembly by 260 votes to 438 in 1755 AN. The Anti-Corruption Agency (Mandate and Resources) Act, 1756 that followed enlarged the Agency by 712 votes to 14 but dropped the wider reforms, and Bailaca Iguá, confirmed Ombudsman that year, took charge of an Agency whose reach still stopped at the provable bargain. The Accord's first integrity measure, the Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760, now before the Cortes, would re-seat the audit of public money, strengthen the ministerial integrity office, and reform the finance of political parties. This Act carries the plank from the other end. It draws a line that does not depend on proving a bargain: an official connected to a person's business must not take that person's gifts, and no one may ask an official to bend a public duty. The line is drawn low and stated in figures, so that an official knows without advice where it lies, and so that the ordinary courtesies of public life (a shared meal, a token of thanks, the customary gift at a wedding or a funeral) remain lawful within limits set in the Act itself.

Key provisions

The Act has two substantive Parts. Part II forbids the improper solicitation of a public official. An improper solicitation is a request that an official act, or fail to act, contrary to law or to the duties of the office, in one of the matters the Act lists: the grant of a permit or a license, the award of a contract or a subsidy, an appointment or a promotion, an assessment or a grade, an investigation, an inspection, or an adjudication, and the like. The Part also lists the requests that are not improper (a petition through a lawful channel, a request for information, a general policy view) and provides that a protected request loses its protection to the extent it also seeks unlawful or preferential treatment in a particular matter. An official who receives an improper solicitation must refuse it clearly; a first solicitation made in a person's own name without a benefit draws a written warning that is recorded on a central register kept by the Agency, so that a repeat by or for the same person can be seen across the public service, and a repeat is an offense. An official who acts on an improper solicitation, and a person who makes one for another or through a go-between, commit an offense.

Part III forbids a public official from receiving a benefit from a person connected to the official's duties, and forbids the connected person from giving it. A benefit is anything of value. The prohibition is absolute for a connected person, subject only to the courtesies the Act allows: a meal worth no more than NAX€30, a gift worth no more than NAX€50, and congratulatory or condolence money of no more than NAX€150 for a single occasion, and no more than NAX€200 from one source in a year. From any person, connected or not, a single benefit worth more than NAX€1,000, or benefits worth more than NAX€3,000 from one source in a year, are prohibited outright and are criminal. The Part reaches a benefit routed to a relative or to another person who receives it because of the office, requires an official who is offered or given a prohibited benefit to report it and to return it or pay its value to the Consolidated Fund, and allows the plain exceptions that keep the rule workable: lawful pay and allowances, genuine gifts between relatives, prizes lawfully won, and mementos given to everyone at an official event. A courtesy that a connected person secretly funds or reimburses is not permitted, and benefits from members of one corporate group or family are counted as coming from one source.

Part IV places enforcement with the institutions the Federation already has. Each public body designates a reporting officer, keeps a register, trains its officials, and copies the Agency on the larger and the repeat matters; a person may also report directly and in confidence to the Agency or the Ombudsman. The Anti-Corruption Agency and the Ombudsman investigate and prosecute under the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721; where the facts establish bribery, the Agency must charge the graver offense unless it records its reasons in writing. A serious offense carries a presumptive disqualification from public office of five to ten years, bridging this Act to the bribery law above it. Lesser breaches draw an administrative surcharge of between two and five times the value of the benefit, imposed only by the Agency. A power under the Act reaches private life or correspondence only by order of the High Court of Justice, and its application to a judge is coordinated with any body that deals with judicial conduct.

Provisions in outline

Structure of the Act

Part	Articles	Subject
I	1–4	General provisions: citation, definitions, purpose, application (including reach outside the Federation)
II	5–8	Improper solicitation: the prohibition, the matters covered, the protected requests, and the duties and offenses
III	9–13	Prohibited gifts: connected persons, the two-sided ban, the large-benefit ceiling, the permitted courtesies, and benefits reaching a relative
IV	14–19	Compliance and enforcement: reporting officers, offenses, disqualification, the administrative surcharge, protected disclosures, and coordination
V	20–22	Closing provisions: regulations, constitutional basis, commencement

Legislative progress

The Council of State introduced the bill on 12.III.1760 AN, and the Secretary of Justice Elias Marchand moved it in the Federal Assembly. The Assembly carried it on the final division of 24.VIII.1760 AN by 472 votes to 298, with 31 abstentions; the Chamber of Peers concurred on 4.IX.1760 AN by 57 to 51, with 10 abstentions; and King Sinchi Roca II granted Royal Assent on 7.IX.1760 AN.

In the Assembly debate, Fred Strong of the Federal Humanist Party warned that the bill would expand the bureaucracy and its headcount. The Premier, Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves, replied for the Government that the bill created no new agency or post, and that it would be enforced by the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Ombudsman, which already existed.

Legislative progress

Stage	Date	Chamber	Action	Votes (Y-N-A)	Details
1	12.III.1760 AN	Federal Assembly	Introduction	-	Introduced for the Council of State by Elias Marchand (AJNA, Secretary of Justice) and Tomás Iñiguez (CGA)
2	-	Federal Assembly	Committee report	-	Committee on Democratic Quality, Anti-Corruption, and Institutional and Legal Reform; no separate committee date is recorded
3	24.VIII.1760 AN	Federal Assembly	Final division	472-298-31	Passed; sent to the Chamber of Peers
4	4.IX.1760 AN	Chamber of Peers	Concurrence	57-51-10	Concurred without amendment
5	7.IX.1760 AN	-	Royal Assent	-	Signed into law by King Sinchi Roca II

Bill as submitted to the Hopper of the Federal Assembly, 1760 AN

Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760

THE READING OF
A
BILL
TO
forbid improper solicitations made to public officials and the acting upon them; to forbid public officials from receiving, and connected persons from giving, gifts and other benefits, and to set the thresholds below which ordinary courtesies are allowed; to require the reporting and the return of prohibited benefits; to place the enforcement of these duties with the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Ombudsman without establishing a new agency; and for connected purposes.

Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760

Presented for the Council of State by Elias Marchand (AJNA) and Tomás Iñiguez (CGA)
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 1760 AN.

BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Cortes Federales, in this present session assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1: Citation.

1. This Act may be cited as the "Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760".

Article 2: Definitions.

1. In this Act:
   1. "the Agency" means the Anti-Corruption Agency;
   2. "the Anti-Corruption Act" means the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721, as amended;
   3. "a benefit" means money, or anything else of value, whether given directly or indirectly, and includes goods, services, entertainment, hospitality, the use of property, employment, a loan, a discount, the discharge of a liability, and a promise of any of these, whether or not it is transferable;
   4. "connected to the official duties" describes a person who stands in one of the relationships to a public official set out in Article 9;
   5. "fair market value" means the price a benefit would fetch in an open market, or the cost of providing it, whichever is greater;
   6. "the Gazette" means the Federal Gazette;
   7. "an improper solicitation" means a request of the kind that Article 5 prohibits;
   8. "an occasion" means a single event, or a single continuous period of hospitality, and benefits given so close in time or purpose as to form one dealing are one occasion;
   9. "the Ombudsman" means the Ombudsman;
   10. "a public body" means an institution of the Federation, and includes the Cortes Federales and its offices, the Council of State and the departments of the Government, the courts, the Ombudsman and the bodies within the Ombudsman's charge, a federal public authority, a public enterprise in which the Federation holds a controlling interest, and a body of a Region when and so far as it administers federal money or exercises authority under federal law;
   11. "a public official" means a person who holds or acts in a public office of the Federation, and includes a Deputy, a Peer, a member of the Council of State, a judge or other judicial officer, a member, officer, or employee of a public body, and any other person who exercises public authority under federal law;
   12. "a relative" means a spouse, a domestic partner, a parent, a child, a sibling, or a person who lives in the same household as the public official;
   13. "a reporting officer" means the officer designated by a public body under Article 14;
   14. "the responsible committee" means the Committee of the Federal Assembly on Democratic Quality, Anti-Corruption, and Institutional and Legal Reform;
   15. "a source": two or more persons are one source where they are members of the same corporate group, act in concert, or are relatives of one another.

Article 3: Purpose.

1. The purposes of this Act are—
   1. to forbid the improper solicitation of a public official, whether or not a benefit is offered or given;
   2. to forbid a public official from receiving, and a connected person from giving, a benefit connected to the official's duties, other than the ordinary courtesies this Act allows, whether or not the benefit is tied to a particular act of office; and
   3. to enforce these prohibitions through the institutions the Federation already has.
2. This Act establishes no new agency. It is read together with the Anti-Corruption Act and the Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760, and where it is silent those instruments continue to apply.

Article 4: Application.

1. This Act binds every public official and applies throughout the exercise of federal public authority.
2. This Act applies to a benefit or an improper solicitation whether it is given, made, or received within or outside the Federation.
3. Where a matter is governed both by this Act and by the Ministerial Code of Conduct forming part of the Government Code of Conduct, a public official must comply with both; the stricter rule prevails where they differ.
4. This Act does not apply to the finance of a political party, a candidate, or an election, which the Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760 and the law of party and campaign finance govern.

PART II
IMPROPER SOLICITATION

Article 5: Prohibition of improper solicitation.

1. A person must not make an improper solicitation to a public official, whether directly or through a third party, and whether for that person's own benefit or for another's.
2. An improper solicitation is a request that a public official act, or fail to act, contrary to law or to the duties of the office, in a matter listed in Article 6.
3. A request is not an improper solicitation only because it is refused or withdrawn.

Article 6: The matters to which improper solicitation applies.

1. The matters are—
   1. the grant, renewal, refusal, or revocation of a permit, a license, an authorization, or a registration;
   2. the imposition, reduction, or waiver of a tax, a charge, a fine, or an administrative penalty;
   3. the award, variation, or termination of a contract, a procurement, a subsidy, a grant, or other public money;
   4. an appointment, a promotion, a posting, a transfer, or the discipline or dismissal of a person in public employment;
   5. an admission, an assessment, a grade, an examination result, or an academic or professional qualification conferred under federal law;
   6. the conduct or outcome of an investigation, an inspection, an audit, or a supervisory decision;
   7. the conduct or outcome of an adjudication, an arbitration, or a decision of a court or a tribunal;
   8. the assignment or the excusal of a public duty, including military and civil service; and
   9. any other exercise of public authority in which a person may gain an advantage denied to others by law.

Article 7: Requests that are not improper solicitation.

1. A request is not an improper solicitation to the extent that it is—
   1. a petition, an application, an appeal, or a complaint made through a channel the law provides, in the applicant's own name or through a lawful representative;
   2. a request for information about the requirements, the progress, or the reasons of a decision;
   3. a proposal or a submission made in a public consultation, a hearing, or a legislative process;
   4. a request that a public body act within a reasonable time, or correct an error that is clerical or is plain on the face of the record, made through the channel the law provides;
   5. a statement of a general policy view that does not seek a decision favoring the person making it, or another identified person, in a particular pending matter; and
   6. any other act expressly permitted by law.
2. Paragraph 1 does not protect a request to the extent that it also seeks unlawful action, preferential treatment, or interference with an independent decision in a particular matter benefiting the person making the request or another identified person.
3. A request under paragraph 1(d) or (e) that concerns a particular pending matter must be made in writing through the official channel; where the same person makes or procures a further such request on the same matter, the public official must report it to the reporting officer.

Article 8: Duties on receiving an improper solicitation, and offenses.

1. A public official to whom an improper solicitation is made must refuse it clearly and must not act upon it.
2. A public official must report an improper solicitation to the reporting officer of the official's public body where the same person makes or procures a further improper solicitation, whether or not on the same matter.
3. A public official who performs or omits a duty of the office in accordance with an improper solicitation, knowing it to be an improper solicitation, commits an offense, and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, to a fine, or to both, and to disqualification under Article 15A.
4. A person who makes an improper solicitation through a third party, or who makes one on another person's behalf, commits an offense, whether or not for reward, and is liable on conviction to a fine; where a reward has been received, the court may order its forfeiture to the Consolidated Fund.
5. A person who makes an improper solicitation on that person's own behalf, and who does not offer or give a benefit—
   1. does not commit an offense for a first contravention, but must be warned in writing by the reporting officer or the Agency, and the warning must be reported to the Agency and entered in the central register kept under Article 14; and
   2. commits an offense for a further contravention, whether or not on the same matter, and is liable on conviction to a fine, or, where the Agency does not prosecute, to the administrative surcharge under Article 16.

PART III
PROHIBITED GIFTS AND OTHER BENEFITS

Article 9: Persons connected to the official duties.

1. A person is connected to the official duties of a public official if that person—
   1. is subject to the authority, the supervision, the inspection, or the audit of the official or the official's public body;
   2. is a party to, is seeking, has sought within the preceding twelve months, or is in continuing administrative or judicial review of, a permit, a license, a contract, a subsidy, a grant, an appointment, or another decision from the official or the official's public body;
   3. is a party to a proceeding, an investigation, or an adjudication before the official or the official's public body;
   4. has a financial or a business interest that the official's duties may affect; or
   5. acts for a person described in this Article, whether as an agent, a representative, or an intermediary.

Article 10: Prohibition of benefits between a connected person and a public official.

1. A public official must not, in connection with the office, ask for, agree to receive, or receive a benefit from a person connected to the official's duties.
2. A person connected to a public official's duties must not offer, promise, or give to the official, or to a relative of the official, a benefit that the official is prohibited from receiving, knowing or being reckless as to the recipient's public office and to the facts that make the benefit prohibited under Article 11 or unpermitted by Article 12.
3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 do not apply to a benefit permitted by Article 12, taken within the limits that Article sets.
4. It is no defense to a contravention of this Article that the benefit was not given in return for any particular act or omission of the office.
5. A person does not contravene paragraph 2 by giving a benefit that the public official, without having solicited it, reports and returns under Article 13.

Article 11: Large benefits, and disclosure of sizable benefits, from any person.

1. A public official must not, whether or not the giver is connected to the official's duties, receive—
   1. a single benefit worth more than NAX€1,000; or
   2. benefits worth more than NAX€3,000 in total from one source in any period of twelve months;

   and a person must not give such a benefit to a public official, or to a relative of the official, knowing or being reckless as to the recipient's connection to the office.

2. Article 12 does not permit a benefit prohibited by this Article, and a benefit received in contravention of this Article is dealt with as an offense under Article 15.
3. A public official who receives from any person a benefit worth more than NAX€150 that this Act does not prohibit must report it to the reporting officer within fourteen days of receiving it, for entry on the register under Article 14; this paragraph applies whether or not the benefit is permitted by Article 12.

Article 12: Permitted courtesies and other exceptions.

1. Subject to Article 11, the following benefits are permitted, and Article 10 does not prohibit them—
   1. food or drink shared with the public official on a single occasion, worth no more than NAX€30;
   2. a gift on a single occasion worth no more than NAX€50;
   3. congratulatory or condolence money, or a gift in place of it, on a single occasion worth no more than NAX€150;
   4. pay, an allowance, a pension, or a reimbursement of expenses to which the official is entitled by law or by the terms of the office;
   5. a benefit given by a relative of the official, unless the relative gives it in a capacity connected to the official's duties, or on behalf of, or as a conduit for, a person connected to those duties;
   6. a benefit offered to the public generally, or to every person attending an official event, and a memento or a promotional item of small value given on the same footing;
   7. a prize lawfully won in a competition open to the public;
   8. a benefit authorized by law, or given under a contract to which the official is a party in a private capacity on the same terms as to any other person; and
   9. a lawful gift between governments, or an official gift received on behalf of a public body and surrendered to it.
2. The limits in paragraph 1(a) to (c) are ceilings for a single occasion; a benefit must not be divided into several occasions, nor split among persons who are one source, to keep within them, and the total of the benefits permitted under paragraph 1(a) to (c) from one source must not exceed NAX€200 in any period of twelve months.
3. A benefit is not permitted by this Article if—
   1. it is given or received as an inducement or a reward for an act or an omission of the office, in which case the Anti-Corruption Act applies; or
   2. a person connected to the official's duties reimburses or funds it, directly or indirectly.

Article 13: Benefits reaching a relative or another person, and the duty to report and return.

1. A public official must not permit either of the following to receive a benefit that the official is prohibited from receiving—
   1. a relative of the official; or
   2. another person or body that the official knows, or is reckless in not knowing, receives it because of the official's office.
2. A public official who is offered a prohibited benefit must refuse it; and a public official who receives a prohibited benefit, or who learns that a person described in paragraph 1 has received one, must, within fourteen days of receiving it or of learning of it—
   1. report it to the reporting officer of the official's public body; and
   2. return the benefit to the giver, or, where it cannot be returned, deliver it or pay its value to the public body for payment into the Consolidated Fund.
3. A public official who reports and returns a benefit under paragraph 2 in good faith, and who did not solicit it, does not contravene Article 10 or Article 11 by having received it. This Article imposes no liability on a relative who neither knew nor had reason to know that the benefit was connected to the official's office.

PART IV
COMPLIANCE, ENFORCEMENT, AND COORDINATION

Article 14: Reporting officers and the duties of a public body.

1. Each public body must designate one of its senior officers as its reporting officer, and must publish the officer's identity to its officials.
2. The reporting officer must—
   1. receive reports made under Articles 7, 8, 11, and 13, and act on them or refer them under this Act;
   2. keep a register of the benefits and solicitations reported and of how each was dealt with, which the Agency may inspect; and
   3. arrange for the officials of the public body to be informed of their duties under this Act at least once a year.
3. The reporting officer must send a copy to the Agency, within fourteen days, of every report that concerns a benefit worth more than NAX€500, every report of an improper solicitation, every warning issued under Article 8, paragraph 5, and every repeat report. The Agency keeps a central register of the improper solicitations and warnings so reported, so that a further solicitation by or for the same person may be identified across public bodies.
4. A person may make a report under this Act directly to the Agency or the Ombudsman instead of to the reporting officer, and may do so in confidence.
5. The head of a public body must take reasonable measures to prevent contraventions of this Act within the body, and must cooperate with the Agency and the Ombudsman in an investigation under it.

Article 15: Offenses and criminal referral.

1. Each of the following commits an offense, and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, to a fine of not more than five times the value of the benefit, or to both, and to disqualification under Article 15A—
   1. a public official who knowingly receives a benefit in contravention of Article 11;
   2. a public official who knowingly permits a relative or another person to receive, in contravention of Article 13, paragraph 1, a benefit that Article 11 would prohibit the official from receiving; and
   3. a person who knowingly gives a benefit within sub-paragraph (a) or (b).
2. The referral under paragraph 4 and the forfeiture under paragraph 5 apply also to the offenses under Article 8, paragraphs 3 and 4, which otherwise carry the penalties that Article sets.
3. It is a defense to an offense under this Act that the person, having received a benefit without soliciting it, reported and returned it under Article 13.
4. Where the reporting officer, the head of a public body, the Agency, or the Ombudsman has reason to believe that a matter under this Act may constitute an offense under this Act or under the Anti-Corruption Act, the matter must be referred to the Agency, which investigates and prosecutes it using its powers under the Anti-Corruption Act. Where the facts establish an offense under the Anti-Corruption Act, the Agency must charge under that Act unless it records in writing, approved by a senior officer, the reasons for proceeding under this Act instead.
5. A court that convicts a person of an offense under this Act may order the forfeiture of the benefit, or of its value, to the Consolidated Fund.

Article 15A: Disqualification from office.

1. A court that convicts a person of an offense under Article 8, paragraph 3, or Article 15, paragraph 1, must disqualify that person from holding public office for a period of not less than five and not more than ten years, unless the court, for reasons it states in writing, considers disqualification unjust in the particular case.
2. Disqualification under this Article is in addition to any other penalty, and to any disqualification under the Anti-Corruption Act.

Article 16: Administrative surcharge for lesser breaches.

1. Where a contravention of Article 8, paragraph 2 or paragraph 5, of Article 10 by a public official or by a connected person, of Article 13, paragraph 1, or of a duty to report under Article 8, Article 11, paragraph 3, or Article 13, is not dealt with as an offense, the Agency may impose on the person in contravention an administrative surcharge of not less than two and not more than five times the value of the benefit, or, where there is no benefit, of not more than NAX€2,000. The head of the public official's public body may refer a contravention to the Agency and may take its own disciplinary measures, but only the Agency may impose a surcharge under this Article.
2. Before a surcharge is imposed, the person must be given notice of the alleged contravention and a fair opportunity to answer, and a decision to impose a surcharge may be appealed to the High Court of Justice.
3. A surcharge is in addition to any disciplinary measure that the public body may take, and to the return of the benefit under Article 13; a person must not be punished twice for the same contravention, and where a matter is prosecuted as an offense no surcharge is imposed for it.

Article 17: Protected disclosures.

1. A disclosure made in good faith, to a reporting officer, to the Agency, or to the Ombudsman, of information tending to show that a person has contravened this Act, is a disclosure protected under Article 5 of the Anti-Corruption Act, and the protections and the remedies of that Article apply to it.

Article 18: Investigation, compulsion, and private life.

1. The Agency and the Ombudsman may investigate a contravention of this Act, and may compel the production of documents and the attendance of witnesses, as the Anti-Corruption Act provides.
2. A power under this Act does not reach the private life or the private correspondence of any person except by order of the High Court of Justice under Articles 24 and 25 of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago; on the application of the Agency the Court may order the production of financial or other records where it is necessary and proportionate to an investigation under this Act.

Article 19: Coordination and relation to existing law.

1. Nothing in this Act diminishes the functions or the powers of the Ombudsman or the Agency under the Anti-Corruption Act, or of the courts.
2. Where the same facts are being investigated by the Agency or the Ombudsman under the Anti-Corruption Act, a public body must not impose an administrative surcharge for them except with the agreement of the Agency.
3. The Committee of Ethics in Government and the reporting officers under this Act must refer to one another a matter that falls to the other, and may share information for the purposes of this Act, subject to any order of a court.
4. This Act prevails, to the extent of any inconsistency, over an earlier enactment on the same subject, except the Anti-Corruption Act, which continues to apply to a benefit given or received as an inducement or a reward.
5. In its application to a judge or other judicial officer, this Act is enforced in a manner consistent with the independence of the judiciary and the security of judicial tenure under the Proclamation of Punta Santiago. Where the law establishes a body to deal with the conduct of judges, a matter under this Act concerning a judge is referred to and coordinated with that body, which conducts any investigation of the judge; the Agency and that body may share information for the purpose, subject to any order of a court.

PART V
CLOSING PROVISIONS

Article 20: Regulations.

1. The Agency may, with the approval of the responsible committee of the Federal Assembly, make regulations for the purposes of this Act, including regulations that—
   1. set the manner of a report, a register, and a return under this Act;
   2. set the method of valuing a benefit, and the treatment of related givers as one source;
   3. adjust a figure in Article 11 or Article 12 to reflect a change in the value of money, no figure to be raised by more than the change in the general level of prices since this Act came into force; and
   4. specify the small value below which a memento or a promotional item is permitted under Article 12.
2. Regulations under this Article are laid before the responsible committee and take effect thirty days after being laid unless that committee resolves against them.

Article 21: Constitutional basis.

1. This Act is made under the authority of the Cortes Federales to legislate for the good government of the Federation, and consistently with the Proclamation of Punta Santiago, whose Articles 24 and 25 admit an intrusion on private life or correspondence only in a case determined by law and by order of a court.

Article 22: Commencement and application.

1. This Act extends to the whole of the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie.
2. This Act does not come into force until it has received the Royal Assent of H.M. King Sinchi Roca II, and must be published in the Gazette within seven days of the Assent.
3. The prohibitions in Parts II and III take effect six months after the Royal Assent, and a public body must designate its reporting officer and first inform its officials of their duties within that period.
4. If any provision of this Act is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision alone, and not the whole Act, is inoperative.

Amendments

No amendments to date.

Voting record

Under the Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759 the three governing parties, together holding 448 of the 801 seats, were committed to the Government's legislative program, of which this Act was a part. On the final division of 24.VIII.1760 AN the Federal Assembly carried the bill by 472 votes to 298, with 31 abstentions.

Federal Assembly final reading (24.VIII.1760 AN)

Notable votes on the Improper Solicitation and Public Gifts Act, 1760 AN

Deputy	Region	Party	Vote	Role/Notes
Elias Marchand	New Caputia	DSP		Secretary of Justice; moved the bill
Tomás Iñiguez	North Lyrica	CGA		Treasury Secretary; co-sponsor of the bill
Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves	Santander	DSP		Premier; replied for the Government in debate
Pierre-Antoine Blaise	Valencia	DSP		Deputy since 1749 AN
Francisco Gabaza	Santander	FCP		Leader of the Federal Consensus Party
Cao Qiang	Alduria	FCP		Special Counselor to the Council of State
José Manuel Montero	Wechua Nation	FHP		Leader of the Opposition; the Federal Humanists opposed the bill
Fred Strong	North Lyrica	FHP		Spoke against the bill in debate
Sumaili Humahuaca	Wechua Nation	FHP		Former Secretary of Justice
Piti Gándara	Alduria	Independent		Led the independents backing the Government

Vote summary by party

Federal Assembly final reading, 24.VIII.1760 AN

Political party	Yes	No	Abstain/absent	Total	% Support
Democratic Socialist Party	232	0	0	232	100%
Wakara People's Party	28	0	0	28	100%
Civic Governance Alliance	95	0	0	95	100%
Federal Consensus Party	93	0	0	93	100%
Federal Humanist Party	0	293	0	293	0%
Republican Party of Oportia	0	0	10	10	0%
Independent	24	5	21	50	48%
Total	472	298	31	801	58.9%

Analysis

The three coalition parties voted for the bill as a bloc, among them the Civic Governance Alliance, whose own clean-government bills of 1750 AN and 1754 AN had stalled or been defeated. The whole of the Federal Humanist Party opposition voted against it, with no Humanist crossing. The Republican Party of Oportia abstained. Twenty-four of the fifty independents supported the bill, five opposed it, and twenty-one abstained, the thirteen led by Piti Gándara among the supporters as before. The five independent votes against it were the most that independents had cast against any Government bill of the session to that date.

Chamber of Peers

The Chamber of Peers, the appointed upper house of mostly crossbench members, concurred on 4.IX.1760 AN by 57 votes to 51, with 10 abstentions. As a revising house the Chamber may delay or amend an ordinary bill but cannot block one, and a bill on which it takes no decision within sixty days is deemed passed; it made no amendment. Significantly, perhaps, the Duke of Santiago was one of those who abstained.

Royal Assent

King Sinchi Roca II granted Royal Assent on 7.IX.1760 AN, and the Act came into force on that day. Under its Article 22 the prohibitions on improper solicitation and on gifts take effect six months after the Assent, the period within which each public body must designate its reporting officer and inform its officials of their duties.

See also

• Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Act, 1721
• Anti-Corruption Agency (Mandate and Resources) Act, 1756
• Clean Government and Elections Act, 1760
• Government Code of Conduct
• Ombudsman of Nouvelle Alexandrie
• Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759
• 14th Cortes Federales