For the application of this Regulation, the following terms shall have the meaning indicated below:
- 1)Prevention Action (Acción de prevenir): It is the set of strategies, tactics, and actions carried out by the Administration (Administración), the Contraloría General de la República, the Procuraduría de la Ética Pública, and the internal audits of public institutions and companies, separately or in coordination, with the purpose of avoiding acts of corruption in the Public Administration, conflicts of interest, and ensuring the preservation and proper use of the resources assigned to public officials in the performance of their duties, as well as the establishment of measures and systems that require public officials to inform the competent authority about acts of corruption in public service of which they have knowledge and to instruct them in the proper understanding of their responsibilities and the ethical standards governing their activities. In addition, the strategies, tactics, and actions to encourage the participation of civil society and non-governmental organizations in efforts aimed at preventing corruption in the Public Administration.
- 2)Detection Action (Acción de detectar): It is the set of strategies, tactics, and actions carried out by the Administration, the Contraloría General de la República, the Procuraduría de la Ética Pública, and the internal audits of public institutions and companies, separately or in coordination, with the purpose of verifying, through the corresponding preliminary investigation, the commission of an act of corruption in the Public Administration, so that the responsible party or parties are subject to the applicable civil, administrative, and criminal sanctions.
- 3)Sanctioning Action (Acción de Sancionar): It is the exercise of the sanctioning power by the competent Authority, through which the corresponding civil, administrative, and/or criminal sanction is established for the person responsible for the act of corruption, guaranteeing their right to due process.
- 4)Incompatible Activities (Actividades inconciliables): Legal impossibility of simultaneously holding or being appointed to more than one public employment, of adding to the compensation corresponding to their service provision certain allowances or compensation from other public positions, certain activities incompatible, by their nature, with the principle of full dedication to the position.
- 5)Acts of corruption or corrupt practices (Actos de corrupción o corruptelas): The following shall be understood as such, among others:
- a)The solicitation or acceptance, directly or indirectly, by a public official or a person exercising public functions, of any object of pecuniary value or other benefits such as gifts (dádivas), favors, prizes, promises, or advantages for themselves or for another person or entity in exchange for the performance or omission of any act in the exercise of their public functions under any modality or denomination; b) The offering or granting, directly or indirectly, to a public official or a person exercising public functions, of any object of pecuniary value or other benefits such as gifts (dádivas), favors, prizes, promises, or advantages for that public official or for another person or entity in exchange for the performance or omission of any act in the exercise of their public functions under any modality or denomination; c) The performance by a public official or a person exercising public functions of any act or omission in the exercise of their functions, with the purpose of illicitly obtaining benefits for themselves or for a third party; d) The fraudulent appropriation or concealment of assets derived from any of the acts referred to in this article; and e) Participation as an author, co-author, instigator, accomplice, accessory after the fact, or in any other form in the commission, attempted commission, association, or conspiracy to commit any of the acts described in this article.
- 6)Administration (Administración): It is the function exercised by the senior official (jerarca) and subordinate heads in the entities and bodies subject to the General Law of Internal Control, No. 8292 of July 31, 2002, and which includes the processes of custody and collection of public funds, the establishment of revenues or income in favor of the State, and the approval and authorization of expenditures with public funds.
- 7)Advisory (Asesoría): It is the activity characterized by facilitating coordination for the highest institutional senior officials (jerarcas) for the implementation, improvement, development, and execution of the programs to be applied in the area under their attention, as well as for investigating and recommending improvements in specific work systems. An activity performed independently without direct supervision, such that their work shall be evaluated through the analysis of the investigations they carry out, the solutions and alternatives they provide to the institutional interests they represent from a political standpoint, as well as by the efficiency and effectiveness of the methods employed and the quality of the results obtained in the activities.
- 8)Corruption (Corrupción): It is the use of public functions and powers to obtain or grant private benefits, in contravention of the legal provisions and regulations existing at a given historical moment. More generally, it is the improper use of power and public resources for personal benefit, particular political benefit, or the benefit of third parties.
- 9)Consultancy (Consultoría): It is the activity of advising, guiding, and coordinating the highest institutional senior officials (jerarcas) on the attention of strategic matters in accordance with government policies and their applicability in the institutional reality, a process that involves investigation, analysis, and recommendation of action alternatives and conflict resolution for adequate decision-making. An activity performed independently without direct supervision, such that their work shall be evaluated through the analysis of the investigations they carry out, the solutions and alternatives they provide to the institutional interests they represent from a political standpoint, as well as by the efficiency and effectiveness of the methods employed and the quality of the results obtained in the activities.
- 10)Contraloría General (Contraloría General): Contraloría General de la República.
- 11)Custody (Custodia): To keep, with due care and vigilance, the cash, goods, and securities owned by the institution, under the responsibility of one or more officials designated for that purpose.
- 12)Declaration (Declaración): Sworn declaration regarding the declarant's assets.
- 13)Declarant (Declarante): Official who must submit the sworn declaration regarding their assets.
- 14)Duty of Probity (Deber de probidad): Obligation of the public official to orient their management towards the satisfaction of the public interest, which is fundamentally expressed in the following actions:
- a)Identify and attend to priority collective needs in a planned, regular, efficient, continuous manner and under conditions of equality for the inhabitants of the Republic; b) Demonstrate rectitude and good faith in the exercise of the powers conferred by law; c) Ensure that the decisions they adopt in fulfillment of their duties conform to impartiality and the objectives of the institution in which they serve; d) Administer public resources in adherence to the principles of legality, effectiveness, economy, and efficiency, rendering satisfactory accounts; e) Reject gifts (dádivas), presents, prizes, rewards, or any other emolument, honorarium, stipend, salary, or benefit from natural or legal persons, national or foreign, by reason of the performance of their duties or on the occasion thereof, within the country or abroad, except in cases permitted by Law.
- f)Abstain from hearing and deciding on a matter when the same grounds for disqualification and recusal established in the Organic Law of the Judicial Branch, in the Civil Procedure Code, and in other laws exist.
- g)Orient their administrative activity primarily towards satisfying the public interest.
- 15)Exclusive Dedication (Dedicación exclusiva): Economic compensation paid to professional-level servants, percentage-wise on their base salaries (upon prior signing of a contract between the servant and the highest senior official (jerarca) or whomever the latter delegates), so that they are obligated not to practice privately (remunerated or pro bono) the profession that serves as a requirement to hold the position they occupy, as well as activities related to it, with the exceptions established in the current legal system.
- 16)Whistleblower (Denunciante): It is the natural or legal person, public or private, who brings to the attention, in writing, verbally, or by any other means, before the Contraloría General de la República, the Procuraduría de la Ética Pública, the Administration, and the internal audits of public institutions and companies, a fact for investigation, with the purpose of preventing or determining the commission of acts of corruption, lack of ethics and transparency in public service, or any irregular situation affecting the Public Treasury (Hacienda Pública), as well as for establishing the corresponding civil and administrative sanctions on those responsible.
- 17)Anonymous Complaint (Denuncia anónima): It is that report of a fact or conduct presumed to be corrupt, filed by a person without identifying themselves or through the use of a pseudonym or false name, before the Contraloría General de la República, the Procuraduría de la Ética Pública, the Administration, and the internal audits of public institutions and companies to be investigated, and which, if proven, leads to the respective corrective actions and corresponding sanctions on those responsible.
- 18)Per Diem (Dieta): It is the non-salary remuneration received for their participation in the respective sessions by the members of a collegiate body or board of directors belonging to an entity, body, or company of the Public Administration.
- 19)Oversight (Fiscalización): These are the processes involving the control and surveillance of the receipt, custody, use, disposition, and administration of public funds.
- 20)Public Funds (Fondos Públicos): These are the resources, securities, goods, and rights owned by the State, by bodies, by companies, or by public entities.
- 21)Fraud of Law (Fraude de Ley): Fraud of law shall occur when the public servant in the exercise of administrative functions, or a private law subject in their relations with the Administration, performs acts under the protection of the text of a legal norm pursuing a result that does not conform to the satisfaction of public purposes and the current legal system, which shall not prevent the due application of the legal norm that was sought to be evaded.
- 22)De Facto Official (Funcionario de Hecho): A de facto official shall be one who does what a regular public servant does, but without investiture or with an invalid or ineffective investiture, even outside situations of urgency or illegitimate change of government, provided that the following circumstances exist:
- a)That the absence or irregularity of the investiture has not yet been declared, neither administratively nor jurisdictionally; and b) That the conduct is carried out publicly, peacefully, continuously, and normally consistent with the law.
- 23)Public Treasury (Hacienda Pública): Public Treasury shall be understood as the concept defined in Article 8 of the Organic Law of the Contraloría General de la República, Law No. 7428 of September 7, 1994.
- 24)Overtime Hours (Horas extras): Occasional compensation to personnel who provide services in additional hours beyond the ordinary working day, when non-deferrable needs so require, in accordance with current legal and technical provisions.
- 25)Schedule (Horario): Distribution of service hours in a day.
- 26)Incompatibility (Incompatibilidad): Prohibition on holding office, in order to safeguard the ethical principles governing the exercise of public service, avoid conflicts of interest, and prevent private interest from affecting the fulfillment of the public purposes for which the activity of the Public Administration is intended.
- 27)Senior Official (Jerarca): It is the unipersonal or collegiate hierarchical superior who exercises the maximum authority of the body or entity.
- 28)Extraordinary Working Day (Jornada extraordinaria): A merely exceptional and contingent labor modality that occurs in the face of an imperative and urgent need which, given its nature, does not have the character of being habitual.
- 29)Ordinary Working Day (Jornada ordinaria): Number of hours to be worked.
- 30)Management of Public Funds (Manejo de Fondos Públicos): It is the function of managing, administratively or accounting-wise, public funds, which is exercised by those officials who, in accordance with the legal order and the appointment act, are entrusted with that function and therefore have the possibility of disposing or making legal or accounting decisions or actions regarding the funds in question.
- 31)Profile for the Identification of Declarants (Perfil para la identificación de declarantes): It is the set of possible functions that a public official may have, formally or informally, within an institution and which designates them as a declarant.
- 32)Law (Ley): Law Against Corruption and Illicit Enrichment in Public Service.
- 33)Lifting of Incompatibility (Levantamiento de la incompatibilidad): It is the legal possibility for the Contraloría General de la República, through a reasoned resolution and in qualified situations, at the request of the interested party, to lift the incompatibilities established in Article 18 of the Law.
- 34)Principle of Effectiveness (Principio de eficacia): The timely achievement of results, in direct relation to the objectives and goals.
- 35)Principle of Efficiency (Principio de eficiencia): The most suitable application of assigned resources to maximize the results obtained or expected.
- 36)Principle of Legality (Principio de legalidad): It is the subjection of all public action to the legal system.
- 37)Principle of Responsibility (Principio de responsabilidad): Duty of every public official to answer to the Administration, and the control, investigation, and sanctioning bodies, for their faults from the ethical, disciplinary, civil, political, and criminal spheres.
- 38)Procuraduría de la Ética Pública: Body of the Procuraduría General de la República that undertakes the necessary administrative actions to prevent, detect, and eradicate corruption and increase ethics and transparency in public service.
- 39)Prohibition (Prohibición): the obligation not to practice a liberal profession by anyone occupying one of the positions indicated in Article 14 of the Law Against Corruption and Illicit Enrichment in Public Service. Within this prohibition, other professions that the official holds shall also be understood as included, even if they do not constitute a requirement to hold the respective public position.
(Thus amended the previous subsection by Article 1 of Executive Decree No. 41140 of May 2, 2018) 40) Collection and Expenditures of Public Funds, Revenues, and Income (Recaudación y erogaciones de fondos públicos, rentas e ingresos): The terms collection (recaudación), revenues (rentas), income (ingresos), and expenditures (erogaciones) shall be understood as referring to cash and securities.
- 41)Regulation (Reglamento): Regulation to the Law Against Corruption and Illicit Enrichment in Public Service.
- 42)Base Salary (Salario base): It corresponds to the amount equivalent to the monthly base salary of "Office Clerk 1" that appears in the list of positions of the Law of the Ordinary Budget of the Republic, approved in the month of November prior to the date of receipt of the good. Said base salary shall be in effect throughout the following year, even if the salary taken into consideration for its determination is modified during that period. In the event that different salaries for that same position should exist in the same Budget Law, the highest amount shall be used for the purposes of this article.
- 43)Public Sector (Sector Público): It is comprised of the State, the bodies and entities of the decentralized Administration, non-state public entities, and public companies, whatever their legal form, even if constituted as a private legal entity, through which the Public Administration exercises economic initiative, holding the majority of the share capital or a position that gives it, directly or indirectly, control over its management.
- 44)Public Servant (Servidor Público): Every person who provides their services in the bodies and entities of the Public Administration, state or non-state, in the name and on behalf of the latter and as part of its organization, by virtue of an investiture act and with complete independence from the imperative, representative, remunerated, permanent, or public nature of the respective activity. The terms official (funcionario), servant (servidor), and public employee (empleado público) are equivalent.
- 45)Extraordinary Work (Trabajo extraordinario): The temporary and outside-the-ordinary-working-day attention to a very particular requirement or situation motivated by special circumstances of the public service, different from those normally occurring, by an official for the same entity or body for which they regularly provide services, receiving as salary consideration a remuneration different and unrelated to that which they ordinarily receive. Carrying out this extraordinary work does not imply assuming, with a vocation of continuity, permanence, or regularity, another salary-remunerated position or a contract for professional services.
- 46)Securities (Valores): Negotiable instruments and any other right of economic or patrimonial content, owned by the entities and bodies responsible for their custody or administration, incorporated or not into a document, which by their own legal configuration and transmission regime may be subject to negotiation in a financial or stock market.
- 47)Liberal Profession (Profesión liberal): For the purposes of Article 14 of the Law Against Corruption and Illicit Enrichment in Public Service, liberal profession shall be understood as one that meets the following criteria: a) Its practice requires an undergraduate or postgraduate university degree, b) active membership in a professional association, when a Professional Association exists and membership is mandatory; c) Being susceptible to being practiced in the services market; d) Freedom of judgment and professional independence; and e) The existence of a relationship of trust with their client.
(Thus added the previous subsection by Article 2 of Executive Decree No. 41140 of May 2, 2018) (Thus amended the previous subsection by Article 1, subsection a), of Executive Decree No. 34409 of February 27, 2008).
(Thus amended by Article 1 of Executive Decree No. 33196 of June 23, 2006. Subsequently amended by Articles 1 and 2 of Executive Decree No. 34409 of February 27, 2008).