The National Land Service (NLS), being innovative and ambitious, is one of the first public institutions in Lithuania that has implemented the anti-corruption management system developed in accordance with best global anti-corruption practice, in line with the international ISO 37001:2016 requirements and covering the main areas of service activity. This was confirmed by qualified auditors of the German Department of Management systems and personnel certification Body TÜV Thüringen e.V. in Lithuania.

"Prevention of corruption is one of the priority areas of the National Land Service," says Laimonas Čiakas, the Director of the NLS. – We are constantly monitoring the situation, the various measures to prevent corruption in the most sensitive areas of our activities – land administration and management, cadastral real estate, state control of land use and internal administration. Likewise, the NLS promotes a “zero gift policy “. This means that the authority is guided by the provision that no gifts are accepted for the work performed. “

The anti-corruption management system, which has been set up by the NLS, comprises the establishment of anti-corruption objectives and planning of their achievement, the allocation of human and material resources, the identification and assessment of corruption risks, the prevention of corruption and countermeasures (Anti-corruption control measures, diligentical examination and other), assessment of the effectiveness of the system and its improvement.

"I would like to emphasize that our service, which is determined to apply the anti-corruption management system in its activities, has assumed and has a strong responsibility for the actual functioning of the system in all areas, so that its benefits can be felt by both the employees and the citizens or other interested persons. Of course, the effectiveness of the system will have to be guaranteed by employees, so we will strive to constantly raise awareness of the issue of periodic training on anti-corruption, "the Director of the NLS, Laimonas Čiakas assures.

The implementation of the anti-corruption management system in the NLS took 10 months. The implementation of this anti-corruption system has led to the introduction of interested parties (entities with an interest in the quality of administrative services provided by the NLS) and their needs, as defined by the activities of the NLS where an anti-corruption management system is to be deployed. The anti-corruption management system of the NLS has been implemented in the fields of land management and administration, land use of state control, real estate in cadastral and internal administration. The new anti-corruption management system, as well as the existing procedures and procedures for the development of the NLS, have been developed.

The implementation of the anti-corruption management system has produced strategic documentation of the anti-corruption management system: The Strategic Plan for the 2020 – 2022 and the anti-corruption policy inventory. The main instruments of the anti-corruption management system are also: the head of the Anticorruption management system, a description of the procedure for implementing the risk assessment of description of procedures for monitoring purposes, measuring, analyzing and evaluating the management system. In addition, during the implementation of the anti-corruption management system, the internal legislation of the NLS was revised to ensure the functioning of the system: rules on ethics and conduct of staff, the trust line for reporting irregularities and the procedure for examining the inventory, an internal channel for whistleblowing and a description of the procedures for their examination, rules for providing information to law enforcement authorities, staff policy, rules of procedure, documentation plan.

From now on, according to the requirements of the international standard ISO 31010 "Risk Management", the risk assessment of the NLS activities and processes will be carried out annually, with corruption risk management measures plans for unacceptable corruption to manage risks, the increasing diligence of employees and risky business partners will be carried out. By organizing training on a regular basis, the NLS will focus on increasing the anti-corruption awareness and resilience of workers.

The NLS has been operating a Line of Trust for several years, and the internal channel was created last autumn. These measures may make it possible for individuals to report infringements that may have been committed, made or intended for the office. The communication between the trust line and the internal channel is always handled promptly and comprehensively. In cases where the infringement has evidence of a criminal offence, the responsible person at the NLS shall notify the competent authorities of the State. Cases of employee breaches are made publicly available on the NLS website.

It is important to note that the NLS will also carry out systematic monitoring of the functioning of the anti-corruption management system, assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the system and its individual processes and seek to improve them.

The introduction of anti-corruption management system in the NLS will reinforce the existing elements in the risk management of corruption, eliminate identified corruption risk factors and corruption assumptions, increase anti- corruption and improve public confidence in the NLS.

According to the survey conducted by the public opinion and market research center "Vilmorus", "Lithuanian Corruption map 2019", the transparency of the activities of the NLS in comparison with 2018 is more favorable. In the population assessment, the National Land Service has not been mentioned among the most corrupt state institutions.

In the same way, the population survey conducted by the NLS showed that, compared with the previous years (2017 and 2018), individuals found to have a reduced number in their personal experience of corruption in the NLS. The study also revealed that there is more positive than the negative performance of the NLS.