For the first time, the Ministry of Finance had a trading ban for its employees from 1 August until the national budget was presented on 6 October. They will do this every year from now on, communications manager Tor Borgersen tells news. Indeed, the ministry has changed the guidelines for stock trading in the last six months. Among the rule changes is an annual trading ban during the period when they are working on the national budget. The ban did not cover savings agreements entered into before 1 August 2023. – The guidelines that applied before 1 September also allowed for a time-limited shopping ban to be imposed on employees. Therefore, it was already introduced from 1 August this year, even though the new guidelines did not come into force until 1 September. “Furthermore, the option to impose a full or partial ban on shopping for a limited period in special cases has continued,” writes Borgersen in an e-mail to news. Law professor Eivind Smith believes that the cases this autumn show a need for general share rules for everyone who works in all ministries. He points out that a great deal of what happens in the ministries does not happen at a political level, but at an official level. – Although the political leadership is more visible than the civil service, it means a lot for trust in the administration that we can trust that civil servants and civil servants have the interests of the community, not their own, in mind during their work. Therefore, it is high time that we get general rules that they are required to follow and that can be checked, says Smith to news. SMK will not have an annual ban According to Borgersen in the Ministry of Finance, work to tighten the rules for share trading began this winter. Aftenposten mentioned on Tuesday that two investment directors in the ministry have engaged in extensive stock investments alongside their work. The ministry does not answer questions from the newspaper about whether the two bureaucrats’ actions have contributed to the tightening of the ministry’s guidelines. Anne Kristin Hjukse at the Prime Minister’s office. Photo: William Jobling / news The Prime Minister’s Office (SMK) also had a trading ban for employees before the budget was presented in October. Communications manager Anne Kristin Hjukse at SMK “politely declines” to an interview with news, but states that SMK will consider trade bans from year to year. In other words, they do not introduce an annual ban on share trading before the budget is presented, as the Ministry of Finance does. Hjukse also writes, through communications adviser Camilla Pettersen, that this year was the first time they introduced such a ban. Several ministries do not have their own guidelines. It is the ministries themselves that draw up their own ethical guidelines for their employees. When Jonas Gahr Støre and SMK asked for a share freeze and trading ban among politicians and employees before the presentation of the state budget, it only applied to those for whom SMK has employer responsibility. In other words, politicians and employees at SMK. news has been in contact with several ministries about whether they did the same as the Ministry of Finance and SMK – or whether they have plans to do so further. In the survey conducted by news, it appears that at least six ministries do not have their own share rules for their employees. Several are now considering rule changes: the Ministry of Defense states that they do not have their own guidelines for share purchases. They do not answer whether they want to change this. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food does not have its own guidelines for share trading for employees, but is considering whether there is a need to change this. The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy prohibits employees in certain departments from owning or trading in shares and securities linked to players in the industries covered by the ministry’s area of responsibility. For the ministry’s administrative management group, this applies to all the ministry’s areas of responsibility. The Ministry of Transport and Communications states that from next year they will introduce a time-limited trade ban in the period from when they receive the budget material until the state budget is presented. They didn’t have this this year and haven’t had it early. Work is underway to establish guidelines for this. The Ministry of Trade and Industry is investigating whether there is a need to adjust the existing guidelines in the ministry after SMK and the Ministry of Finance adjusted theirs. The ministry did not introduce a trade ban in connection with the state budget this year, and has not done so in the past. The Ministry of Local Government does not have its own guidelines for stock trading, and did not have a trading ban until the presentation of the national budget. The Ministry of Health and Care informs that they will consider a trade ban next year, but that they did not have this this year. State Secretary Cathrine Lofthus says that within the ministry’s area of responsibility there is little budget information that is significant for share values. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes that they will assess what kind of adjustments to existing guidelines they will make in the future, but that they have not had trade bans in connection with the state budget. Law professor asks for investigation Law professor Smith believes that another investigation is needed to find rules for the ministries. An important element he believes should be a trade ban for a period before the state budget is presented, as introduced by the Ministry of Finance. Eivind Smith is professor of administrative law at UiO. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news – Another element should be a general ban on, or at least transparency about, investments in sectors that lie under the work area of the part of the ministry where the person concerned works. At the same time, it is important to find a balance. Obviously, it cannot be forbidden for civil servants to have wealth or property. – But can you “guide yourself out” of all issues? – No. This is due, firstly, to the fact that internal “guidelines” taste a bit like advice and admonitions, and in any case are not sufficiently visible to outsiders. – But it is also because fairly square and simple rules that can be enforced and checked according to relatively simple criteria will be far more robust than even more pages in one handbook or another, says Smith. He adds that the criteria should be designed so that they can apply to all ministries, and preferably be adopted in law.
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