The Government of Montenegro adopted the Guidelines on good conduct of top executive officials on 23 September 2021. The Guidelines were developed by the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Ministry of Justice, with assistance of the Council of Europe through the framework of the European Union and Council of Europe joint Action against economic crime in Montenegro.

The Guidelines are creating the integrity framework for the top tier of the public officials, that were previously excluded from the application of Ethical Codes and Codes of Conduct: President, Prime Minister and ministers in the Government. The Guidelines are covering a variety of issues that top executive officials might face in their mandate: from conflict of interests, asset declarations to gifts and interaction on social media.

In addition to the anti-corruption legislation that sets hard rules on these topics, these Guidelines are also establishing the ethics instructions for handling everyday situations which might represent a reputational risk and cause public perception of corruption or unethical behavior.

The Action against economic crime in Montenegro is a part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.