Preventing administrative corruption and promoting government integrity is an important objective of government reform and also the major duty of the Department of Civil Service Ethics. In the downsizing effort of the Executive Yuan, the Security Department (Office) was incorporated into the Personnel Department in August, 1972, and assigned the duty of personnel investigation. In order to distinguish the investigation affairs from the regular personnel businesses, the investigation unit was named the Second Personnel Department (Office). After the termination of the Period of Mobilization for the Suppression of the Communist Rebellion, the Ministry of Justice started formulating the Act of the Establishment of the Government Employee Ethics Units and Officers in accordance with the change in circumstances and public opinion. The Act was passed on third reading by the Legislative Yuan on June 16, 1992 and proclaimed by the President on July 1 of the same year. With the completion of the legalization procedure for the government ethics department, the Department of Civil Service Ethics was formally discharged of its secret service duties and focused on preventing and fighting corruption. Administratively, the Department of Civil Service Ethics is a staff unit, taking orders from the mayor. With respect to its personnel assignment and executive supervision, it is directed by the Agency Against Corruption, Ministry of Justice. Rectification of government ethics and promotion of integrity are increasingly valued by the public and entrepreneurs. The Department is doing its best to fight and prevent corruption in the belief that protection is better than cure. In the future, the Department will continually put more emphasis on prevention than on investigation, lay more stress on benefit-creating than on corruption-fighting, and provide more services than interventions. Our ultimate aim is to make every civil servant proud of integrity and ashamed of corruption.
Civil Service Ethics Office of the Tainan City Government has made a difference in improving municipal ethics practices. In addition to demanding total answerability and transparency during public tenders, the Office is also actively involved in the monitoring of the procurement process, while promoting "Project Accountability" - a partnership program between the Tainan City Government and District Prosecutors Office. Every two months, the City Government's development project tender winners are asked to attend a review workshop to address issues occurred during the period of contractual fulfillment, and explore possible solutions to exclude interferences from parties of questionable intent. A few years into the workshops, development project quality has visibly improved; the City Government's annual ledger also indicates a surplus of NT$14.58 billion. This is a powerful testament of municipal ethics practices.