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Rugby Trousers

Rugby Trousers

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Rugby Trousers

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Superb quality smart casual trouser. Made from a durable but lightweight poly/cotton fabric which will wash well and dry quickly. The rugby trouser has a fully elasticated waistband with button waist and zip fly, this is very useful if your weight fluctuates over time and also makes them very easy to get on and off. Rugby trousers are available in a wide range of colours various leg lengths and up to 60 inch waist. Because of the elastication they will fit two sizes bigger or smaller than the size ordered.

More colours and sizes available, from 27 leg and up to 60 waist. Please email for more information.

* Required Fields

• Elasticated waistband

• Poly / cotton

• Draw String

• Belt loops

Size Guide

FREE UK Delivery on all orders over £75.00

Standard Delivery - £3.95, 2 – 4 working days

Tracked Delivery - £5.95, 1 -2 days

Next Day Delivery - £14.95 - Please note orders placed on after 3pm will not be posted until the next day. Friday Night, Saturday & Sunday orders will NOT be posted until Monday

European Delivery - £12.95, 3 - 5 Days

Rest of World Delivery - £19.95, 5 - 7 Days

All orders are despatched via Royal Mail. As soon as your order has been placed you will receive email confirmation. Further email conformation will be sent once despatched.

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ExpertSender, a global provider of leading email marketing solutions, has announced today that it will support TUI China in tour operator's email marketing activities

With the ExpertSender support, TUI China unlocks its capabilities to optimize and grow B2C communications via the email channel and to deliver personalized experience for their customers. Email marketing is one of the key elements in TUI's global multi-channel strategy. This cooperation with ExpertSender will enhance TUI's brand awareness and sales opportunities in the Chinese market.

"Our technology and client assistance come in a tailored solution for TUI China." – said Krzysztof Jarecki, VP of Global Business Development at ExpertSender.

ExpertSender provides email services in China via a local infrastructure, which enables the company to deliver very good results for email marketers inside China. The blend of local support, inland server, and IP infrastructure, along with a global enterprise quality, was among key factors in choosing ExpertSender by TUI China.

About TUI China

An affiliate of World of TUI, the leading global tourism group, TUI China was established in late 2003 as the first joint venture with foreign majority share in the Chinese tourism industry and was the first and only European company to be awarded the China outbound travel license. With 88 years of European heritage and fully integrated World of TUI resources in over 180 countries, TUI China, with headquarters in Beijing and a branch office in Shanghai, provides quality and professionalism to its Inbound, Outbound, M.I.C.E and Expat Travel clients.

About ExpertSender

With offices in the USA, European Union, Russia, China, and Brazil, ExpertSender operates as a marketing partner of many fast-growing companies around the world.

As a technology specialist, ExpertSender extends complimentary assistance in all areas of email communication, such as implementing the best practices, leveraging big data and subscriber segmentation rules, and automating one-to-one content on top of ensuring the highest deliverability ratios for Retail, E-Commerce, Social Games and Networks, Affiliate Marketing, and Travel and Publishing projects.

For more information, visit

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Fixing Our Water Infrastructure: Smarter, Fairer, More

It's no secret. America needs to invest—big league—to bring our water infrastructure into the 21st century.

If anyone had forgotten, the ongoing tragedy in Flint was our national wake-up call.

Today, I testified in Congress at a hearing focused fixing our nation’s wastewater (sewage) and stormwater infrastructure. I invite you to read below the summary version of my testimony, which I delivered orally this morning, for details about the water infrastructure problems we face and the solutions at hand. And see my full testimony here—drafted with the help of my incredible NRDC Water Program colleagues—for a whole lot more detail.

Two mayors, a county commissioner, the director of a state environmental agency, and a water resources engineer sat alongside me at the witness table. By the end of the hearing, one thing was clear. There was a whole lot we could agree on.

All agreed that we need to ensure clean water for all of our communities—both wealthy ones and those less well-to-do. And all agreed—or at least none disagreed—that this requires meeting the Clean Water Act standards that protect our health and environment.

All agreed that we need to be smarter about how we do this—for example, by using cost-effective solutions like green infrastructure, wherever it can achieve clean water results and improve our neighborhoods.

All agreed that we need to use fairer and more equitable ways to raise the necessary funds, which do not unduly burden low-income households.

And all agreed that we need more federal and state funding to help communities meet their water infrastructure needs.

Let’s hope that Congress takes note, and passes legislation that promotes smarter water infrastructure practices, supports assistance to low-income water and sewer customers, and substantially increases federal and state aid for local water infrastructure improvements.

Testimony of
Lawrence M. Levine
Senior Attorney
Natural Resources Defense Council
Before the
U.S. House of Representatives
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment
Hearing Entitled
“Building a 21st Century Infrastructure for America:
Improving Water Quality Through Integrated Planning”
May 18, 2017

Good morning Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Napolitano, and members of the Subcommittee.

I appreciate the opportunity to testify today.

First-class infrastructure to protect clean water and public health is among our most important—and most basic—needs as a nation.

America’s municipal wastewater and stormwater infrastructure is outdated and failing due to decades of deferred maintenance and a failure to update pollution control technologies.

Far too often, untreated or insufficiently treated sewage and polluted runoff from cities and suburbs makes our rivers, bays, beaches, estuaries, and other waters both unsafe for human use and too degraded to support the fisheries and natural habitat on which we all depend for sustenance, recreation, and natural flood mitigation.

Likewise, our failure to invest adequately in drinking water infrastructure means that, in too many cases, the public is still drinking water containing contaminants that pose serious health risks.

We have heard a lot this morning about the costs of Clean Water Act compliance.  We cannot have a two-tiered system where the wealthy get water that is clean and safe for their families, and the less well-to-do get second-class water, wastewater, and stormwater systems that pose risks to their health and environment.

Rather, we need to create a system where all communities can afford to upgrade their water infrastructure, and ensure compliance with legal protections that make certain that they do.

In regard to integrated planning, there are two key points that I would like to emphasize.

First, integrated planning is a valuable tool for complying with Clean Water Act requirements, but it must not be used to water down those requirements.

When done properly, integrated planning encourages communities to look at all of their Clean Water Act requirements holistically and identify ways to sequence investments to attain the greatest health and environmental benefits, in the least amount of time. This encourages the use of solutions like green infrastructure, which save both money and time by addressing more than one community need simultaneously.

Integrated planning must not be confused with approaches—such as H.R. 465, the Water Quality Improvement Act—that would roll back Clean Water Act standards that protect public health and the environment.

Second, discussions of integrated planning must occur in the broader context of (i) the need for increased water infrastructure investment at all levels of government, and (ii) the need to fund that investment in ways that ensure affordable access for all to safe and sufficient water, wastewater, and stormwater services.

Without addressing these two needs, integrated planning alone will not solve our water infrastructure crisis.

Based on these over-arching points, NRDC offers the following recommendations:

  • Integrated planning under the EPA’s 2012 Integrated Planning Framework should be used appropriately, as an important tool for cost-effective and expeditious compliance with the Clean Water Act. Congress should not pass any legislation that uses integrated planning to roll back Clean Water Act protections.
  • Likewise, the concept of a community’s “financial capability” must not be distorted to undermine public health and environmental protection. Permittees must take advantage of opportunities to improve affordability for ratepayers, and especially for low-income households, before cost concerns are considered as grounds for extending compliance schedules.  Any consideration of cost must also consider the benefits of clean water and green infrastructure.
  • Congress should establish a Low Income Water and Sewer Assistance Program, and should support the creation and expansion of complementary programs at the state and local levels. NRDC supports H.R. 2328, which would create a pilot program. We further recommend that Congress create such a program nationwide.
  • Federal policy should promote local water, sewer, and stormwater rate structures that are fair and equitable to low-income households, as well as best practices that reduce costs for all customers, such as asset management, green infrastructure and water efficiency.
  • Congress should increase the cap on the amount of State Revolving Fund assistance that states can distribute as grants. A revised cap should provide incentives to states to invest more in water infrastructure and to direct more financial support to:
    • low-income communities’ water infrastructure needs,
    • environmentally innovative projects, and
    • projects that prepare our water systems for the impacts of climate change.
  • Finally, Congress should triple the current annual appropriations to the SRFs and direct the additional funds to priorities that are currently under-funded, such as lead service line replacement, green infrastructure, water efficiency, and climate resilience.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. NRDC looks forward to working with the Subcommittee on bold and effective solutions to our nation’s water infrastructure challenges.

About the Authors

Larry Levine

Senior Attorney, Water program

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Simple Steps for Decking The Halls without Debt

By Katie O'Shea, October 16, 2015

Though it may only be October, it's important to start planning your holiday spending.

For the average American family, the holiday season is often the costliest time of the year. Last year, shoppers spent over $800 dollars on holiday shopping, on average. Across the nation, shoppers spent $616.1 billion.

This year, total holiday spending nationwide is expected to increase to $630.5 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.

In order to keep your holiday spending reasonable, consider taking the following steps:

List Your Planned Expenses

The first step for any smart holiday shopper is to create a holiday budget.

Write out your planned holiday-related expenses. These may include:

  • Gifts
  • Decorations
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Holiday Cards
  • Charitable Donations

While deciding how much to spend on the holidays is an individual decision, it is commonly recommended that buyers aim to spend no more than 1.5 percent of their income for holiday purchases.

Depending on your priorities, you may decide to spend more in one of those categories than others. Before you start shopping, try writing down some preliminary spending limits in each category, so you can keep track of where your money is going.

As you do your holiday shopping, be sure to keep checking your spending to make sure you're staying within the limits you set for yourself.

Make A Gift List

Before you pull out your wallet, write out your gift list. Include all the people you consider as essential recipients. Try to figure out how much you can afford to spend on each person, based on your overall holiday gifts budget.

Try Homemade

It's often possible to save money by making gifts, decorations, and holiday cards yourself. Plus, homemade gifts can have a uniquely personal touch.

Look around your home to see what kinds of items you could use as supplies. Then look online for creative homemade holiday gift and decor ideas. Some homemade gifts you could consider making include picture frames, candles, coasters, baked goods, and jewelry.

Once you know what you have and what you want to make, visit craft stores or discount stores for inexpensive items to help you spruce up your creations.

Compare Prices

Be sure to do your research about where to find the gifts on your list at the best prices.

Plenty of sites offer coupon codes, including and, which can help you save on purchases at many different retailers.

If you're planning to shop on, consider checking out, which lists the current and historical prices for items on Amazon, so you can make sure you're getting the best deal (or see a prediction for when the item's price may drop).

As you shop online, don't forget to consider shipping costs when looking at an item's price.

Shop Smart

Whether you shop online or at a store, be sure to stay focused on your priorities. Don't get distracted by special holiday displays or tempting offers that could cause you to exceed your budget. Stick to your list.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of OneMain. The information in this article is provided for education and informational purposes only, without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including warranties of accuracy, completeness or fitness for any particular purpose. The information in this article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial, legal or any other advice. The information in this article is general in nature and is not specific to you the user or anyone else. The author was compensated by OneMain for this post.

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Emotional assistants: acquiring the latest skills

About the author
Lydia Perovic's writing has appeared in Critical Sense (Berkeley University, California) and Xtra magazine (Toronto), as well as Montenegro's Monitor and Vijesti. She's been living in Canada since 1999.

I have been failing at my job.

Lydia Perovic has written for One Hour Empire, C Magazine, N + 1 online, Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies at University of San Francisco, Social Semiotics (Swansea University, Wales), National Post, Books in Canada, Herizons, Globe and Mail Books, Xtra!, Critical Sense (Berkeley, California), and openDemocracy. She lives in TorontoI have been failing them personally: my recent bosses - all women - and their missions. My heart is not in the project, I've heard more than once. I was never really passionate about that large reception that I coordinated, I've been told. If a grand idea is offered to me, it should be grandly embraced: yes! It's brilliant, let's do it. I'll run with it: I'll put my soul into it! That's what entrepreneurial assistants do. Assistants with initiative.

If your boss shares her worry that she has nothing left to say in yet another formal address, your duty is to tell her, "I'm sure that's not true" and propose a few ways to approach the matter. "Feeling any better?" needs to be the sympathetic greeting when she returns from a day at home sick. Signs of panic call for your ability to assuage them; signs of insecurity for some very diplomatic flattery. Instances of exuberance certainly cannot be responded to with soberness or skepticism. The job of an assistant is to assist, not to question.

I am still not sure how to handle the inquiry - Have you missed me? - when she is back in the office after a few day of absence. Which is entirely my fault. There is no need to overanalyze the question as an odd mix of Scarlett O'Hara imperiousness and the emotional neediness of a teenager. My duty is to reply with the right degree of emotion, and promptly.

It was a long time ago that I first noticed the emotional requirements of my administrative jobs, ranging from the subtly hinted at and unwritten to the explicit. Years back, in my fourth month as the administrative assistant of a national association of a certain type of small business, the time came to compare the office records of our sales with the numbers in our warehouse report. There was a slight discrepancy that was nobody's doing. The end to the fiscal year was months away; such discrepancies I thought are a regular and easily adjusted occurrence; I've spent an entire slow month of August cold-calling potential association members; so I failed to see tragedy in the fact that our report of 46 remaining boxes did not match with the warehouse's 44. I did show appropriate moderate concern when conveying this piece of information to my boss, the Executive Director. This wasn't enough. After a brief speech on the importance of our association and its activities, as well as the utmost need for numerical precision, my supervisor finished with "You claim you share my concern, but I do not see at all that you really care about having these numbers match."

Feeling an empty, unemoting shell, I withdrew to my desk, document in hand, to dedicate myself to fixing the egregious error.

Indeed, for years now I've been aware of the emotional scripts that my jobs entail, and of course I've read my Ehrenreich and Hochschild. In every work environment there exist general emotional and mood rules I am expected to adopt, like a particular cheerful tone for phone conversations and a tone reserved for visitors coming to the office - with appropriate adjustments depending on whether it is a complete stranger or a Member of the Board of Directors who has just walked in. Then there is the knowing how to prioritize the order of information on ongoing projects when bringing them to your boss's attention and this is done by factoring in her current preoccupations and general tenor of her workday. The manager owns a monopoly over the sense of urgency, and you need to know which one of the three issues of equal urgency will suit the boss's current vista. There's also the know-how involved in defusing crises - which are as often as not somebody's mood crises - and knowing how to recognize a real as opposed to a mood crisis or the one produced by a deliberate managerial overstatement in order to energize the employees.

Then there is the think-ahead, which is rather the worry-ahead, but for other people. Will there be enough postage in the postage machine before the big campaign and will the post office require a special pick-up? What is your plan B if two other people in this chain of action do not honour their commitments before the deadline? What if Joe's Filter Spam is too strict, sends your email with instructions to the Spam Quarantine and he finds it two days late? Do we need insurance for renting this space for a public event? Coffee and tea pots need to be ready before the meeting. Make sure that the microphones include the stands. And always count items in the received shipment before signing the receipt sheet. You must never forget what's on your boss's schedule so that she wouldn't have to think about it during a meeting. The essence of pink-collar administrative and assistant jobs is this contracting down of worry.

All the while, you need to appear content with your job. "I've noticed you haven't seemed particularly happy coming to work this summer", I was informed once by the same association director. I examined my demeanours and a sense of guilt immediately took root. A "positive, can-do attitude" requirement is now prominent in job ads and increasingly sought after in job interviews.

Work done can lose its value catastrophically if not accompanied by the correct emotion, and even further, the correct emotion often is the action expected. Doing means emoting - and now not only on customer-service and client-focused jobs but also in those that are seemingly administrative and managerial. Some of my friends tell me that they are trying to perfect the skill of knowing when to provide flattery and when straightforward work delivery. This is, they claim, their way of managing their boss.

"Making your boss happy"

This phrase has long been uttered in work environments to convey an understanding - with some metaphoric exaggeration - that this meant ‘obtaining approval for your work' and ‘having it recognized that you are doing the right thing' or ‘achieving the set goals'. But now it literally means what it says. ‘I try to keep her happy' in a conversation of employees in the land of assistantship is now less likely to mean ‘I do an outstanding job' than ‘I produce her good mood' - in fact, the two are so indistinguishable now that the dichotomy sounds somewhat counter-intuitive for a contemporary office worker. Can we conceive of it any more, that there is such a thing a doing an outstanding job without satisfying the emotional requirements that it carries? ‘Making your boss happy' is now closer to meaning: making sure that your presence or mention produces a particular type of feeling.

I remember a moment during the interview for a job of an assistant to the executive director of a city agency. When conversation took a more informal turn, a (woman) interviewer suggested that part of the job will be to "keep [my future boss] happy". My being an executive assistant now largely means learning how to predict somebody's needs, taking over their cares and keeping them content and on track. This is what traditionally friends or mothers once did, and in an environment of equality or kinship, not divided by rank. Having to be your boss's friend without her ever having to reciprocate is now an ordinary work requirement.

The system of references that you carry from one job to the next makes sure that you can never quit your job of your own volition and in the way you like. Quitting spectacularly is now only in the realm of dreams, or implausible movies. The likelihood of getting your next job is directly proportionate to the amount of happiness your last boss can express about your performance to your would-be employer. You may avoid including your most recent boss as a reference without raising suspicion only in exceptional circumstances - if you can offer two other recent bosses' expressions of contentment, for instance.

Esprit de corps and keeping peers happy is frequently as important. Every job with a group-belonging component nurtures such expectations, but I found them especially heightened in social activist or political organization settings. And not only in those which favour consensus decision-making and use the word ‘community' with positive connotations. No: everywhere. De rigueur is to be part of the team: attending staff parties and socializing after-hours, recollecting war stories and paraphrasing good press coverage, going over the basics of our ideals and goals in conversations. There must be no reluctance to wear badges, buttons, particular colours of belonging at events and gatherings. Which is just one of the ways I failed a woman politician I used to work for. No matter the 14 hours workday for months on end, no matter the unpaid hours and unclaimed overtime: the unwillingness to wear a certain kind of shirt at a certain kind of parade was nothing short of treason.

Women bosses

I have been avoiding facing the fact that it was women bosses in particular who presented me with high emotional management demands. My feminist awareness, fundamental to my worldview since I was 11 years old, is making me feel particularly queasy about the implications of this line of thinking. Had I had a series of men bosses, there would also be emotional demands, only of a different sort, I tell myself. But why do women in positions with some decision-making power resort to such a highly gendered and contradictory blend of anxiety of authorship' coupled with an authoritarian streak? Have conditions of patriarchy and capitalist management created a specific breed of woman boss that I always end up working for - both emotionally needy and rank-ist, fiercely ambitious and lacking the courage of their convictions at one and the same time? And at what point might we stop using such ‘sociological circumstances' explanation to excuse this combination?

All three of my - women - bosses shared a certain style in common. Had they all taken their cue from the same page of a possible Rule Book for a Lady Boss on the Make, this is what it would contain:

  • Periodically create several hundred ideas for projects and partnerships. Toss them around like spaghetti against the wall to see which one will stick. Clarity of vision and unity purpose in a leader? Consider it too bureaucratic for your creative mind.

  • Keep mentioning what you consider your greatest successes in every conversation, no matter the context. Don't worry about any issues around repetition, vanity, or megalomania.

  • Enjoy the sound of your own voice. Be addicted to your ongoing stream of monologue.

  • Keep wanting to meet important people. When you meet them at parties, talk about it to everyone afterwards. Dream up possible projects with important people, in which they donate your organization millions of dollars.

  • Finish everything at the very last moment before the very final deadline.

  • Expect your assistant to be your friend one moment, then scullery maid the next. You will decide when the right moment is for each.

  • Every informal cocktail conversation, every chance encounter at an event is an opportunity to sell your wares and talk about the organization you're heading. Those are most decidedly not opportunities to freely discuss ideas or art or charm people with your erudition.

  • Get very nervous before a Board of Directors meeting and revert to the behaviour of a schoolgirl cramming before her next exam.

  • Difference of opinion from those under you equals heresy. (Actually, two of three of my woman bosses held this position; one is still willing to accept hearing reasoned disagreement under specific circumstances. Whether she takes it into account is another matter, but one must begin with small steps.

As I continue to navigate together with my lady bosses, I think I am getting better, more alert. I am better at reading signals early and responding to them more adequately. I'd like to think that I do it consciously and with an ironic distance, and not as a well-conditioned behavioural reflex. I may be quite deluded that I can still tell the difference. Differentiating between conformist acts and seemingly conformist but autonomous ones is a little more difficult than we, office ketmans, like to believe... Another golden rule - don't think too much.

We encourage anyone to comment, please consult the
oD commenting guidelines if you have any questions.


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Easily manage digital content, simplify your workload and yield high efficiency

Document management

OpenKM allows businesses to control the production, storage, management and distribution of electronic documents, yielding greater effectiveness and the ability to reuse information and to control the flow of the documents.

OpenKM integrates all essential documents management, collaboration and an advanced search functionality into one easy to use solution. The system also includes administration tools to define the roles of various users, access control, user quota, level of document security, detailed logs of activity and automations setup.

OpenKM builds a highly valuable repository of corporate information assets to facilitate knowledge creation and improve business decision making, boosting workgroups and enterprise productivity through shared practices, greater, better customer relations, faster sales cycles, improved product time-to-market, and better-informed decision making.

With OpenKM you can:

  • Collect information from any digital source.
  • Collaborate with colleagues on documents and projects.
  • Empower organizations to capitalize on accumulated knowledge by locating documents, experts, and information sources.

Records management

OpenKM Records Management helps your organization by efficiently and systematically control of the creation, receiption, maintenance, utilization and disposition of records, including processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records.

The OpenKM Records Management System captures, manages and provides access to records throughout the time.

The OpenKM Tracking System audits the processes in which time deadlines for actions are monitored and imposed upon those conducting the business.

The OpenKM Disposition are a range of processes associated with implementing records retention, destruction or transfering decisions which are documented in disposition authorities or other instruments. Destruction are the process of eliminating or deleting records, beyong any possible reconstruction.

The OpenKM File Plan are a set of rules that indicate, for each kind of record in the enterprise, where they should be retained the records, the policies that apply to them, how long they must be retained, how they should be disposed of, and who is responsible for managing them.

OpenKM provides a workflow engine for defining and reusing business logic, simplifying business processes and helping employees coordinate effectively with both the organisation and each other. By linking processes with content creation, OpenKM enables organisations to exchange transactional information and respond more quickly to new or changing business requirements.

With OpenKM, all your documents are electronically stored and organized in ways that make sense for your workflow and access needs. They can be easily retrieved with intelligent global search.

  • Create complex workflows.
    • Workflow for reviewing, approval and validation.
    • Support for serial and parallel workflows.
  • Assign tasks to groups or users.
  • Monitor workflow tasks, status and process.
  • Configurable mail messages notification.

Automate tasks

Given a specific event, you can apply validation rules and certain actions to be performed on the documents without human intervention. Some examples are:

  • Metadata Capture.
  • Classification of documents.
  • Automatic workflow execution.

The main advantages of automation are:

  • Increased productivity
  • Reduced operational time.
  • Improved quality.
  • High degree of accuracy.
  • Reduced direct human labor costs and expenses.

Mail Archiver: Use the repository as a document management system to store messages massively. The mail file is an automated process for the preservation and protection of all emails.

Multitenant: The Multi-tenancy enables multiple independent tenants to be hosted on a single instance, which can be installed either on a single server or across a cluster of them.

Electronic Signature: In e-commerce and the law, a signature on a document is an indication that the person accepts the intentions recorded in the document.

Barcode: Barcode reading and identification module.

Electronic Invoicing: E-invoicing module extracts invoices "XML" format and store them in the system.

CMIS: Specific OpenCMIS connector bundles, allowing OpenKM to be used as a CMIS server.

Cryptography: Files are encrypted and decrypted.

Reports: Create and use your own Jasper Reports. Reports are generated in PDF format.

Task manager: Create, administrate and assign task to users and roles.

OpenKM provides an interoperable platform to capitalize on resources across applications and repositories enterprise-wide. We developed OpenKM with the goal to providing several ways of integration:

  • OpenKM SDK's for Java, .Net and PHP.
  • Using the Webservices SOAP and REST API.
  • Authentication is pluggable and is easy to use an external user database, LDAP or Active Directory, SSO and CAS.
  • Even the data store can be configured to be deployed in any database as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle or SQL Server.

Available connectors: DICOM, AutoCAD, Google Drive, MS Office, Vtiger, Joomla, Wordpress, BonitaSoft, Kofax, Abby Flexicapture.

Build your own App

OpenKM Kcenter Platform provides a powerful environment which allows you to build your own applications based on your business requirements. With these applications you can manage content easily, simplify your work and high efficiency.

OpenKM Kcenter Platform is based on Virgo Web Server module-based Java application server that is designed to run enterprise Java applications and Spring-powered applications with a high degree of flexibility and reliability. It offers a simple yet comprehensive platform to develop, deploy, and service enterprise Java applications.

Some OSGI benefits

  • Reduced complexity.
  • Reuse.
  • Easy deployment.
  • Dynamic updates.
  • Adaptive.
  • Lazy.
  • Secure.
  • Transparency.
  • Versioning.
  • Simple.
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  • Widely used.

Partner program

OpenKM 's Partner Program is designed to create mutually beneficial relationships that increase the overall success and capability of the OpenKM ecosystem. Backed with OpenKM 's support, partners have an enormous amount of flexibility to capture OpenKM -related opportunities in your territory. We work with these partners to provide customers the best enterprise document management solutions possible.

At OpenKM, our partners enable a majority of our global revenue—our program is built to help you succeed. We pledge to provide the resources you will need to get your OpenKM initiatives up and running quickly and help you win more customers and add additional revenue to your existing business.

OpenKM Partners are a growing community of system integrators, software vendors, infrastructure providers and resellers who build their solutions with OpenKM.

There are different services opportunities when becoming a partner as training to end users on the proper use of the program to get the maximum potential of the application, consultancy, customizations, product configuration, scanning documents, and possibility of external hosting among others.

We’re always on the lookout for enthusiastic partners that have extensive technological expertise, commitment to providing innovative solutions for clients, a recognizable and trusted presence in their territories.

Contact us

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General inquiries

Open Document Management System S.L.

+34 605 074 544 ( Spain )
+1 800 793 8369 ( USA )
+34 605 074 544 ( Spain )
c/ Bunyola 13, 07004 Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain

Europe: Please call +34 605 074 544.
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday: 09:00 am - 19:00 pm CEST for immediate assistance. Currently it is Saturday 09:17 am in Palma de Mallorca-Spain.

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Flights from San Diego County to College Station

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Flights from San Diego

San Diego's Airport can help you find cheap flights from San Diego for your next trip. San Diego International Airport, also known as Lindbergh Field, is located on San Diego Bay, three miles from downtown. The airport is the busiest single-runway airport in the United States. Domestic and international flights are provided by 20 different airlines, including JetBlue, Delta, Southwest, United and US Airways.

Airport Parking Information

The San Diego International Airport offers both hourly and long-term parking spaces. Short-term parking is offered at $4 per hour and long-term parking costs between $11 and $28 per day. You can park your car for up to 30 days. Be aware that curbside parking is never permitted at San Diego International Airport.

Ground Transportation Information

If you would prefer not to leave your car at the airport, metered taxis are available to transport you to the airport. Taxi fares are approximately $2.20 for the first 1/10 mile and $2.30 for each additional mile. San Diego also has a bus system, with a fare of $2.50-$5.00. Not only can help you plan your discount air travel, it can also help you plan your ground transportation.

San Diego Airport Restaurants

There are many restaurant options available at the San Diego International Airport. You can grab a bite to eat at Chili's To Go, Starbucks, McDonald's or many other restaurants while waiting for your flight. There is also an NFL Bar. There is a variety of shops where you can purchase anything from books to cell phones. Keep checking for cheap flights from San Diego.

Flights to College Station

Easterwood Airport Information

Let be your guide to finding affordable flights to College Station, Texas. Air travel to the city goes through Easterwood Airport (1 McKenzie Terminal Blvd), located just three miles from the city's center. American Eagle and United Express are the two airline carriers that operate out of this airport. American Eagle flies from Dallas-Fort Worth, while United flights originate in Houston.

Transportation from Easterwood Airport

A variety of taxi companies, such as A-1 Taxi, Camo Cab and Twin City Taxi, are regularly available in front of the terminal. On the terminal's lower level, you will also find rental car companies such as Enterprise, Alamo and Hertz. GroundShuttle offers service between this airport and Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport for $26.99.

Weather in College Station

College Station winters are mild with lows in the 40s and highs in the low to mid 60s. In spring, the temperatures warm to the 70s and upper 80s. Summer highs reach the upper 90s. Fall cools slightly with highs ranging from the low 90s to the low 70s.

Attractions in Bryan-College Station

One of the biggest attractions in the area is the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, which features many historical documents and memorabilia. You can also visit historic downtown Bryan to check out the local boutiques and artisan shops. You should also stop by the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History and the Brazos Valley African American Museum. Start your search for the best deals on flights to College Station at

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The Globally Harmonized System for Hazard Communication

Hazardous Label

In 2003, the United Nations (UN) adopted the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The GHS includes criteria for the classification of health, physical and environmental hazards, as well as specifying what information should be included on labels of hazardous chemicals as well as safety data sheets. The United States was an active participant in the development of the GHS, and is a member of the UN bodies established to maintain and coordinate implementation of the system. The official text of the GHS can be found on the UN web page.

OSHA GHS Proposal

OSHA published a proposed rulemaking on September 30, 2009 to align OSHA's Hazard Communication standard (HCS) with the GHS. [Also available as an 11 MB PDF, 271 pages] This is a significant step in the rulemaking process. OSHA has provided a 90-day comment period ending on December 29, 2009. Informal public hearings will follow. OSHA will publish a hearing notice in the Federal Register with details on dates and location(s).

To aide in the understanding of the HCS proposal OSHA is providing additional information:

  • Proposed HCS regulatory text [63 KB PDF, 30 pages]
  • Proposed Appendix A: Health Hazard Criteria (Mandatory) [347 KB PDF, 68 pages]
  • Proposed Appendix B: Physical Hazard Criteria (Mandatory) [130 KB PDF, 28 pages]
  • Proposed Appendix C: Allocation of Label Elements (Mandatory) [350 KB PDF, 75 pages]
  • Proposed Appendix D: Safety Data Sheets (Mandatory) [53 KB PDF, 3 pages]
  • Proposed Appendix E (Existing Appendix D): Definition of Trade Secret (Mandatory) [21 KB PDF, 2 pages]
  • Proposed Appendix F: Guidance for Hazard Classifications Regarding Carcinogenicity (Non-Mandatory) [62 KB PDF, 4 pages]
  • Proposed HCS regulatory text (redline strikeout) [261 KB PDF, 38 pages]
  • Side-by-side comparison of the current HCS to the Proposed Rule [327 KB PDF, 45 pages]
  • Facts on Aligning the Hazard Communication Standard to the GHS

OSHA GHS Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

In May 2005, The Agency added to its regulatory agenda consideration of rulemaking to revise the HCS to align its requirements with the GHS. As the first step in that rulemaking process, OSHA published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) on September 12, 2006. [Also available as a 3 MB PDF, 11 pages.]

The ANPR explains the history of the development of the GHS, including OSHA's involvement in the process. It also indicates how alignment with the GHS would affect the requirements of the HCS, and asks a series of questions to allow the public an opportunity to provide input. The comment period closed on November 13, 2006. Comments submitted are available on OSHA's web page under the e-docket section. The Docket Number is H022K. This October 2006 Powerpoint presentation (162 KB PPT, 51 slides) provides more information about the ANPR, the impact of the GHS on the HCS, and other implementation issues.

OSHA has also completed a detailed comparison of the provisions of the GHS to the requirements of the HCS. This document indicates the changes that would have to be made to be consistent with the GHS. [Also available as a 901 KB PDF, 153 pages.]

Other Federal Agency Activities

Hazardous Communication Label

Implementation in Other Countries

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Combating corruption in Ukraine – the beginning of a long march

OSW Commentary

From a public opinion point of view, corruption has been the gravest problem of today’s Ukraine, excepting the armed conflict in the east of the country. The government  might be able to delay certain key reforms such as the constitutional reform or the reform of local government structures, however, without stepping up measures to combat corruption they would face the risk of losing social support  which has already been  weak. There is no single strategy for combating corruption in Ukraine. What has been implemented is a series of often contradictory concepts and actions (initiated by the president’s office, the government, civil society institutions, or launched to meet the requirements of donors). The successes of the new government have included efforts aimed at fighting corruption at the middle level of government and the introduction of legislative changes in compliance with international practice. The main weaknesses, on the other hand, have been the lack of efficient mechanisms to implement the adopted legislation to ensure that an individual charged with corruption (regardless of political connections) could be effectively tried and the money received as bribery could be returned to the state. Similarly, the judiciary system has not been prepared to actively handle corruption cases.

Corruption in Ukraine

Europe’s main anti-corruption convention, i.e. the Council of Europe’s 1999 Civil Law Convention on Corruption, defines corruption as “requesting, offering, giving or accepting, directly or indirectly, a bribe or any other undue advantage or prospect thereof, which distorts the proper performance of any duty or behaviour required of the recipient of the bribe, the undue advantage or the prospect thereof”[1]. Corruption can take various forms: from the most basic one such as bribery, through embezzlement of public property, nepotism and clientelism, to appropriation of state institutions by corrupt networks. There is no single recipe for combating corruption effectively. Some countries focus on the harsh penalisation of corruption crimes and increasing the effectiveness of the system of detecting and punishing corruption-related offences. Other countries emphasise the need for state institutions to function transparently, including giving citizens unrestricted access to public information and making public assets declarations pertaining to state officials. The most widely-used instruments aimed at fighting corruption typically include: the penalisation of various aspects of corruption, the creation of an effective system of combating corruption free from external influence, the confiscation of property obtained by way of corrupt practices, a reduction in all immunities which hamstring the prosecution of corruption-related offences, and the introduction of anti-corruption provisions to rules and regulations pertaining to the work of public officials.

Corruption in the West is different than that observed in Ukraine. In the West, the main form of corruption involves using private money to exert influence on public officials to persuade them to make certain desired decisions. In Ukraine, on the other hand, corruption takes the form of transferring public money to private companies[2]. Moreover, in Ukraine corruption is not just a system anomaly, but it forms an integral part of the system of the state’s functioning. There are several levels of corruption: low-level corruption (related to the everyday life of citizens), corruption at the middle level of government and large-scale political corruption. As far as the latter is concerned, two phenomena are typical of contemporary Ukraine: the actual takeover of state institutions by corrupt networks, and also politicians’ dependence on big business and the sponsoring of political parties by oligarchy groups. During Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency Ukraine was one of the most corrupt states in the world (in 2014 it was ranked 142nd out of 176 states in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index). The years 2010–2013 can be referred to as a period of actual  illegal takeovers  of key state institutions by Yanukovych and his immediate circle, aimed at appropriation as much funds from the state budget as possible.

New trends

The change of power in Ukraine has eliminated a number of the so-called ‘corruption schemes’ associated with the old government. However, several significant problems have been left unresolved. Firstly, corruption in Ukraine is of an institutional nature. It has produced a system of informal relations of the authorities vs. the citizen and of the subordinate vs. the superior occurring from the highest level of government down to the local level. Secondly, politicians continue to be dependent on the oligarchs who sponsor them or in fact are oligarchs themselves who get involved in politics in order to pursue their business objectives. Thirdly, the outbreak of the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine and the emergence of the uncontrolled territories has facilitated the emergence of new corruption schemes.

Corruption has been the main cause for society to be disillusioned with the policy pursued by the new government. According to the results of an opinion poll conducted in January 2015 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, commissioned by the Dzerkalo Tyzhnia weekly, nearly 80% of the respondents claimed that corruption has remained unchanged after the change of power or that it has increased in scale. Meanwhile, the main objective of the Revolution of Dignity was to combat corruption[3]. Similarly, entrepreneurs have complained that corruption and criminal ‘corporate raiding’ (taking companies over by force on the basis of counterfeit documents) have been the main cause for investors’ reluctance to locate their investments in Ukraine, alongside the dire economic situation of the country.

Unlike under Yanukovych, currently there is no publicly available evidence for direct corrupt activities carried out by top-level Ukrainian politicians. Just like during the previous government’s rule, accusations of corruption are mainly being formulated towards individuals operating at the interface of public administration and the energy sector. These individuals reap profits mainly from dubious intermediary activities in the field of purchase, sale and the processing of fuels; and from obtaining rebates, licences or loans from the state which they are not entitled to. Another practice which has been observed involves the heads of certain public institutions or publicly owned companies persuading employees to move their current accounts to banks associated with these principals or to buy state-owned land for next to nothing. Other very frequent corruption schemes occurring in government offices and state-owned companies include: inflating the value of public tenders to transfer excess money obtained in the tender procedure to private accounts, as well as managers forcing their subordinates to make unofficial monthly payments to their superiors. These types of practices were mentioned in the charges brought against the head of State Service for Emergency Situations and his deputy, both of whom were detained on 25 March 2015 during a government meeting.

Tax offices, fiscal monitoring as well as the customs service, militsiya (i.e. the equivalent of the police force in Ukraine) and other institutions involved in issuing permits and licences have been considered the most corrupt state administration bodies. According to the www.slidstvo.info website, systemic corruption still persists on Ukraine’s borders and for each cargo to efficiently pass customs clearance the so-called otkat (Ukr. vitkat; or ‘share’) must be paid. Average citizens are most affected by corruption in militsiya structures, including traffic police. The scale of corruption in law enforcement structures has been indirectly confirmed by words spoken by Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk recently. In late February he demanded that the interior minister clean up the situation in the militsiya, at the same time accusing the ministry itself of becoming an “organised crime group”[4]. New corruption schemes emerged when the war in eastern Ukraine broke out. These include the practice of bribing conscription boards to exempt specific individuals from military service or of Ukrainian officials offering bribes in exchange for being granted the status of a counter-terror operation veteran (which exempts them from the compulsory lustration)[5].

Measures undertaken

No major modifications in the state’s anti-corruption policy were made immediately after the change of power in Ukraine. This delay has been caused by the process of the new political order being formed (2014 saw both presidential and parliamentary elections) and by the fact that the government has focused on carrying out military actions in eastern Ukraine. It was only in autumn 2014 that legislative changes and slow practical changes in combating corruption in public institutions were launched. In December 2014, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a new government agenda which for the first time contained an entire chapter devoted to ‘new’ anti-corruption policy. In recent months, actions aimed at bringing officials associated with the previous regime to justice have been intensified. At the same time, the government launched institutional changes including in particular the formal establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. However, there has been significant delay in implementing these changes. A reform of the prosecutor’s office and of the ministry of the interior is under way. Public tender procedures have also been modified. The increased activity of civil society activists and journalists is also worth noting. They have managed to expose a number of corruption scandals and launch the project of compiling publicly accessible databases to disclose public officials’ assets.

  • Legislative changes

The most important measure aimed at cutting the links between the new government and the corrupt regime established by Yanukovych was the adoption in September 2014 of a law to clean up the government (lustration law)[6]. The law was an attempt at combining political lustration (the verification of officials in terms of their possible involvement in illegal decisions taken by the Yanukovych regime and of officials who cooperated with the Communist system) with a top-down dismissal of corrupt officials associated with the previous government. Pursuant to this law, certain categories of officials (e.g. the prime minister, individual ministers and heads of other central offices, prosecutors and judges, top-ranking military personnel) were subject to a ban on holding public office for ten years if they had held these posts during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych (lower-level officials faced a five-year ban). Some lower-level public servants would not be automatically dismissed; instead, they would be subject to individual lustration. The advantage of the law is that it has made it possible to dismiss a large number of corrupt officials, which would not otherwise have been possible due to the inefficient judiciary. The disadvantages, however, have included the risk that the withdrawal from the system of proving each individual’s guilt in a separate trial may be contrary to the provisions of the Ukrainian constitution. Another weakness of the law is that due to purely opportunistic reasons, lustration is not intended to cover officials directly elected to their posts (the president, members of parliament etc.). Whether the law proves to be an efficient anti-corruption mechanism will be evident once it is fully implemented. Heads of specific state institutions are responsible for the enforcement of the law, and the overall coordination of the process has been tasked to the Ministry of Justice. Currently, after nearly a year of the law being in force, it is evident that it is being observed to a varying degree: in some offices it has been enforced, whereas in others officials falling within the provisions of the law still hold their posts.

Another measure taken was the adoption of a package of anti-corruption laws in October 2014 which included laws: on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, on preventing corruption and on the fundamentals of anti-corruption policy of Ukraine for the years 2014–2017. Adoption of these regulations was a condition for Ukraine to receive macroeconomic aid from the EU and fulfil the EU’s requirements concerning visa-free regime[7]. The law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NACB) provides for the creation of a specialised body to protect public order by prosecuting corruption-related offences committed by public servants[8]. Both the law on preventing corruption and the law on the fundamentals of anti-corruption policy have the form of documents/political platforms rather than laws introducing legal standards. Nonetheless, their adoption triggered the implementation of several significant changes. In late March 2015, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption was established at the Ukrainian government with the task of verifying the assets declarations submitted by public officials. Other changes have also been planned to increase the state’s transparency, including: opening up access to the state register of real property, the creation of a state register of individuals who have committed corruption-related offences and the introduction of special anti-corruption screening procedures for public servants. Another important measure has been the introduction of provisions making it possible to temporarily confiscate the property and assets of individuals suspected of corruption. This, for example, will make it possible to confiscate illegally obtained assets belonging to former president and prime minister, both of whom fled to Russia[9].

The adoption in April 2014 of an amended public procurement law was another significant change in the fight against corruption. According to EU experts, the new law has been largely convergent with EU practice, in particular in terms of reducing the number of exceptions in which the public tender procedure can be omitted[10].

  • Anti-corruption investigations

No Ministry of Justice data on corruption-related investigations launched in 2014 is publicly available. According to statistics compiled by the General Prosecutor’s Office and made available to the media, between January and October 2014 approximately 2,000 corruption-related investigations were launched (pursuant to two major corruption-related provisions of the criminal code)[11]. In 2013, the figures were largely similar. The difference, however, is that investigations launched in 2014 concerned former prominent representatives of the Yanukovych regime or public officials currently holding relatively important posts. Previously, corruption-focused investigations had mainly targeted lower-level officials holding posts in local government or in regional branches of central government offices, public servants at the lower level of central government or militsyia officers[12].

Immediately after the revolution, investigations were launched focusing mostly on the former president and former prime minister and their closest relatives involved in the illegal practice of transferring state-owned assets abroad. The process of disclosing offences committed against middle level officials in ministries, public institutions and local government bodies has also started slowly (Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ministry of Health, the fiscal service, customs service, local government units responsible for the sale of state-owned land etc). This has been possible mainly due to initiatives by social activists involved in combating corruption.

It was only in recent weeks (when the general prosecutor changed[13]) that the general prosecutor’s office launched several new investigations targeting former officials associated with Yanukovych (though corruption charges, which are the hardest to prove, were not a priority). The investigations launched included those focused on Oleksandr Yefremov (former leader of a faction within the Party of Regions), Mykhailo Chechetov (a prominent Party of Regions politician), and Yuriy Kolobov (former minister of finance). Similarly, in March 2015, the most controversial judges who adjudicated in the cases of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko were dismissed from their posts. In March 2015, corruption charges were brought against several high-ranking officials currently in office. These included the head and the deputy of the State Service for Emergency Situations, and the head of the State Financial Inspection. Due to professional negligence the head of the State Road Traffic Inspection at the Ministry of the Interior was also dismissed. Moreover, in April 2015 the Higher Committee for the Qualification of Judges dismissed five judges suspected of corrupt practices, depriving them of their immunity and opening the way for criminal investigations to be launched against them.

  • Institutional changes

Until the beginning of May 2015 none of the specialised institutions to combat corruption planned in the legislation had been established in practice. Therefore as under the previous government, the operational and investigative activities are being carried out by the Ministry of the Interior and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) which cooperate with the prosecution authorities. In recent months, these institutions increased their activities related to combating corruption. One of the reasons behind this has been the significant delay in the forming of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Due to this delay, the Ukrainian government decided to launch an anti-corruption offensive using the current institutional structure. This has been confirmed for example by decisions made by Prime Minister Yatsenyuk to raise the salaries of employees of the Ministry of the Interior involved in combating corruption or to form anti-corruption flying squads[14]. Increased activity has also been noticeable in the general prosecutor’s office. In recent weeks, it launched a dozen or so new anti-corruption investigations. However, social activists involved in fighting corruption have made numerous accusations towards the Ukrainian government. According to them, the current increased activity is not of a systemic nature but has been the result of ‘manual control’ over law-enforcement agencies by the prime minister and the president aimed at quickly achieving spectacular effects[15].

The degree to which a specific institution is able to combat corruption externally also depends on whether it has a capacity to effectively eliminate corruption from its internal structures. Certain measures in this respect have been taken by both the Ministry of the Interior and the prosecutor’s office. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, in 2014 20,000 officers were dismissed from their service in the militsiya (with a further 20,000 to be dismissed this year). This is aimed at making it possible to raise the wages of the rest of the employees to discourage them from taking bribes. A reorganisation of the State Road Traffic Inspection (the ‘traffic militsyia’ – DAI) was carried out including its incorporation into the patrolling service. Open competitions for some posts in the new traffic police have been announced and a reform of the system of paid services rendered by the Ministry of the Interior (e.g. the issuing of documents) has been launched to reduce the scale of corruption[16]. As far as the reform of the prosecutor’s office is concerned, the amended law on the prosecutor’s office of February 2015 has introduced a number of significant changes from the point of view of combating corruption coupled with a review of how dependent the prosecutor’s office is on political influence. These changes include: eliminating the dubious task of exerting general supervision over entrepreneurs and natural persons from the scope of duties of the prosecutor’s office, introducing the obligation for official orders from a superior to their subordinates to be formulated in writing, and expanding the scope of self-government[17]. The head of the general prosecutor’s office has also announced a reduction in the number of prosecutors, which will make it possible to raise the salaries of the remaining employees and to introduce an electronic documents system (a very significant change from the point of view of the transparency of decisions).

Pursuant to the law on preventing corruption, public officials have been obliged to submit annual publicly accessible assets declarations (by 1 April each year). Still, however, there is no mechanism to verify these statements. This is due to delays in launching the operation of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.

  • Civil society measures

Social activists and journalists supported by a group of parliamentarians involved in anti-corruption initiatives, have continued to play an important role in exposing cases of corruption. Moreover, non-governmental experts have taken an active part in legislative work on new anti-corruption laws. Civil society organisations (including Transparency International Ukraine, the Centre for the Prevention of Corruption, the Reanimation Package of Reforms) and specialised journalistic and social initiatives (Slidstvo.info, Nashi Groshi, Koruptsyi Nii, Ukrayinska Pravda) are able to analyse and publish information on suspicious assets owned by public officials or expose cases of corruption at the middle level of government. It is obvious, however, that without operational capabilities and access to foreign data, they are unable to disclose cases of large-scale corruption, for example to trace money transferred by the Yanukovych regime. Social activists have also raised society’s awareness of corruption. This has been possible due to their active involvement in civil society groups at specific ministries. In some regions, activists have also been employed by the SBU.

Cases of abandonment and delay

At present, Ukraine has had a relatively coherent legal base in the field of combating corruption. The main problem of Ukrainian legislation, however, has continued to involve the clash between individual legal standards, the arbitrary nature of numerous legal provisions, and the lack of executive regulations to the adopted laws. Institutional weakness has continued to be one of the major problems of Ukraine’s anti-corruption policy. Serious delays, or even cases of abandonment, in the process of forming new anti-corruption institutions, have been clearly evident. What is equally important, however, is the collapse of the Ukrainian judiciary expected to try individuals charged with corruption.

  • The National Anti-Corruption Bureau

Ukraine has witnessed significant delays in the forming of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NACB). According to the adopted legislation, the NACB was to be formed in January 2015.However, it was not until mid-April 2015 that the head of the Bureau was appointed[18], and so far no recruitment of employees has been announced. This generates the risk that the NACB might not start its operations this year, especially since – pursuant to the law on the NACB – strict recruitment requirements have been introduced. Meanwhile, the creation of a professional, politically independent office to combat corruption may be the long-awaited system change which could be followed by other similar developments. Should the NACB fail to perform its role, the fight with corruption will continue due to the involvement of civil society activists and investigative activists. Delays in the forming of the NACB seem to be the result of the excessive importance the government attached precisely to the appointment of the bureau’s head (more than 170 candidates submitted their applications in the first stage of recruitment). Meanwhile, there is little reflection as to how the institution will function or on the competences planned for prospective investigators. This is confirmed by the very structure of the law on the NACB: most provisions concern the system of appointing the bureau’s head. It is also possible to have reservations regarding the wording of the NACB’s mission: the bureau is intended to combat corruption only among high-ranking central and local government officials. However, the emphasis should rather be placed on the scale of economic damage suffered by the Ukrainian state (this concept was the underlying principle of the provisions of the Polish law on the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau). This purely clerical wording of the mission of the new bureau may be an obstacle in carrying out investigations targeted at oligarchs or businesspeople involved in bribing public officials.

  • Other institutions

The future of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the State Investigative Bureau is unclear, even though Ukrainian legislation requires these institutions to be established (including the law on the prosecutor’s office and the 2012 code of criminal proceeding). The new Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office would be intended as a response to the problems posed by the lustration of prosecutors – prosecutors or officers of law enforcement bodies employed in the current anti-corruption units would be banned from taking posts in the new institution. Currently, however, the Ukrainian government mentions the need to form this specialised prosecutor’s office with ever diminishing frequency. Moreover, there are no executive regulations concerning its establishment. On the other hand, the State Investigative Bureau would be expected to be a special investigative body dealing with complex criminal cases (including investigations against militsiya servicemen; it is unclear if the target group would also include officers working for the anti-corruption bureau). The Security Service of Ukraine currently holds these powers and would cease to be a special service dealing with economy-related crimes; it would instead focus on tasks strictly related to counter-intelligence actions and the protection of constitutional order. There is serious concern that the powers of the NACB and the new investigative body might overlap.

The process of creating the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption has reached a more advanced stage: in March 2015 the Cabinet of Ministers passed a relevant resolution[19]. An open competition for agency board members is underway; however, no recruitment of employees has been announced. The new agency has mainly been vested with coordination and preventive tasks. Its key task in the field of combating corruption involves collecting and verifying assets declarations submitted by public officials. Also in this case considerable delay should be expected ahead of the new agency becoming operational – it will probably be unable to verify statements submitted this year (which are being submitted according to the new standards).

  • Cleaning up the judiciary

Reforming the judiciary has been a key challenge for Ukraine’s future. However, this issue reaches far beyond the framework of the anti-corruption policy. After the reform of the judiciary carried out by President Yanukovych in 2010, judicial independence was seriously infringed, and the president’s influence on bodies of judicial self-government or individual judges was increased. This has caused an increase in the scale of judicial corruption and a surge in criminal cases launched by political order. After the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine’s parliament enacted two laws on lustration (including one limited only to judges) which were intended to help clean up the judiciary. The lustration results have proved insufficient – the judges subject to lustration frequently continue to hold their posts due to legal loopholes. Administrative paralysis has spread to major institutions of the judiciary such as the Higher Council for Justice or the Higher Committee for Qualification of Judges. In January 2015, the parliament passed a law on securing the right to a fair trial. The law was intended to break the deadlock within the judiciary, for example by introducing the re-attestation of judges, increasing the role of judicial self-government, introducing the principle of open competitions. These changes are in compliance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, but they also increase the risk of current corruption schemes being preserved. It seems that a complete renewal of the composition of judicial self-government bodies could be an effective method for combating corruption in the judiciary. Self-government could launch obligatory screening procedures to be carried out in the case of suspected corrupt practices among judges. Other recommended courses of action are: the requirement to organise open competitions when recruiting judges at all levels of the judiciary, to promote a further toughening of disciplinary measures pertaining to judges, and the introduction of the electronic documents system[20].

(1) The Ukrainian government’s approach to combating corruption (corruption has been ranked second after defence of independence on the list of national challenges) confirms positive changes in the awareness of the problem among the political elite. Most probably, this is largely due to growing pressure by society, by civil society activists and to international pressure. The process of abandoning the superficial approach to adopted legal solutions (which is typical of the Ukrainian political scene) has been clearly evident.

(2) Most legal solutions passed by the new Ukrainian government have been in compliance with international practice. However, real successes in the fight against corruption can only be confirmed when these solutions are fully implemented. Ukraine has been witnessing significant delays in the process of forming the new institutional system to combat corruption. The delays in forming the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and in devising a system of verification of assets statements submitted by public officials are difficult to understand (civil society activists have been emphasising this for months).

(3) The most significant challenge continues to be the need to renew personnel. This process is expected to take years, especially given that it often meets with strong resistance on the part of the employees of law enforcement bodies or of the judiciary. However, it is realistic. It would be worth considering whether this process should continue to be based on the principle of lustration. Perhaps currently it would be better to organise open competitions more frequently, to carry out obligatory verification of employees’ skills and a similar screening procedure for possible corruption.

(4) In recent months there has been an increase in activities aimed at combating corruption at the operational level. However, the anti-corruption investigations which have been launched, in particular those relating to crimes committed by representatives of the former regime, should have been launched last year. The more time passes, the more difficult it will be to return the illegally appropriated assets to the state treasury. The fact that the anti-corruption powers are vested in ‘old’ institutions such as the Ministry of the Interior, the SBU and the prosecutor’s office poses a risk that the process of forming the NACB will be delayed further still and that the bureau itself will operate under conditions of rivalry for specific powers.

(5) The system to combat corruption currently being formed has the fundamental flaw of placing its emphasis on state bureaucratic structures and limiting its focus on the middle level of government officials. Meanwhile, active steps need to be taken to combat corruption among representatives of private businesses, in particular in the context of public tenders and of the actual supervision of private businesspeople over state-owned property.

(6) The precondition of success in the fight against corruption in Ukraine involves carrying out a reform of the judiciary, including increasing the scale of detectability of corrupt practices among judges, limiting the immunity of judges suspected of corruption and reducing the level of tolerance for all aspects of corruption among judges.

[1] Civil Law Convention on Corruption, ETS no. 174; Ukraine ratified the Convention in 2005.

[2] R. Karklins, ‘Typology of Post-Communist Corruption’, Problems of Post-Communism, July/August 2002.

[3] For more on this topic see T. Piechal, ‘Disappointment and fear – the public mood in Ukraine’, OSW Analyses, 14 January 2015; http://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2015-01-14/disappointment-and-fear-public-mood-ukraine

[5] Details on lustration below.

[6] For more see T. A. Olszański, ‘The Ukrainian Lustration Act’, OSW Analyses, 1 October 2014

[7] EU releases €250 million of grants to support Ukraine, Brussels, 13 June 2014, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-676_en.htm

[8]‘Zakon Ukrainy pro Natsyonalne Antikoruptsyine Byuro Ukrainy’, Vidomosti Verkhovnoy Rady, 2014, No. 47, p. 2051, http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1698-18

[9] ‘Zakon Ukrainy pro zapobiganiya koruptsyi’, Vidomosti Verkhovnoy Rady, 2014, No. 49, p. 2059, http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1700-18/page; ‘Zakon Ukrainy pro zasady dyerzhavnoy antikoruptsyonnoy polityki w Ukrainy na 2014-2017 roki’, Vidomosti Verkhovnoy Rady, 2014, No. 46, p. 2047, http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1699-18

[12] Transparency International Ukraine, ‘Alternativnyi zvit shodo otsinki efektivnosti dyerzhavnoy antikoruptsyonnoy polityki”, 2015, http://ti-ukraine.org/system/files/docs/news/alternatyvnyy_zvit_shchodo_ocinky_efektyvnosti.pdf

[13] Vitaliy Yarema was replaced with Viktor Shokin.

[15] Shabunin.

[17] ‘Zakon Ukrainy pro prokuratury’, Vidomosti Verkhovnoy Rady, 2015, No. 2-3, p. 12, http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1697-18

Implementation of this law was originally intended for late April. However, it has been postponed until July 2015.

[18] Artyom Sytnyk, legal counsel and former prosecutor, has been appointed to that post.

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Kid with Aspergers Becomes Leader on Kokoda Track

25 Aug 2014 12:00 AMKid with Aspergers Becomes Leader on Kokoda Track

When society decides you don't fit in because you are different and even stops you growing.... but then to find a tribe that accepts you and you excel because of a new found belief, support and value in your abilities, to connect with the past history and identify where the future lies,,, through Courage, Sacrifice, Endurance and new found Mateship... this kid becomes a great success story

The call came out of the blue, I had heard of this organisation and the type of work that they did with misguided youth and youth at risk.  In the past I had done a lot for various charities in this space and managed to raise some decent sized funds aimed at making a difference to the world.  At the time of the call it was getting quite trendy to switch on the TV and see yet another bunch of kids crossing the Track with an egotistical leader yelling and screaming at them. I was never happy about the methods used by some. They would seek to break the spirits of these kids and then rescue them. I always believed that the focus should also be on the fact the kid has succeeded in walking the Kokoda Track and learned and experienced all that was there. It was about the initial challenge of asking oneself “do I have the same tenacity and bravery that our Diggers had?’ would I be able to achieve success against the backdrop of incredible challenge.  Our young Diggers had paved the way for us and overcame incredible challenges in many different formats so that we could have choices brought about by the freedoms fought and died for.

The caller had asked me if I would be interested in facilitating a group of street kids that had been in and out of trouble with the law all their life. I hesitated and initially was non-committal until I received more information, I really didn’t want to do a TV mock up.  After receiving that information I pored over it closely trying to ascertain what some of these kids had been through, I was shocked to read some of their experiences and was left in no doubt that the Kokoda Track would certainly help them in their quest for their path. After speaking with the organisers they quickly told me that a kid that I had paid particular interest to wouldn’t be selected as he offered very little to the group as a whole and appeared quite, moody and rude. I dug my heels in with one and asked to take him for a walk and try and get to the bottom of it.

In the interest of privacy and protection I will call him peter. We walked and talked, he was very quiet and distant, he would worry a bit about the weather as we walked and would continually ask the time. As we walked I would slip in some mathematical questions which he dually answered with apparent ease. After the walk I rang the local police station for more information, given that it was the police that had recommended he be part of this they filled me in on the fact that this 15 year old would more than likely spend the rest of his life in and out of jail if something wasn’t done very soon. It seemed that he had fallen in with a particularly bad crowd and was being used as a patsy in local crime.  I spoke with the organisers and insisted that this kid be allowed to walk the Track with us as I felt we could really offer him a lifeline. Eventually they relented and approved his participation but with a series of conditions.

From my experience I had already worked out what Peter’s, main challenge was and that was that he had mild form of autism. But this autism was significant enough for the group to realise that he was “different’ and as a result justify group alienation. Admittedly he didn’t try too hard to fit in with the rest and at times would say inappropriate things, almost like he didn’t possess a social filter.

It always fascinated me how our society tends to ostracize a person when they are considered different to the “norm” we tend to do this based on religion, race, wealth, size etc..

It’s different though in remote unspoilt areas such as PNG where the currency is about survival, a culture that values the basics such as shelter, warmth, love, food and water. It also appreciates and values that everyone in the tribe has an important role and contribution to make to the survival of the tribe.

When Peter arrived with the group in Kokoda he was made to feel welcome by the National people and perhaps for the first time in his life he was made to feel like he actually belonged somewhere and wasn’t classed as a social outcast . I introduced him to the Legends of kokoda as I call them as this term truly reflects what their families did for us in 1942, and by labelling them Legends it also elevates them to a position of respect rather than merely calling them ‘porters”.

The physical and mental Challenge of doing the Kokoda Track correctly, along with the passionate narration of the history that has occurred leads to incredible personal insights that are completely supported by the simplicity of life in a jungle,. And really leaves one feeling connected to the past, to such an extent that it outlines the future. One of the great learnings for kids with poor present role models is to link with the history of their forefathers resilience in battle (and the vision they were protecting) this allow them to work out where they came from and ultimately where they can go in the future with the same resilient attributes.

As the trek continued Peter played a bigger role within his new found “tribe” he was finding that he was valued and seemingly no different to the other tribal members in that they all sought shelter and warmth  at night, food during the day and friendship in the confines of their small huts. He was gradually given more responsibility and more roles of importance, he was in charge of water ,,, he had to collect water to cook over the open fire for dinner each afternoon. As an observer watching in I could see him start to learn new ways and a new language and he excelled at communicating as the tribe removed the social barriers that had created anxiety and fear in Peter. Borne out of the fact that he was slow with his words and the fear that he would be once more denigrated for being an “idiot” he grew into a confident young person reinforced by the fact that his jobs or responsibilities were broken into full tasks ie get the water and bring it back, but with huge emphasis on the importance of this role and how it works as part of the team (tribe). They taught him that when there was a breakdown in communication or a potential fight about to erupt, the villagers would sit around small fires scattered through the village and in small numbers they would discuss their differences. Once all were satisfied that the issue had been solved on a personal basis, they would then make a bigger combined fire in the centre and they would all come together and sit around it for the next stage of instruction. This method allowed for all members of the tribe to see their value and realise their views were indeed valued.

As the remainder of the Trekking group continued on with their own personal journey and challenge of getting across the Track they were oblivious to the development that was going on around the near fire. As they listened intently to the history and identified the pain endured, it was almost like a catharsis as they seemed to hitch emotion to the story of the history to their physical pain, which somehow led to greater emotional understanding or reasoning. As we continued to walk the Kokoda track, environment conditions changed and the rains set in adding to the challenge.

At Cons rock, where historically Stan Bisset sat with his brother Harold (Butch) cradled in his arms as he passed away following the battle of isurava  I always sing Danny Boy in memory of both Stan and Butch. That particular day, as I sang it there was not a dry eye to be seen, the kids gathered around me and as I sang they cried. At the end of the song I asked if here was anyone that wanted to say anything or even …..sing, as kids do, they all dropped their heads and prayed I didn’t single them out to do anything…… THEN all of a sudden Peter jumps up on the rock and starts belting out ….. :aint no mountain high enough….. aint no valley wide enough……and the group stared .. and they stared more… here was the kid that never spoke, barely muttered, never looked you in the eye, socially awkward, crazy ideas… suddenly belting out a song at the top of his voice ….

What transpired after this was amazing to see,,,, suddenly the group realised.. hang on a minute this bloke has a value… how do we get him back in our tribe??? He suddenly became “cool” and interesting and just maybe they had judged him wrong… or was it the fact that so many people had judged him similarly was it the weight of that judgement that would never allow him to overcome that judgement and as a result a developed poor self efficacy… But somehow the weight of the belief and value that the tribe had put in him out weighed the Group sentence …. Amazingly he now knew that he had a value and as the trekking group sought to have him re-instated into their group ,.. he was refusing as he now was confident of his stature and value…

This scenario continued all the way to the finish of the track across the moutains, Peter was a changed kid, he was confident and alert, happy etc… but I knew that once he had to leave his new found tribe that would be when the real challenge would present itself. Anyway we flew into Brisbane airport and all their parents were there,, I snuck out quickly to avoid them and was on my way home when I received a phone call from Peter’s mum,,,, she said “aidan I don’t know what happened up there .. but my boy is different, then he saw me at the airport he ran up to me threw his arms around me and said “I love you mum” she said she had never heard that from him before. I said ..stay tuned.

A week later she rang me and told me that he had drawn up a list of his “loser” mates as he called them, that is the ones that he felt were a very negative influence on him,, he rang them one by one and told them he didn’t want them in his life, then he got a job and is working 5 days a week. This was by far one of the greatest developments I have ever seen and it thought me a lot about human nature but importantly it thought me about how we as a society are so quick to judge others and if there is enough people doing it ,,,, it is very hard those on the receiving end to climb out of it unless they are surrounded by the security of good people…..

Kid with Aspergers Becomes Leader on Kokoda TrackClient ServicesOur Spirit Adventures

Thanks for your kind words and especially coming from you who has climbed Mt Everest and conquered many other challenges, and who places immense value on the time you spend with your family and friends to continue to "experience what's out there".....

Hi Aidan, a truly wonderful story and a testament to the work you do on every trip with every individual. I can say as well that having both boys with me on our trip had long-lasting effects on their self-esteem and self-image and gave them confidence that they can do anything they set out to do. Thank you again.

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