All staff, volunteers, and management committee members of Economic Consultants will strive to avoid any conflict of interest between the interests of the Organisation on the one hand, and personal, professional, and business interests on the other. This includes avoiding actual conflicts of interest as well as the perception of conflicts of interest.
The purposes of this policy is to protect the integrity of the Organisation’s decision-making process, to enable our stakeholders to have confidence in our integrity, and to protect the integrity and reputation of volunteers, staff and committee members.
Examples of Conflicts of Interest include:
- A committee member who is also a user who must decide whether fees from users should be increased.
- A committee member who is related to a member of staff and there is decision to be taken on staff pay and/or conditions.
- A committee member who is also on the committee of another organisation that is competing for the same funding.
- A committee member who has shares in a business that may be awarded a contract to do work or provide services for the organisation.
Upon appointment each committee member will make a full, written disclosure of interests, such as relationships, and posts held, that could potentially result in a conflict of interest. This written disclosure will be kept on file and I will be updated as appropriate.
In the course of meetings or activities, committee members will disclose any interests in a transaction or decision where there may be a conflict between the organisations best interests and the committee members best interests or a conflict between the best interests of two organisations that the committee members is involved with.
After disclosure, I understand that I may be asked to leave the room for the discussion and may not be able to take part in the decision depending on the judgement of the other committee members present at the time.
Any such disclosure and the subsequent actions taken will be noted in the minutes.
This policy is meant to supplement good judgement, and staff, volunteers and management committee members should respect its spirit as well as its wording.
Date Adopted: January 1st 2000
Lars Johan Myrtroen, Executive Chairman & Founder