Impartiality, Independence, Conflict of Interests and Confidentiality
The members of the committee shall act with absolute impartiality and independence in their tasks. When committee members find themselves in a situation where their impartiality or independence might be compromised by a conflict of interests, they must inform the Technical Secretary and abstain from participating in the assessment process.
The following are situations that represent a conflict of interests:
- Having a personal interest in the subject matter of the RDI activity or its favourable/unfavourable resolution.
- Being related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or the second degree of affinity to any of the stakeholders.
- Having displayed manifest friendship or animosity towards any of the stakeholders.
- Having a service relationship with the people involved in the conflict, or having collaborated with them in the previous two years.
As such, a member in this position shall not take part in the evaluation, they will not receive the documentation for the meeting and shall not participate in the deliberation and issuance of the report. Absences are recorded in the minutes for each meeting.
As regards confidentiality, any member of the committee with the right to speak and vote, and any person with knowledge of the affairs of the committee, must guarantee the confidentiality of the information to which they have access. Thus, the identity of the evaluators must not be revealed, and their deliberations must be kept confidential. All the members of the committee, and all persons involved in any of the sessions, shall sign a declaration of confidentiality.
If a member of any committee breaches the rules of confidentiality, they must be removed from the committee. If this infringement is committed by a person outside the committee, they shall be barred from forming part of any committee or group of experts in subsequent sessions, in addition to the application of the corresponding legal provisions.
