Conflict of interest: Rules and Regulations

Both the ethical and legal dimensions of conflicts of interest need to be considered when managing them.

There is no prescriptive set of rules specifying what constitutes ethical behaviour for all situations or all public entities, although expectations applying to a particular situation may come from a variety of sources. Decision-making should be guided by the principles of integrity, honesty, transparency, openness, independence, good faith, and service to the public.

Some rules for particular types of public entity (but mainly applying only to members of a governing body) are set out in statute. Also, the common law requires that public decision-making be procedurally fair.

Policies and procedures can provide clear rules for simple and predictable situations, and establish a process for dealing with the more difficult ones. One process many public entities use is to require members or officials to regularly (for example, yearly) complete and submit a declaration listing specified types of personal interests. This is sometimes called an "interests register". An interests register can help public entities identify when a conflict of interest might arise so that steps can be taken to manage it.

Alternatively, at some Council meetings members are asked to declare any colflicts of interest as one of the first orders of business.

However, policies and procedures are not necessarily enough. They cannot anticipate every situation. Moreover, the seriousness of some situations will be a question of degree, and not easily managed by a rule. Policies and procedures need to retain some flexibility so that the public entity can exercise judgement in individual cases. A policy should not state or imply that the specific situations it covers are an exhaustive list.