CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

CYIL 14 (2023) CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN MEDICAL RESEARCH also describe the evaluation and award procedures and other criteria for Horizon Europe funding, emphasizing EU standards of transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality, with further reference to a document called AGA – Annotated Grant Agreemen t (further to be referred to also as the AGA ) 76 . The AGA, together with the General Model Grant Agreement 77 are guiding documents aimed at assisting applicants, providing them with a full range of provisions that may be potentially applied to this type of agreement (whereas the legally binding agreement will be a modified version of the General Model Grant Agreement), with informational and explanatory comments. They contain more detailed rules on conflicts of interest, their disclosure and management. First of all, in principle, each person or entity (beneficiaries and their affiliated entities, who ideally shall carry out the project work by themselves, versus other participants, e.g., subcontractors, coordinators, suppliers of goods, works and services), should only participate in a single role in an action, in order to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. 78 In addition, there is a specific rule targeting subcontractors, who are only eligible to participate in a project if they have no conflicts of interest, 79 associated partners 80 and recipients of financial support to third parties, who must be free of conflicts of interest. According to Art. 12 of the General Model Grant Agreement, the beneficiaries must take all measures to prevent any situation where the impartial and objective implementation of the Agreement could be compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, 81 political or national affinity, 82 economic interest or any other direct or indirect interest 83 (including receipt of gifts or hospitality, non-economic interests, or which results from involvement with 76 AGA – Annotated Grant Agreement. EU Funding Programmes 2021-2027, Version 1.0 – Draft, from April 1, 2023. Accessed August 15, 2023. https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/ common/guidance/aga_en.pdf. In its Disclaimer, it states that this guide is aimed at assisting EU grant beneficiaries and is not intended to replace the binding agreements themselves, nor professional legal advice for a specific case. 77 European Commission. General Model Grant Agreement. Accessed August 15, 2023. https://ec.europa.eu/info/ funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/agr-contr/general-mga_horizon-euratom_en.pdf. 78 Cf. AGA, pp. 10–12. 79 Cf. AGA, Part 9.3. 80 Under AGA, Part 9.1, associated partners are entities that implement action tasks, but without receiving EU funding. 81 According to AGA, family or emotional ties, while often connected, avoidance of conflict of interests due to ‘family’ or ‘emotional life’ are separate obligations. An emotional bond between family members is therefore not required for a person’s impartiality to be compromised by reasons involving family, e.g., subcontracts with business owned by family members, even if no close emotional ties exist. 82 This concerns situations where beneficiaries or third parties may be chosen, or activities carried out, based on political or national considerations (although a mere link with beliefs, views, opinions or preferences of the person does not automatically constitute a personal interest. 83 Examples of direct and indirect interest as provided by AGA, p. 157: a person works for a beneficiary who plans to subcontract a task. a company owned by the person’s spouse may submit an offer. In this case the person working for the beneficiary could have a direct interest in awarding the spouse’s company (and therefore would need to declare a conflict of interest and abstain from being involved in the preparation and award of the subcontract). Indirect interest: a person works for a beneficiary who plans to subcontract a task. a company may submit an offer. The person’s spouse may work for a usual supplier of that company, or may own facilities or land that would be used by that company in the case of it implementing the subcontract. In this case, the person working for the beneficiary could have an indirect interest in awarding the company (and therefore would need to declare a conflict of interest and abstain from being involved in the preparation and award of the subcontract).

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