Conflict of Interest Policy¶
The conflict of interest policy aims to prevent decision making in Nura Project ASBL (Nura) that financially benefits specific individuals in positions of power instead of the project itself (actual conflicts of interest), or which could be seen benefiting those individuals (perceived conflicts of interest).
Defining a Conflict of Interest and who it applies to¶
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual in a position of power, or an affiliated person, benefits from, or would benefit from, a financial exchange in connection with the Nura project.
It is considered that despite the individual’s best intentions, their judgement might be impaired by competing interests, or be seen as such, negatively harming the project.
Position of power¶
A position of power is defined as any individual being part of any of the following groups and teams:
The Board
The Finance Team
Affiliated persons¶
An “affiliated person” is, in respect of individuals in a position of power, a third party who is closely / directly (including contractually) associated with the individual.
For example, this includes immediate family members and partners, employers, or companies linked with the individual.
Financial exchange¶
A financial exchange with Nura is defined as:
Receiving funds for executed work or taking part in any financial programme.
Providing funds to Nura in any possible way: including sponsorship
Examples:
A company of which I am a director or shareholder sponsors Nura events
My employer provides a service (e.g: email hosting) to Nura for which it receives financial compensation
I received financial compensation for my work at Nura through the CSP or any other remuneration mechanism.
Declaring Conflict of Interest¶
Individuals must disclose any conflicts of interest, and affiliations which
might give rise to a conflict of interest, by filling and providing the
Conflict of Interest form
(editable) directly to any Board member, or
emailing it to board at postmarketos dot org, after which it will be stored in
a Board-only location in Nextcloud.
All individuals in a position of power are encouraged to disclose affiliations which might give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest, even if they don’t enter into financial exchanges, to foster a culture of transparency.
Any failure to declare a conflict of interest must be brought to the attention of the board, to consider suspending the member pending that the matter be addressed during a general assembly, according to the rules expressed in article 10.
Accessing Conflict of Interest forms¶
All Board members have access to the conflict of interest forms filled by every member in a position of power.
Any other member of the Assembly can request, at any time, access to a conflict
of interest form filled by those in a position of power. The form can be
requested by emailing board at postmarketos dot org, and will be provided by a
Board member. The forms are for personal use only, and cannot be otherwise
published or disclosed.
Managing a Conflict of Interest¶
Individuals in positions of power must abstain from votes, where doing so would cause or could cause, in the mind of a reasonable person, the perception of a conflict of interest.
The member must also provide other members of the group making the decision a space on which to discuss without them present.
Project-wide decisions are never considered to be a conflict of interest due to democratic nature of such decisions.
Updating the policy¶
Any update to this policy must be done through a project-wide decision.