Combating corruption and preventing conflicts of interest
35.—(1) Contracting authorities and utilities shall take appropriate measures to combat fraud, favouritism and corruption and to effectively prevent, identify and remedy conflicts of interest arising in the conduct of concession contract award procedures, so as to avoid any distortion of competition and to ensure the transparency of the award procedure and the equal treatment of all candidates and tenderers.
(2) The measures adopted in relation to conflicts of interest shall not go beyond what is strictly necessary to prevent a potential conflict of interest or eliminate a conflict of interest that has been identified.
(3) For the purposes this regulation, the concept of conflicts of interest shall at least cover any situation where relevant staff members have, directly or indirectly, a financial, economic or other personal interest which might be perceived to compromise their impartiality and independence in the context of the concession contract award procedure.
(4) In paragraph (3), “relevant staff members” means staff members of the contracting authority or utility who are involved in the conduct of the concession contract award procedure or may influence the outcome of that procedure.