Merchant Shipping Act 1979

Proceedings

7 The quorum of the Commission and the arrangements relating to meetings of the Commission shall be such as the Commission may determine.

8 (1) A Commissioner who is in any way directly or indirectly interested in a contract made or proposed to be made by the Commission, or in any other matter whatsoever which falls to be considered by the Commission, shall disclose the nature of his interest at a meeting of the Commission and the disclosure shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting; and the Commissioner shall not—

(a) in the case of a contract, take part in any deliberation or decision of the Commission with respect to the contract; and

(b) in the case of any other matter, take part in any decision of the Commission with respect to the matter if the Commission decides that the interest in question might affect prejudicially the Commissioner's consideration of the matter.

(2) A notice given by a Commissioner at a meeting of the Commission to the effect that he is a member or employee of a specified company or firm and is to be regarded as interested in any contract which is made after the date of the notice with the company or firm shall, for the purposes of the preceding sub-paragraph, be a sufficient disclosure of his interest in relation to any contract so made.

(3) A Commissioner need not attend in person at a meeting of the Commission in order to make a disclosure which he is required to make under this paragraph if he takes reasonable steps to secure that the disclosure is made by a notice which is taken into consideration and read at such a meeting.

9 The validity of any proceedings of the Commission shall not be affected by any vacancy among the Commissioners or by any defect in the appointment of a Commissioner.