W3C

Conflict of Interest Policy for W3C Team Members Engaged in Outside Professional Activities

This Version 
http://www.w3.org/2000/09/06-conflictpolicy.html
Editor:
Daniel Weitzner, W3C/MIT, djweitzner@w3.org

Status of This Document 

This policy is binding on the W3C Team as of 1 October 2000. Daniel Weitzner will be the point of contact for implementation and maintenance of this policy. Questions and comments on the implementation of the policy should be copied to the W3C Team disclosure archive <w3t-outside-activities@w3.org>. The explicit consideration of patent-related consulting was added per W3M decision on 2004-09-15. [Live links added 2003-07-30; AK]


Overview

In order to assure continued public trust in the work of W3C, all Team members must operate in a manner that avoids any conflict of interest between a Team member and organizations other than W3C with which the Team member is associated. This policy identifies the types of outside professional relationships in which Team members may engage, and provides disclosure and approval procedures to help avoid situations in which these relationships may cause conflicts of interest. This disclosure and approval process does not ban, a priori, any particular relationship, but relies on the good judgment of Team members and W3C management, as well as the cleansing effect of disclosure, to discourage improper relationships.

Purpose

W3C's role as a decision making body with control over fundamental Web architecture requires that Members, the Web development community, and the general public have a high level of trust in our activities and the integrity of W3C staff. In order to preserve this trust, W3C must assure that Team members make technical and management decisions free from possible conflict or even appearence of conflict arising from commitments to other organizations or individuals. This policy governing professional activities with other organizations will help provide guidance to the Team in maintaining these standards.

The goals of this policy are:

  1. maintaining the vitality of W3C as trusted decision making forum;
  2. avoiding conflict of interest or appearance of conflict of interest in W3C staff professional relationships with other organizations;
  3. assuring fairness to all W3C Members and the general public in dealing with W3C.

In pursuing these goals, W3C recognizes that many members of the Team have considerable expertise in matters of interest to the Web community. This policy is not intended to discourage Team members from pursuing activities outside of W3C, rather its goal is to assure that these activities do not compromise the integrity of W3C.

Activities Raising Conflict Concerns

The following activities have the potential to create actual conflicts of interest, or raise the appearance of a conflict:

  1. Long-term paid consulting (Six days full-time work or more in a six month period with a single organization)
  2. Any consulting compensated with equity (shares of stock, stock options, or other forms of corporate equity)
  3. Decision-making role/responsibility in other organizations relevant to W3C - Board memberships, etc.
  4. Position on publicly visible advisory bodies, even if no decision making authority is involved.
  5. Consulting related to patent litigation, including serving as an expert witness in patent litigation.

Note, for the purposes of this policy, consulting is any work done in a Web-related field in exchange for financial compensation.

When a Team member engages in one of these activities, he or she should take the steps described in this document to provide adequate disclosure of the activity, seek approval in advance where required, and consult with recommended advisors within the Team in the event there is any question about the impact of the activity on W3C and the general guidelines set out here.

The following activities do not require any approval under this policy:

  1. Honoraria for speaking or writing engagements
  2. Short-term consulting engagements (Five days or less in a six month period)

However, Team members must obtain approval from the relevant domain leader before making commitments to these outside activities. In addition, all Team members should be sure to coordinate with appropriate parts of the Team, such as informing the Comm team of speaking and writing engagements.

General Guidelines

Assessing possible conflicts of interest should be guided by general reference to W3C's mission, the particular Team member's job responsibilities, and these general principles. Team members should not engage in any outside professional relationship with another organization unless it is clear that the relationship is consistent with the following principles:

Domain leaders should be available to provide Team members will advice on these matters. In the case of possible conflicts involving W3M members, the Director and Chairman will provide guidance. Any unresolved question regarding a potential conflict should be discussed and resolved by W3M.

Table of Team Actions Required

All professional relationships raising questions about conflict of interest will be disclosed, and where necessary, approved according to the process described in the following table.

Team Actions Required
Activity Disclosure Required Supervisory Approval Required
Short-term consulting (less than 6 days in a six month period) Yes.

To: team-only archive

What: nature of relationship, duration and scope of work.

No financial details required.

No

Plans should be discussed with supervisors in advance of final commitment by Team member.

Long-Term Paid Consulting (6 days or more per 6 months, or an ongoing relationship) Yes.

To: team-only archive

What: nature of relationship, duration and scope of work.

No financial details required

Yes.

Speaking/Writing Honoraria none No. (Domain leaders may require approval for management purposes and Comm Team should be informed.)
Consulting for equity/ownership stake Yes.

To: team-only archive

What: nature of relationship, duration and scope of work.

No financial details required

Supervisor plus W3M

In case of Director or Chair, approval is by the Advisory Board.

Assuming decision-making role (Becoming a Director or Trustee) Yes.

To:member-only archive

What: nature of relationship, duration and scope of work.

No financial details required

Supervisor plus W3M

In case of Director or Chair, approval is by the Advisory Board

Membership in public advisory body Yes.

To:member-only archive

What: nature of relationship, duration and scope of work.

No financial details required

Supervisor plus W3M

In case of Director or Chair, approval is by the Advisory Board

Equity stake in relevant company (>0.1% share of company or >10% of the Team member's net worth) Yes.

To:member-only archive

What: nature of relationship, duration and scope of work.

No financial details required

Supervisor plus W3M

In case of Director or Chair, approval is by the Advisory Board

Consulting related to actual or potential patent litigation, including serving as an expert witness in patent litigation, regardless of the amount of time involved. Notice to member-only archive if role is approved by W3M Supervisior and then W3M. Consideration should include whether W3C Members are involved in any way.
Pre-existing affiliations (before this policy went into effect) yes (as above) grandfathered in by W3M

For the purposes of this policy, a Team member's supervisor is his/her Domain Leader. In the case of W3M members, the supervisor is the Director or Chairman, For the Director and Chairman, supervisory approval should be sought from the Advisory Board. Site managers, whether direct supervisors or not, should be copied on all archived disclosures.

Obligation of W3C Fellows

As Team members, W3C Fellows are covered by this policy. Recognizing that Fellows do have pre-existing obligations to their home institutions, Fellows may, on a case-by-case basis, negotiate specific terms under which they will comply with this policy while they are part of the Team.

W3C Fellows agree to participate as a full member of the W3C Team. As such, they are obligated to the same confidentiality obligations as other W3C Team members, and hold the role as a vendor neutral advocate while in their W3C roles. In much the same way that the W3C Fellow's organization may forbid the sharing of private organizational business, W3C also requires discretion on the part of its fellows.

Public appearances and presentations made by W3C Fellows, in which they are identified as W3C Team members, require that the W3C Fellow represent W3C first and foremost. This ensures clarity of message on the part of the speaker and clear understanding on the part of the audience.

Disclosure mechanisms

All disclosures required here will be made to a Team or Member-visibile archived mailing list, as described in the Table.

Each disclosure should contain the following information:

The lists are:

Team-only disclosure archive: <w3t-outside-activities@w3.org>

Member-only disclosure archive: <w3c-team-outside-activities@w3.org>

Suggested terms for consulting agreements

Team members may want to include the following terms in consulting agreements:


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