COMPLIANCE POLICY
Welcome to our Expertera Expert Tutorial. We developed this tutorial to give you a better understanding of Expertera's compliance framework and to emphasize the importance of honoring confidentiality obligations and managing conflicts of interest when consulting with our clients. If you have any questions regarding this tutorial or the Terms & Conditions, please contact [email protected]
PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EMPLOYERS
If you are currently actively working, please confirm whether you are authorized to meet with Experera's clients. If you are not sure whether you are allowed to meet with Expertera's clients; You can check an employee policy, consulting agreement or employment Expertera contract that you have previously signed, these documents may limit your contact with Expertera's clients. Verify that you are not subject to any restrictions before completing this training and you should also notify Expertera if your location changes.
Please note that even if employees do not have separate confidentiality agreements, their employers may have obligations not to disclose confidential information. The non-public information you learn while working is your employer and you are prohibited from disclosing this information, and this will not change once your employment ends. Similarly, consultants who work for or own businesses that have close relationships with other companies (e.g., suppliers or distributors) may also be subject to restrictions on what they can talk about with these companies, as these close relationships may entail the enforcement of confidentiality obligations.
Information Sharing of Government Employees
In general, officials who influence policy or who legislate, enforce laws, and approve government contracts to be paid with public funds are not entitled to advise Expertera clients. If you are a government official (e.g. an elected official or government employee) or an employee or representative of a government-owned company or public international organization (e.g. WHO, World Bank, United Nations, etc.), please inform Expertera about this situation.
FORMER EMPLOYERS
Under no circumstances may an Expert ever disclose confidential information about a former employer or any other information that would violate a confidentiality agreement. Furthermore, if an Expert was previously employed in the finance or accounting department of a company, he/she may not discuss that company until six months after his/her employment has ended. Clients may instruct us to apply additional customized rules concerning former employees.
CONSULTANTS
A consultant may never disclose confidential information obtained in the course of providing consulting services. Consultants must be certain that any services rendered through Expertera do not violate any confidentiality agreements entered into with consulting Clients.
TENDER OFFERS AND IPOS
An employee (including officers and directors) of a public company that is the target or bidder in a tender offer, or a private company that has filed for an initial public offering, is prohibited from consulting on any topic until the tender offer is resolved.
HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
As a healthcare professional, you agree not to:
disclose any patient or other information prohibited to be disclosed under comply with all legal regulations governing the activities of healthcare professionals in your country or to dispense any medical advice at any time during the course of your service as an Expert.
You declare to Expertera that:
You are not on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General's Office and/or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's list of individuals/organizations not eligible to counsel, and
You're legally permitted to provide consultancy with laws of the Republic of Turkey and all kinds of regulations, statutes, communiqués etc. published by the TR Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Health Inspection Board.
You agree to notify Expertera immediately if any of these statements become invalid.
CLINICAL TRIALS
Clinical Investigators (CIs) may never discuss non-public patient experience information or undisclosed clinical trial results. If not under a confidentiality agreement or otherwise restricted, CIs may generally discuss publicly available information about a trial – e.g., hypotheses about the drug mechanism, design of the study (to the extent published), competitor drugs and developments in the marketplace, doctor’s view of clinical demand, etc.
COMPETITORS / COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
Experts may not consult for a Client that is a direct competitor of their current employer.
Our Experts must conduct all consultations in strict compliance with Expertera Terms & Conditions, a comprehensive set of rules that provides broad governing principles as well as specific prohibitions on certain conduct
The Expert’s agreement to comply with the Terms & Conditions is a binding contract between him and Expertera of which our Clients are third-party beneficiaries.
Expertera Terms & Conditions prohibits an Expert from participating in any consultation that:
presents a conflict of interest
will cause the Expert to breach any obligation to any entity, including his/her employer
will cause the Expert to breach any agreement or code of conduct to which he/she is subject
will cause the Expert to violate any law, rule, or regulation
An Expert is also strictly prohibited from:
providing any information the Expert is obligated to keep confidential, including any proprietary information, providing information covered by an obligation set confidential by any contract, agreement, or commitment
providing material non-public information
revealing any important and unpublished information regarding a listed company or any trade
discussing the Expert's own current employer – at all
If he/she were to violate these rules, Expertera retains the right to exclude the Expert from Expertera Platform.
WHAT IS A CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION?
Essentially, “Confidential Information” is any nonpublic information that is not yours to share. It is information that was passed on to you in such a way that you know or should know that the information should not be disclosed to others without consent from the information’s owner. Confidentiality obligations arise from any number of circumstances, including professional obligations (e.g., doctor/patient or lawyer/client), contract (e.g., non-disclosure or severance agreements), involvement with a scientific advisory board or clinical trial, employment, consulting, or simply because the information belongs to someone else.
WHAT IS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST?
The term "conflict of interest" is very broadly defined and can include:
the Expert's interest in certain securities transactions
a conflict with a particular Client
responsibilities, obligations or duties owed to a third party, including the Expert's current or former employer
confidentiality obligations
To determine what your potential conflicts may be, you should review:
your present and former employment agreements
any present or applicable former employee handbooks or compliance manuals
professional and other codes of ethics and conduct
present and applicable former consulting agreements
all non-disclosure agreements
WHAT INFORMATION IS OKAY TO SHARE?
Confidential Information does not include any information that:
Legally enters the public domain or is generally available to the public other than by an unauthorized act by the disclosing party or the party to which such information was originally disclosed;
Is independently developed by the receiving party without use, directly or indirectly, of the Confidential Information received from the disclosing party; or
Is required by law, regulation, or order of any court or other government or regulatory agency to be disclosed.
If, in the course of a consultation, the conversation goes to a direction that presents a potential conflict for you, you must:
immediately identify the potential conflict to the Client, and move on to a permissible subject or terminate the consultation
notify the Expertera project manager or compliance department of the potential conflict ([email protected])
By accepting any consultation request, the Expert is acknowledging that he/she is not conflicted from consulting on the particular topic of the request, or with the particular Expertera’ Client who submitted the request.
The Expert commits not to responding favourably to any offer of mission proposed on behalf of a Client directly or indirectly engaged in a company in competition with the one he/she is, if applicable, an employee or a provider.
Experts and Clients agree not to draw away relations conducted by Expertera in order to sell or promote products or services marketed by their mutual companies or on their own behalf.
Have you any connection with a publicly listed company? Some of our clients are financial services firms that could be seriously harmed when they receive confidential information about a publicly listed company, even by mistake. Therefore, if you are a publicly listed company employee, please report this to Expertera.
Expertera defines a publicly listed company as one that owns publicly traded securities on an exchange (eg, NYSE, NASDAQ, LSE, HKSE, etc.).
Expertera considers you a publicly listed company employee if:
• If you work in a publicly listed company;
• If you work for a subsidiary of a publicly listed company; or
• If you work in a joint venture where at least 50.1% is owned by a publicly listed company.
COMPLIANCE WITH ANTI-BRIBERY LAWS
Experts should be know with all relevant anti-bribery/corruption laws to which they are subject, including but not limited to the Turkish Penalty Code 5237 (Turkey), the Council Members Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) (USA), and the 2010 Bribery Act (UK). and they must abide by these laws. Violation of these laws can result in very serious penalties, including imprisonment and large fines.
Basically, according to these laws; It is a crime to bribe anyone, whether from the public or private sector. A crime is committed if a person is offered a financial or other advantages to perform his/her job or activity improperly (i.e., to abuse his/her position) or as a reward for his/her inappropriate behavior. Likewise, it is a crime to ask for or accept a bribe. It is a crime for a person to solicit or accept a financial or other benefits in exchange for the improper performance of a job or an activity.
What does this mean for experts?
Through Expertera, you must not provide or promise to provide money, or any object of value or interest to persons involved in your projects without Expertera's written consent. Through Expertera, you must not solicit or accept money, or any object of value or interest from persons related to your projects without Expertera's written consent. It should also be noted that the Expertera Terms and Conditions expressly prohibit offering, giving, or trying to give anything of value to any person without the written consent of Expertera and the client, within the scope of the consultancy services to be provided by the expert.
ANTI-CORRUPTION COMPLIANCE POLICY
This anti-corruption policy strictly prohibits experts and its officers, directors, employees, and agents, from offering, promising, authorizing, or giving money or anything of value to Influential Outside Persons or any other person or entity to secure any improper advantage, or to obtain, direct or retain business.
This anti-corruption policy also prohibits offering, promising, authorizing, or giving money or anything of value to an Influential Outside Person in order to influence official acts or decisions of that person or entity, to secure any improper advantage, or to obtain, direct or retain business. Influential Outside Person is defined very broadly and includes; Government Official or his/her family members or any other person that has a close relationship with such Government Official; and any other individual or entity (in the private or public sector) that has the power to decide or influence the success of the Clients' or Expertera's activities or efforts.
Under this policy, “anything of value” is defined broadly and is not limited to money – it includes travel, meals, gifts, services, sponsorships, job opportunities, and other tangible or intangible benefits. There is no minimum threshold in determining value. Even small payments or benefits are prohibited if they are intended or operate as bribes.
If any expert has any doubts or questions as to whether his/her conduct is permissible under this policy or believes a violation of our policy has occurred, is occurring, or will occur, he/she must contact Expertera's compliance department by emailing [email protected] immediately.
THE POLICY OF ETHICAL CONDUCT
This policy of ethics is a set of basic principles to guide the behavior of experts. The purpose of the policy of ethics is to help experts maintain their professionalism and adhere to high ethical standards in the conduct of providing services to clients and in their dealings with their colleagues and the public.
Giving consultation to our clients with integrity, honesty, competence, independence, objectivity, and professionalism, helping them to build their expertise and capacity.
Only accept assignments that you have the necessary experience and competence to perform effectively.
Charge fees that are reasonable and commensurate with the services to be delivered.
Establish a mutual understanding with clients about the objectives, scope of work, and work plan as well as realistic expectations about the results of the services to be rendered before accepting any assignment. If changes in the scope of work arise during the course of the assignment, negotiate adjustments in good faith.
Treat all client information that is not public knowledge with confidentiality, take reasonable steps to prevent its access by unauthorized parties, and refrain from taking advantage of proprietary or privileged information without the client’s permission.
Avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance thereof and immediately disclose to the clients any circumstances that may influence the consultant’s judgment or objectivity.
Offer to withdraw from a consulting assignment when it appears that objectivity or integrity may be impaired.
Refrain from inviting an employee of an active or inactive client to consider alternative employment without prior discussion with the client.
Don't negotiate any alternative employment issue with the client without informing Expertera.
Respect the intellectual rights of other people and do not use their copyrighted information, materials, or methodology without permission. Refrain from misrepresenting or denigrating other people.
Represent the profession with integrity and professionalism in relationships with clients, colleagues, and the general public.
Seek professional development opportunities as they are available.
Refrain from advertising services in a deceptive manner.
Promote adherence to the policy by other subscribing experts.
Expertera is committed to providing a safe and non-discriminatory work environment. Our experts undertake to comply with the following rules, and if they detect any violation of these rules on client's side, they should immediately notify the Expertera Compliance team:
Experts must maintain a work environment free from abusive, violent, threatening, harassing, and other inappropriate behavior and must not tolerate harassment and other disrespectful behavior, including sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying.
Experts will not employ child labor and will employ those who meet the minimum legal age requirement to work in the country or countries in which they operate.
Experts will not engage in or support human trafficking or modern slavery, including forced, bonded or involuntary labor.
Experts provide a healthy and safe working environment in accordance with internationally declared human rights. Experts will minimize and respond to health and safety incidents and accidents occurring in the workplace and provide adequate personal protective equipment.
PLEASE NOTIFY EXPERTERA IN THE FOLLOWING CASES:
If you have worked or are working as an employee of any government, government-owned company or institution, or a multinational non-governmental or public international agency, an elected or appointed official in any government agency or formation or an employee or official of a political party.
If, at any time in the last five years, you have been tried or convicted of a felony (e.g. theft, fraud, bribery, etc.)
You have been the subject of the order, judgment, action, or review by a court, or any national or governmental regulatory or self-regulatory authority, for breaches of securities law or for civil or criminal or deceptive practices
☐ I agree to Expertera’s Compliance Policy and Privacy Policy and understand that I must keep strictly confidential, and may not disclose or attempt to benefit from, any information that I learn on Expertera's websites about Expertera's clients or their consulting projects.
For information regarding how Expertera processes your information, please visit our privacy policy at https://expertera.com/privacy-policy/
