Section 190. Freedom from conflict of interest

A compliance assurance agency shall not be affiliated with, nor influenced or controlled by, producers, suppliers or vendors of products in any manner which might affect its capacity to render reports of findings objectively and without bias. A compliance assurance agency is judged to be free of such affiliation, influence and control if it complies with all of the following conditions:

1. The agency has no managerial affiliation with producers, suppliers or vendors and is not engaged in the sale or promotion of any product or material.

2. The results of the agency's work accrue no financial benefits to the agency through stock ownership of, or other similar affiliation to, any producer, supplier or vendor of the product involved.

3. The agency's directors and other management personnel in their job capacities receive no stock option or other financial benefit from any producer, supplier or vendor of the product involved.

4. The agency has sufficient interest or activity that the loss or award of a specific contract to determine compliance of a producer's, supplier's or vendor's product with this chapter would not be a determining factor in its financial well-being.

5. The employment security status of the agency's personnel is free of influence or control by producers, suppliers or vendors.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 13, Issue 12, eff. April 15, 1997; amended, Virginia Register Volume 22, Issue 03, eff. November 16, 2005.

Statutory Authority

§ 36-73 of the Code of Virginia.