Here is part of the conflict of interest policy in our institution, I took
out that which does not deal with collections. This policy was last revised
in 1994, and there has been a conflict of interest policy in place since
before I joined 15 years ago. It is my understanding that the current policy
was developed using ICOM guidelines. Please excuse the length - I did try to
shorten it. If anyone is interested in the complete document they can e-mail
me directly.

Carol Reid
[log in to unmask]

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

2.  DEFINITIONS
2.1  Conflict of Interest
Conflict of Interest can be real, potential or apparent; not only should
employees refrain from placing themselves in a situation of real or apparent
conflict of interest, but they must as well not be seen as being in any
situation of potential conflict of interest.

2.1.1 Real Conflict of Interest
There is real conflict of interest in situations where there is an actual
advantage to be gained by an employee, or someone having a professional or
personal relationship with an employee, due to the employee's employment
with the Museum or involvement in a museum related activity.  A real
conflict of interest is a situation whereby an employee, because of
professional or personal conduct places himself/herself in a position that:
procures the employee, or someone having a professional or personal
relationship with this employee a benefit, gain or advantage.

2.1.2  Potential Conflict of Interest
There is potential Conflict of Interest in situations where there is an
opportunity for an actual advantage to be gained by an employee, or someone
having a professional or personal relationship with an employee, due to the
employee's employment with the Museum or involvement in a Museum related
activity.

A potential Conflict of Interest is a situation whereby an employee, because
of professional or personal conduct places himself/herself in a position
that:
 -  procures employees, or someone having a professional or personal
relationship with employees, an opportunity to benefit from special
consideration or treatment, a benefit, a gain or advantage;
-  allows employees to accord, in the performance of their duties,
preferential treatment to any person, being their acquaintances, friends or
organizations in which they or their acquaintances friends have an interest,
financial or otherwise.

2.1.3  Apparent Conflict of Interest
There is apparent Conflict of Interest when, in the eyes of the public,
there is a situation that can be perceived as favouring or procuring an
advantage or gain to an employee or someone having a professional or
personal relationship with an employee.  An apparent Conflict of Interest
therefore occurs where: a member of the public could reasonably be led to
believe, based on his/her knowledge or observation of certain facts, that
there is situation that could favour or procure special consideration,
benefit, gain or advantage to an employee, or someone having a personal or
professional relationship with an employee.

3.  POLICY STATEMENT
3.1  Principles

3.1.4  MUSEUM must not unduly prejudice the legitimate rights of former
employees including retirees, those who have resigned to pursue activities
in the private sector, or those who have been laid off. Care must be given
to avoid compromising the rights of others because they are related to
MUSEUM employees and such an appointment may create a potential conflict of
interest situation where for example, relatives are placed in a
supervisor/employee relationship.  Since the possible circumstances may be
many and varied it must be left to the judgement and discretion of the
Director of Human Resources to suggest the measures to be taken to resolve
real or potential conflict of interest situations.

4.  APPLICATION
4.1  Collecting

4.1.1  Recognizing that the Museum is the object of public trust whose value
to the community is proportionate to the services rendered, Museum employees
shall treat all matters related to collections as matters of trust.

4.1.2  Since the work of the MUSEUM is closely associated with academic,
cultural and private interests involved in the collection, sale,
restoration, preservation and display of works of art and artifacts, all
employees having private interest, holdings or involvements in these areas
will be expected to disclose them.

4.1.3.  No person involved in the administration of the Museum's Collection
Policy or in the management of the Museum or a member of the MUSEUM staff,
shall compete with the Museum either in the acquisition of objects or in any
personal collecting activity, or shall take advantage of privileged
information received because of their position with the Museum.

4.1.4  Should an employee have a private collection of objects, they will be
required, on appointment, to provide the appropriate Museum authority with a
description of the private collection, and a statement indicating that they
will refrain from pursuing any collecting activities during the course of
their employment with the Museum.

4.1.5  No member of Museum staff shall participate in any dealing (buying or
selling for profit) in objects similar or related to objects collected by
the MUSEUM.

4.1.6  Employees of the MUSEUM are permitted to deal in objects that are
collected by another Museum, providing they fully disclose these activities,
and follow the conditions governing the granting of the permission, if any.

4.1.7  No person who is a member of MUSEUM staff or members of their
families shall be permitted to purchase objects that have been
de-accessioned from a collection.

4.1.8  Museum employees shall recognize that it is highly unethical to
support, in any way, whether directly or indirectly, the illicit trade in
objects destined for public and private collections, and will accordingly,
avoid illegal activity with respect to Museum collections.

4.1.9  Employees are cautioned against the use of influence by virtue of
their association with MUSEUM to obtain special status in the market-place
not generally available to the Canadian public.

6.  COMPLIANCE
6.2  An employee complies with the MUSEUM Conflict of Interest Policy (Which
includes employment of relatives and standards of conduct in the workplace)
and its related guidelines in the following ways:
a)  avoidance - by avoiding or withdrawing from activities or situations
that would place the employee in a real, potential or apparent conflict of
interest relative to his official duties and responsibilities;
b)  notice of disclosure - by providing a written statement to the MUSEUM
designated official indicating ownership of an asset, collection, or
participation in any outside employment;
c)  divestment - where continued ownership by an employee would constitute a
real or potential conflict of interest with the employee's official duties
and responsibilities, the employee may elect to sell the asset at arm's
length or place that asset in trust.

 6.3  Employees must not sell or transfer assets to family members or others
for purposes of circumventing the compliance measures.

7.  DISCLOSURE
7.1  All real, potential or apparent Conflict of Interest situations falling
under the overall application of this policy must be immediately documented
by the individual in a written declaration and fully discussed with the
appropriate level of MUSEUM management in order to resolve the situation in
the best interest of the organization and of the individual involved.

7.2  The purpose of disclosure is to protect both the organization and
employees by making the situation known and ensuring it is dealt with;
parties can consequently advise the public as to their awareness and
dealings regarding the situation.


> -----Original Message-----
> Date:    Tue, 15 May 2001 15:11:48 -0400
> From:    Anne Lane <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Policies on Personal Collecting
>
> Hi, folks -
> We are still chewing on the tough question of personal collecting by
> museum
> board members. If any of you have collections policies or other documents
> that specifically address this situation, would you be so kind as to
> forward the relevant text to me? We are ruminating on how stringent our
> policy needs to be where board collecting interests coincide with those of
> the CHC. We want to avoid conflict of interest, but we also do not want to
> drive away those who might be valuable members of the organization because
> our requiremements are too strict. I'd love to hear if and how other
> instiutions have dealt with this.
> Many thanks,
> Anne
> Anne T. Lane, Collections Manager
> York County Culture & Heritage Commission
> 4621 Mount Gallant Road
> Rock Hill SC 29732-8666
> 803-329-2121, ext. 104
> Fax 803-329-5249
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Date:    Tue, 15 May 2001 16:23:19 -0400
> From:    Roger Wulff <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Policies on Personal Collecting
>
> Dear Anne and others:
>
> A long-time associate of mine, Alan Ullberg, did some work on the issues
> of ethics and museum trusteeship when he was the Associate General
> Counsel of the Smithsonian.  And The AAM Trustee Committee asked him to
> write a book on "Museum Trusteeship" - I think it is still available
> from the AAM.
>
> Kind Regards
>
> Roger Wulff
> ----------------------------
>
> Date:    Tue, 15 May 2001 17:01:41 -0400
> From:    "Feltus, Pamela" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Policies on Personal Collecting
>
> When I worked at the Met in NY, it was the same policy for all staff, no
> matter how lowly you were. If you wanted to acquire something for your
> personal collection, you had to have it approved by someone, but I don't
> remember who it was. That way, the curators won't be using their
> connections
> to build their own collections at the expense of the museum's. There is
> also
> the issue of deaccessioning objects, which are then bought by staff for
> their personal collections- check the Museum-L archives as I remember it
> was
> a hot topic last winter.
>
> The big issues of board members collecting is if they then try to sell
> their
> collection to the museum- than that is a conflict of interest. Or of
> course
> if the trustee uses their position with the museum to ease the purchase-
> such as an artist selling a painting at a lower rate with the promise that
> they will help the artist within the museum. But otherwise I have never
> heard of a policy.
>
> Pamela Feltus
> Curator
> National Museum of American Jewish Military History
> 1811 R Street NW, Washington DC 20009
> 202-265-6280 x201
>
> www.nmajmh.org
>

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