RICS professional standards and guidance, global Conflicts ...

1 professional statementRICS professional standards and guidance, globalConflicts of interest1st edition, March 2017 Conflicts of interestRICS professional statement, global1st edition, March 2017 Published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)Parliament SquareLondonSW1P responsibility for loss or damage caused to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material included in this publication can be accepted by the authors or guidance was produced by the RICS Commercial Property professional edition published March 2017, revised December 2017 (to add Supporting commentary notes 11 to 14 and signpost them from the PS).

2 ISBN 978 1 78321 188 3 Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) March 2017. Copyright in all or part of this publication rests with RICS. Save where and to the extent expressly permitted within this document, no part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means including graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or web distribution, without the written permission of RICS or in line with the rules of an existing pe set using Ty authorWill Glassey (Mayer Brown International LLP)Working groupLuay Al-Khatib (RICS Director of Regulation EMEA)

3 Anita Aul (Director, Quality and Risk Management, Deloitte)Paul Bagust (RICS UK Commercial Property Director)John Cartwright (Chief Executive, AREF)Mike Conroy (Executive Director of Business Finance, BBA)Paul Cutbill (Head of professional Development, Countrywide Surveyors)Christopher Green (Director, That Surveyor)Cliff Hawkins (RICS UK and Ireland Regulatory Board)Stephen Hubbard (UK Chairman, CBRE)Chris Ireland (UK CEO at JLL)Antony Major (Barclays)Geraldine Mash (Compliance Director, CBRE)Ciaran McCafferty (Director of Central Compliance at M&G Investments)Chris Perkins (Business Space, M&G Investments)Simon Radford (Chief Executive, Lothbury Investment Management)Nigel Sellars (RICS Associate Director, Commercial Property)David Sleath (Chief Executive, SEGRO)Antony Townsend (RICS UK and Ireland Regulatory Board)Simon Wainwright (Managing Director, J Peiser Wainwright)

4 IiRICS professional statement, globalEffective from 1 January 2018 Conflicts of interestContentsAcknowledgments iiRICS professional standards and guidance 1 Introduction 3 Part 1: professional statement Conflicts of interest and confidentiality 41 Conflicts of interest .

5 42 Confidential information .. 43 Firm systems and controls .. 44 Definitions used in this professional statement .. 45 Scope and application .. 56 Effective date .. 5 Part 2: General commentary notes 6 Part 3: Supporting commentary notes 7 Commentary note 1: Record keeping .. 7 Commentary note 2: Party Conflicts .. 7 Commentary note 3: Firms .. 7 Commentary note 4: Informed Consent.

6 8 Commentary note 5: Conflicts where Informed Consent will not (or may not) be enough .. 9 Commentary note 6: Information Barriers .. 9 Commentary note 7: Own interest Conflicts .. 9 Commentary note 8: Valuation work .. 10 Commentary note 9: Agency .. 10 Commentary note 10: Confidential Information .. 10 Commentary note 11: Competing bidders .. 10 Commentary note 12: Effective date/transition .. 10 Commentary note 13: Conflicts arising during professional assignments .. 11 Commentary note 14: Passing Confidential Information to insurers and legal advisers.

7 11 Appendix A: Sample form for obtaining Informed Consent professional statement, globalEffective from 1 January 2018ivEffective from 1 January 2018 RICS professional statement, globalConflicts of interestRICS professional standards and guidanceInternational standardsRICS is at the forefront of developing international standards . In addition to RICS Valuation professional standards , other international standards are being developed. Working in coalitions with organisations around the world, acting in the public interest to raise standards and increase transparency within markets, International Property Measurement standards (IPMS ), International Construction Measurement standards (ICMS), International Land Measurement standards (ILMS), International Ethics standards (IES) and others will be published and will be mandatory for RICS members.

8 Most RICS professional statements link directly to these standards and underpin them. Where that is the case, RICS members are advised to make themselves aware of the relevant international standard(s) (see ) and the overarching principles with which the associated professional statement complies. Members of RICS are uniquely placed in the market by being trained, qualified and regulated by working to international standards and complying with professional professional statementsThis is a professional statement, which RICS members must act in accordance within professional statements that set specific mandatory requirements for members use the word must.

9 Members must not depart from specific mandatory within professional statements that set an expectation or recommend best practice advice use the word should . Where members depart from these, they should do so only for justifiable good reason. Where, in the professional judgment of the member, the departure may have a material impact on the surveyor s advice, the client must be informed in writing of the departure and the reason/s for the content that does not use the word must or should is considers that professional statements are technical standards for the purposes of Rule 4 of both the Rules of Conduct for Members 2007 and the Rules of Conduct for Firms 2007 (as amended from time to time).

10 Members should note there may be legal and/or disciplinary consequences for departing from professional statements. When an allegation of professional negligence is made against a surveyor, the court is likely to take account of relevant RICS professional statements in deciding whether or not the surveyor acted with reasonable competence. Failure to act in accordance with professional statements may, accordingly, lead to a finding of negligence against a surveyor. In the opinion of RICS, a member acting in accordance with relevant professional statements should have at least a partial defence to an allegation of some cases there may be existing national standards that take precedence over professional statements.