As at January 2026.

Scope

As a non -profit association the European Tactical Medical Association (ETMA) does not currently have a review and credential service in place to review and credential any organisation, individual, product or service.

Policy

ETMA does not permit its name, logo, trademark, written materials or other intellectual property to be replicated, republished, excerpted or otherwise used for any commercial purpose, including promoting or advertising any product, service or event; or to suggest any endorsement, affiliation or sponsorship of any third-party organisation, individual, product or service, without the prior written consent of the ETMA Directors.

Accordingly, no entity or individual may, in any written, verbal or electronic communication, including but not limited to articles, advertisements, press releases, promotional materials, images (both static and moving), e-mails, telephone calls or face-to-face discussions, state or imply in any way that ETMA has endorsed, recommend, approved sponsored or taken any other position regarding any organisation, individual, product or service without prior written consent from the ETMA Directors.

Unless expressly provided, ETMA does not endorse any organisation, individual, product or service.

Review

This policy is to be reviewed every three years, or sooner as required by the ETMA Directors and Board.

As at January 2026.

Introduction

This policy outlines the conflict of interest and confidentiality obligations that apply to all individuals engaged by European Tactical Medical Association (ETMA) in either a paid, volunteer, director/board, or contractual capacity. This includes, but is not limited to board members, directors, reviewers, researchers, executives, employees, volunteers, and contractors.

As a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales, operating on a not-for-profit basis, ETMA is required to maintain a high standard of professionalism and ethical conduct. It is essential that member and public confidence is maintained in the integrity of all ETMA ventures.

This policy is designed to ensure that all conflicts of interest are identified, disclosed, and managed in a rigorous and transparent manner to promote public confidence in the integrity, legitimacy, impartiality and fairness of ETMA processes.

Consequently, all individuals carrying out ETMA business are required to:

1.     Act with integrity, objectivity, openness and honesty;

2.     Be accountable for their decisions and actions;

3.     Be subject to an appropriate level of scrutiny;

4.     Provide assurances to ETMA that they will abide by the ETMA confidentiality requirements; and

5.     Disclose any conflicts of interest related to their official duties.

Conflict of Interest

Definitions

ETMA recognises three forms of conflict of interest:

1. A Conflict of Interest is a situation in which someone in a position of trust has competing professional or private interests. Such competing interests could make it difficult for an individual to remain impartial in the performance of their duties and could improperly influence the performance of their responsibilities.

2. An apparent conflict of interest exists where it appears that an individual’s other professional or private interests could improperly influence the performance of their duties. Individuals must be conscious that perceptions of conflict may be as significant as an actual conflict.

3. A potential conflict of interest arises where an individual has a professional or private interest such that an actual conflict may arise if they become involved in relevant ETMA duties in the future.

In the context of this policy, conflicts of interest refer to all three definitions found above.

 Disclosing Conflicts of Interest

Individuals must consider the risk for conflict of interest in all possible areas, including:

1. Professional positions;

2. Membership of committees of other organisations;

3. Consultancies;

4. Boards of directors;

5. Advisory groups;

6. Professional relationships;

7. Family and personal relationships; or

8. Financial interests, including receiving recompense in the form of cash, services or equipment from other parties to support research activities.

When undertaking ETMA business, an individual must clearly disclose any conflicts of interest which may impact their ability to perform the role for which they have been selected. A conflict of interest may also exist when an individuals partner or immediate family has any of the interest listed in paragraph six. The term ‘partner’ may refer to personal or business partners.

For ETMA board members and reviewers, a conflict of interest may arise in the following situations, where an individual:

1. Has a contractual or employment arrangement with a university, or any organisation that is named in a current proposal, evaluation process, or other documentation relating to any ETMA business under their consideration.

2. Owns shares in, or exercises control in a company or other organisation named in any current proposal or evaluation process that is under their consideration, or in which they have direct involvement.

3. Is involved in any other committee process where they may have direct or indirect involvement in the matters being considered.

The above is not an exhaustive list. Individuals must use due diligence and seek the advice of the ETMA directors if in doubt, when determining if a conflict of interest exists.

Ongoing Duty to Declare

The obligation to disclose conflicts of interest is ongoing.

Where required by ETMA, individuals must disclose conflicts of interest to ETMA annually. Individuals are required to update that information as soon as possible if any significant changes occur to their, or their immediate family/ partner’s interests. Any private information disclosed to ETMA will be treated as confidential and processed in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

ETMA will maintain a Register of Interests in accordance with good governance practices and Companies Act director duties.

Any individual reviewing material for ETMA must agree to a confidentiality and conflict of interest declaration.

If an individual appointed to undertake ETMA business has, or acquires, an interest that could conflict with the proper performance of their appointed functions, they must disclose to ETMA, in writing, details of the nature of the interest and its relationship to ETMA business as soon as possible after the relevant facts come to the individual’s knowledge. In cases where an individual declares a conflict of interest in relation to a matter under consideration by ETMA or one of its committees, the ETMA directors or a delegate will determine the extent to which that member may be involved in discussion or decisions concerning that matter.

All members are expected to adhere to the conflict of interest and confidentiality policy, which requires all members to disclose any conflicts of interest within four weeks of the conflict being identified. Conflict of interest information will be reviewed annually, and employees and contractors are responsible for disclosing any additional conflicts that may arise as soon as possible.

Directors’ Legal Duties

If a director has, or acquires, an interest that could conflict with the proper performance of their functions, they must disclose this to ETMA in accordance with sections 175–177 of the Companies Act 2006 (duty to avoid conflicts and duty to declare interests).

In such cases, the Board will determine whether the conflicted person:

• may receive papers,

• may participate in discussion,

• must withdraw from the meeting, and/or

• must abstain from voting.

All decisions will be recorded in meeting minutes.

Reporting Timeframe

All members are expected to disclose conflicts of interest within 28 days of becoming aware of them.

Conflict of interest declarations will be reviewed annually, and individuals remain responsible for disclosing new conflicts immediately. 

Evaluating and Managing Conflicts of Interest

ETMA has strict processes in place for evaluating and managing conflicts of interest. ETMA will consider the potential implications of conflicts of interest in determining the most appropriate management strategy.

In some instances, it may be necessary to remove the individual from any involvement in the matter causing the conflict and to recruit an impartial third party to oversee any part or all of the processes involved in the matter. Any measures taken by ETMA will be documented.

Decision making processes in research related areas often required expert advice. In some cases, the available pool of experts in a field can be so limited that all available experts have an association with the matter under consideration. In such instances, judgements need to be made by ETMA which balance the benefit of having persons with expertise involved against the risks of their interests causing a bias in a process.

ETMA may determine that some conflicts of interest are not so material that they could affect the individual’s ability to give full and unbiased consideration to the matter at hand and should not deprive ETMA of the individual’s expertise and knowledge. All conflicts of interest must still be disclosed to ETMA.

Throughout ETMA board business, conflicts of interest will be recorded in a register and/ or minutes of meetings.

Where a conflict of interest is grounds for the individual to not be privy to the information under consideration, the individual will not take part in any decision-making processes and will absent themselves from the room when the information is being discussed.

ETMA will note, record, and monitor the ongoing relevance of all conflicts of interest.

ETMA committee members who fail to follow proper processes in the disclosure and management of conflicts of interest may be in breach of their fiduciary duty. This could lead to termination of appointment and may result in ETMA seeking legal redress for breach of that duty.

ETMA will maintain robust internal processes for managing conflicts of interest that may exist or arise for its employees.

Confidentiality

All individuals carrying out ETMA business are required to preserve the confidentiality outlined in this document and agree to confidentiality obligations.

Information contained in application, assessment and evaluation processes is given and received in confidence. Information must be handled and treated as confidential material and must be used only for the purposes of ETMA business. In order to preserve confidentiality, individuals should not discuss ETMA business with any other party at any stage, unless specifically authorised to do so.

It is unethical and unlawful for individuals to use for other purposes any information, including intellectual property, contained in proposals, evaluation material or other documentation provided to them by ETMA. To protect confidentiality, individuals must securely delete or destroy ETMA confidential documents once their role in the relevant activity is complete, subject to any legal retention obligations.

Responsibilities

When engaging with ETMA as a board member, reviewer, researcher or employee, the individual is responsible for reading and understanding this policy and for reviewing their current activities for conflicts of interest.

It is also the individual’s responsibility to disclose any possible conflicts of interest to ETMA, in writing as soon as they become evident.

Review

This policy is to be reviewed every three years, or sooner as required by the ETMA directors.

ETMA is governed by its Articles of Association, which set out the organisation’s purpose, governance structure, and non-profit status.

The Articles are filed with Companies House.