Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Accidents) Act 2025

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Conflicts of interest

11. (1) The Minister shall, within 6 months of the commencement of this section and thereafter where a decision to revise has been made under subsection (10)(b) or section 13 (5), in consultation with the Chief Investigator, the designated person referred to in subsection (4) and any other person that the Minister considers appropriate, prepare and publish a policy (in this Act referred to as the ‘conflicts of interest policy’).

(2) The purpose of the conflicts of interest policy shall be to ensure the independence of the MAIU and the independence and impartiality of investigators.

(3) The conflicts of interest policy shall include processes and procedures in relation to—

(a) the identification of conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest,

(b) the stages at which conflicts of interest or potential conflicts of interest may arise,

(c) the identification of persons in relation to whom conflicts of interest or potential conflicts of interest may arise,

(d) the identification of persons who should be consulted in relation to the conflicts of interest policy, and

(e) processes for the disclosure of conflicts of interest.

(4) The Minister shall, before the appointed day and, subject to subsection (6), as the need arises thereafter, designate one of his or her officers (in this Act referred to as the “designated person”), being an officer who does not perform any functions that could conflict with the functions of the MAIU, to be a designated person for the purposes of this Part.

(5) The functions of the designated person shall be the following:

(a) to manage conflicts of interest that may arise in the MAIU;

(b) to advise the Minister in relation to the operation of the conflicts of interest policy and, where from time to time it becomes advisable to review the policy, of this fact and of the reasons for it;

(c) to manage matters relating to confidentiality that may arise in the MAIU.

(6) The designated person shall remain in his or her role until he or she dies, retires, resigns or comes to a mutual agreement with the Minister to no longer continue in that capacity and, in that event, the Minister shall designate another person under subsection (4).

(7) An investigator shall not be an employee or board member of any company or body that carries on activities that could conflict with the functions of the MAIU.

(8) Where an investigator, not being the Chief Investigator, believes that performing any of his or her functions in respect of a particular marine safety investigation would—

(a) potentially create a conflict of interest, the investigator shall recuse himself or herself from involvement in the investigation in question and shall notify the designated person and the Chief Investigator of the recusal, or

(b) reasonably give rise to the perception of a conflict of interest, the investigator shall notify the Chief Investigator and shall, where the Chief Investigator is of the view that it is the appropriate course of action, recuse himself or herself from the investigation in question.

(9) Where the Chief Investigator believes that—

(a) performing any of his or her functions in respect of a marine safety investigation would potentially create a conflict of interest or give rise to the perception of any conflict of interest, or

(b) an issue has arisen that may compromise the independence of the MAIU,

he or she shall disclose this view to the designated person and where the circumstances referred to in paragraph (a) arise, shall recuse himself or herself from the investigation in question and the designated person may, where the Chief Investigator is the investigator-in-charge of the investigation, appoint another investigator to be the investigator-in-charge.

(10) Where the designated person receives a notification under subsection (8)(a) or a disclosure under subsection (9), he or she shall—

(a) in the case of a disclosure under subsection (9), notify the unit within the Department of Transport that is responsible for human resources, which may carry out an enquiry as to whether there has been a breach of the conflicts of interest policy, and

(b) in either case form a view as to whether or not there should be a review of the conflicts of interest policy and, if he or she is of the view that a review is required, inform the Minister and the Chief Investigator of that view and of the reasons for it and the Minister shall decide whether to revise the conflicts of interest policy and subsection (1) shall apply to any such revision.