Art. 42. Conflict of interest

1. Contracting authorities or entities shall take appropriate measures to combat fraud and corruption, as well as to effectively identify prevent and remedy any hypothesis of conflicts of interest in the conduct of contract and concession award procedures, so as to avoid any distortion of competition and to ensure the transparency of competition and ensure the equal treatment of all economic operators.

2. There is conflict of interest when staff members of a contracting authorities or entities or service providers intervene, also on behalf of the contracting authority or entity, in the conduct of the contract or concession award procedure or may influence, in any way, the outcome of that procedure or have, directly or indirectly, a financial, economic or other personal interest which might be perceived as a threat to their impartiality and independence in the context of the contract or concession award procedure. In particular, it can be considered as situations of conflict of interest all these situations determining the obligation to abstain provided for in Article 7 of the Decree of the President of the Republic n. 62 of 16 April 2013.

3. Staff members falling in one of the hypothesis contained in paragraph 2, shall give communication to the contracting authorities or entities, abstain from participating in the contract or award concession procedure. Without prejudice to the hypothesis of administrative and criminal liability, the lack of abstention in cases provided in the first period constitute in any case a cause of disciplinary liability of the public official.

4. Provisions in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall also apply to the phase of execution of public contracts.

5. The contracting authority or entity shall supervise on the respect of the provisions in paragraphs 3 and 4.