State Agency of Medicines
INTERNAL RULES
Code of Ethics
Riga
14.05.2021. No 1-10/5
Issued according the
State Administration Structure Law
Article 72, Paragraph one, Clause 2
I. General questions
1. The State Agency of Medicines (hereinafter - Agency) shall perform the functions and tasks entrusted to it, providing services in conformity with its professional competence, public interest and ethical requirements.
2. The purpose of the Code of conduct of the Agency (hereinafter – the Code) is to lay down the basic principles for assessing the ethical and reasonableness of the conduct of officials, officials and staff of the Agency (hereinafter – the staff Member).
3. The Code shall include the core principles, norms and recommendations of the Agency's value and professional ethics and conduct, compliance with which contributes to the development of a positive image of the Agency in society and contributes to the achievement of the Agency's objectives.
4. The principles, rules and recommendations contained in the Code shall be binding on all staff of the Agency, irrespective of the post to be occupied and the duration of the employment relationship.
5. The ethical value of the Code is the ethical standards which guide the Agency's staff to act in good faith and which constitute the Agency's corporate culture.
II. Fundamental principles of the Agency's value and ethics
6. The employee shall observe and act in accordance with the values of the State administration, as well as the following values of the Agency, as laid down in the recommendations of the Cabinet of Ministers in his or her work:
6.1. professionalism and efficiency;
6.2. independence and neutrality;
6.3. equity and impartiality;
6.4. openness and loyalty;
6.5. respect for the person.
7. The staff Member shall comply with the following fundamental ethical principles based on the values referred to in paragraph 6 of the Code:
7.1. professionalism and efficiency:
7.1.1. use and develop the competences, skills and knowledge necessary for the work of the Agency and predictable for future needs, take over the good practice of the sector and international experience in the work of the Agency;
7.1.2. is targeted and result oriented;
7.1.3 work effectively to achieve the Agency's objectives and qualitative results.
7.1.4 in performing its duties, ensure that all public resources (human, financial, material, informative) are used as efficiently and prudently as possible.
7.2 independence and neutrality:
7.2.1. shall be independent and neutral in his or her actions, decisions and judgments, comply with the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, regulatory enactments, internal regulatory enactments of the Agency and basic principles of the Code;
7.2.2. is independent and independent in his or her professional activities and decision-making, does not influence from affiliation parties, political movements and organizations, distances himself or herself from personal interests, as well as interests of other natural and legal persons, associations of persons, political, religious or social groups;
7.2.3 respect for neutrality is a key prerequisite for the positive image of the Agency in society.
7.3. equity and impartiality:
7.3.1. act fairly, observing equality of persons or organizations before the law and not showing favor or granting privileges to any of them;
7.3.2. equity shall be taken as the norm of mutual relations;
7.3.3. the assessment shall be justified taking into account the actions of the person and consequences thereof, not his or her personality and intentions;
7.3.4. act professionally in accordance with regulatory enactments and general principles of law, such action shall be assessed as a high legal consciousness;
7.3.5. the substance of the matter shall be examined;
7.3.6. The staff Member shall base his decisions solely on true and verified information.
7.4. openness and loyalty:
7.4.1 in its activities, the transparency towards the public shall be observed in accordance with external and internal regulatory enactments of the Agency.
7.4.2. does not support or conceal illegal action, does not allow concealment or concealment of such action;
7.4.3. in public statements related to professional activities, separate his or her personal opinion from the opinion of the Agency, prior to expressing the opinion of the Agency, it shall be coordinated with the management of the Agency;
7.4.4. by his or her attitude, words and behavior is responsible for the image of the Agency in the society, also out of working hours does not perform activities which undermine or may adversely affect the image of the Agency in the society;
7.4.5. is loyal to the Agency in any situation and observes the objectives and core values of its operation;
7.4.6. in contact with other persons shall be treated with dignity, respecting professional requirements and legal interests;
7.5. respect for the person:
7.5.1. in any situation - in discussions, exchange of opinions, including written communication - the representatives of the society and other employees shall be treated with respect, shall not be aggressive also in relation to those expressing opposing opinions;
7.5.2. observe confidentiality in relation to personal information of other employees;
7.5.3 respect accuracy towards colleagues, customers and society as a whole, knowing that this is an expression of respect and attention.
III. Ethical behavior
8. The staff Member is polite, kind and correct in his dealings with colleagues, the Agency's clients and the public. Shall be treated with dignity in all work-related relationships and shall not prejudice the honor or dignity of their colleagues and clients.
9. The employee is not arrogant and authoritarian in his or her relationship with colleagues, takes into account the opinion of others and assesses it professionally.
10. The staff Member shall cooperate with colleagues in providing and receiving the necessary assistance in the performance of their professional duties and shall not abuse their trust.
11. The staff Member shall be available and welcoming to the Agency's clients and the public. Answering correspondence, telephone calls and emails shall endeavor to be as helpful and professional as possible in answering questions raised. If it is not possible within the scope of work duties, the employee shall indicate another person or institution competent for solving the relevant issue.
12. The staff Member shall refrain from accepting, directly or indirectly, any gifts, discounts, offers of entertainment, expressions of grace or gratitude equivalent to a gift if they are likely to affect or raise doubts as to the impartiality of the performance of any duty or task or of the Agency's activities.
13. Advertising objects with brands of manufacturers of medicinal products, medicinal products wholesalers, pharmacies, holders of registration certificates of medicinal products and tissue establishments, names and symbols of medicinal products and medical devices, advertising of medicinal products and medical devices, etc., shall not be used in the workplace, except in cases when such objects are necessary for the performance of direct duties (for example, examination of a submission received).
14. The staff Member shall refrain from adjacent works and from joining posts if they are likely to give rise to suspicions of potential, perceived or real conflicts of interest which impede the performance of the Agency's tasks and in the exercise of its functions.
15. The employee does not engage in any commercial activity that may lead to a conflict of interest.
16. The staff Member makes efficient use of working time and uses the Agency's property as economically and rationally as possible, prevents its selfish use by other persons. An employee restricts the resources of the Internet, telephone communications, etc. for non-business purposes.
IV. Rights and obligations
17. Each employee has the right to:
17.1. to take independent decisions or participate in the taking of decisions in conformity with professional and professional competence;
17.2. freely express and defend an opinion in a reasoned manner in accordance with the professional and professional competence;
17.3. to receive an adequate assessment of the work performed and a dignified attitude;
17.4. respect for private life.
18. Each employee has a duty to:
18.1. to solve problems and listen to the views of others in an atmosphere of mutual respect, openness, understanding and collegiality.
18.2. to observe generally accepted norms of behavior both during and outside working hours, recognizing that the behavior and actions of each individual employee constitute both the overall image of the Agency and the prestige of the State administration in society;
18.3. not to disclose information which has become known to the employee in the performance of work duties or to use it for purposes which are not related to the performance of official or work duties or the performance of specific work tasks, including in order to target a person, institution, or otherwise use in private interest.
18.4. to observe the professional label and work culture. Promote public confidence in the Agency through correct behavior, appearance and posture;
18.5. to promote collegial mutual relations;
18.6. to resolve conflicts constructively;
18.7. not to engage in intrigue, formation of various destructive groupings in a collective;
18.8. not to use collegial, subordinate and manager relations, incompetence of colleagues, mistakes or inexperience for selfish purposes; inform colleagues about topics of professional concern and share experiences that may also be useful to other employees;
18.9. to honestly admit unethical behavior and correct his or her mistakes.
19. The Heads of the Director, his Deputy and the departments (Department, Division, sector) shall be obliged to:
19.1. to inform subordinates regarding further action and prospects for development;
19.2. to provide employees with the necessary and other up-to-date information;
19.3. to promote professional and personal development of employees;
19.4. to support the creative approach and initiative of the employee;
19.5. Discussing the employee's erroneous conduct with the employee individually.
V. Rules of ethical behavior in communicating with lobbyists
20. The employee shall ensure, in communication with lobbyists, equal opportunities for all to meet with decision makers and preparers, receive the necessary information.
21. The staff Member shall inform the head-in or the Director of the Agency of the expected meeting with the lobbyist and of the information received from the lobbyist.
22. Upon meeting the lobbyist, the staff Member shall ascertain the identity of the lobbyists and of the persons he represents (given name, surname or name of the represented person, legal person he represents), ensure the minutes of meetings and information on meetings
23. When taking a decision or performing the duties of office, the employee shall take into account all public interests, not only those defended by the lobbyist.
24. An employee shall publicly disclose information (to a senior official) regarding his or her economic interests or the economic interests of his or her family members, if any, or may be related to the performance of his or her duties, shall refuse to perform his or her duties or take a decision in situations where the decision taken or prepared may affect or may cause suspicion that the personal or financial interests of the employee or members of his or her family, as well as the organizations to which the employee is affiliated or his or her sponsor are affected.
25. An employee shall not engage in or represent an individual, merchant or organization as lobbyist in a State or local government institution for remuneration or without remuneration.
26. An employee shall not accept from a lobbyist or organization that hires lobbyists, gifts, hospitality offers or other benefits (paying for transport, accommodation, catering services and beverages or any other kind of material benefit) for his or her own or family members or for the organization to which he or she is affiliated.
27. The staff Member shall not use his or her position of service or personal contact to give any lobbyist access to senior officials responsible for taking decisions in the interests of the lobbyist.
28. An employee may not mislead a lobbyist by giving the impression that he or she may have access to senior officials or influence their decision.
29. It shall be prohibited for an employee to request lobbyists or organizations that hire a lobbyist to provide material support to the activities or organization of the institution to which he or she is employed.
VI. Conduct and disclosure in case of ethical misconduct
30. The Ethics Commission, without disclosing the substance of the received submission, shall inform the direct manager of the employee regarding the decision of the Ethics Commission, if violation of ethical norms or incomplete observance of ethical norms has been determined. If an employee has received a remark or an indication from the Ethics Commission regarding observance of incomplete ethical norms, the assessment in the section “compliance with ethical norms” of the annual assessment questionnaire could not be higher than “improvement”.
31. The Ethics Commission, without disclosing the substance of the received submission and the given name and surname of the employee, as well as the position to be held, shall inform the employees of the Agency regarding the essence of the determined violation of ethical norms or the incomplete observance of ethical norms.
VII. Final issues
32. All staff of the Agency shall be familiar with and comply with the Code.
33. If the provisions of the Code are not complied with or recommendations are made for changes to the Code, any person may submit an application to the Ethics Commission in accordance with the procedures laid down in its rules of procedure.
34. Submissions or complaints regarding violations of the norms laid down in the Code shall be examined by the Ethics Commission in accordance with its rules of procedure.
35. Ethics trustees of the Agency shall be members of the Ethics Commission elected to the Agency.
36. If the staff Member has doubts as to the compliance of his intended conduct with these recommendations or other ethical requirements binding upon him, he or she may consult any of the Agency's ethics trustees or the Ethics Commission.
37. Changes to the code are decided by the Ethics Commission.
38. Changes to the Code shall be approved by the Director of the Agency.
39. Declare the Agency Code of conduct No 1-10/2 of 26 March 2015 invalid.
40. The Code shall be in force from the date of its signature.
Acting Director - Head of Administrative Division Ilze Bude
Translated from Latvian by https://translate.tilde.com/#/
* conflict of interest is a situation where an employee, upon carrying out their duties at the Agency, adopts a decision or participates in the preparation or adoption of a decision that is related to or can be applied to personal or material interests of the employee, their relatives or business associates.
