Members of Boards of State Bodies

Certain obligations arise for Members of Boards of State Bodies under the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 and the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 which are known together as the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001 (the Ethics Acts). A description is provided under the following headings:

Disclosure of Interests

Tax Compliance

The disclosure requirements of the Ethics Acts apply to persons who are Members of Boards of State Bodies whose directorships have been prescribed in Regulations made by the Minister for Finance. Such persons are known as designated directors.  (Details of directorships which have been prescribed in the Regulations are contained in Appendix 4 of the Standards Commission Guidelines for Public Servants.)

You are required, in respect of each year during any part of which you occupy or occupied a designated directorship of a public body, to prepare and furnish, to such an officer of the body as determined by the Minister for Finance and to the Standards in Public Office Commission (the Standards Commission), in a form which is determined by the Minister for Finance, a statement in writing of your registrable interests and those, of which you have actual knowledge, of your spouse or your child or a child of your spouse which could materially influence you in, or in relation to the performance of your functions. If there are no such interests to disclose, you are requested to furnish a nil statement.  The forms for disclosure may be accessed on the website of the Department of Finance.  Further information concerning the above requirements is contained in Part 7 of the Standards Commission guidelines for Public Servants.

Also, if a function of the directorship, or a function of any other office or position held by you in the public body, falls to be performed and you have actual knowledge that you, or a connected person, have a material interest in a matter to which the function relates, you must, before or as soon as may be, prepare and furnish a statement in writing of those facts to the other directors of the body. You should not perform the function unless there are compelling reasons requiring you to do so. If you propose to perform that function you should, before doing so or, if that is not reasonably practicable, as soon as possible afterwards, prepare and furnish to the other directors and to the Standards Commission a statement in writing of the compelling reasons.  The requirements relating to a material interest or not an interest has been disclosed in an annual statement of registrable interests.  What constitutes a "connected person" and a "material interest" is provides at Part 8 of the Standards Commission's guidelines for Public Servants. 

The requirements above relating to a material interest apply whether or not an interest has been disclosed in an annual statement of registrable interests.

A Member of a Board of a State Body who is appointed to senior office has obligations in relation to tax clearance as outlined below.

If you are appointed to senior office, you must provide the following to the Standards Commission, not more than nine months after the date of appointment:

• a Tax Clearance Certificate (the Tax Clearance Certificate must have been issued by the Collector-General within a period of nine months before or after the date of appointment), or
• an Application Statement, which is issued by the Collector-General, following an application, and is to the effect that you have applied for a Tax Clearance Certificate and that a decision on the application has not been made (an Application Statement that was issued to you must have been made within a period of nine months before or after the date of appointment) and
• a Statutory Declaration, which is a declaration made by the appointee in accordance with the Statutory Declarations Act 1938, as amended, testifying that, at the time of its making, you are, to the best of your knowledge or belief, in compliance with the obligations imposed on you by the Tax Acts and are not aware of any impediment to the issue of a Tax Clearance Certificate (the Statutory Declaration must have been made by the person within a period of one month before or after the date of appointment).

Further details in relation to tax clearance are available at Part 6 of the Standards Commission guidelines for Public Servants. The relevant forms are provided in the Forms section of this website.

The following publication will provide more detailed information relating to your obligations under the Ethics Acts:

Guidelines on Compliance with the Provisions of the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001 - Public Servants (Fifth Edition)