10 Designation of an institution as a WHO collaborating centre (WHO CC) is independent from any kind of financial support from WHO. A WHO CC is expected to cover the costs of the agreed activities through the core budget of the institution and, if necessary, by mobilizing additional extra-budgetary resources. This does not prevent WHO from co-contributing to an activity under certain circumstances (e.g. institutions in LDCs), provided that resources are available and obligated in advance for that purpose and there is a financial or substantial in-kind contribution to each activity from the designated institution. WHO should never be the exclusive funding source for an activity, or commit to cover the full cost of an activity in the workplan of a WHO CC. Anonymous donations may not be accepted under any circumstances.
15 The above does not preclude the designated institution from being the recipient of a different contract (such as an APW or TSA) for work that is different and unrelated to the work that is included in the TORs and workplan of the WHO CC. Any such contract will be subject to the usual WHO policies for procurement of goods and services (see Part VI). Under no circumstances the work included in these contracts should repeat, overlap or relate to the work that is included in the TORs and workplan of the WHO CC.
20 In order to safeguard the integrity, credibility, independence and objectivity of the work conducted by an institution as a WHO CC, WHO seeks to ensure that the interactions which this institution may have with non-State actors[1], conform to the requirements of WHO Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA) adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2016 (resolution WHA 69.10 and its Annex), in particular with regards to the management of conflicts of interest and other risks (see Part XVIII) .
30 FENSA recognizes four categories of non-State actors: (i) nongovernmental organizations (including civil society groups and faith-based organizations); (ii) philanthropic foundations;; (iii)academic institutions and (iv) private sector entities (including business associations). These are defined as the following:
- "nongovernmental organizations" are non-profit entities that operate independently of governments. They are usually membership-based, with non-profit entities or individuals as members exercising voting rights in relation to the policies of the nongovernmental organization, or are otherwise constituted with non-profit, public-interest goals. They are free from concerns which are primarily of a private, commercial or profit-making nature. They could include, for example, grassroots community organizations, civil society groups and networks, faith-based organizations, professional groups, disease-specific groups, and patient groups;
- "philanthropic foundations" are non-profit entities whose assets are provided by donors and whose income is spent on socially useful purposes. They shall be clearly independent from any private sector entity in their governance and decision-making. Philanthropic arms of a private sector entity are considered private sector entities as they are not at arm's length from their sponsors and parent company;
- "academic institutions" are entities engaged in the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge through research, education and training. They may be private or public entities.
- "Private sector entities" are commercial enterprises i.e. businesses that are intended to make a profit for their owners. The term also refers to entities that represent, or are governed or controlled by, private sector entities. This definition includes, but is not limited to:
- Business associations representing commercial enterprises;
- entities not at "arms' length" from their commercial sponsors; and
- partially or fully State-owned commercial enterprises acting like private sector entities.
An entity is "at arms' length" from another entity if it is independent from the other entity, does not take instructions, major funds and is clearly not influenced or clearly not reasonably perceived to be influenced in its decisions and work by the other entity.
40 Below are examples of the types of interaction that may give rise to a real or perceived conflict of interest in respect of the work of the WHO CC. Before the (re)designation of an institution as a WHO CC, the institution must:
- ascertain whether it and/or the responsible WHO CC staff are engaged in any interactions with non-State actors including private sector entities (particularly in respect of any activities that fall within the WHO CC's terms of reference and/or workplan); and
- if so, provide details thereof (including in particular, details about the identity of the entities in question, their business interests, and the activities, research and/or staff at the WHO CC which are concerned by the interaction).
50 Should WHO consider that an interaction gives rise to the risk of a real or perceived conflict of interest, every effort should be made to reach a mutually acceptable solution, consistent with the guidance provided in FENSA and other relevant WHO rules, as reflected in this section. In the event no such solution can be found, WHO will not be able to proceed with the proposed (re)designation of the institution as a WHO CC.
Funding or other support from non-State actors with incompatible business activities
60 WHO does not engage with the tobacco industry or
non-State actors that work to further the interests of the tobacco industry,
and also does not engage with the arms industry. Particular caution is exercised
when engaging with private sector
entities and other non-State actors whose policies or activities are negatively
affecting human health and are not in line with WHO's policies, norms and
standards, in particular those related to noncommunicable diseases and their
determinants. Accordingly, the institution should not
accept funding or other support (e.g. in kind or through secondment of
employees) from a
non-State actor whose business activities are incompatible with WHO's mandate
and work). This applies to both the activities of the institution as a WHO CC
and any other activities of the institution as a whole.
Funding or other support from non-State actors with a direct commercial interest
70 The WHO CC should not accept funding or other support (e.g. in kind) from a non-State actor, if the entity in question, or its affiliated entities, has, or may be perceived as having, a direct commercial interest in the outcome of the WHO CC’s activity. For example, funds or other support should not be accepted from a manufacturer of insulin for an activity which (even generically) relates to the treatment of diabetes.
Funding or other support from non-State actors with indirect commercial interest
80 A WHO CC should exercise caution in accepting financial contributions or other support from non-State actors including private sector entities that have even an indirect interest in the outcome of an activity (e.g. in the case of an activity relating to the epidemiology of a disease, subject to due diligence and risk assessment, caution should be exercised in accepting funds or other support from a manufacturer of drugs for the disease). In such cases, it is preferable for the WHO CC to have secured funding from multiple sources and competing entities (i.e. so as to avoid a perceived close association with any one particular entity). In addition, the larger the proportion of the contribution (including in-kind) from any one source, the greater the care that should be taken to avoid the possibility of a conflict of interest or appearance of an inappropriate association with one contributor.
Unspecified support
90 In the event of an unspecified donation from a non-State actor for the activities of a WHO CC in general (and not designated for a specific activity), the institution must ensure that the following is complied with:
- The donation should not be used to support activities in which the non-State actor (or affiliated entities), could have a direct commercial interest (see paragraph 70 above).
- In the event it is intended to use the donation to support activities in which the non-State actor (or affiliated entities), has an indirect commercial interest, subject to due diligence and risk assessment donations should be sought from various sources having a similar interest; and it is preferable that support from multiple competing sources is secured (see paragraph 80 above). The larger the proportion of the donation from any one source, the greater the care that should be taken to avoid the possibility of a conflict of interests or appearance of an inappropriate association with one contributor. The overall amount of unspecified support provided by the private sector entity should not be so large that the WHO CC would become dependent on this support for its continued operations.
- By accepting a donation from a non-State actor the WHO CC is not:
(i) endorsing, on behalf of WHO, the contributor, its activities, products or services;
(ii) permitting the contributor to use the results of the WHO CC's work for promotional and/or commercial purposes or use the fact of its donation in its promotional materials;
(iii) affording the contributor any privilege or advantage;
(iv) offering the contributor any possibility for advising, influencing, participating in, or being in command of the management or implementation of the operational activities of the WHO CC.
Support for activities related to the production of WHO's normative work
100 As a general rule, a WHO CC should not accept any funds or other support from non-State actors for activities related to WHO's normative work (policies, standards, guidelines or recommendations). The reason for this is that WHO's normative and standard setting work should be free from commercial concerns.
Funding to support the salary of specific staff or posts and secondment of employees from private sector entities
110 The designated institution should not accept funds from private sector entities to support the salary of specific staff or posts designated to the activities of the WHO CC (including short-term consultants), as the financial support could give rise to a real or perceived conflict of interests. For example, a conflict of interests would arise if the responsibilities of the staff member or post are directly or indirectly related to the business interests of the private sector contributor.
120 Similarly, the designated institution should not accept the secondment of company employees from the private sector to work on the activities of the WHO CC, if the entity has a direct or indirect commercial interest in all or part of those activities.
Commissioned research or other work
130 The activities which an institution conducts as a WHO CC (as part of the WHO CC's terms of reference and/or workplan) should not include any research or other work commissioned by a non-State actor including private sector entities. In other words, WHO CCs should not, as such, perform research or other work which is contracted by a non-State actor.
Declaration of the interests of the head and other responsible staff
140 The institution should ensure and attest to WHO that the staff designated to work on the activities of the WHO CC do not have any interactions, affiliations or relations with and/or financial or other interests in private sector entities (as defined above) that could give rise to, or be seen as giving rise to, a conflict of interests in respect of any of these activities.
150 In the event the WHO CC head and/or staff have any interactions, affiliations, relations with and/or financial or other interests that could give rise to a real or perceived conflict in respect of any of the activities of the WHO CC, the institution should take appropriate measures to address and remove such conflicts. Examples of the type of interactions, affiliations, relations and financial or other interests that could give rise to, or be seen as giving rise to, a conflict of interests, can be found in the Declaration of Interests (DOI) for WHO experts, which can be found at https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/declaration-of-interests-for-who-experts. The WHO DOI is not, however, intended for use by the institution. The institution should make its own arrangements to ascertain, address and remove any possible conflict of interests which the WHO CC head and/or staff may have.
Information to be provided to WHO
160 In light of the above, before an institution can be (re)designated as a WHO CC, the head of the proposed WHO CC must ascertain whether:
a) the institution advances the interests or receives funding or other support from non-State actors including private sector entities whose business activities are incompatible with WHO's work (such as, for example, tobacco companies, arms industry);
b) the WHO CC, will conduct:
- activities that are funded or otherwise supported by non-State actors including private sector entities as described above (see paragraph 30); and/or
- research or other work commissioned by industry; and/or
c) the institution receives funding to support the salary of specific staff or posts at, and/or the secondment of employees from private sector entities for, the WHO CC.
170 In the affirmative, the institution should provide details (in the relevant sections of the (re)designation form) about the identity of the contributors in question, their business interests, and the activities, research, staff and/or posts concerned, as well as any other information and/or clarification which WHO may reasonably require.
180 In addition, the head of the proposed WHO CC must ascertain whether the staff designated to work on the activities of the WHO CC have any interactions, affiliations or relations with and/or financial or other interests in private sector entities which could give rise to a real or perceived conflict in respect of any of the activities of the WHO CC. In the affirmative, the institution must take appropriate measures to address and remove such conflicts of interests.
190 The institution is required to attest to WHO that:
- the head and staff designated to work on the activities of the WHO CC have been required to declare any such interactions, engagement, affiliations, relations and financial or other interests; and that
- either no conflict of interests exist, or appropriate measures have been taken to address and remove the conflict.
Due diligence and risk assessment by WHO and agreement on possible measures to be taken
200 The institution must provide all relevant and potentially relevant information to WHO so as to enable the performance of due diligence and risk assessment in accordance with WHO's rules and policies including FENSA (see Part XVIII.1), and where needed, to reach an acceptable solution, consistent with the guidance provided in this section. For example, activities that give rise to a conflict of interests as described above or that have been commissioned by industry, will need to be deleted from the work plan, in order for a (re)designation to be approved. Similarly, staff who have declared an interaction, engagement, affiliation, relation and/or financial or other interest in a private sector entity that gives rise to a real or perceived conflict in respect of any activity of the WHO CC will need to be recused from working on that activity.
210 With respect to those contributions fromnon-State actors which are deemed acceptable, the WHO CC should -for reasons of transparency- always make a public acknowledgement. The basic and most common approach is to insert a discreet acknowledgement in the documentation relating to the activity concerned, including in any publication by the WHO CC of the outcome of this activity. Acknowledgements should usually be worded along the following lines: “The World Health Organization Collaborating Centre [full title] gratefully acknowledges the financial contribution of [Private sector entity] towards [description of the outcome]”.
220 WHO may also require WHO CCs to publicly disclose the interactions, affiliations, relations and/or other interests of its head and/or staff that are considered to give rise to a conflict of interests.
230 Before accepting any contributions from non-State actors, WHO CCs should seek the written assurance from the contributors in question that they will not use the results of the work that they have supported for promotional and/ or commercial purposes or seek promotion of the fact that they have made a contribution. However, they may make reference to contributions in their corporate annual reports or similar internal documents.
240 WHO CCs should at all times maintain full and exclusive control over the activity to which a contribution relates, including over any report of the activity, its contents, whether it is published or disseminated in any form (e.g. electronically), and the timing of such dissemination.
