European Association of Urology disclosure policy - potential Conflict of Interest (COI)
The European Association of Urology (EAU) wishes to promote independence, objectivity, scientific rigor and a fair balance of representation, in all its activities.
The EAU have adopted a Conflict of Interest (COI) Policy for the purpose of providing guidance and avoiding conflicts of interest within the association.
In order to ensure this, individuals participating in these activities are expected to disclose their financial or in-kind relationships both with health industry that develop, manufacture, distribute or sell health care materials or services, or other organizations that could represent a potential COI. Such relationships exclude personal or family medical care. Full disclosure is expected even when it is not clear whether a relationship or affiliation constitutes a conflicting interest.
EAU recognizes that these relationships do not necessarily imply bias or decrease the value of participation in professional activities.
Disclosure of these relationships is necessary for others to make an informed decision about the impact of the disclosed relationship. For instance, this may be relevant in the context of educational activities of the EAU or review of material for EAU publications. Recognition of potential COI will allow the office in question to take this into account in the decision making process.
Each EAU office member author, reviewer and editor is requested to disclose relationships which can be done electronically. A copy of the form is provided below. All relationships over the previous two calendar years and the current year (including future commitments which are foreseen over the coming year) must be disclosed.
Relevant COI will be cited at EAU related presentations and in publications. The information submitted by all experts involved in the production of the EAU guidelines will be posted on the EAU website.
EAU Members can log in at 'MyEAU' and fill out the EAU Potential Conflict of Interest Form online. You can also download this form and send it to guidelines(at)uroweb.org
EAU Officers (Executive Committee and Board members)
While the conflict of interest policy is binding to all members of the organization including the members of the Board and the Executive Committee members; their service on behalf of the organization may result in situations involving a duality of interest which might be interpreted as a conflict of interest.
In order to avoid any perception of such duality of interest, in particular in relation to the role of those involved in procuring association funding, the Executive Committee of the EAU, explicitly state that those officers are neither involved in the production, not in the peer review of the EAU guidelines.
The EAU Executive Committee consists of a secretary-general, two adjunct secretary generals and a treasurer. The EAU Board at large consists of 17 members.
