UK: Conflicts of interest and the Companies Act (2006)

Section 175 of the Companies Act (2006) codifies the fiduciary no-conflict rule with regard to company directors. It provides: "A director of a company must avoid a situation in which he has, or can have, a direct or indirect interest that conflicts, or possibly may conflict, with the interests of the company". It comes into force on 1 October 2008 (for details of this and other implementation dates, click here).

GC100 - the Association of General Counsel and Company Secretaries of the FTSE100 - has published guidance on Section 175. The document identifies situations in which Section 175 is likely to be breached and provides guidance for company secretaries when dealing with directors' conflicts of interest. The guidance is available here.