2 General principles

2.1 Recusal

¹ Conflicts of interest are to be reported immediately. Recusal may be declared by the persons involved in the sanction proceedings or demanded by those involved in the proceedings. Reasons must be given for the application, and the facts relating to the demand for recusal must be credible. The Party Concerned must state its position on the application for recusal.

² If the recusal is contested, in the case of members of SIX Exchange Regulation the matter will be decided by the line manager. In the case of members of the Sanction Commission, the Chairman will decide. The Vice-Chairman shall rule on any recusal on the part of the Chairman.

³ If the application for recusal is approved, SIX Exchange Regulation will bear the procedural costs. If the application is rejected or if it was deliberately delayed or lodged with intent to manipulate the proceedings, the related costs will be borne by the applicant.

⁴ Members of the investigative bodies and the Sanction Commission will be prohibited from performing their function in the following specific instances in particular if:

1. they have a personal interest in the matter at hand;
2. they have been involved in the same matter in another capacity, i.e. as a member of an authority, a member of a governing or executive body of one of the Parties Concerned, an employee of or legal counsel to one of the Parties Concerned, a judge, an arbitrator, an expert, a witness or a mediator;
3. they are married to, live in a registered partnership with or cohabit de facto with one of the Parties Concerned or with a member of a governing or executive body of one of the Parties Concerned, with the latter's legal counsel or with a person who has been involved in the same matter as the member of an authority;
4. they are the parent, child, sibling, aunt, uncle or cousin (in the latter three cases up to and including three times removed) of or otherwise related by marriage to one of the Parties Concerned or to a member of a governing or executive body of one of the Parties Concerned, with the latter's legal counsel or with a person who has been involved in the same matter as the member of an authority;
5. they might be biased for some other reason, in particular owing to a relationship of obligation or dependency, friendship or enmity with one of the Parties Concerned, or with a member of a governing body of one of the Parties Concerned, or their legal counsel.

⁵ Any individual who has been involved in a matter within an investigative body is excluded from membership of the Sanction Commission or the Appeals Court for the proceedings in question.

⁶ Proceedings in which a person who is under a recusal obligation has taken part must be cancelled and repeated. Evidence that cannot be re-gathered or gathered only at disproportionate time and expense may still be considered in the repeated proceedings.