Australian Research Council Act 2001 - Linkage International - Funding Rules for Proposals for Submission in 2006
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11.1.1 The ARC is required to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 and the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
11.2 Confidentiality
11.2.1 The ARC will treat information contained in a Proposal as confidential. However, the ARC may disclose information contained in a Proposal, or otherwise provided to the ARC, to the extent that the information:
is disclosed by the ARC to its advisers (including external assessors), officers, employees or other third parties in order to assess, evaluate or verify the accuracy or completeness of a Proposal;
is disclosed to the ARC’s personnel to enable effective management or auditing of Linkage International or any Funding Agreement;
is disclosed by the ARC to the Minister;
is shared by the ARC within the ARC’s organisation, or with another Commonwealth Department or agency, where this serves the Commonwealth’s legitimate interests;
is authorised or required by law to be disclosed;
is disclosed in accordance with any other provision of these Funding Rules or the Funding Agreement; or
is in the public domain otherwise than due to a breach by the ARC of any obligation of confidence.
11.2.2 Where information contained in a Proposal is made available to third parties for evaluation or assessment purposes the ARC will require the third parties to maintain the confidentiality of the material.
11.2.3 Notwithstanding the above, and in addition to the exemptions listed at subsection 11.2.1, the ARC may publicise and report offers or awards of funding, including information about the proposed research; the name of nominated CIs, OIs, PIs or ARCIF Fellows and their organisations; the name of the Administering Organisation and any other parties involved in or associated with the project; the title and summary descriptions of the project and its intended outcomes; and the level and nature of financial assistance from the ARC. Administering Organisations should ensure that information contained in the project title and summaries would not, if released, compromise their own requirements for confidentiality (such as future protection of intellectual property).
11.3 Project description
11.3.1 In making public information about a Proposal which has been approved for funding, the ARC may use a project description, including title and summary, which may differ from that provided in the Proposal.
11.4 Intellectual property
11.4.1 The ARC does not claim ownership of any intellectual property in a Proposal or which is created or developed from the conduct of a project funded under Linkage International.
11.4.2 However, all Proposals become the property of the ARC on submission. Administering Organisations submit their Proposals on the basis that the ARC may copy, modify and otherwise deal with information contained in a Proposal (and allow any external assessor or other third party to do the same) for any purpose related to:
the evaluation and assessment of Proposals;
verifying the accuracy, consistency and adequacy of information contained in a Proposal, or otherwise provided to the ARC;
the preparation and management of any funding agreement; or
the administration or management of the NCGP.
11.4.3 If a Proposal contains information belonging to a third party, the Administering Organisation must ensure that it has in place all necessary consents to allow the ARC to deal with that information in accordance with these Funding Rules, prior to the Administering Organisation’s submitting its Proposal.
11.4.4 Except with written approval from the ARC, all Proposals and ARC-funded research projects must comply with the National Principles of Intellectual Property Management for Publicly Funded Research (available at http://www.arc.gov.au) and accord with any intellectual property policies of the researchers’ organisations.
11.5 Incomplete or misleading information
11.5.1 It is a serious offence to provide false or misleading information to the Commonwealth.
11.5.2 If the ARC considers that a Proposal is incomplete, inaccurate or contains false or misleading information, the ARC may in its absolute discretion decide to not recommend the Proposal for approval. If an Administering Organisation and/or researcher nominated in a Proposal as a CI, OI, PI or ARCIF Fellow provides the ARC with incomplete, inaccurate or misleading information in relation to either the Proposal for, or when reporting on progress of, a project the ARC may in its absolute discretion decide to not recommend the Proposal for approval or terminate the project if funded and require the Administering Organisation to repay some or all of the funding.
11.5.3 If the ARC considers that omissions, or inclusion of misleading information, are intentional, or if there is evidence of malpractice, the ARC may refer the matter for investigation with a view to prosecution under criminal law. The Commonwealth is committed to protecting its revenue, expenditure and property from any attempt, by members of the public, contractors, sub-contractors, agents, intermediaries or its own employees, to gain financial or other benefits by deceit.
11.5.4 Examples of malpractice include, but are not restricted to:
providing fictitious track records; or
making false claims in publications records (such as describing a paper as accepted for publication when it has only been submitted).
11.6 Insurance and liabilities
11.6.1 Administering Organisations are subject to the liability, indemnity and insurance provisions of the Funding Agreement. The draft Funding Agreement can be viewed on the ARC web site (http://www.arc.gov.au).