Independent Activities 14.1 Except as expressly provided herein, each party shall have the free and unrestricted right to independently engage in and receive the full benefit of any and all business endeavours of any sort whatsoever, whether or not competitive with the endeavours contemplated herein without consulting the other or inviting or allowing the other to participate therein. No party shall be under any fiduciary or other duty to the other which will prevent it from engaging in or enjoying the benefits of competing endeavours within the general scope of the endeavours contemplated herein. The legal doctrines of "corporate opportunity" sometimes applied to persons engaged in a joint venture or having fiduciary status shall not apply in the case of any party. In particular, without limiting the foregoing, no party shall have any obligation to any other party as to:
(a) any opportunity to acquire, explore and develop any mining property, interest or right presently owned by it or offered to it outside of the Property at any time; and
(b) the erection of any mining plant, mill, smelter or refinery, whether or not such mining plant, mill, smelter or refinery treats ores or concentrates from the Property.
INDEPENDENT PERSONAL SERVICES 1. Income derived by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of professional services or other activities of an independent character shall be taxable only in that State unless he has a fixed base regularly available to him in the other Contracting State for the purpose of performing his activities. If he has such a fixed base, the income may be taxed in the other State but only so much of it as is attributable to that fixed base.
2. The term “professional services” includes especially independent scientific, literary, artistic, educational or teaching activities as well as the independent activities of physicians, lawyers, engineers, architects, dentists and accountants.
Independent Accountant Xxxxxxxx LLP (the “Accountant”), which has expressed its opinions with respect to the audited financial statements (which term as used in this Agreement includes the related notes thereto) of the Company filed with the Commission as a part of the Registration Statement and included in the Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, is an independent registered public accounting firm as required by the Securities Act and the Exchange Act.
Auditor 28.2.1 The Department (in accordance with Post-16 audit code of practice - XXX.XX (xxx.xxx.xx)), the European Commission, the European Court of Auditors and/or a Crown Body may at any time conduct audits for the following purposes:-
(a) to establish that the Provider has used the Funding (and proposed or actual variations to the Funding in accordance with this Agreement) in the delivery of the Services and/or the costs of all suppliers (including Sub- Contractors) of the Services;
(b) to verify the Provider’s claims for Funding;
(c) to review the integrity, confidentiality and security of the Department Data as well as the Department’s access to the Department Data;
(d) to review the Provider's and/or a Provider Related Party's compliance with the DPA 2018, the FOIA in accordance with Clauses 19 (Department Data) and 23 (Freedom of Information and Confidentiality) and any other Law applicable to the Services;
(e) to carry out the audit and certification of the Department’s accounts;
(f) to verify the accuracy and completeness of any management information delivered or required by this Agreement;
(g) to ensure that the Provider and/or a Provider Related Party is complying with the Department Policies and any British or equivalent European standards and any other audit that may be required by any Relevant Authority, such audits may be based on current or preceding years or preceding Agreements.
28.2.2 The Department will use its reasonable endeavours to ensure that the conduct of each audit does not unreasonably disrupt the Provider or delay the provision of the Services.
28.2.3 Subject to the Department’s obligations of confidentiality, the Provider and/or a Provider Related Party must on demand provide the Department (and/or its agents or representatives) with all reasonable co-operation and assistance in relation to each audit, including:-
(a) all information requested by the Department within the permitted scope of the audit;
(b) reasonable access to any premises and any equipment used (whether exclusively or non-exclusively) in the performance of the Services;
(c) access to the Provider's and/or a Provider Related Party's systems; and
(d) access to Provider Personnel; and
(e) provision of any accounting records as referred to in Section 386 of the Companies Act 2006 and/or financial records as the Department may require which if the Provider is not a company may include similar accounting records as are referred to in Section 386 of the Companies Act 2006.
28.2.4 The Provider will implement all measurement and monitoring tools and procedures necessary to measure and report on the Provider's (including for the avoidance of doubt a Provider Related Party's) performance of the Services.
28.2.5 The Department will endeavour to (but is not obliged to) provide at least ten (10) Working Days' notice of its intention to conduct an audit. The Department may carry out audit visits with or without prior notice at its discretion.
28.2.6 The Parties agree that they will bear their own respective costs and expenses incurred in respect of compliance with their obligations under this clause, unless the audit identifies a material breach or malpractice by the Provider and/or a Provider Related Party in which case the Provider will reimburse the Department for all the Department’s reasonable costs incurred in the course of the audit.
28.2.7 If the findings of an audit conducted pursuant to this Clause 28 results in the requirement for ILR data to be corrected and re-submitted the Provider must re-submit the data to the Department, as set out in Clause 21 (Submission of Learner Data), within two months. Failure to do so will be a Minor Breach of this Agreement.
28.2.8 If the Department identifies that:-
(a) the Provider has failed to perform its obligations under this Agreement in any material manner, without prejudice to any other remedy that the Department has, the Parties will agree and implement a remedial plan. If the Provider's failure relates to a failure to provide any information to the Department about the Funding, proposed Funding or the Provider's costs, then the remedial plan will include a requirement for the provision of all such information;
(b) there has been any under or over payment it will be dealt with in accordance with Clause 26.1 (Funding and Payment).
28.2.9 The Provider must permit records referred to in this Clause 28 to be examined and copied from time to time by the Department’s auditor and inspectors and their representatives and other representatives of the Department.
Independent Accountants The accountants who certified the financial statements and supporting schedules included in the Registration Statement are independent public accountants as required by the 1933 Act and the 1933 Act Regulations.
Independent Auditor If:
(a) the Provider is the Distributor and, acting reasonably, gives notice that the Records contain information about other industry participants that cannot reasonably be severed from the information relating to the Trader or that the information is commercially sensitive; or
(b) the provider is the Trader and, acting reasonably, gives notice that the Records contain information about other industry participants that cannot reasonably be severed from information relating to the Distributor or that the information is commercially sensitive, then the Distributor or the Trader, as appropriate, will permit an independent auditor (the “Auditor”) appointed by the other party to review the Records and the other party will not itself directly review any of the Records. The Distributor or the Trader, as appropriate, will not unreasonably object to the Auditor appointed by the other party. In the event that the Distributor or the Trader, as appropriate, reasonably objects to the identity of the Auditor, the parties will request the President of the New Zealand Law Society (or a nominee) to appoint a person to act as the Auditor. The party that is permitted by this clause 31.5 to appoint an Auditor will pay the Auditor’s costs, unless the Auditor discovers a material inaccuracy in the Records in which case the other party will pay the Auditor’s costs. The terms of appointment of the Auditor will require the Auditor to keep the Records confidential.
Independent Parties For purposes of this Agreement, the Parties are independent contractors and neither may be considered an agent or an employee of the other. No joint venture, partnership or like relationship is created between the Parties by this Agreement.
Independent Review Contractor shall provide the Secretary of ADS/CIO an independent expert review of any Agency recommendation for any information technology activity when its total cost is $1,000,000.00 or greater or when CIO requires one. The State has identified two sub-categories for Independent Reviews, Standard and Complex. The State will identify in the SOW RFP the sub-category they are seeking. State shall not consider bids greater than the maximum value indicated below for this category. Standard Independent Review $25,000 Maximum Complex Independent Review $50,000 Maximum Per Vermont statute 3 V.S.A. 2222, The Secretary of Administration shall obtain independent expert review of any recommendation for any information technology initiated after July 1, 1996, as information technology activity is defined by subdivision (a) (10), when its total cost is $1,000,000 or greater or when required by the State Chief Information Officer. Documentation of this independent review shall be included when plans are submitted for review pursuant to subdivisions (a)(9) and (10) of this section. The independent review shall include: • An acquisition cost assessment • A technology architecture review • An implementation plan assessment • A cost analysis and model for benefit analysis • A procurement negotiation advisory services contract • An impact analysis on net operating costs for the agency carrying out the activity In addition, from time to time special reviews of the advisability and feasibility of certain types of IT strategies may be required. Following are Requirements and Capabilities for this Service: • Identify acquisition and lifecycle costs; • Assess wide area network (WAN) and/or local area network (LAN) impact; • Assess risks and/or review technical risk assessments of an IT project including security, data classification(s), subsystem designs, architectures, and computer systems in terms of their impact on costs, benefits, schedule and technical performance; • Assess, evaluate and critically review implementation plans, e.g.: • Adequacy of support for conversion and implementation activities • Adequacy of department and partner staff to provide Project Management • Adequacy of planned testing procedures • Acceptance/readiness of staff • Schedule soundness • Adequacy of training pre and post project • Assess proposed technical architecture to validate conformance to the State’s “strategic direction.” • Insure system use toolsets and strategies are consistent with State Chief Information Officer (CIO) policies, including security and digital records management; • Assess the architecture of the proposed hardware and software with regard to security and systems integration with other applications within the Department, and within the Agency, and existing or planned Enterprise Applications; • Perform cost and schedule risk assessments to support various alternatives to meet mission need, recommend alternative courses of action when one or more interdependent segment(s) or phase(s) experience a delay, and recommend opportunities for new technology insertions; • Assess the architecture of the proposed hardware and software with regard to the state of the art in this technology. • Assess a project’s backup/recovery strategy and the project’s disaster recovery plans for adequacy and conformance to State policy. • Evaluate the ability of a proposed solution to meet the needs for which the solution has been proposed, define the ability of the operational and user staff to integrate this solution into their work.
Independent Auditors The Company shall, until at least the Termination Date, maintain as its independent auditors an accounting firm authorized to practice before the SEC.
Independent Testing Owner shall furnish independent tests, inspections and reports required by law, the Contract Documents or deemed appropriate by the Owner, such as structural, mechanical, and chemical tests, tests for air and water pollution, and tests for hazardous materials to be conducted by consultants retained by the Owner.
