25.— F104[(1) A person shall maintain proper standards of integrity, conduct and concern for the public interest while performing functions under this Act or any other enactment as—

(a) a member of the Board or a committee of the Board (including the audit committee established under section 40H),

(b) the chief executive officer,

(c) an employee of the Executive,

(d) a person engaged by the Executive as an adviser under section 24, or

(e) an employee of a person referred to in paragraph (d).]

(2) Subsection (1) applies to an employee of a person referred to in F105[paragraph (d)] of that subsection in respect only of duties of employment relating to the purposes for which the Executive has engaged that person.

F105[(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), F104[the Board shall] issue codes of conduct for the guidance of persons referred to in that subsection and may issue different codes in respect of different classes of such persons.]

(4) A code of conduct issued under this section for the guidance of persons referred to in subsection (3) must indicate the standards of integrity and conduct to be maintained by them in performing their functions under this or any other enactment.

(5) A person to whom such a code of conduct relates is required to have regard to and be guided by the code in performing the person's functions under this or any other enactment.

(6) The terms and conditions on which a person is employed by the Executive or by a person referred to in F105[subsection (1)(d)] or on which a person is engaged by the Executive as an adviser, as the case may be, are deemed to include any requirements that apply to that person under subsection (5).

(7) Subject to subsection (8), the Executive shall as soon as practicable after issuing a code of conduct make the code available to the persons for whose guidance it was issued.

(8) A code of conduct for the guidance of employees of a person engaged by the Executive as an adviser shall be issued by the Executive to the employer and be made available by the employer to those employees.

(9) A document purporting to be a code of conduct issued under this section is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be taken to be such code and is admissible in any proceedings before a court or other tribunal.

(10) Any provision of such code that appears to the court or other tribunal to be relevant to a question in the proceedings may be taken into account by it in determining the question.