Legal, Compliance, and Risk

Humanitarian technology and sustainable development projects, due to their real world nature, may involve a certain amount of risk. It is imperative that potential risks are acknowledged and mitigated wherever possible. IEEE has taken steps to mitigate several of these risks. While not a comprehensive list of risks or mitigation strategies, please review the following carefully:

• Projects MUST comply with all national/federal, state/provincial, and local laws, guidelines, safety codes, and restrictions.
• IEEE is subject to the full range of U.S. economic sanctions and export control laws and as such IEEE may not be able to provide certain services to certain designated countries or entities or individuals from those countries or entities. A more detailed description of OFAC, economic sanctions and embargoes applicable to IEEE can be found at https://legal.ieee.org/compliance/ofac.
• All projects that involve children must follow IEEE Guidelines for Working with Children. Any project funding will be contingent on policy compliance.
• In the event the project collects, uses, processes, or otherwise involves the personal data of any individual, the grantee agrees that they shall, to the maximum extent possible, respect the privacy of those individuals. Grantee will comply with all applicable data privacy laws or regulations.
• All projects considered for funding will be shared with the IEEE Office of Risk and Insurance Management Services (ORIMS) and, in some cases, the IEEE Legal & Compliance Department, for their review prior to final decision.
• Projects must avoid any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest. Project teams must abide by the IEEE Principles of Business Conduct. For more information on what should be disclosed and how to avoid conflicts of interest, see the HTB website.
• Projects selected must agree to the HTB Intellectual Property Policy as a condition of funding.
• Legal agreements between IEEE and external entities must be vetted by IEEE Legal prior to signing.
• Funds will not be disbursed to individuals or external organizations. All funds must flow through a local IEEE OU - generally the local Chapter or Section. Any funds that are not used according to the approved budget will be returned to IEEE ComSoc & HTB.
• Please note that, depending on the nature of a project, additional review may be required at any stage of the project.