What is fair play prize at Giro d'Italia?

Question

I've read that at Giro there is a Fair play prize. It is one of the minor classifications.

It is mentioned, for example, in the Wikipedia article on this year's Giro. However, not much details are given there and information about minor classification is marked as "citation needed". (Here is link to the current revision if that article. It says that: Teams also take part in the Fair Play classification where teams are given penalty points for minor technical infringements.)

I would like to find out more about this award. Based on which criteria are points in this classification given?

Are there similar awards in other Grand Tours (or other stage races)?

Answer 1

The rules of the fairplay prize are here on pages 19-20: http://www.gazzetta.it/Giroditalia/2014/download/Regolamento_Ing.pdf

Basically the standings reflect how unfair your team was during the race. The lesser points, the better.

Answer 2

I will copy the relevant part from http://www.gazzetta.it/Giroditalia/2014/download/Regolamento_Ing.pdf (link given in Piet_Agoras' answer), so that the information here is not dependent on an outside source:

«MULTIPOWER» FAIR PLAY PRIZE The Giro Direction, deriving inspiration from the principle of reciprocal fair play in sporting events, fostered and promoted by Panathlon International, intends to emphasize the riders’ behavior thus awarding a prize to the team that have proven to have better complied with the applicable regulations.

Therefore, the violations set forth in the disciplinary rules have been grouped in seven categories and penalties have been ascribed thereof. The violations – along with their relative points given to the team on a daily basis – have been identified as follows:

---------------------------------------------------
| Violations                 | points             |
--------------------------------------------------- 
| Warning                    | 0.5                |
| Fines                      | 1 per CHF 10       |
| Time penalty               | 2 per each second  |
| Downgrading (rider)        | 100                |
| Downgrading (team car)     | 100                |
| Disqualification           | 1000               |
| Positive doping test       | 2000               |
--------------------------------------------------- 

Such penalties, imposed to riders, Sports Directors or other members of that same Team officially accredited, as well as fines directly imposed to the Team shall be summed and will represent the score which will determine the general classification.

The team which will have totalized the lower score will be the winner of the " FAIR PLAY PRIZE”.

In the event of a tie, the separation for the placing is the ranking in the general classification of the team’s best rider.

The following prizes will be awarded at the end of the Giro:
1st team: 5000 EUR
2nd team: 3000 EUR
3rd team: 2000 EUR
total: 10000 EUR

Answer 3

I believe fair-play prizes started with a big push after the 1960 Olympics when Knud Jensen died from excessive performance enhancements.

To counter the perception generally in sport, an International Fair-Play Committee was created.

However each individual event will have it's own verbiage as to the purpose and criteria for giving out such a token award. For example:

"A fair-play prize will be given to the athlete who will distinguish himself by his availability, sportiness and unselfishness." - (Via - here)