IPRA CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS

The following Code of Conduct was adopted by the International Public Relations Association at its general assembly in Venice, May 1961 and is binding on all members of the association.

IPRA code of professional conduct

A. Personal and Professional Integrity

1. It is understood that, by personal integrity is meant the maintenance of both high moral standards and a sound reputation. By professional integrity is meant observance of the constitution, rules, and particularly, the Code as adopted by IPRA.

B. Conduct towards Clients and Employers.

1. A member has a general duty of fair dealing towards his clients or employers, past and present.

2. A member shall not represent conflicting or competing interests without the express consent of those concerned.

3. A member shall safeguard the confidence of both present and former clients or employers.

4. A member shall not employ methods tending to be derogatory of another member’s client or employer.

5. In performing services for a client or employer, a member shall not accept fees, commissions or any other valuable consideration in connection with those services from anyone other than his client or employer without the express consent of his client or employer, given after a full disclosure of the facts.

6. A member shall not propose to a prospective client or employer that his fee or other compensation be contingent on the achievement of certain results; nor shall he enter into any agreement to the same effect.

C. Conduct towards the Public and the Media.

1. A member shall conduct his professional activities in accordance with the public interest, and with full respect for the dignity of the individual.

2. A member shall not engage in any practice which tends to corrupt the integrity of channels of public communication.

3. A member shall not intentionally disseminate false or misleading information.

4. A member shall, at all times, seek to give a balanced and faithful representation of the organisation to serve some announced cause, but actually to serve an undisclosed special or private interest of a member or his client or his employer, nor shall he make use of it or any such existing organisation.

D. Conduct towards colleagues.

1. A member shall not intentionally injure the professional reputation or practice of another member. However, if a member has evidence that another member has been guilty of unethical, illegal or unfair practices in violation of this Code, he shall present the information to the Council of IPRA.

2. A member shall not seek to supplant another member with his employer or client.

3. A member shall cooperate with fellow members in upholding and enforcing this Code.

CODE OF ATHENS

IPRA members are also required to abide by the code of ethics, known as the Code of Athens as the IPRA General Assembly adopted it in Athens in May 1965. It was modified slightly in Tehran in April 1968. (The Code of Athens was also adopted by CERP in 1965).

This Code obliges every IPRA member to observe a strict moral code.

Each member shall endeavour:

1. To contribute to the achievement of the moral and cultural conditions enabling human beings to reach their full stature and enjoy the indefeasible rights to which they are entitled under the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’.

2. To establish communications patterns and channels which, foster the free flow of essential information, which make each member in the society in which he lives feel that he is being kept informed, and also gives him an awareness of his own personal involvement and responsibility, and of his solidarity with other members.

3. To bear in mind that because of the relationship between his profession and the public, his conduct- even in private- will have an impact on the way in which the profession as a whole is appraised.

4. To respect, in the course of his professional duties, the moral principles and the rule of the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’

5. To pay due regards to, and uphold, human dignity, and to recognise the right of each individual to judge for himself.

6. To encourage the moral, psychological and intellectual conditions for dialogue in its true sense, and to recognise the right of these parties involved to state their case and express their views.

Shall undertake:

7. To conduct himself always and in all circumstances in such a manner as to deserve and secure the confidence of those with whom he comes into contact.

8. To act, in all circumstances, in such a manner as to take account of the respective interests of the parties involved: both the interests of the organisation which he serves and the interests of the publics concerned.

9. To carry out his duties with integrity, avoiding language likely to lead to ambiguity or misunderstanding and to maintain loyalty to his clients or employers, whether past or present.

Shall refrain from

10. Subordinating the truth to other requirements.

11. Circulating information which is not based on established and ascertainable facts.

12. Taking part in any venture or undertaking which is unethical or dishonest or capable of impairing human dignity and integrity.

13. Using any ‘manipulative’ methods or techniques designed to create subconscious motivations which the individual cannot control of his own free will and so cannot be held accountable for the action taken on them.

Most national public relations associations have adopted codes of professional conduct which must be observed by their members. The Code of Professional Conduct of the Institute of Public Relations, which was adopted on 31 December 1963, is typical of these codes.