Code Of Athens

CONSIDERING that all Member countries of the United Nations Organisation have agreed to abide by its Charter which reaffirms “its faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human personaly and that having regard to the very nature of the profession, Public Relations practitioners in these countries should undertake to ascertain and observe the principles set out in this Charter:

CONSIDERING that, apart from rights, human beings have not only physical or material needs but also intellectual, moral and social needs, and that their rights are of real benefit to them only insofar as these needs are essentially met;

CONSIDERING that, in the course of their professional duties and depending on how these duties are performed, Public Relations practitioners can substantially help to meet these intellectual, moral and social needs;

And lastly, CONSIDERING that the use of the techniques enabling them to come simultaneously into contact with millions of people gives Public Relations practitioners a power that has to be restrained by the observance of a strict moral code.

On all these grounds, all members of the International Public Relations Association agree to abide by this International Code of Ethics, and that if, in the light of evidence submitted to the Council, a member should be found to have infringed this Code in the course of his/her professional duties, he/she will be deemed to be guilty of serious misconduct calling for an appropriate penalty.

Accordingly, 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, by fostering the free flow of essential information, will make each member of the group feel that he/she is being kept informed, and also give him/her an awareness of his/her own personal involvement and responsibility, and of his/her solidarity with other members;

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

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

SHALL UNDERTAKE

5. To observe in his/her professional duties, the moral principles and rules of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

6. To pay due regard to, and uphold human dignity and to recognise the right of each individual to judge for himself/herself;

7. To establish the moral, psychological and intellectual conditions for dialogue in its true sense, and to recognise the rights of these parties involved to state their case and express their views;

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/she serves and the interests of the publics concerned;

9. To carry out his/her undertakings and commitments which shall always be so worded as to avoid any misunderstanding, and to show loyalty and integrity in all circumstances so as to keep the confidence or his/her clients or employers, past or present, and all of the publics that are affected by his/her actions;

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 or integrity;

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

Author: Lucien Matrat, Member Emeritus (France) Adopted by IPRA General Assembly, Athens, May 1965 and modified at Teheran, April 1968

ICCO
Stockholm Charter

All trade associations affiliated to the ICCO and their member agencies have agreed to conform to the Stockholm Charter. This document was adopted in 2003 and replaced the Rome Charter, originally adopted by ICCO in 1986. The Stockholm Charter lays out a code of professional standards that we hope define our industry. The Charter comprises the following:

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation Professional Charter
Public Relations consultancies are professional service firms who help clients influence opinions, attitudes and behaviour. Along with this influence comes responsibility to our clients, our people, our profession and society at 'large'.

1. Objective counsel and advocacy
PR consultancies may not have interests that might compromise their role as an independent consultant. They should approach their clients with objectivity, in order to help the client adopt the optimum communications strategy and behaviour.

2. Society
An open society, freedom of speech and a free press create the context for the profession of PR. Consultants operate within the scope of this open society. They comply with its rules and they work with clients that share the same approach.

3. Confidentiality
Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a client and a PR consultancy. Information that has been provided in confidence by a client and that is not publicly known should not be shared with other parties without the consent of the client.

4. Integrity of information
PR consultancies should not knowingly mislead an audience about factual information, or about the interests a client represents. Consultancies must make their best efforts to strive for accuracy.

5. Delivering promises
Consultancies must work with clients to establish clear expectations in advance about the output of their efforts. They must define specific goals and then work to deliver on their promises. Consultancies must not offer guarantees which are not supportable, or which compromise the integrity of the channels of communication.

6. Conflicts
Consultancies may represent clients with conflicting interests. Work may not start for a conflicting interest without the current client first being offered the opportunity to exercise the rights under any contract between them and consultancy.

7. Representation
Consultancies may refuse or accept an assignment based on the personal opinions of the firm's management or the organisation's focus.

8. Governance and Business Practices
Public relations consultancies are committed to ethical behaviour and implementation of best business practices in dealing with all audiences.

HELSINKI DECLARATION

Public Relations Organizations

IPRA- International Public Relations Association

CERP- Confederation of Europeenne Des Relations Publiques

ICO- Representatives of Public Relations Consultants Association International Council Representatives have passed the following requirements for quality and quality development in Public Relations Profession at World Public Relations Convention held at Helsinki on 1997:

1. Quality in Public relations can be defined and assessed as the total of all the characteristics and features of public relations services which has the power to meet specified and implied requirements in line with the accepted professional standards.

2. The Public Relations as a profession must be based on a common and wide information foundation, academic studies, researches, ethical principles and performance supervision. These characteristics complement each other and forms the corner of quality concept in the profession.

3. Every Public Relations employee-officers, consultants, teachers, researchers and students have to know the standards established for this profession by the community, clients and professionals. Consequently, all employees and consultants must aim for getting a quality certificate and use systems which shall make standard valuation, performance supervision and quality development permanent.

4. In order to achieve it, the organizations undersigned this document have formed IQPR-International Quality Public Relations Institute to conduct joint studies in the field of quality.

5. Both three organizations have approved and adopted by signing the minimum quality standards in public relations field determined and published by IQPR. These standards which shall continuously be updated must be taken by the Public Relations Employees as the fundamental rules of the profession.

6. This Declaration is the continuation of the cooperation among the organization which began joint recognition of Ethical Principles of 1961 and developed with joint preparation of the outlines of Public Relations Implementation Education in 1980.

7. Ethical principles, all principles and declarations including Venice/Lisbon and Rome Declarations previously accepted by IPRA, CERP and ICO for public relations employees in professional implementation and for the development of the profession shall continue to be in effect.

Helsinki, June 18, 1997

Code Of Venice

Personal and Professional Integrity

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.

Conduct towards Clients and Employers

1. A member has a general duty of fair dealing towards his/her 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 confidences of both present and former clients or employers.

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

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

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

Conduct towards the Public and the Media

1. A member shall conduct his/her professional activities with respect tot he public interest and for the dignity of the individual.

2. A member shall not engage in 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 faithful representation of the organisation which he/she serves.

5. A member shall not create any organisation to serve some announced cause but actually to serve an undisclosed special or private interest of a member or his/her client or employer, nor shall he/she make use of it or any such existing organisation.

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, including practices in violation of this Code, he/she should 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 co-operate with fellow members in upholding and enforcing this Code.

(adopted in Venice May 1961)