Code of Conduct for FIPRA Professionals
All members of the FIPRA Network are expected to be familiar with, and to comply with the FIPRA Code of Conduct
1.Politicians, authorities, and regulators attempt to reconcile competing interests. The better they understand the issues, the better able they are to reconcile these interests, the better the reconciliation, the better the political process works to the benefit of all.
2. The task of each interest involved is to inform political decision-makers of the relevant issues and to persuade them to accept its judgement of the issues. To do so well, a given interest must be able to distil the nature of its issues and concerns, and communicate them appropriately.
3. The task of the FIPRA government relations consultant is to assist a given interest to put their case appropriately and effectively to public policy makers and regulators. To do so well, a FIPRA government relations consultant must be an expert in the political and institutional process, understand the nature of the issues and concerns of the interest he or she represents, and the time and resource constraints on political and public institutions.
4. Any political institution should welcome such activities because a good government relations professional is a source of accurate and current information, who recognises different points of view, and who, therefore, assists in the reconciliation of different interests.
5. To facilitate the political process, political institutions should ensure:
- reasonable access to those representing any interest, providing the nature of the interest is identified;
- a fair hearing for any interest, where the input is timely, relevant and courteous both to individuals and to the rules of the institution;
- encouragement of government relations activity, where it is based on high standards of research, analysis, presentation and knowledge of the political process.
6. FIPRA consultants must:
- maintain the highest standards of accuracy and care in their research and knowledge provision;
- communicate on an honest and factual basis, including interpreting and analysing events objectively;
- be ready to identify themselves by name and company when approaching any political or public institution;
- be ready to identify the nature of the interest they represent;
- behave in a courteous manner, that is both morally and legally correct;
- act in the best interests of the client, respecting all legal and confidentiality requirements, while reconciling these interests to the greatest possible extent with the public interest;
- work within the rules of the political institutions.
7. All FIPRA staff and Special Advisers are required under their contract terms to operate in line with these principles of honesty, accuracy and transparency.