Code of Ethics

The Governing Counsel of PRAU has after consultation with national ethical values and norms venerated the code of conduct of the PR profession and shall be enforced the day the AGM will have it adopted.

The Major objectives of the PRAU code of Conduct are:

1. For members of PRAU to identify with a conduct of hausarbeit schreiben lassen in accordance with the generally accepted moral, ethical and legal norms of modern and dynamic society.
2. For members of PRAU to develop moral values, maintain and strengthen public confidence in their PR profession.

This code has been developed in consultation, in direct reference to and accordance with the essence the Code of Professional Conduct adopted by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) and the Code of Ethics of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR).

In addition to the registered members of PRAU, this Code extends to, the natural and legal persons engaged in public relations activities in public and private organizations in Uganda as well as those who voluntarily submit to the provisions of the Code.

In line with the PRAU constitution, members shall be compelled to comply with the standards of international public relations organizations and the provisions of the Code. We recommend that all organizations who carry out public relations activities in all fronts adopt it.

Unless otherwise provided in the Code, the interpretation of each term of this code of conduct shall be governed by ghostwriting kosten and interpretations of the PRAU constitution and relevant Information and Communications Act in the laws of the Republic of Uganda.

Members of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations agree to:

1. Maintain the highest standards of professional endeavor, integrity, confidentiality, financial

Propriety and personal conduct.

1.  Deal honestly and fairly with all stakeholders including fellow professionals, other professions and the general public.
2.  Respect, in their dealings with other people, the legal and regulatory frameworks and codes of all countries where they practice public relations.
3. Uphold the reputation of, and do nothing that would bring into disrepute, the public relations profession or PRAU as an association and International affiliate.
4. Respect and abide by this Code and related Notes of Guidance issued by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and ensure that others who are accountable to them (e.g. subordinates and sub-contractors) do the same.
5. Encourage professional training and development among members of the profession in order to raise and maintain professional standards putting the PRAU principles into practice.
6. The good PRAU practices include: Integrity, honesty, fairness, transparency, empathy and compassion.

1. Practicing members must ensure that clients, employers, employees, colleagues and fellow professionals are fully informed about the nature of representation, what can be delivered and achieved, and what other parties must do in order to enable the desired result.
2. Never deliberately concealing the practitioner’s role as representative of a client or employer, even if the client or employer remains anonymous: e.g. by promoting a cause in the guise of a disinterested party or member of the public.
3. Checking the reliability and accuracy of information before dissemination.
4. Supporting upholding the PRAU Principles by bringing to the attention of the PRAU governing counsel examples of malpractice and unprofessional conduct.

1. Delivering work competently by ensuring timely, cost-effective, appropriate and thoughtful manners, according to the actual or implied contract using professional judgement and experience.
2. Taking necessary steps to resolve communication problems and ensuring that clients and other interested parties are informed, advised and consulted as is necessary.
3. Being aware of the limitations of professional capacity and capability without limiting realistic scope for development, being willing to accept or delegate only that work for which practitioners are suitably skilled and experienced and which they have the resources to undertake.
4. Where appropriate, collaborating on projects to ensure the necessary skill base. Transparency and avoiding conflicts of interest
5. Declaring conflicts of interest and disclosing to employers, clients or potential clients any financial interest in a supplier being recommended or engaged.

1. Safeguarding confidences, e.g. of present and former clients and employers.
2. Never using confidential and ‘insider’ information to the disadvantage or prejudice of others, e.g. clients and employers, or to self-advantage of any kind.
3. Not disclosing confidential information unless specific permission has been granted or if required or covered by law.

1. 1. In the interpretation of the PRAU code of conduct, the Laws of the Republic Of Uganda shall apply as well as the constitution of The Public Relations Association of Uganda and relevant Information and Communications Acts.
   2. Where doubts in interpretation arise, the legal representative of PRAU and th governing counsel shall be consulted.

1. PRAU Members are encouraged to raise and maintain their own professional standards by, identifying and closing professional skills gaps by taking advantage of the available professional Development programs.
2.  Members must respect the rules and principles of the communication of other professions, insofar as they are compatible with the professional and ethical norms of the PR profession. In the event of a content conflict, stricter standards are justified.
3.  Members should be cooperative in ensuring that the Code is observed and adhered to with ken interest in special interest groups, training and networking events.
4.  Members shall evaluate practices of the association through use of recognized tools and other quality management and quality assurance systems (e.g. ISO standards).
5.  Members shall constantly strive to improve the quality of business performances by exchanging information on good practices.
6. Members shall raise the professional standards of other public relations practitioners to the level of CIPR, APRA by offering work experience to students interested in pursuing a career in public relations and encouraging colleagues to join and support the association.

Members of PRAU shall participate in the work of the association through direct or indirect participation with committees and relevant activities and ensure the following:

•  Not intentionally damage the professional reputation of the other colleague or competing organization.
• Not seek to deprive any other members of their mandate or create intentional disadvantage for the other party.
• Not engage in any activity that would undermine the independence of the media and the freedom and impartiality of journalists or other professionals.
• Not directly or indirectly, give or promise an undue advantage or offer of undue advantage directly or indirectly (with the assistance of another person) to members of the media, any public authority, body or individual in order to obtain unfair influence.
• Not engage in manipulative or covert communication activities. Content based on a commercial agreement should be marked as paid content. More specifically, promotional nature of the content should be clear and obvious to all recipients. This also applies to content that appears on social media channels that is not related to advertising. In the case of content placed on each media channel, the real author (e.g their real name) must be clearly indicated, without the use of a pseudonym. Authors must take responsibility for their own communications so that recipients can identify them.

1) If a natural or legal person experiences unethical conduct in the course of          another party’s public relations activities, it may make a written oral report        to the GOVERNING COUNSEL (GC).

• The oral notification shall be recorded in writing by a member of the GC and sent to the notifier, and shall be deemed to have been notified only with the confirmation of the notifier.
• The cases submitted to the GC, shall be confidential until after the ethical procedures are completed.

2). Following the notification, the GC may initiate an ethical procedure.

• The GC must take a decision on the initiation of the ethics procedure within 30 days. The decision to initiate the ethical procedure does not require the convening of the GC, the decision can also be made by remote voting.
• The GC shall inform the notifier and the notified person in writing of the initiation of the ethical procedure.
• If a decision is taken to initiate an ethics procedure, the procedure must be conducted by the GC within a 60 days.
• The GC may stay the proceedings pending the receipt of the information and documents necessary for the decision. In that case, the time limits shall be extended by the period of suspension.
• The GC maintains a protocol on ethical procedures and disciplinary committee members are required to maintain ethical procedures in strict confidence. The GC shall keep the documents relating to the proceedings and ensure that they are not disclosed to third parties during or after the proceedings.

3). In proceedings instituted in ethical matters concerning members of the              association, the GC shall be entitled to:

• The decision on whether to hear the people in person or virtually or in writing.
• To base judgement and inform its position based on the available data.
• To do own investigations and request information related to the case from the persons concerned or from third parties.

4).The GC may issue the following orders in ethical proceedings:

• May dismiss the case by order if the GC and Disciplinary committee has no jurisdiction to prosecute.
• Close the case if the applicant withdraws the application.

5).The GC shall in all cases communicate the orders to the parties concerned,         together with the reasons for the action taken.

• The Disciplinary committee guided by the GC may formulate a resolution and classify the activity (ies) considered as ethical or unethical. In such cases:
• The resolution is of general application, without naming the persons involved in the case, will be published by the secretariat, with the resolutions with a detailed description of the unethical activity on the website of the MPRSZ in order to provide guidelines in principle.
• It may issue a decision classifying the activity in question as ethical or unethical. The GC shall send its decisions to the parties concerned in writing, together with a detailed statement of reasons.
• The GC makes its decisions in ethical procedures by a simple majority.
• If the GC finds an ethical violation, the GC shall identify the perpetrator of the ethical violation, the warnings in writing and calls for an end to the act.
• Disgruntled parties may lodge an appeal against the disciplined committee decisions within the 30 days of receipt of the decision.
• The decision of the committee after reviewed the GC may be reviewed by an independent selected committee chosen by both parties involved.
• In all cases the principle of Simple Majority will hold.