Government Codes of Ethics

Many federal, state, provincial, and local government agencies and entities have adopted ethics codes. As with the codes used by businesses, these codes can complement the ethics codes of relevant professional societies. A few varied government organization ethics codes are listed here along with the website addresses for access to the codes. Consider reading at least one to further enhance your understanding of and appreciation for the value of codes. The codes and their websites are  

Government ethics codes typically include some highly-restrictive requirements that could be problematic for unaware engineers and other technical professionals. The Valparaiso, IN Ethics Ordinance provides examples of some potentially problematic ethics provisions. Of particular interest are  

Accordingly, when beginning a relationship with a potential or new public client or owner or when considering public service, inquire about the existence of public entity s ethics codes. This advice also applies to your relationship with potential or new private sector clients because, as noted earlier in this chapter, many of them also have adopted ethics codes. 

While their intent is usually worthy, ethics codes ean be very complicated in practice. To illustrate this, consider the above-noted Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government. The code is based on the premise that public service is a public trust. Fourteen general principles apply to every employee and the first principle, for example, is Public service is a public trust, requiring employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws and ethical principles above private gain. The code elaborates on the principles by setting forth many standards and then offering hypothetical examples to explain the applications of the principles and standards. For example, relative to the private gain issue raised in the first principle, the code states  

An employee may accept imsolicited gifts having an aggregate market value of 20 or less per occasion, provided the aggregate market value of individual gifts received from any one person under the authority of this paragraph shall not exceed 50 in a calendar year. 

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