All Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) promise to:

1. Uphold the profession’s reputation for honesty, competence, and confidentiality.
2. Give clients the most current and accurate information possible within the budget and time frames provided by the clients.
3. Help clients understand the sources of information used and the degree of reliability which can be expected from those sources.
4. Accept only those projects which are legal and are not detrimental to our profession.
5. Respect client confidentiality.
6. Recognize intellectual property rights.
7. Respect licensing agreements and other contracts.
8. Explain to clients what their obligations might be with regard to intellectual property rights and licensing agreements.
9. Maintain a professional relationship with libraries and comply with all their rules of access.
10. Assume responsibility for employees’ compliance with this code.

 

 
Association of Internet Research Specialists (AIRS) – Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for Members

The purpose of this Code of Professional Conduct (the ‘Code’) is to identify those professional obligations that serve to protect the public in general, the client in particular, and the reputation of the profession of Certified Internet Research Specialist (the ‘CIRS”). The Code also clearly identifies each of the Associations expectations of its Members with respect to the Profession.

1. AIRS Members will be regulated by the terms of this Code and acknowledge that a breach of this Code may lead to disciplinary action, as set out in the By-laws of AIRS.
2. AIRS Members shall ensure that their behavior is consistent with and reinforces a positive public image of the Profession.
3. AIRS Members shall ensure that their activities will not conflict or be seen to conflict with their integrity, objectivity, or independence.
4. AIRS Members shall ensure that their physical and emotional state is consistent with the requirements of client work, particularly when developing or providing professional advice.
5. AIRS Members shall ensure that all their business affairs as consultants and otherwise shall comply with all applicable legislation and laws, as well as this Code.
6. All AIRS Members shall abide by and comply with all applicable legislation of the law and cannot and will not coerce, instigate, incite or in any way cause any person or persons to contravene any applicable legislation or laws at any time.
7. No member will present themselves on behalf of the AIRS to cause or imply their membership as means of representation or representative of AIRS.
8. All members will apply a “Duty of Due Care” as implied by the law and in accordance within By-laws and Charter of the AIRS in performing their professional duties.
9. No Member will act on behalf of AIRS as an AGENT.
10. The public has the right to have confidence in AIRS Members (individually and collectively) and, therefore, any actions of the AIRS Member that jeopardize such trust will be considered “acting in a manner unbecoming to the AIRS Member Community,” including:
    1. A violation of any applicable legislation or laws.
    2. A breach of this Code; and/or
    3. Any actions inside or outside of the context of the Internet Research Profession that may be perceived to be, detrimental and damaging to the Profession.
    4. AIRS Members who breach this Code shall be liable for suspension or expulsion from membership in AIRS or may be liable for any other penalties, in accordance with the terms of the disciplinary procedures of the Association.
11. AIRS Members shall maintain their knowledge and understanding of this Code and the Common Body of Knowledge as an Internet Researcher that is expected to have been gained through continuous studies and knowledge gathering either through certification from AIRS or through self-study and experience.
12. AIRS Members shall develop their skills and knowledge beyond the fundamentals described in the Common Body of Knowledge/CIRS Training Manual/Other Documents, particularly in their area(s) of preferred practice, to a level that is consistent with the needs of their clients and comparable to the services provided by other consultants in the same field.
13. All Members of AIRS will conduct themselves with utmost professionalism and maintain highest standards as expected by the AIRS under its Code of conduct and By-laws in accordance with its Charter.
14. All and any Member of the AIRS will freely report any known misconduct or unprofessional behavior to the Association.
15. All Members shall ensure that any and all Internet Research Specialists, who work under their assignments understand and comply with this Code will be responsible for any breach of this Code reported to their AIRS with respect to any Member of his or her team and will be liable to same actions and consequences that would apply if the Member alone failed to comply with the Code where it is determined that the Member was aware, or should have been aware, of the breach.
16. AIRS Members should not review work of another AIRS Member’s work if they in the case where there exists a conflict of interest in relation to their client and follow proper protocol under the By-laws of AIRS if such review is to be done.
17. The AIRS Member will look after the interest of the client on priority as long as it does not contravene any laws.
18. At all times AIRS Member will keep in view the confidentiality and interest of the client as a priority.
19. AIRS Members shall provide objective and independent advice and maintain objectivity and independence without external influence while conducting research work for their clients.
20. AIRS Members shall not guarantee qualitative or quantitative results that are not independently derived or constructed based on factors beyond their direct control.
21. All researched results for the clients will have to be properly referenced and the resource should be disclosed.
22. AIRS Members will respect any patented, copyrights, intellectual property of others and provide proper disclosure and where necessary obtain permission to use of such data/information in their research if it requires non-infringements and proper permissions of the author or researched data/information.
23. AIRS Members are obligated to identify and disclose any risks associated with such information obtained during the research for the client that may have a material impact on results, inferences and decision making of the client.
24. AIRS Members will not intentionally jeopardize, criticize or discredit work of the other members without cause or with the intent to cause harm and hijack the business of other members.
25. AIRS Members that falsely represents themselves as qualified Internet researchers without proper qualifications as determined by the AIRS Board of Directors at any time can cancel the membership and permanently ban the name of the Member from their database.
26. AIRS Members can be banned from their Membership if any false or misleading information regarding their experience and education is found at any time.
27. All Fees charged to the AIRS Member’s clients will have to be reasonable under the norms of the market trends and within reason of the nature and amount of research work conducted.
28. It is recommended that AIRS Members sign a “Retainers Agreement” with their clients and maintain proper books of accounts as expected within norms of the generally accepted accounting practices and within the framework of GAAP/IFRCS.
29. It is recommended that AIRS Members apply proper taxation in all aspects of the business transactions.
30. It is recommended that AIRS Members maintain proper Audit Trail of documents such as Estimates, Bills, Invoices, Receipt Books, Trust Accounts, Bank Books, and Petty cash, Keep record of all Bank Statements, Journals and Other Transaction Journals.
31. AIRS Members will have to confirm and disclose to the client in writing the estimates and billing arrangements related to professional fees, expenses, disbursements, and applicable taxes.
32. Should the terms of reference change during the course of the assignment, Certified Members shall ensure that any corresponding impact on fees, expenses, disbursements, taxes, or billing arrangements are communicated to the client and agreed to in writing.
33. Certified Members shall not permit for budget or time management purposes, a reduction in consulting time or in senior consulting involvement in an assignment if, as a result, the quality of service will be below that is described in the terms of reference.
34. AIRS Member will not create conflict of interest situation with any of Members client and maintain confidentiality and credibility of the profession as AIRS Member.
35. AIRS Member will sign a confidentiality and non-disclosure document with their client and where such document is not provided by the client the AIRS Member will provide one and duly sign the document and provide a copy to the client.
36. AIRS Members shall store confidential client information and third party personal information in accordance with the policies of the client and, in any event, in such a fashion that through diligence and normally accepted administrative practices, it is possible to safeguard the information at all times.
37. After the termination of contract or delivering the research assignment the AIRS Member will return any data or document belonging to the client immediately. The Member will not withhold or hold hostage the client for the documents and information confidential or not as a bargaining chip to recover amount owed by the client to the Member.
38. The rules pertaining to confidential client information shall not apply to compliance with a validly issued and enforceable subpoena and summons as long as disclosure of the information is not in violation of applicable legislation and laws.