Mandate

The Committee is to devise procedures and guidelines for responding to the various ethical problems that arise and are presented to the IPA. These issues may be sent directly to the Committee on Ethics, or to the President, who may refer them to the Committee for their advice. Ethical problems that come to IPA attention may arise from several sources. A patient, a candidate, a Society member or training analyst may contact the IPA directly asking for action or help with a variety of problems. The Committee should consider what categories of complaints and of sources of complaints there might be, and then the Committee should prepare guidelines for procedures to follow for these various situations. Once these guidelines and procedures have been agreed upon, modified as needed and approved by the Executive Council, they then become part of the IPA Procedural Code. The Committee on Ethics will likely play a continuing role in some, if not all, of these procedures.

The Committee is to serve as an advisory body on ethics to the Board, and to other groups and committees in the IPA, including Site Visit Committees, and to other committees or commissions working with new groups. It will also serve as an advisory body on ethics to IPA component Societies who may wish to consult the Committee with regard to local ethical problems about which the Society may wish to confer with colleagues outside the Society's membership.

The Committee on Ethics will report to the Board at each Board meeting regarding the status of its work and the nature of the problems it confronts.

A rotation system is in place concerning the membership of this Committee which ensures continuity of experience and knowledge through each change of administration. Additionally, (i) term limits for Ethics Committee members will be six years; (ii) the appointment of the Chair and any Co-Chairs will take place in different years; and, (iii) experienced senior people will be considered to serve as consultants to the Committee.

Approved by the Executive Council, August 1st 1997, Barcelona

Amended by the Board, January 2014