WORKING PRINCIPLES OF THE ETHICS COMMISSION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF ESTONIAN PROFESSIONAL ARCHITECTS
1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1.1 The purpose of the ethics committee of the Estonian Professional Constellation Association (hereinafter EPKA) is to provide as objective an assessment as possible to the cases presented in digitally signed written statements; in addition, formation of ethical attitudes of members, counseling
in matters of ethics and helping to find solutions.
1.2 This Code of Conduct stipulates the formation of the EPKA ethics committee (hereinafter the committee), the working procedure, the competence, rights and responsibilities of the members of the committee,
1.3 The committee bases its work on EPKA’s statutes, code of ethics and current legislation of the Republic of Estonia. The committee treats all members of EPKA on an equal basis and is not biased in handling and solving problems.

2. FORMATION AND COMPOSITION OF THE ETHICS COMMISSION
2.1 The members of the committee are elected by the general meeting and the member is confirmed for three years. The ethics committee consists of three to five members.
2.2 Every active member of EPKA who wants to develop activities in line with the goals of the ethics committee can apply for the status of candidate member of the committee.
2.3 At the end of the working period of a committee member, the committee informs the board and the board organizes the election of a new member at the general meeting.
2.4 The committee has the right to invite temporary additional members, who are active members of EPKA, to solve specific cases, if necessary (e.g. resignation of a member). The rights and obligations of a member of the ethics committee extend to temporary additional members within the limits of the discussion of a specific case.
2.5 The working form of the Ethics Committee is a meeting, where the chairman and recorder of the meeting are elected

3. PRINCIPLES OF APPLICATION PROCEDURE
3.1 In order for the case to be processed, the applicant must submit a digitally signed statement to the ethics committee with a description of the problem. Cases related to the professional activities of EPKA members, which damage EPKA’s reputation and are not in accordance with EPKA’s statutes and code of ethics, will be processed.
3.2 The first meeting of the Ethics Committee takes place within two weeks from the date of receipt of the application.
3.3 The Ethics Committee’s assessment and decision to solve the problem takes place when at least three members of the Ethics Committee take part in the meeting.
3.4 When resolving a complaint, the Ethics Committee gives the parties the opportunity to express their opinion orally or in writing. A written assessment and decision on the case will be communicated to all parties no later than two months after the submission of the application.
3.5 The members of the Ethics Committee are obliged to adhere to the requirement not to share information about the case
information to parties unrelated to the given case, except when it is required by law and there is a need to involve third parties to process the case.
3.6 A member of the Ethics Committee may not participate in the assessment and must withdraw if he or she has a conflict of interest that may raise doubts about his or her impartiality. A conflict of interest may be related to, for example, the following cases:
3.6.1 the commission member’s involvement with the case and/or its parties;
3.6.2 the committee member’s kinship or some other form of close relationship with the petitioner;
3.6.3 personal or other interest of a committee member in evaluating the applicant’s problem solution, which would affect the final result.
3.7 The ethics committee reports on the committee’s activities once a year, presenting an overview of the number of appeals and the main reasons at the last general meeting of the association.

4. COMPETENCE, RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE ETHICS COMMISSION
4.1 The competence of the committee is to assess the professional conduct of EPKA constables based on the code of ethics. The ethics committee has the right to give an opinion on media approaches concerning the field of constellation.
4.2 In order to achieve the purpose of its activities, the committee has the right to:
4.2.1 ask for oral and written explanations of the circumstances:
4.2.2 get acquainted with all materials relevant to the case;
4.2.3 process received complaints;
4.2.4 to make proposals to the EPKA board for the application of means of influence or support to the member, including exclusion from the EPKA membership.
5. STORAGE OF ETHICS COMMISSION DOCUMENTS
5.1 Working documents, written evaluations and decisions related to the case of the Ethics Commission are signed and stored in the official EPKA virtual folder for up to three years, which can only be accessed by the EPKA board and the members of the Ethics Commission and the participants in the proceedings.
5.2 Opinions and objections submitted to the media are published in full on EPKA’s website.

The ethics committee includes: Kristel Rannamees, Janno Perv and Heidi Rätsep (elected at the general meeting on 27.03.2023).