AAGRA Code of Conduct

This ‘proposed’ Code of Conduct provides an overview for the interactions and communications between our members, and between our members and their clients.  This  Code should be read in conjunction with AAGRA’s Code of Ethics, which provides an overview of our guidelines for responsible and ethical conduct in relation to genealogical research.

An AAGRA member will:

• Show courtesy and respect in all activities
• Communicate in a clear and courteous manner and not use offensive language; bullying, harassment or discriminatory language;
• Give honest accurate advice, information, reports and charts;
• Clearly show what is reasonably satisfied to be “proven”, “probable” and what cannot be verified and why, including a list of sources checked;
• Give credit to the work of others if content is used in the client’s commission;
• Handle all records with due care and follow rules and instructions of all archival repositories that are accessed;
• Immediately declare any conflict of interest which may affect decisions of the committee;
• Immediately declare any conflict of interest which may affect outcomes towards any client;
• Treat sensitive family history discoveries with care when relaying information;
• Not withhold information relating to client’s instructions/commissions to the client;
• Keep client’s DNA results confidential, unless the client has given permission for sharing of the results to enable completion of the commissioned work;
• Treat information relating to living people responsibly and with sensitivity and according to the law;
• Gain client’s consent before publicly presenting any information of living people, other than that which is already publicly available;
• .Members shall clearly define the ownership and future use of research results in their terms and conditions. They must respect the client’s proprietary interest in the work.
• Only accept commissions that are within their abilities, without discussing the matter with the client;
• Set reasonable deadlines to achieve the outcomes of client’s commissions and communicate these and provide timely updates of any delays;
• Always work within the laws of Australia and New Zealand and in particular . copyright, plagiarism, taxation, and the Australian Consumer Law etc;
• Act in a manner that will not jeopardise the reputation of AAGRA in any way; and
• Co-operate with the Complaints Panel in the investigation of any complaints made against them