CODE OF CONDUCT FOR TAX ADVISORS (1)

Chapter I

General rules



Art. 1

The rules of conduct for tax advisors are based on general moral standards and legal regulations.

The rules of conduct apply to all tax advisors and candidates who are trained to be authorized tax advisors.

Art. 2

Tax advisors are obligated to obey the code of conduct.

Tax advisors shall safeguard the dignity of the profession and ensure its protection.

Art. 3

Tax advisors should be guided by the interests of their clients, respect for their duties related to integrity, dignity and good standards of conduct.

Chapter II

Professional integrity and independence

Art. 4



In carrying out their responsibilities as professionals, tax advisors should act in good faith and to the best of their knowledge, in a responsible manner, exercising due care.


Art. 5

Tax advisors should discharge their professional responsibilities independently. In their decisions, they should be guided only by law and code of conduct. This shall be without prejudice to obligations arising from an employment relationship.

Tax advisors cannot serve as members of the National Examination Board for Tax Advisors while simultaneously participating in any form of training program designed to prepare applicants for the ax advisor examination, either as an organizer or owner or co-owner of the company organizing such training programs.

In particular, tax advisors may not:

render services in a matter in which they were previously involved as an employee of a public administration body or court or as a judge,

take advantage of or invoke any personal relations with tax authorities, public offices, institutions or courts in order to obtain an assignment from a client.

Chapter III

Professional secrecy

Art. 6

Tax advisors shall keep confidential all facts and information received in connection with discharging their professional responsibilities, except for circumstances regulated in separate acts of law.

The confidentiality obligation referred to in Section 1 shall apply to all information received by a tax advisor, in particular information contained in materials fixed in any form.

Tax advisors shall prevent from disclosure or unauthorized usage all information received in connection with their professional responsibilities.

Tax advisors are obligated to apply procedures securing any form of data, including electronic data, from destroying, changing or unauthorized usage.

Art. 7

The obligation to maintain professional secrecy shall not be limited in time and shall continue after the termination of the legal relationship on the basis of which a tax advisor carried out his or her professional responsibilities.

The confidentiality obligation shall also continue after a tax advisor discontinues his or her practice or is deleted from the list of tax advisors.

All documents in documentary, electronic, magnetic or other form, constituting the files of a matter, are protected by professional confidentiality.

The advisors shall require their co-workers and all persons they engage to render professional services to comply with the confidentiality obligation as contemplated in Article 6.1.
Tax advisors cannot call another tax advisor as a witness to cause him or her to disclose information obtained in connection with performing professional duties unless such tax advisor has previously consented to doing so in writing.

Art. 8

If the premises where a tax advisor carries out his or her professional duties or his or her private house is searched, the tax advisor shall be obliged to demand that a representative of the professional self-government body of tax advisors be present during the search.

Chapter IV

Information and advertising

Art. 9

Tax advisors can give out information about the services they render. The information provided should be objective, accurate and balanced, and should not violate aesthetic standards, good standards of conduct or the dignity of the profession.

The information referred to in Section 1 includes, in particular, mail addresses, electronic mail addresses, telephone and facsimile numbers, the number of advisors employed, information on professional practice and academic achievements, publications, information about the practice of a tax advisor or a tax advisory firm, including information about the planned activities, organization or participation in tax, legal, economic and accounting trainings and conferences, except for prohibited advertising.

The presentation of information about a tax advisor or a tax advisory firm, if such information provides an appraisal, is comparative or has elements of encouragement, inducement, promise or guarantee of effectiveness, shall constitute prohibited advertising.

In connection with public presentations or publications of a professional or academic nature, a tax advisor can use the title of tax advisor, give information about his or her professional practice or academic achievements, as well as firms with which the tax advisor is associated or functions which he or she has performed or performs in the professional self-government body of tax advisors.

A tax advisor or a tax advisory firm cannot use any intermediation in advertising if the purpose is to circumvent the ban on advertising.

Chapter V

Conflict of interests



Art. 10

Tax advisors shall not be involved in any matters where there might be a conflict of interests.

A conflict of interests may occur in particular if:

a tax advisor or his tax advisory firm acts as a tax advisor to parties to the same transactions who have conflicting interests, unless the parties accept that in writing,

proceedings of entities represented by a tax advisor are interrelated in such a way that the success of one entity could mean the failure of the other, unless the parties accept that in writing.

There is no conflict of interests only for the reason that a tax advisor or a tax advisory firm renders services to clients who are engaged in competitive businesses, unless he or she has agreed not to render services to competitors of a client.

In the event of a potential or actual conflict of interests, a tax advisor should take measures in order to eliminate the conflict or stop rendering services resulting in the conflict.

Chapter VI

Fees

Art. 11

The principles on which a fee will be charged must be agreed upon before a tax advisor starts to render services. In case of legal help provided by the tax advisor from the public office, the tax advisor is obliged to obey regulations in Article 41a and 41b of the Act of Tax Consultancy.

For evidence purposes, agreements for tax advice should be in writing.

A tax advisor should not enter into an agreement with a client whereby the client agrees to pay a fee only pro rata to the results achieved (pactum de quota litis). Nevertheless agreements providing for an additional success fee are permitted.

If an agreement with a client determines a fee for services rendered as legal aid, a tax advisor cannot accept any fee other than the official fee for legal aid matters.

Chapter VII

Handling a tax matter and return of documentation



Art. 12

A tax advisor should advise his or her client of the progress in the matter and its outcome.

Tax advisors shall be obliged to advise their clients of the appellate measures available to them to appeal decisions ending proceedings at a given level.

Tax advisors can relinquish an appellate remedy only at the request or upon the consent of the client given in writing, if possible.

A tax advisor can renounce an assignment accepted or a power of attorney in such a way that a client is still able to use the legal services of another person. Tax advisors shall advise their clients of the effects of withdrawal of a power of attorney, in particular, regarding the expiry of important deadlines.

A tax advisor should ensure a substitute if he or she is temporarily unable to represent the client.

Art. 13

A tax advisor shall be required to immediately return to a client, at the client's request, the originals of documents belonging to the client if an agreement with that client is terminated.

A tax advisor cannot make the release of documents to a client conditional upon the prior payment of fees by the client. If in connection with the release of documents to a client, it is necessary to make copies for files, as contemplated in separate regulations, the tax advisor shall have the right to claim reimbursement of reasonable expenses.

Chapter VIII

Attitude towards courts, public offices and other institutions

Art. 14

Tax advisors shall comply with the rules applicable to the court, public office or institution before which they act.

Tax advisors should take care to ensure that their behavior does not jeopardize the authority of the court, public office or institution before which they act.

Chapter IX

Relations among tax advisors



Art. 15

Tax advisors shall comply with the rules of loyalty, good conduct towards colleagues and fair competition towards other tax advisors.

Tax advisors should not publicly express negative opinions evaluating the person, work or delivered services of another tax advisor. However, a tax advisor can express his or her views as to the arguments or opinions presented by another tax advisor.

A tax advisor may, at the client's request, give his or her own advice on a matter with respect to which another advisor has already provided advice, without questioning the latter's competencies and skills, but by merely reviewing the arguments presented and the justification of the opinions.

Tax advisors should cooperate to ensure the compliance by members of the Chamber with the Code of Conduct and with the dignity of the profession and shall have the right to make a note, not publicly if possible, of the fact to the authorities of the professional self-government body or to another tax advisor who is not complying with those rules.

A tax advisor can comment on actions or omissions of the professional self-government body. The comments addressed to the authorities of that body should be “to the point”, suggesting other solutions to the problem or other forms of action.

Complaints about other tax advisors and irregularities discovered in their performance of professional responsibilities should be addressed by a tax advisor only to the proper authorities of the professional self-government body, with a copy to the tax advisor to whom the complaint relates.

Chapter X

Disciplinary liability



Art. 16

Tax advisors shall be subject to disciplinary liability for any breach of the Code of Conduct.

Tax advisors are obliged to notify their employer of disciplinary, penal or fiscal-penal proceedings initiated or pending against them in connection with their profession.

If a tax advisor id finally and unconditionally sentenced for a crime in a penal or fiscal-penal matter, the Disciplinary Officer or his or her deputy shall initiate an investigation.



1) This consolidated code of conduct for tax advisors is an attachment to the resolution no. 28/2006 of the Second National Convention of Tax Advisors held on 22 January 2006 on the regulations of the code of conduct for tax advisors and includes amendment implemented with the resolution no. 22/2007 of the Second Extraordinary National Convention of Tax Advisors held on 3 June 2007 on the amendment to the resolution no. 28/2006 of the Second National Convention of Tax Advisors held on 22 January 2006 on the regulations of the code of conduct for tax advisors.