SAMRA ETHICS COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
1. PROCEDURE
a. Complaints to the SAMRA Professional Practice Committee
i) Any interested party wishing to make a complaint (hereinafter called the Complainant) in terms of this Code, must submit a written complaint to the Chairman of the SAMRA PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE COMMITTEE. The complainant shall be provided with a copy of the Code of Conduct. The complaint must take the form of a written statement and must contain full particulars of the complaint, copies of all relevant correspondence, the names and addresses of any witnesses if applicable and any other evidence, including affidavits in support of the complaint.
ii) The Chairman shall submit a copy of the complainant’s statement to the Respondent.* The Respondent shall within fourteen days of receipt of such statement submit a written statement to the Chairman which shall set out fully his defence to the complaint together with reference to supporting evidence where necessary, including the names and addresses of witnesses, if applicable. The Chairman shall submit a copy of the Respondent’s statement and supporting documents to the complainant.
iii) The Chairman shall determine a date, time and venue for the hearing of the complaint.
iv) The Chairman may, if satisfied that no injustice will result, extend any time period contemplated in these rules.
v) The Chairman shall notify the complainant and the Respondent of the date, time and venue of the hearing at which the complaint shall be adjudicated upon.
vi) The complainant and the Respondent shall both appear personally at the hearing of the complaint and shall be permitted to give oral evidence and call witnesses.
vii) The complainant and the Respondent shall not be entitled to legal representation at the hearing.
viii) Any party who gives oral evidence may be cross-examined and questioned by members of the committee and re-examined in accordance with the procedure ordinarily applied in South African Courts of Law.
ix) Any party giving evidence shall take an oath or make affirmation.
x) All oral evidence shall be recorded.
xi) After all the evidence has been given, both parties shall be entitled to address the committee in the order determined by the Chairman.
b. Report of the SAMRA Professional Practice Committee
i) After the hearing has been completed, the Professional Practice Committee shall draw its conclusion and prepare a report on its finding and recommendation. Copies of the report shall then be sent to the complainant and the Respondent and they shall be informed that they have the right to appeal in writing within fourteen days against the finding and recommendation of the Professional Practice Committee. If no appeal is received, the finding and recommendation of the Professional Practice Committee shall be conveyed to the Council and a summary thereof shall be published in the SAMRA newsletter.
c. Appeal
i) If an appeal is received, the SAMRA Professional Practice Committee shall within fourteen days furnish the Appeal Committee with a copy of the entire record of the complaint proceedings, including the written statements, correspondence, the recorded oral evidence, the written evidence and report.
ii) The Appeal Committee shall consist of a judge (who will be an experienced member of the legal profession) and two co-opted assessors who shall be members of SAMRA. The assessors, who shall not be members of the Professional Practice Committee nor the Council, shall be appointed by the Council. The assessors shall not have a vote and shall simply advise the judge.
iii) The appeal shall take place within thirty days of receipt by the Appeal Committee of the documents referred to in sub-paragraph i) above.
iv) The judge shall review the evidence and make a decision. If he requires oral evidence, he may call on the parties and/or their witnesses to appear before him. If he does, the parties shall not be entitled to legal representation and evidence shall be given on oath or affirmation. The judge’s finding and recommendation shall be communicated to all parties involved in the dispute and to the Council. There shall be no further right of appeal.
v) The costs involved in securing and paying for the judge shall be borne by the person losing the appeal. A complainant shall not be permitted to lodge an appeal until he/she agrees in writing to pay the costs of the appeal in the event of him/her losing.
vi) A summary of the finding and recommendation of the judge shall be conveyed to members in the SAMRA newsletter, and by the press to the general public.
vii) SAMRA shall indemnify the members of the Appeal Committee against any claims which may be brought against them as a result of a decision handed down by the Appeal Committee.
d. Adoption of Recommendation
i) The SAMRA Council shall have the sole right to decide, after considering the report of the Professional Practice Committee and/or the Appeal Committee, whether or not to implement the recommendation, including a recommendation to withdraw membership of any member. There shall be no right of appeal against such a decision.
2. COMMITTEES
(a) The interpretation of the Code of Conduct is vested in the Professional Practice Committee and the Appeal Judge. Nevertheless, their performance of this task is supervised by the SAMRA Council.
(b) At a meeting of the SAMRA Council following the Annual General Meeting, a Professional Practice Committee Chairman, who is a member of Council, will be appointed by The Chairman of the SAMRA Council.
(c) The Professional Practice Committee Chairman will then elect 2 members who will serve on the Professional Practice Committee.
(d) When a dispute is brought to Council for adjudication the Chairman of the Professional Practice Committee will co-opt up to 3 additional members who have special knowledge pertaining to the case in question.
(e) Should any member(s) of the Professional Practice Committee be considered by the Committee Chairman to be involved either directly or indirectly in any dispute brought to the attention of the Committee, then such member(s) will be asked to stand down.
(f) If the SAMRA Chairman is of the opinion that the Chairman of the Professional Practice Committee is involved in any dispute then he/she will be asked to stand down for the duration of that particular dispute, and a replacement Chairman will be nominated by the SAMRA Chairman. The new Chairman must be a member of the SAMRA Council.
(g) Decisions made by the Professional Practice Committee will be by majority vote. Where an equality of voting occurs, the Chairman of the Professional Practice Committee shall have a casting vote in addition to his/her deliberate vote. The quorum for meetings will be 2/3rds of members in addition to the Chairman.
(h) The interpretation of the Code of Conduct is vested in the Professional Practice Committee, as well as the Appeal Judge. Nevertheless, their performance is supervised by the SAMRA Council.
NOTE:
The term Respondent is used in the legal sense of the word in this section, that is, one who responds to a complaint. In the ICC/ESOMAR Code of Conduct, Respondent is used in the market research sense, that is, one who responds to an interview.