Part 7 » Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee

39. Code of Ethics

The Council shall adopt and publish a Code of Ethics for information and communications technology professionals regulated under this Act.

40. Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee

1. There shall be a Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee of the Executive Council comprising the following members:
   1. a Chairperson,
   2. a Vice-Chairperson; and
   3. four information and communications technology professionals in practice for not less than ten years, one member of which shall be from the public practice and one from the corporate membership elected by the members at the annual general meeting of the Association.
2. The Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson shall be elected by the members of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee from among themselves.
3. A person shall not be appointed as a member of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee if the person—
   1. has committed or been convicted of any professional misconduct;
   2. is in lawful custody or the person’s freedom of movement is restricted under any law in force within or outside Zambia;
   3. has not been on the Register for at least ten years preceding the election or appointment; or
   4. has been convicted of an offence involving dishonesty.
4. A member of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall hold office for three years and may be re-elected for a further term of three years.
5. A member of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall not serve for more than two terms.
6. The Chairperson, or in the absence of the Chairperson, the Vice-Chairperson, shall preside at every meeting and every sitting of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee.

41. Initiation of disciplinary action

1. A person may lodge a complaint with the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee against an information and communications technology professional where the person alleges that the information and communications technology professional has contravened the Code of Ethics or any provision of this Act.
2. The Association may initiate disciplinary action under this section where the Association has reasonable grounds to believe that an information and communications technology professional has contravened the Code of Ethics or any provision of this Act.
3. A complaint or allegation shall be made to the Secretary in the prescribed manner and form.

42. Functions of Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee

1. The functions of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee are to hear and determine—
   1. any disciplinary action initiated by the Association against an information and communications technology professional who has contravened any provision of the Code of Ethics or any provision of this Act; or
   2. any complaint or allegation made by any person against an information and communications technology professional.
2. The Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee may publicise, as the Committee may consider appropriate, the facts relating to any information and communications technology professional or a Member who is found guilty of and punished for professional misconduct.

43. Proceedings of Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee

1. Four members of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall form a quorum.
2. Any question at a sitting of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall be decided by a majority of the votes of the members of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee at the meeting and in the event of an equality of votes, the person presiding at the meeting shall have a casting vote in addition to that person’s deliberative vote.
3. All proceedings of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall be in camera.
4. The Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall cause to be kept a record of its proceedings.
5. A party to a hearing of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee may be represented by a legal practitioner or, if the party so elects, by any other person or in person.
6. A decision of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall be in the form of a reasoned judgment and a copy thereof shall be supplied to each party to the proceedings and to every person affected by the decision.
7. If a person is present at a meeting of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee at which any matter is the subject of consideration, and in which matter the person or that person’s spouse is directly or indirectly interested in a private capacity, that person shall, as soon as is practicable after the commencement of the meeting disclose the interest and shall not, unless the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee otherwise directs, take part in any consideration or discussion of, or vote on any question relating to that matter.
8. A disclosure of interest made under this section shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting at which it is made.

44. Professional misconduct

An information and communications technology professional commits professional misconduct if the information and communications technology professional—

1. contravenes the provisions of this Act;
2. certifies and submits in the information and communication technology professional’s name or in the names of the information and communications technology professional’s firm a report, document, software, hardware, statement or related records which have not been made by a certified information and communications technology professional;
3. permits the information and communications technology professional’s name or the name of the information and communications technology professional’s firm to be used in connection with technical specifications, designs or financial calculations contingent on future transactions in a manner which may lead people to reasonably infer that the information and communications technology professional certified the correctness of such information;
4. in a report in which an information and communications technology professional’s client has interest, fails to disclose or knowingly conceals from such client mis-statements of facts known to the information and communications technology professional and the disclosure of which is necessary in order that the report does not mislead the client; or
5. gives an opinion in a professional capacity without obtaining sufficient information thereof.

45. Powers of Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee

1. The Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee may for the purposes of any hearing hear and receive evidence and may, under the hand of the Chairperson or the Secretary summon witnesses and require the production of any book, record, document, electronic record or anything required for the purposes of the proceeding and may through the Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson administer an oath to any witness.
2. A person summoned to attend before the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee who, without sufficient cause—
   1. having attended, refuses to be sworn or to affirm;
   2. refuses, without lawful excuse, to answer fully and satisfactorily to the best of that persons knowledge and belief, any question lawfully put to that person; or
   3. refuses to produce any book, record, document, electronic record or thing which that person has been required by summons to produce;
   commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, for every such refusal or failure, to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand penalty units.
3. A person shall not be compelled to answer any question or produce any book, record, document or electronic record which that person would not be compelled to answer or produce on the trial of an action in the High Court.
4. A hearing before the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall, for all purposes, and in particular for the purposes of Chapter XI of the Penal Code
   ℹ️
   , be deemed to be a judicial proceeding.
5. Where the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee, after due inquiry, finds an information and communications technology professional or a Member guilty of professional misconduct, it may impose one or more of the following penalties:
   1. order the cancellation of the information and communications technology professional or Member’s practising certificate, and certificate of registration respectively;
   2. censure the information and communications technology professional or Member;
   3. caution the information and communications technology professional or Member;
   4. impose a fine, not exceeding one hundred thousand penalty units to be paid to the Association;
   5. order the information and communications technology professional or Member to pay to the Association or to any other party to the hearing any costs of or incidental to the proceedings;
   6. order the information and communications technology professional or Member to pay any party to the hearing or other person, as restitution, the amount of loss caused by that person’s negligence; or
   7. impose any reasonable conditions for the suspension, for a period not exceeding one year, of the information and communications technology professional’s membership, certificate of registration, practising certificate or a non- audit practising certificate.
6. In any hearing before the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee, any finding of fact which is shown to have been made by any court in Zambia shall be conclusive evidence of the fact so found.
7. The Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall, where it has reasonable cause to believe that an information and communications technology professional is, or has become mentally unsound to the extent that the continued practising by the information and communications technology professional is prejudicial to the public interest, refer the matter for determination by a medical practitioner.
8. The Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall, where a medical practitioner determines that an information and communications technology professional is of unsound mind, suspend the practising certificate of the information and communications technology professional.
9. Where the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee, after due inquiry, finds an information and communications technology professional or Member not guilty of professional misconduct, it shall record a finding that the information and communications technology professional is not guilty of such professional misconduct in respect to matters to which the charge relates.
10. The Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee may, for the purpose of any proceedings use such assessors or experts as the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee may determine.

46. Reports by Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee

The Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall, as soon as practicable after the completion of each hearing, submit to the Association a report of the proceedings together with a copy of the record.

47. Appeals

1. A person aggrieved by a decision of the Board may appeal to the Minister within thirty days.
2. A person aggrieved by a decision of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee may appeal to the High Court.
3. The Association shall be the respondent on any appeal under this section.
4. A decision of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee under this Part shall not take effect until the expiration of the time for lodging an appeal against the decision or, if an appeal is lodged, until the time the appeal is disposed of, withdrawn or struck out for want of prosecution, as the case may be.
5. The proceedings of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee shall not be set aside by reason only of some irregularity in those proceedings if such irregularity did not occasion a substantial miscarriage of justice.

48. Rules by Chief Justice

The Chief Justice may, by statutory instrument, make rules regulating procedures of the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee and appeals to the High Court under this Part.

49. Rules relating to disciplinary proceedings

1. The Chief Justice may, by statutory instrument, on the recommendation of the Association, make rules relating to—
   1. the form for lodging of complaints under this Part;
   2. the mode of summoning the Members;
   3. the form and manner of service of a summons requiring the attendance of a witness before the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee and the production of any book, record, document, electronic record or thing;
   4. the procedure to be followed and rules of evidence to be observed in proceedings before the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee; and
   5. the functions of the assessor or expert to the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee.
2. Rules made under this section may, in particular, provide—
   1. that before any matters are referred to the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee they shall, in such manner as may be provided by the rules, have been brought before and investigated by the Association in this respect;
   2. for securing notices for the proceedings and specifying the time and manner of the proceedings; and
   3. for securing that any party to the proceedings shall, if that person requires, be entitled to be heard by the Professional Ethics and Compliance Committee.