In October 2015, the European Expertise and Expert Institute published a Code of Conduct for Court Experts in civil law. This code defines numerous ethical recommendations about the way the court experts should perform their tasks. In its activities as expert in portfolio management, SIGMA follows some best practices (considered as essential) that are inspired by the European Code of Conduct for Court Experts in civil law.
- The expert will, in the performance of the duties he is charged with, take the position of a competent, conscientious, trustworthy, independent and impartial expert.
- The expert must perform his activities openly and visibly to all parties, even if he is commissioned by one of the parties. He will not leave out any relevant element, even an element which could be unfavorable to the commissioning party.
- The expert must observe confidentiality and is not allowed to disclose any confidential information received.
- The reports must deal with all relevant topics. They must be comprehensive and accurate. If for any reason, the expert believes that the signed report must be corrected, he notifies all parties involved.
- The expert will independently write his reports and must not be influenced by anybody, including the commissioning party.
- The expert will disclose the source of his information and will rely as much as possible on references recognized in the field of asset management.
- The expert will restrain from any behavior that could harm the professional relations with the parties involved. The expert will have an attitude of professional courtesy, honesty, precision and soberness.
- The expert must be moderate in his professional views about other experts.
- The competition between experts is based on professional competence and the quality of reports, and must comply with ethical standards.
- The expert commissioned to perform an analysis can only act impartially within the boundaries of the required knowledge. The expert will not be biased. The opinions or evaluations must always be clearly stated and justified, and the expert must not be influenced by his own ideas.