Publication of disciplinary sanctions on CIAT website

A note on the timescale of the appearance on CIAT's website of publications regarding disciplinary sanctions.

The Conduct Committee has agreed that disciplinary sanctions will be published on the Institute's website and that these sanctions will remain on the website for the following periods: -

• Reprimands – six months
• Exclusion – for the length of the exclusion period plus six months
• Expulsion – five years

Such publication will enable potential clients to establish whether the member that they are about to instruct has a previous disciplinary sanction recorded against his or her name. There is a corresponding benefit for other members of the Institute who can check on a member's record of disciplinary sanctions before involving that member in a joint project or consultancy or employment. It was deemed fair that members who had not had a sanction against them were distinguished from those that had had a sanction issued against them. 

An example to help the Committee make this decision was if a person were caught speeding, the endorsement would be on their driver's licence for three to six years. If it were an insurance claim, it would be on the records for five years and would have to be disclosed. Other professional organisations tend to have publication periods of three years so the periods here are much shorter in the case of reprimands and exclusions. Therefore, publication for the periods agreed by the Conduct Committee is not considered to be unreasonable in all the circumstances. It is in the public interest and in the interests of the other members of the Institute. 

In coming to its decision, the Conduct Committee had taken into consideration the Institute's duty as a Chartered body and its obligations to protect the public, whilst ensuring its members are treated fairly.