Property and the built environment play a huge role in our working and non-working lives as well as being a major contributors to local, regional and national and global economies. It is therefore essential that ethics guide the behaviour of property professionals to build trust and improve the reputation of the global profession. IES was developed in response to mounting evidence which suggests businesses which adopt strong ethical practices receive greater levels of trust from customers, employees and other stakeholder groups.

Any international, national or regional not-for-profit organization serving the land, property, construction, infrastructure or related professions is eligible to be a Member of the Coalition. A business, academic institution or government body can become a Supporter

The International Ethical Standards (IES) Coalition supports the creation, maintenance and use of high quality, principle-based ethics standards through a transparent and inclusive standard setting process. The Board of Trustees is the principal governing body of the Coalition, consisting of one representative Trustee, and one alternate, designated by each Coalition Member

The Standards Setting Committee (SSC) was formed with delegated authority to write IES. The SSC consists of a number of individuals appointed by the Coalition. Each was selected based on their skills, experience and ability to set IES.

The SSC had responsibility for drafting IES within the parameters laid down for them by the Trustees. They regularly reported to the Coalition to demonstrate progress against agreed milestones. The SSC have also been involved in advising the Trustees and suggesting amendments to the IES. The second edition of the IES was published on the 1^st May 2021

The principal purpose of the International Ethics Standards (IES) Coalition is to develop, publicise, implement and promote International Ethics Standards for the land, property, construction, infrastructure and related professions. The IES Coalition supports the creation, maintenance and use of high quality, principle-based ethics standards through a transparent and inclusive standard setting process. Coalition Members have committed to promote the effective implementation of the standard and encourage world markets to accept and adopt it.

The Board of Trustees is the principal governing body of the Coalition, consisting of one representative Trustee, and one alternate, designated by each Coalition Member.

There is no cost for accessing and using IES and Coalition organisations can provide advice and guidance about implementing the standard.

Information on how to become a member can be found here

In the context of the work being undertaken by the IES Coalition, an international standard is something which has been established and agreed at the international level and which is implemented and delivered locally. The standard itself is owned by the whole Coalition and not by any one organisation. Professional organisations and Supporters subscribe to the shared international standard and commit to its use and implementation through their memberships.

Entities around the world that do not meet the criteria to become a coalition member, but who wish to voice their support for the IES process can apply to become Supporters of IES, divided into Business, Academic and Government. Please look here 

Creating one over-arching set of ethical principles will help real estate and related professional organisations better promote values that allow ethical business to flourish.

Representative real estate and related professional bodies exist to guide, enhance and promote the professional, technical and ethical expertise of their members. Establishing one global Coalition creates a way to undertake extensive consultation and combine the existing ethical knowledge about different real estate markets and related disciplines. By harmonizing many existing codes of conduct, the IES Coalition aims to create one over-arching standard for real estate and related professions.

Behaving ethically is at the heart of what it means to be a professional; it distinguishes professionals from others in the marketplace. Embracing ethical business can bring many commercial benefits to individuals, businesses, their stakeholders and wider society. Evidence suggests that acting ethically in business fosters greater trust, transparency and confidence among investors, improves industry reputation, customer retention and also employee motivation. High-profile media reports continue to expose many ethical issues in different industries and this can cause share prices to fall, harm the sales of products and services, and damage long-term customer trust and confidence.

Ethics refer to appropriate and acceptable behaviour. Different categories of ethics shape different professions. The Institute of Business Ethics defines ethics as “the application of ethical values to business behaviour.” Ethical values refer to how we conduct business with different stakeholder groups, employees and customers. Questions we might consider when thinking about ethical values in business:

• Do we conduct our business in a way which promotes transparency and trust in the global profession?
• Would we be happy for others to know about our individual business conduct or that of the organisation we work for?
• Are we comfortable with the effect of our decisions and actions?

IES is a set of over-arching principles which Coalition member organisations implement on a local basis. The Trustees share best practice on implementation.

Any international, national or regional not-for-profit organization serving the real estate or related professions is eligible to be a member of the Coalition. Any applications to join as a new Coalition member will be considered by the Board of Trustees. If the applicant fulfils the criteria for joining, this will be decided by the Trustees following a recommendation from the Officers. Please look here

Developed and agreed (in coalition) at the international level, an international standard provides high-level and universal rules. Professional institutions incorporate these high-level rules within their own guidance and all participate in the implementation of the shared international standard through their respective memberships.

Yes. The global accountancy profession is governed by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA). IESBA issues ethical standards for use by professional accountants and its member bodies. Accountancy bodies such as the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) are required to comply with the principles included in the IESBA code of ethics. Similar global codes can be found in the legal and medical professions.

No. The majority of non-profit real estate organizations have long promoted their own codes of conduct which are a vital part of their member value proposition. Most, if not all, have a similar foundation in that they demand honest, decent and trustworthy behaviour as well as competence in the services offered.

Many codes are based on established norms and customs in specific localities, states or regions and do not claim a global application. Others set out to regulate single disciplines, e.g. brokerage, valuation, architecture or management. They do not attempt to address all sectors of the profession.

The objective of the IES Coalition is to introduce, at an international level, one shared set of values reflecting key principles on which the entire profession can agree and to which all existing codes of conduct will conform. The adoption internationally of fundamental standards will leave a vital and permanent role for individual professional bodies. They will be free to retain their own more detailed and possibly more stringent rules, if they wish, on the understanding that they complement and do not conflict with the IES.