When in Rome Clause Rescission as Ethics Code Erosion Prevention
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/167#When_in_Rome_Clause_Rescission_as_Ethics_Code_Erosion_Prevention
Properties
Instance of
EthicsCodeStandardErosionPreventionPrinciple
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#EthicsCodeStandardErosionPreventionPrinciple
Applied to
US Engineering Firm Seeking Foreign Government Contract
Balancing with
Diplomatic Ethics Navigation Obligation in Cross-Cultural Practice
Situational Ethics Rejection Principle
Concrete expression
The NSPE Board of Directors rescinded the 'When in Rome' clause in January 1968 specifically because the Professional Engineers in Private Practice Section recognized that permitting competitive bidding exceptions for foreign work would erode the profession's domestic competitive bidding position piece by piece — a direct institutional application of the erosion-prevention principle
Confidence
0.94
Importance
high
Interpretation
The rescission of the 'When in Rome' clause demonstrates that the profession has already resolved the foreign-exception question in favor of code integrity over pragmatic accommodation, and this resolution is precedentially binding on the current gift-giving analysis
Invoked by
NSPE Ethics Committee Reviewing Engineer
Tension resolution
The erosion-prevention rationale prevailed over the pragmatic 'When in Rome' accommodation, establishing that code integrity takes precedence over competitive disadvantage in foreign markets
Source Evidence
Source text
the Board of Directors in January l968 rescinded the 'When in Rome' clause from the code as recommended by the Professional Engineers in Private Practice Section, which recognized a division of opinion on the policy but concluded, '... the profession should maintain a 'pure' position on competitive bidding; otherwise our opposition to competitive bidding will be chipped away, piece by piece.'
Text references
after further discussion and debate, the Board of Directors in January l968 rescinded the 'When in Rome' clause from the code as recommended by the Professional Engineers in Private Practice Section, which recognized a division of opinion on the policy but concluded, '... the profession should maintain a 'pure' position on competitive bidding; otherwise our opposition to competitive bidding will be chipped away, piece by piece.'
TTL
@prefix case167: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/167#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case167:When_in_Rome_Clause_Rescission_as_Ethics_Code_Erosion_Prevention a proeth:EthicsCodeStandardErosionPreventionPrinciple,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "When in Rome Clause Rescission as Ethics Code Erosion Prevention" ;
proeth:appliedto "US Engineering Firm Seeking Foreign Government Contract" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Diplomatic Ethics Navigation Obligation in Cross-Cultural Practice",
"Situational Ethics Rejection Principle" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The NSPE Board of Directors rescinded the 'When in Rome' clause in January 1968 specifically because the Professional Engineers in Private Practice Section recognized that permitting competitive bidding exceptions for foreign work would erode the profession's domestic competitive bidding position piece by piece — a direct institutional application of the erosion-prevention principle" ;
proeth:confidence "0.94" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "167" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-02T10:15:40.693533+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "167" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-02T10:15:40.693533+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The rescission of the 'When in Rome' clause demonstrates that the profession has already resolved the foreign-exception question in favor of code integrity over pragmatic accommodation, and this resolution is precedentially binding on the current gift-giving analysis" ;
proeth:invokedby "NSPE Ethics Committee Reviewing Engineer" ;
proeth:principleclass "Ethics Code Standard Erosion Prevention Principle" ;
proeth:sourcetext "the Board of Directors in January l968 rescinded the 'When in Rome' clause from the code as recommended by the Professional Engineers in Private Practice Section, which recognized a division of opinion on the policy but concluded, '... the profession should maintain a 'pure' position on competitive bidding; otherwise our opposition to competitive bidding will be chipped away, piece by piece.'" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The erosion-prevention rationale prevailed over the pragmatic 'When in Rome' accommodation, establishing that code integrity takes precedence over competitive disadvantage in foreign markets" ;
proeth:textreferences "after further discussion and debate, the Board of Directors in January l968 rescinded the 'When in Rome' clause from the code as recommended by the Professional Engineers in Private Practice Section, which recognized a division of opinion on the policy but concluded, '... the profession should maintain a 'pure' position on competitive bidding; otherwise our opposition to competitive bidding will be chipped away, piece by piece.'" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 167 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-02T10:28:27.336072"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 167 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
167
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-02T10:15:40.693533+00:00
First case
167
Generated
2026-03-02T10:15:40.693533+00:00
Attributed to
Case 167 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-02T10:28:27.336072
Generated by
ProEthica Case 167 Extraction