BER Situational Ethics Categorical Prohibition
S · State
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/91#BER_Situational_Ethics_Categorical_Prohibition
Properties
Instance of
SituationalEthicsProhibitionPrecedentActiveState
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#SituationalEthicsProhibitionPrecedentActiveState
Active period
Established in BER Case 76-6 (1970s), reaffirmed in BER Case 96-5, and applied in the present case; persists as binding precedent
Affected parties
All NSPE members practicing internationally
Engineer A
Engineering profession
Public in host countries
Confidence
0.89
Importance
high
Subject
The established BER precedent categorically prohibiting 'When in Rome' situational ethics adjustments for engineers practicing internationally
Terminated by
Not terminated — represents established and repeatedly reaffirmed precedent
Triggering event
First BER consideration of whether engineers practicing abroad could adopt local ethical standards (BER Case 76-6)
Urgency level
high
Source Evidence
Source text
the Board of Ethical Review noted that the so-called 'When in Rome...' rule, whereby engineers could engage in the legal and ethical practices of the host country was not consistent with the NSPE Code of Ethics (see BER Case 76-6)
Text references
Situational ethics cannot be practiced any more in the professional practice area than it can in any technical area of practice
engineers must be consistent in their ethical conduct regardless of where it is the engineer is rendering professional services
the Board of Ethical Review noted that the so-called 'When in Rome...' rule, whereby engineers could engage in the legal and ethical practices of the host country was not consistent with the NSPE Code of Ethics (see BER Case 76-6)
TTL
@prefix case91: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/91#> .
@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#> .
case91:BER_Situational_Ethics_Categorical_Prohibition a proeth:SituationalEthicsProhibitionPrecedentActiveState,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "BER Situational Ethics Categorical Prohibition" ;
proeth:activeperiod "Established in BER Case 76-6 (1970s), reaffirmed in BER Case 96-5, and applied in the present case; persists as binding precedent" ;
proeth:affectedparties "All NSPE members practicing internationally",
"Engineer A",
"Engineering profession",
"Public in host countries" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "State" ;
proeth:confidence "0.89" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "91" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "1" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T06:14:03.042640+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "91" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T06:14:03.042640+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:sourcetext "the Board of Ethical Review noted that the so-called 'When in Rome...' rule, whereby engineers could engage in the legal and ethical practices of the host country was not consistent with the NSPE Code of Ethics (see BER Case 76-6)" ;
proeth:stateclass "Situational Ethics Prohibition Precedent Active State" ;
proeth:subject "The established BER precedent categorically prohibiting 'When in Rome' situational ethics adjustments for engineers practicing internationally" ;
proeth:terminatedby "Not terminated — represents established and repeatedly reaffirmed precedent" ;
proeth:textreferences "Situational ethics cannot be practiced any more in the professional practice area than it can in any technical area of practice",
"engineers must be consistent in their ethical conduct regardless of where it is the engineer is rendering professional services",
"the Board of Ethical Review noted that the so-called 'When in Rome...' rule, whereby engineers could engage in the legal and ethical practices of the host country was not consistent with the NSPE Code of Ethics (see BER Case 76-6)" ;
proeth:triggeringevent "First BER consideration of whether engineers practicing abroad could adopt local ethical standards (BER Case 76-6)" ;
proeth:urgencylevel "high" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 91 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T06:33:38.122398"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 91 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
91
Discovered in pass
1
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T06:14:03.042640+00:00
First case
91
Generated
2026-03-01T06:14:03.042640+00:00
Attributed to
Case 91 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T06:33:38.122398
Generated by
ProEthica Case 91 Extraction