Local Custom Non-Excuse Principle Reaffirmed Across Multiple BER Precedents

@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:Local_Custom_Non-Excuse_Principle_Reaffirmed_Across_Multiple_BER_Precedents a proeth:LocalCustomNon-ExcuseforProfessionalEthicsViolationPrinciple, owl:NamedIndividual ; rdfs:label "Local Custom Non-Excuse Principle Reaffirmed Across Multiple BER Precedents" ; proeth:appliedto "Country A Government Foreign Government Engineering Services Client", "Country A gift-giving customs", "Engineer A Non-US NSPE Member International Engineer" ; proeth:balancingwith "Cultural sensitivity in international practice", "Diplomatic Ethics Navigation Obligation in Cross-Cultural Practice" ; proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ; proeth:concreteexpression "The BER reaffirmed through citation to BER Cases 76-6, 96-5, 87-5, 79-8, 87-4, and 81-4 that the 'When in Rome' rule — permitting engineers to follow local customs that violate NSPE ethics standards — has been consistently rejected since the 1970s, and that this rejection remains proper and applicable to the present case involving a non-U.S. member" ; proeth:confidence "0.95" ; proeth:discoveredincase "91" ; proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ; proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ; proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T06:22:23.849683+00:00" ; proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "91" ; proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T06:22:23.849683+00:00" ; proeth:importance "high" ; proeth:interpretation "The local custom non-excuse principle has accumulated extensive precedential support across decades of BER decisions; its application to non-U.S. members practicing in their home countries represents an extension of the principle's reach rather than a departure from its core logic" ; proeth:invokedby "BER (Board of Ethical Review)" ; proeth:principleclass "Local Custom Non-Excuse for Professional Ethics Violation Principle" ; proeth:sourcetext "In the seventies, 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:tensionresolution "Local custom is acknowledged as a real and legitimate cultural phenomenon deserving of sensitivity, but it does not constitute a valid defense to ethics code violations; the two obligations (cultural sensitivity and ethics compliance) operate at different levels — one governs manner, the other governs substance" ; proeth:textreferences "In the seventies, 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).", "The Board of Ethical Review's decision at that time was proper then and continues to be proper today.", "While certain conduct may be acceptable or even the more generally accepted rule in other cultures, such conduct does not necessarily become acceptable for engineers who adhere to a code of ethics containing proscriptions in these areas." ; proeth:wasattributedto "Case 91 Extraction" ; prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T06:33:38.129063"^^xsd:dateTime ; prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 91 Extraction" .