Falsifying qualifications and other paperwork, which is also expressly forbidden in the code, would qualify as legal fraud in most instances, and would be punishable through both criminal and civil actions (NSPE 2007). Other provisions of the code are more purely ethical; the disclosure of conflicts of interest, even seemingly minor ones, would not always be a legal requirement (especially when the engineer is engaged in private projects with non-publicly traded companies/entities). The maintenance of public welfare that is the preeminent and paramount duty of engineers according to the code is also above and beyond the purely legal requirements (NSPE 2007).

One of the major purposes for the development and adoption of a code of ethics is to establish consistent practices -- and thus expectations -- within a profession (Davis 1991). This creates a system of ethics and conduct that serves almost all ethical frameworks that could be brought to...
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