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DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES AND NOTICES MRIA’S DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES One of MRIA’s primary responsibilities – as with any self-regulatory industry/professional body – is to conduct investigations and take appropriate disciplinary action when complaints of professional misconduct are received or other evidence of member transgressions comes to light. Members of a self-regulatory industry/professional body, especially a voluntary Association such as MRIA, understand how important it is to have effective and fair disciplinary procedures. Disciplinary procedures go to the heart and raison d’être of self-regulation. The outcomes of investigations and disciplinary procedures can impact significantly on the livelihoods of member professionals and the organizations they work for, and on the reputation of the industry/profession and the self-regulatory body itself. Self-regulation is a privilege, not a right – a privilege granted because public trust has been earned. MRIA’s Disciplinary Procedures aim to protect the public trust and the goodwill earned by the marketing, survey and public opinion research and market intelligence industry over many decades, and its reputation for integrity. The public, the business community, government, and self-regulated professionals and organizations themselves expect disciplinary procedures to be transparent and timely. They expect them to result in appropriate sanctions and penalties that serve as deterrence, and in suspensions or expulsions of members who harm the public or harm the industry/profession itself and, by so doing, undermine public trust and a hard-earned reputation for integrity. Self-regulation is also founded on the member’s right to be treated justly and fairly by the self-regulatory organization. MRIA’s Disciplinary Procedures adhere to the principles of natural justice set out in common law. MRIA strives to • treat all parties courteously, fairly, impartially and according to the principles of natural justice and the rules of administrative law; and • have investigation and disciplinary procedures that are timely, transparent, and result in proper and just outcomes. MRIA is continually reviewing and strengthening its Disciplinary Procedures. The MRIA Board recently conducted an in-depth review that resulted in important improvements to the Disciplinary Procedures. To read more, visit www.mria-arim.ca/Archive/PDF/0212Wycks.pdf
DISCIPLINARY NOTICES The Disciplinary Notices published on the following pages are intended to communicate the outcomes of recent cases and investigations which resulted in a sanction being imposed upon a member under the MRIA Disciplinary Procedures.
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NOTICE OF MEMBER SUSPENSION In accordance with MRIA’s Disciplinary Procedures, a Complaint Panel was convened to consider a complaint of professional misconduct against torontoinsights.com, a Corporate Research Agency member of MRIA, which alleged that torontoinsights. com had falsified and misrepresented research data it had been commissioned to provide to the Complainant. After completing its deliberations, the Complaint Panel found that torontoinsights.com had violated the following provisions of MRIA’s Code of Conduct and Good Practice: • Ten Core Principles, Principle 4, insofar as the data provided by torontoinsights.com to the Complainant were inaccurate and misleading; • Ten Core Principles, Principle 8, insofar as torontoinsights.com’s performance of its engagement by the Complainant failed to meet high standards of general competency in the design, execution, analysis, reporting, interpretation, and consulting phases of research; • General Rules of Conduct, Provision 7(a), insofar as the research services conducted by torontoinsights.com for the Complainant were not carried out in accordance with established scientific principles; and • General Rules of Conduct, Provision 7(b), insofar as the Respondent failed to ensure the reliability and validity of its data in the collection, processing, and analysis of such data. The Complaint Panel determined that the nature and severity of torontoinsights.com’s violations of the Code go to the core of the integrity of the marketing and survey research industry. The Complaint Panel further determined that three of the four violations relate to Code provisions that are binding upon MRIA members, a factor that weighs in favour of a significant sanction. Finally, the Complaint Panel determined that the Code violations committed constitute serious transgressions, not merely minor violations of the Code. As a consequence of its findings, the Complaint Panel imposed upon torontoinsights.com a sanction of a one-year Suspension from Membership in MRIA. torontoinsights.com filed a written appeal of the Complaint Panel’s decision, as provided for under Section 22 of MRIA’s Disciplinary Procedures, citing four grounds for appeal. An Appeal Panel was therefore convened. Following due deliberation and consideration of the information that had been put before the Complaint Panel, as well as additional information that had been provided by torontoinsights.com in support of its appeal, the Appeal Panel determined that the Complaint Panel’s findings were reasonable and supported by the facts of the complaint, and that the Complaint Panel had acted reasonably and in accordance with MRIA’s Disciplinary Procedures in reaching its decisions. As a result, the Appeal Panel upheld the decision of the Complaint Panel, dismissed the appeal, and confirmed the sanction of a one-year Suspension from Membership in MRIA, commencing May 29, 2012. At the conclusion of torontoinsights.com’s one-year Suspension from Membership, it may apply for reinstatement to membership, provided that MRIA receives written assurances from torontoinsights.com that the Code violations it was found to have committed will not be repeated. If an application for reinstatement accompanied by such assurance is not provided, torontoinsights.com will be expelled from membership following the conclusion of its period of suspension. MRIA’s membership records indicate that during the period of the Appeal Panel’s deliberations, torontoinsights.com did not renew its Corporate Research Agency membership in MRIA for 2012; nor did any individual associated with torontoinsights. com renew as an Individual Member for 2012; nor did any company related to torontoinsights.com renew as a Corporate member for 2012. In accordance with MRIA’s Disciplinary Procedures, MRIA’s Standards Portfolio Chair has communicated the decisions of the Complaint Panel and the Appeal Panel to torontoinsights.com and issued a written reprimand; this Notice of Member Suspension has been communicated to the MRIA Board of Directors; and this Notice of Member Suspension is hereby communicated to the membership, via publication in Vue.
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NOTICE OF MEMBER CENSURE In accordance with MRIA’s Disciplinary Procedures, a Complaint Panel was convened to consider a complaint of professional misconduct against Don Mills, CMRP, FMRIA, a member of MRIA. After considering the submissions provided by the complainant and Mr. Mills, the Complaint Panel found that by: • criticizing the work of an MRIA member in a widely distributed newspaper; • making statements about an MRIA member’s research methodology that may not be accurate; and • publicly airing controversy between his firm and a direct competitor, Mr. Mills had unjustifiably disparaged the work of an MRIA Gold Seal Corporate Research Agency member, brought discredit to the marketing research industry/profession, and potentially undermined public confidence in the industry and the methods it uses. The Complaint Panel found that Mr. Mills had violated Principle 5 of the Ten Core Principles of the General Rules of Conduct (which requires members to refrain from activities which unjustifiably demean, criticize or disparage others), and Principles 1 and 3 of the Statement of Professional Responsibilities contained in MRIA’s Code of Conduct and Good Practice (which prohibit researchers from acting in a manner that could bring discredit to the marketing research profession), and that these violations were more serious than a minor transgression of the Code. As a consequence of its findings, the Complaint Panel has imposed a sanction of Censure upon Mr. Mills. In accordance with its Disciplinary Procedures, MRIA has issued a written reprimand to Mr. Mills; the Complaint Panel’s decision and the reasons for it have been communicated to the MRIA Board of Directors; and this Notice of Member Censure is hereby published.
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