SSC 11996 A3 Poster v4 19/6/07 10:53 AM Page 1 
A code of conduct issued by the State Services Commissioner
under the State Sector Act 1988, section 57
WE MUST BE
FAIR
FAIR, IMPARTIAL,
We must:
– treat everyone fairly and with respect
RESPONSIBLE &
– be professional and responsive
TRUSTWORTHY
– work to make government services accessible and effective
– strive to make a difference to the well-being of New Zealand
and all its people.
The State Services is made
IMPARTIAL
up of many organisations with
powers to carry out the work of
We must:
New Zealand’s democratically
– maintain the political neutrality required to enable us to work with
elected governments.
current and future governments
– carry out the functions of our organisation, unaffected by our
Whether we work in a department
personal beliefs
or in a Crown entity, we must act
– support our organisation to provide robust and unbiased advice
with a spirit of service to the
– respect the authority of the government of the day.
community and meet the same
high standards of integrity and
conduct in everything we do.
RESPONSIBLE
We must comply with the
We must:
standards of integrity and conduct
– act lawfully and objectively
set out in this code. As part of
– use our organisation’s resources carefully and only for
complying with this code, our
intended purposes
organisations must maintain
– treat information with care and use it only for proper purposes
policies and procedures that
– work to improve the performance and efficiency of our organisation.
are consistent with it.
For further information see
TRUSTWORTHY
www.ssc.govt.nz/code
We must:
– be honest
– work to the best of our abilities
– ensure our actions are not affected by our personal
interests or relationships
– never misuse our position for personal gain
– decline gifts or benefits that place us under any
obligation or perceived influence
– avoid any activities, work or non-work, that may
harm the reputation of our organisation or of
the State Services.
 Published June 2007   ISBN:  978-0-478-30309-4

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