Our commitment
The Chamber shall promote and support Swedish and Portuguese companies with mutual business interests to connect at various levels and find economic, cultural and social opportunities as well as be a platform for networking.
To promote these goals, associates and collaborators, in performing their rights and duties, should always act lawfully, ethically and in the best interests of the Swedish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce (hereafter “the Chamber”).
This Code of Conduct aims to establish a set of standards that shall guide the behaviour of all members and collaborators to achieve the Chamber’s commitments stated herein.
A. Diligence and Responsibility
Members and collaborators of the Chamber should always fulfil with zeal, professionalism, mutual respect and responsibility the duties attributed to them under this Code, the Chamber’s by-laws and the Portuguese legal system, under which rules the Chamber is incorporated.
B. Integrity
Members and collaborators must exercise their rights and duties with honesty, rigor and integrity without giving and/or receiving, directly or indirectly, any advantages, improper or not, in line with the Chamber's objectives. Even if an advantage may be considered proper because, for instance, it is not prohibited by law, members and collaborators must still withhold from giving or receiving it.
This duty must be observed in interpersonal relations between members of the Chamber, between members and with other economic operators and public officials.
C. Usefulness
Our services, features, and events should make the Chamber more useful for all our members as well as for all economic operators, in both countries, and promote mutual knowledge of economic opportunities and resources and the dissemination and publication of all information that may foster trade relations between economic operators.
D. Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Chamber recognizes the fundamental role of free competition in increasing business opportunities and performance.
Members and collaborators of the Chamber shall, in the exercise of their rights and duties, promote equal opportunities, (gender) equality and ensure that there are no discriminatory situations.
Diversity and inclusion in the Chamber are promoted by its members and collaborators, believing that cooperation between people with different skills, perspectives and experiences is fundamental to enable business growth and innovation.
A. General standards
The members of the Board must comply with and enforce all the standards of conduct provided in this Code, setting the “tone at the top”.
Each Board Member is expected to adhere to a high standard of ethical conduct and to act in accordance with the Chamber’s mission, principles and commitments and shall avoid any conduct that could bring the Chamber into disrepute.
Board Members should not be subject to influences, interests or relationships of other members that conflict with the interests of the Chamber and shall cooperate and respect the views of all Board members, leaving personal interests out of Board discussions, as well as support the Board's actions.
B. Transparency
Board members shall perform their functions with full transparency and make essential information available for all members of the Chamber.
In particular, the Board and its Members shall promote the dissemination of information about their strategic decisions, as well as their initiatives to foster economic ties between the economic operators of both countries.
The Board Members shall, where applicable, provide all information necessary for associates to make informed and reasoned decisions in the exercise of their rights and duties.
C. No-remuneration
Considering the non-profit nature of the Chamber, as well as its mission and commitments, the members of the Board shall not be remunerated for the exercise of their functions, nor may they take any direct or indirect advantage of their position.
The non-remunerated exercise of their functions will not justify any performance outside the standards required by this code.
D. No-exclusivity
Given the non-remunerated performance of their duties, the Members of the Board shall not be required to exercise their position on an exclusivity basis.
Board Members must, however, ensure their availability to fulfil diligently and timely their duties and should proactively promote the Chamber's mission and commitments.
E. Services to associates
Members of the Board must ensure equal opportunities among all associates of the Chamber and not take any advantage of their functions as board members or of the information to which they have access in the exercise of those functions.
Notwithstanding the diligent fulfilment of all the duties provided in this Code of Conduct, as well as in the Chamber's by-laws, the Members of the Board may render services to associates, under normal market conditions within the scope of their respective business activities.
F. Conflict of interest
In performing their functions, Board Members shall use their judgment to act, at all times and in all ways, in the best interests of the Chamber.
A conflict of interest occurs when a Board Member is involved in personal activities or relationships that might interfere with his ability to act in the best interest of the Chamber and all its associates when performing his duties.
As a rule, conflicts of interests should be avoided and, if a conflict is unavoidable, it must be managed by all Board Members in order to avoid detriments to the Chamber.
Board Members shall not apply for, receive or accept from any source any advantage, direct or indirect, which is or may appear in any way connected with their mandate in the Board.
A. General duties
In performing their functions, the Secretary General must fulfil with all duties foreseen in this Code, its employment agreement governed by Portuguese law, as well as Portuguese labour law.
The Secretary General shall ensure all availability to support the Members of the Board in the performance of their functions, as well as propose and implement all events and initiatives that promote the mission of the Chamber.
B. Remuneration
To ensure the Secretary General has the necessary availability to develop the Chamber’s vision the Secretary General shall be remunerated within the scope of full-time employment relationship.
The Secretary General’s remuneration will be proposed by the Board and will be in line with the professional experience, expertise and soft skills the Secretary General is expected to apport to the Chamber but will also depend on the Chamber’s financial capability in each moment.
The Chamber will develop its best efforts to compensate the Secretary General in line with the results of its work and its financial results.
C. Exclusivity
The Secretary General is not required to perform its employment with the Chamber with exclusivity provided that the work developed outside the Chamber does not collide nor compete with the Chamber’s scope of activity.
Notwithstanding to safeguard the Chamber’s interest, the Secretary General must communicate to the Members of the Board all activities carried out outside the organization, which will be subject to review and approval.
