From document compliance to integrity control: legal foundations for regulating professional ethics in land management and topographic-geodetic activity in Ukraine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31548/zemleustriy2026.04.0%25pKeywords:
professional ethics, land management, oath, professional integrity, topographic-geodetic activity, conflict of interest, disciplinary liability, foreign experienceAbstract
The article substantiates the need to move from a narrow understanding of quality in land management and topographic-geodetic activity as mere compliance of documentation with legal, regulatory and technical requirements to a broader model that also includes professional integrity, independence, transparency, responsibility to society and resistance to improper influence. On the basis of a comparative legal analysis of Ukrainian legislation and the official ethical frameworks of FIG, RICS, CLGE, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Australia and related U.S. professional associations, the study demonstrates that effective ethics regulation in contemporary jurisdictions is not limited to declarative values. It is built as a multi-level architecture of enforceable duties, conflict-of-interest disclosure, continuing professional development, complaints handling, disciplinary sanctions and public accountability. The paper shows that the current Ukrainian control model mainly validates the content, structure and technical characteristics of documentation and electronic files, but does not adequately detect concealed conflicts of interest, deliberate distortion of professional judgment, failure to disclose material limitations of data or fictitious personal supervision by a certified professional. The scientific novelty lies in the concept of integrity-sensitive regulation. Its core elements are a statutory oath for certified land survey engineers and geodetic engineers, breach of oath as a distinct disciplinary delict, a mandatory declaration of professional integrity attached to each work product, an ethics component in continuing education, an independent disciplinary procedure and a public register of disciplinary practice. The proposed model is intended to strengthen trust in land and geodetic documentation, reduce corruption risks, protect rights holders and reinforce the public interest in spatial data governance.
Received: 24.04.2026;
Accepted: 05.05.2026;
References
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