1.      ESOMAR CODE:
The Association of Market Research Austria or rather its members act in accordance with the applicable standards and ethical principles of ESOMAR (Code of Standards and Ethical Practice). Download: Esomar-Codex (current version 2016).

The Code is based on the following basic principles:
•       Market researchers must comply with all applicable national and international laws.
•       Market researchers have to behave ethically and are not allowed to do anything that could harm the reputation of market research.
•       Market researchers must take special care when conducting research with children and adolescents.
•       The participation of respondents is voluntary and must be based on appropriate and non-misleading information about the general purpose and nature of the project when their consent is obtained. All such declarations must be complied with.
•       The rights of respondents as private individuals must be respected by market researchers and they must not be harmed or disadvantaged as a direct consequence of their participation in a market research project.
•       Market researchers shall never allow the use of personal data, which were collected in a market research project for any purpose other than market research.
•       Market researchers must ensure that projects and activities are accurately, transparently and objectively designed, executed, reported and documented.
•       Market researchers must adhere to the recognized principles of fair competition.

2.      ISO standard 20252:
Internationally accepted quality standards such as DIN ISO 20252 for services of market-, opinion- and social research contribute decisively to secure recognition as scientific research in the long term. For this reason, quality standards are of decisive relevance to market-, opinion- and social research in Austria:
•       They serve the efficiency, harmonization and transparency of the international research process.
•       Quality standards strengthen the trust of the clients in the research results.
•       They increase public trust in our work.
•       Standards are fundamental to self-regulation of our profession.
•       They support political recognition as scientific research.
•       They are used for internal self-cleaning. Just as the external self-cleaning against vendors outside the industry.
•       They help the industry to distinguish itself from other information providers.

VMÖ recommend compliance with the ISO 20252 standard. The standard can be applied either by voluntary acceptance of the standard or by certification by an independent testing institute. The purchase of the printed or electronic standards is because of the copyright regulations of the standardization institutes not free of charge. If you are interested in acquiring a currently valid standard, please contact our office (sekretariat@vmoe.at) as we can offer our members reduced terms.

3.      Guidelines of the VdMI:
The member institutes of the branch association have drawn up common guidelines to serve as a basis for the work of the institutes. These guidelines apply to the institutions of the VdMI, which have voluntarily submitted themselves to these guidelines. VMÖ recommends compliance with these guidelines to all other market and opinion research institutes as well.