Code of Conduct

CODE OF CONDUCT
NATIONAL THEATRE OF NORTHERN GREECE (NTNG)

Ι. GENERAL SECTION

Article 1
Preamble - Purpose

This Code of Conduct sets out rules of conduct which, in conjunction with the provisions of the legislation in force, the Internal Regulations of the State Theatre of Northern Greece (hereinafter: NTNG) and the Operating Regulations of the NTNG’s Higher School of Dramatic Art (hereinafter: Drama School) must be observed in the context of all NTNG activities, wherever they take place, so that, by optimizing the behaviour of administrators, managers, trainers and trainees, as well as third parties cooperating with the NTNG, a sense of security and trust may be established and bolstered in a context of mutual respect, teamwork and the cultivation of a healthy working and learning environment, with the ultimate goal of fulfilling, in the best possible way, both the NTNG’s mission of providing high-quality cultural and artistic services, and the teaching mission of its Drama School.

Article 2
Subjective and objective scope

 

1. The The rules laid out in this Code of Conduct, which are largely self-evident in a cultural and artistic organization of the size of the NTNG, apply to all its staff: managers and employees, instructors and trainees, external collaborators, suppliers of goods and services, sponsors and invited/resident artists, as well as third parties to whom NTNG premises have been made available.

2. The rules laid out in this Code must be observed in the context of all NTNG activities, whether they be administrative, artistic and educational, including auditions/interviews for the casting of artists and Drama School students; performances, both on and off site; and other events, wherever they are held. The same rules are expected to be followed by anyone included within the subjective scope of the Code in the context of their activities outside the NTNG.

Article 3
Fundamental Principles

This Code of Conduct is underlain by the following fundamental principles:
 

1. The principle of strengthening the institution’s team spirit in activities, the exchange of views and knowledge, and the combining of different approaches to achieve common goals.
2. The principle of protecting all aspects of personality.
3. The principle of prevention through education and information.
4. The principle of equality and respect for diversity and differing opinions.
5. The principle of protecting the weaker party.
6. The principle of meritocracy, objectivity, impartiality and equal opportunities based on merit, experience, competence and performance.
7. The principle of transparency.
8. The principle of truth.
9. The principle of protecting those who report/denounce illegal or unethical conduct and any witnesses to such conduct, provided that it is been proven that they are not acting in bad faith.
10. The principle of confidentiality.
11. The principle of professionalism.
12. The principle of environmental responsibility and encouraging the use of innovative environmentally-friendly technologies.

ΙΙ. SPECIAL SECTION

Article 4
A list of unethical behaviours

Unethical behaviours include, in particular:
 

1. Inappropriate, derogatory, oppressive, threatening and violent behaviour from whomever it originates.
2. Abuse, harassment in general and sexual harassment in particular, as well as physical, psychological and gender-based violence.
3. Discriminatory or biased behaviour on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity or expression, race, ethnic origin, age, disability and political, philosophical and religious beliefs.
4. The abuse of positions of authority to coerce subordinates or trainees into acts or omissions that are proscribed by law and by morality.
5. The submission of malicious reports/complaints.
6. The acquisition of an improper financial advantage or consideration, in particular in the form of bribery, corruption, fraud or extortion, in the course of the performance of duties, or on the pretext of performing these duties.
7. Breach of the obligation of confidentiality.
8. Failure tocomply with health and safety regulations.

Article 5
NTNG Ethics Committee

 

1. An Ethics Committee is established to be responsible for the affairs of the NTNG but not the Drama School (hereinafter: Committee). The Committee will be made up of seven (7) regular members, of whom only five (5) participate in its meetings, depending on the type of case being considered (a, b or c), as these are laid out in paragraph 2 below.

2. The regular members are to be: the serving President of the Board of Directors of the NTNG, the serving Artistic Director of the NTNG and, depending on whether the unethical behaviour concerns issues of a financial and/or administrative nature or other forms of unethical behaviour, respectively, the serving Administrative/Financial Director of the NTNG or the member of the Board of Directors of the NTNG selected by the Minister for Culture and Sports on the recommendation of the association known as the "Union of Greek Actors" (hereinafter: UGA). Two (2) regular members from the Actors' Representative Committee (hereafter: AR) and two (2) regular members from the Union of General Workers (hereafter UGW), who shall participate in the meetings of the Committee as follows:
 

a. Participation of only the two (2) members nominated by the AR when the report/complaint is made by or about an artist.
b. Participation only of the two (2) members nominated by the UGW when the report/complaint is made by or concerns a non-artistic member of the NTNG staff.
c. Participation of one (1) of the members nominated by the AR and one (1) of the members nominated by the UGW, to be selected by the AR and UGW respectively, when the case involves artists and other NTNG staff, or third parties including members of the Management.
 

 

3. The above-mentioned members shall be substituted for as follows: the serving Chair of the Board of Directors by the serving Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors; the serving Artistic Director by the serving Alternate Artistic Director; the serving Administrative/Financial Director by the Head of the NTNG’s Executive Personnel Department; the member selected by the Minister for Culture and Sports on the recommendation of the UGA by the member selected by the Minister for Culture and Sports on the recommendation of the Association of Greek Playwrights; the members nominated by the AR and UGW by an equal number of alternate members nominated by the AR and UGW.

4. The term of office for the regular and alternate representatives of the AR and the UGW shall be one year, renewable for two (2) more years. The same person cannot serve as a regular member of the Committee for more than three (3) terms.

5. If a regular or alternate member of the Committee demonstrates conduct contrary to the the rules laid out in this Code, or demonstrably commits an offence punishable by disciplinary or criminal proceedings, he/she shall be replaced by another person nominated by decision of, as appropriate, the Board of Directors of the NTNG, the AR, or the UGW.

6. The Chair of the Committee is the serving Chair of the NTNG’s Board of Directors.

Article 6
Special Ethics Committee for the NTNG Drama School

 

1. A Special Ethics Committee convenes for matters relating to the affairs of the NTNG Drama School (hereinafter: Special Committee). It consists of five (5) regular members and an equal number of alternate members.

2. The following are appointed as regular members of the Special Committee: the serving Artistic Director of the NTNG, the serving Director of Studies of the NTNG Drama School, two (2) teachers from the Drama School nominated by that institution’s Teachers’ Union, and the member of the NTNG Board of Directors nominated by the Board of Directors of the UGA.

3. The alternate members of the Special Committee shall be: the serving Deputy Artistic Director of the NTNG, two (2) teachers from the Drama School, nominated by its Teachers’ Union, the member of the NTNG Board of Directors selected by the Minister for Culture and Sports on the recommendation of the UGA, and the member of the NTNG Board of Directors who is an actor, if such a member exists, otherwise the member of the NTNG Board of Directors selected by the Minister for Culture and Sports on the recommendation of the Association of Greek Playwrights.

4. The meetings of the Special Committee may be attended, without the right to vote, by one student appointed annually by the Students' Union or, if there is no such body, the students’ Representative Committee.

5. The term of office for the regular and alternate members nominated by the Teachers' Association of the Drama School is one year, renewable for two (2) more years. The same person cannot serve as a regular member of the Special Committee for more than three (3) terms.

6. If a regular or alternate member of the Special Committee demonstrates conduct contrary to the the rules laid out in this Code, or demonstrably commits an offence punishable by disciplinary or criminal proceedings, he/she shall be replaced by another person nominated by decision by the Board Directors of the NTNG.

7. The Chair of the Committee shall be the Artistic Director of the NTNG.

Article 7
Responsibilities of the Ethics Committees

 

1. The Committee and the Special Committee detailed in articles 5 and 6 of this Code (hereinafter: Committees), shall act proactively: by informing persons falling within the subjective scope of this Code (as per article 2(a) of this Code) of the content of the regulations detailed in it; by providing relevant clarifications; and by promoting the value of maintaining high ethical standards in all the activities undertaken by the NTNG and its Drama School.

2. Having receiving a report/complaint, the Committees shall: invite the individuals who made the report/complaint and the subject of the report or complaint, along with any witnesses put forward by the two sides, to a hearing; collect ex officio the information they consider necessary in order to assess the merit of the report/complaint; evaluate the material collected and draw up a reasoned report with a final conclusion following the procedure provided for in subsections 5 to 11 of Article 9 of this Code.

Article 8
The procedure to be followed

 

1a Reports/complaints relating to the NTNG, apart from those concerning the Drama School, can be submitted in the following ways at the discretion of the complaint: in paper form to the Secretariat of the Board of Directors of the NTNG, or electronically in an email sent to the Secretariat of the Board of Directors of the NTNG ([email protected]) or the AR ([email protected]) or the UGW [email protected]

1b Reports/complaints concerning the Drama School should be submitted to the Secretariat of that institution, either in paper form or electronically in an email sent to the following e-mail address [email protected].

b. The paper or electronic reports/complaints shall be delivered immediately to the Secretariat of the Board of Directors of the NTNG, if they were not sent to it directly; the responsibility for this being done lies with the recipients of the report/complaint. The reports/complaints are immediately assigned a ledger number and placed in a confidential file kept for this purpose by the Secretary of the Board.

c. The paper or electronic reports/complaints are delivered directly by the Secretary of the Board to the Chair of the competent Committee.

d. On receipt of the report/complaint, the Chair will immediately deliver, bearing full responsibility for doing so, a copy of the report/complaint to the person concerned and summon him/her to discuss the matter before the competent Committee at a specific time and date which must not be more than three (3) working days from the date on which the Chair received the report/complaint. It is the Chair’s responsibility to also summon the complainant to appear before the Committee on the same day, but at a different time. When summoning the parties to appear before the Committee, they must be informed that they may bring witnesses with them.

e. The competent Committee is convened by its Chair at the set date and time.

f. A report containing a record of the Committee’s findings and a conclusion will be drawn up within ten (10) days of the day on which the explanations were presented to it.

7. If it is unanimously agreed that insufficient evidence has been found against the subject of the complaint, the case shall be archived and the decision to archive shall be sent to the Secretariat of the Board so the dossier may be archived in the file referred to in subsection (b) of this Article.

8. If it is unanimously decided that conduct has taken place that violates the The rules laid out in this Code, the report shall be submitted to the Board of Directors of the NTNG for measures to be imposed at its discretion; such measures include, but are not limited to, the cancellation of a class, censure for unethical conduct, or an obligation to return sums received as bribes.

9. If the decision is not unanimous as in subsections 7 and 8 above, the report shall be submitted to the Board of Directors of the NTNG. The report is submitted to the Board of Directors in any case, and when the unethical behaviour concerns a person not subject to the disciplinary control of the NTNG and its Drama School. In such cases the Board shall reassess the incident on the basis of the evidence brought before it. If the reassessment confirms the finding of insufficient evidence, the case shall be referred to the competent Committee for archiving and the decision to archive shall be sent to the Secretariat of the Board so the dossier may be filed in accordance with subsection 2 of this Article. If the re-evaluation leads to the conclusion that conduct has been committed that violates the regulations contained in this Code, the Board of Directors shall impose the measure it deems appropriate; such measures include, but are not limited to, cancellation of a class, censure for unethical conduct, the obligation to pay back sums received as bribes or, in the case of unethical conduct by a person not under the disciplinary control of the NTNG, the temporary or permanent termination of cooperation.

10. If the competent Committee or Special Committee suspects that the action that forms the object of the complaint constitutes a disciplinary offence in accordance with article 5 of PD 118/1997, or student misconduct in accordance with article 19 of PD 336/1989, then articles 5 to 7 of PD 118/1997 or article 20 of Presidentail Decree 336/1989 respectively will apply.

11. If the competent Committee or Special Committee decides unanimously or by a majority that the incident in question constitutes a criminal act, it shall submit the Report with the relevant conclusion to the Board of Directors of the NTNG along with a recommendation that the file be passed on to the competent Public Prosecutor. If the decision of the Committee or Special Committee is not unanimous, the Board of Directors has the right to reassess the incident on the basis of the evidence brought before it.

ΙΙΙ. FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 9
Publication

The present Code of Conduct, which was approved by the Board of Directors of the NTNG at its session no. 24/23.6.2022 shall, with the agreement of the Artistic Director, be publicized as required thus:
 

1. It will be posted on the NTNG website.
2. It will be e-mailed on the date of its approval to all employees and associates related in any way to the NTNG.
3. A clause on compliance with its regulations will be included in all future calls for tenders for the provision of services to the NTNG.
4. A copy will be delivered to third parties with whom the NTNG concludes new contracts of any sort, including employment contracts and project and lease agreements, before the relevant agreement is signed.
5. A copy will be delivered to the students of the NTNG Drama School.

Article 10
Entry into force - Duration

 

1. The present Code shall enter into force on the date of its publication on the NTNG website (01/09/2022).
2. The duration of the Code is set at two years from the date of its publication. After two years, it shall be reviewed by the Committees detailed in Articles 6 and 7 of this Code so that any amendments or additions can be made and submitted for approval to the Board of Directors of the NTNG.