Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) is soliciting public comment on proposed revisions to its Disciplinary Rules and Procedures (Disciplinary Rules). The proposed revisions outline the duties of the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (Commission), the body that administers disciplinary hearings, and the relationship of those duties to those of CFP Board's Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer, and legal counsel.
The Disciplinary Rules outline CFP Board's procedures for enforcing its Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Rules of Conduct and Financial Planning Practice Standards, which establish ethical standards of conduct for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) certificants. The revisions are intended to align the Disciplinary Rules with changes the Board of Directors made in February 2008 regarding oversight of the Commission and to establish stated policies for certain activities related to the Commission that are not specifically addressed in the current Disciplinary Rules. The Board of Directors developed the proposals through discussions with current and past members of the Commission.
CFP Board's Bylaws and Standards of Professional Conduct – which include the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Rules of Conduct and Financial Planning Practice Standards – do not require revisions to the Disciplinary Rules to be released for public comment. However, a Board- appointed task force thought it important to seek further input from CFP Board's stakeholders and recommended that the current proposal of revisions to the Disciplinary Rules be released for a 30-day comment period.
An overview of the proposed revisions and a chart displaying the proposed revisions beside the current text of Article 2 may be reviewed on CFP Board's Web site, www.CFP.net.
