Ethics codes: AAPS, SVP, Paleontological Society

The Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences (AAPS) is the commercial trade's body. Its Code of Ethics, in paraphrase, commits members to collect only with landowner permission and in compliance with the law, to preserve locality and stratigraphic data, to describe specimens accurately, and never to misrepresent identity, locality, age, formation, repairs or restoration. AAPS membership numbers appear on dealers' certificates, and Stratum prints the member number on the COA for that reason.

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is the academic body for vertebrate work. Its ethics statement holds that scientifically significant vertebrate fossils belong in accessible public repositories, opposes the commercial sale of such material, and asks members not to describe or work on privately held specimens in ways that lend them scientific value for the market. Collectors and dealers do not have to agree with it to understand why a museum may decline to identify or appraise a piece.

The Paleontological Society's Code of Fossil Collecting addresses amateurs directly: obey the law and land ownership, collect responsibly and in moderation, record locality and horizon, preserve scientifically important material and make it available to researchers, and respect the sites for those who follow.

The common core of all three is the record. A fossil with its locality, horizon, collector, date and treatment history is a scientific object; the same fossil without them is décor. Keeping the record — which is what Stratum is for — is the ethical act that everyone agrees on.

The full texts are copyright of their societies; read them at the links below rather than in a paraphrase.