The revision marks the first update of the document since 1999 and is the result of collaboration between the CIPS council, the Policy Advisory Network (PAN)2 and the CIPS Key Practice Statement Group (KPSG).

As well as improving overall standards of conduct, the revision specifically tackles issues such as accepting gifts or using status for personal benefit.

CIPS representation manager Emma Brooks said the update recognised the need for buyers and sales people to engage in social and networking activities such as business lunches, even after a contract had been awarded.

"Socialisation improves relationships," she said.

The code aims to offer a robust framework to ensure transparency and openness about competition in unambiguous terms, while not constraining good business, she added.

CIPS chief executive Simon Sperryn said: "The reputation of business is at a low ebb just now, with big bonuses being paid to people widely seen as causing corporate failures, if not a recession.

"The role of professional bodies in insisting on standards of probity and behaviour has never been more valuable."

Sperryn added that CIPS takes transgressions of the code seriously, saying: "A disciplinary process exists to deal with failures and, though it is not often invoked, a recent case was brought involving UK-based procurement practitioners who have since resigned from the institute and, in two cases, started prison sentences."

Any procurement professional that becomes a CIPS member signs up to the code.

The latest revision is available on the CIPS website.

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Fair treatment of suppliers is key to surviving recession, CIPS claims