Fundamentals for the judgements of the German PR Council are the codes of the Public Relations profession: the German Communication Code (2012), the DRPR guidelines, as well as two international codes, the Code of Athens (1965) and the Code of Lisbon (1978). The DRPR guidelines define more specific rules in different areas (for example, there is a guideline, concerning the relationships between PR practitioners and journalists, a guideline to online PR, for lobbying, for ad-hoc-publicity, etc.). These guidelines concretize and substantiate the Communication Code in the areas mentioned. The Seven Commitments (1991) complement the indicative standards.
 

Since codes and guidelines are not set in stone, they need to be updated from time to time, to be adjusted and improved.

The German PR Council notices in its practice as well the professional codes and guidelines of other organizations of self-regulation, so especially the German Press Council and the German Advertising Council.