The ICSU/WMO Joint Committee for the International Polar Year 2007-2008 has established the following ethical guidelines for IPY researchers:

All researchers working in Polar regions have an ethical responsibility to avoid harming the environment and to respect and avoid disruption to the lifestyles and livelihoods of Polar peoples. These responsibilities are entrained in a variety of international, national and regional laws, guidelines and codes-of-conduct, and researchers have a duty to be familiar with these before commencing their projects.

Every endorsed IPY 2007-2008 project will operate under and comply with the guidelines and policies determined by a combination of the location and subject of their work, the source of their research funds and their professional training and affiliation. This includes obtaining all necessary permits for their research and strictly complying with the conditions of these.

Those projects taking place in the Antarctic will be subject to the requirements of the Antarctic Treaty system, including those of the Convention on Antarctic Seals, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty and the relevant measures of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

Projects in the Arctic will abide with the national laws and regulations on access, permits, environmental regulations and other obligations. The IPY Joint Committee urges researchers not only to satisfy the legal requirements which are obligatory in many polar nations, but to comply with the relevant ethical principles for the conduct of research in Polar regions in every aspect of IPY-endorsed activities. Examples of the type of guidelines that should be followed include:
The Ethical Principles adopted by the International Arctic Social Sciences Association.
The US National Science Foundation Office of Polar Projects (NSF-OPP) Principles for the Conduct of Research in the Arctic. A more detailed discussion of these principles is presented in People and the Arctic. A Prospectus for Research on the Human Dimensions of the Arctic System"
The Canadian Ethical Principles for the Conduct of Research in the North. See also An Overview of Conflicting Concerns and Ideas About Northern Research by A. Graham.
The Alaska Native Knowledge Network (ANKN) guidelines Alaska Federation of Natives Guidelines for Research.

All IPY 2007-2008 biomedical research on human subjects should be conducted in accord with the Helsinki Declaration".