[A]n in-depth revision of the Code of Ethics issued in 2012 took place over the last year. The revised version was approved by the FIFA Council and came into force on 12 August 2018, and includes landmark changes to the existing model to ensure more transparency, legal security and the most efficient procedure.

In general, the new code has introduced additional rules prohibiting unethical conduct by officials. Here, the previous articles relating to rules of conduct were kept and/or clarified and additional infringements added...[With regards to] defamation (the act of communicating false information that harms the reputation of an individual or a group)...[t]he Ethics Committee considered that such a prohibition, which exists in most legal systems and which was not contained in the previous code, needed to be included in the Code of Ethics. The world of football is not immune to conduct that aims to tarnish the reputations of others, and such conduct, like any other unethical conduct mentioned in the Code of Ethics, must be sanctioned accordingly. The article concerning defamation is not only there to protect FIFA, but also to protect any other person covered by the code who may be subjected to discriminatory or defamatory statements in the context of FIFA events.