MEMBERSHIP RULES

CONTENTS

1. Definitions
2. General Conditions
3. Membership Insignia
4. Obligations of The Association
5. Default and Revocation
6. Notifications 		   7. Use of Membership Insignia
 8. Limitations on Liability
 9. Termination
10. Legal Jurisdiction
11. Intellectual Property Rights
1.0 DEFINITIONS
Unless the context of this publication indicates otherwise the following definitions shall apply:

1.1 The Association:
Association for the Advancement of Quality Awareness
1.2 The web site:

 http://www.aaqa.org
1.3 Admission Criteria:

All or any data concurrently being displayed on The web site specifying The Association's minimally acceptable membership admission requirements.

1.4 The Rules:

The variant of this publication concurrently being displayed on The web site.

1.5 Code of Conduct:

The variants of the Association's Company Code of Conduct and/or Executive Code of Conduct and/or General Code of Conduct concurrently being displayed on The web site.

1.6 Membership Certificate:

The uniquely referenced and electronically generated document displayed on The web site acknowledging the name and concurrently valid admittance status of each Member of The Association.

1.7 Member:

Any person and/or other legally recognizable entity possessing the concurrently valid right to the display on The web site of a Membership Certificate.

1.8 Applicant:

Any person and/or other legally recognizable entity that has has correctly applied for but has not yet been awarded a Membership Certificate.

1.9 Membership Insignia:

The variant of the AAQA Company Member Quality Mark concurrently being displayed on The web site and/or the initials F.A.A.Q.A and/or the initials M.A.A.Q.A and/or any other Membership Insignia concurrently specified, defined and/or referenced on The web site.

1.10 Individual Membership Year:

Any consecutive period of twelve calendar months commencing from the operative date of any given Membership Certificate.
 
1.11 Complaint:

All or any e-mailed and/or hardcopy and/or other documented expression of dissatisfaction received from a Complainant.

1.12 Complainant:

Any person or collective of persons or company body or Company body or other legally constituted and/or legally recognizable entity from which a hardcopy and/or an electronically generated Complaint has been received.

1.13 The Services:

A) the optimally impartial evaluation (by or on authorised behalf of The Association) of data voluntarily submitted by an Applicant to enable The Association to initially determine an adequate level of conformance (by such Applicant) with individually relevant Admittance Criteria and/or;

B) the issue (by or on authorized behalf of The Association) of written confirmation of the award of a Membership Certificate to each successfully evaluated Applicant and/or;

C) the creation, generation and maintenance (on The web site) of a Membership Certificate for each Member in good standing and/or;

D) the creation, generation and maintenance of Member dedicated listings in all or any individually relevant Directories being concurrently displayed on The web site and/or;

E) the optimally prompt, courteous and impartial investigation of Complaints and/or;

F) the optimally prompt, courteous and impartial conducting of such additional investigatory and/or monitoring activities (by or on authorised behalf of The Association) as the Chief or other Senior Executive Officer of The Association shall specify from time in order to objectively verify adequate continuing compliance by each Member with The Rules and/or;

G) the optimally prompt removal of individually relevant Membership Certificates and/or Directory listings on the expiry or earlier termination of each Membership Certificate and/or

H) the optimally continuous display of The web site.


(TOP)

2.0 GENERAL CONDITIONS: (TOP)

2.1 The Rules and The Services are subject to periodic review and The Association reserves the right to non-retrospectively amend, revise and/or supplement all or any part thereof without prior notification to any Member and/or Applicant and/or and other affected and/or potentially affected party.

2.2 The official language of The Association is English and data submitted to The Association in any other language shall not be eligible for all or any of The Association's activities unless accompanied by a notorised English language translation.

2.3 Applications for membership must be submitted on the individually relevant Application Form then concurrently located on The web site and each Application Form must be fully completed, signed and dated and must also be accompanied by the individually relevant Membership Fee (hereinafter referred to as "the Membership Fee") specified therein and all applications will be individually progressed in keeping with the provisions of Heading 4.2 hereof until such time as an Applicant has either been admitted to their individually relevant grade of membership or until such time as an Applicant shall have defaulted under the provisions of Heading 2.4 hereof.

2.4 Any Applicant who fails (for whatever reason) to respond adequately to any reasonable request from The Association for additional information in support of their application within one calendar month from the expiry date of any time-scale specified therein shall be deemed to have immediately and voluntarily terminated their application.

2.5 An invitation to renew membership (hereinafter referred to as a "Renewal Invitation") shall be posted and/or e-mailed by The Association to each Member in then concurrently good standing (hereinafter referred to as an "invitee") not earlier than three calendar months prior to the expiry date of an invitee's then current Individual Membership Year and each Renewal Invitation shall specify:

A) all or any revisions that have been made in Admission Criteria and/or Codes of Conduct and/or Membership Rules since an invitee's original date of admission or (as the case may be) since the commencement of an invitee's then current Individual Membership Year and renewal of Membership shall constitute an invitee's willingness to abide by all such specified revisions;

B) a "Membership Renewal Fee" (which shall not exceed the amount of an invitee's individually relevant Membership Fee being concurrently displayed on The web site as at the date of issue of a Renewal Invitation) and each Renewal Invitation shall also;

C) specify a time-scale for payment of the Membership Renewal Fee which time-scale shall not be less than one calendar month beyond the date of expiry of the invitee's then current Individual Membership Year.

2.6 Any Member who fails (for whatever reason) to renew their membership within one calendar month from the expiry of the payment time-scale specified in a Renewal Invitation and/or who fails to comply with any performance undertaking given to The Association and/or who fails to respond adequately to any request for additional information and/or any other directive issued by The Association within one calendar month from the expiry date of any time-scale specified therein shall be deemed to have immediately and voluntarily resigned their membership and shall also be deemed to have immediately and voluntarily terminated all rights, privileges and benefits associated therewith.

2.7 Membership Certificates and all or any rights, privileges and/or benefits attaching thereto are not assignable and/or transferable to any Third-party.

2.8 (Subject to the compensatory provisions of Heading 8.2 hereof) Once paid Membership Fees and/or Membership Renewal Fees are not refundable.

2.9 Members shall only use Membership Insignia that is compatible with their concurrently valid Membership Certificate and Members shall at all times use their respective best endeavors to:

A) abide by The Rules and abide by their individually applicable Code of Conduct;

B) use their individually awarded variant(s) of Membership Insignia only in strict accordance and compliance with Heading 7.0 hereof;

C) immediately discontinue all or any use of Membership Insignia on the expiry or earlier termination of their Membership Certificate;

D) (as and when requested so to do) respond to any reasonable written request for the provision of additional and/or supportive Membership specific data made by or on authorised behalf of The Association within the response time-scale specified therein;

E) comply with all or any performance undertakings given to The Association;

F) comply with all and every written directive and/or instruction reasonably issued by or on authorised behalf of The Association in respect of all or any alleged breach and/or other alleged non-compliance with The Rules;

G) notify The Association in writing (at the earliest practical opportunity) of any changes in data previously supplied to The Association and/or any other changes that have had (or are reasonably likely to have) a substantive impact on a Member's ability to continuously comply with all or any of The Rules.

H) at all times acknowledge and respect the validity of the ownership of the intellectual property rights specified in Heading 11.0 hereof and also respect the intellectual property rights of all other parties;

I) explore the possibility that amends/revisions to The Rules and/or their individually relevant Code of Conduct may have occurred since the date of their last respective useage of the same and (whether they have done so or not) all Members shall be deemed to have visited The web site in order to individually verify the currency of such data prior to their next intended useage thereof.

3.0 MEMBERSHIP INSIGNIA: (TOP)


3.1 The display or other use of Membership Insignia is entirely optional and each variant of Membership Insignia is reserved exclusively for relevantly qualifying Members subject to initial and on-going compliance with the Conditions specified in Heading 7.0 hereof and all other operationally relevant provisions of The Rules.

3.2 Every online display of Membership Insignia must incorporate a hyperlink to the user's Membership Certificate Page of The web site.

 

                         4.0 OBLIGATIONS OF THE ASSOCIATION: (TOP)

The Association will at all times:

4.1 preserve the confidentiality of all data relative to each and every Applicant and every Member with the exception of:

A) any data which has been expressly authorised for publication by The Association on The web site and/or for release by The Association to specifically identified Third parties and/or for public domain purposes;

B) any data that is or shall become publicly available or otherwise becomes part of the public domain and/or;

C) any data that is required to be disclosed by The Association's locally applicable law.

4.2 promptly notify Applicants of any observed non-conformance with Admission Criteria and/or any observed errors in and/or omissions from the Association's membership application requirements and simultaneously notify each non-compliant Applicant of all or any remedial action required to be undertaken by them in order to progress their membership application.

4.3 promptly notify Members of any observed and/or reported non-compliance with The Rules and simultaneously notify them of all or any remedial, preventative and/or corrective action required to be undertaken in respect thereof within specifically expressed time restrictions.

4.4 promptly publish on The web site and/or promptly communicate to all then concurrently registered Members all amendments to Admission Criteria and/or Codes of Conduct and/or The Rules effected under the provisions of Heading 2.1 hereof.

4.5 regulate listings in all or any of The Association's online Directories by promptly locating each new listing immediately ABOVE the then concurrently displayed TOP listing in the individually relevant Section of each new listing's individually relevant online Directory or (as the case may be) promptly locating each new listing in strictly observed numerically and/or alphabetically prioritised order.

5.0 DEFAULT AND REVOCATION: (TOP)


5.1 Whenever a Member shall be considered by The Association to be in serious and/or repeated breach of The Rules The Association shall be at liberty to immediately remove all listings relative to the defaulting Member from all or any of The Association's online Directories and The Association shall also be at liberty to instruct any such defaulting Member to immediately discontinue use of their individually relevant Membership Insignia and/or to immediately cease all or any claim to membership rights, privileges and/or benefits until such time (if any) as The Association is again satisfied that the relevant Member has achieved acceptable levels of compliance with The Rules.

5.2 In all or any of the following circumstances The Association shall be at liberty (with immediate effect) to cease displaying the individually relevant Membership Certificate and/or to remove all or any individually associated listings from all or any of The Association's online Directories:

A) failure by a Member to be in concurrently adequate compliance with The Rules;

B) the upholding by The Association of any substantive Complaint about a Member received from any Complainant;

C) the appointment by or on behalf of a Member of a Receiver or the entry into liquidation whether compulsory or not (Save for the purposes of reconstruction or amalgamation) or, as the case may be, bankruptcy; and/or

D) the conviction of a Member (operating in the Member's Association recognised name, style or title) and/or the conviction of any member(s) of a Company Member's Executive/Senior Management in respect of any offence (be it caused by way of an act of commission or omission) that is likely (in the absolute opinion of the Chief or other Senior Executive Officer of The Association) to discredit the reputation or integrity of The Association and/or all or any of its Members.

                         6.0 NOTIFICATIONS:                          (TOP)


Any notice requiring service under any of the provisions of The Rules shall be:

A) communicated in electronically generated and/or hardcopy writing and be dispatched by or on authorised behalf of the party issuing the same;

B) submitted either by e-mail to the last known e-mail address of the intended recipient or in the case of hardcopy notices, left at or sent (by prepaid recorded delivery) to the last known address (or registered office) of the intended recipient;

C) deemed (in the absence of contrary proof) to have been received by the addressee within the ordinary course of terrestrial post (or as the case may be) in the ordinary course of e-mailed transmission;

D) deemed (in the absence of contrary proof) to have been properly addressed and (as the case may be) either properly electronically submitted or properly terrestrially posted and;

E) the addresses of The Association for service of all or any Notifications is:

AAQA
PO Box 5639
Southend-on-Sea
Essex SS2 4WX
UNITED KINGDOM.

e-mail

7.0 USE OF MEMBERSHIP INSIGNIA: (TOP)


7.1 Membership Insignia SHALL NOT BE DISPLAYED (UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES) in contravention of all or any Code of Conduct and/or in direct or indirect association with any other words, expressions, text and/or graphic display(s) which:

A) expressly state and/or imply and/or infer that Membership Insignia and/or membership of The Association is equivalent to or is in any other way comparable to and/or is an acceptable alternative to any other insignia useage and/or Symbol Licensing and/or Quality Assurance Programme; and/or

B) expressly state and/or imply and/or infer that ANY PRODUCTS and/or SERVICES offered for sale, hire, letting and/or exchange by a Member are themselves IN ANY WAY OR MANNER assessed, certificated, evaluated and/or approved against The Association's Codes of Conduct and/or The Rules and/or are endorsed and/or are otherwise recommended by and/or otherwise approved of by The Association.

7.2 The AAQA Company Member insignia shall NOT be displayed or otherwise used in or on any literature, specifications, labels, notices, Bills of Lading and/or any other documents and/or data and/or materials which have been expressly designed or are otherwise intended to be physically affixed to and/or to normatively accompany and/or to package and/or otherwise enclose ANY type and/or classification of raw materials and/or any naturally produced products and/or any wholly or partially completed manufactured product(s) and/or the physical undertaking or operational delivery of ANY type and/or classification of industrial, trade, general and/or specialist professional, commercial and/or domestic services and/or any other category of domestic and/or business support service(s).

7.3 For electronically generated and other online purposes Membership Insignia may be displayed on:

A) the normatively opening page of a Member's Association recognised web site or on individual Pages of any Association recognised web site that have been specifically pre-approved in writing by The Association and/or;

B) Membership Certificate compatible e-Commerce stationary and (in all such cases) the displayed Membership Insignia may only be hyperlinked to a Member's individually applicable Membership Certificate and/or to such other Page(s) of The web site as The Association shall individually agree in writing with any Member from time to time.

7.4 Membership Insignia may also be displayed on Membership Certificate compatible hardcopy stationary (including letter headings and/or other normative communication pro formas) and/or on similarly compatible hardcopy advertisements and/or marketing and/or other promotional literature which does not conflict with The Rules and/or with individually relevant Codes of Conduct.

7.5 The AAQA Company Member insignia must be displayed:

A) in the colour(s) concurrently being displayed on The web site and in formats that are uniformly proportional to the layout and design concurrently being displayed on The web site and where the sizing of online formats and/or other electronically generated formats are not less than 80 X 80 pixels and where hardcopy formats are not less than 25mm in height and;

B) in strict compliance with any additional Membership Insignia regulations as The Association may publish on The web site and/or otherwise stipulate from time to time regarding colour(s) and/or the design and/or specific minimal dimensions and/or placement of Membership Insignia.

                         8.0 LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY:                          (TOP)

8.1 General:

In providing all or any of The Services or in supplying supplemental information or advice neither The Association nor any of its respective officers, employees or agents shall be deemed to have given any warranty regarding the accuracy of any such information, advice and/or any other data.

8.2 Compensation:

Notwithstanding the provisions of Heading 8.1 hereof if a Member suffers loss or damage or expenses which can be proven to have arisen directly either from any negligent act of commission or omission or error on the part of The Association or from any negligent inaccuracy in information, advice or other data given or provided by or on authorized behalf of The Association THEN The Association shall pay compensation for such proven loss up to a sum that shall not exceed the amount of any fee, charge or any other financial consideration individually paid by any such Member to The Association during the specific Individual Membership Year in which such loss or damage or expense is proven to have arisen.

8.3 Force Majeure:

No failure or omission (by any party to The Association's membership arrangements) to perform or observe any of the obligations on their respective parts specified in The Rules shall be deemed to give rise to any claim for compensation in any circumstances where the failure or omission arises from any causes that are inherent in the normative use of the Internet and/or are otherwise beyond the reasonable control of the relevant party.

9.0 TERMINATION: (TOP)


Notwithstanding all or any other provisions contained in The Rules a Member may (without giving cause) terminate membership by giving to The Association 30 days notice in writing and The Association may (without giving cause) terminate all or any membership by giving to the relevant Member (or as the case may be) all Members 30 days notice in writing.

10.0 LEGAL JURISDICTION: (TOP)

The provisions of all membership arrangements shall be construed and shall operate as 'utmost good faith' Agreements made in England and the interpretation and validity thereof shall be governed by the laws of England.

11.0 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: (TOP)


The ownership of all of the intellectual property rights relative to The Association and all or any element of its membership arrangements (including this publication and all of the content of The web site) are vested in The Association

Applicants and/or Members and/or all other parties are advised and cautioned that none of the Membership Insignia specified herein and/or illustrated on The web site and/or any other data published by or on authorised behalf of The Association in support of its membership arrangements may be displayed and/or otherwise used and/or stored in any type of retrieval system nor shall any such date be reproduced, published or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, recording, photocopying or other) without the prior written permission of The Association. (TOP)

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