Code Of Practice
Introduction
The Need for a Code
The nature of the Online Divorce and related services industry is such that many customers, though willing to complain are unsure of their rights within a relatively new market. This gives scope to be duplicitous, particularly for matters that are not reliant on repeat business from their customers. Discussions with trading standards departments and the Advertising Standards Authority reveal that the main areas for complaint are misleading advertising and failure to deliver a product or service.
The Proposed Code
The first draft of the proposed code was discussed at the first General Meeting of the founder members (3rd September 2007). Contact has been made with The Internet Services Providers’ Association to seek approval to use their code of practice as a foundation for NAPOD.
The key points in the code are:
- Commitment to act fairly
- Commitment to observe the law and relevant regulations, particularly on advertising and distance selling.
- A commitment to having a complaints procedure that includes having complaints considered by NAPOD.
- The code should be developed over time.
The Management of the Code
In the short term it would not be possible to produce a code with the infrastructure that met OFT requirements. For the immediate future it is proposed that:
- The compliance arrangements are based on initial and annual self-certification of compliance with the code.
- Compliance with the code will be a condition of membership of NAPOD.
