April 2001

At the TTF Governing Board on Wednesday 25 April, approval was given to begin the process of establishing a code of conduct and new codes of practice for Federation members.

The code of conduct will commit members to abide by the general rules of membership and where necessary to participate in a clearly defined procedure for dealing with complaints received by the Federation.

The codes of practice will provide the detail specific to each product sector enabling the complaints procedure to determine if a member's conduct falls outside accepted practice.

The defined complaints procedure will be valid in its own right and the general rules of membership can be used to determine whether a member's general business practice is appropriate for a federation member. Both of these elements can be marketed as positive benefits of membership.

A comprehensive consultation process will be undertaken over the next few months and all members will be written to with the details. The main method of feedback members should use is a dedicated e-mail address codeofconduct@ttf.co.uk

A draft document will be presented to the Federation's one day conference to be held on 20 September in Birmingham. This draft will be subject to ratification by members and an agreed version is to be in place by the beginning of 2002.

The Codes of Practice will be developed to fully reflect each product sector. Once each Code of Practice is formulated and ratified by the division then it is envisaged that all members who choose to trade in that product sector will be subject to its own individual code.

These codes promise to be the single biggest tangible benefit of membership offered by the Federation and are a clear response to the needs and demands of our members.