All members agree to comply to the IAGTO Code of Conduct when joining IAGTO and all are required to comply with the IAGTO Code of Conduct presented below for as long as they remain IAGTO members.
If a member is adjudged to have breached the Code of Conduct, IAGTO reserves the right to terminate the company’s IAGTO membership or issue the company with a warning. If membership is terminated due to a breach of the Code of Conduct, no membership fees will be returned, partial or full. IAGTO will be the sole arbiter of the Code of Conduct, and its decision will be final.
1. No member will use a supplier's complimentary services to visit a destination for an inspection without specific present or future interest to place business at that destination.
2. No member shall knowingly make false or misleading statements
a) about competitors;
b) about a member's expertise or ability to successfully and professionally meet a potential client's needs; or
c) about their own operation or market position.
3. Members will not use the names of other operators in any form of advertising or promotion if the statement made either a) cannot be proven, or b) includes incorrect or misleading information.
4. Members will not promote product for which there is either a) no contract or b) no mutually accepted working relationship.
5. Members will honour contracts and agreements in spirit as well as to the letter and will make every effort to honour all commitments, both written and verbal, as may be legally required.
6. Members will not sell services below the purchase price from their suppliers.
7. Members will adopt a high level of business ethics in dealings with clients, suppliers and other members.
8. IAGTO recommends that use of competitor company names in the coding for internet search engines (designed to generate enquiries from consumers who have specifically typed in the name of another company) should be avoided. If used, however, it is contrary to IAGTO's Code of Conduct for any company-specific message which is derogatory, misleading, false or unsubstantiated to be displayed alongside the search engine results.
9. A senior partner of a member intending to leave his/her employer and work for another firm or to establish his/her own company shall abstain from soliciting future business for himself/herself or another company, and shall not displace any confirmed business or take advantage of confidential information belonging to the employer.
10. Equally, no member company should take on ex-employees from other member companies in order to profit from business or information solicited in a way that contravenes paragraph 9.
11. Information available only to IAGTO members will not be passed on to non-IAGTO members without the prior consent of IAGTO’s Chief Executive.
12. Members must remain in compliance with trading regulations required within their jurisdiction of operation.
Membership in IAGTO implies that members have read the Code of Conduct and that they agree to comply with it, conducting business accordingly. Members accept that IAGTO will be the sole arbiter of the definition of 'High Business Ethics'. Breach of any of the above articles may, at IAGTO's discretion, result in membership being suspended or cancelled.
