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5. STANDARDS & ETHICS REQUIREMENTS
5.1 General Requirements:
(1) Applicability:
(i) All members of the Association shall be subject to this Code, including their
principals, owners, officers, and directors. Association members shall also be
responsible for the actions of their employees, agents, brokers, and independent
third party contractors, regardless of whether such persons are members of
the Association.
(ii) Any member that solicits or sells Vacation Ownership units or any related
products to consumers shall be subject to this Code, regardless of the actual
location or the point of sale of the vacation ownership or clubsharing
resort/property.
(iii) The provisions of this Code shall be applicable to all forms of contracts, print
advertising, sales, solicitations and other Vacation Ownership
Activities.
(2) General Requirements For Vacation Ownership
Activities:
(i) All Vacation Ownership Activities subject to this Code must comply with all local,
national (and, where applicable, international) laws and regulations.
(ii) The provisions of this Code shall apply except where laws or regulations in the
applicable jurisdiction provide otherwise.
(3) Information, Descriptions and Disclosures:
(i) All information, descriptions or disclosures required to be given under this Code,
whether oral, written or graphic, must be accurate and clear.
(ii) All such information, descriptions or disclosures must be consistent with one
another (oral sales presentations or transaction descriptions, for example, must
not conflict with sales literature or transaction documents).
(iii) If written, the information, descriptions or disclosures must be easily located,
conspicuous and readable.
(iv) If oral or written, they must be in terms easily understandable by consumers.
(4) Avoidance of False and Deceptive Statements: Statements made in conjunction
with vacation ownership activities, including all sales and solicitations:
(i) Must not convey false, untrue, deceptive or misleading information through
statements, testimonials, photographs, graphics or any other means; and
(ii) Must not omit material information without which the solicitations or sales
information would be deceptive or misleading or which would affect consumer
decision?making.
(5) Exchange and Reciprocal Use Programmes:
(i) Exchange programmes (such as at vacation ownership or clubsharing
developments), reciprocal use programmes (such as at golf?resort developments)
and all other programmes (collectively "the Programmes" or each "the
Programme") in which other location use rights or privileges of any kind are
offered as a secondary benefit to the consumer in a solicitation or the sale of a
vacation ownership scheme, must be represented accurately and clearly.
(ii) The Firms and the programme operators (being Exchange Companies or
organisations facilitating the reciprocal use of the vacation ownership/clubsharing
properties (the "Reciprocal Use Organisation") must not represent opportunities
to the consumer that is greater than is probable for that Vacation Ownership or
clubsharing resort/property.
(iii) The Developer or Sales Company must provide the consumer with information
on the Programme prior to the execution of a sales contract, which information
must include:
(a) The name and address of the Exchange Company or Reciprocal Use Organisation,
etc.;
(b) A statement that the consumer's contract with the company or organization
offering the Programme is a contract separate and distinct from the consumer's
contract with the seller of the Vacation Ownership or clubsharing resort/property;
(c) Whether the consumer's participation in or entitlement under the Programme is
dependent upon the continued affiliation of the development with the Programmer
(d) A statement as to whether the consumer's participation in the Programme is
voluntary or mandatory;
(e) A complete and accurate description of the terms and conditions of the consumer's
contractual relationship with the company or organization offering the Programme
and the procedure by which changes to such contract may be made;
(f) A complete and accurate description of the procedure to qualify for and effectuate
exchanges, reciprocal uses or similar rights or privileges;
(g) A complete and accurate description of all limitations, restrictions or priorities
used in the operation of the Programme, including limitations based upon
seasonality, unit size or level of occupancy; and, in the event that limitations,
restrictions or priorities are not uniformly applied by the Programme, a clear
description of the manner in which they are applied;
(h) Whether exchanges, reciprocal uses or similar rights or privileges are arranged
on a space available basis; and, whether any guarantees of fulfillment of specific
requests are made by the Programmer;
(i) The fees, range of fees or fees for various levels of participation by consumers
in the programme; a statement whether any such fees may be altered by the
company or organisation offering the Programme or by the Firm; and, the
circumstances under which alterations may be made or elected; the member
must be made fully aware of all maintenance fees payable and failure to pay
said fees may result in forfeit of membership rights;
(j) Whether and under what circumstances a consumer, in dealing with a vacation
ownership exchange programme, may lose the use and occupancy of the
consumer's vacation ownership period in any property applied for Vacation
Ownership exchange without being provided with substitute accommodation by
the exchange programmes;
(k) The developer and/or marketer must prove and guarantee that the right to use
the property for the period of the membership regardless of the status of the
development, and that any loans or encumbrances do not affect the consumer.
If there are loans on the property the developer must provide a non-disturbance
clause and obtain permission from the mortgagee to see memberships and
register with all appropriate authorities as applicable.
(6) The above provisions in this section shall apply only to initial offerings or contracts
and not to renewals offered directly by the Exchange Companies, Reciprocal, use
Organisations, etc.
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