DECEMBER 2005

Mexico applies for EFAMRO membership

The Mexican trade association AMAI has now officially applied for EFAMRO membership. The Mexican market boasts a prosperous growth level of 10% over the last three years, and currently ranks among the top 15 market research markets.
Research spending per capita indicates there is room for further growth, so an estimated market size increase of 15% is not entirely surprising.

For AMAI, this spells a growing need for the professionalisation of their industry, and they view joining EFAMRO as a logical step and a means of aligning forces with fellow associations in Europe.

Read more...

Dutch 'Do not call' subscriptions double within six-month period

Since 2004, the Dutch MOA has provided Dutch respondents with the option to subscribe to a 'do not call' list, whose operational costs are financed by a group of Dutch market research agencies.
With awareness becoming more widespread, the total number of subscriptions has doubled to a total of 126,000 within a period of six months. Using the assumption that each household has a landline, this transcribes into approx. 2% of all households refusing upfront to receive unsolicited telephone calls for market research purposes.

Read more...

Especially for EFAMRO members: global census data available on website

The availability of the latest census data has become an essential tool, now that more and more research is being conducted in an international setting.
This census data is available in each country, but the question remains of where to obtain it, and whether or not the information provided is recent enough. EFAMRO asked its members to submit the websites featuring the most reliable census source in their country.

Due to all members being so kind as to supply their respective information, we are delighted to be able to place their data on the EFAMRO website. We will see to it that the information is updated regularly for reliability. Please inform your account executives about the possibility of adding www.efamro.com/census.htm to their browser favourites.

New: Hungary joins EFAMRO

PMSZ, the Hungarian Association of Marketing Research Companies, officially joined EFAMRO in September 2005.
After many years of mutual exploration, PMSZ accepted an invitation from EFAMRO to take part in the activities of the international organization, and PMSZ was subsequently introduced into EFAMRO at the organization's meeting in Cannes, France on September 19th.

Read more...

New MRS Code of Conduct now launched in the UK

The MRS Professional Standards Committee launched its major review of the Code of Conduct (the first significant revision for 10 years), and the discussions about the alignment of this code with the International ISO TCC 225 are about to start. The new Global ISO code has a global scope and it is expected that multinationals will insist on working with agencies that accept TCC 225 standards.

Weblink to MRS Code of Conduct http://www.mrs.org.uk/standards/codeconduct.htm

Background Story

Procedures of the German Disciplinary Body become beacon for MR's European House of Quality

During the WIN Meeting in Cannes (September 2005), it was confirmed that the existing disciplinary procedures of the market research industry in Germany would be used as beacon for the planned development of the self-disciplinary section of the 'House of Quality'.

Read more...

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Mexico applies for EFAMRO membership

For EFAMRO, it entails acceptance of the principle that its outlook is not restricted by solely defending the interests of European market research associations, but that its future role will have a more global scope. Important European countries like Turkey and Hungary became EFAMRO members during the course of 2005, and Mexico's application for membership in the latter part of 2005 is another clear signal of what lies ahead.

As the volume of transnational research projects has shown a marked increase within recent years, and the number of 'wholly-owned' international agencies has multiplied, broadening the scope of EFAMRO would seem a natural consequence of the aforementioned developments.

Moreover, the introduction of the Global ISO/TC225 Quality Standards in 2006 will have a profound impact on the research industry. Not just in Europe, but in Asia, South America, and Africa in particular. EFAMRO has played an important role in the development of this new global ISO standard, and will continue to do so in the near future.

The recent development of EFAMRO Directives for Online Access Panels and Automated Dialling Equipment are issues that non-European countries cannot ignore, and thus Mexico's desire to join EFAMRO seems a logical one.

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Dutch 'Do not call' subscriptions double within six-month period

That market research is not as popular as one would hope for is illustrated by the fact that 4% of households have now placed their name on a 'do not call' list for market research purposes.

There also happens to be close collaboration between the direct marketing sector and that of market research. Until the present date, some 270,000 people have registered as non-approachables for direct marketing purposes. As respondents are often unaware of the differences between these two fields, the market research sector also gets the direct marketing register, as we can presume that these persons will also wish to avoid the cold calling research method.

In addition, the two are also in charge of the so-called 'deceased file'. Each user of the 'do not call' list is offered this file free of charge, in order for relatives or other relations to be spared sustained postal communication and phone calls for those persons deceased. It will be interesting to keep abreast of further developments and see what the ratio will be between Direct Marketing rejecters and Market Research rejecters.

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New: Hungary joins EFAMRO

Seven market research companies founded PMSZ in 1997, with the number of fully-fledged members increasing rapidly ever since; the count now stands at 22. The aggregate annual turnover of the PMSZ members exceeded EUR 48 million, which amounts to 85% of the entire industry turnover in Hungary.
Beyond protecting and promoting the interests of the PMSZ members, PMSZ organizes educational programmes, such as the PMSZ Academy and annual PMSZ Conference (last year Ted Vonk was the key speaker).
This year, the 6th conference will take place under the title of 'Metamorphosis 2 - market research in the changing social and economic environment'.

The organization comprises a Board of three members:

President

Endre Hann hann@PMSZ.org

Board Members

Ákos Kozák kozak@PMSZ.org
József Mészáros meszaros@PMSZ.org

Secretary General

Judit Lendvay lendvay@PMSZ.org.

The PMSZ homepage is located at: www.PMSZ.org (unfortunately in Hungarian only).

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Procedures of the German Disciplinary Body become beacon for MR's European House of Quality

The German associations of market and social research have set up a multilateral board of complaints. The purpose of this 'Rat der Deutschen Markt- und Sozialforschung e.V.' is to ensure that the principles and rules of professional conduct as well as the quality standards of the German research industry are observed.

Any person is entitled to approach this disciplinary body if he feels his rights as a respondent, client, or competitor are being infringed upon due to the actions of a researcher, a research agency, a corporate division, or other institution working in the field of market and social research in that this action is in violation of the principles and rules of professional conduct.

In 2001 the German associations of market, opinion and social research established a joint disciplinary body under the name 'Rat der Deutschen Markt- und Sozialforschung' (RDMS). It is part of the comprehensive system of self-regulation and self-control in market, opinion and social research, which has been built up by the German associations during the last ten years.

The objective of the RDMS is to safeguard the reputation of market, opinion, and social research. Its task is to ensure the observance of the professional principles and rules, as well as compliance with the quality standards of the German market, opinion and social research industry.

The RDMS deals with all infringements against the professional principles and rules, as well as non-compliances with the quality standards, provided the alleged infringement has taken place in Germany, or the party which is the subject of a complaint is resident or has its company headquarters in Germany.

Any natural or legal person is entitled to approach the RDMS if that person feels that his or her rights as a respondent, client, or competitor are being infringed upon by the actions of a researcher, research agency, corporate division, or other institution operational within the field of market, opinion, and social research.

Tasks and decisions
Although the RMDS was established by the German associations of market, opinion, and social research, it is a separate legal entity. It consists of a Responsible Body, an Inspection Committee, and a Complaints Committee. Members of the Responsible Body are the three German associations of market, opinion, and social research, as well as six acknowledged individual researchers appointed by the associations.

The tasks of the Inspection Committee are to investigate incoming complaints, and to dismiss them if it transpires that the conduct leading to the complaints was clearly not an infringement of the professional principles and rules, or was not intended as such. All remaining complaints must be passed on to the Complaints Committee. In addition, the Inspection Committee can take over the role of complainant in certain cases, for example if a complaint has been filed by a respondent.

The tasks of the Complaints Committee are to make decisions regarding complaints that have been passed on to it by the Inspection Committee: either by written procedure or by way of an oral hearing.

The following decisions can be made by the Complaints Committee:
- acquittal of the party against which a complaint was made
- issuing a warning
- issuing a public reprimand

A reprimand can be combined with a recommendation for exclusion from the association of which the party is a member and/or notification of the relevant authorities.

Since 2001, reprimands have been issued for various reasons, for example:
- the participants of group discussions have been observed by the client without asking for their consent
- standard professional care was not observed when obtaining a sample
- personal data obtained through customer satisfaction studies has been passed on to the client
- A survey labelled as market research has been combined with advertising for subscriptions.

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	EFAMRO is an international federation of market research agency associations within the European Union. It was formed in 1992 to bring together national associations of major countries in Western Europe representing research agencies responsible for between 60% and 70% of the total turnover in market research. EFAMRO is incorporated in The Netherlands. Check our website for further details!


	The national associations of the following countries are members of EFAMRO: Belgium Czech Republic France Germany Italy Hungary The Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden Poland United Kingdom Turkey Please subscribe my e-mail address to the EFAMRO mailinglist. Please unsubscribe my e-mail address from the EFAMRO mailinglist. Editor: Jan Roekens Design: Niels Wagemaker			DECEMBER 2005 Mexico applies for EFAMRO membership The Mexican trade association AMAI has now officially applied for EFAMRO membership. The Mexican market boasts a prosperous growth level of 10% over the last three years, and currently ranks among the top 15 market research markets. Research spending per capita indicates there is room for further growth, so an estimated market size increase of 15% is not entirely surprising. For AMAI, this spells a growing need for the professionalisation of their industry, and they view joining EFAMRO as a logical step and a means of aligning forces with fellow associations in Europe. Read more... Dutch 'Do not call' subscriptions double within six-month period Since 2004, the Dutch MOA has provided Dutch respondents with the option to subscribe to a 'do not call' list, whose operational costs are financed by a group of Dutch market research agencies. With awareness becoming more widespread, the total number of subscriptions has doubled to a total of 126,000 within a period of six months. Using the assumption that each household has a landline, this transcribes into approx. 2% of all households refusing upfront to receive unsolicited telephone calls for market research purposes. Read more... Especially for EFAMRO members: global census data available on website The availability of the latest census data has become an essential tool, now that more and more research is being conducted in an international setting. This census data is available in each country, but the question remains of where to obtain it, and whether or not the information provided is recent enough. EFAMRO asked its members to submit the websites featuring the most reliable census source in their country. Due to all members being so kind as to supply their respective information, we are delighted to be able to place their data on the EFAMRO website. We will see to it that the information is updated regularly for reliability. Please inform your account executives about the possibility of adding www.efamro.com/census.htm to their browser favourites. New: Hungary joins EFAMRO PMSZ, the Hungarian Association of Marketing Research Companies, officially joined EFAMRO in September 2005. After many years of mutual exploration, PMSZ accepted an invitation from EFAMRO to take part in the activities of the international organization, and PMSZ was subsequently introduced into EFAMRO at the organization's meeting in Cannes, France on September 19th. Read more... New MRS Code of Conduct now launched in the UK The MRS Professional Standards Committee launched its major review of the Code of Conduct (the first significant revision for 10 years), and the discussions about the alignment of this code with the International ISO TCC 225 are about to start. The new Global ISO code has a global scope and it is expected that multinationals will insist on working with agencies that accept TCC 225 standards. Weblink to MRS Code of Conduct http://www.mrs.org.uk/standards/codeconduct.htm Background Story Procedures of the German Disciplinary Body become beacon for MR's European House of Quality During the WIN Meeting in Cannes (September 2005), it was confirmed that the existing disciplinary procedures of the market research industry in Germany would be used as beacon for the planned development of the self-disciplinary section of the 'House of Quality'. Read more... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mexico applies for EFAMRO membership For EFAMRO, it entails acceptance of the principle that its outlook is not restricted by solely defending the interests of European market research associations, but that its future role will have a more global scope. Important European countries like Turkey and Hungary became EFAMRO members during the course of 2005, and Mexico's application for membership in the latter part of 2005 is another clear signal of what lies ahead. As the volume of transnational research projects has shown a marked increase within recent years, and the number of 'wholly-owned' international agencies has multiplied, broadening the scope of EFAMRO would seem a natural consequence of the aforementioned developments. Moreover, the introduction of the Global ISO/TC225 Quality Standards in 2006 will have a profound impact on the research industry. Not just in Europe, but in Asia, South America, and Africa in particular. EFAMRO has played an important role in the development of this new global ISO standard, and will continue to do so in the near future. The recent development of EFAMRO Directives for Online Access Panels and Automated Dialling Equipment are issues that non-European countries cannot ignore, and thus Mexico's desire to join EFAMRO seems a logical one. top - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dutch 'Do not call' subscriptions double within six-month period That market research is not as popular as one would hope for is illustrated by the fact that 4% of households have now placed their name on a 'do not call' list for market research purposes. There also happens to be close collaboration between the direct marketing sector and that of market research. Until the present date, some 270,000 people have registered as non-approachables for direct marketing purposes. As respondents are often unaware of the differences between these two fields, the market research sector also gets the direct marketing register, as we can presume that these persons will also wish to avoid the cold calling research method. In addition, the two are also in charge of the so-called 'deceased file'. Each user of the 'do not call' list is offered this file free of charge, in order for relatives or other relations to be spared sustained postal communication and phone calls for those persons deceased. It will be interesting to keep abreast of further developments and see what the ratio will be between Direct Marketing rejecters and Market Research rejecters. top - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - New: Hungary joins EFAMRO Seven market research companies founded PMSZ in 1997, with the number of fully-fledged members increasing rapidly ever since; the count now stands at 22. The aggregate annual turnover of the PMSZ members exceeded EUR 48 million, which amounts to 85% of the entire industry turnover in Hungary. Beyond protecting and promoting the interests of the PMSZ members, PMSZ organizes educational programmes, such as the PMSZ Academy and annual PMSZ Conference (last year Ted Vonk was the key speaker). This year, the 6th conference will take place under the title of 'Metamorphosis 2 - market research in the changing social and economic environment'. The organization comprises a Board of three members: President Endre Hann hann@PMSZ.org Board Members Ákos Kozák kozak@PMSZ.org József Mészáros meszaros@PMSZ.org Secretary General Judit Lendvay lendvay@PMSZ.org. The PMSZ homepage is located at: www.PMSZ.org (unfortunately in Hungarian only). top - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Procedures of the German Disciplinary Body become beacon for MR's European House of Quality The German associations of market and social research have set up a multilateral board of complaints. The purpose of this 'Rat der Deutschen Markt- und Sozialforschung e.V.' is to ensure that the principles and rules of professional conduct as well as the quality standards of the German research industry are observed. Any person is entitled to approach this disciplinary body if he feels his rights as a respondent, client, or competitor are being infringed upon due to the actions of a researcher, a research agency, a corporate division, or other institution working in the field of market and social research in that this action is in violation of the principles and rules of professional conduct. In 2001 the German associations of market, opinion and social research established a joint disciplinary body under the name 'Rat der Deutschen Markt- und Sozialforschung' (RDMS). It is part of the comprehensive system of self-regulation and self-control in market, opinion and social research, which has been built up by the German associations during the last ten years. The objective of the RDMS is to safeguard the reputation of market, opinion, and social research. Its task is to ensure the observance of the professional principles and rules, as well as compliance with the quality standards of the German market, opinion and social research industry. The RDMS deals with all infringements against the professional principles and rules, as well as non-compliances with the quality standards, provided the alleged infringement has taken place in Germany, or the party which is the subject of a complaint is resident or has its company headquarters in Germany. Any natural or legal person is entitled to approach the RDMS if that person feels that his or her rights as a respondent, client, or competitor are being infringed upon by the actions of a researcher, research agency, corporate division, or other institution operational within the field of market, opinion, and social research. Tasks and decisions Although the RMDS was established by the German associations of market, opinion, and social research, it is a separate legal entity. It consists of a Responsible Body, an Inspection Committee, and a Complaints Committee. Members of the Responsible Body are the three German associations of market, opinion, and social research, as well as six acknowledged individual researchers appointed by the associations. The tasks of the Inspection Committee are to investigate incoming complaints, and to dismiss them if it transpires that the conduct leading to the complaints was clearly not an infringement of the professional principles and rules, or was not intended as such. All remaining complaints must be passed on to the Complaints Committee. In addition, the Inspection Committee can take over the role of complainant in certain cases, for example if a complaint has been filed by a respondent. The tasks of the Complaints Committee are to make decisions regarding complaints that have been passed on to it by the Inspection Committee: either by written procedure or by way of an oral hearing. The following decisions can be made by the Complaints Committee: - acquittal of the party against which a complaint was made - issuing a warning - issuing a public reprimand A reprimand can be combined with a recommendation for exclusion from the association of which the party is a member and/or notification of the relevant authorities. Since 2001, reprimands have been issued for various reasons, for example: - the participants of group discussions have been observed by the client without asking for their consent - standard professional care was not observed when obtaining a sample - personal data obtained through customer satisfaction studies has been passed on to the client - A survey labelled as market research has been combined with advertising for subscriptions. top - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -