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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! |
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Do you want to sponsor us?  The national associations of the following countries are members of EFAMRO: Belgium France Germany Hungary Mexico Italy The Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden United Kingdom Turkey 
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Editor: Jan Roekens Design: Niels Wagemaker 
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December 2007
Can we outsource ISO 20252 projects? Recently, Efamro members got together in Madrid to exchange experiences with regard to their respective implementation of the ISO 20252 standard. One of the most discussed topics there proved to be the international outsourcing of fieldwork to non-accredited agencies. Read more... At what stage are we now with regard to ISO implementation? All Efamro members are currently making the maximum effort to ensure implementation. At this present stage, the Netherlands is leading the way with a total of twenty-three ISO 20252 assessed research institutes. In the major European nations such as France, Germany, and the UK, the number of certified institutes is relatively sparse, but the major breakthrough within these countries is expected to occur around mid-2008. Read more... Is Brian Gosschalk right ? In Germany, UK agency Ipsos Mori has been formally reprimanded for breaches concerning the very stringent German anonymity rules during one of their online surveys in that country. Ipsos Mori CEO Brian Gosschalk’s comments on the matter: “We did the survey on behalf of a UK client in full accordance with relevant UK legislation.” Read more... Huge fines for silent calls in the UK Silent calls happen when automatic dialling machines ring potential customers but generate more calls than the call centre staff can deal with. Companies that plague consumers with silent phone calls are to be fined by the telecom authority Ofcom by up to £50,000 for each offence. The maximum fine was increased in 2006, from £5,000 to £50,000. This has proved to be only party effective. Read more...
Can we outsource ISO 20252 projects? Recently, Efamro members got together in Madrid to exchange experiences with regard to their respective implementation of the ISO 20252 standard. One of the most discussed topics there proved to be the international outsourcing of fieldwork to non-accredited agencies. As long as the penetration of ISO 20252 certified agencies resides at a low level, the conflict will remain between the ISO demand that subcontracting should be carried out by accredited subcontractors on the one hand, and the current unavailability of these duly certified subcontractors on the other. The practical and feasible solution will be
to develop a standard ISO 20252 briefing document, which informs the
potential subcontractor of the demands that represent the logical
consequence of working under an ISO 20252 accreditation. This standard briefing document should also
specify which key parameters must be open to inspection. EFAMRO members will strive towards drawing up
a standard briefings document (or, failing that, as standard a
document as is possible to realize), with the initial concept texts
being anticipated around early 2008. It is evident that preparations are in full
swing throughout Europe. During the recent Esomar annual congress 2007
in Berlin, various trade associations did give an overview of the
issues which they are facing during the implementation of ISO 20252
in their countries. They gave presentations for a worldwide audience
of over a hundred interested Esomar congress delegates. The slides
of the presentations of Synovate ,Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands,
Japan, France and the UK are available at the Esomar website
http://www.esomar.org/index.php/congress-2007---video.html Efamro is not aware of the precise details,
but for now, we will certainly assume that Ipsos Mori acted within
the constraints of the MRS code and guidelines. The growth of online market research is resulting in its internationalisation. Agencies are no longer required to enlist a foreign subcontractor, as they are equally able to conduct the research themselves. These local subcontractors would certainly have pre-warned the master unit of any violations of specific local codes. This natural form of protection is now lacking. A report outlining the differences between
the various nations is simply not available at this moment in
time. The one factor that does vary per respective nation however is the manner in which violations of codes and guidelines, and complaints emanating from those involved are dealt with. The most important similarity is actually that the success and effectiveness of these self-disciplinary procedures is noticeably more limited in all nations across the board than was originally envisaged. It really is high time the Chairman of the
disciplinary bodies were assembled in order to come to some common
agreement regarding the international harmonisation of disciplinary
procedures, as well as an increase in the degree of expertise for
those involved in international market research projects. The problem of silent and abandoned calls remains a priority for Ofcom, and Ofcom has therefore decided in June 2007 to extend its programme of monitoring and enforcement for a further six months. In this period, Ofcom will continue to monitor abandoned call data and investigate whether particular users of automated calling systems are complying with the requirements of the revised statement. The fact that Ofcom does indeed mean business
is illustrated by the fact that it has imposed the following
penalties on UK based companies: New rules - Ofcom also introduced three new rules for the UK industry:
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