ISTA's CODE OF BUSINESS PRACTICE

1.       INTRODUCTION

1.1    This document provides the entire basis on which suppliers of S.C.E.N.A.R.-Technology equipment qualify for registered status with ISTA.

1.2    The objective of this Code of Practice is to provide the general public, S.C.E.N.A.R. practitioners and ISTA members with the objective information required to make informed choices about the purchase of S.C.E.N.A.R.- Technology equipment.

1.3    The information provided against each Registered Supplier is provided by this Registered Supplier, who warrants the currency, accuracy and veracity of the information. ISTA assumes no responsibility beyond undertaking to reproduce this information accurately and in a format it considers most useful to users of its Website.

1.4    In the event of any reported or discovered breach of the Code of Practice, the Registered Supplier agrees that this should immediately be reported to ISTA via this Report button. ISTA also encourages positive feedback, and invites this via the same form. Positive and negative feedback may be listed against any Registered Supplier. All feedback is treated as an opportunity to review, and, if necessary, to improve services.

2.      UNDERTAKINGS

2.1   The Registered Supplier undertakes to conduct its business in an ethical manner, such being defined as being fair in pricing, offering a fair returns and repairs policy, providing full disclosure regarding everything on sale, and generally offering full after-sales support to its customers.

2.2    ISTA undertakes to refrain from concerning itself with the Registered Supplier's legitimate commercial business, e.g. arrangements with manufacturers and customers, pricing policies, etc.; its sole concern remains the ethical, fair and sensitive treatment of its actual and potential members and the maintenance of S.C.E.N.A.R.'s good name.

3.      THE EQUIPMENT

3.1    The equipment sold by the Registered Supplier shall have been manufactured by one of the ISTA approved Manufacturers.

3.2    The Registered Supplier is required to provide training for the equipment sold, such training either to be provided directly by in-house accredited trainers, or by contracted Registered Trainers, all working within ISTA recommended training guidelines.

3.2     Where the Registered Supplier is also a training provider, the Registered Supplier agrees not to make the purchase of equipment conditional to undergoing its training programme, although ISTA prefers to see training and sales linked in one package, at least with regard to the use of specific S.C.E.N.A.R. devices.

3.3     The Registered Supplier will offer a returns policy in keeping at least with the legal requirements of its country of residence, and will offer a free 1-year breakdown warranty and a repair and replacement / loan scheme to enable practitioners to offer continuity of treatment with minimum interruption.

3.4     The Registered Supplier will, as far as is reasonable, familiarise itself with any regulations pertaining to S.C.E.N.A.R. in particular, and medical devices in general, in the country of residence of the purchaser, and will draw attention to any such provisions or their likely existence wherever possible. ISTA and the Registered Supplier take no responsibility for any omissions or errors in country-specific advice offered.

4.        ADVERTISING

4.1     The Registered Supplier undertakes not to make misleading claims over the capabilities of S.C.E.N.A.R. devices and therapy, and, as a courtesy, to pass proposed advertising material by ISTA.

4.2     The Registered Supplier and ISTA will seek a remedy where marketing claims may cause ISTA discomfiture.

5.        RELATIONSHIP WITH ISTA

5.1      The Registered Supplier and ISTA are entirely unconnected. No financial benefits accrue to ISTA from the commercial activities of the Registered Supplier, other than the initial once-off administrative fee and annual registration fee.

5.2      Registered Suppliers are offered the opportunity to establish a link between their listing on the ISTA Website and their own Website(s). An annual charge applies.

5.3      Any complaints received by ISTA against a Registered Supplier will immediately be brought to the Registered Supplier's attention and a remedy agreed as soon as is possible and were practicable and appropriate. The complaint and remedy may be published in the comments columns on ISTA's Website, or may simply appear in the statistical records maintained against all suppliers.

5.4      The Registered Supplier agrees to offer ISTA Members discounts on items and material supplied.

5.5      Neither ISTA nor the Registered Supplier have any jurisdiction over the other. The ultimate recourse in the event of irreconcilable differences between the two, is for one or the other to withdraw from the arrangements contemplated under this Code and for the Registered Supplier to become a Listed Supplier, without a link to its Website.

6.        NATURE OF THIS CODE

6.1     This Code is voluntarily entered into between the Registered Supplier and ISTA; it represents a good faith agreement without legal recourse.

6.2      In the event of irreconcilable differences arising, the only recourse available to the Registered Supplier and ISTA is the withdrawal from this Code by the Registered Supplier and its removal from the Registered Supplier list by ISTA (and, possibly, transfer to a special de-listed section). Both parties however view this as an in-extremis measure and undertake to seek to avoid this where at all possible.

6.3     The removal from the list of Registered Suppliers will be automatic where the Registered Supplier is found to be in breach of the laws of the country of its residence.

6.4     One of 2 originals of this Code, duly signed by the Registered Supplier and ISTA, is held on file by either organisation, together with the original application for registration.

You can make a pre-application for registration by completing the on-line preliminary registration application form; this will get us into dialogue and expedite the Formal Application for Registration, which requires mailing the application and a signed copy of the ISTA Code of Business Conduct.