All registered and accepted ethical brands participate in the ethical brand Monitoring Program™ for so long as they remain licensed to display or use the ethical brand Identity® in any manner whatsoever.

Initial Qualifying Period

The initial qualifying period is a minimum 30 days from the time that the registered enterprise commences participation in the ethical brand Monitoring Program™. This is the minimum period necessary for any registered enterprise to generate a rating. Each newly enrolled enterprise is furnished with a Limited License, which provides for its participation in the ethical brand Monitoring Program™, as well as an Ambiguous (neutral) rating. However, sooner or later, each enterprise must achieve a Genuine rating in order to either retain any existing license it has been granted, or to secure a Full License and or subsequently an Extended License (which is mostly relevant only to those entities wishing to display the ethical brand Identity® on products).

Qualifying

In any event, the registered enterprise essentially qualifies and is automatically granted a Full License when it completes at least 30 continuous days in the ethical brand Monitoring Program™ AND generates a Genuine rating.

More Time

If the enterprise fails to generate a Genuine rating at the end of the initial 30 day period and its rating remains Ambiguous, then the Limited License remains in effect and the qualifying period simply may continue for up to one year and during that time it must generate and sustain a Genuine rating and avoid an Other rating. This provides every enterprise with ample time to address and or work through whatever issue, or issues are inhibiting its ability to generate a Genuine rating. Those entities subscribed to our Full Service Plan will also be offered personalised insight, advice and or guidance from Ethical Brand (International) from time to time - when we feel that this is appropriate or necessary.

Failing to Qualify

However, if the registered enterprise generates an Other rating at any time prior to qualifying, this will strongly suggest to us that the enterprise is failing to display the characteristics of an authentic ethical brand, because this rating can only be achieved by consistently failing to respond to one or more legitimate concerns, or issues raised through feedback from qualified stakeholders. Under these circumstances the Sponsor is given conditional notice, which means that unless certain conditions (relevant to the circumstances surrounding the enterprise's rating) are addressed to the satisfaction of Ethical Brand (International), then its Limited License shall be withdrawn, along with all of our supporting services and the enterprise shall also be removed from the register of ethical brands and barred from reregistering as an ethical brand for a period of not less than 1 year, unless the ownership of the enterprise changes. Under exceptional circumstances Ethical Brand (International) may waive any formal notice period, or indeed the option to take any remedial steps in order to retrieve its status as a registered ethical brand - depending on how we assess the severity of the situation.

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