ABTA has announced a new Primary Authority partnership with Kent County Council Trading Standards today.

The organisation entered into the new deal with the regional body with a view to boosting the advantages and benefits to ABTA Members of following the advice that ABTA provides on Trading Standards regulatory requirements. ABTA will act as a coordinator on behalf of its Members and advice issued under the Partnership will be confirmed as “Assured Advice” by Kent County Council Trading Standards.

“High levels of respect and trust”

Simon Bunce, ABTA Director of Legal Services said: “I’m delighted to announce our partnership with Kent County Council Trading Standards. ABTA Members should be greatly reassured that as long as they follow the advice given in the ABTA Code of Conduct and Guidance on the Code, they will be abiding by all relevant laws and should be protected from potential prosecution from their local trading standards office, if an issue arises that is specifically covered in the advice.

“Having access to this Primary Authority agreement through membership of the Association is a clear new Member benefit. It will provide another excellent reason for customers to book with an ABTA Member and increase the already high levels of respect and trust the public has in the ABTA logo.”

Assured advice

ABTA’s Code of Conduct and Guidance on the Code of Conduct have been signed off by the Primary Authority as “assured advice”. These two documents represent ABTA’s core guidance to Members. Provided that Members follow this advice, they can be confident that they are complying with the law. A Primary Authority takes away the risk of businesses being subject to conflicting opinions from other trading standards authorities and facing unnecessary investigation. Any Trading Standards authority must notify Kent Trading Standards if they intend to take enforcement action against an ABTA Member. That action can be halted if it conflicts with Primary Authority Advice, i.e. the ABTA Code of Conduct and Guidance on the Code.

There are no increased costs for this new partnership and further information on how primary authorities work can be found here.