• Exercising voting rights at Annual General Meetings, either by attending in person or by proxy
• Electing non-executive directors to the Nominet Board
• Being involved in policy discussions and consultations, together with Nominet events and meetings

The Code:

• Sets out the professional standards required for Nominet membership;
• Does not set out to list an exhaustive set of potential breaches. The test for a breach of the code is whether the Company is damaged or perceived to be damaged;
• Applies to all members, irrespective of jurisdiction;

Specifics:

• Professionalism –
  • Members will conduct themselves in a professional manner and avoid behaviour which could reasonably be regarded as bringing Nominet into disrepute.
  • Members will deal with Nominet employees, other Nominet members, the member’s customers and the public in a respectful, professional and courteous manner.
• Integrity –
  • Members will not use or attempt to use the status of membership improperly to confer a status which is not associated with membership.
• Accountability –
  • Members will ensure links with other members are promptly notified to Nominet, or when these links change. Links in this case include, but are not limited to, membership of a corporate group including another member, a significant shareholding in another member, or familial connections between individual members or directors of different members.
• Members must comply with any Board decision regarding compliance with or breach of the Code.

DRAFT Process:

• In the event that Nominet receives a complaint regarding a member’s compliance with the Code, Nominet will:
  • Notify all parties of the complaint and provide them with a copy of it;
  • Invite written submissions from all parties regarding the complaint; and
  • Present the complaint and submissions to the Members' Code Committee for their consideration.
• The Members' Code Committee is a Nominet Board sub-committee comprising appointed non-executive directors and an appointed member representative. The member representative is not involved in the decision making on complaints made under the Code, but plays an oversight role, ensuring proper and fair implementation of the Code.
• Nominet may, but is not obliged to, conduct its own investigations into a complaint and may submit these findings to the committee in addition to the complaint and the parties’ submissions.
• The committee shall, in its sole discretion, regulate its own proceedings and determine whether or not a member has breached the Code having considered the information presented to it.
• Where the committee decides that a Member has breached the Code, it may, having taken all relevant circumstances into account:
  • require the Member to remedy the breach; and/or
  • require an assurance from the Member, or any associated individual, relating to future behaviour, in terms determined by the committee; and/or
  • suspend the Member’s voting rights without any reimbursement of membership fees in whole or in part; and/or
  • suspend the Member’s right to make use of the Nominet member logo and associated member marks; and/or
  • at its absolute discretion, publish part or all of its decision.
• Where a member has been found by the committee to have breached the Code, they shall be entitled to appeal the committee’s decision to an independent third party.
• A report of the Member Code committee shall be published at least annually, including a report from the member representative on the application of the Code.