ISPA Code of Conduct
A. Interpretation
2. This Code applies to Internet services offered by ISPA’s members. In cases where a division of a company applied for ISPA membership then the Code only applies to the services and products offered by that division.
B. Freedom of expression
C. Privacy and confidentiality
5. ISPA members must respect the confidentiality of customers’ personal information and electronic communications. ISPA members must only gather or retain customer information as permitted by law, and must not sell or distribute such information to any other party without the written consent of the customer, except where required to do so by law.
D. Consumer protection and provision of information to customers
7. ISPA members must inform their customers that members of ISPA must uphold and abide by this Code of Conduct. Members’ web sites must include a reference to ISPA membership, a prominent copy of ISPA’s logo and a link to the section of the ISPA website that contains the Code of Conduct, complaints and disciplinary procedure and the take-down procedure.
8. ISPA members must have policies for acceptable or fair use for their Internet access services. This policy must be made available to customers prior to the commencement of any such service agreement and at any time thereafter, on request.
9. Policies for acceptable or fair use must include:
- a requirement that the customer will not knowingly create, store or disseminate any illegal content;
- a commitment by the customer to lawful conduct in the use of the services, including copyright and intellectual property rights; and
- an undertaking by the customer not to send or promote the sending of spam.
11. ISPA members may only offer service levels which are reasonably within their technical and practical abilities.
12. ISPA members must comply with all compulsory advertising standards and regulations.
E. Terms and conditions
14. Terms and conditions must give an ISPA member the right to remove any content hosted by that member which it considers illegal or for which it has received a take-down notice.
15. Terms and conditions must give the ISPA member the right to suspend or terminate the service of any customer that does not comply with the terms and conditions, acceptable or fair use policies, or any other contractual obligations.
F. Unsolicited communications (“spam”)
17. ISPA members must provide a facility for dealing with complaints regarding unsolicited electronic communications originating from their networks and must react expeditiously to complaints received.
G. Cyber crime
H. Protection of minors and vulnerable persons
20. ISPA members must provide Internet access customers with information about procedures and software applications which can be used to assist in the control and monitoring of minors’ access to Internet content. This requirement does not apply to corporate customers where no minors have Internet access.
21. ISPA members must have processes in place to respond to directives issued by a court in terms of any applicable legislation, including but not limited to:
- the Protection from Harassment Act (No. 17 of 2011); and
- the Maintenance Act (No. 99 of 1998)
I. Lawful conduct
24. ISPA members must respect intellectual property rights and not knowingly infringe such rights.
25. ISPA members must uphold and abide by this Code of Conduct and adhere to the associated complaints and disciplinary procedures.
J. Unlawful content and activity
27. ISPA members must not knowingly host or provide links to unlawful content, except when required to do so by law.
28. If an ISPA member becomes aware of conduct or content which has been determined to be illegal, it must suspend or terminate the relevant customer’s service and report the conduct or content to the relevant law enforcement authority. The ISPA member must report such cases and any action taken to ISPA within a reasonable period of time.
29. ISPA members must establish a notification and take-down procedure for unlawful content and activity in accordance with ISPA’s take-down notification procedure, and respond expeditiously to such notifications.
30. ISPA members must submit a report to ISPA on the steps taken in response to a take-down notice within a reasonable period of time after such a notice is lodged.
31. ISPA members must keep a record of all take-down notices received and any materials taken down for a period of at least three years unless possession of such materials is illegal.
K. Voluntary codes of best practice
L. Compliance with the Code of Conduct
34. ISPA members must make all reasonable efforts to resolve complaints in accordance with the complaints procedure.
35. ISPA members must co-operate with ISPA in accordance with the complaints and disciplinary procedures and comply with any decisions taken by ISPA with respect to the Code of Conduct and complaint and disciplinary procedure.
36. ISPA members must submit an annual statement to ISPA confirming their compliance with the Code of Conduct.
37. ISPA members accept that ISPA has an obligation to audit member compliance on an annual basis and perform regular compliance spot checks, and must co-operate with ISPA during such audits or spot checks.
38. ISPA may investigate the conduct and compliance with the Code of Conduct by members on its own initiative and may, if appropriate, institute disciplinary proceedings as set out in the Code of Conduct complaint and disciplinary procedure.
M. Alterations
Version | Effective date |
---|---|
1.0 | 2002-09-12 |
1.1 | 2007-01-31 |
1.2 | 2007-12-02 |
1.3 | 2008-02-21 |
1.4 | 2008-07-13 |
2.0 | 2008-08-22 |
3.0 | 2016-06-01 |