According to JAA CEO Ian Hadassin, most of their internet-retailer members have bricks and mortar behind them
JAA retailers campaign against internet-only peers
Posted December 07, 2010 | By Sonia Nair
A group of retailers is pushing for the expulsion of internet-only members from the JAA in the aftermath of the Diamond Exchange fiasco.
JAA members are entitled to request a special general meeting to vote on such a motion if they acquire the support of either 5 per cent of members or 100 members (whichever is greater).
JAA chief executive Ian Hadassin said a group of retailers had requested a copy of the JAA’s membership list. He was concerned about the prospect of unhappy members sending out “scare-emails” that would warn the industry of the perceived perils of internet-only retailers.
“I have to comply with the law, which states that I give our membership list to these people,” Hadassin said.
But he warned against any misrepresentation of these internet-only retailers and singled out the Diamond Exchange fiasco as an anomaly that did not paint a true picture of internet-only retailers.
Hadassin said the board was not in favour of a motion to expel internet-only members because they comprise an insignificant percentage of the overall membership base.
“Most of the internet retailers have bricks and mortar behind them and engage in proper conduct,” Hadassin said.
“The ones who do not have bricks and mortar behind them sell mostly jewellery as opposed to diamonds.”
Hadassin recalled the last time a similar motion happened was in 2008. The motion did not go through in the end because only 65 members supported it.
Despite distancing himself from any suggestion that internet-only members should be expelled, Hadassin said the JAA was looking to revise the JAA Code of Practice in 2011.
“We will make it more onerous on internet trading,” he explained.
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