The World Franchise Council

The WFC [1]

The World Franchise Council was founded in 1995 as a non-profit membership organisation to act as a supra national forum where both national and supranational franchise associations/federations (such as the EFF) meet on a regular basis to share information, views and experiences on matters of direct interest to the development of franchising nationally and internationally, and as the case may be, to decide on a common position or course of action on specific issues, including the monitoring of legislation that could impact franchising.

The issues that the WFC works on is specific to its supranational level. This comes as a complement to the specific and distinct roles of regional franchise federations such as the EFF, or national franchise associations.

Decision process:

Any common position or course of action to be decided requires the unanimous approval of all members. This approval may be achieved in the course of the WFC bi-annual meetings if all members are duly represented or as a result of the approval (active or passive by non-disapproval) by each member of the Minutes which record the decision proposed for approval.

Membership and membership procedures:

Its Members are national and supranational franchise associations/federations that comply to the membership conditions defined in the Constitution/Statutes.

The WFC does not take on direct membership of franchise companies or service companies that service the franchise sector.

Membership categories:

1) National franchise associations The WFC accepts as a member only one franchise association per country.

2) Supranational franchise federations The WFC currently has one such supranational federation which is the European Franchise Federation, the regional federation for Europe, founding member of the WFC.

List of WFC Members

Annual Fees:

Annual membership fees are determined according to a step structure.

Principles of Ethics

In 2003, the WFC adopted a set of Principles of Ethics. In effect, these are a set of “best practice” recommendations regarding the practice of franchising, both nationally and internationally.

These principles were compiled by taking the common elements from each member association’s Codes of Ethics or best practice recommendations.

Constitution/Statutes

Secretariat and Structure

Conceived as a forum of discussion and reflection, the WFC’s operating structure is light. It has a Secretariat whose activities are run by a volunteer member association or federation on a rotating basis every few years. The WFC’s work is also carried out by Committees or Vice-Secretariats composed of volunteer members.

Vice Secretariats: there are 3

 Vice–secretariat for Legal Affairs: Prepares the legal report for each meeting a report which highlights particular affairs of a legal nature which if of interest to the franchising community in the world Currently run by the Greek Franchise Association (GFA)

 Vice–secretariat for Communication: Manages the WFC web site which also serves as the “forum” between meetings Currently run by the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA)

 Vice–secretariat for Finances: Manages the membership fees and the WFC finances Currently run by the British Franchise Association (BFA)

Committees:

 Membership
 Ethics

Until March 2009, the Secretariat is run by the European Franchise Federation

As of March 2009, the Secretariat will be run by the Brazilian Franchise Association