The WFDSA international compendium of direct selling laws is available free-of-charge to member DSAs and their respective member companies. A project of more than five years in the making, more than 40 DSAs have contributed to the content of this compendium and we hope many more will contribute in the future. Below are some questions and answers that explain how to access and use the International Guide to Direct Selling Legislation.
Roughly 47 DSAs have contributed information on direct selling laws in their countries. The Guide organizes the information by country and by topic, including: general information, cooling-off period, pyramid schemes, multi-level marketing, prohibition of products, credit restrictions, money collections, licenses, status of direct sellers, earnings claims, taxes and fees, social security, other.
The WFDSA international legal compendium is a guide and is not exhaustive either in terms of subjects presented or for all areas of concern to direct selling companies. It is intended to cover general areas of concern. The Guide is not a substitute for legal counsel but only intended to alert you to the general nature of laws and regulations affecting the direct selling industry in a particular country. Consequently, before beginning an operation in any foreign country, it is strongly recommended that competent legal counsel be consulted. While every effort has been made to insure that the information contained in this Guide is accurate, the variety of sources used makes absolute verification difficult. Furthermore, laws and regulations also can change from time to time without notice. Therefore, the WFDSA cannot be held liable for the information included in this publication.
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Colombia, Denmark, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay.
Effort is made on an ongoing basis to add more countries to the Guide and update it regularly.
The WFDSA will assign you a username and password to access the Guide. Member DSAs and their respective member companies can use their members-only username and password to access the Guide.
The content of the Guide is arranged by country and regulatory topic. It is also possible to compare all country data at a glance, so you can easily make country comparisons of laws or do an analysis of how certain types of laws vary from country to country. The keyword search is yet another way to access information in the Guide.
In general, the Guide is not meant to be shared with non-purchasers. The WFDSA International Guide to Direct Selling Legislation is a unique work product that is registered under United States copyright law. While the use of the material by the purchaser is expected and welcome, sharing this information with individuals who are not the purchasers could be a violation of the agreement under which the password is made available. Only WFDSA is permitted to sell this information. Not only are entities prohibited from selling the Guide to others, the Guide cannot be conveyed as a whole work to anyone who has not purchased the right to use the password from the WFDSA.
The late Jim Threlfall was the original editor of Guide and he acknowledged the role of the following contributors: special thanks to John Braun for his valuable start-up assistance when Jim first undertook the project. Kurt Bressler who took up the cudgels after John’s retirement and encouraged him to continue with the project. The late Ross Creber, whose excellent assistance ensured that the long-drawn-out project would finally be completed. Bridget Egglesfield for her tireless efforts in magnificently putting the gathered information into typescript, thus bringing the project to a conclusion. Bobbie Creber and Partylite for their generosity in allowing Bridget to undertake the preparation of the manuscript. Finally, thanks to all the DSAs who contributed information to the Guide.