Procedures
You should make use of the Application form in order to apply for (candidate-) membership of Thuiswinkel.org. The Application form should be completed in full, signed by a competent person, and returned together with the following enclosures:
- a recent (no longer than 3 months old) certified extract of registration with the Chamber of Commerce, indicating the trade name under which the business wishes to be entered onto Thuiswinkel.org’s list of members after being granted (candidate-) membership;
- an annual financial report (Balance sheet and profit-and-loss account) over the past full financial year (only necessary for normal membership);
Single direct debit mandate
The Application form includes a single direct debit mandate for payment of the administration costs which amount to €75 euro (excl. VAT) and the costs of certification. The administration costs are collected immediately upon receipt of the application.
Initial assessment
An initial assessment determines whether all enclosures have been included with the application form and the extent to which the application is eligible for processing. For example, if a company only sells to businesses and not to consumers, then the application will not be processed. The applicant will obviously be informed about this.
General terms and conditions
The applicant receives confirmation of receipt of the application per e-mail. The e-mail includes a hyperlink to a page on Thuiswinkel.org’s website, where the applicant can generate the text that applies for his standard Thuiswinkel General Terms and Conditions. The applicant will need these standard Thuiswinkel General Terms and Conditions in order to undergo certification.
Certification
After collecting the certification costs, €390 (excl. VAT) for normal members and €290 (excl. VAT) for candidate-members, the applicant will receive the log-in data for certification.
We recommend first obtaining a thorough knowledge of the "Assessment framework for members of Thuiswinkel.org" before initiating certification. The assessment framework summarises the requirements that need to be fulfilled by the websites of (candidate-) members.
Certification is carried out by the Thuiswinkel Waarborg Certification Foundation and it involves an extensive questionnaire. The completed questionnaire and the applicant’s website are assessed by an external legal advice bureau. If adjustments need to be made to the website, the applicant is informed and obviously granted the opportunity of carrying out the necessary adjustments. Once the assessment has been completed, the Thuiswinkel Waarborg Certification Foundation pass on their advice to the Assessment Committee of Thuiswinkel.org.
Financial audit
If the application is for normal membership, the financial documents are sent to an external accountant for an assessment. This accountant advises the Assessment Committee on the basis of his/her findings.
Decision on an application
After receiving the above-mentioned advice, the Assessment Committee makes a decision on the application. The applicant is informed by e-mail.
The entire application process takes on average four to six weeks.
In the event of a rejection, the Assessment Committee will indicate its grounds in the e-mail in which the applicant is informed about the rejection. If the applicant disagrees with the decision of the Assessment Committee, then he/she can submit an appeal to the Executive Board of the Thuiswinkel Waarborg Certification Foundation.
