ARTICLE I - NAME

The name of this organization shall be known as:  Latin American Consumer Products Export Trade Group.

ARTICLE II - PURPOSE

1.         To establish complete and adequate credit reports for discussion.

2.         To foster a healthy relationship and cooperation between its members and between buyer and seller.

3.         To act in any lawful way necessary for the protection of its members against unsound credit and

             Business practices.

4.         To educate its members on business and personal developmental topics. 

ARTICLE III - MEMBERSHIP QUALIFICATION

1.         Each member firm shall file with the Secretary; the name of a representative duly empowered to act  

            For the said member at meetings.  All memberships are to be carried in the firm name.

2.         Each member agrees to abide by the Rules, Procedures & Guidelines of the Group.

3.         In fairness to all and in accordance with policies governing Credit Group activities,

            members who do not submit information will not be eligible to receive completed reports.

4.         Membership in the Group is contingent upon being a member of the National Association of Credit

            Management.

5.         Companies must make application and be voted on by two-thirds majority of the group membership.

6.         Member agrees to participate in at least 4 out of 6 scheduled meetings annually.

7.         Company must be in active business for three (3) years.

8          Company must have annual sales of twenty five million (25) and must submit they’re most

Recent end of year audited financial statements and the interim statement to substantiate

Their annual sales.  An 1120 S or 1120 Tax Return may be submitted instead of the financial

Statements.

9.         Company must have at least 250 active customers to contribute to the Group database.

10.       Company must have a full time credit manager.  Representatives attending the NACM meetings must have no responsibility for sales, and only have credit capacities.

11.       All dues and fees payable to the NACM Florida Gulf Coast Unit must be paid in a timely fashion.  If a past due status occurs, termination of the member firm’s NACM membership and rights may be

            Implemented at the sole discretion of the NACM Florida Gulf Coast Unit.  Additionally, if

            Termination of a NACM membership is implemented, membership in the Latin American   

            Consumer Products Export Trade Group will be terminated.

12.       A complete accounts receivable shall be submitted, incorporating Latin America and the Florida

            “305” and “954” area code, on a monthly basis to NACM for reporting purposes.  Further, those

            Firms reporting shall submit via electronic media in a format approved or provided by NACM. 

            Accounts receivable data must be received at the NACM Tampa office by the 10^th

            Of each month to be considered a submittal and to be eligible to receive the group services.

a.   Failure to submit for two consecutive months will result in access to the group database being suspended until such time as the delinquent data is received.

13.       Exceptions to this definition may be accepted by a majority vote of the Advisory Committee.

ARTICLE IV - OFFICERS

The officers shall be an Advisory Committee of three (3) members.  The Chairperson shall be elected annually amongst the Advisory Committee.   The Secretary of the National Association of Credit Management or his duly appointed representative shall be the Secretary of the Group.

ARTICLE V - MEETINGS

A meeting of this Group will be held six times annually in January, March, May, July, September and November. Members must attend four (4) of the six (6) meetings annually. Fiscal year begins in January.

Failure to attend four (4) meetings will result in member company receiving written notification from

NACM after they have missed the first meeting, stating the consequences if they miss again.  Once two (2)

meetings are missed during the same fiscal year, a fine of $500 and restriction from the group database

until member company attends the next group meeting.  Member must respond in writing of their intent

to attend all future meetings and pay the fine which will be utilized for group education costs.  Member

company may not hold their trade information from being submitted to the group database during

restricted time.

ARTICLE VI - ETHICS

1.         All information emanating in this Group must be considered strictly confidential and under no

            circumstances shall information obtained in the Group be divulged to the subject account or used to

            the detriment of any Group member.

2.         Any violation of this Article will be subject to investigation by the NACM Ethics Committee and

            violators will be subject to expulsion from the Group.  Any information given to public authorities

            in pursuance of a legal requirement shall not be construed a violation of the above Article.

3.         There shall be no agreement expressed or implied, respecting which action members of the Group

            shall take as a result of credit information discussed in this Group meeting.  No one except the

            individual member himself shall determine to whom, or what terms or to what extent he may or                

            may not extend credit.  Any member, after receiving all possible credit information, must        individually make his own decision as to future credit to be extended to any account.  This means that the       Group will not pass on C.O.D. terms as a group, it is further understood that these meetings are to be strictly credit meetings and have nothing to do with discounts or terms of sale.

4.         All members must sign the NACM sign-in sheet at each meeting.  When doing so members agree to comply with the trade group understand and the anti-trust guidelines as well as abide by the group rules and guidelines.

ARTICLE VII - PROCEDURE

1.         The Secretary will send each member of the Group thirty (30) days notification of the next meeting.  Members will have      

            access to the web site on the meeting months to submit 3 accounts they would like to discuss at the meeting.

            A consolidated list of submitted inquiries will then be posted for the members to review.  All trade data will be

            extracted from the members' agings and downloaded on the individual reports.  NACM will compile a Credit Report

            Booklet for the Group meetings as well as the Flash Report for weekly information.

2.         Any other information available should be given such as the result of recent contract with the

            debtor, tax and other liabilities known, etc.

3.         After account discussion is completed, the Chairperson shall ask the members to bring up any other

            names desired for verbal discussion.

4.         A discussion will then be held on any other matters or interest, such as current sales and collections 

            as compared with previous months, liquidations, and legislation.

5.         It is the benefit that each member firm has a credit representative in attendance at all meetings.    

ARTICLE VIII - SERVICES PROVIDED:

1.          Maintaining an automated group database of member’s accounts receivable information.  This

            customer base consists of all Latin American customers, brokers and traders located in the

            Florida 305 and 954 area codes.  Updates are provided to the group database by the membership every

            thirty (30) days, all maintenance is provided by NACM Tampa.

2.           A report booklet is prepared by NACM for each of the six annual meetings and brought to

the meeting for discussion purposes. In addition the membership voted in Sept. of 1997 to also

be serviced with a Past Due account booklet at each meeting.

3.         A weekly Flash Report is compiled weekly to include all pertinent account information such as

            NSF checks, accounts on hold, bankruptcies, collections, etc.

4.           The NACM GROUP representative coordinates all meeting-planning arrangements.

5.           Speakers and educational topics are arranged for each group meeting by the NACM group 

            representative on topics of interest to the membership.

ARTICLE  IX - COST

Membership to the National Association of Credit Management in conjunction with this Group is $150.00 annually.  The Group Service Fee for the Latin American Consumer Products Export Trade Group will be $1120.00 annually and will cover the cost of the group meeting materials and maintaining the Group automated database.  Credit reports accessed from the Group database will be billed at $6.95 each and the member company will be billed monthly for this service.  Itemization of usage will be made available monthly.  The NACM group secretary expenses for attending the meeting and all expenses incurred for the meetings will be billed equally to all members of the Group on a monthly basis.

ARTICLE X - REPORTING PROCEDURES

Members receiving an NSF check from current members may report them on the Flash Report.  Also, if a member is placing another member for collection.  This information becomes historical information on the client credit file within the database.  In addition, member credit reports will be maintained within the group database effective March 1997.

ARTICLE XI - FLASH REPORTS

This group is to be serviced by NACM Florida Gulf Coast Unit with a weekly Flash Report excluding member numbers by email only directly to the main member contact.  The Flash Report is a requirement and it is the member obligation to participate in reporting this information on a weekly basis.

Breach of confidentiality of flash info will first result in a warning from NACM and the flash will be discontinued to that member permanently.  On the second violation the member company will be disbarred from the group without member vote or notification to the group or NACM Tampa by signature and agreement of the credit representative at the September 2003 meeting.

Original:  7/15/94

Revised: 10/94

Amended: 3/16/96 - Membership Requirements

Amended: 7/10/96 - Article III - Membership # 5

Added: 3/18/97 - Article IX - Reporting Procedures

Added: 3/18/97 - Article X - Flash Reports

Revised:  5/8/97 - Article V - Meetings

Revised:  9/10/97 - Article V - Meetings & Article VIII - Services Provided

Added:  08/31/98 - Article III - Membership #13

Revised: 09/18/03- Article XI- Flash Reports, Article VI-Ethics

Added:  3/20/06- Article III- Membership #12 a