TORONTO -- The Outside Sales Support Network is going to bat for
independent agents north of the border, where regulations in three
Canadian provinces make it difficult for agents to operate at-home
agencies legally.
OSSN president Gary Fee said he aims "to raise a ruckus" as a
way to assist a number of frustrated Canadian members who want to
qualify for standing as independent agents, holding their own
pseudo-IATA numbers and dealing directly with suppliers rather than
splitting commissions with a host.
They can do all that now except for one thing. Licensing laws in
British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec don't envision stand-alone
at-home businesses in most circumstances.
In an e-mail to 5,000 recipients, Fee said the "antiquated" laws
"restrict commerce and stymie new business development." He said
rules requiring agents to work at sites that are commercially zoned
should be rescinded.
Industry veterans in Canada, however, said most independent
sellers don't seem to mind not being truly independent, and so the
issue is one that arises occasionally but does not stay hot.
But one OSSN agent who wants to see change is Rhonda Starkman,
who has worked from her home for four years with a U.S. agency as
her host. Under the Ontario law, outside sales agents can work at
home provided they are under contract with a host .
Starkman is ready to go solo but found that her home-based
business, Starkman Consulting in Toronto, could satisfy all the
province's license requirements except the rule that the location
be commercially zoned.
She said some suppliers want her to be licensed or to obtain a
TIDS number (IATA's travel industry designator service ID number),
which is available to agencies that don't sell air. However, IATA
requires agents in provinces with licensing to be licensed.
Starkman said she simply could sell for suppliers that don't
require the license but would risk legal trouble.
The law cannot be changed fast enough, as far as she is
concerned.
Even before OSSN addressed the issue, the Travel Industry
Council of Ontario (TICO), which oversees the local law, determined
the measure needed to be updated.
For example, all agents are forbidden to include their home
telephone numbers on business cards, a rule widely disregarded,
according to Toronto travel attorney Doug Crozier.
TICO proposes to let agents advertise home telephone numbers and
e-mail addresses, provided the licensed agency location is
identified, as well.