43.1 Certain words and phrases have the special meanings set out below:
“Award” shall mean the binding determination made by the Dispute Resolution Committee which may award any compensation to the Complainant;
“Board” shall mean the board of directors of The Financial Entities;
“Complainant” shall mean a Client who makes a Complaint to The Financial Entities about a Member or Members, but does not include a person who is a member of The Financial Entities unless the person did not, at the time the event complained about occurred, have a business relationship with the Member against whom the Complaint is made;
“Complaint” shall mean:
(a) for the purpose of IDR, an expression of dissatisfaction made to a Member, related to its conduct, products or services, or the complaints handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected; and
(b) for the purpose of EDR, an expression of dissatisfaction made to The Financial Entities, related to a Member’s conduct, products or services, whether or not the Complainant has first tried to resolve the Complaint with the Member using the Member’s IDR process;
“Client” shall mean an individual (whether acting as a trustee or otherwise), a partnership comprising individuals, or a small business, but does not include an individual that The Financial Entities determines is not a client for the purposes of Rules or guidelines because of the assets, wealth, or both, that the person has, holds, or controls;
“The Financial Entities’s website” or “website” shall mean the website maintained by The Financial Entities at www.financialentities.com;
“The Financial Entities process” shall mean the process for dealing with a Complaint under these Rules;
“Determination Phase” shall mean the phase during which the Dispute Resolution Committee makes a decision on the merits of the Complaint and, as required, makes an Award or issues an Order;
“EDR” shall have the meaning given thereto in Rule 1.1;
“Financial Service” shall mean either services and/or products within the scope of financial trading including but not limited to Forex, Options, Commodities, Equities, or Binary Options;
“Financial Services Provider” shall mean any individual or organization that offers, for compensation, Financial Services;
“Financial Services Industry” shall mean a collection of Financial Services Providers;
“IDR” shall mean internal dispute resolution involving a procedure adopted by a Member to consider a Complaint;
“Investigation Phase” shall mean the investigation phase of The Financial Entities process;
“Member” shall mean a person, firm, or corporation which is a member of The Financial Entities;
“Monetary compensation limit” shall mean an amount not exceeding €20,000, as may be amended from time to time; Note: Separate claims by the same Complainant will not be aggregated for the purpose of determining a maximum monetary compensation limit;
“Order” shall mean a determination made by the Dispute Resolution Committee prescribing a certain mode of conduct to a Member;
“Rules” shall mean these Rules;
“Ruling” shall mean a Ruling by the Dispute Resolution Committee as to whether a Complaint or any aspect of a Complaint can be dealt with under these Rules or about any matter that arises in the course of The Financial Entities dealing with the Complaint;
43.2 Unless the context suggests otherwise:
(a) the singular includes the plural and vice versa;
(b) any reference to a party to a Complaint includes that party’s executors, administrators, or permitted assigns;
(c) a reference to one gender includes every gender;
(d) headings are for reference purposes only; and
(e) references to any applicable law including but not limited to any regulations and other rules made under it and to consolidations, re-enactments, amendments, or replacements of it.
43.3 In calculating compliance with a time period by reference to a number of “days”, shall include weekends but not include any global public holiday or public holiday pertaining to the country of residence of the Member.
43.4 Whenever these Rules refer to information, they shall include information or evidence in any form and from any source, but do not include information or evidence that has been or appears to be illegally obtained.