How to join the BPRCA - membership criteria

The agency must be a company incorporated under Belgian company code and shall not be in violation of Belgian law regarding social security and tax liability.

2. Scope of services

Prospective members need to qualify at least 3 out of the 5 following disciplines:

• Corporate communication
• Marketing communication
• Crisis communication and/or issue management
• Public Affairs
• Internal and change communication

The prospective members will present at least three cases to support their qualifications from 3 different disciplines. These cases should include stakeholder outreach to opinion leaders, media and general public.

3. Qualifications

The agency must have been in business for a minimum of three years – and/or – the principals of the agency must have ten years in the public relations profession.

Agencies that do meet these criteria at the time of the selection procedure, can be admitted as ‘Provisional Member’.  Provisional members have the right of attending meetings, activities and discussions but they will have no vote until having reached the status of Member.

The agency principal must commit to serving as lead contact, agreeing to participate on a regular basis to the Association’s activities.

The agency management must have substantial communication experience and an indisputable reputation assessed by the board.

A minimum fee income of € 400.000 is required to become member of the BPRCA

Member agencies are required to participate in the association activities. Failing to do so could result in being expelled from the association. A member agency will be warned in advance of such a possibility.

At least 51% of the firm PR revenues must derive from core PR consulting capabilities.

In case the existing member does not fulfil these criteria’s anymore the board can expel the member agency.

The agency’s membership may be reviewed every three year by the board and benchmarked against the above listed criteria.

4. Ethics

The agency must adhere to the code of ethics formulated in the ICCO Stockholm Charter, adopted by the Association.

5. Process

• Any current member of the BPRCA can nominate a prospective member. Prospective members must complete the application form and submit the required cases for review by respectively the Board and the General Assembly.
• Any nominations should be submitted to the Board Meeting who will review the various aspects of the qualifications and will be responsible for disseminating the information for review to the current members prior to submitting the candidature to the next General Assembly. At this General Assembly the Board will provide its findings and recommendations regarding the application.
• Current members shall have the right to veto prospective members. The veto to exclude a prospective member will need to be supported by 25 % of the votes of members represented at that General Assembly.
• If approved by current membership, the President shall extend an invitation to the prospective agency to become a member.

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