ARC's board of directors approved revisions to the Agent Reporting Agreement now set to take effect in July 2013.

First written in the early 1980s, the agreement is a contract between ARC, its participating carriers and travel agencies that defines "the requirements to receive and maintain ARC accreditation," according to ARC. The ARA "had become unwieldy and challenging to navigate, and more importantly, it was considerably out of step with all three parties' current business needs." The Beat last month reported that the new ARA would be cut to 21 pages from 55 by eliminating requirements from the paper ticket era and minimizing legalese. Other changes include allowing multiple ARC numbers in a single location, allowing agencies to move offices from one state to another without having to get a new ARC number and, as previously announced, shortening by five days the time allowed for cash remittance and creating a new Associate Branch Location to account for partial location ownership.