The England and Wales Cricket Board and the Professional Cricketers Association are pleased to announce the publication of Regulations introducing a new system of Players' Agent Registration.

The key features of the new system are that, in order to become a registered agent, an agent must sign undertakings that oblige him to be open and fair in his dealings with the players he represents and to abide by all the rules and regulations of the ECB. The ECB and PCA will publish a register of agents and players will be able to see exactly who has made those undertakings.

Weight is added to the effectiveness of this new registration system by making it against the rules for a county to make payments in respect of a player to anybody but the player or a registered agent. Players are still free to use unregistered agents and neither the ECB nor the PCA will interfere with that relationship, but neither can they intervene if the relationship goes wrong.

"I am very happy that the ECB has worked with us in setting up this new system," said the Chief Executive of the PCA, David Graveney. "We believe it is in the players' best interests that they can find out whether their existing agent, or someone approaching them, is prepared to make the promises set out in the application form.

"Naturally, we can't say who is or is not a good agent, but this is a good start because it allows us to say who is, and who is not, prepared to be bound by our regulations. We are interested in protecting the players as far as we are able."

"Along with the PCA, we wanted to be proactive in trying to see off a problem before it arises. There is currently no major issue with agents in cricket," said John Carr, Director of Cricket Operations at the ECB, "but we see the way things have gone in other sports and thought that, in the best interests of the players and the clubs, we ought to do something sooner rather than later."

The new registration system is backed up by an annual agents' seminar to be held at Lord's each year aimed at bringing agents up to date on developments in the game. The first agents' seminar takes place on the afternoon of 24 April and all agents who have registered by then will have to attend. Everyone considering registering should also attend. Details may be obtained from Janet Fisher at ECB (020 7432 1221).

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