The OEM’s US-based supplies partners will now be required to comply with new regulations and obtain “Qualified” status, or they will not be allowed to sell HP consumables. 
The announcement of the partner programme revamp in November 2013 saw HP confirm that it would attempt to “create more interconnected partnerships with channel partners”, with authorised partners invalidating agreements by reselling HP products to non-authorised resellers and not end-users”, an obvious issue in terms of cartridge supply to the industry.
OPI reported that the next phase of the revamp shows HP “taking steps to better control the resale” of its cartridges, with all “Authorised” resellers now needing to comply with “a compulsory set of new requirements”, which would give them “Qualified” partner status.
Any reseller that does not register as a “Qualified” partner by 1 November 2014 will “no longer be able to sell original HP ink and toner supplies”, which marks a stricter move in the OEM’s strategy from its perspective last year, where Steve Sakumoto,, Vice President and General Manager of US Supplies Sales Organisation, Printing and Personal Systems, stated that the changes meant its distribution system was switching from “open” to “authorised”, adding that “we’re basically asking all of our reseller partners just to register with HP so we can know who they are”.
As before the concern is that major distributors of HP products in the USA need to be authorised by the OEM, with potential issues stemming from the authorisation of said distributors in terms of who they can and can’t sell to under the terms of the authorisation. In addition to this, those who do not sign up and obtain “Qualified” status will now be unable to sell HP consumables.