Originally Posted by
NoelleR 
Actually, 'Conference Approved Literature' does not mean it's been given the Al-Anon "stamp of approval."...or any other's stamp of approval. 'Conference Approved' only means it's been approved to be published/printed by their own publishing/printing company.
...and obviously there's a lot of very good and helpful literature that they cannot publish/print as the copyright's are owned by others. I firmly believe the term/phrase 'Conference Approved' needs to be changed, as it leads to a lot of misunderstanding.........as shown here.
(o:
NoelleR
Well, here's what it says about CAL on AA's GSO website (I couldn't find any comparable page for Al-Anon, but I would assume the meaning is similar in this context):
The term “Conference-approved” describes written or audiovisual material approved by the Conference for publication by G.S.O. This process assures that everything in such literature is in accord with A.A. principles. Conference-approved material always deals with the recovery program of Alcoholics Anonymous or with information about the A.A. Fellowship.
The term has no relation to material not published by G.S.O. It does not imply Conference disapproval of other material about A.A. A great deal of literature helpful to alcoholics is published by others, and A.A. does not try to tell any individual member what he or she may or may not read.
Conference approval assures us that a piece of literature represents solid A.A. experience. Any Conference-approved booklet or pamphlet goes through a lengthy and painstaking process, during which a variety of A.A.s from all over the United States and Canada read and express opinions at every stage of production.
So I think that AMOUNTS to a "stamp of approval." It's very clear that the process does not imply "disapproval" of anything else--like any other outside issue, the Fellowship would not have a position on other literature at all.