yeah thats what i thought too... and no i was not alone...2 in circuit, and the local atc procedure indicates that they can choose to not reply your downwind call, however my situation was that, i was asked to call upon establishing downwind, which in mind was a clearance limit - so there was ambiguity.
My question remains though if its a standard practice else where, I seem to be getting a variation of answers - and if anyone can shed some light on this
atm i'm skimming through ICAO doc 4444 ATM/501 printed 2005...
just thought it might bring some activity to this thread, though its not exactly the place haha.