| 1. |
Preliminary |
| 1.1 |
The Website poolofexperts.ch (hereafter: PoE website) offers access to the Pool of Experts Online Directory (hereafter: PoE) in order to enable SMEs from Switzerland and Liechtenstein (hereafter: the Users) to contact Experts. These Experts are individuals who have registered with the Operator as Experts in areas related to export trade and international business. |
| 1.2 |
The PoE website and the PoE are operated by the Osec registered association, based in Zurich (hereafter: the Operator). |
| 1.3 |
Questions and suggestions may be sent to the Operator using the contact form. |
| 2. |
Validity |
| 2.1 |
The legal relationship between the Operator and the Expert shall be subject to the present General Terms & Conditions for Use (hereafter: PoE Terms & Conditions). Other general terms and conditions to which the parties subscribe shall not apply in this case. |
| 2.2 |
The Parties accept the Operator's data protection guidelines as an integral part of the PoE Terms & Conditions. |
| 3. |
Annual Subscription |
| 3.1 |
The annual subscription of CHF 120 may be paid by credit card, at no extra charge. |
| 3.2 |
For an administrative fee of CHF 50, an electronic invoice will be sent to the Expert by email. |
| 4. |
Registering as an Expert |
| 4.1 |
Detailed specialist knowledge and qualifications in an area related to international business are required for registration. The Expert must be in a position to support Users in expanding their business abroad or in export trade. |
| 4.2 |
Registration as an Expert is carried out via the PoE website. During the registration process, the Expert creates a profile and chooses a password with which to access the profile. A new password may be called up anytime, whereupon it will be sent to the registered email address. The Expert is responsible for ensuring that his or her email account is protected from unauthorised access. The Operator shall not communicate the password to any third party, and requires that the Expert shall not communicate the password. |
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Use of pseudonyms, pen names, or performing names is forbidden for profile creation. A clearly recognisable business portrait photograph of the Expert must be supplied for the profile. Other photographs or images may only be uploaded with the express permission of the Operator. |
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The profile must be created in English. A German version may also be created. All required information must be submitted at the time the profile is created. Once the profile is activated, this required information will be visible to Users in the PoE, except for date of birth, email address, and company billing address. The required information may be altered at any later time but may not be deleted. |
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Additional information submitted (hereafter: voluntary information) is likewise visible to Users in the PoE once the profile is activated. The Expert may delete this voluntary information from his or her profile at any time. |
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The Expert agrees that the Operator and the Operator’s contacts and partners in Switzerland, Liechtenstein or beyond may inform him or her of their own business activity, and of general business events. |
| 4.3 |
By submitting the profile for activation, the Expert requests that a contractual relationship come into force between himself or herself and the Operator. Once the profile is submitted, the Operator considers the Expert’s request and may refuse this without giving reasons. |
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For the contractual relationship to come into force between the Operator and the Expert, the Operator must expressly inform the Expert that the request has been accepted. This acceptance shall be sent by email to the email address supplied by the Expert. |
| 4.4 |
The profile will be activated upon payment of the annual subscription. |
| 5. |
Cancellation |
| 5.1 |
The Expert may cancel his or her request for a contractual relationship (cf. point 4.3) without giving reasons. |
| 5.2 |
Cancellation must take place within 7 days of the submission of the request, and must be communicated by email to the Operator. |
| 5.3 |
If the annual subscription has been paid, it will be returned to the Expert within 30 days. An administration fee that has already been paid (cf. point 3.2) will not be returned. |
| 6. |
Contract with the Operator |
| 6.1 |
The contract between the Operator and the Expert is a limited contract and shall remain in force for a term of 12 months. |
| 6.2 |
If the Operator wishes to extend the contract with the Expert, the Operator shall send him or her an email before the expiration of the term of contract, offering an extension of the contract under the conditions currently in force. The Expert may accept this offer by paying the annual subscription, whereupon the contract shall be extended by a further 12 months. |
| 6.3 |
When the term of the contract shall have expired, the Operator shall deactivate the Expert’s profile, which will not then be visible to Users. The Operator shall reactivate the profile upon payment of the annual subscription and the validation of a new contract. |
| 6.4 |
Both parties may cancel the contract at any time. Where either party cancels the contract, the annual subscription shall not be returned in whole or in part. |
| 6.5 |
The contract may only be transferred to a third party by permission of the Operator. |
| 6.6 |
An Expert may only have one profile. |
| 7. |
Rights and Responsibilities of the Expert |
| 7.1 |
The Expert is entitled to use the PoE and other services offered on the PoE website for the duration of the contract. |
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In particular, for the duration of the contract the Expert may submit contributions to the Pool of Experts Blog in at least one of the languages used on the PoE website. These contributions are visible to all visitors to the PoE website. The Expert cannot change a contribution once it has been successfully submitted, and it will remain in the blog even after the profile of the Expert who contributed it has become inactive. |
| 7.2 |
The Expert is also entitled to use the Pool of Experts logo for the duration of the contract, as part of his or her activities as an Expert and to acquire clients. |
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Where the logo is used without permission, the Expert shall pay the Operator a penalty of CHF 10,000. Payment of this penalty does not absolve the Expert from holding to the other terms of the contract. |
| 7.3 |
By registering, the Expert confirms that the information given in his or her profile is correct. The Expert must immediately alter his or her profile if developments occur which touch upon this information. |
| 7.4 |
The Expert undertakes not to publish illegal, untrue, misleading, or defamatory information on the PoE website or in the PoE. Further, all information is published on the understanding that the Expert owns the relevant intellectual property rights. |
| 7.5 |
The Expert shall refrain from undertaking or abetting uncompetitive practices, including progressive canvassing (e.g. chain, snowball, or pyramid schemes). |
| 7.6 |
The PoE website and the PoE may not be used for illegal or immoral activity. The Expert undertakes to obey the law. |
| 7.7 |
The Expert indemnifies the Operator against any damage arising from his or her use of the PoE website and the PoE. In particular, he or she indemnifies against infringements upon third-party intellectual property rights by information that he or she shall publish. Should the Operator face claims by a third party arising from such damaging use, the Expert shall hold the Operator harmless and shall assume entirely the costs arising in or out of court. |
| 7.8 |
Should the Operator face claims by a User arising from (real or purported) non-performance or poor performance by an Expert, the Expert shall support the Operator and hold the Operator harmless. In particular, the Expert undertakes to assume entirely the costs arising for the Operator in or out of court, and to appear as a party with the Operator in any trial that may result. |
| 7.9 |
It is forbidden to employ bots, software, or scripts while using the PoE website. It is similarly forbidden to block, overwrite, modify, or copy the PoE and the PoE website, except as required during legitimate use. Further forbidden are any actions likely to impair the functionality of the PoE website, especially by excessive use. |
| 7.10 |
The Expert shall keep his or her password secret and prevent abuse by unauthorised parties. He or she shall inform the Operator immediately of any unauthorised use of his password. |
| 7.11 |
The Expert may demand that his or her profile be deleted at any time. |
| 8. |
Rights and Responsibilities of the Operator |
| 8.1 |
The Operator shall make every effort to ensure that the PoE is accessible during the term of the contract. The Operator however reserves the right to adapt the technology and alter the content of the PoE website and the PoE at any time, or to cease their functioning entirely. Exercise of this right does not give rise to any right to compensation for the Experts. |
| 8.2 |
The Operator reserves the right to delete immediately any illegal, untrue or misleading information in an Expert’s profile, or which he or she has placed on the PoE website. |
| 8.3 |
Where illegal or immoral activity is suspected, the Operator may immediately deactivate the Expert’s profile, or cancel his or her contract and delete the profile. The Expert shall be informed of any such action straight away. |
| 8.4 |
The Operator may view a User’s request to make contact, sent to an Expert using the “send message” function, in order to avoid the transmission of unwanted messages (hereafter: spam). The Operator may forward this message after a short delay, or may delete a message suspected to be spam. The request to make contact will be treated as confidential and will be forwarded to the email address given by the Expert. The Operator does not guarantee secure transmission of the request to make contact, nor that the Expert will respond. |
| 8.5 |
The Operator’s discretion shall decide which of the Expert’s contributions to the Pool of Experts Blog shall be published. The Operator reserves the right to alter the categories in which contributions are published and tagged. The Operator shall also have the right to delete contributions to the Pool of Experts without giving reasons, and without informing the Experts concerned. |
| 8.6 |
The Operator reserves the right to delete inactive profiles after having sent one warning to the email address to which the profile is registered. |
| 8.7 |
The Operator reserves all rights to the concept, layout and design of the PoE and the PoE website. The Operator similarly reserves all rights to the related names and trademarks. |
| 9. |
Disclaimer |
| 9.1 |
The Operator does not examine the details which Users have submitted, and their ability to pay has not been verified. Users contact an Expert, who negotiates and signs a contract at his or her own risk. Should the User with whom contact is made come to sign a contract (e.g. a contract of commission), this contract is made solely between the Expert and the Users. |
| 9.2 |
The Operator is not legally liable for breach of contract or negligence by a User with whom contact has been enabled. |
| 9.3 |
Finally, the Operator does not guarantee that the information and details published on the PoE website and in the PoE are correct, complete or accurate. The Operator is not responsible for the behaviour of Experts or other Users, or for the content of external websites to which links are provided. |
| 10. |
Final provisions |
| 10.1 |
The Operator reserves the right to alter the PoE Terms & Conditions at any time. The Operator shall publish the revised PoE Terms & Conditions on the PoE website and shall send the Experts a notification to this effect by email. Within two weeks, the Experts shall conform that they accept or decline the revised PoE Terms & Conditions by selecting the appropriate button on their profile. |
| 10.2 |
Should individual provisions of the PoE Terms & Conditions be invalid or lapse, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not thereby be affected. A new provision shall apply in place of the invalid provision, which shall be a valid provision and shall reflect the content and purpose of the invalid provision as closely as possible. |
| 10.3 |
The legal relationship between the Expert and the Operator shall be subject to Swiss Law. The sole place of jurisdiction for any disputes arising from this legal relationship shall be Zurich (Switzerland). |
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