The Site is the property of ICERTIAS - International Certification Association GmbH registered in Zurich, Switzerland (ICERTIAS). BY USING THE SITE, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE; IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM USING THE SITE.

These Terms and Conditions of Use (the “Terms of Use”) apply to the ICERTIAS web sites located at www.icertias.com, www.qudal.com, www.bestbuyaward.org and www.customersfriend.org, and all associated sites linked to www.icertias.com by ICERTIAS, its subsidiaries and affiliates, (collectively, “Site”).

ICERTIAS reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of these Terms of Use, at any time. It is your responsibility to check these Terms of Use periodically for changes. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes will mean that you accept and agree to the changes. As long as you comply with these Terms of Use, ICERTIAS grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited privilege to enter and use the Site.

Content

All text, graphics, user interfaces, visual interfaces, photographs, trademarks, logos, sounds, music, artwork and computer code (collectively “Content”), including but not limited to the design, structure, selection, coordination, expression, “look and feel” and arrangement of such Content, contained on the Site is owned, controlled or licensed by or to ICERTIAS, and is protected by copyright, patent and trademark laws, and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws.

Unless expressly provided in these Terms of Use, no part of the Site and no Content may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted or distributed in any way (including “mirroring”) to any other computer, server, web site or other medium for publication or distribution or for any commercial enterprise, without ICERTIAS’ express prior written consent.

You may use information on ICERTIAS services (such as data sheets, knowledge-based articles, and similar materials) purposely made available by ICERTIAS for downloading from the Site, provided that you (1) do not remove any proprietary notice language in all copies of such documents, (2) use such information only for your personal, non-commercial informational purpose and do not copy or post such information on any networked computer or broadcast it in any media, (3) make no modifications to any such information, and (4) do not make any additional representations or warranties relating to such documents.

Your Use of the Site

If you continue to browse and use this Site, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following Terms and Conditions of Use, which together with our Privacy Policy govern ICERTIAS' relationship with you in relation to this Site. If you disagree with any part of these Terms and Conditions, you are not permitted to use our Site.

The content of the pages of this Site is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice.

Your use of any information or materials on this Site is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this Site meet your specific requirements.

Unauthorised use of this Site may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.

Your use of this Site and any dispute arising out of such use of the Site is subject to the laws of Switzerland.

Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this Site for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.

You may not use any “deep-link”, “page-scrape”, “robot”, “spider” or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology, or any similar or equivalent manual process, to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of the Site or any Content, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site or any Content, to obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not purposely made available through the Site. ICERTIAS reserves the right to bar any such activity.

You may not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any portion or feature of the Site, or any other systems or networks connected to the Site or to any ICERTIAS server, or to any of the services offered on or through the Site, by hacking, password “mining” or any other illegitimate means.

You may not probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the Site or any network connected to the Site, nor breach the security or authentication measures on the Site or any network connected to the Site.

You may not reverse look-up, trace or seek to trace any information on any other user of or visitor to the Site, or any other customer of ICERTIAS, including any ICERTIAS account not owned by you, to its source, or exploit the Site or any service or information made available or offered by or through the Site, in any way where the purpose is to reveal any information, including but not limited to personal identification or information, other than your own information, as provided for by the Site.

You agree that you will not take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the infrastructure of the Site or ICERTIAS’ systems or networks, or any systems or networks connected to the Site or to ICERTIAS.

You agree not to use any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any transaction being conducted on the Site, or with any other person’s use of the Site.

You may not forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any message or transmittal of information you send to ICERTIAS on or through the Site or any service offered on or through the Site. You may not pretend that you are, or that you represent, someone else, or impersonate any other individual or entity.

You may not use the Site or any Content for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms of Use, or to solicit the performance of any illegal activity or other activity which infringes the rights of ICERTIAS or others.

The material on the Site with respect to services may be out of date, and ICERTIAS makes no commitment to updating the material on the Site.

Privacy

ICERTIAS protects users' privacy to the maximum extent possible.

ICERTIAS’ Privacy Policy applies to the use of this Site, and its terms are made a part of these Terms of Use by this reference. Additionally, by using the Site, you acknowledge and agree that Internet transmissions are never completely private or secure. You understand that any message or information you send to the Site may be read or intercepted by others, even if there is a special notice that a particular transmission is encrypted.

ICERTIAS undertakes to use in good faith the information obtained from users of its Site, so that private information will not be distributed or sold to third parties, except with the consent of a user.

ICERTIAS can, in accordance with law, collect certain information about users obtained during the use of the Site (excluding information about the computer and the Internet service provider) or the data entered in the registration process.
icertias.com shall use this data only to have information about the users that use it and thus improve the portal and to further focus and adjust its contents for visitors. Based on this data, we find what is the most popular content and in which visitor groups. Data collection of this type to this or to a greater extent is common, and is used by world-renowned web sites like MSN, Google, etc.

ICERTIAS undertakes not to use private information that is collected, such as e-mail addresses, names and surnames without users' permission or to sell or distribute them, except demographic data for a group of users without disclosing private information.

ICERTIAS undertakes to protect the privacy of the portal users, except in the case of serious violation of the rules of the icertias.com Site or unlawful activities of users.

GDPR Compliance Statement

ICERTIAS respects and complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Some of the key ways we comply with these regulations are:

Consent

We explain what you’re consenting to clearly and without ‘legalese’, and ask that you explicitly consent to contact from us.

Breach Notification

In the event of a breach we will notify affected users within 72 hours of first having become aware of the breach.

Right to Access

Users can request confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning them is being processed, where and for what purpose. Further, we shall provide a copy of the personal data, free of charge, in an electronic format.

Right to be Forgotten

Once we have compared your (the subjects') rights to "the public interest in the availability of the data", we may delete your personal data where you have requested this.

Data Portability

We allow you to receive the personal data concerning you, which we will provide in a 'commonly used and machine readable format' and you have the right to transmit that data to another ‘controller’.

Privacy by Design

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures, in an effective way, in order to meet the requirements of this Regulation and protect the rights of data subjects'. We hold and process only the data absolutely necessary for the completion of our duties (data minimisation), as well as limiting the access to personal data to those needing to act out the processing.

Privacy policy

Section 1 - What do we do with your information?

If you choose to fill in a contact form on our Site, we will store that information for six months and only use it for the purpose of contacting you in relation to that enquiry.

When you browse our Site, we also automatically receive your computer’s Internet protocol (IP) address in order to provide us with information that helps us learn about your browser and operating system.

E-mail marketing: With your explicit permission, we may send you e-mails about our services and other updates.

Section 2 - Consent

How do you get my consent?

When you provide us with personal information we ask you to explicitly consent to our collecting it and using it for that specific reason only.

If we ask for your personal information for a secondary reason, like marketing, we will either ask you directly for your expressed consent, or provide you with an opportunity to say no.

How do I withdraw my consent?

If after you opt-in, you change your mind, you may withdraw your consent for us to contact you, for the continued collection, use or disclosure of your information, at any time, by contacting us at contacts@icertias.com or mailing us to: ICERTIAS - International Certification Association GmbH, Feldegstrasse 23, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland.

Section 3 - Disclosure

We may disclose your personal information if we are required by law to do so.

Section 4 - Data Storage

Your data is stored through D4 Software’s data storage and databases. We store your data on a secure server behind a firewall.

Section 5 - Third-party services & links

In general, the third-party providers used by us will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us.

When you click on links on our Site, they may direct you away from our Site. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites and encourage you to read their privacy statements.

Section 6 - Security

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry best practices to make sure it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your personal information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored with industry-standard encryption. Although no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we implement generally accepted industry standards.

Section 8 - Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the web site. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

Cookies

A cookie is information stored on your computer by the Site you visit. Cookies usually save your settings, such as your preferred language or address. They are reactivated upon revisiting the Site. This allows the Site to display information tailored to your needs.

In order to make this Site function properly, be able to make further developments to the Site, and improve your browsing experience, this Site must save a small amount of information (cookies) on your computer. Over 90% of all web sites uses this practice.

Cookies can store a wide range of information, including personal information (such as your name or e-mail address). However, this information can be saved only if you enable it - Sites cannot access information that you did not give and cannot access other files on your computer. Default activities of saving and sending of cookies are not visible to you. However, you can change your browser settings so that you can choose yourself whether you will approve or reject the requirements for storing cookies, delete saved cookies automatically when you close your internet browser, etc.

How to disable cookies

By turning off cookies, you decide whether you will allow them to be stored on your computer. Cookie settings can be controlled and configured with the chosen Internet browser. For information on cookie settings, select the Internet browser you are using (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9, Internet Explorer 7 and 8, Opera, Safari). If you disable cookies, you will not be able to use certain functionalities on the Site icertias.com.

What are session cookies?

Temporary cookies or session cookies remove themselves from your computer at the moment of closing the Internet browser. With the help of these cookies, Sites store temporary information, such as items in a shopping basket.

What are persistent cookies?

Persistent or stored cookies remain in your computer after closing your Internet browser. With help of these cookies, web sites store information, such as your login name and password so you do not have to log in each time you visit a particular site. Persistent cookies remain recorded in your computer for days, months, or even years.

What are first-party cookies?

First-party cookies come from web sites you are viewing, and can be persistent or session. In this way, web sites store information that will be used again the next time the web site is visited.

What are third-party cookies?

Third-party cookies usually come from ads from other web sites (such as pop-ups or other ads) that are on the web site you are viewing. Here cookies have the role of following web sites for advertising purposes.

Does ICERTIAS use cookies?

Yes, the primary goal being to ensure you a simpler and more useful experience.

What types of cookies does ICERTIAS use and why?

• Temporary cookies (Session cookies) – these cookies will automatically expire and will be deleted once you close the Internet browser. We use session cookies to access content and provide comments to be made (things you must do when you log in with your data on the Site).
• Permanent cookies (Persistent cookies) – these are cookies which will remain “recorded” in your Internet browser until they expire or you remove them yourself manually. icertias.com uses persistent cookies for functionalities such as "stay logged in", providing easier access to the portal as a registered user. We also use persistent cookies to better understand the user’s habits, so that we can improve the Site according to your habits. This information is anonymous – and does not include the user’s private information.

Are there third-party cookies on the Site?

There are several external services which store limited cookies for the user. These cookies are not placed by this Site, but some are used for the normal functioning of certain features which allow users easier access to content. This Site currently enables:

• Social networks - users can share posting on social networks Facebook and Google+ that place cookies to a user.
• Visit measurement – icertias.com uses Google Analytics – a service for measuring visits. If you wish to disable the saving of cookies of the Site by this service, you can deny them here.
• Advertising

Additional information about disabling cookies

There are several web sites for turning off the storage of cookies for various services. You can read more information on the following links:

• http://www.allaboutcookies.org/
• http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/
• http://www.aboutads.info/choices/

Questions and Contact Information

If you would like to: access, correct, amend or delete any personal information we have about you, register a complaint, or simply want more information contact our Privacy Compliance Officer at contacts@icertias.com or by mail at ICERTIAS - International Certification Association GmbH below:

FAO: Privacy Compliance Officer

ICERTIAS - International Certification Association GmbH, Feldegstrasse 23, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland.

Links to other Sites and to the ICERTIAS Site

This Site may contain links to other independent third-party web sites (“Linked Sites”). These Linked Sites are provided solely as a convenience to our visitors. Such Linked Sites are not under ICERTIAS’ control, and ICERTIAS is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of such Linked Sites, including any information or material contained on such Linked Sites. You will need to make your own independent judgment regarding your interaction with these Linked Sites.

Disclaimers

ICERTIAS DOES NOT PROMISE THAT THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT, SERVICE OR FEATURE OF THE SITE WILL BE ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, OR THAT ANY DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT YOUR USE OF THE SITE WILL PROVIDE SPECIFIC RESULTS. THE SITE AND ITS CONTENT ARE DELIVERED ON AN “AS-IS” AND “AS-AVAILABLE” BASIS. ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THE SITE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. ICERTIAS CANNOT ENSURE THAT ANY FILES OR OTHER DATA YOU DOWNLOAD FROM THE SITE WILL BE FREE OF VIRUSES OR CONTAMINATION OR DESTRUCTIVE FEATURES. ICERTIAS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ICERTIAS DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR THE ACTS, OMISSIONS AND CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTIES IN CONNECTION WITH OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND/OR ANY ICERTIAS SERVICES. YOU ASSUME TOTAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR USE OF THE SITE AND ANY LINKED SITES. YOUR SOLE REMEDY AGAINST ICERTIAS FOR DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT IS TO STOP USING THE SITE OR ANY SUCH CONTENT. THIS LIMITATION OF RELIEF IS A PART OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN THE PARTIES.

The above disclaimer applies to any damages, liability or injuries caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction of or unauthorised access to, alteration of, or use, whether for breach of contract, tort, negligence or any other cause of action.

ICERTIAS reserves the right to do any of the following, at any time, without notice: (1) modify, suspend or terminate operation of or access to the Site, or any portion of the Site, for any reason; (2) modify or change the Site, or any portion of the Site, and any applicable policies or terms; and (3) interrupt the operation of the Site, or any portion of the Site, as necessary to perform routine or non-routine maintenance, error correction, or other changes.

Limitation of Liability

Except where prohibited by law, in no event will ICERTIAS be liable to you for any indirect, consequential, exemplary, incidental or punitive damages, including lost profits, even if ICERTIAS has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold ICERTIAS, its officers, directors, shareholders, predecessors, successors in interest, employees, agents, subsidiaries and affiliates, harmless from any demands, loss, liability, claims or expenses (including attorneys’ fees), made against ICERTIAS by any third party due to or arising out of or in connection with your use of the Site.

Violation of these Terms of Use

ICERTIAS may disclose any information we have about you (including your identity) if we determine that such disclosure is necessary in connection with any investigation or complaint regarding your use of the Site, or to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) ICERTIAS’ rights or property, or the rights or property of visitors to or users of the Site, including ICERTIAS’ customers. ICERTIAS reserves the right at all times to disclose any information that ICERTIAS deems necessary to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request. ICERTIAS also may disclose your information when ICERTIAS determines that applicable law requires or permits such disclosure, including exchanging information with other companies and organisations for fraud protection purposes.

You acknowledge and agree that ICERTIAS may preserve any transmittal of information or communication by you with ICERTIAS through the Site or any service offered on or through the Site, and may also disclose such data if required to do so by law or ICERTIAS determines that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to (1) comply with legal process, (2) enforce these Terms of Use, (3) respond to claims that any such data violates the rights of others, or (4) protect the rights, property or personal safety of ICERTIAS, its employees, users of or visitors to the Site, and the public.

You agree that ICERTIAS may, in its sole discretion and without prior notice, terminate your access to the Site and/or block your future access to the Site if we determine that you have violated these Terms of Use or other agreements or guidelines which may be associated with your use of the Site. You also agree that any violation by you of these Terms of Use will constitute an unlawful and unfair business practice, and will cause irreparable harm to ICERTIAS, for which monetary damages would be inadequate, and you consent to ICERTIAS obtaining any injunctive or equitable relief that ICERTIAS deems necessary or appropriate in such circumstances. These remedies are in addition to any other remedies ICERTIAS may have at law or in equity.

You agree that ICERTIAS may, at its sole discretion and without prior notice, terminate your access to the Site, for cause, which includes (but is not limited to) (1) requests by law enforcement or other government agencies, (2) a request by you (self-initiated account deletions), (3) discontinuance or material modification of the Site or any service offered on or through the Site, or (4) unexpected technical issues or problems.

If ICERTIAS does take any legal action against you as a result of your violation of these Terms of Use, ICERTIAS will be entitled to recover from you, and you agree to pay, all reasonable attorney fees and costs of such action, in addition to any other relief granted to ICERTIAS. You agree that ICERTIAS will not be liable to you or to any third party for termination of your access to the Site as a result of any violation of these Terms of Use.

Governing Law; Dispute Resolution

You agree that all matters relating to your access to or use of the Site, including all disputes, will be governed by the laws of Switzerland without regard to its conflicts of law provisions. You agree to the personal jurisdiction by and venue in the canton of Zurich, and waive any objection to such jurisdiction or venue. Any claim under these Terms of Use must be brought within one (1) year after the cause of action arises, or such claim or cause of action is barred. In the event of any controversy or dispute between ICERTIAS and you arising out of or in connection with your use of the Site, the parties shall attempt, promptly and in good faith, to resolve any such dispute. If we are unable to resolve any such dispute within a reasonable time (not to exceed thirty (30) days), then either party may submit such controversy or dispute to mediation. If the dispute cannot be resolved through mediation, then the parties shall be free to pursue any right or remedy available to them under applicable law.

Void where Prohibited

ICERTIAS administers and operates the www.icertias.com Site from its location in Zurich, Switzerland and other countries; other ICERTIAS sites may be administered and operated from various locations in and outside Switzerland. Although the Site is accessible worldwide, not all features or services discussed, referenced, provided or offered through or on the Site are available in all geographic locations.

ICERTIAS reserves the right to limit, on its sole discretion, the provision and quantity of any feature or service to any person or geographic area. Any offer for any feature or service made on the Site is void where prohibited.

Miscellaneous

You may not use or export or re-export any Content or any copy or adaptation of such Content, or any service offered on the Site.

If any of the provisions of these Terms of Use are held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be void or unenforceable, such provisions shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary and replaced with a valid provision that best embodies the intent of these Terms of Use, so that these Terms of Use shall remain in full force and effect.

These Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between you and ICERTIAS with regard to your use of the Site, and any and all other written or oral agreements or understandings previously existing between you and ICERTIAS with respect to such use are hereby superseded and cancelled. Other than as provided in a purchase agreement you enter into with ICERTIAS, ICERTIAS will not accept any counter-offers to these Terms of Use, and all such offers are hereby categorically rejected.

ICERTIAS' failure to insist on or enforce strict performance of these Terms of Use shall not be construed as a waiver by ICERTIAS of any provision or any right it has to enforce these Terms of Use, nor shall any course of conduct between ICERTIAS and you or any other party be deemed to modify any provision of these Terms of Use. These Terms of Use shall not be interpreted or construed to confer any rights or remedies on any third parties.

ICERTIAS provides access to ICERTIAS international data and, therefore, may contain references or cross references to ICERTIAS services that are not announced in your country. Such reference does not imply that ICERTIAS in your country intends to announce such programmes or services.

Feedback and Information

Any feedback you provide on this Site shall be deemed to be non-confidential. ICERTIAS shall be free to use such information on an unrestricted basis.

The information contained on this Site is subject to change without notice.

Copyright © 2024 ICERTIAS - International Certification Association GmbH, Zurich, Switzerland. All rights reserved.

Updated by the ICERTIAS Legal Team on 11 September, 2018