TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE USE OF SOCIEUX+ E-LEARNING PLATFORM

SOCIEUX+ is a technical cooperation facility set up and co-funded by the European Union (EU) through the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (INTPA) and the governments of France, Spain, and Belgium, and implemented by a partnership (hereafter referred to as “the Implementation Partners”) composed of Expertise France (leading agency), Belgian International Cooperation on Social Protection (BELINCOSOC), the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), and the Belgian Development Agency (Enabel).

The SOCIEUX+ E-learning Platform (hereinafter “the Platform”) is a Learning Management System (LMS) developed and made available to users for the purpose of implementing activities within the framework of the SOCIEUX + technical cooperation facility.

The SOCIEUX+ Facility Management Team (hereafter referred to as “the FMT”) and the Implementation Partners are committed to ensuring compliance with the provisions found in French law n° 2004-575 of June 21, 2004 for confidence in the digital economy; decree n° 2005-137 of February 16, 2005 taken for the application of article L. 134-2 of the code of consumption; order n° 2005-674 of June 16, 2005 relating to the accomplishment of certain contractual formalities by electronic means; order n° 2001-741 of August 23, 2001 on the adaptation to European law in the field of consumer law; French law n° 2018-493 of June 20, 2018 on the protection of personal data, and in other applicable regulations. The FMT, the Implementation Partners, and INTPA will be hereafter referred to as “the Parties”.

The general information of the manager and domain name holder of the SOCIEUX+ e-learning platform (http://elearning.socieux.eu) and subdomains, as well as the conditions to which the users of the platform (hereafter referred to as the “User” or “Users”) will be subject, are detailed below.

The original English version of this document prevails over any translation.

I.- LEGAL INFORMATION – MANDATORY IDENTIFYING DATA

II.- CONDITIONS OF USE OF THE E-LEARNING PLATFORM

Platform Users may be subject to other terms and conditions, legal notices, and privacy policies applied and expressly indicated on other SOCIEUX+ web pages. By using the platform, Users accept the terms and conditions described in this statement.

The FMT reserves the right to make changes to this legal notice without prior notice. Any changes that we may make to this legal notice will be published on the platform and, when appropriate, we will also notify users by email.

III.- INTELLECTUAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Expertise France is the owner and/or licensee of all the content on the Platform, including its images, graphic designs, posts, text, brands, logos and all kinds of data, as well as the source code, layout, and structure of the Platform. Regarding the content, Expertise France shares with the other Implementation Partners the exclusive exercise of rights over reproduction, distribution, modification and communication, as well as all exploitation rights in any of their forms.

The entire content of the platform is protected by intellectual and industrial property regulations, and making it available, its use, possible consultation or its downloading does not entail in any case the transfer of any type of right over the intellectual or industrial property or of the aforementioned material or content.

The viewing, downloading, and printing of the contents of the website are not allowed if they are carried out for advertising or commercial purposes, or for distribution, public communication, or modification and, in general, in cases where such acts are incompatible with the purpose of the Platform. In all other cases, prior written authorisation will be requested to the FMT, and the original source must be cited.

Expertise France expressly authorises the reproduction for private use of the contents of this platform. Even so, Expertise France states that, as it draws on many selfless contributions, this authorisation does not include the reproduction, transformation or in general any other form of exploitation, by whatever procedure, of the contents of the website, whenever such exploitation is for a commercial or economic purpose. The source and copyright of the contents shall be ensured for the reproduction. Failure to acknowledge sources and copyrights shall nullify the authorisation of reproduction.

Except in the case of authorisation for private use mentioned in the previous paragraph, or if explicitly allowed, access to the Platform does not imply the granting of any type of permission, transmission, license, or total or partial transfer of its contents.

In any case, logos, graphics, images, icons, or any other visual material or content that are part of the Platform may not be used separately from the text they accompany or from the rest of the images or graphics therein.

Expertise France reserves the right to exercise the corresponding legal actions against Users who violate or infringe intellectual and industrial property rights, including compensation for damages caused. Likewise, the User undertakes to indemnify Expertise France for any damage or harm that may be caused by any improper use of the e-learning platform.

Any information that Users of the platform may provide, such as suggestions and recommendations, will be considered, received, and transferred free of charge. Please refrain from sending any information that does not have the aforementioned consideration.

Expertise France does not assume any responsibility that may arise from any alteration or manipulation of the platform by third parties.

Finally, and within the framework of dissemination of content offered by the Platform, the establishment on the part of third parties of links to the http://elearning.socieux.eu page is expressly authorised, provided that these links do not have a commercial or profit-making purpose. In any case, links established by third parties must allow the Users to know that they are accessing the platform and must necessarily make the corresponding URL visible in their browser on this website.

The establishment of links by third parties does not imply the existence of any type of association between the Parties and the owners of the website where the link is placed.

Users must use the information contained in this website in compliance with the applicable legislation in each case, respecting the intellectual property rights of Expertise France or third parties.

Users will not carry out, through services that Expertise France makes available to them, any action that causes damage to or alterations in the contents, nor will they hinder the proper functioning of the Platform. Users will not cause technical problems of any kind, including but not limited to the transfer of elements that may carry a computer virus or damage, interfere with, or totally or partially intercept data on this Platform.

In no case will Expertise France or the Parties, be responsible for the inappropriate use of this platform or its contents, or for the consequences that such use may cause.

The Parties are not responsible for the opinions expressed in forums, chats, or other online participation spaces. The messages published in these spaces represent only the opinion of their authors and not that of administrators or moderators (except in messages published by the latter).

By registering on the Platform, Users agree not to publish material which is abusive, discriminatory, obscene or vulgar, material related to any form of violence, or which is threatening or that in any way violates current laws. Likewise, Users accept that the FMT carries out actions which may delete, edit, move, or close any message that it may consider inappropriate or irrelevant.

Expertise France does not guarantee that the Platform is operational, nor that its contents are complete, accurate, or reliable at all times. The FMT reserves the right to modify at any time, without prior notice, the contents of the Platform and these General Terms and Conditions of Use.

In the event of the maintenance, repair, updating or improvement of services, the FMT has the right to temporarily suspend access to the Platform without prior notice, as well as reserve the right to provide or cancel the services without prejudice, which it will endeavour to make known to Users beforehand insomuch as circumstances allow.

Therefore, any liability for damages of any nature that may arise from the unavailability or lack of operational continuity of the site and its services and the use that Users could have made of the Platform is excluded. No third party may establish a 'framing' relationship between their web pages and the Platform without prior authorisation from the FMT.

In the case of links included in the Platform that direct Users to other sites not managed by Expertise France, this institution declares that it does not exercise any control over said sites, and that it is not responsible for their content.

The links that the Platform may contain are offered solely as informative references, without any type of assessment or assurance of the contents, owners, services, or products offered therein.

Expertise France guarantees compliance with the obligations derived from the French and European laws on information and e-commerce society services, and on the protection of personal data, as a service provider of this body.

Anyone who makes reference to the platform is governed exclusively by French laws. In the event of any type of discrepancy or difference regarding the interpretation and content of the platform, all parties submit, and expressly forego any other forum, to the courts and tribunals of Paris (France).

IV.- DATA PROTECTION

The FMT and the Implementation Partners are committed to ensuring that the processing of data complies with the legal framework of the regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and Council of 27 April, 2016 on the protection of natural persons concerning the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. The present Personal Data Management and Privacy Statement covers the use and processing of data collected by the FMT and the Implementation Partners through the Platform. In this respect, SOCIEUX+ wishes to give users of this tool the following information concerning the collection, processing, storage and transfer of their personal data (hereafter referred to as “Personal Data”).

Definition

Personal Data refers to any information and data used to individually identify users, directly and indirectly, as natural persons. Similarly, they may also refer to any other individual connected to the users if it involves a legal person. Personal Data includes information directly provided by Users of the Platform, including among others:

Purpose

The main purpose of collecting and processing personal data from the Platform is to manage Users’ participation in online trainings, events, and/or collaborative work activities organised through the Platform. Personal Data may also be collected and processed from the Platform for corporate communication and visibility, as well as for monitoring and evaluation purposes of the Parties.

Data collected, processed and stored by SOCIEUX+ FMT for the above purposes is accessible to all Implementation Partners and INTPA.

Data storage

Personal Data from the Platform is stored, as far as is known, by SOCIEUX+, the Parties, and its contractors on servers in the European Union. The name(s) of the contractor(s) for individual data storage shall be provided to Users upon request. If Users wish to modify or delete their Personal Data, or have questions or requests about the information submitted, please contact the Privacy Officer listed in the “Privacy and Policies” section of your user profile on the platform. In this section of the platform, users can, among other things, export their Personal Data or request the FMT to delete their account and/or Personal Data. The approval of the request for deletion of personal data or account closure implies the anonymisation and blocking of the User profile. After the anonymisation process, only data necessary for monitoring and evaluation of the activity (gender, country, institution of the User) will be kept, which in no case allows the identification of the User.

Processing methods

Personal Data from the Platform is collected when Users create their participant or expert account, as well as when they are using the Platform to hold/participate in SOCIEUX+ activities, and is processed by the FMT and the instructors of each activity.  

Access to the Platform implies accepting the present Terms and Conditions, available on www.socieux.eu. Therefore, if Users do not agree with any of these terms and conditions, they must stop using the Platform.

When holding training activities, collaborative work or similar events, recordings or photographs may be made or taken which capture Users’ images and/or sounds. Likewise, video-conferencing platforms (such as Zoom or Jitsy) may be used. The contents may be recorded and hosted on the Platform to which other Users (participants) have access. Such images and/or videos may be published for corporate communication and/or visibility purposes, which is why, in accordance with the provisions of Article 9 of the French Civil Code and as indicated by the Court of Cassation (Cass. Civ. 1ère, 27 February 2007, n° 06-10393) regarding the right to one’s own image, by using the Platform, Users authorise the Parties to include recordings, images, and/or sounds associated with their image and collected during their use of the Platform in communication and mass media materials to disseminate information on SOCIEUX+ operations and in reporting. The Parties may not use these images for different purposes.

For the proper functioning of training activities, the Parties may carry out international transfers of personal data to the organisations, institutions, public administrations and/or promoters of the activity in which the participant performs their professional functions, and these organisations may be found in countries without an adequate level of protection of personal data comparable to EU regulations. The Parties are not responsible for the use made of this data by third parties. Such transfers are necessary to participate in SOCIEUX+ activities, and by using the Platform, Users consent to them.

Automatic emails may be sent to the email addresses provided by Users when registering on the Platform. Users can deactivate these automated emails in the preferences section of their profiles. For managing and sending automatic emails, SOCIEUX+’s contractor uses the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) services of Mailjet, whose secure data centres on the Google Cloud Platform are located in the EU. For more information, please contact us at the address indicated in the Queries section below and/or visit https://www.mailjet.com/security-privacy/.

The Platform uses anonymous cookies. The Platform does not use third-party, advertising or web analytics cookies.

Users’ personal data will be kept up to 10 years after the end date of SOCIEUX+ (July 2024), unless explicit request to the contrary. If Users request the deletion of their personal information from the Platform or the deletion of their account, the request will be resolved within a maximum period of 1 (one) month.

Rights

SOCIEUX+ guarantees the following rights for Users whose Personal Data it processes and/or has been processed:

To obtain information concerning these rights, exercise these rights, or ask any questions concerning the processing of their Personal Data, Users can contact the Privacy Officer in the Privacy and Policies section of their user profile on the Platform. Users should give a reason for their request to exercise their rights concerning the Personal Data held by SOCIEUX+.

However, the FMT reserves the right to oppose this type of request for overriding reasons, particularly when such requests have the effect of blocking the purpose of the above-mentioned processing. It will then be up to the FMT to justify itself on this point to the User.

V.- USERS’ RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

By registering on the Platform, Users agree to make diligent use of access data, not making it available to third parties and immediately communicating to the FMT the loss or theft of their password and/or possible access by a third party. Therefore, Users are responsible for the security of their access data.

Likewise, Users accept the responsibility derived from all the activities that occur under their username and password. Users should especially take the following into account:

Any update of data is Users’ sole responsibility.

All the contents found in a user profile are the sole responsibility of the user.

VI.- REASONS FOR SUSPENSION AND/OR BLOCKING OF USER ACCOUNTS:

The FMT may suspend or cancel a user’s registration immediately at its sole discretion and without explanation.

Users can request the deletion of their account at any time by logging in with their access data, going to their profile and then clicking on “Delete my account”.

The use of incorrect, denigrating, defamatory or insulting expressions against Users of the service and against third parties is strictly prohibited.

The FMT reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to review, edit, or delete any material posted by users that the FMT deems defamatory, illegal, threatening, obscene or otherwise objectionable. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Parties expressly decline any responsibility or obligation regarding any material published by third parties through the website.

The FMT reserves the right, without limitation, to suspend any member or User who violates these terms and conditions, including if it suspects that a user may be connected to any type of fraud or illegal activity in relation to the Platform, or at any other time, with or without their knowledge.

The act of cancelling or suspending a user’s access to the Platform will not necessarily imply the deletion of Personal Data and other information that the FMT has in its possession.

VII.- EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

In no event will the Parties or their employees be liable for direct, indirect, or consequential damages, loss of opportunities, loss of data, loss of image, loss of anticipated savings, or loss of profits, as a consequence of the use of the platform even if the FMT has been warned of such losses. The exclusions provided in this legal notice will only apply to the extent permitted by law.

The opinions expressed in the articles, works, forums, mailing lists, and the like, provided by the Platform belong to their author or the signatory thereof, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Parties. The texts that appear are provided for information purposes. The FMT will try to ensure that these texts are current, accurate, and truthful, and will not be held liable for damages that may be caused due to any inaccuracies or errors included in them.

Likewise, this site contains links or connections to other third-party websites, over which the FMT has no control. This information is provided for information purposes only, without necessarily implying the approval of their content, nor the existence of any type of association between the Parties and the people or entities operating them, nor does it guarantee the absence of viruses or other elements in them that may cause disruption to Users’ computer systems, in Users’ documents or files, and excludes any liability for damages of any kind caused to Users for these reasons.

Expertise France is not responsible for failures, errors, or damage, direct or indirect, that may be caused to Users' computer systems, or to the files or documents stored in it. Access to the Platform may be suspended temporarily and without prior notice in the event of system failure, maintenance, repair or for reasons beyond our control, excluding any liability for damages of any kind caused by these occurrences.

Global nature of websites

By using the Platform, Users acknowledge the global nature of this web-based platform and agree to comply with all applicable local laws in their jurisdiction.

VIII.- APPLICABLE LAWS AND FORUMS


Nothing included in this legal notice will prevent Expertise France from bringing the pertinent actions before any court for breach of their intellectual property rights.

These terms and conditions of use shall be governed and interpreted in accordance with the French legislation that has been expressly established in those matters.

The Parties, visitors to the Platform, and any natural or legal person who uses it, are to expressly forego any other forum which may correspond to them and submit to the jurisdiction and competence of the Courts of the city of Paris (France) for the resolution of any issue that may arise concerning the interpretation, application and fulfilment of these conditions, as well as any claims that may arise from any use of the Platform.

IX.- QUERIES

If users have any questions or queries about these Terms and Conditions of Use or the material that appears on the SOCIEUX+ e-learning platform, they can write to: e-learning@socieux.eu.