Subject to any special provisions, these Standard Terms and Conditions (hereafter also abbreviated to “Conditions”) govern the legal relations between you (the Customer) and DocCheck Community GmbH (hereafter also abbreviated to "DocCheck"). DocCheck recommends that these Conditions are printed and carefully stored.
Preamble
DocCheck Community GmbH, Vogelsanger Straße 66, D-50823 Cologne, recorded in the commercial register of the district court in Cologne under number HRB 31152 (hereafter "DocCheck") integrates password protection into websites containing information for specialised medical bodies, issues passwords to entitled persons and checks their identity should they wish to refer to the website protected by password. In this way, DocCheck brings together those offering specialised medical information and those seeking such information.
§ 1 Scope of application
(1) The following Standard Terms and Conditions (hereafter “Conditions”) of DocCheck Community GmbH, Vogelsanger Straße 66, 50823 Cologne, Germany (hereafter "DocCheck"), complemented by individual contractual agreements, govern the legal relationships between DocCheck and the contractual partner concerned (hereafter: "Customer").
(2) These Conditions will in particular govern the following area of DocCheck’s services:
a) The planning, execution and evaluation of studies and user observations via the Internet, including the use of mobile and wireless technologies (hereafter "DocCheck Studies").
b) The planning, execution and evaluation of market research studies via the Internet (hereafter “Market Research").
c) The operation of a newsletter that is distributed by text and HTML eMail and that appears on the DocCheck website (hereafter "DocCheck News").
d) Operation of a direct marketing service that sends eMails to subscribers to DocCheck’s eMail services that are distributed inter alia in the following formats: text, HTML, flash or video (hereafter "DocCheck BusinessMail").
e) Operation of a website for job advertisements and applicants’ profiles (hereafter "DocCheck Jobs").
(3) The following Conditions of DocCheck apply to the exclusion of all other conditions; DocCheck does not recognise Customer’s terms and conditions contrary to or differing from these Conditions. These Conditions will also apply should DocCheck perform the services for the Customer even though it is aware of the Customer’s terms and conditions contrary to or differing from these Conditions.
(4) In the event of overlaps and/or contradictions, individual contractual provisions will have precedence over these Conditions; within these Conditions, the particular conditions governing individual service areas will have precedence over general terms and conditions.
§ 2 Subject matter of the contract
The precise subject matter of the contract (hereafter: "Project") is provided by the relevant individual agreement with its attachments and specifications, as well as these Conditions (hereafter: "Project Contract").
§ 3 Time of the service; scheduling
(1) The relevant Project Contract will govern the beginning of the service and its duration.
(2) Any timetable will be issued after careful project planning and an estimation of the resources and time required, but does not imply any guarantee as to a precise service or service time.
§ 4 Project management
(1) In the case of DocCheck Studies and Market Research, the parties will appoint a responsible manager as the contact person for the project (hereafter “Project Manager"). The Customer will ensure that his Project Manager is entitled to carry out legally binding acts and issue legally binding declarations. The Project Managers will coordinate the contents, timing and execution of the projects in regular Project Manager meetings. DocCheck will prepare minutes of these meetings and send them to the Customer.
(2) Should the Customer not object in writing to part or all of the contents of these minutes within three working days of having received them, the minutes will be considered as accepted with respect to the parts that are not contradicted and constitute the binding basis for further dealings.
§ 5 Remuneration; due dates
(1) The amount of remuneration will be determined by the relevant Project Contract and the agreed specifications of the order.
(2) All prices will be subject to the addition of value added tax at the percentage prescribed by law for the service performed.
(3) Travel costs, including accommodation and other expenses, will be invoiced to the Customer in accordance with the "Services and Prices" list in force at the time the contract was concluded.
(4) DocCheck is entitled to require a reasonable advance payment from the Customer. Unless anything different has been agreed, one third of the agreed fee is payable after the contract has been signed and within seven days of the invoice being issued.
(5) Provided that no contrary provision has been agreed, DocCheck’s invoices are payable within 14 days of the date of the invoice. The deduction of a cash discount requires a separate written agreement.
(6) DocCheck is entitled to demand interest on arrears in accordance with § 288 of the German Civil Code should the Customer be in arrears with his payments. DocCheck is free to prove that the damage was higher. The Customer is entitled to prove that the damage was lower.
(7) The Customer is only entitled to net claims when his counter-claims have been established in law or are acknowledged by DocCheck. Moreover, the Customer is only authorised to exercise a right to withhold service provided that his counter-claim is based on the same contractual relationship.
§ 6 Change Request
(1) Should the Customer wish to change the services DocCheck is to provide after the Project Contract has been concluded or require additional services, DocCheck will notify the Customer of any timing implications as well as any additional expenses caused by this change.
(2) These changes to the service will be considered to have been accepted should the Customer not object to this information and approve the carrying out of the changes.
(3) DocCheck will inform the Customer accordingly should cost estimates or probable remuneration referred to in its offer be exceeded in the course of the project. Section 2 will apply accordingly.
(4) Should the Customer object to the changed times and/or the additional costs, DocCheck is only required to provide the services originally agreed. In this case, the Customer has the right to terminate the Project Contract but is still required o pay the fee for the services provided by DocCheck.
§ 7 Delay, force majeure
(1) In the event of a delay on the part of DocCheck in providing a contractual service, the Customer is entitled to terminate the contract or to withdraw from the contract, having first set a reasonable grace period.
(2) In the event of force majeure, especially decisions of public authorities, disturbances in third parties’ networks, strikes, lockouts and similar events lying beyond the influence of the party affected, this party is exempted from the obligation to provide services for the duration and the extent of the event. The affected party will immediately inform the other party of the nature and probable duration of the disturbance.
§ 8 Data security; data transfer
(1) DocCheck protects data on its IT systems from unauthorised electronic access by third parties by means of installations complying with general technical progress and secures the data with backup copies. Nevertheless, an entry into the system by unauthorised persons ("hackers") cannot be totally excluded.
(2) DocCheck will ensure the security of data transfer by means of suitable technical measures should the Customer desire this (e.g. server certificates, SSL coding or VPN). As part of this process, industrial standards and commercial systems will be used for which however DocCheck is unable to assume any guarantee with respect to freedom from defects.
(3) Individual access to the system or to project data available online is controlled by means of a personal user name/password combination for all participants. The Customer himself is responsible for the secrecy and security of passwords notified to him and is liable for the misuse of this access data.
§ 9 Customer’s obligations to cooperate; delivery of contents
(1) The Customer is required to cooperate in performing immediately and completely actions necessary for the fulfilment of DocCheck’s service obligation.
(2) The Customer alone is responsible for the correctness and completeness of information, advertisements, texts, pictures, films and diagrams etc. (hereafter “Contents”) supplied by the Customer to DocCheck in order to provide its services as well as the conformity of such material to the relevant laws, regulations and voluntary industrial codes provided. The same applies to the offer of premiums and the dispatch of samples or the like in advertisements and eMails as well to the functionality of link texts and the accessibility of the linked web site.
(3) DocCheck is not required to check whether Contents received from the Customer infringe the rights of third parties or comply with legal or official regulations or industrial or sector agreements.
(4) The Customer will indemnify DocCheck for all claims pursued by third parties against DocCheck on account of an infringement of their rights to the Contents provided by the Customer. This also includes the costs of litigation. The same applies should public authorities or courts resort to measures against DocCheck on account of these Contents.
(5) Should DocCheck’s services be subject to registration requirements or other legal or official requirements, the Customer is responsible for ensuring that the required registrations are carried out and that DocCheck is fully informed of the required registrations and preconditions.
(6) DocCheck has the right to declare the extraordinary termination of the Project Contract should the Customer fail to fulfil his registration requirements or fail to fulfil them on time or completely, in spite of having been granted an appropriate grace period. In this case, the Customer will still be required to pay the remuneration for services performed by Doc Check up to the time of the termination. DocCheck is entitled to demand compensation for damage incurred as a result of additional costs or delays. DocCheck may withhold services it is required to perform under the Project Contract for as long as the delay lasts.
§ 10 Warranty
(1) DocCheck’s services are not required to produce a particular result. DocCheck therefore assumes no liability that the Customer will actually achieve the goal he is seeking with the services and results provided by DocCheck.
(2) DocCheck gives no warranty that the participants in the studies or market research have submitted their questionnaires or other information as part of the Project personally or according to the best of their ability.
(3) In the event of major differences between the services performed by DocCheck and the agreed services, DocCheck is entitled to provide an improvement so long as this does not entail disproportionate expenditure. The Customer may reduce the remuneration or withdraw from the contract should DocCheck be unable eliminate the differences within a reasonable grace period or avoid them in such a way that the contractually agreed use of the services provided by DocCheck is possible.
(4) Instead of and subject to the conditions that the fee is reduced, the Customer may terminate the Project Contract with respect to the relevant service without notice. In the event of such a termination, the Customer is required to pay the value of DocCheck’s services up to this time.
(5) The warranty period is one year from the time a service is performed or the acceptance of a service from DocCheck.
§ 11 General liability
(1) DocCheck is liable in accordance with the provisions of the law without any limit on compensation for damage caused intentionally or as a result of gross negligence by DocCheck’s legal representatives or senior employees or as a result of grave organisational neglect. Beyond that and irrespective of the legal justification, DocCheck is only liable for damage caused by DocCheck’s legal representatives or senior employees as a result of the infringement through negligence of a cardinal contractual obligation in a manner that endangers the achievement of the purpose of the contract.
(2) DocCheck’s liability is limited to typical damage caused by the relevant service, the occurrence of which DocCheck could have anticipated at the time the Contract was signed given the circumstances of which it was aware at the time. DocCheck is not liable for indirect damage, consequential damage, foregone profit and the absence of savings.
(3) DocCheck assumes no liability for patent, sample, copyright and trademark protection or the suitability for registration of the results provided (studies, evaluations etc.).
(4) The above limitations on liability do not limit DocCheck’s unlimited liability for injury to life, limb and health or its liability under the Product Liability Law.
§ 12 Use of the results of the work and contractual services
(1) All rights to ideas, inventions, processes, concepts, documents, models, source codes, tools and other techniques associated with the performance of DocCheck’s services, especially property rights, copyright and other commercial property rights will remain the property of DocCheck. Unless anything different is agreed in writing, the Customer acquires the simple right to use this material for internal company purposes in fulfilment of the purpose of the contract once the agreed fee has been fully paid.
(2) The Customer is not entitled to grant or transfer to third parties rights to use the material or to process the work and results provided without DocCheck’s consent.
§ 13 Copyrights
All the contents of this website are protected by copyright. It is not permitted to download, duplicate or distribute all or part of the website. An automatic or manual selection of the contents and their republication on a different website or in a different data bank (i.e. meta search engines, job exchange search engines) or the framing or parsing of pages is not permitted without DocCheck’s written agreement.
Section 2: additional conditions applicable to DocCheck studies (CRO)
§ 14 Scope of the service provided by a DocCheck study
(1) The overall service DocCheck is required to provide as part of an agreement dealing with the conduct of user observation, non-intervention studies or other clinical studies is described hereafter as a "Study". Unless anything different is agreed in writing, the Customer is required to carry out planning and preparatory studies (e.g. CRF (case report form) contents and observation plan).
(2) Unless DocCheck is expressly assigned in writing to do this work, the Customer will ensure that the Studies are immediately registered in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations, particularly of the federal association of doctors working for health insurance associations and the responsible federal authorities. The Customer will fulfil this registration obligation should the place, time, goal of the study and the doctors taking part with their names and addresses have to be provided. The above provisions also apply to compliance with registration obligations as part of commercial associations’ voluntary codes of conduct.
§ 15 Carrying out the Project
(1) DocCheck will prepare a description of the service based on the Customer’s order, describing the contents of the services to be provided by DocCheck, especially the establishment of the study website, the required programme module and the contents of the CRF.
(2) The Customer is required to check the contents of the description of the services as soon as it is received and immediately, at the latest however within two weeks, to report objections, complaints and qualifications to DocCheck in writing. The contents of the description of services will be considered to have been approved should the Customer fail to do this and will constitute the specific basis for the performance of later services.
(3) DocCheck will programme Internet applications, web site pages and/or online CRF’s on the basis of the description of the service. The Customer is required to check the correctness and completeness of the contents and function of all applications and websites as soon as the test link is completed. The web site pages will be considered as having been accepted should the Customer not report any defects immediately, at the latest however within two weeks of being required by DocCheck to declare his acceptance.
(4) After completion of the Study, the data received will be evaluated and the results presented on the basis of the description of the service.
§ 16 Duration of the Project
(1) The duration of the Study will be laid down in the provisions of the Project Contract. Should the Customer wish to continue the Study beyond the agreed final termination date, a share of payments for hosting and service operation, data management, project management and monitoring as well as support should this be required will be due, irrespective of the reason for the extension. The amount of these additional costs will be calculated on the basis of the relationship between the agreed and the actual duration of the Project.
(2) There will be no charge should DocCheck be responsible for the extension (delayed start (launch)) or be responsible for the non-availability of the system.
§ 17 Particular obligations to cooperate
(1) The Customer is required to provide DocCheck with all information required in order to plan and carry out the Study, on time and at no cost.
(2) The Customer’s Project Manager is responsible for providing all information, working documents and operational tools required in order to perform the agreed service and for their correctness and completeness and also for the establishment of the contact to its technical functions.
§ 18 Recruitment of participants
(1) Should DocCheck have undertaken to contact participants electronically from its data bank for the purpose of participation in the Study, DocCheck will provide this service in accordance with the requirements of the Project and the description of the service.
(2) DocCheck does not guarantee any particular target size and is not required to carry out additional measures (e.g. a conventional mailing or telephone calls).
§ 19 Reporting undesirable events
(1) Unless the contract expressly requires something different, the Customer will retain responsibility for processing and possibly forwarding the report on undesirable events as part of the Study.
(2) Should DocCheck have been assigned the electronic registration of undesirable events, this will include the collection of the data by means of Internet schedules and notification by eMail of the Customer’s adherence to the safety provisions for pharmaceutical products. Irrespective of escalation procedures, the Customer is required to ensure that eMails are received and processed in a timely manner.
(3) Should an electronic reporting system not be available, the Customer will provide the means to receive the report by fax or telephone and will draw attention in the observation plan to the procedure to be used.
§ 20 Data security and data transfer
(1) DocCheck endeavours to ensure the correctness and completeness of the on-line participants’ data through appropriate measures (e.g. through plausibility tests), but assumes no warranty in this respect in the case of online documentation.
(2) Should DocCheck not have been appointed to assess the data, following completion of the online recording of the data it will transfer all fully documented data sets to the Customer in ASCII export format or some alternative agreed format. All additional project documents (e.g. contracts) will be given to the Customer as originals. The Customer is responsible for the proper storage and maintenance of these records.
§ 21 Participants’ fees
(1) The method of paying participants their fee and DocCheck’s services in this regard are covered in the Project Contract. Should DocCheck establish whilst performing the services that the quantity cells or reimbursement of expenses to the participants in the Studies have been exceeded, it will immediately notify the Customer. DocCheck will not exceed the services and quantity cells on which the estimated price is based until the Customer has given his written consent.
(2) In the case of user observations, the Customer is required to determine the amount and the reasonableness of the participants’ fees and ensures compliance with the requirements of the law and voluntary codes of conduct.
(3) DocCheck will only make the payments in the name of the Customer should it have been appointed to handle such payments. DocCheck will use the participants’ customer accounts for this purpose. Participation in the study is in this case conditional on acceptance of the use of this service and of the conditions of use.
(4) The tax treatment of the fees is basically the responsibility of the participants in the Study and of the Customer.
(5) The Customer will provide DocCheck with an adequate pool of cash free of interest in order to enable the fees to be paid on time. This fund must be replenished at DocCheck’s request as fees are paid out. Any overpayments following the conclusion of the project will be repaid to the Customer.
§ 22 Participants in the Study
(1) The Customer is responsible for the recruitment of participants in the Study unless individual contractual provisions to the contrary have been agreed.
(2) Should DocCheck name the anticipated number of participants, these constitute estimates based on historical values. They are however not a guarantee and do not constitute a binding undertaking that this number of participants will be achieved.
§ 23 Equipment deliveries
(1) Should DocCheck have been assigned to procure special hardware for the participants as part of the Project Contract, this does not entail an assurance that the equipment acquired by DocCheck will have particular qualities.
(2) The correct installation and operation of this hardware is the responsibility of the participant in question. DocCheck will only provide assistance as part of agreed project support. Warranty on the equipment itself will be handled in accordance with the provisions of the law.
Section 3: additional special conditions in the case of DocCheck market research
§ 24 The extent of market research services
(1) The total service to be provided by DocCheck as part of its market research includes the programming of the questionnaire, maintenance of the questionnaire on DocCheck’s servers (hosting), invitations to the participants and the handling of the Project as well as its evaluation (hereafter "Questionnaire").
(2) Should it have been agreed that DocCheck only invites the participants and procures their services for the Customer as participants via a link and that the questionnaire is hosted externally, i.e. not on servers managed by DocCheck, the provisions of § 27 will apply instead of those of §§ 25 and 26.
(3) The Customer is required to carry out planning and preparatory work (e.g. the design of documentation sheets (CRF’s) and an observation plan), unless DocCheck has been expressly requested to perform these services.
(4) Any statements made by DocCheck regarding the size of random samples are estimates based on experience. Such statements do not however constitute a guarantee or a legally binding undertaking to complete this number of interviews.
§ 25 Questionnaire, programming
(1) The Customer is required to supply the questionnaire such that it is fully ready to use, i.e. including all formulations, comments, checks etc. DocCheck’s programming work will be carried out on this basis. Subsequent change requests will be invoiced separately.
(2) It should be possible to generate the questionnaire with DocCheck’s programming software. DocCheck will notify the Customer of the associated functionalities and pre-conditions. Additional or individual programming work or changes to the questionnaire by DocCheck must be requested and paid for separately.
(3) Should the expense of programming be stated in the Project Contract, this only represents an estimate. The exact programming work and the relevant payment will not be notified and agreed until after the final questionnaire is known.
(4) The exact text of questionnaires for use in foreign countries will be translated in return for a separate order and payment.
§ 26 Processing the project
(1) Quotations from DocCheck (timing and price) are based on the assumption that the field as a whole starts. A software launch must be separately agreed and, where applicable, paid for.
(2) Should several questionnaires be carried out with the same target group, they will be conducted one after another in the order in which the project confirmations were received. The minimum time interval between two field phases is at least a week.
(3) The fee and also the management costs will be adjusted in accordance with the difference and, where applicable, invoiced separately should the actual extent of the questionnaire differ from that assumed in the Customer’s inquiry.
(4) Should it not be possible to carry out a questionnaire after the participants have been invited for reasons for which DocCheck is not responsible (e.g. access problems or a premature closure of the quota on the part of the external customer, the cancellation of the whole project with an immediate field stop etc.), DocCheck is entitled to pay the participants all or part of the agreed participation fee and to charge this to the Customer.
§ 27 Procurement of a panel, external hosting
(1) The Customer is required to inform DocCheck of his host provider’s technical and administrative conditions that are required in order to conduct the questionnaire and to ensure that the questionnaire and the link are available in order to test the final version and the connection of the questionnaire at least two days before the field start. The lead-time will be extended to at least five days before the starting date should participants outside Germany be involved.
(2) It must be possible to answer the questionnaire efficiently with the standard setting of the browser. The Customer may not demand that the participants make changes to the browser with implications for security (active-X, Java settings, etc.). The Customer must enable the questionnaire to be re-started at the place at which it was interrupted. It must be possible to identify the participant in this regard without cookies. The Customer will as a basic principle make the method transparent.
(3) The questionnaire including the screen criteria may not be changed without DocCheck’s prior consent once DocCheck has issued the invitations.
(4) Should the questionnaires contain errors, particularly due to programming errors, connection problems, inappropriate language, technical requirements of the participants, DocCheck reserves the right to delay issuing the invitations until these problems are resolved. The period of time allowed for the questionnaire will be extended by the length of this delay.
(5) The Consumer may not close the questionnaire (including the case of "quota full") before the complete sample size has been reached. DocCheck must be notified at least two working days beforehand should this be necessary in individual cases.
(6) The Customer will ensure that multiple participation as well as the completion of the questionnaire after the agreed number of interviews has been reached does not occur. The additional fees as well as the additional costs of processing will be invoiced should DocCheck have to pay more participants’ fees than originally calculated as a result of these obligations not being fulfilled.
(7) The Consumer may not collect personal data or contact information from the participants procured by DocCheck nor may it offer any kind of service entailing the disclosure of the participants’ personal data in the present or in the future. In the event of an infringement of this obligation, DocCheck is entitled to break off the questionnaire immediately and to terminate the Project Contract without notice. DocCheck is also entitled to invoice the agreed fee less any expenditure not incurred. DocCheck reserves the right to pursue additional claims to desist or to pay compensation.
(8) Following completion of the questionnaire, the Customer will provide DocCheck with a complete list of all participants in the form of the DocCheck-ID and their status (complete, screen-out, dropout, quota-full) to enable it to pay the participants their fees. The Customer is not entitled to use the particpants’ data for any other purpose than that specified in the contract.
(9) The Customer is fully liable for his agents’ compliance with the above obligations as well for compliance with the provisions of the law.
Section 4: Additional special conditions with respect to DocCheck News and Bannering
§ 28 Advertising orders for the DocCheck News and Bannering
(1) An "advertising order" within the meaning of the following conditions is a contract for the acceptance of one or more advertisements or banners or a supplement of the Customer in the DocCheck News or another DocCheck page for the purpose of distribution by electronic means.
(2) DocCheck must receive orders for advertisements or banners that are to be published expressly and solely in certain issues in the DocCheck news or in certain places on the DocCheck website sufficiently early that the Customer may be notified before the close of advertising should it not be possible to carry out the order in the desired manner.
(3) Advertising under a particular title will be published under the relevant title without this having to be expressly agreed.
(4) DocCheck reserves the right to reject advertising or banner orders – including individual call-offs as part of one contract or several advertisements or banners – and supplement orders on account of their contents, origin or technical form in accordance with DocCheck’s objectively justified principles should their content infringe provisions of the law, rulings of official bodies and/or voluntary industrial agreements. The same will apply should DocCheck find publication intolerable, particularly because it contains advertising for DocCheck’s competitors. These principles will also apply to advertisements and other advertising materials that include third party advertising or advertising on behalf of third parties (linked advertising). In any event, such material requires DocCheck’s prior written consent in every individual case.
(5) DocCheck will clearly identify in the section "advertorials" advertisements that are not recognisable as such on account of their editorial presentation.
§ 29 Delivery, contents
(1) The Customer alone is responsible for the delivery of suitable and error-free contents and files. DocCheck must receive the files at the latest three days before the DocCheck News is issued or before the banner shall be published. The Customer must ensure that approval is given in time.
(2)Should the files not be submitted or approval given on time, DocCheck will add 30% to the price of the advertisement or banner as a postponement fee. The advertisement will then appear at a new time that must be separately agreed.
(3) The Customer alone bears the responsibility for the contents and for the legal permissibility of the contents provided for the advertisement. § 9 sections 2-4 will apply accordingly.
§ 30 Cancellation
It is possible to cancel an order for an advertisement up to ten days before the date it is to appear/to be issued. After this date, DocCheck is entitled to invoice the full price of the advertisement without being required to publish the advertisement again.
§ 31 Availability, dispatch
(1) DocCheck guarantees the usual availability of the DocCheck News website during the agreed period as permitted by the technical possibilities. Non-availability for disturbances in third parties’ networks for which DocCheck is not responsible will not entitle the Customer to a price reduction or any other form of compensation.
(2) Should access to the DocCheck News be totally or partially prevented for reasons for which DocCheck is responsible, the Customer is entitled to reduce his payment or to an equivalent defect-free showing, but only to the extent that the advertisement was not available. The Customer will be entitled to reduce his payment or to withdraw from the contract should DocCheck allow a grace period set for this purpose to expire or should the equivalent showing also not be free of defects.
(3) DocCheck will send the DocCheck News to the registered users who have agreed to receive it. DocCheck does not, however, guarantee that it will be received or that the recipient will take note of it. § 37 section 2 of these Conditions will apply accordingly. (4) Banner placement will be invoiced based on the statistics used by DocCheck.
§ 32 Prepayment
(1) DocCheck reserves the right to demand payment in advance on the closing date for advertisements in the case of new customers.
(2) In the event of payment arrears, DocCheck is entitled to delay the continued performance of the current order until payment is made or to demand that the remaining advertisements be paid in advance.
Section 5: additional special conditions with respect to DocCheck BusinessMail and SiteSeeing
§ 33 Scope of the service provided
(1) The Customer assigns DocCheck with the task of sending eMails to a group of registered participants in DocCheck BusinessMail or SiteSeeing defined by the Customer (hereafter "eMail Recipients").
(2) Orders for DocCheck eMails that, according to instructions, are only to be sent at certain times must be received by DocCheck in time such that the Customer may still be notified should it not be possible to carry out the order on this date/at this time.
§ 34 Contents
(1) The contents of the eMail may be an advertising message, a public relations communication or similar. The Customer alone is responsible for the contents and that the electronic transmission of the contents provided is legally permissible. § 9 sections 2-4 will apply accordingly.
(2) The contents of the advertising may not be aim to acquire eMail recipients (for example, through questions or the technical gathering of eMail addresses). In the event of indications of such practices, DocCheck is entitled to decline to distribute and/or to demand that the data not be used. It reserves the right to demand additional compensation. § 28 section 4 of these Conditions will apply accordingly.
(3) The E-mail Recipients have given DocCheck express approval to receive DocCheck eMails solely via DocCheck. The Customer will indemnify DocCheck from all claims from eMail Recipients pursued on account of the unauthorised use of eMail addresses should the Customer use the eMail Recipients’ eMail addresses contrary to undertakings given.
(4) No liability is assumed for mistakes in the advertising material or faulty links.
§ 35 Processing
(1) The Customer is responsible for providing suitable, defect-free files. It should be possible to process the contents and possible data files with DocCheck’s own programming software, the conditions for which will be notified to the Customer. Additional programming work must be paid for separately together with the processing fee.
(2) The contents and files must be available two working days before dispatch of the DocCheck eMail. A quicker delivery is possible should the Customer have opted for express delivery. A new date must be agreed should the contents and files not be delivered on time and the agreed dispatch thereby be prevented. This will not affect DocCheck’s right to payment.
(3) Before each dispatch the Customer will receive a test eMail that is the basis for dispatch. The Customer’s timely approval must be ensured. DocCheck may invoice the additional costs should the Customer subsequently wish to make changes to the eMail.
§ 36 Cancellation
The Customer may cancel his order at any time before the eMail is dispatched, whereby this is free of charge up to 10 working days or more prior to the planned dispatch. 30% of the net order price will be charged if the order is cancelled nine to three days prior to the planned dispatch and 70% two days or less prior to this date.
§ 37 Warranty
(1) DocCheck guarantees the correct dispatch to the eMail addresses of the members of the agreed group but not the recipient’s access to the eMail or his knowledge of the eMail.
(2) DocCheck endeavours to achieve the most extensive delivery of the eMails and registration in the eMail providers’ spam white lists. DocCheck does not however guarantee that the delivery of the eMails will not be prevented by individual spam filters or those of eMail providers.
(3) The Customer is entitled to have the eMail re-sent without defects should it not be sent or not completely sent for reasons for which DocCheck is responsible. The Customer is entitled to reduce the fee or to cancel the order should DocCheck allow a reasonable grace period set for this purpose to expire or should the second dispatch also not succeed without defects.
Section 6: additional special conditions in the case of DocCheck Jobs
§ 38 Subject matter of the contract
(1) The subject matter of the contract is the publication of job advertisements or the client’s application profiles in the Internet DocCheck’s web site and access by the client to the jobs and applications’ data bank run by DocCheck.
§ 39 Conclusion of the contract
(1) The contract between DocCheck and the client will come into effect when DocCheck has confirmed the order in writing, either by eMail or by fax. The order may also be placed implicitly.
(2) Should the client place an advertisement or a profile directly in the web interface offered by DocCheck, the contract will come into effect when the contents are "sent" or "placed online".
§ 40 Rejection of the contract
DocCheck reserves the right to reject advertisements or profiles on account of defects in the contents or of a technical nature, e.g. should the contents be in breach of the law or ethical standards or DocCheck find publication intolerable. The client will be informed immediately of DocCheck’s rejection of an order. Any payments already made will, if possible, be returned.
§ 41 Contents of the advertisement
(1) The client alone is responsible for the formal and legal permissibility of the advertisement and its contents and for the material provided for its preparation. DocCheck will not check the contents of the advertisement for a possible infringement of the rights of third parties. The client will indemnify DocCheck for any claims lodged by third parties resulting from incorrect or unauthorised contents.
(2) Should protected trademarks, logos or word brands be used as part of an advertisement, the client warrants that he is in possession of the required rights to use this material.
(3) The client is responsible for the complete delivery of all contents and graphics necessary in order to produce the advertisement. Delivery must be made three days at the latest before publication. DocCheck is not responsible for delays due to delayed or incomplete delivery of the contents.
§ 42 Publication of the advertisement
(1) The advertisement will be published on the date desired by the client in the web site interface or agreed with the client in writing. Should no precise time have been agreed, publication will occur immediately after the conclusion of the advertising contract.
(2) Every advertisement will only be published once in DocCheck’s data bank or in its web site pages. Multiple publication by the client of advertisements with identical or only slightly differing contents is not permitted.
§ 43 Amendment of the advertisement
(1) At the client’s request, DocCheck will amend job advertisements that have already been published, provided that this is tolerable technically and with respect to the contents. The client may amend standard advertisements himself in the website interface.
(2) All changes that change the identity of the advertisement in such a way that, were the change to be made, a new job position and not that originally advertised would be published are excluded.
(3) Changes made by the client himself or which can be made by DocCheck with relative ease will be made at no cost. DocCheck will invoice the client the resulting costs of other changes to advertisements unless the change relates to a mistake for which DocCheck is responsible. A change to an advertisement has no effect on its duration provided that the change does not relate to a mistake for which DocCheck is responsible.
§ 44 Advertisement quotas
(1) The client may enter up to ten job advertisements a month on his own at no cost. In addition, the client may pay to acquire advertising quotas allowing the entry of more than 10 advertisements.
(2) The advertisement quota is only available for the calendar month reserved and may not be carried over into the next month.
§ 45 Applicants’ profiles
(1) The applicant may delete uploaded data and profiles at any time. Should the applicant have released his data for search engines, DocCheck is unable to exclude the possibility that hidden contents will be found in search engines and similar services for an indefinite period of time after deletion.
(3) The applicants’ profiles are to be found in an area protected by password. Access to this area is only possible with a DocCheck login. The client undertakes to keep his DocCheck access code secret and not to give it to third parties. The user’s IP address will be registered during the login in order to prevent misuse.
(4) The client undertakes only to send contact information to those looking for an appointment that relates to the search for a job in terms of contents. In the event of misuse of the contact function, DocCheck is entitled to deactivate the client’s access at any time without giving reasons. The client will in this case have no right to reimbursement.
(5) Access to the applicants’ profiles and downloading the information listed there by companies competing with DocCheck is not permitted.
§ 46 Warranty
(1) DocCheck assumes no liability for the correctness of the information contained in the advertisements or profiles of the clients concerned. This applies particularly to testimonials, examination, doctoral or approval documents added by the client to the advertisement by upload.
(2) DocCheck gives no warranty of the advertisements’ success. In particular, DocCheck gives no warranty that potential new partners in contracts of employment will actually be found, still less of success in concluding contracts of employment.
Any questions or suggestions with regard to the design or contents of this web site, please refer to:
DocCheck Community GmbH
Dr. Frank Antwerpes
Managing director
Tel.: 0221-92053-0
Fax: 0221-92053-557
E-mail: info(at)doccheck.com
[last amended on 16.06.2016 in Cologne]
