Frequently Asked Questions
Terms & Conditions
These Terms & Conditions (“Terms”) govern your use of the h-pem website available at www.h-pem.com (the “Website”). These Terms contain the legal terms and conditions that govern your use of the content and services provided to you through the Website.
The terms “us,” “we,” or “our” refer to h-pem. The terms “you”, “your,” or “yours” refer to the user reading these Terms. The term “Content” includes, but is not limited to, all or part of any information, data, text, graphics, images, layouts, logos, audio material, films, videos or other moving images, tools, products and/or software published or otherwise available on the Website from time to time (including, without limitation, anything made available for download), and all other materials on the Website. The term “Your Content” includes the complete set of comments, messages, recommendations or links, feedback, and submitted works that you enter or submit to the Website, but not your remunerated contributions.
The term “Contributors” refers to freelance workers who create original content and are remunerated for their contributions. The term “Ambassadors” refers to volunteer workers who serve as representatives for the Website and promote it.
The information on the Website does not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.
If you disagree with any part of these Terms, you must not use the Website.
You must be at least 16 years of age to use the Website. By using the Website, you agree to these Terms, and you warrant and represent that you are at least 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 16. We do not knowingly allow children under 16 to register as Active User. If you are under 16 please do not give us any personal data. Please be aware that some of the material presented on the Website may contain explicit mature content. You must be at least 18 years of age to access and view such Content. People of all ages may submit works, photos, text, and comments, however, users under the age of 16 require parental consent. Any user of the site hereby warrants that he/she is of legal age or has the necessary permission of parents/guardians to submit materials for publication and has the right to contract in the user’s own name. Parents/guardians who wish to provide parental consent should kindly contact our Data Protection Officer at [email protected].
The Website uses cookies. We also collect, store, and process users’ personal data. In handling your personal data, we respect all your privacy rights based on the European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 and EU-US Privacy Shield Principles and as described in our Privacy & Cookies Policy available here. By using the Website and agreeing to these Terms, you consent to our use of cookies and our collection, storage, and processing of your personal data in accordance with the terms of our Privacy & Cookies Policy available here.
License to use Website
Unless otherwise stated in other sections of these Terms, and excluding the material in Your Content, we and/or our licensors own the intellectual property rights in the Website and its Content. Subject to the licenses provided herein, all these intellectual property rights are reserved.
Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, temporary, revocable, non-transferable, and non-exclusive license to access, browse, and use the Website (including the Content and Trademarks) for your personal and non-commercial use only. Where specified on the relevant part of the site, the license granted herein may be limited to a particular period of time and/or may be subject to additional terms and conditions. You may view, download for caching purposes only, and print pages and other content from the Website for your own personal use, subject to the restrictions set out in other sections of these Terms.
Materials and works created and owned by us may be used for specific purposes upon obtaining permission from us.
Accounts and Access
We offer access to two types of users (collectively called the “users”).
- Regular non-registered users are referred to herein as “Visitors”. As a Visitor, you will be offered (with no attached warranty) the possibilities of viewing, reading, listening to, downloading, and sharing site information, as well as sending queries and contacting us.
- As an “Active User” you may, in due time and with no attached warranty, be offered all that a Visitor is offered plus the ability to enter comments, submit recommendations and links, join clubs and contests, participate in webinars, collaborations and live chat during live streamed events, receive our newsletters and special dispatches, send us messages and feedback, submit your own creative works, participate in activities, chats, polls and opinion gathering events, create and contribute to blogs, and connect with other active users.
Access to certain areas of the Website may be restricted. We reserve the right to restrict access to certain areas of the Website, or indeed the entire Website, at our discretion.
You will be required to select a username (your e-mail address) and a password in order to become a registered user. You may not select or use as a username an e-mail address of another person without authorization. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your password or your other registration information, and you will indemnify and hold us and our affiliates, associates, officers, directors, employees, contractors, operational providers, and partners harmless against any improper or illegal use of your password or your other registration information. If we provide you with a user ID and password to enable you to access restricted areas of the Website (if any) or other content or services, you must ensure that the user ID and password are kept confidential. One person or legal entity may not maintain more than one account. Logins may only be used by one person – a single login shared by multiple people is not permitted. All information provided by you to us in connection with your registration must be accurate, complete and up to date at the time it is submitted. You may update your registration information from time to time in conformance with our standard procedures and policies for such updating. Any information that is obtained from you through your registration or your use of the site will be subject to and handled in accordance with our Privacy & Cookies Policy then in effect.
Our communications with you will generally be by means of e-mail. We will use your e-mail address and the content of any e-mail for correspondence and user-response purposes. All e-mail sent to us must be generated by the person in whose name the e-mail account is registered. E-mail users may not mask their identities by using false names or other persons' names or accounts.
If, for any reason, we believe that you have not complied with any of these Terms or have behaved inappropriately, we may, at our sole discretion, remove part or all of Your Content, delete your account and block future registration attempts immediately and without any prior notice.
Accuracy of Content
We have taken every care in the preparation of the content of the Website, in particular, to ensure that the information listed is accurate. Actual works may vary from that shown on the Website. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy of the information contained in any of the materials on the Website. We shall not be liable to any person for any loss or damage which may arise from the use of any of the information or products contained in any of the materials on the Website.
Intellectual Property
We respect the intellectual property rights of others and we expect users of the Website to do the same.
The graphic and textual content, arrangement, design, and assembly of this site are our property or the property of our content suppliers and are protected by U.S. and international copyright and trademark laws. Users should feel free to use this site as an information resource, but any other use of the site, including the reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, display, or performance, of the Content on this site, is prohibited. For specific instances, users may ask us in writing for consent to remove this prohibition. If we are the copyright owner for all the items/products involved in the request and are willing to grant the consent being sought, we will do so in writing. If granted, this consent will be for the specified case only.
In addition, the software used on this site is either our property or the property of our software suppliers and is protected under U.S. and international copyright laws.
The h-pem name and logo are our trademarks in the United States and other countries. h-pem graphics, logos, and service names are trademarks of h-pem. These trademarks may not be used in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among users, or in any manner that disparages, or discredits, or dilutes the h-pem name. Any other trademarks not owned by us that appear on this site are the property of their respective owners. You agree that nothing on the site shall be construed as granting any license to use any trademark displayed on the site without the express written permission of the owner of the trademark. All of the identification marks or logos displayed on the Website and possibly protected by third parties are subject to the legal provisions of the respective trademark law in force and governed by the proprietary rights of the respective registered owner. The mere fact that a trademark, service mark, or logo is displayed does not suggest that it is not protected and that no titles of third parties are involved. You may not remove any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices including attribution information, credits, and notices, that are placed in or near the text, images, videos, films, or data.
Reporting Copyright Violations
If you believe the copyright in your work or in the work for which you act as an agent has been infringed through this Website, please contact us for notice of claims of copyright infringement. We can be reached at [email protected].
You must provide us with substantially the following information, which we may then forward to the alleged infringer as required by law (See 17 United States Code 512 (c)(3) for details):
a) A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
b) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
c) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material.
d) Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
e) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner.
f) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Storage Policy
At this time, we provide free online storage of Your Content to all users of the website. However, you acknowledge and agree that we may, at our option, establish limits concerning your use of the Website, including without limitation the maximum number of days that we will retain Your Content, the maximum size of any Content files that may be stored by h-pem, and the maximum disk space that will be allotted to you for the storage of Content on our servers. We shall have no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any content maintained by us, and you are solely responsible for creating back-ups of Your Content. You further acknowledge that we reserve the right to modify our storage policies from time to time at our sole discretion, and it is your sole responsibility to be regularly informed regarding our modifications which will be uploaded on our website. Assuming that you have given us consent for receiving notifications we will inform you about each and every new version of our Terms.
Acceptable Use and Conduct
We shall have sole discretion as to whether any of your activities, inputs, or submissions is in breach of the clauses below:
1) You agree that you may not use the Website in any way that causes, or may cause, damage to the Website or impairment of the availability or accessibility of the Website; or in any way which is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity.
2) You agree that you may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, publicly display or perform, or prepare derivative works based on any of the Content that is not your original work without the express, written consent of h-pem or the appropriate owner of copyright for such material. Institutions and organizations may come to agreements with us giving them specific wider permissions for our own content.
3) You agree that you may not alter or modify any part of the website unless expressly permitted to do so by us or by use of website functions provided by us.
4) You agree that you may not use the Website:
a) to upload, post, submit, copy, store, host, send, use, publish, distribute, or otherwise transmit any material which:
- consists of, contains or is linked to any spyware, computer virus, Trojan horse, worm, keystroke logger, rootkit or other malicious computer software or harmful files; and/or
- is likely to cause harm to the website, h-pem’s or any third party’s computer systems, hardware equipment, software, telecommunication equipment or brings about/allows unauthorized access to the Website; and/or
- constitutes advertising or contains unsolicited commercial communications of any kind; and/or
- is untrue; and/or
- is distressing, inflammatory, harassing, discriminating, abusive, scandalous, in breach of confidence, or causes annoyance or needless anxiety; and/or
- contains personal attacks or expletives; and/or
- encourages or entices criminal activity; and/or
- is obscene, indecent, profane, offensive, blasphemous, pornographic, unlawful, threatening, menacing, abusive, an invasion of privacy or publicity rights, defamatory, libelous, vulgar, illegal or otherwise objectionable; and/or
- infringes any trademark, patent or other intellectual property right (including, without limitation, copyright, privacy rights, publicity rights, other rights) or any moral right or artist's right of any third party including, but not limited to, facilitating the unlawful distribution of copyrighted content or illegal content; and/or
- restricts or inhibits other users’ use and enjoyment of the site; and/or
- disrupts the normal flow of dialogue within the site; and/or
- makes excessive demands for bandwidth; and/or
- disseminates “junk mail”, “spam”, “chain letters”, “pyramid schemes”, or any other form of solicitation; and/or
- has content that will bring h-pem or any of its associates, affiliates or their respective representatives, agents or staff members into disrepute;
b) to conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to this Website without our express written consent;
c) to collect information about the users of this site or use such information for any purpose;
d) to harm minors in any way, including, but not limited to, uploading, posting, submitting, copying, storing, hosting, sending, publishing, distributing, or otherwise transmitting content that violates child pornography laws, child sexual exploitation laws or laws prohibiting the depiction of minors engaged in sexual conduct, or submitting any personally identifiable information about any child under the age of 13;
e) to forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through the Website;
f) to sell access to the Website on any other website, to sell, rent or sub-license material from the Website, or to use the Website material and services on another website;
5) While accessing, browsing, using the Website, as well as in the material of Your Content and in your feedback you must:
- comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and codes;
- not impersonate another person or use a false name or e-mail address;
- not deep-link to and/or frame or use framing techniques to enclose the site or any part of the site without our prior written consent;
- not gain or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site, the server on which the site is stored, or any server, computer, or database connected to the site;
6) None of the material contained on the Website may be reverse-engineered, disassembled, decompiled, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language or computer language, retransmitted in any form or by any means, including, without limitation, electronic, mechanical, photo-reproduction, recordation, or otherwise, without our prior written consent.
Submitting Content
Whatever your user type (Visitor or Active User), all kinds of content that you enter or submit will be subject to these Terms. You are responsible for all of Your Content that you upload, download, and otherwise copy, distribute and display through the Website. Works you submit to us as part of Your Content must be original. If your textual composition or artistic creation makes use of elements which are copyrighted by third parties, you must have obtained the proper permission from the copyright owners. If this is not the case, you will bear full responsibility for any and all consequences.
We reserve the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the contents of the Website as well as any communications that are made via the Website in order to determine compliance with these Terms (and the right to retain the services of independent contractors to do so) and by accepting these Terms you consent to any such monitoring.
Submission of content is not a guarantee of publication.
You understand that there is no commission for provided materials unless otherwise stated. Any honorariums, free materials, services, subscriptions or anything else that we provide to the user, is at our sole discretion, and does not suggest any further contractual obligation between the parties, nor does it premise or suggest that such acts would be continual or are to be expected in exchange for any submissions from the user.
Copyright in Your Content
We do not claim ownership rights in Your Content. For the purpose of achieving productive cooperation with us, you grant to us a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, reproduce, distribute, edit, re-format, store, publish, publicly display (including on our social media sites), perform, and transmit the whole or any part of Your Content. We reserve the right to editorially combine Your Content with other elements to create new features or posts on the site. For every work that you submit to us for publication on the Website, you also grant us the right to present and promote your profile on the Website and on our social media sites. Your Content is part of your personal information and we will respect your privacy rights, as well as the associated regulations of the European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 and the EU-US Privacy Shield Principles. Please refer to our Privacy & Cookies Policy for more detailed information about your rights and our commitments in this regard, available here.
Note that Your Content does not include any remunerated contributions. In the case of remunerated contributions, the rules specified in the Contributor’s Guideline and Contributor’s Terms apply.
Please note that when you submit content, third parties will be able to copy, distribute, and display Your Content using readily available tools on their computers for this purpose. Although directly linking to Your Content on the Website is allowed, any other use of Your Content by a third party could violate these Terms and your privacy rights unless the third party receives permission from you. Please note that we have no ability to protect Your Content against access and use by third parties.
You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for all content and material you submit, post, or otherwise transmit through the Website.
You agree that, while protecting your privacy rights, we are free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any communication you send to the Website for any purpose whatsoever including, but not limited to, developing, publishing, and marketing products using such information.
No Warranties
The Website is provided on an “as available” basis and “as is” without any representations or warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to warranty of title and warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the Website or the Content, products, and services provided on the Website.
Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, we do not warrant that the Website will be constantly available, or available at all. We reserve the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Website, at our sole discretion, at any time. You agree that we are not liable and will not be liable to you for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Website.
We will have the right at any time to change or discontinue any aspect or feature of the Website including, without limitation, our policies, design, Content, services, functions, pages, participatory areas, hours of availability, and equipment or formats needed for access or use.
We do not represent or warrant that our website is free of viruses or other harmful components, therefore, you should exercise caution in the use and downloading of any such content and use industry-recognized programs to detect and remove viruses. All responsibility or liability for any damages caused by viruses somehow attributed to our website is disclaimed.
We do not represent or warrant that our website is accurate, true, non-misleading, complete, reliable, current, valid, useful, error-free. Under no circumstances will we be liable for any loss or damage (including damage to your computer equipment, mobile devices or other property) caused by your reliance on information obtained from the content on the site (including without limitation any user postings and submissions). It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness, reliability, currentness, validity, usefulness, or correctness of any information, opinion, advice, other content or products, and tools available through the site. You should seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice, other content, or products and tools before you make any commitment or take any action based upon them. We, as well or our affiliates, associates, and personnel are not liable for any kind of indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages, whether based on breach of contract, breach of warranty, tort (including negligence), product liability or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility of such damages, unless otherwise provided by applicable laws.
Limitations of liability
H-pem will not be liable to you (whether under the law of contact, the law of torts or otherwise) in relation to the contents of, or use of, or otherwise in connection with the Website, including for any direct loss, for any indirect, special or consequential loss, or for any business losses, loss of revenue, income, profits or anticipated savings, loss of contracts or business relationships, loss of reputation or goodwill, or loss or corruption of information or data, under the guidelines of Limitation of Liability of European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679.
Although we may from time to time monitor or review content provided by users, we have no obligation to do so and we assume no responsibility or liability arising from any aspect of or item contained in such content that is unlawful or violates these Terms.
We and our affiliates and associates are not liable for the acts, errors, omissions, representations, warranties, breaches, or negligence of users who post comments or submit recommendations or any other material, or for any personal injuries, death, property damage, or other damages or expenses resulting therefrom. We and our affiliates and associates have no liability and will make no warranty, refund, or other restitution to you with regards to our Website, other than as specified herein, for any reason, including, but not limited to delays, cancellations, strikes, governmental issues, or force majeure.
Unless otherwise provided by the European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, the foregoing disclaimers of liability apply to any damages or injury caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, unavailability, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of record, whether for breach of contract, tortious behavior, negligence, or under any other cause of action. You specifically acknowledge that we are not liable for the conduct of other users or third parties that is unlawful or violates these Terms, and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with you.
Nevertheless, we will take all the necessary technical and organizational measures, in order to protect our website and all your personal data from any security incident that may cause serious losses.
These limitations of liability apply even if we have been expressly advised of the potential loss, unless otherwise provided by applicable laws.
Website Security
We are committed to implementing appropriate technical, procedural and organizational measures so as to provide strong website security and to prevent the personal data of our users and data subjects from being intentionally or unintentionally altered, destroyed, or illegally accessed, distributed, published, or otherwise used in any unlawful manner. We respect in this regard the European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 and the EU-US Privacy Shield principles. For further details read our Privacy & Cookies Policy as well, available here.
You are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Website, including, without limitation, accessing data not intended for you or logging onto a server or an account which you are not authorized to access; attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization; attempting to interfere with service to any other user, host or network, including, without limitation, via means of submitting a virus to the Website, overloading, "flooding," "spamming," "mail bombing," or "crashing"; sending unsolicited e-mail, including promotions and/or advertising of products or services; or forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or newsgroup posting.
Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. We will investigate occurrences that may involve such violations and may involve, and cooperate with, law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who are involved in such violations. We will fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose user information of anyone posting or submitting any information, comments, images, videos, films or any other material that is unlawful or violates these Terms. You agree not to use any device, software, or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website or any activity being conducted on the Website. You agree, further, not to use or attempt to use any engine, software, tool, agent or other device or mechanism (including without limitation browsers, spiders, robots, avatars or intelligent agents) to navigate or search the Website other than the search engine and search agents available from h-pem on the Website and other than generally available third party web browsers (e.g., Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox).
Reasonableness
By using the Website, you agree that the exclusions and limitations of liability set out in these Terms are reasonable. If you do not think they are reasonable, you must not use the Website.
Other Parties
You accept that, as a limited liability entity, h-pem has an interest in limiting the personal liability of its officers and employees. You agree that you will not bring any claim personally against our officers or employees in respect to any losses you suffer in connection with the Website.
Without prejudice to the foregoing paragraph, you agree that the limitations of warranties and liability set out in these Terms will protect us and our officers, employees, agents, subsidiaries, successors, assigns, and sub-contractors.
Contests, Promotions, and Special Events.
We may sometimes offer users of the site the opportunity to participate in contests, promotions, or other special events. To participate in certain contests or events, you must meet the designated minimum age requirements. Each such event will be subject to additional rules, guidelines, terms, and conditions that will be posted on the site and that are binding for participating users.
External Links and Advertising
We may provide links to third-party websites, advertisers, or resources. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible or liable for: the availability or accuracy of such websites or resources, or the content, advertising, products, or services on or available from such websites or resources. Links to such websites or resources do not imply any endorsement by us of such websites or resources or the content, products, or services available from such websites or resources. You acknowledge sole responsibility for and assume all risk arising from your use of any such websites or resources. Nevertheless, we will take all technical and organizational measures, in order to protect your personal data, from unlawful security incidents or data breaches.
Under no circumstances will we be held responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage caused or alleged to have been caused to a user in connection with the use of or reliance on content and services provided on such sites.
We reserve the right to require termination of any link to this Website, at our discretion at any time.
Parts of the Website may contain advertising and sponsorship. Advertisers and sponsors are responsible for ensuring that material submitted for inclusion on the Website complies with all legal and regulatory requirements and does not contain any items which violate these Terms or are considered objectionable at our sole discretion. We are not responsible for any such material or any error or inaccuracy contained in such material and any issues, which you may have should be raised directly with the relevant advertiser or sponsor.
Unenforceable provisions
If any provision of these Terms is or is found to be unenforceable under applicable law, that will not affect the enforceability of the other provisions of these Terms.
Indemnity
You hereby indemnify h-pem and undertake to keep us indemnified against any losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including without limitation legal expenses and any amounts paid by us to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute on the advice of our legal advisers) incurred or suffered by us arising out of any breach by you of any provision of these Terms, or arising out of any claim that you have breached any provision of these Terms. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless h-pem, its associates, its affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees, representatives, agents and successors from and against all claims and expenses, including attorneys' fees, arising out of the use by you of the Website. The indemnification provisions of this section will survive any termination of this Agreement and you agree to indemnify us in full and permanently on demand against any third party liabilities, claims, costs, loss or damage we incur as a result of publishing material you submit to us, including consequential losses.
Breaches of these Terms & Conditions
Without prejudice to our other rights under these Terms, if you breach these terms and conditions in any way, we may take such action as we deem appropriate to deal with the breach, including suspending your access to the Website, prohibiting you from accessing the Website, blocking computers using your IP address from accessing the Website, contacting your internet service provider to request that they block your access to the Website and/or bringing court proceedings against you.
Revisions of Terms and Conditions
We may revise these Terms from time-to-time. Revised Terms will apply to the use of the Website from the date of their publication on the Website. The date of publication will be indicated in the Website footer, next to “Terms & Conditions”. Please check the website footer regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version of the Terms.
If you have given us consent for receiving notifications, we will notify you by e-mail about each and every new version of our Terms.
Assignment
We may transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with our rights and/or obligations under these Terms without obtaining your consent.
You may not transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with your rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions.
Severability
If a provision of these Terms is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect. If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted, and the rest of the provision will continue in effect.
Entire agreement
These Terms, together with the Privacy & Cookies Policy (available here), online forms that you fill out, and rules, terms and conditions specified in guidelines in different sections of the site, or any other documents provided to you by h-pem, constitute the entire agreement between you and h-pem in relation to your use of the Website, and supersede all previous agreements in respect of your use of this website.
Law and jurisdiction
These Terms will be governed by and construed under the European Union General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, and any dispute relating to these Terms will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Cypriot Courts.
Privacy and cookies policy
Your privacy is very important to us.
This Privacy & Cookies Policy statement provides detailed information about the personal data that we collect, the cookies that we make use of, the ways in which we use, process or disclose your personal data, the methods for allowing or denying the activity of cookies, the privacy rights that users and data subjects have, as well as the associated services, procedures and regulations.
The terms “us,” “we” or “our” refer to h-pem. The terms “you”, “your” or “yours” refer to the user reading these Terms. The term “Content” includes, but is not limited to, all or part of any information, data, text, graphics, images, layouts, logos, audio material, films, videos or other moving images, tools, products and/or software published or otherwise available on the Website from time to time (including, without limitation, anything made available for download), and all other materials on the Website. The term “Your Content” includes the complete set of comments, messages, recommendations or links, feedback, and submitted works that you enter or submit to the Website, but not your remunerated contributions.
The term “Contributors” refers to freelance workers who create original content and are remunerated for their contributions. The term “Ambassadors” refers to volunteer workers who serve as representatives for the Website and promote it.
By using the h-pem website (the “Website”) you indicate your acceptance of the Privacy & Cookies Policy described herein. We comply with all applicable privacy laws and regulations. Acceptance of this Privacy & Cookies Policy is in addition to acceptance of the h-pem Terms & Conditions, available here.
Please note that we respect the principles and requirements of European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, as well as the EU-US Privacy Shield Principles.
Data Protection Officer
We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for monitoring our compliance with the GDPR principles and requirements. You may contact our DPO in relation to the collection, use and processing of your personal information. Any comments, concerns and inquiries are welcome, including requests to exercise your data subject rights. You may also inquire from our DPO about the procedure for lodging a complaint with a supervisory authority in relation to our processing of your personal information.
Personal Data
The following table summarizes the types of personal data that we collect, how and when we collect them, and for what purposes we use them:
Activity |
Type of personal data we collect |
Legitimate interests and purposes of using your personal data |
|
Browsing by all types of users |
Required a) Device IP number b) Aggregate and anonymous Website usage data collected in cooperation with Google Analytics |
Performance and security Monitor activity on the Website to:
Analytical data collection for admin purposes
|
|
Registering as an Active User |
Required a) Name b) E-mail address c) Password d) Device IP number e) Country of residence f) Occupation
Optional g) Display name h) Mobile number i) Date of birth j) Photo k) Countries lived/worked in l) City of residence m) Your social media URLs n) Your website URL o) About you (interests, skills, creative works and style) p) What you are interested in on the Website
|
Contract management
E-mail communications Manage our relationship with you: a) Ask your permission and consent to receive mission-related:
b) Keep a record of e-mail communications to:
c) Send administrative communications related to our services:
d) Receive your requests, complaints, comments, feedback, and inquiries. e) Facilitate participation in a collaboration.
Analytics, polls, and surveys
Compliance with laws Process and share your personal data to:
|
|
Submitting original work |
Required a) Name b) E-mail address c) Password d) Device IP number e) Country of residence f) Occupation g) Profile data about you (interests, skills, creative works and style) h) Title and description of the work being submitted i) Texts, images, files, audio tracks, video links that are part of your original work
Optional j) Display name k) Mobile number l) City of residence m) Date of birth n) Photo o) Countries lived/worked in p) Your social media URLs q) Your website URL r) What you are interested in on the Website
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In addition to an Active User’s personal data usage for e-mail communications and compliance with laws:
Contract management
E-mail communications
Manage submissions across our services
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Becoming a contributor |
Required a) Name b) E-mail address c) Password d) Device IP number e) Country of residence f) City of residence g) Occupation h) Profile data about you and a proposal for your first contribution i) Texts, images, files, audio tracks, video links that are part of your contribution j) Receipt
Optional
k) Display name l) Mobile number m) Date of birth n) Photo o) Countries lived/worked in p) City of residence q) Your social media URLs r) Your website URL s) What you are interested in on the Website t) Copyright license
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In addition to an Active User’s personal data usage:
Contract management
E-mail communications
Manage contributions across our services
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Becoming an Ambassador |
Required a) Name b) E-mail address c) Password d) Device IP number e) Country of residence f) City of residence g) Occupation h) Profile data about you i) A testimonial stating the reason you wish to become an ambassador
Optional j) Display name k) Mobile number l) Photo m) Your social media URLs n) Your Website URL o) Date of birth p) Countries lived/worked in q) What you are interested in on the Website
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In addition to an Active User’s personal data usage: Contract management
E-mail communications
Manage your Ambassador’s role across our services
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Commenting on the Website |
Required a) Name b) E-mail address c) Password d) Device IP number e) Country of residence f) Occupation
Optional g) Display name h) Mobile number i) Date of birth j) Photo k) Countries lived/worked in l) City of residence m) Your social media URLs n) Your website URL o) About you (interests, skills, creative works, and style) p) What you are interested in on the Website
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In addition to an Active User’s personal data usage: Comments are stored to:
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Sending feedback |
Required a) Name b) E-mail address c) Password d) Device IP number e) Country of residence f) Occupation g) Message
Optional h) Display name i) Subject j) Mobile number k) Date of birth l) Photo m) Countries lived/worked in n) City of residence o) Your social media URLs p) Your website URL q) About you (interests, skills, creative works and style) r) What you are interested in on the Website s) Texts, images, files, audio tracks, video links that are part of your feedback t) Copyright license
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In addition to an Active User’s personal data usage for e-mail communications and compliance with laws: Admin management
Feedback is stored to:
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Contacting or submitting an inquiry
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Required a) Name b) E-mail address c) Device IP number d) Country of residence e) City f) Message
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In addition to an Active User’s personal data usage for compliance with laws: Admin management
Questions, requests, and suggestions are stored to:
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Sending a message |
Required a) Name b) E-mail address c) Password d) Device IP number e) Country of residence f) Occupation g) Message
Optional h) Display name i) Subject j) Mobile number k) Date of birth l) Photo m) Countries lived/worked in n) City of residence o) Your social media URLs p) Your website URL q) About you (interests, skills, creative works, and style) r) What you are interested in on the Website s) Texts, images, files, audio tracks, video links that are part of your feedback t) Copyright license |
In addition to an Active User’s personal data usage: Messages are stored to:
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Adding a link |
Required a) Name b) E-mail address c) Password d) Device IP number e) Country of residence f) Occupation g) Link title h) Link URL
Optional i) Display name j) Mobile number k) Date of birth l) Photo m) Countries lived/worked in n) City of residence o) Your social media URLs p) Your website URL q) About you (interests, skills, creative works and style) r) What you are interested in on the Website s) Link title t) Description of link u) Your Website URL v) Copyright license
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In addition to an Active User’s personal data usage: Links are stored to:
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Giving an interview |
Personal information given during an interview. |
We store and post personal information given during interviews to:
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Conducting research by h-pem staff
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For the Content that we offer to our users on our Website we collect from external sources personal data that is considered manifestly public knowledge.
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We store and post personal information gathered from indirect sources to:
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* Submitter and Contributor Note: As specified in our Terms, for every work that you submit to us for publication on the Website (including remunerated contributions), you grant us the right to highlight it on our social media sites as well. You also grant us the right to present and promote your profile on our Website and on our social media sites.
** Ambassador Note: As specified in our Terms, by becoming an Ambassador, you grant us the right to promote your profile and your reason for becoming an Ambassador on our Website, as well as on our social media sites.
How long do we keep your personal data?
We will keep your personal data for as long as necessary in order to continue providing our services and satisfy legal, accounting and reporting requirements. However, we may continue to keep your personal data for a longer period in the event that we cannot delete them for legal, regulatory, technical or other reasons.
If you request to delete your personal data, we will respond immediately and delete your personal data without undue delay.
Personal Data Security
We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data against unlawful security incidents or data breach. We store personal data on secure servers that are managed by our service providers. All data that we transmit in electronic transactions is protected by data encryption.
You should be aware that storing and transmitting information on the internet is never 100% secure. Storage and transmission hardware or software failures or malicious code written by hackers may compromise the security of information. We bear no liability for loss of security in such circumstances. Allowing your personal data to be transmitted and stored in the internet is risky, and by continuing to visit, access and use our Website you are consenting to that risk.
Personal Data-Related Rights and Related Actions
The GDPR rules specify the following rights for all data subjects:
Right to be informed: You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data.
Our related action: This is why we are informing you in detail about your rights, as well as the personal data that we collect, the purposes for which we collect them, their retention period and who we share them with. In this regard we will always inform you about changes, updates, and novelties. Also, if we collect data about you from other sources we will inform you about it.
Right to withdraw your consent: You have the right to withdraw your consent in relation to how we use your personal data at any time.
Our related action: If the legal basis for the processing involved is the freely given consent that now is being withdrawn, the said processing will be discontinued.
Right of access: You have the right to request a copy of the data that we hold about you.
Our related action: A copy of the personal data that we hold about you will be sent to you, together with the supplementary information that the GDPR regulation requires from us to send.
Right of rectification: You have a right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.
Our related action: The inaccuracy, if there is one, will be corrected. If the data that we hold about you is incomplete and the completion request is reasonable and the effort needed is not disproportionate, the requested addition will be done.
Right of erasure: You can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records.
Our related action: If based on the GDPR rules the request is legitimate, the data we hold about you will be erased.
Right to restriction of processing: You can ask for us to restrict our processing of your data.
Our related action: If based on the GDPR rules the request of restriction of processing is legitimate, it will be applied.
Right for notifications to recipients: When a rectification, erasure or restriction of processing is implemented, such action must be communicated to each recipient to whom the personal data have been disclosed, unless this proves impossible or involves disproportionate effort. Also, you may request that we inform you about those recipients.
Our related action: Unless if the requested notification is demonstrably uncalled for, impossible to execute, or involves disproportionate effort, it will be executed. Also, you will receive information about the recipients involved, if you have requested it.
Right of portability: You have the right to have the personal data that you have given to us transferred to another organization, or to you.
Our related action: if based on the GDPR rules the request to transfer to you the personal data that you have provided us with, or to transfer it to another organization, is legitimate and you provide us with the proper address information, the transfer will be done.
Right to object: You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to our processing of your data, where we are relying on a legitimate interest of ours in order to process it.
Our related action: We will discontinue the processing involved, except if we have demonstrably compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your rights as a data subject.
Right to be notified about a breach of data: You have the right to receive from us a notification about any breach of data involving your personal data when we become aware of it and without undue delay.
Our related action: As soon as we become aware of such a breach, we will notify you about it either directly with an e-mail, or through public communication.
How to go about protecting your rights?
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the local supervisory authority for data protection issues. We would appreciate the opportunity to deal with your concerns before you complain to the supervisory authority.
You can also contact our DPO when you have personal data rights related requests. Send a detailed e-mail to the DPO specifying the request that you have and, normally within one month of the receipt of your e-mail your request will be taken care of. Note that we will do our best to respect the one month deadline, but sometimes, if your request is complex or you have made several requests, we might need more time. In this case, we will write to you without delay and notify you. Note also that if the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, in particular, because of its repetitive character, we will be obliged to refuse to act on the request. If this is the case, we will notify you about it without delay.
Please note that in order for us to be able to process your request and to complete the processing of your request in one month the following additional requirements apply:
- if your request applies to the entirety of your data, you must say so; otherwise, you must specify precisely what part of your data it applies to
- in case you withdraw consent, you must indicate clearly the data and the processing for which you are withdrawing consent
- in case you request a rectification, you have to be precise about the inaccuracy to be corrected or missing data to be added
- in case you request a restriction of processing, you have to be very precise about the data involved, the specific processing to be restricted and the restriction to be applied
- in case you request a transfer of your data to another organization, you must give our DPO the correct name and contact details (e-mail, phone numbers, etc.) of the organization.
Note that we will execute your request free of charge, except when it is manifestly unfounded or excessive, in particular because of its repetitive character. If this is the case, we will either charge a reasonable fee taking into account the administrative costs of executing the request, or we will be obliged to refuse to act on the request. In either case we will reply without delay and notify you.
When and how we will contact you?
We might send you occasional e-mails as follows:
A. Updates, notifications, invitations
a) notify you about changes in our policies and guidelines;
b) send you information and links for new content and services on our website ;
c) send you invitations for taking part in activities, collaborations and surveys.
Note: each of the above three types of e-mails will be sent to you only if you have given your consent for receiving such communications.
B. Practical communications
a) respond to your queries, requests, complaints and e-mailed comments
b) check with you about activities and services you have signed up for
c) communicate with you about your submissions and occasional applications
d) request information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data or to exercise any of your other rights. This is a security measure to ensure that we are dealing with the correct owner of the personal data involved.
Note that in case you have provided us with your mobile number, and only if communicating with you on an important matter by e-mail has failed multiple times, we may contact you by calling you. This will be very rare. In the case of group (A) communications above, you can avoid being contacted by phone by not giving your consent.
Third Party Service Providers
Our website is cooperating with certain third parties, making use of their technologies in providing secure and exciting services to our users. These third parties are:
- Leaseweb, for hosting
- Google Analytics, for analytics
- Google Maps, for maps
- OneTrust, for privacy and consent management
- Youtube, for video sharing
- Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, for social network services and associated web technology
The privacy rights related mechanism in place with all our third-party partners conforms to the European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679.
Cookies and Cookie Management
What are cookies and web beacons?
A "cookie" is a small data file that is sent from a web server to your browser and stored in the memory or the hard drive of your device. It helps the website that created it remember some information about you (such as your approximate location, your e-mail address), as well as your device (such as the device’s IP address), the browser you are using (such as browser type), and your browsing activity (such as pages you are visiting). Both we and some third party websites may put cookies in your browser. Some third parties may also use a similar technology called web beacon. A Web beacon (also called web bug) is an often transparent, tiny graphic image that is placed on a website and is used to monitor the behavior of the user visiting the website. The information it collects is similar to what a cookie collects. Web beacons often work in combination with cookies.
What are the different types of cookies?
- Session cookies are created when you start visiting a website and are deleted from your device when you close your browser.
- Persistent cookies are saved on your device for a fixed period of time after the browser has closed.
- First party cookies are cookies that are set by the website you are visiting.
- Third party cookies are cookies created by third parties with whom we cooperate to obtain useful services.
What types of service do cookies provide?
You may encounter five categories of cookies on our website:
- Necessary cookies: Required to navigate the website and use its functions successfully. They do not collect any personal data.
- Functional Cookies: Used to authenticate your identity and to remember your preferences. For instance, they help us remember if you have visited our site before so that messages intended for first-time users are not displayed to you.
- Performance cookies: Used to monitor the performance of our website. They collect analytical-statistical information on the way the website and its pages are used (for instance, which pages users visit the most, what is the number of visitors to the website, how do visitors move around the website). Google Analytics, with whom we are cooperating to obtain analytical services creates and stores such cookies.
- Social media cookies: These cookies are created and stored by social network servers. We cooperate with social networks and include in our pages their plug-ins (such as “Like”, “Share”, “Follow” buttons). Even if you do not click on such buttons, the code associated with these plug-ins may make use of cookies to collect information about you, such as the pages that you view and your IP address.
- Advertising cookies: Used to record your interests, to remember what sites and pages you have visited and allowing the website and third parties to show personalized advertisements tailored to your interests. Also used to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. In its current phase of operation our Website will not do any advertising. When there is a change in this regard, we will inform you. Advertising done on our website in future may include personalized advertising, but only if beforehand you give us your consent for such personalization.
How can you manage cookie activity by giving/denying consent?
- Necessary cookies: You will not be allowed to opt-out from the use of this type of cookies, as without them the basic services of our website will not be available to you.
- Functional Cookies: Upon your first visit to our website, and every time after deleting cookies from your device, you will be asked to give your explicit consent for the activity of this type of cookies. Also, anytime you feel like it, you may withdraw your consent and opt-out, but you will then be disabling some services and your use of our website will be less smooth and pleasant.
- Performance cookies: Upon your first visit to our website, and every time after deleting cookies from your device, you will be asked to give your explicit consent for the activity of this type of cookies. Also, anytime you feel like it, you may withdraw your consent and opt-out, but then you will be denying us the possibility of obtaining very useful aggregated information that will help us improve our website’s services and performance.
- Social media cookies: Upon your first visit to our website, and every time after deleting cookies from your device, you will be asked to give your explicit consent for the activity of this type of cookies. Also, anytime you feel like it, you may withdraw your consent and opt-out.
Note that we do not recommend turning cookies off, because preferences and some functionality will be lost and your experience on our website will be more tasking and less pleasant.
Other ways of deactivating cookies
If you think that cookies are denying you privacy and wish to deactivate them, you can change the preferences/settings in your web browser to control cookies. In general, you can delete cookies or prevent automatic acceptance of cookies by the browser. You can also block all cookies. To learn about these possibilities please refer to the help menu within the browser that you are using. The following links may also be of help:
Managing cookies in Internet Explorer
Managing third party cookies
We do not control the use and management of third party cookies. Please visit the relevant third party's website to find directions about the cookies they set and how to manage them. Here are links that may provide you information useful in managing cookies set by third parties:
- To opt out of Google Analytics data collection you can use the browser add-on developed by Google. You can find information about this option at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/?hl=en
- To find help in managing cookies set by Facebook you can find useful information at https://www.facebook.com/policy/cookies
- To find help in managing cookies set by Instagram you can find useful information at https://help.instagram.com/1896641480634370
- To find help in managing cookies set by Twitter you can find useful information at https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-cookies
- To manage Youtube cookies and Google Map cookies, the Google Privacy & Terms page may provide you with useful information. You can find the page at https://policies.google.com/?hl=en&gl=ZZ
- You can access the terms of use and cookie policy page of our hosting company Leaseweb at https://www.leaseweb.com/legal/website-terms-of-use-and-cookie-statement
- You can access the cookies policy of One Trust, the third party providing privacy and consent management services to us, at https://www.onetrust.com/cookie-policy/
How to render web beacons ineffective
You can normally prevent web beacons from tracking your activity and collecting personally identifiable information by switching off cookies in your browser. There are also browser add-ons and extensions that block web beacons.
Do Not Track signals
h-pem does not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals. Do Not Track (DNT) is a preference you can set in your web browser to let the websites you visit know that you do not want to be tracked.
Disclosure of your personal data and international transfers
We may disclose personal data in the following cases:
a) As noted previously, in providing our services we will sometimes cooperate with third party service providers. We will always work with reliable providers who have adequate privacy and security policies. We will always inform you about the service providers with whom we cooperate. In the current phase of operation of our website, some or all of your personal data will be accessible to the third party service providers Leaseweb, Google Analytics, Facebook Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube.
b) In its current phase of operation, our Website will not do any advertising. When there is a change in this regard, we will inform you. Advertising done on our website in the future may include personalized advertising, but only if beforehand you give us your consent for such personalization.
c) While implementing our website’s Collaboration service, if the given collaboration project involves disclosing your personal data we will disclose only a subset of your personal data that is necessary for the successful execution of the specific collaboration, and only after obtaining your explicit consent for that disclosure.
d) We may disclose your personal data in responding to requests from law enforcement agencies, judicial courts, regulating agencies or authorities, government authorities or other organizations, only if the requests are legal.
e) If necessary, we may disclose a minimized subset of your personal data to our lawyers and in court so as to:
- defend our rights and property during court actions in general, including for enforcing the requirements of our Terms & Conditions;
- protect the rights, property or personal safety of our users, directors, personnel, contributors, sponsors, and the public;
- protect us against fraud, illegal or criminal activities, claims, and other liabilities.
f) We may disclose your personal data to our agents or sub-contractors. In such cases, the agent or sub-contractor in question will be obligated to use that personal data in accordance with the terms of this privacy statement.
g) If we are involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, your personal data may be transferred. We will provide notice before your personal data is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
Your suggestion will be evaluated as quickly as possible and you will be notified when the selected work is published online.
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