ESC Sales General Conditions

Article 1. Legal information

1. The Websites in article 3.9 hereunder defined are the property of the European Society of Cardiology, an organisation registered under the French Law of 1901 on associations, with the Grasse sub-prefecture under number W061005017, Bus. Reg. SIRET No. 403 299 480 00026, and intra-Community VAT number FR 89 403 299 480, and with e-mail address: customerservices@escardio.org
2. The European Society of Cardiology contact information is provided below:
   • Registered office: Société Européenne de Cardiologie, 2035 route des Colles, Les Templiers, CS 80179 Biot, 06903 Sophia Antipolis, France;
   • E-mail address: customerservices@escardio.org
   • Telephone number: +33(0)4 92 94 76 00
3. The European Society of Cardiology is the entity responsible for the aforementioned Websites, the main purpose of which is to offer, via Internet, membership in the European Society of Cardiology, and to sell cardiology-related goods and services.

Article 2. Recitals

4. The Websites, electronically accessible at URL defined in article 3.9 hereunder are principally intended to provide information on current events in cardiology (congresses, publications, scientific developments) and documentation on cardiology topics, and likewise to offer users memberships in various categories.
5. The Websites are aimed at a professional-level audience.
6. Any purchase of products or services from the Websitess implies that the Customer has read, understood, and accepted these Sales General Conditions.
7. The Customer states and acknowledges that he/she:
   • is of legal age and fully capable of undertakings in accordance with these Sales General Conditions;
   • is a professional in the field of medicine;
   • possesses sufficient technical knowledge to use the Websites.
8. The Customer acknowledges that he/she is provided with full details about the services and goods offered for sale on the Websites, both in terms of quality and quantity.

Article 3. Definitions

9. The terms herein below shall be defined by the parties as follows:
   • "Customer": designates the individual or entity making a purchase in his/ her professional capacity, of the products or services sold in the user account after logging in him/herself using personal credentials;
   • “Member”: designates a Customer who subscribes to a membership or fellowship;
   • "User account": designates a virtual space in the form of web pages within a Website aimed at professionals and accessed via the link www.escardio.org by means of a user name and password, in which the products and services offered to the Customer can be viewed;
   • "Party": designates either the European Society of Cardiology or the Customer when used in the singular, and both the Customer and the European Society of Cardiology when used in the plural;
   • "Products": the set of merchandise offered on the Websites by the European Society of Cardiology.
   • "Professional": any individual or entity that is not a consumer;
   • "Services": the set of services offered through the Websites by the European Society of Cardiology;
   • "User": any Internet user who has created a user account and accesses it using his/her user name and password.
   • "Website" or “Websites”: webpages accessible at URL: www.escardio.org;  myesc.escardio.org/s/; escol.escardio.org; esc365.escardio.org; escelearning.escardio.org, afibmatters.org; heartfailurematters.org; myrhythmdeice.org; EORP.org; eatlas.escardio.org; heartscore.org; www.healthy-heart.org.

Article 4. Purpose

10. The Sales General Conditions herein are intended to define the conditions and procedures under which the products and services offered on the Websites are made available to the Customers by the European Society of Cardiology.

Article 5. Enforceability of the  Sales General Conditions

11. The Sales General Conditions herein are enforceable from the time they are accepted by the Customer.
12. The European Society of Cardiology reserves the right to amend or change these Sales General Conditions at any time. The amended Sales General Conditions shall then apply to orders placed after the updated Sales General Conditions were posted on the Websites.
13. Moreover, the European Society of Cardiology shall notify the Customers of any updates of the Sales General Conditions and when they apply.
14. In any case, the  Sales General Conditions which are enforceable on the Customer are the latest update duly accepted by the Customer. The latest update shall prevail over any hard or soft copies with earlier dates.
15. The Sales General Conditions are available on the Websites on a permanent basis, at www.escardio.org/terms-conditions, or they may be requested by e-mail from the following address: customerservices@escardio.org 

Article 6. Credentials, user account, and password

16. In order to benefit from the products and services as described herein, Customers should create user accounts and log in using their user names and passwords. See our General Conditions of Use of ESC Websites

Article 7. Availability and provision of products and services

Products and services

17. The following products and services are available on our Websites:
    • purchase of cardiology focused medical books and manuals;
    • subscription to medical journals;
    • registration and online training (e-learning or webinars);
    • signing up for congresses;
    • purchase of memberships for specific rights and privileges.

Characteristics of the products and services

18. The characteristics of the products and services, as well as the prices of the relevant subscriptions and various types of memberships, are described online.

Selection of products and services

19. The Customer chooses himself/herself the products and services offered by the European Society of Cardiology.
20. The Customer acknowledges that he/she is aware of the nature, the purpose, and the characteristics of the products and services, and that he/she has been provided the information necessary to place an order with full knowledge thereof.
21. The Customer is solely responsible for the selection of products and services, as well as for their appropriateness to his/her needs, such that the European Society of Cardiology may not be held liable in this regard.

Transaction process

22. The provision of products and services implies full acceptance of these Sales General Conditions.
23. The transaction process required from the Customer to place any order consists of the following:
    • Step 1: sign in to his/her user account with his/her user name and password in order to view the products and services available for sale which are displayed in his/her user account;
    • Step 2: Select  the desired products and services;
    • Step 3: Fill in the required form;
    • Step 4: Choose his/her payment mode;
    • Step 5: If the transaction is processed on line, a summary of the order and approval of these Sales General Conditions are required before the transaction is confirmed. During this process, the Customer can check the details of his/her order and the total price, change the order, correct any errors, or cancel the order. The Customer then confirms his/her order.
    • Step 5: Payment of the order
    • Step 6: If the transaction process is carried out on line, the European Society of Cardiology acknowledges receipt of the order by promptly sending the Customer an e-mail.
24. The order will be processed only after payment is accepted. If the payment is rejected, the order shall be cancelled as a result.

Storage - Archiving

25. Contractual documents shall be electronically stored by the European Society of Cardiology.
26. The European Society of Cardiology ensures customers can access significant contractual documents through their personal account.

Duration and cancellation of subscriptions

27. Journal subscriptions offered on the Websites are available to Users with a user account.
28. Every subscription package shall expire at the end of the term and must be voluntarily renewed in accordance with the conditions laid out in 7.4.
29. The European Society of Cardiology may cancel the subscription pursuant to Article 18 hereunder through the sending of a notification to the e-mail address provided when the profile was created.
30. The Customer may cancel the subscription through the sending of a notification to membership@escardio.org.
31. As a result of the cancellation of the subscription, the User shall not be entitled to any reimbursement, regardless of which party is responsible for cancellation.

Article 8. Price

32. Prices for the various services, products, and subscriptions are available on the Websites.
33. Prices are shown as amounts in euros, exclusive of taxes (tax not included), and with tax (all taxes included) and summarised prior to the payment process.
34. Prices shown include the VAT applicable the day the order is placed and any change in the applicable VAT rate shall be automatically reflected in the prices of the services purchased.
35. Before the Customer confirms the order, the total amount of the order shall be shown in euros, with and without tax.

Article 9. Payment and invoicing

36. Depending on his/her preferences, the Customer may pay for his/her subscriptions by:
    • CB, Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX cards.
37. Payment is due and payable once the transaction process is accepted.
38. Payment of subscription renewals is due upon the renewal date and must be made on line.
39. Any delayed or non-payment shall incur , with no prior notice being required.
40. The applicable interest rate shall be that used by the European Central Bank for its most recent refinancing operations plus 10 percentage points. This rate is the rate in force on 1 January of the relevant year for the first semester of the relevant year. The rate for the second semester of the relevant year is the rate applicable on 1 July of the relevant year.
41. These penalties shall be calculated on the total amount (taxes included) shown on the invoice and without prejudice to the right of the European Society of Cardiology to claim compensation for damage related to late or non-payment. Penalties shall be payable from the day following the payment date shown on the invoice until the date of collection by the European Society of Cardiology.
42. Any customer in arrears is considered a debtor, and shall be subject to a 40 euros penalty for recovery cost. If the recovery cost is higher, the European Society of Cardiology may request additional compensation upon presentation of proof. However, the European Society of Cardiology may not claim for payment in the event the debtor is put under protection, recovery, or judicial liquidation proceedings which prohibit payment of the owed amount at the due date.

Article 10. Registration terms applied to events

43. The European Society of Cardiology issues specific registration terms for each event (congresses, learning products), which are available in the event dedicated webpages. These specific Terms and Conditions supplement the present Sales General Conditions, however, in case of any contradiction between both texts, the specific conditions shall prevail.

• Individual and Third Party Registration
  • ESC Congress
  • ESC Acute CardioVascular Care
  • ESC Preventive Cardiology
  • EHRA Congress
  • EuroEcho
  • ACNAP Congress
  • Frontiers in CardioVascular Biomedicine (FCVB)
  • Heart Failure
  • ICNC-CT
• Group Registrations
  • ESC Congress
  • Heart Failure
  • Other Congresses

Article 11. Membership-specific conditions

44. Fees and invoices
    • Payment of individual memberships by Third Parties (universities, agencies, institutions or other organisations)
      • In case payment is made by a third party on behalf of the individual Member, the ESC should be contacted on membership@escardio.org PRIOR to payment to ensure correct invoicing.
      • Any invoicing address within the European Union should be provided along with a registered VAT Number. The invoicing address and VAT number must be sent to membership@escardio.org to ensure the correct VAT rate and VAT number appear on the invoice.
    • Changes cannot be made to an invoice following a purchase through the My ESC account. An invoice to an individual cannot be transferred to an organisation after payment. To avoid disappointment, please check the Billing details carefully before payment. If in doubt, contact us prior to payment.
45. Payment methods
    • In case of additional payments or adjustments required after the initial payment, a secured payment link will be sent by email to the Member.
    • Payments by bank transfer are accepted upon request sent to membership@escardio.org
46. Membership renewals
    • Payment of membership renewals fee is due upon the renewal date.
    • Non-payment of membership renewal fee will result in ending of membership, with no prior notice being required from the ESC
    • During the joining or renewal process, the Member has the option to opt-in to automatically renew membership by credit or debit card. Member may opt-out of this option at any time via his/her My ESC account. For “automatic renewals”:
      • The ESC aims to ensure membership is renewed automatically on or around the end of the membership term.
      • Choosing “automatic renewal” is not a guarantee that the Member will remain in good-standing with regard to their membership. The Member remains responsible for ensuring that payment of their membership fee is received in due time. To this end, Members may check their membership status via their My ESC account.
    • o Membership fee prices are subject to change. Where a membership subscription has been paid for prior to the start date of the subscription term (an advanced payment), any price adjustment will be calculated at the time of start of the subscription term. In the case of an increase in price, the price difference will be payable to the ESC before the membership term is activated. In the case of a reduction in price, the difference between the advance payment and the new price will be held as a credit on the Member's account that can be used towards future membership payments.
47. Cancellation of membership
    • A Member may terminate his/her membership subscription at any time by sending a notification to membership@escardio.org
    • If a membership is cancelled within 30 days of purchase, and none of the privileges of membership (benefits and discounts) have been used, the Member is entitled to a full refund.
    • Cancellation of Membership after 30 days, shall not entitle the Member for any refund, regardless of which party is responsible for termination (the third party or the Member himself/herself).
48. Membership level upgrades
    • Should a Member wish to upgrade his/her membership during the validity period of his/her current membership, a pro-rata rate may be requested prior to purchase by contacting membership@escardio.org
    • A pro-rata rate will be applied depending on the use of the privileges and the duration of the previous membership. Pro-rata rates are not available for upgrades to Fellowships (FESC, FHFA, FEACVI, FEHRA).
49. Fellows of the ESC (FESC) Fees
    • The annual fee for Fellows of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC) covers the period from 01 January to 31 December.
    • Newly elected FESC receive a request for payment in November and payment must be received before 30 December, in order to activate the benefits for the following year.
    • FESC fees are due every year. A "pay in order" principle applies i.e. the FESC fee is due every year and one may only pay the Fellowship fee of the given year, upon payment of the fee of the previous year.
    • The payment of the yearly FESC fee generates the FESC Privileges. On 1 January, all benefits for FESC will be terminated if the FESC fee remains unpaid.
    • After 2 years of non-payment of fees, consecutively or not, the FESC will be informed by email of his/her exclusion from the FESC register, unless payment is received within 3 months. An excluded FESC will remain a Member of the ESC if he/she is a Member of an ESC Constituent Body (as defined in ESC Statutes). His/her reintegration in the ESC Fellowship register will be accepted upon payment of all due fees.
50. Membership benefits
    • Membership benefits packages vary according to the level of membership held. The membership levels and the associated membership benefits may be amended, varied or withdrawn by the ESC from time to time at its complete discretion. The ESC shall always publish any changes to or withdrawals of the membership levels and the associated membership benefits on the ESC Website (or otherwise notify the Member of such changes) as soon as possible before it implements such variations.

Article 12. Customer service

51. Customer service is available enabling the Customer to carry out the following operations:
    • request information on products and services;
    • submit complaints about purchases made online;
    • request general information or ask questions.
52. These requests may be expressed through the contact us form on our Websites.

Article 13. Delivery

53. The order shall be delivered on the date or within the period specified to the Customer and, in case no such indication is provided, up to thirty (30) days after the order is placed.
54. Delivery periods are notified to the address provided by the Customer, within a reasonable period of time after the order is placed.
55. Products are delivered to the address provided by the Customer in the Order area of our web pages. The European Society of Cardiology reserves the right to decline deliveries or shipments to some countries.
56. Delivery of educational books is managed by the Book's publisher. The European Society of Cardiology ensures the delivery details supplied upon order are transferred to the publisher for processing.
57. Delivery is construed as the transfer of the ordered product to the Customer’s physical possession or control.

Article 14. Downloads

58. When specified on the Websites, some content may be downloaded. In such cases, the Customer shall be informed of the technical requirements, such as format, settings, and compatibility, in the Products area. The Customer hereby accepts that these requirements are additional to the Sales General Conditions provided herein.
59. The content available for downloading is copyrighted. Any total or partial reproduction and/or representation of any of this content shall subject the Customer to legal proceedings in accordance with the current provisions laid out in the Intellectual Property Code.

Article 15. Liability

60. The European Society of Cardiology is not involved in the activities carried out by the Customer on the Websites, and is not in any way liable for any decisions made by the Customer such as advice, assessment, recommendations, appraisals, reviews, feedback(s), or any consideration, or services provided by the Customer based on the information or documents or any tool in any form, shown and/or available on the Websites.

Article 16. Force majeure

61. The European Society of Cardiology shall not be held liable for failure to comply with the Sales General Conditions herein due to force majeure (in particular, to disturbances or partial or total strikes, especially of the postal services and transport or communications networks).
62. Moreover, the European Society of Cardiology shall not be held liable for poor or non-performance of these Conditions owing to unforeseeable or uncontrollable events attributable to third parties or to the Customer.
63. In cases of force majeure, the European Society of Cardiology shall not be liable for any reimbursements.

Article 17. Personal information

64. Personal information may be collected when the User is accessing to his/her User account, places orders, and completes his/her user profile or fills in forms. For full details, please consult our Privacy and Data Security Policy

Article 18. General provisions

Good faith

65. The Parties agree to carry out their obligations in a spirit of good faith.

Truth

66. The Parties declare that the present undertakings are true.
67. They also declare that, to the best of their knowledge, there is no element, if provided, would have changed the consent of the other party.

Entirety

68. The Sales General Conditions herein express the entirety of the parties’ obligations.
69. Unless specifically mentioned in the present Sale General Conditions, the Parties may not insert any of their general or special conditions and terms into this agreement.

Headings

70. In case of difficulties in the interpretation resulting from a contradiction between the title headings in these Sales General Conditions and any of the provisions, the said headings shall be declared void.

Nullity

71. If one or more provisions in these Sales General Conditions are deemed invalid or held as such in accordance with any applicable law or regulation or as the result of a final judicial decision by a court having jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall remain in force to their full extent.

Tolerance

72. The parties mutually agree that tolerance by one of the parties of a situation does not grant the other party any rights thereof.
73. Furthermore, such tolerance shall not be interpreted as a waiver to exercise the said rights.

Independence of parties

74. Neither of the parties may enter into an undertaking in the name and on behalf of the other party.
75. Moreover, each of the parties is solely liable for its actions, statements, commitments, performance, products, and personnel.

Article 19. Cancellation-Termination

76. Should one of the parties fail to perform the obligations laid out herein without remedy for a period of 8 days from the sending of a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt notifying the said failure, the other party may cancel or terminate the Sales General Conditions herein without prejudice to any damages to which it may be entitled hereunder.
77. Any cancellation or termination due to the Customer’s failure to perform his/her obligations under the present Sales General Conditions, and any Customer’s usage of the Websites or services contrary to the General Conditions of Use of the ESC Websites shall entitle the European Society of Cardiology, without prior notice and without compensation, to:
    • deny the Customer’s total or partial access to the Websites;
    • shut down the Customer’s user account, the effects of the shutdown are governed by the "Shutdown and removal of user accounts" provisions specified in the Privacy and Data Security Policy;
    without prejudice to any damages to which the European Society of Cardiology may be entitled or any other remedy that may be open to the European Society of Cardiology.

Article 20. Proof and agreement on proof

78. Computerised records stored within the European Society of Cardiology’s IT systems shall be kept under reasonably safety conditions and shall be considered as proof of communications, orders, and payments between the parties. These records shall prevail unless evidence to the contrary is supplied.
79. Safekeeping of contract documents, orders, and invoices is carried out on a reliable and durable backup media and can be produced as evidence.

Article 21. Applicable law

80. The present Sales General Conditions are governed by the laws of France.
81. It is likewise for both rules of substance and rules of form, notwithstanding the place of performance of the substantial or accessory obligations.

Article 22. Applicable jurisdiction

82. IN THE EVENT OF A DISPUTE ARISING OUT OF THE INTERPRETATION OR PERFORMANCE OF THESE SALES GENERAL CONDITIONS WITH A MERCHANT CUSTOMER, THE APPLICABLE JURISDICTION SHALL BE THAT OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF GRASSE, NOTWITHSTANDING A PLURALITY OF RESPONDENTS OR THIRD-PARTY CLAIMS, INCLUDING FOR URGENT OR PROTECTIVE PROCEEDINGS, WHETHER URGENT OR ON-DEMAND.

Last updated 28 November 2022