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  • General terms and conditions

General Terms and Conditions

  1. Scope
    1. The Swiss Association for Standardization (SNV) is primarily active in the fields of standards and standardization. The SNV distributes standards and related products, reference books, teaching materials and other publications in electronic form, available for download and in hard copy. Furthermore, the SNV provides online services related to standardization, such as electronic access to databases and supervisory and monitoring services in the field of standardization. The SNV also conducts seminars and further training courses in the field of standardization, and offers secretariat services.
    2. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, these General Terms and Conditions (GTC) apply to all supply and service relationships concluded between the SNV and its customers. By using a service from the SNV, the customer recognizes the binding nature of the currently applicable version of the GTC, which is available on the SNV’s website (www.snv.ch/en). The SNV may supplement or amend its GTC at any time. The most recent version of the GTC, which is published on the website, shall apply.
    3. If there are any discrepancies between specific written agreements and the provisions of these GTC, the specific agreements will prevail.
  2. Prices and payment terms
    1. Unless agreed otherwise, the prices for goods and services currently published on the SNV’s website apply.
    2. All prices displayed are exclusive of VAT and strictly net. No discounts or other deductions are available. The customer will bear the shipping and packaging costs. Such expenses will be itemized on the invoice and be due and payable with the purchase price.
    3. The SNV may amend the prices of its goods and services at any time. The new prices will apply as soon as they are published on the SNV’s website.
    4. Provided that the goods are in stock, a legally binding contract is formed between the customer and the SNV when the customer places a written or electronic order for goods or services on the terms offered by the SNV.
    5. Where products and/or services are purchased on a pay-after-delivery basis, invoice amounts will be due and payable upon delivery of the invoice unless the parties have agreed otherwise in writing. Payments must be made within 30 days from the receipt of the invoice. If the customer is late in paying, they must bear the expenses incurred by the SNV in sending late-payment reminder letters, interest on payment arrears of 5% and the further costs of debt collection and debt recovery proceedings.
    6. Any claims that the customer may have against the SNV may not be set off against the SNV’s claims against the customer in respect of the goods and services provided.
  3. Terms of delivery
    1. Many of the products and services offered are supplied via the SNV’s online platform. Wherever possible, products that are available online are made available immediately as soon as the sale has been completed. No fixed delivery date is guaranteed for products that are not available online, such as books and print-on-demand products. The SNV dispatches the ordered goods subject to availability. The SNV accepts no liability for the delivery period of the delivery company. In the case of services and software, the delivery date is determined in agreement with the customer and the supplier.
    2. As a general rule, training services are only offered if a sufficient number of participants have signed up (subject to changes in the attendance fee for courses held in small groups and postponement of course dates). Participants may de-register from or defer courses for free up to 20 days before the start of the event. An administration fee of CHF 300.00 shall be due for de-registration and deferrals made between 19 and 10 days before the start of the event. For de-registration at short notice (nine days or less), the full cost of the course will be payable. Substitute participants may attend instead of the person who originally signed up.
    3. Deliveries/training courses will be delayed accordingly in the event of disruption caused by force majeure. In addition to natural disasters, the term “force majeure” includes in particular strikes, lock-outs, interventions by public authorities, transport bottlenecks for which the SNV is not at fault, operational disruption for which the SNV is not at fault, for example as a result of fire or water damage, and all other disruptions that cannot objectively be deemed to have been caused by the SNV. All claims for compensation in this regard are excluded.
  4. Benefit and risk
    1. The benefit and risk in respect of the ordered goods pass to the customer as soon as the goods have been taken over by the delivery company. The SNV accepts no liability for any loss or damage occurring during transport.
    2. The benefit and risk in respect of training services pass to the customer upon confirmation of the training course date. The SNV accepts no responsibility for missed events or problems with online seminars, in particular for technical problems occurring on the side of the participant.
  5. Inspection and notice of defects, returns
    1. Where the customer has ordered the goods online (e-commerce), the rights of withdrawal and return set out in sections 6 below will apply.
    2. The customer must examine products and services immediately upon receipt and report any defects to the SNV without delay. In the event of a defect, the customer shall not be entitled to a refund of the purchase price. The SNV can choose between remedying the defect, supplying a replacement product or, where this is not possible, refunding the purchase price against return of the product.
    3. Returns of products and services the main benefit of which consists of granting the customer access to information or imparting knowledge will not be accepted under any circumstances.
  6. Information concerning the exercise of the rights of withdrawal and return in the case of e-commerce transactions
    1. The customer has the right to withdraw from this contract by letter or e-mail within 14 days without giving any reasons. To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for the customer to send their communication concerning their exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired. The withdrawal must be sent to: Schweizerische Normen-Vereinigung (SNV), Sulzerallee 70, Postfach, CH-8404 Winterthur or info@snv.ch.
    2. In the case of a valid withdrawal or return, both parties must return what they have received and any benefit that they have derived from it (e.g. benefit of use). If the customer is unable to return all or some of the goods or is unable to return them in their original condition, the customer may be obliged to compensate the SNV for their loss in value. In the case of items that have been delivered, this will not apply if the only reason that the items are not in their original condition is that the customer examined them in the same way as would have been possible for the customer to examine them, for example, in a shop. Furthermore, where the items cannot be returned in their original condition although the items were used for their intended purpose, the customer can avoid any obligation to pay compensation for the loss in value of the items by refraining from treating them as their own property and refraining from taking any action which could diminish the items’ value. Items that can be shipped as packages may be returned to the SNV at the SNV’s expense and risk. Items that cannot be shipped as packages will be picked up from the customer’s premises. Obligations to refund payments must be met within 30 days. The refund period with regard to the customer will begin when the customer dispatches the notice of withdrawal or the item(s). The refund period with regard to the SNV will begin when the SNV receives the notice of withdrawal or the item(s).
  7. Liability
    1. The SNV accepts no liability whatsoever for the content of the products distributed by it. The customer uses the products and services provided by the SNV entirely at their own risk. In particular, the SNV accepts no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage that the customer incurs through the use of the products and services, the provision of their data or due to technical problems, server outages, data loss, transmission errors and the like.
    2. The SNV’s liability for the goods and services that it supplies will be limited to unlawful intent and gross negligence pursuant to Article 100(1) of the Swiss Code of Obligations (Obligationenrecht – OR).
  8. Copyright and rights of use
    The products and/or services distributed by the SNV and the website are protected by copyright. The rights are held by the SNV or the applicable rights holders and cannot be transferred or sub-licensed. The customer recognizes and respects the copyright and the intellectual property of the SNV and the applicable rights holders. By purchasing products and/or services, the customer only acquires a restricted right of use. The customer/purchaser is entitled to use the information contained in the product in accordance with the underlying copyright and the included licenses (individual user and multi-user license). The purchaser will not acquire any further rights to use, reproduce or distribute the standards and related products upon purchasing them.

    In particular, the purchaser is not permitted to do any of the following in relation to the purchased standards and related products without the SNV’s explicit written consent:
    • To alter, adapt, edit or translate the purchased products in any way
    • To reproduce and/or make the purchased products available to third parties outside the scope of personal use
    • To make the purchased products available internally at their organization or on the Internet, and to send them by e-mail or otherwise make them available to third parties by electronic means
    • To prepare extracts from the purchased standards and related products and make such extracts available to third parties

    The SNV reserves the right to pursue civil and criminal law remedies for any infringements of its copyright. Questions regarding the right to reproduce or use the products should be sent to: info@snv.ch.

  9. Data protection
    The SNV undertakes to process or have a third party process personal customer and user data entrusted to it only insofar as this is necessary for processing business transactions. After the termination of the contract, such data will be erased wherever possible. The SNV will not use this personal data for any other purpose without the explicit individual consent of the customer. The customer also consents, in particular, to the SNV disclosing such data to third parties in Switzerland or abroad for processing business transactions and managing business relations between the parties. The SNV will only disclose customer personal data to third parties where this is necessary to execute and process specific legal transactions. All customer personal data transmitted are subject to the respective currently applicable version of the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (Bundesgesetz über den Datenschutz – DSG). The SNV uses the SSL security standard for the transfer of data.
  10. Place of performance
    The SNV’s registered office at Sulzerallee 70, Postfach, 8404 Winterthur, Switzerland, is the place of performance for all contracts concluded pursuant to these GTC.
  11. Applicable law
    These GTC and all contracts concluded pursuant to them will be governed by the substantive law of Switzerland to the exclusion of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
  12. Place of jurisdiction
    In the event of any disputes arising from these GTC or the contracts concluded pursuant to them, both parties agree to the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts of 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland.


Version: September 2020

Please add 6 and 2.

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