General terms and conditions
and terms of use
for the
internet platform www.agrarconnect.com (& .de & .eu) and the
use of services on these websites
As of: 20 June 2017
Preamble
AgrarConnect Kretzschmar & Schmitt GbR (hereafter referred to as Operator or agrarconnect), Meusebachstraße 11, 13053 Berlin, Germany, provides an internet platform under www.agrarconnect.com, www.agrarconnect.de, www.agrarconnect.eu and www.agrar-connect.com, www.agrar-connect.de, www.agrar-connect.eu, on which traders and freelancers (hereafter referred to as user) are able to offer and request products/goods and services from various sectors of the agricultural industry. These general terms and conditions as well as the terms of use regulate the provision of the services by agrarconnect as well as the use of these services by the user.
§ 1 Scope of Application
agrarconnect provides an information platform on the internet for the business-to-business (B2B) sector, on which users are able to establish a business relationship with their offered or requested promoted products/goods and services. agrarconnect is not in any circumstance the contracting party for the items/products that are offered on the website. The offering or requesting parties are uniquely and exclusively the contracting partners who establish mutual contact and possibly conclude a contract.
These general terms and conditions as well as terms of use regulate the relationship between the Operator of the internet platform www.agrarconnect.com and the users of this internet platform. Deviations from these general terms and conditions are only effective with express written consent from the Operator of the internet platform. The inclusion of the general terms and conditions of a user is hereby expressly contradicted. For the content in particular cases of individual agreements, including additional services, subsidiary agreements, supplements or changes, the written or textual form of the express confirmation as rendered by the Operator of the internet platform is decisive.
The Operator retains the right to amend these general terms and conditions as well as the terms of use at any time, also within the existing contractural relationship. Registered users will be informed of these kinds of changes in due time before the planned amendment enters into force.
§ 2 Services
The websites listed in the preamble are generally freely accessible on the internet. However, decisive information regarding the requests and offers in all categories may only be accessed by registered and authorised users. The Operator reserves the right to decide which information is freely accessible on the internet as well as which information is for registered users.
Registered users may display their offers and/or requests as „open” on the platform with the name of the company and the relevant contact data. In such cases, all of the entered specifications of the posting as well as the company and its relevant contact data are exclusively displayed for all registered and authorised users.
If the user who created an offer would not like to immediately include the name of his/her company and its contact data in the offer for all registered and authorised users, it is possible to create an „anonymous” offer. In such particular cases, the system generates an email in cases of interest in the offer or request that is sent to the interested party and to the advertising party. This email includes the contact data from both parties. It is the obligation of the users to use the data to establish contact.
agrarconnect provides with the internet platform www.agrarconnect.com merely an information platform for traders and freelancers. The posted offers and requests do not represent binding offers for sale or purchase. For a conclusion of contract, both parties must establish contact with one another and negotiate and confirm the details of the contract. The Operator shall not become a contracting partner and never acquires ownership of the posted products or services.
§ 3 Access Authorisation
The internet platform is exclusively available for use by registered and authorised, adult traders and freelancers with unlimited legal capacity who have verified their status as traders to agrarconnect.
A user is not allowed to use the platform if
1. insolvency proceedings have been opened against him/her or a request for the opening of insolvency proceedings has been submitted and/or
2. he/she is no longer commercially active.
Furthermore, the aforementioned data must be immediately communicated to agrarconnect, which can immediately block the user’s access as a result.
§ 4 Conclusion of a Contract, Registration
For registration, the user is required to enter his/her email address, to freely select a user name and to accept the general terms and conditions, the terms of use and the data protection regulations. The user then receives an email from the Operator with a confirmation link. Clicking on this link or direct forwarding online provides the user with access to a registration form. This form requires the user to enter the following data: first name, surname, telephone number, company name, the complete address of the company including the street, postcode, town and country. By completing the registration form and then clicking on the „save” button, the user confirms the conclusion of his/her user contract with agrarconnect. Together with the confirmation link from the Operator that is sent by email, the user also receives a system-generated password. This password is important for logging onto the internet platform in the future. It is not necessary to enter the password in the registration form during the initial registration process, unless the user would like to change the system-generated password to a personalised password. The user is required to completely and accurately enter all of the requested data. agrarconnect will at its own discretion verify the correctness of the provided data and appropriately decide on the continuation of the user contract.
As a further option for registered users at agrarconnect, the „platinum subscription“ is completed on www.zmp.de . Headquartered in Bonn, Central Market and Price Information GmbH (ZMP) acts as a legally and organizationally independent company. A co-operation model is used to advertise a „platinum subscription“ together with agrarconnect. If a user has logged on to www.zmp.de for this „platinum subscription“, agrarconnect gets the complete user data Of ZMP and, after checking, it enters the system of agrarconnect. An interested party thus also acquires the status of a registered user at agrarconnect. All other paragraphs of these general terms and conditions remain unaffected.
§ 5 Use of the Internet Platform
During the existing contractural relationship, the user data, in particular the contact data, is to be kept up to date until the end of the contract. The Operator reserves the right to temporarily suspend services and/or to temporarily block full access to the website if the abovementioned information is out of date and/or the submitted data is no longer correct.
Every user is required to safely store his/her personal login data (user name and password) and is not allowed to forward or transfer this information to unauthorised third parties. The user is liable for any use and/or other activity that is executed under his/her login data.
Every user is to use the internet site without causing any impairment, overload or damage to the site.
If there is concrete evidence that a user is violating or has violated the general terms and conditions, the terms of use or a legal provision in connection with using the platform, agrarconnect is authorised to carry out an investigation, to temporarily or permanently block the user’s access and, if necessary, to institute legal action. The user is required in this context to provide the Operator with comprehensive information upon request. agrarconnect is to inform the user about the start of the investigation and its results and is to give him/her the opportunity to make a statement.
Should the results of the investigation show that the user has committed a violation, the Operator is authorised to terminate the contract with the user for good cause. Should the results of the investigation show that the user has not committed a violation, access will be unblocked, where applicable, and the user will receive a proportional refund of the user fees for the time period during which access was blocked.
§ 6 User fees
To use the platform, registered users are required to pay to use agrarconnect and are able to choose between paying quarterly, bi-annually or annually. The user fees plus the appropriate value added tax can be found here the website. The time period that each user individually chooses forms the basis for future invoice intervals and may be viewed and changed at any time in the login area.
Each new user has a free 4-week test period. Within the unique test period, the user can only set 5 offers and / or requests at the same time. The remaining functions correspond to a full subscription. The 4-week test period can only be used once per user. During and after the end of this test period, each user has to confirm once again the continuation of the contract in the personal login area by selecting a future invoice interval. After acknowledgment of these terms and conditions of use as well as the data protection regulations, agrarconnect prompts for full access. The member status can be viewed at any time in the personal member area of the respective user. Users of the „Platinum Subscription“ will be enabled or disabled by agrarconnect, according to their status regarding the test period and full access to ZMP.
agrarconnect sends the user the first invoice immediately after conclusion of the contract by post. Subsequent invoices are automatically sent by post two weeks before the end of the invoice interval selected by the user. The invoice amount is to be paid by the first day of the new contract time period.
Every user of the „Platinum Subscription“ via the ZMP, is billed via the ZMP and does not receive an invoice from agrarconnect.
User fees are paid upon only receipt of an invoice. Invoices that have not been paid by the due date implicate provisional blocking of the user’s account by agrarconnect.
A user may set off the claims from agrarconnect only with undisputed, recognised or legally established claims. The right of the user to set off and to withhold applies in full, insofar as there is a mutuality of obligation between his/her set off claim and the principle claim.
§ 7 Contract Duration and Termination
The contract of use for the unrestricted access to the portal is closed for a certain time. Any contract may be terminated by either party with a notice period of six weeks to the end of the selected term (quarterly, six months or annually) by written notice. The date of receipt of the cancellation shall be the respective Business Day or the next Business Day, if the date is a Saturday, Sunday or holiday. Cancellations can be made in writing to AgrarConnect Kretzschmar & Schmitt GbR, Meusebachstrasse 11, 13053 Berlin, or by e-mail to vertrag@agrarconnect.com.
If the contract has not been terminated, or has not been terminated within the set notice period, it will be extended based on the current time period or on a new time period if one was previously chosen.
The right of both parties to terminate this contract for good cause without observing the notice period remains unaffected. A good cause exists in particular with a significant breach of an essential contractual obligation, such as the opening of insolvency proceedings against the user, the misuse of expressions of interest, significant outstanding payment or the reporting of false registration data. In a case of termination for good cause, no refund – also not a monthly refund – will be paid of user fees that have been paid in advance if the termination is exclusively based on reasons that the user is responsible for.
§ 8 Property Rights
All of the published contents, information, images, videos and databases within the framework of the agrarconnect platform are protected by copyright or by other protective rights and are either the property of the Operator or the Operator is the holder of the necessary rights of use. In addition, the rights regarding the design of the website as well as the software and technology used belong exclusively to agrarconnect and/or their licensors.
Except for the content that has been posted by the user him/herself, the user is prohibited to completely or partially edit, change, show, publish, exhibit, copy or disseminate the content available on the platform. Such content includes in particular photos, logos and text. The user is also prohibited to remove or change any kind of copyright notice, proprietary notice or trademark. Any use that has not been explicitly authorised in these general terms and conditions and terms of use requires the prior written consent of the Operator.
§ 9 Data Protection
The collection, saving and processing of a user’s personal data by agrarconnect is performed only to fulfil the purpose of the contract. Furthermore, agrarconnect assures the confidential handling of this data according to the Data Protection Act and the Telemedia Act. Without the user’s consent, agrarconnect will only collect, save, process or use a user’s personal data to the extent necessary.
The data that is particularly collected, saved and/or processed includes the user’s name, address and email address. agrarconnect treats all of the user’s data with confidentiality. The Operator would be happy at any point in time and on request to provide information on the saved data, and all entered data can also be accessed and partially altered in the personal user profile. This data is only transferred to the extent that it is permitted by law. In all other cases, the user’s data is only transferred to a third party with prior written consent.
On request, the Operator will delete a user’s personal data, provided that the data is no longer necessary for using the platform, especially for billing.
The user agrees that his/her personal data may be used for agrarconnect’s own advertising purposes (e.g. product recommendations by email). The user may revoke this consent at any time.
§ 10 Liability Limitation
agrarconnect maintains its internet platform www.agrarconnect.com in principle 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 12 months a year. This excludes time for maintenance or updating the internet platform, which occasionally necessitates a short-term shutdown. agrarconnect is therefore not liable for interrupted access to the website or for disruptions on the internet.
agrarconnect is liable for damages in the case of intent and gross negligence. In cases of simple negligence, agrarconnect is only liable for damages resulting from injury of life, body or health as well as for damages resulting from a significant breach of an essential contractual obligation. An essential contractual obligation is one which must be fulfilled for the contract to be properly executed in the first place. In such a case, agrarconnect is only liable for compensation for typical foreseeable damage.
These restrictions also apply for the benefit of the legal representatives and the vicarious agents of agrarconnect.
agrarconnect is specifically not liable for loss due to work disruption, computer failure or computer errors or for an unforeseeable network overload that leads to web server failure or for disruptions in online operation that have been caused by unlawful intrusion in the web application (hacker attack), insofar as it would not have been possible to prevent this with technically and economically reasonable measures.
agrarconnect does not check the completeness, lawfullness or accuracy of the data provided by users. The information concerning the quality and availability of products and services is the sole responsibility of the users. agrarconnect is not liable for the timeliness, content accuracy or completeness of the information posted in the user’s online offer. agrarconnect is not liable for damages to a user arising from a purchase and/or sale of products and/or services. All further business activities of each user that arise from information on the website are carried out at each user’s own discretion and at each user’s own risk.
Independent guarantees as well as the provisions of the German Product Liability Act remain unaffected.
§ 11 Applicable Law
The laws of the Federal Republic of Germany apply to this agreement.
§ 12 Place of Jurisdiction
If the user is a merchant, legal entity under public law or special fund under public law, the exclusive place of jurisdiction is the agrarconnect place of business in Berlin, Germany.
§ 13 Final Provisions
Should a portion of these general terms and conditions and terms of use be or become invalid, the validity of the rest of the general terms and conditions and of the terms of use is not affected. The invalid portion is to then be replaced as agreed upon with what is permissible and with what comes as close as possible to what the parties would have agreed upon if they had recognised the invalidity. The same applies in the event of a possible regulatory gap in these general terms and conditions and terms of use.