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Terms and Conditions
Disclaimer Terms of Access General Conditions of Services General Conditions for System, Product and Service Certification Privacy Policy Copyright Trademarks
The information contained and accessed on or through this site (the "Site") is provided by SGS for general guidance and is intended to offer You general information of interest. SGS owns or licenses all text, data, images and other materials on the Site. SGS has made every effort to ensure that the information contained on this Site is accurate and reliable. However, errors may sometimes occur. Therefore SGS expressly disclaims all express or implied warranties of any kind as to any matter whatsoever relating to these pages. IN NO EVENT SHALL SGS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS OR DAMAGE (WHETHER FOR LOSS OF PROFIT OR OTHERWISE) ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THIS INFORMATION.
The Site contain links and pointers to other (related) web sites, resources and clients of the Site. Links to and from third party sites, maintained by third parties, to the Site do not constitute an endorsement by SGS or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates of any third party resources or their contents.
All content, functions, material and information accessed through the Site are provided "as is". SGS makes no representation or warranties of any kind whatsoever for the content, material, information and functions accessed through the Site, for any products or services or hypertext links to third parties or for any breach of security associated with the transmission of sensitive information through linked sites.
SGS shall not be liable for any damages caused by viruses that may infect computer equipment, operating systems or browsers.
SGS refers to the SGS Group of companies, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity.
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Access to this Site: This Site is owned and operated by SGS. SGS grants You a limited license to access and make personal use of the Site and not to download (other than page caching, publications, technical documents or other information) or modify it, or any portion of it, except with the express written consent of SGS. This license does not include any resale or commercial use of the Site or its contents; any collection and use of any product listings, descriptions or prices; any derivative use of the Site or its contents; any downloading or copying of account information for the benefit of another merchant; or any use of data mining, robots or similar data gathering and extraction tools. None of the Site or any portion thereof may be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without the express written consent of SGS. You may not frame or utilise framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout or form) of SGS without express written consent. You may not use any meta tags or other "hidden text" utilising SGS' name or trademarks without the express written consent of SGS. Any unauthorised use terminates the permission or license granted by SGS.
Community Forums: This Site may include bulletin boards, discussion groups and other public areas that allow feedback to SGS and interaction between users ("Forums"). Some Forums are open to the public while others may require that You register for access. While SGS does not control the information/materials posted to Forums by users (the "Messages"), it reserves the right (which it may exercise at its sole discretion without notice) to delete, move or edit the Messages and to terminate your access to and use of the Forums and you waive any moral rights that you may have in regard to the Messages. Please refer to Forum Rules for additional terms and conditions of use.
Employment Offers: This Site may contain information on employment opportunities within SGS. If you decide to apply for a vacancy we will assume that, by creating an application form or sending us your CV, you are signalling your agreement for SGS to use, hold and destroy any personal data contained in your form/CV for the purpose of considering your application in accordance with our standard recruitment procedures and for the purposes outlined in detail below.
Please do not apply if you do not agree to SGS using, holding or destroying your data for any of the purposes that are outlined below:
We may wish to retain your details on file for up to the next 12 months and to notify you of any suitable vacancies that arise. You would then have the opportunity to apply for these vacancies if you wished to do so.
We may use your personal information for purposes of market research, specifically relating to the improvement of recruitment and HR policies and practices.
Depending on the nature of your application, it is possible that your personal information will be transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).
On-Line Ordering:This Site may provide You with the opportunity to order SGS publications, certain accessories related to Your certification, or training seminars. The relevant order conditions and, if applicable the terms of purchase, may be found on the relevant page. To pay for Your order click on the “Check-Out” button. You will then leave the SGS on-line shop and Site and enter the secured payment section managed by BIBIT Internet Payments, a registered and secure on-line payment service managed by BIBIT. SGS does not have any control over the BIBIT environment and, therefore, shall have no liability for any losses You may suffer as a result of using the BIBIT on-line
Investor Relations: All stock price information is provided to SGS by Swissquote for informational purposes only, is not intended for trading purposes and is at least 30 minutes delayed. SGS does not guarantee the sequence, accuracy, or completeness of any stock price information or other data displayed, and is not liable or responsible in any way for any delays, inaccuracies, or errors in any stock price information or data or in the transmission of any stock price information or data. The stock price information or data provided is not to be relied upon for any trading, business or financial purpose and SGS is not liable or responsible in any way for any damages, losses or costs arising from reliance on this information or incurred as a result of the non-performance, interruption or termination for any reason whatsoever of the stock price information or data.
Jurisdiction: Your access to, and use of, this Site, the Privacy Policy and these Terms of Access (and any dispute, controversy, proceedings or claim of whatsoever nature arising in any way therefrom) shall be governed by, and interpreted in accordance with the laws of Switzerland exclusive of any rules with respect to conflicts of laws. All disputes arising in connection herewith shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the canton of Geneva.
Copyright: The information contained on this Site or in any publication made available on or through this Site is the exclusive property of SGS or is licensed to SGS and is protected by copyright and other proprietary rights. Nothing contained in this site may be reproduced, distributed or edited in any manner without the prior written authorisation of SGS.
Trademarks: This Site contains trademarks which are owned and registered by SGS Société Générale de Surveillance SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of SGS SA, to distinguish its services. No licence to use any of these trademarks is hereby granted or implied. No reproduction is permitted without specific written authorisation.
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Should You have arrived at this page by clicking on a link provided on http://www.sgsonsite.com, then the Terms and Conditions below and/or the General Conditions for System, Product and Service Certification are to be read in conjunction with the User Agreement which You accepted when registering for a customer account with SGSonSITE. Unless specifically otherwise stated, all services referred to on this Site are subject to the Terms and Conditions below.
For purposes of the Terms and Conditions below as well as the General Conditions for System, Product and Service Certification, reference to "Company" shall be interpreted to mean that SGS Affiliate which enters into a binding contract with You as Client.
General Conditions of Services
1.General
(a) Unless otherwise agreed in writing or except where they are at variance with (i) the regulations governing services performed on behalf of governments, government bodies or any other public entity or (ii) the mandatory provisions of local law, all offers or services and all resulting contractual relationship(s) between any of the affiliated companies of SGS SA or any of their agents (each a “Company”) and Client (the “Contractual Relationship(s)”) shall be governed by these general conditions of service (hereinafter the “General Conditions”).
(b) The Company may perform services for persons or entities (private, public or governmental) issuing instructions (hereinafter, the “Client”).
(c) Unless the Company receives prior written instructions to the contrary from Client, no other party is entitled to give instructions, particularly on the scope of the services or the delivery of reports or certificates resulting therefrom (the “Reports of Findings”). Client hereby irrevocably authorises the Company to deliver Reports of Findings to a third party where so instructed by Client or, at its discretion, where it implicitly follows from circumstances, trade custom, usage or practice.
2.Provision of Services
(a)The Company will provide services using reasonable care and skill and in accordance with Client's specific instructions as confirmed by the Company or, in the absence of such instructions:
- the terms of any standard order form or standard specification sheet of the Company; and/or
- any relevant trade custom, usage or practice; and/or
- such methods as the Company shall consider appropriate on technical, operational and/or financial grounds.
(b) Information stated in Reports of Findings is derived from the results of inspection or testing procedures carried out in accordance with the instructions of Client, and/or our assessment of such results on the basis of any technical standards, trade custom or practice, or other circumstances which should in our professional opinion be taken into account.
(c) Reports of Findings issued further to the testing of samples contain the Company’s opinion on those samples only and do not express any opinion upon the lot from which the samples were drawn.
(d) Should Client request that the Company witness any third party intervention, Client agrees that the Company’s sole responsibility is to be present at the time of the third party’s intervention and to forward the results, or confirm the occurrence, of the intervention. Client agrees that the Company is not responsible for the condition or calibration of apparatus, instruments and measuring devices used, the analysis methods applied, the qualifications, actions or omissions of third party personnel or the analysis results.
(e) Reports of Findings issued by the Company will reflect the facts as recorded by it at the time of its intervention only and within the limits of the instructions received or, in the absence of such instructions, within the limits of the alternative parameters applied as provided for in clause 2(a). The Company is under no obligation to refer to, or report upon, any facts or circumstances which are outside the specific instructions received or alternative parameters applied.
(f) The Company may delegate the performance of all or part of the services to an agent or subcontractor and Client authorises Company to disclose all information necessary for such performance to the agent or subcontractor.
(g) Should Company receive documents reflecting engagements contracted between Client and third parties or third party documents, such as copies of sale contracts, letters of credit, bills of lading, etc., they are considered to be for information only, and do not extend or restrict the scope of the services or the obligations accepted by the Company.
(h) Client acknowledges that the Company, by providing the services, neither takes the place of Client or any third party, nor releases them from any of their obligations, nor otherwise assumes, abridges, abrogates or undertakes to discharge any duty of Client to any third party or that of any third party to Client.
(i) All samples shall be retained for a maximum of 3 months or such other shorter time period as the nature of the sample permits and then returned to Client or otherwise disposed of at the Company’s discretion after which time Company shall cease to have any responsibility for such samples. Storage of samples for more than 3 months shall incur a storage charge payable by Client. Client will be billed a handling and freight fee if samples are returned. Special disposal charges will be billed to Client if incurred.
3. Obligations of Client
The Client will:
(a) ensure that sufficient information, instructions and documents are given in due time (and, in any event not later than 48 hours prior to the desired intervention) to enable the required services to be performed;
(b) procure all necessary access for the Company's representatives to the premises where the services are to be performed and take all necessary steps to eliminate or remedy any obstacles to, or interruptions in, the performance of the services;
(c) supply, if required, any special equipment and personnel necessary for the performance of the services;
(d) ensure that all necessary measures are taken for safety and security of working conditions, sites and installations during the performance of services and will not rely, in this respect, on the Company's advice whether required or not;
(e) inform Company in advance of any known hazards or dangers, actual or potential, associated with any order or samples or testing including, for example, presence or risk of radiation, toxic or noxious or explosive elements or materials, environmental pollution or poisons;
(f) fully exercise all its rights and discharge all its liabilities under any relevant sales or other contract with a third party and at law.
4.Fees and Payment
(a) Fees not established between the Company and Client at the time the order is placed or a contract is negotiated shall be at the Company’s standard rates (which are subject to change) and all applicable taxes shall be payable by Client.
(b) Unless a shorter period is established in the invoice, Client will promptly pay not later than 30 days from the relevant invoice date or within such other period as may be established by the Company in the invoice (the “Due Date”) all fees due to the Company failing which interest will become due at a rate of 1.5% per month (or such other rate as may be established in the invoice) from the Due Date up to and including the date payment is actually received.
(c) Client shall not be entitled to retain or defer payment of any sums due to the Company on account of any dispute, counter claim or set off which it may allege against the Company.
(d) Company may elect to bring action for the collection of unpaid fees in any court having competent jurisdiction.
(e) Client shall pay all of the Company's collection costs, including attorney's fees and related costs.
(f) In the event any unforeseen problems or expenses arise in the course of carrying out the services the Company shall endeavour to inform Client and shall be entitled to charge additional fees to cover extra time and cost necessarily incurred to complete the services.
(g) If the Company is unable to perform all or part of the services for any cause whatsoever outside the Company’s control including failure by Client to comply with any of its obligations provided for in clause 3 above the Company shall nevertheless be entitled to payment of:
- the amount of all non-refundable expenses incurred by the Company; and
- a proportion of the agreed fee equal to the proportion of the services actually carried out.
5.Suspension or Termination of Services
The Company shall be entitled to immediately and without liability either suspend or terminate provision of the services in the event of:
(a) failure by the Client to comply with any of its obligations hereunder and such failure is not remedied within 10 days that notice of such failure has been notified to Client; or
(b) any suspension of payment, arrangement with creditors, bankruptcy, insolvency, receivership or cessation of business by Client.
6.Liability and Indemnification
(a) Limitation of Liability:
- The Company is neither an insurer nor a guarantor and disclaims all liability in such capacity. Clients seeking a guarantee against loss or damage should obtain appropriate insurance.
- Reports of Findings are issued on the basis of information, documents and/or samples provided by, or on behalf of, Client and solely for the benefit of Client who is responsible for acting as it sees fit on the basis of such Reports of Findings. Neither the Company nor any of its officers, employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable to Client nor any third party for any actions taken or not taken on the basis of such Reports of Findings nor for any incorrect results arising from unclear, erroneous, incomplete, misleading or false information provided to the Company.
- The Company shall not be liable for any delayed, partial or total non-performance of the services arising directly or indirectly from any event outside the Company’s control including failure by Client to comply with any of its obligations hereunder.
- The liability of the Company in respect of any claim for loss, damage or expense of any nature and howsoever arising shall in no circumstances exceed a total aggregate sum equal to 10 times the amount of the fee paid in respect of the specific service which gives rise to such claim or US$20,000 (or its equivalent in local currency), whichever is the lesser.
- The Company shall have no liability for any indirect or consequential loss (including loss of profits).
- In the event of any claim, Client must give written notice to the Company within 30 days of discovery of the facts alleged to justify such claim and, in any case, the Company shall be discharged from all liability for all claims for loss, damage or expense unless suit is brought within one year from:
- the date of performance by the Company of the service which gives rise to the claim; or
- the date when the service should have been completed in the event of any alleged non-performance.
(b) Indemnification: Client shall guarantee, hold harmless and indemnify the Company and its officers, employees, agents or subcontractors against all claims (actual or threatened) by any third party for loss, damage or expense of whatsoever nature including all legal expenses and related costs and howsoever arising relating to the performance, purported performance or non-performance, of any services.
7.Miscellaneous
(a) If any one or more provisions of these General Conditions are found to be illegal or unenforceable in any respect, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall not in any way be affected or impaired thereby.
(b) During the course of providing the services and for a period of one year thereafter Client shall not directly or indirectly entice, encourage or make any offer to Company’s employees to leave their employment with the Company.
(c) Use of the Company’s corporate name or registered marks for advertising purposes is not permitted without the Company’s prior written authorisation.
8.Governing Law, Jurisdiction and Dispute Resolution
Unless specifically agreed otherwise, all disputes arising out or in connection with Contractual Relationship(s) hereunder shall be governed by the substantive laws of Switzerland exclusive of any rules with respect to conflicts of laws and be finally settled under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce by one or more arbitrators appointed in accordance with the said rules. The arbitration shall take place in Paris (France) and be conducted in the English language.
Page last modified on 16 June 2004
