Terms of use

The European Audiovisual Observatory's (hereinafter "Observatory") website is intended to provide public access to information relevant to the European audiovisual sector. Despite our efforts to ensure the accuracy of the content, the Observatory declines to accept any responsibility for the content or for uses made of it.

The information which our site contains is solely compiled for general information and not meant to give advice as to the specific situation of any individual or legal entity.

The information is not necessarily complete, exhaustive, accurate or up to date. Most of the information and data are reported or compiled with the help of external sources and even though the Observatory seeks to accomplish accuracy, it does not have the means to check systematically their truthfulness or pertinence.

The pages refer to external sites over which the Council of Europe has no control and in respect of which it declines to accept any responsibility. Therefore such references shall not be interpreted to mean that our organisation endorses the content of these pages.

The pages published on this website do not constitute a professional or legal opinion of the Observatory, the Council of Europe or any other organisation, entity or person contributing to our website.

While the Observatory cannot guarantee that there are no errors on its site, it does endeavour, where appropriate, to correct those that are drawn to its attention.

The Observatory reserves the right to deny, at its sole discretion, any user whatsoever access to the Site or to a part thereof.

Privacy Protection

This policy establishes how we handle the information we learn about you when you visit the main European Audiovisual Observatory (hereafter known as “EAO”) website (www.obs.coe.int), or any of its pages (collectively “the EAO webpages”). Protecting the privacy and personal data of our visitors is of utmost importance to us. Therefore protecting your privacy and your personal data is an important aspect of the way we create, organise and implement our activities on-line and off-line. Our website and the way in which we handle your contact data strive to respect the principles set out in the recent European Union “General Data Protection Regulation” (GDPR) of 25 May 2018, and the Council of Europe “Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data”.
The specific practices outlined in this privacy statement apply to the EAO website.

Purpose Specifications and Data Collection

In general, you can browse the EAO website without disclosing any information about yourself. If you visit the EAO website to read or download information, we collect and store only the following information that is automatically recognised: the date and time, the originating IP address, the domain name, the type of browser and operating system used (if provided by the browser), the URL of the referring page (if provided by the browser), the object requested and the completion status of the request.
We do not associate the information stored in a visitor's cookie with any other personal data about that visitor.
All our employees and controllers who have access to personal data and are associated with the processing of that data are obliged to respect the confidentiality of data.
 

Visitor's Choice

Registering on our website is optional. We collect the personal data that you volunteer on creating a user profile on our website www.obs.coe.int or by participating in an order, survey, competition, or other forms, or by email. If you choose not to register or provide personal information, you can still use the EAO website. However, you will not be able to purchase items or receive email alerts. The EAO views the contact data that it collects as a valuable and confidential asset. We take great care to ensure its safety.
You may choose to register to the following EAO services: "Shop" or " IRIS Newsletter". If this is the case you will receive promotional or marketing information from the EAO when you register personal data. If you choose to register, your information will be available to EAO Staff for the purpose of event management, and information emails regarding new publications. If you do not wish to continue receiving promotional or marketing information, please notify us by e-mail at: privacy-obs(at)coe.int.

Disclosure

We will never disclose your contact details to anybody outside of the Observatory. If we wish to distribute a participants’ list for one of our conferences which you may attend, we will specifically ask your permission to share your contact details with other participants and conference co-organisers for the purposes of networking or security. If you do not wish us to do so, we will remove your details from the attendance list.

Individual Participation / Access

You can ask us whether we are keeping personal data about you, and you can also request to receive a copy of that personal data. Before sending you any personal data, we will ask you to provide proof of your identity. If you are not able to provide proof of your identity, we reserve the right to refuse to send you the personal data.
We will make a sincere effort to respond in a timely manner to your requests to the previous questions or to correct inaccuracies in your personal information. At any time, you may request that we delete or correct your personal information in our logs. For such requests, please contact [email protected]

Security

We intend to protect the quality and integrity of your personal information. The EAO has implemented technologies and security policies to protect the stored personal data of our users from unauthorised access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction and accidental loss. We will continue to enhance our security procedures, as new technology becomes available. EAO employees and controllers who have access to personal data are obliged to respect the privacy of our visitors and the confidentiality of their personal data.

Links

Throughout the EAO’s website, you will find links to third-party website. Please note that the EAO is not responsible for the privacy policies or content on third-party sites.

Notifications of Changes

As the EAO creates new services that may generate a need to amend this privacy statement, the Observatory will highlight such changes on its website home page and this page on Privacy Policy.

Contacts

If you have any inquiries about our privacy statement, please contact:
European Audiovisual Observatory
76 allée de la Robertsau
67000 Strasbourg
France
privacy.obs(at)coe.int

Privacy Notice

European Audiovisual Observatory contacts database

 

1.  Who is responsible for data processing?
The European Audiovisual Observatory, which is part of the Council of Europe (“the EAO” or “we”), is the “data controller” with respect to the processing of personal data in relation to its contacts database, which means it has the decision-making power concerning the data processing. Processing of your personal data is governed by the Council of Europe Regulations on the Protection of Personal Data adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 15 June 2022.

2.  What data do we process and for what purpose?
We process personal data of those individuals who may be interested in the EAO’s work and might like to be informed of its activities. This includes, in particular, members of the EAO governing bodies (Executive Council and Advisory Committee), individuals from key professional networks within the various sectors of the audiovisual industries, individuals from the European institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg, individuals from the various pan European and national institutions with whom the EAO is in contact, and individuals who have reached out to us and have expressed their wish to be included in our mailing lists for the purpose of receiving our information, in particular, by requesting to be signed up to our newsletter thanks to information provided on our website.

We may process all or some of the following categories of data for the purpose of sending the EAO’s newsletter, individual e-mails, information about job opportunities, publications, and invitations to events organised or promoted by the EAO: name, surname, title, gender, organization, post, language preference, e-mail address, postal address, phone number(s), and any other information that the individual may wish to communicate to us for the above purposes.

We process information that we receive either directly from the individuals concerned, or from another legitimate source (such as the employer or assistant). We also process data from the Cannes Marché du film database CINANDO, which is made available to us by the Marché du film on the basis of an agreement allowing the EAO to use the contact data for several e-mailing campaigns. 

3.  What is the legal basis for our processing of personal data?
We process personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest to disseminate information about the EAO’s work, publications and activities.

4.  Who has access to personal data?
Only staff members of the EAO may access personal data contained in our contacts database. Exceptionally, contact data may be shared with other parts of the Council of Europe for the purpose of sending invitations to events organised by them, that may be of interest to the individuals whose data are contained in the database.

We use Brevo as data processor for sending our newsletter. You can find the Brevo Privacy Policy here.

5.  How do we store personal data? 
Personal data are stored electronically on the Council of Europe’s servers located in the European Union. We have put in place measures to protect the security of your personal information, including appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. These measures include limiting access to any databases only to those people who need it (for the purpose described in Section 2 above) and secure backup of all data.

6. How long will personal data be stored?
We process and store personal data until they are no longer necessary for the purposes stated in Section 2 above, or until the individual concerned requests us to remove her or his personal data from our database, or unless there are outweighing reasons for us to keep the data.

7.  What are your data protection rights?
You have the right to: 
-  request access to your personal information held by us;
-  request that we correct incomplete or inaccurate personal information that we hold about you;
-  request that we delete or remove your personal information when there is no valid reason for us to keep it;
-  object to the processing of your personal information on specific grounds relating to your situation. 

8.  Contacts
If you wish to exercise the above rights, or for any queries, concerns, or requests you may have in connection with the way your data is collected and used, please contact the Council of Europe by: 
-  sending an email to [email protected].
-  sending an email to the Council of Europe’s Data Protection Officer at [email protected].
If you feel that we have not adequately responded to your request and consider that your data protection rights have been violated as a result of our processing of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Council of Europe Data Protection Commissioner by sending an e-mail to [email protected].
 

Privacy Notice
Conferences Organised by the European Audiovisual Observatory
 

1. Who is responsible for data processing?

The European Audiovisual Observatory (the Observatory) is the “data controller” with respect to the processing of personal data in relation to all in person and hybrid conferences organised by the Observatory (“conferences”), which means it has the decision-making power concerning the data processing. Processing of your personal data is governed by the Council of Europe Regulations on the Protection of Personal Data adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 15 June 2022.

2. What data do we process and for what purpose?

We process personal data that we receive either from you yourself or from another legitimate source (such as your employer or your assistant) insofar as they are necessary for us to enable your participation in our conferences.
We process the types of personal data listed below for the following purposes:
a)    Participant administration
To prepare our conferences we need your name and surname, e-mail address, job title, organisation name and country. We need these data in order to have an accurate list of attendees, to give you access to the conference venue and respect the applicable security measures.

b)   Publication in participant and check-in lists 
As part of the conference documentation, we draw up lists of participants for our conferences and provide these to our conference speakers and moderators, any partner organisations with whom we organise our events (see paragraph 4 below) and, if necessary, security staff on the door who control who enters the building. We do not circulate participants lists to other participants with the exception of our autumn Brussels networking conference. Usually a participant list contains:

• First name and surname
• Professional title
• Employer
• In the case of our Brussels networking conference we will also include your email address, having first of all asked your permission to circulate your contact details to other participants.

You can object to the inclusion of your data in the list of participants or specify that particular data should not be included in the list. Should this be the case please contact us when registering your participation, at the latest one week before the conference takes place. 

c)    Use of your e-mail address for transmitting information 
After the conference, we may use your e-mail address to provide information about other events or activities that may be of interest to you. We specifically ask your permission to do so on every conference registration form and we do not keep contact details for people who do not wish us to do so. You can withdraw from receiving e-mails from us at any time by notifying us accordingly by e-mail sent to privacy.obs [@] coe.int 

3.  What is the legal basis for our processing of your data?
We process your personal data on the basis of the Council of Europe’s legal instruments and its internal rules in order to carry out activities necessary for the performance of the Council of Europe’s tasks, in particular, on the basis of the Statute of the European Audiovisual Observatory adopted by the Committee of Ministers in Resolution (92) 70 of 15 December 1992.

4.  Who has access to your data?
The Observatory staff who need your personal data to conduct our conferences have access to them. We will share your personal data with co-organisers of two of our conferences: the Cannes Marché du Film whose offices are based in Paris, for the conference in Cannes, and our partner institution in the state holding the Presidency of the Observatory, for the annual conference in the country holding the rotating Presidency. Your data are shared with them so that they have accurate information about the attendees and are able to ensure that security measures are respected in terms of who has access to the conference. They do not have the right to further process your data which they only store for the duration of the conference. Through technical, organisational and legal measures we ensure that the rules provided in the Council of Europe Regulations on the Protection of Personal Data are also adhered to by the co-organisers of our conferences.

Where required, we also share your data with security staff at the entrance to the building where the conference takes place.

We use Microsoft Forms as data processor for registration for the conferences. You can find information on Microsoft Forms Security and Privacy here.

5.  How do we store your personal data? 
Your personal data will be stored electronically on the Observatory’s internal servers located in the European Union. We have put in place measures to protect the security of your personal information, including appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. These measures include encrypted servers, limited access to any databases only for those people who need it and secure backup of all data.

In addition, if you authorise us to use your e-mail address for sending you information, it will be uploaded to the servers of our Emailing system, Brevo, whose servers are located in Belgium. The Observatory has a utilisation agreement with Brevo which ensures that they conform to the Council of Europe Regulations on the Protection of Personal Data. 

6. How long will your data be stored?
We process and store your personal data until they are no longer necessary for the purposes relating to the organisation of the conference you wish to attend and follow up activities, including sharing with you the information on forthcoming activities and events organised by the Observatory within the limits of point 2 c).

7.  What are your data protection rights?
You have the right to: 

• request access to your personal information held by us;
• request that we correct incomplete or inaccurate personal information that we hold about you;
• request that we delete or remove your personal information when there is no valid reason for us to keep it;
• object to the processing of your personal information on specific grounds relating to your situation. 

8.  Contacts
If you wish to exercise the above rights, or for any queries, concerns, or requests you may have in connection with the way your data is collected and used, please contact the Observatory by: 

• sending an email to privacy.obs [@] coe.int 
• sending an email to the Council of Europe’s Data Protection Officer at dpo [@] coe.int.

If you feel that we have not adequately responded to your request and consider that your data protection rights have been violated as a result of our processing of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Council of Europe Data Protection Commissioner by sending an e-mail to datacommissioner [@] coe.int.
 

As described above, we sometimes collect anonymous information from visits to our website(s) to help us provide better customer service. For example, we keep track of the domains from which people visit and we also measure visitor activity on our website and the various free databases it houses, but we do so in ways that keep the information anonymous. We use the information that we collect to measure the number of visitors to the different areas of our website, and to help us make our website(s) more useful to visitors. This includes analysing these logs periodically to measure the traffic through our servers, the number of pages visited and the level of demand for pages and topics of interest. The logs may be preserved indefinitely and used at any time and in any way to prevent security breaches and to ensure the integrity of the data on our servers.

We collect the anonymous information we mentioned above through the use of various technologies, one of which is called "cookies". A cookie is an element of data that a web server can send to your browser, which may then be stored on your computing device. For example, EAO webpages record whether you are using the English, French or German interface so whenever you visit the site, you are taken to the language you prefer. Other session information (marked lists, search terms) is recorded with an expiration date. On our web site (if users register for it), cookies are used to save the visitor's password so that it does not have to be re-entered at each new visit. The following information is stored in the cookies:

• IP address
• ID information (first name, last name, job function ) will only be stored for those websites/web services that require login information on the device used (screen, browser brand and version, computer operating system)
• An exception to only anonymous collection of data concerns only those websites/web services that require login Information on the device used (screen, browser brand and version, computer operating system). In these cases ID (first name, last name, and job function) is also collected and stored. This data is never used for other purposes.
• If a "registered" user to EAO returns to the site, even without logging in, the IDs stored in the cookie are used to track the user (unless the user manually deleted the cookie, at which point the server will automatically regenerate another cookie).

Unless otherwise indicated, reproduction of material posted on the Observatory website, and reproduction of graphs, tables and photographs for which the Observatory holds copyright is authorised for private use and for informational and educational uses relating to the Observatory's work. This authorisation is subject to the condition that the source be indicated and no charge made for reproduction.

Persons wishing to make some other use than those specified above, including commercial use, of information and text posted on these sites are asked to apply for prior written authorisation to the Observatory (contact: alison.hindhaugh(at)coe.int)

Terms and conditions

1. Orders

When ordering any information service or publication from the Observatory, the client agrees to the general conditions of use and sale set out below.

The customer may use this website to order the Yearbook Online Service. The ordering process consists of various stages which are validated successively. Final validation comes at the end of the ordering process. The customer can decide to abandon the order at any stage of this process. Orders may also be placed by letter or Email:

European Audiovisual Observatory, Orders
76 Allée de la Robertsau, F–67000 Strasbourg,
Tel: +33 (0)3 90 21 60 00
Contact: orders-obs[at]coe.int

The Observatory reserves the right to cancel or refuse any order from a customer with whom there is a dispute concerning payment of a previous purchase.

2. Prices

Prices are in euros and per unit. The prices applied to all orders are those that are valid on the day of the order.

3. VAT

All European Audiovisual Observatory product prices are exclusive of duties and taxes. It is the buyer's responsibility to contact the fiscal or customs authorities to pay any duties and taxes. Owing to its status as a Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe, an international organisation, the Observatory does not have an intra-community VAT identification number and does not apply any value added tax (VAT).

4. Conditions of payment

Payment is due at the time of ordering. Payment must be made in euros using one of the following methods:

• Credit card – The Observatory only accepts Visa and MasterCard. Cards issued outside of France must be international bank cards. The facility provided on this site for electronic payment by credit card is fully secured thanks to data encryption using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol. All data transmitted are encoded and may not be read in transit on the Internet. The Observatory does not retain any credit card details.
• Bank transfer – The client processing the bank transfer shall pay all bank charges relating to their payment. The details of the Observatory’s bank account (IBAN, BIC, …) are communicated to the customer upon confirmation of the order.

5. Access to online services

Online services are made available upon payment. The Observatory will process all orders swiftly after receipt of the corresponding payment. Once the client’s payment is validated, the client will be notified on the website and by email giving the link to their personal space where the online service will be accessible.

The Observatory guaranties access to the Yearbook Online Service at least until the end of the second calendar year following the year relative to the Yearbook (e.g., the Yearbook Online Service 2017 is accessible at least until the end of 2019). It is the client’s duty to download the purchased product or service should they wish to assure access to it after this period.

The Observatory may not be held responsible for any consequences of a delay in processing orders or a delay or interruption in providing access to the service, in the event of a force majeure, computer breakdowns, and disruption or strikes affecting, directly or indirectly, communication services.

6. Returns

The Observatory cannot accept any returns or cancelation of orders for services that have been made available electronically.

7. Protection of personal data

The Observatory undertakes not to pass on any client’s personal data to third parties; these are confidential and will be used only for the processing of orders and their payment in collaboration with the invoicing software company and the banks involved, and to communicate electronically any offers on Observatory products and services.

The client may choose at any time to have their name removed from the Observatory mailing list or their account deleted from the Observatory’s customer database by sending a request using the contact form on the website. All clients may also modify their personal details at any time using the function "My account".

8. Liability

Although the Observatory and its partners agree to make every reasonable effort to provide up-to-date and precise information, they shall not be held liable in respect of any loss either material or non-material, or any damage or injury allegedly suffered by third parties when relying on the accuracy of information supplied by the Observatory.

9. Confidentiality

All products and services purchased from the Observatory as part of its publications, databases and information services, are confidential and made available for the purchasing client only. The client has no right to transmit products and services purchased from the Observatory to any third party and should take all necessary precautions to ensure that no unauthorised person can access this content.

Access codes to Observatory online services (for example the Yearbook Online Service) shall not be communicated to any third party. Third parties in this context are all persons who are not employees of the purchasing company/organisation.

10. Reproduction or translation of excerpts from publications

All content included in or made available through any Observatory service, including text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads and data compilations is the property of the Observatory or its content suppliers. Any reproduction or translation of excerpts is therefore subject to the applicable international regulations and must have prior permission in writing. This permission should be requested from the Observatory by email or by means of the contact form.

11. Applicable law - Disputes

11.1. Any dispute relating to the execution or application of a contract covered by Article 21 of the General Agreement on privileges and immunities of the Council of Europe shall be submitted, failing a friendly settlement between the parties, for decision to an Arbitration Board composed of two arbitrators, each selected by one of the parties, and a presiding arbitrator, appointed by the other two arbitrators; in the event of no presiding arbitrator being appointed under the above conditions within a period of six months, the President of the Tribunal Judiciaire of Strasbourg shall make the appointment.
11.2. However, the parties may submit the dispute for decision to a single arbitrator selected by them by common agreement or, failing such agreement, by the President of the Tribunal Judiciaire of Strasbourg.
11.3. The Board referred to in Article 1 or, where appropriate, the arbitrator referred to in Article 2 shall determine the procedure to be followed. 
11.4. If the parties do not agree on the law applicable, the Board or, where appropriate, the arbitrator, shall decide ex æquo et bono having regard to the general principles of law and to commercial usage. 
11.5. The arbitral decision shall be binding upon the two parties and there shall be no appeal from it.

The provisions of these General Conditions shall apply to all contracts for the supply of goods, services or works, as well as framework agreements and partnership agreements entered into by the European Audiovisual Observatory. They may, however, be supplemented or modified by special conditions accepted in writing by both parties.

1. Definitions

For the purposes of these General Conditions:

(i) "contract" shall mean the present General Conditions and the order, contract, agreement or terms of reference to which they are appended, the two documents together forming the contract;

(ii) "Observatory" shall mean the European Audiovisual Observatory;

(iii) “Deliverables” shall mean the services or goods as described in the contract;

(iv) “Parties” shall mean the Observatory and the Provider or partner, in case of a partnership agreement;

(v) "Provider" shall mean the person or legal entity executing works and/or supplying the goods and/or providing services to the Observatory under the contract or the partner under the partnership agreement.

2. Precedence clause

Any general purchasing terms and conditions of the Provider shall never prevail over these General Conditions. Any provision proffered by the Provider in its documents (general conditions or correspondence) conflicting with the clauses of these General Conditions shall be deemed void, except for any provision of the Provider, which is more favourable to the Observatory.

3. Order of priority of documents in the context of tenders

In the event of inconsistencies between the various contractual documents that constitute an integral part of the tender file, the following order of priority shall apply:

(i) the contract (as defined above 1. (i);

(ii) other specific contractual documents prepared by the Observatory (if any);

(iii) the Provider’s Offer.

4. Communications between the Parties

(i) Electronic communication is deemed to have been received by the receiving party on the day of successful dispatch of that communication, provided that it is sent to the address provided by the receiving party for that purpose. Dispatch shall be deemed unsuccessful if the sending party receives a message of non-delivery. In this case, the sending party shall immediately send again such communication to any other addresses provided by the receiving party. In case of unsuccessful dispatch, the sending party shall not be held in breach of its obligation to send such communication within a specified deadline, provided the communication is dispatched by another means of communication without further delay.

(ii) Mail sent to the Observatory using the postal services is considered to have been received by the Observatory on the date on which it is registered by the Observatory.

(iii) Formal notifications made by registered mail with return receipt or equivalent, or by equivalent electronic means, shall be considered to have been received by the receiving party on the date of receipt indicated on the return receipt or equivalent.

5. Loyalty of the Provider

In the performance of the present contract, the Provider shall not seek or accept instructions from any government or any authority external to the Observatory. The Provider undertakes to comply with the Observatory’s instructions for the completion of the work, to observe absolute discretion regarding all service matters and to refrain from any word or act that may be construed as committing the Observatory.

6. Confidentiality

The Provider shall observe the utmost discretion in all matters concerning the contract, and particularly any service matters or data that have been or are to be recorded that come to the Provider’s attention in the performance of the contract. Unless obliged to do so under the terms of the contract, or expressly authorised to do so by the Executive Director of the Observatory, the Provider shall refrain at all times from communicating to any person, legal entity, government or authority external to the Observatory any information which has not been made public and which has come to the Provider’s notice as a result of dealings with the Observatory. Nor shall the Provider seek to gain private benefit from such information. Neither the expiry of the contract nor its termination by the Observatory shall lift these obligations.

7. Changes in the Provider’s situation or standing

The Provider shall inform the Observatory without delay of any changes in its address or legal domicile or in the address or legal domicile of any person who may represent them.

The Provider shall also inform the Observatory without delay:

(i) if it is involved in a merger, takeover or change of ownership or there is a change in its legal status; where the Provider is a consortium or similar entity, if there is a change in membership or partnership;

(ii) if it is sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, money laundering;

(iii) if it is in a situation of bankruptcy, liquidation, termination of activity, insolvency or arrangement with creditors or any like situation arising from a procedure of the same kind, or is subject to a procedure of the same kind;;

(iv) if it has received a judgment with res judicata force, finding an offence that affects its professional integrity or serious professional misconduct;

(v) if it does not comply with their obligations as regards payment of social security contributions, taxes and dues, according to the statutory provisions of its country of legal domicile;

(vi) if it is or is likely to be in a situation of conflict of interests.

8. Disclosure of the terms of the contract

The Provider is informed and gives an authorisation of disclosure of all relevant terms of the contract, including identity, for the sole purposes of internal and external audit and to the Executive Council with a view to these latter discharging their statutory functions, as well as for the purpose of meeting the publication and transparency requirements of the Observatory or its donors. The Provider authorises the publication, in any form and medium, including the websites of the Observatory or its donors, of the title of the contract, its nature and purpose, name and locality of the Provider and amount of the contract .

Whenever appropriate, specific confidentiality measures shall be taken by the Observatory to preserve the vital interests of the Provider.

9. Use of the Observatory’s or the Council of Europe's name

The Provider shall not use the Observatory’s or the Council of Europe's name, flag or logo without prior authorisation of, respectively, the Executive Director of the Observatory or the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

10. General obligations of the Provider

The Provider recognises that it is subject to a general obligation to provide advice, including, but not limited to, an obligation to provide any relevant information or recommendations to the Observatory. In this context, the Provider shall supply to the Observatory all the advice, warnings and recommendations necessary particularly in terms of quality of deliverables, security and compliance with professional standards. The Provider also undertakes to inform the Observatory as soon as it becomes aware, during the execution of the Contract, of any initiatives and/or adopted laws and regulations, policies, strategies or action plans or any other development related to the object of the Contract.

The Provider undertakes to

(i) inform the Observatory about any change of its status with regard to VAT;

(ii) observe any applicable law and to comply with their fiscal obligations in conformity with the legislation of the Provider’s country of fiscal residence.

If the Provider for this Contract is a natural person and in a situation of employment, the Provider hereby declares

(iii) to have obtained the necessary approval from their employer to perform paid services for the Observatory under this Contract;

(iv) to understand that nothing in this contract may be construed as conferring on the Provider the capacity or rights of a Council of Europe staff member or employee.

11. Price

The price shall be stated in euros and without tax, except if the Observatory explicitly and in writing stipulates otherwise.

The time-limit for the validity of offers shall be 120 days starting from the expiry date set for sending the offers.

12. Amendments

The provisions of the contract cannot be modified without the written agreement of both parties. This agreement may take the form of an exchange of emails. Any modification shall not affect elements of the contract which may distort the initial conditions of the procurement procedure that resulted in the conclusion of this contract.

13. Transfer of contract

The contract may not be transferred by the Provider, in full or in part, for money or free of charge, without the Observatory’s prior authorisation in writing.

14. Data protection

Without prejudice to the other provisions of the Contract, the Parties undertake, in the execution of this Contract, to comply at all times with the legislation applicable to each of them concerning the processing of personal data.

15. Breach of contract

In the event that the Provider does not satisfy the conditions laid down in this Contract or those resulting from any modifications duly accepted in writing by both parties, in accordance with the provisions of Article 12 above, the Observatory shall consider there to have been a breach of contract and may consequently refuse to pay to the Provider the remuneration agreed upon in the Contract.

In the case of a breach of contract, the Observatory reserves further, at any moment and further to prior notification to the Provider, the right to terminate the Contract in all or in part. In case of termination, the Observatory shall pay only the amount corresponding to the deliverables actually and satisfactorily provided at the time of termination of the contract and shall request reimbursement of the sums already paid for Deliverables not provided. In case of partial termination, the obligations of the parties shall endure for all deliverables which are not subject of the notification of termination.

The outstanding sums shall be paid to the Observatory’s bank account within 60 calendar days after the Observatory notified in writing the Provider of the outstanding amounts.

16. Case of force majeure

In the event of a force majeure, the parties shall be released from the application of this contract without any financial compensation. Force majeure is defined as unforeseeable circumstances beyond the control of either of the parties, including but not limited to the following: major weather problems, earthquake, strikes affecting air travel, attacks, a state of war, health risks.

In the event of such circumstances each party shall be required to notify the other party accordingly in writing, within a period of 5 days.

17. Disputes

The following arbitration rules shall apply:

Article 1

Any dispute regarding this Contract shall - failing a friendly settlement between the Parties - be submitted to arbitration.

Article 2

The Arbitration Board shall be composed of two arbitrators each selected by one of the parties, and of a presiding arbitrator, appointed by the other two arbitrators; in the event of no presiding arbitrator being appointed under the above conditions within a period of six months, the President of the Tribunal Judiciaire of Strasbourg shall make the appointment.

Article 3

Alternatively, the parties may submit the dispute for decision to a single arbitrator selected by them by common agreement or, failing such agreement, by the President of the Tribunal Judiciaire of Strasbourg.

Article 4

The Board referred to in article 2 of this Clause or, where appropriate, the arbitrator referred to in article 3 of this Clause, shall determine the procedure to be followed.

Article 5

If the parties do not agree upon the law applicable the Board or, where appropriate, the arbitrator shall decide ex aequo et bono having regard to the general principles of law and to commercial usage.

Article 6

The arbitral decision shall be binding upon the parties and there shall be no appeal from it.  

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