Lignin Stories: Terms & Conditions for Online Courses

Welcome to the “Lignin Stories Online Courses” site. For purposes of this site, and these Terms and Conditions, the term “Lignin Stories Online Courses site” refers to the website and/or any training programmes contained therein (the “Site”) run and administered by Lignin Stories, (together: “LS”, “we”, “us”) and the terms “you” and “your” refer to any individual accessing the Site for any reason. Please carefully read and accept the following terms and conditions (“Terms and Conditions”) before accessing the Site. By accepting the Terms and Conditions you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by them and to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including relevant copyright laws.



The material contained on the Site was developed by LS for the specific use as training material. None of the material is, or should be regarded as the provision of advice, any content, materials, information and knowledge gained through the use of the Site is done at your own discretion and risk. LS accepts no responsibility for any person who acts or relies in any way on any of the material without first obtaining specific advice.



LS and its trainers are not in a position to make or execute decisions (before, during or following the training) on behalf of management nor are they responsible for training needs analysis and identification of your or any attendee to attend this course.



The Site may provide links to web sites and access to their content. The provision of such links and content is not an endorsement of any information, content or service accessed through such link. Unless otherwise stated specifically, reference to any names, products, organisations, or other information by trade name, trade mark, or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation by us, nor is endorsement of the Site implied by such links. They are for training reference and learning purposes only and do not indicate the existence of a partnership or joint venture between LS and the owners of the linked site. LS does not accept any responsibility for the correctness of the information on linked sites, nor does it accept any liability (jointly or otherwise) for your inability to access such sites through the Site or for any losses suffered as a result of incorrect information on the linked site. The Site and all its content, materials and information are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.



We make no warranty that:



• The Site, or any training programmes contained therein, will meet your exact learning requirements.
• The Site, or any training programmes contained therein, will be available on an uninterrupted, timely, or error-free basis.
• That successful knowledge transfer to / application by individuals will take place.
• That information on the Site, or any training programmes contained therein, is current. We take no responsibility for matters arising from changed circumstances or other information or material which may affect the accuracy or currency of this information.



You must not use this Site in any way that causes, or may cause, damage to the Site or impairment of the availability or accessibility of the Site, or to any training programmes contained therein; or in any way which is unlawful, illegal, immoral, defamatory, fraudulent or harmful. You must not seek to circumvent access or security controls or otherwise threaten the security of the Site. We reserve the right to make changes or updates to the Site at any time without notice.

Registration



Registration constitutes a request by you to apply for and attend a specific Course organised by LS.

Such request shall not result in a Course booking/reservation unless and until full payment has been received and successfully processed and verified by LS or LS’s service providers.

At LS’s sole discretion, you, as an attendee of a training programme, will be issued a confidential password and a name for your account. You must ensure that your password and account are only available to you and shall not be made available to third parties, and shall bear full responsibility for all actions which are undertaken using the password (including by other persons).

LS will not bear any duty of care or obligation to indemnify the course attendee and/or you in any matter relating to such account. Furthermore, LS may, at is sole discretion, revoke or terminate any such account or access to such account granted to you.

LS reserves the right to refuse any registration, without the need to give any reason or refund.

Fee(s) and payment



In the case of all courses, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by both parties, you shall settle the full course fee in accordance with the programme specifications that you have chosen, therefore either upon registration for the course or monthly.



Unless otherwise indicated, the fee quoted for each course is exclusive of any Value Added Tax. Value Added Tax at 18%, if any, shall be payable in addition by you at the rate then prevailing.



The course fee covers the provision of standard/adequate course material and documentation.



You are responsible for making full payment for any Materials, courses, training programmes or other items you purchase from or through the Site, and for any tax payable in connection with such purchase.

Cancellation and transfer



You may cancel your registration for any course by providing LS with a minimum of fifteen (15) business days’ written notice. No refunds of payments effected shall be given. However, you shall be entitled to a credit equivalent to the same amount. Such credit must be used within twelve (12) months and may only be used in connection with any course organised by LS.



In the event that your notice for cancellation is less than the minimum stipulated above, the full fee for such course shall remain chargeable and no refund or credit note will be granted to you.



LS reserves the right, at any time and for any reason, to cancel, reschedule or re-arrange the date allocated for any course. In the event that a course is cancelled or You will not be able to attend the said course on the rescheduled date, LS shall provide You with a full refund of the fee paid for the cancelled or rescheduled course and there will be no further liability upon LS.

Your Duties 

You shall ensure that you have the adequate competence, knowledge and skill to benefit from the course/training programme provided by LS.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your user ID and password (together: “password”) that you are given to access the Site, and are fully responsible for all on-line activities. You may not allow any other person to use these log-on details, nor may you re-assign or transfer these log-on and password details to anyone else. You should immediately inform LS if another person has access to your password.



LS reserves the right to exclude you/any attendee from any course due to your/the attendee’s disorderly conduct or failure to fulfil the prerequisites as published by LS or otherwise notified to you. The relevant fee shall remain chargeable to you in such circumstances.

Warranties and liability

LS will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that the courses and training programmes provided are dispensed with reasonable skill and care and will follow practices consistent with the professional standards in the industry.

LS shall only be bound, whether contractually, in tort or otherwise, with you and you shall indemnify and hold harmless LS, its partners, directors, agents, representatives and employees from and against all actions, suits, breaches, claims, demands, losses, costs and expenses (including, without limitation, all legal fees and disbursements), damages, liabilities and lawsuits which may at any time be taken or made against it by you or any attendee unless such actions, suits, breaches, claims, demands, costs and expenses arise as a result of a wilful breach of duty or other wilfully negligent, wrongful or unlawful act on the part of LS. In no event shall LS be liable for any indirect, consequential, incidental, reputational or future damage incurred by you, including, but not limited to, business interruption, lost business, lost profits, or lost savings, even if it has been advised of their possible existence.

You shall endeavour to reduce the damage you may bear and shall not be indemnified by LS for any damage that you or the attendee could have reasonably prevented.

In any case whatsoever, LS’s total liability in contract, tort or otherwise shall not exceed one time the fee paid by you for the training programme/course in respect of which the claim is made.

You acknowledge and accept that use of the Site is subject to the risks inherent in any connection and transmission on the internet, in particular in relation to security risks and vulnerabilities, technical performance and risk of interruption. Accordingly, LS shall not be liable in any circumstances for any losses or damages caused by disruption or failure of internet networks or for any interruptions to or restrictions on the accessibility of the Site arising for any reason, including, but not limited to, by reason of a virus, security related vulnerability, or technical or operational failure of any nature.



For the avoidance of doubt, LS does not endorse any user content and expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with user content.

Intellectual property rights

Unless otherwise stated, LS and/or its licensors own the intellectual property rights in the Site and in all materials provided on the Site. You are not allowed to use the Site for any other purposes than for your own learning purposes, in particular you must not: republish material from this Site; sell, rent or sub-license material from the Site; show any material from the Site in public; reproduce, duplicate, copy or otherwise exploit material on this Site for a commercial purpose; or edit or otherwise modify any material from the Site.

All copyright in and any and all other intellectual property rights relating to the Site, course or training programme, including but not limited to any and all reports, course-ware, reading materials, course-work, training manuals, manuals, sheets, materials, the software, data and documentation employed by LS and any related materials (“Materials”) provided to you by LS are owned exclusively by and hereby reserved to LS and/or its authorised licensees. LS hereby grants to you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sub-licensable licence to use such Materials solely for the purpose of receiving the training programme for the duration of such training programme.



Under no circumstances may any part of the Materials be produced or copied in any form or by any means or translated into another language by you or by attendee without the prior written permission of LS.

Confidential information

You agree to use our confidential information only in relation to the training programme services, and not to disclose it, except where required by law or regulation. We may also disclose confidential information (i) to third parties such as IT service providers, professional advisers and insurers, and (ii) to the extent that this is required by law and regulations, to any court of competent jurisdiction, or to other third parties.



You shall ensure that you keep confidential the Materials and comply fully with all use restrictions in relation to Materials as notified to you by LS.

Data Protection



Provision of personal data



You agree that we may collect, process, use and store your data/information supplied by you for (i) providing services, (ii) maintaining professional and commercial documentation in our information systems (iii) quality and risk management reviews (iv) providing you with information about us and our range of services and (v) complying with any requirement of law, regulation or a professional body of which we are a member. We may transfer such personal data to IT service providers in relation to any of these purposes. You confirm that you have all necessary authority from all relevant data subjects for us to use and disclose such personal data in accordance with the agreement. The term “data/information” includes confidential and/or personal data or information.



You warrant that the personal information provided by you on this Site is accurate and correct and that you will inform LS of any change to such information.



Any data or other content (“user content”) that you submit or upload onto the Site is your sole responsibility. You represent and warrant that any user content that you submit, upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available on the Site will not infringe any third party right, including without limitation, any intellectual property, confidentiality or privacy right. For the avoidance of doubt, LS does not endorse any user content and expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with user content.



Compliance – You and we will comply with applicable data protection legislation in relation to any personal data shared with us under the Terms and Conditions.



Provision of personal data – You will not provide us with personal data unless access to the training programmes requires the use of it, or we request it from you. In respect of any personal data shared with us, you certify that you have the necessary authority from relevant data subjects for us to use and transfer it in accordance with the Terms and Conditions, and that they have been given necessary information regarding its use.



Data processing – Where we act as a controller, we may process personal data for the purposes of any of: (i) providing the services; (ii) maintaining and using IT systems; (iii) quality, risk and client management activities (iv) providing you with information about us and our range of services; and (v) complying with any requirement of law, regulation or a professional body of which we are a member.



Data transfers – We may transfer personal data shared with us to subcontractors and IT service providers we use for the provision of our services. Some of these recipients may be located outside the European Union. We will carry out such transfers only where we have a lawful basis to do so, including to a recipient who is: (i) in a country which provides an adequate level of protection for personal data; or (ii) under an agreement which covers the EU requirements for the transfer of personal data to processors outside the EU.



Data processor – Where we act as processor in relation to your personal data, we will: (i) process it only on your lawful written instructions; (ii) implement appropriate measures designed to ensure its security, including by imposing confidentiality obligations on relevant personnel; (iii) transfer it only to sub-processors (as set out in our privacy notice) under a written contract which imposes obligations consistent with those in this clause and you authorise us to transfer your personal data to them; (iv) provide you with reasonable assistance in carrying out any legally required data protection impact assessments, complying with the rights of data subjects and complying with your own data security obligations under applicable data protection legislation; (v) notify you without undue delay after becoming aware of a breach in respect of it; and (vi) on your written request, provide you with reasonable information necessary to demonstrate our compliance with this clause, which may include any available third party security audit reports.

Non-competition

You and/or the attendee may not use, divulge or disclose the Materials or/and any confidential information relating in any manner to LS to further any private business you may be, directly or indirectly involved in, nor any private interests, nor may you duplicate the Materials – either totally or by way of similar output – to disseminate and profit from as your own or the attendee’s.

General

The course, training programmes and any Materials provided are not intended to be a definitive or comprehensive analysis of the subject and should not be deemed to constitute a substitute for professional advice.

These Terms and Conditions shall apply without prejudice to any other specific provision, clause or term stipulated by Lignin Stories.

LS reserves the right to amend the content of any course or training programme without prior notice when, in the opinion of the LS, such amendment does not fundamentally change the content of such course or training programme.

In the case where a period has elapsed since the appearance of force majeure or fortuitous event, We may terminate the contract with no liability.

Any notice required or permitted to be given by either party to the other shall be in writing and sent by electronic mail transmission to the address given on the Registration Form and shall be deemed received on the next business day after transmission when sent by electronic mail.

If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is held by any competent authority or court to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the other provisions and the remainder of the provision in question shall not be affected thereby.

These Terms and Conditions shall be governed and interpreted exclusively in accordance with the laws of Malta without giving effect to conflict of law rules. No other legal system will apply to the Terms and Conditions or to any course or training programme provided by LS hereunder. The location of the signing of the Agreement or of the provision or delivery of the courses or training programmes governed by these Terms and Conditions shall have no relevance.

Any dispute, controversy or claim that may arise out of, or in connection with the Terms and Conditions or the execution, breach, termination or invalidity thereof, which cannot be resolved through amicable settlement, will be resolved exclusively in accordance with the laws of Malta. All legal proceedings will be submitted exclusively to the jurisdiction of a Maltese court.

LS may revise these Terms and Conditions from time to time. Any amendment to these Terms and Conditions will apply to the use of the Site from the date of the publication of the amendment on the Site. You agree to be bound by any amendments to these Terms and Conditions.