§ 1 Scope of application

(1) The following Terms and Conditions of Participation apply to all legal transactions of we.CONECT Global Leaders GmbH, Reichenberger Str. 124, 10999 Berlin (“we”) with our contractual partner (“you”), who participates in our services requiring registration and uses our products.

(2) In the context of these GTC, the following terms apply:

“Participation Entitlement” – is the entitlement to be able to participate in our services subject to registration.

“Buyer” – is the person who does not procure the entitlement to participate for himself but for the participant.

§ 2 Conclusion of the contract

(1) Our offers are generally non-binding and subject to change.

(2) By submitting your declaration of participation by post, fax, e-mail, via our booking system on our website or by verbal agreement, you are making a binding offer for the conclusion of a contract.

(3) A contract with we.CONECT Global Leaders GmbH is concluded when we accept your offer.

(4) The purchaser of the service requiring registration, who is not himself a participant (i.e. who does not purchase or order the participation authorisation exclusively for himself), is responsible for ensuring that the participant who receives the participation authorisation from him is aware of these GTC and accepts them. Only the person named on the entry authorisation can be a participant. The transferability of the right to participate from the participant as a contractual partner to another person results from § 5.

§ 3 Subject matter of the contract

(1) We may change individual components of the services subject to registration if this is necessary and does not change essential parts of the contract.

(2) We may replace individual speakers and presenters with other comparable speakers and presenters, provided this is reasonable for the participant of the service subject to registration and the purpose of the service subject to registration and its content are not substantially changed.

(3) We are entitled to send you information on the service subject to registration via the means of communication specified by you.

§ 4 Fees for services subject to a charge

(1) If a fee is charged for the service subject to registration, it results from our price quotations or offers on the respective service website.

(2) All invoices shall be made in euros. In the case of payment with foreign currencies or means of payment, exchange rate differences and bank charges shall be borne by you.

(3) All payments, insofar as fees or other costs are charged, are due and payable within a period of 5 working days from the date of booking, immediately after invoicing, without any deductions, insofar as no other term of payment has been expressly agreed.

(4) The prices are exclusive of the legally owed value added tax.

(5) If individual services are not utilised by you through no fault of our own, the agreed fees and any additional agreed fees and costs (e.g. flat-rate conference fees) shall nevertheless be due for payment, unless otherwise agreed.

§ 5 Entitlement to attend, withdrawal / exchange

(1) The tickets are personalised. Only the person whose name appears on the ticket is entitled to attend.

(2) Tickets may not be returned or exchanged.

§ 6 General Conditions of Participation

(1) General prohibitions:

You are prohibited from

– disrupt the course of the event / the course of the service requiring registration

– to carry out or assist or instigate any criminal, disorderly or generally disapproved acts,

– to engage in advertising of any kind unless this has been expressly permitted in writing in advance by employees of the Digital Business Hub,

– Use or incite participation in the service subject to registration to express political, religious or offensive views,

In the event of a breach, we may expel you from the service requiring registration. In this case, you will not be entitled to any refund of fees or other charges. Our right to claim damages remains unaffected.

§ 7 Copyrights

(1) The files (presentations, handouts, etc.) handed over to you are subject to copyright law even if they do not reach the required level of creation in individual cases. You may only use the documents and files for private use and within the scope of the permissions granted by copyright law.

(2) Photo, video and sound recordings during the service requiring registration by you are permitted to a reasonable extent.

§ 8 Termination of the contract by us

We may terminate the contract or refuse you access to the chargeable service if the agreed fee or other third-party costs due are not paid or not paid in full at the latest before the start of the event / chargeable service. Conversely, however, we retain the right to payment of the fees and costs.

§ 9 Force majeure

(1) In the event that force majeure leads to a termination or interruption of the contract or of the fee-based service or of individual contractual services, we shall be entitled to claim from you the costs incurred and services rendered up to that point on a pro rata basis, insofar as you are an entrepreneur within the meaning of § 14 BGB (German Civil Code), but no more than 5% of the fees. This also applies if one of our service providers (e.g. the event venue) is unable to provide its services to us due to force majeure. There shall be no claims for damages against us.

(2) Official, police or court orders to suspend or cancel the event shall be deemed to constitute force majeure as defined in paragraph 1, unless we are at fault for such orders.

(3) It is deemed to be agreed that force majeure within the meaning of paragraph 1 also includes a recommendation by the state (federal government, state, ministries, authorities) not to hold the event/service subject to a fee (e.g. due to a pandemic-like spread of a virus or a terrorist warning).

(4) It shall be deemed agreed that force majeure also exists if the performance of the chargeable service is economically unreasonable for us due to increased requirements of the authorities, insofar as we are not responsible for these. In this case, we may invoke force majeure in accordance with paragraph 1, but shall have no pro rata claim against the participant.

§ 10 Cancellation by you

(1) If you wish to cancel the contract for a reason for which we are not responsible and which is not due to force majeure (“cancellation”), this is generally possible after consultation with us; we may not refuse cancellation in bad faith. In the event of a mutually agreed cancellation of the contract, we may, in view of the fact that experience has shown that in the event of cancellation at short notice we no longer have the possibility of allocating the free places elsewhere and that we may not even be able to cancel our agents or speakers free of charge, claim costs and fees etc. in accordance with the following provisions, unless we agree otherwise with you.

(2) We can choose to claim the concretely agreed costs minus saved expenses or to settle our costs and our lost profit with a lump sum. In this case, the following flat rates apply:

– 5 days from the booking date: 100% of the fee

– up to 3 days before the start of the chargeable service: 75% of the fee.

– Thereafter 100% of the fee.

(3) In the event of cancellation, you may provide a substitute participant to avoid cancellation costs, provided that the substitute participant meets the admission criteria and is confirmed by us and the event / chargeable service has not yet started.

§ 11 Data protection

We refer to our data protection information, which you can view in connection with the registration and which you can also request from us at any time.

§ 12 Our liability

(1) Statutory liability: The limitations of liability in paragraph 1 do not apply to your claims arising from product liability and statutory liability.

(2) Extension of this clause to employees, organs, vicarious agents etc.:

The limitations of liability in paragraph 1 shall apply to the same extent in favour of our bodies, our employees and other vicarious agents and our subcontractors.

§ 13 Place of jurisdiction and choice of law

(1) Place of jurisdiction:

Our place of business is agreed as the place of jurisdiction if you are a merchant or have no general place of jurisdiction in the Federal Republic of Germany. In this case, however, we shall also be entitled to take legal action at your place of business.

(2) Choice of law:

• if you are an entrepreneur (§ 14 BGB), German law shall apply.
• if you are a consumer (§ 13 BGB), the following shall apply:

  These General Terms and Conditions and the contractual relationship with you shall be governed by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany to the exclusion of substantive EU law. However, the statutory provisions limiting the choice of law remain unaffected. In particular, the following shall apply on the basis of Article 6 (2) of Regulation (EC) No. 593/2008, (so-called “Rome I Regulation”) in its territorial scope of application: Insofar as the law of the state in which you have your habitual residence at the time of conclusion of the contract (hereinafter “law of domicile”) contains provisions for your protection from which, according to the law of domicile, may not be deviated from by agreement, the (more favourable) provisions of your law of domicile shall apply to you. You therefore always enjoy the protection of the mandatory provisions of your law of domicile despite the choice of law pursuant to sentence 1.

§ 1 Services and obligations of the organiser/provider of a chargeable service

(1) The organiser / provider of the chargeable service grants the partner the individually agreed advertising measures. This includes all measures of corporate communication and services which are permitted and provided to the Partner in connection with the event / the fee-based service.

(2) The organiser may conclude sponsorship agreements with other partners/sponsors, also from the same industry, or use or commission their services for the event/chargeable service.

(3) The Organiser shall provide the Partner with brief information on the services provided promptly after the event.

(4) The organiser can make changes to the content, location, time and course of the event / chargeable service, insofar as these are insignificant and reasonable for the partner to achieve the purpose of the contract.

§ 2 Services and obligations of the Partner

(1) In return, the Partner shall pay the agreed lump sum plus the statutory value added tax to the organiser / provider of the chargeable service. Any payment dates shall be agreed separately; unless otherwise agreed, the amounts shall be paid before the event / before the start of the chargeable service.

(2) The Partner shall otherwise observe the provisions regulated in this contract.

§ 3 Use of brands, trademarks, copyrights, etc.

(1) Both contracting parties warrant that the respective other contracting party may publicly use names, works, titles, marks and brands (hereinafter referred to only as: marks) for the purpose of executing the contract and shall receive a simple right of use in each case for this purpose.

Both contracting parties shall make available to each other free of charge the rights to the marks necessary for this purpose in order to carry out the event / the service subject to a charge and to implement the services and responsibilities, and shall guarantee that these rights are free of third-party rights.

By using a licence plate in accordance with the contract, the contracting party using it shall not acquire any rights thereto that extend beyond the scope of this contract.

Both contractual partners also undertake not to register the existing trademark in other countries or to have it registered or otherwise use it or have it used in order to generate rights there.

Both contracting parties undertake not to attack or have attacked already existing industrial property rights or trademark rights of the other party.

(2) Insofar as the contracting parties jointly acquire rights to a trademark in the future, the above paragraph 1 shall apply accordingly with the proviso that both contracting parties are equal rights holders.

Both contracting parties also undertake, even after conclusion of the contract, not to register or have registered the existing trade marks in Germany or in other countries or otherwise to use them or have them used in order to generate rights there. Registration may be effected jointly or by means of a separate agreement.

(3) Insofar as the contracting parties or rights holders have certain requirements for their sign from a legal point of view or from the point of view of the corporate C.I., this must be communicated to the other contracting party in advance.

(4) The pledging of the licence rights in this contract is excluded.

(5) Documents, graphics, data created by the contractual partner remain his property, as far as the transfer of ownership is not subject matter of the contract.

(6) Indemnity obligation:

The partner is obliged to indemnify the organiser/provider of the service liable to costs from any claim by third parties and costs arising from a claim by third parties, insofar as the claim is based on a breach by the partner of one of the regulations agreed here, agreements from an individual order, from a later agreement, or against a statutory or other regulation or any other unlawful conduct. This indemnification obligation shall continue to apply within the framework of the statutory limitation period even after the end of the contract if the claim is only made after the end of the contract. This also applies if the contract was terminated prematurely due to force majeure or other events.

§ 4 Contents of the activities

(1) Both contracting parties shall ensure that their own actions/statements

– do not contain any political, discriminatory, racist, extremist or otherwise immoral statements, insinuations or representations;

– do not contain any statements, insinuations or representations that are incompatible with basic democratic values and/or the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany and/or have a negative impact on the peaceful coexistence of people in Germany;

– do not contain any statements, insinuations or representations which impair the positive image of the respective other contracting party.

(2) The contractual partners shall inform each other immediately as soon as they do not agree with actions, measures, marketing activities, etc. of the other or fear violations.

(3) The contractual partners shall disclose their plans and activities in relation to the implementation of the contract at any time upon request and shall support each other in maintaining a positive image.

§ 5 Exchange of information

In the event of an accident or incident that attracts the attention of the press, the contracting parties shall coordinate and cooperate before making any statements to the press.

§ 6 Confidentiality

(1) The parties to the contract mutually agree to maintain absolute confidentiality regarding trade and business secrets, even beyond the end of the contract.

(2) Trade and business secrets are all facts, circumstances and processes relating to a company which are not in the public domain but are only accessible to a limited group of persons and in the non-disclosure of which the legal entity has a legitimate interest. Trade secrets essentially comprise technical knowledge, business secrets primarily concern commercial knowledge.

(3) Both contracting parties undertake to maintain secrecy vis-à-vis third parties about the amount of the payments and the contents of this contract. This shall continue to apply after the end of the contract.

§ 7 Data protection

(1) Employees or subcontractors of the partner: use of data / passing on of our data protection information:

The partner is obliged to pass on the data protection information which the organiser/provider of the service subject to a charge communicates as a contractual partner also to the responsible persons and contact persons to be named by him, so that they are also informed about the data processing procedures and data protection measures taking place at our company in connection with the contract.

(2) Further agreements relevant under data protection law:

To the extent necessary, the contractual partners will also conclude relevant agreements under data protection law after the conclusion of the contract, which are based on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO) and the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) (e.g. a joint responsibility agreement pursuant to Art. 26 DSGVO or a commissioned processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 DSGVO).

§ 8 Liability

(1) The organiser / provider of the fee-based service does not guarantee that the partner will be successful in advertising. In particular, the organiser/provider of the chargeable service does not guarantee that a sufficient number of visitors will actually visit the event/the chargeable service.

(2) Both contracting parties exclude their liability for damage to property and financial losses caused by slight negligence on the part of the other contracting party. Claims by third parties are not excluded.

§ 9 Force majeure and (partial) non-implementation of the event / chargeable service

(1) In the event of force majeure leading to a cancellation, termination or interruption of the supported event / service for which a fee is payable, any services already exchanged shall be reversed and both contracting parties shall lose any outstanding claims for services (claim to payment, claim to advertising or performance of the event / service for which a fee is payable) against the other. Claims for damages shall not arise.

This shall not apply if the performance already rendered by one contracting party without a compensatory performance by the other contracting party would lead to an unreasonable disadvantage for the contracting party (already performing) or to an advantage for the other contracting party contrary to good faith (e.g. if the organiser / provider of the service subject to a charge has already performed advertising measures in favour of the Partner but the Partner has not yet made any payments; or if the Partner has already made payments but the organiser / provider of the service subject to a charge has not yet initiated any advertising measures). In this respect, it is therefore deemed to be agreed that the services referred to in § 1 are divisible.

The following shall apply to all formats: It shall be rebuttably presumed for both parties that the 3 service packages each account for the following of the total value: “Before the event / fee-based service” = 20 %, “At the digital event / fee-based service” = 50 % and “After the event / fee-based service” = 30 %. These package values, unless the presumption is rebutted, shall form the basis for the valuation of the divisible services actually provided.

(2) Official, police or court orders to stop or cancel the event correspond to the force majeure from paragraph 1, insofar as a contractual partner has not culpably caused this order.

(3) It is deemed to be agreed that force majeure within the meaning of paragraph 1 also includes a recommendation by the state (federal government, state, ministries, authorities) not to hold the event / provide the service for which costs are payable (e.g. due to a pandemic-like spread of a virus or a terrorist warning).

§ 10 Termination of the contract

(1) This contract relates only to the event / chargeable service covered by the contract and shall end when the event / chargeable service has been completed in full between the contracting parties. The right to ordinary termination of this contract is excluded, unless agreed here in paragraph 2.

(2) The organiser / provider of the fee-based service may terminate the contract without giving reasons if the event / fee-based service in question is cancelled or is not or cannot be carried out by the organiser / provider of the fee-based service. Fault on the part of the organiser/provider of the fee-based service is not relevant.

(3) If no contractual partner has culpably caused the termination, the regulation on force majeure shall apply accordingly. If a contracting party has culpably caused the termination, it loses its claim to performance against the other party, but remains itself obliged to provide the agreed service, and for the terminating contracting party optionally to pay damages instead of the service. A termination according to paragraph 2 shall be deemed not to be culpably caused insofar as the reasons for termination are event-related (lack of reporting, scheduling conflicts, financial difficulties of implementation, and do not contradict good faith (e.g. in order to be able to enter into an exclusive partnership in parallel with another partner).

(5) Both contractual partners may terminate the contract for good cause. Good cause exists, for example, if

– the other contracting partner violates contractual or legal provisions and does not immediately cease its unlawful conduct despite a warning;

– the other contracting party discontinues its business activities in whole or in substantial part or insolvency proceedings are applied for or opened against its assets;

(6) Consequences of the termination for the rights:

Both contractual partners may also advertise after the end of the contract that they were involved as partners in the events / services with costs that took place during the term of the contract.

Both contractual partners can continue to use the rights from 3 after the end of the contract to an extent that is reasonable in relation to the duration of the contract, the importance of the services of the using contractual partner in the implementation of the contract and the reason for the termination. The contractual partner shall be responsible for ensuring that the rights are not used in a commercial manner to the extent that the relevant public could believe that the contractual partner using the rights is the owner or the sole owner of the rights. The other contracting party may prohibit such use for good cause, e.g. if the contract was terminated prematurely due to culpable material breach of duty by the using contracting party.

Both contractual partners grant the other contractual partner the right to use the name, designation and logo of the other contractual partner to a reasonable extent and for the purpose of the letter or b. for post-contractual public relations and advertising. In view of the passage of time, it is agreed that, in case of doubt, the standards of the “contemporary event” shall apply in accordance with section 23(1) no. 1 of the Art Copyright Act, so that the intensity of the use shall be reduced to the extent that the public’s interest in the events and the publications relating thereto diminishes in the circles of the public addressed. The burden of proof shall be borne by the party claiming the greater extent of use.

§ 11 Other

(1) Assignment:

The Partner may assign claims arising from the contractual relationship to third parties only with the prior express consent of the organiser/provider of the chargeable service.

(2) Place of jurisdiction:

The place of jurisdiction for all claims arising from the contractual relationship is the place of business of the organiser / provider of the service with costs. He is also entitled to choose the place of jurisdiction at the Partner’s place of business.

(3) Choice of law:

German law shall apply.

(4) Language:

Should these General Terms and Conditions be translated into another language in addition to German, the German version shall always take precedence in case of doubt.

(5) Preservation of validity:

Both contracting parties are obliged, if individual or several provisions are ineffective, void or unenforceable for reasons other than the provisions concerning the law of general terms and conditions according to §§ 305 to 310 BGB, or if a gap in the provision arises which needs to be filled, to replace it with an effective provision or to fill the gap which corresponds in its legal and economic content to the ineffective/void/unenforceable provision and the purpose of the contract. § Section 139 BGB (partial invalidity) is expressly excluded. If the invalidity of a provision is based on a measure of performance or time (date or period) stipulated in it, this provision shall be agreed with a legally permissible measure that comes closest to the original measure.

In return, the Partner shall pay the organiser/provider of the chargeable service the agreed lump sum plus the statutory value added tax. Any payment dates shall be agreed separately; unless otherwise agreed, the amounts shall be paid 5 days after invoicing. Without payment of the invoice, access to / use of the event / the chargeable service is not permitted.