Contractual Terms and Conditions for the Entry in the Expert Directory

1. Introductory Remarks

Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) operates the Expert Directory, accessible at the website http://expertdirectory.s-ge.com. This has the purpose of bringing together Swiss and Liechtenstein SMEs (users) and experts. The experts are companies that have registered with S-GE as experts in export-related fields.


2. Scope

The present general contractual terms and conditions regulate the legal relationship between S-GE and the experts concerning the entry in the Expert Directory and the use of the Expert Directory. The cooperation with the experts in general, and the certification of the experts, are governed by the general contractual terms and conditions for cooperation with experts and the general contractual terms and conditions for the certification of experts.

The parties declare the data protection provisions of S-GE to be an integral part of the present contractual terms and conditions.


3. Registration as an Expert

3.1. General

The expert's entry in the Expert Directory focuses on the company, its services, the competencies, and the business locations and their contact persons. The registration is done by an employee (account holder) of the expert, who manages the administration of the entry and thus serves as the contact person for Switzerland Global Enterprise.

3.2. Requirements

The following conditions are mandatory for registration in the Expert Directory:

  • The entity exists in the form of a company (not a private individual)
  • Specific services are being offered in the field of internationalisation (strategy & management, marketing & sales, finance & taxes, logistics, law, personnel, etc.)

In addition to this, the expert shall also meet the following criteria:

  • The company should have a logo
  • There should be evidence of country-specific competency
  • There should be evidence of sector-specific competency

The expert must be capable of supporting the users in their expansion abroad.

3.3. Registration Procedure

The registration as expert is done directly via the Expert Directory. For the registration procedure, the account holder compiles an entry and chooses a password for access to the entry. It is possible to request a new password at any time, which will then be sent to the registered e-mail address of the account holder. The account holder is responsible for ensuring that his e-mail account is protected against unauthorised access. S-GE shall not pass on the password to third parties. S-GE will never ask the account holder to tell it the password.

It is not permitted to use pseudonyms or stage names when setting up the entry.

The entry may only be composed in a single language. During registration, the account holder can select the desired language from a predefined list. The entry shall then be composed entirely in the language selected. It is not permitted to use a combination of different languages. All mandatory details must be included when composing the entry. After the entry has been activated, users are able to see the mandatory details in the Expert Directory, with the exception of the account holder's e-mail address, the e-mail addresses of the contact persons and the company's billing address. The mandatory details may subsequently be modified but not deleted.

Any further details that are voluntarily entered may likewise be viewed by the users of the Expert Directory after the entry has been activated and put online. The account holder may delete the voluntary details from his entry at any time.

3.4. Effective Date of the Contract between S-GE and the Expert

By sending the entry for unlocking, the expert submits a request that a contract be concluded with S-GE. After the entry has been sent, S-GE will then examine the expert's request. S-GE is entitled to reject it without stating the reasons.

For a contract to come into effect between S-GE and the expert, S-GE must expressly declare its consent, which the account holder is notified of by an e-mail sent to the e-mail address that he has provided.

3.5. Activation of the Entry

The entry for experts based abroad shall be activated only after the registration fee has been paid as stipulated in section 4. For experts based in Switzerland/Principality of Liechtenstein, the entry is activated by S-GE after a plausibility check.

3.6. Right of Revocation

The expert may revoke its request that the contract be concluded (section 3.4) without having to state the reasons.

The revocation must be made within 7 working days from the time of submitting the request, and communicated to S-GE by e-mail.

Any registration fee that has already been paid shall be reimbursed to the expert within 30 days. If a processing fee has already been paid (section 4), this shall not be reimbursed.


4. Registration Fee

For the registration, S-GE charges the experts based abroad a registration fee of CHF 140.- to cover the administrative costs. Experts based in Switzerland/Principality of Liechtenstein are free from the registration fee.

The registration fee is to be paid by bank transfer.


5. Rights and Duties of the Expert

By registering the expert confirms the correctness of the information included in his entry. The expert shall promptly update his entry should any changes take place that affect the details he has provided.

Each expert may only have one entry.

The expert undertakes not to publish any unlawful, untrue, misleading or depreciative information in the Expert Directory. For information to be published it is also necessary that the expert holds the necessary intellectual property rights and copyrights.

The Expert Directory may not be used for unlawful or immoral activities. In particular, the expert shall avoid performing or encouraging any anticompetitive actions, including any progressive advertising to customers (e.g. chain, snowball or pyramid-selling systems).

The use of mechanisms, software or scripts in connection with the use of the Expert Directory is prohibited. Similarly prohibited is jamming, overwriting, modification or copying of the Expert Directory, except where this is required within the framework of ordinary use. Also prohibited are all actions designed to impair the functioning of the Expert Directory, in particular those that might overload it.

The expert shall keep his password confidential and protect it against abuse by unauthorised persons. He shall promptly notify S-GE of any unauthorised use of its password by third parties.


6. Rights and Duties of S-GE

S-GE shall endeavour to ensure the availability of the Expert Directory during the term of the contract. S-GE is, however, authorised to modify the Expert Directory at any time technically or in its content, or to suspend its operation entirely. The execution of these rights does not lead to any entitlement to claims for damages by the expert.

S-GE is entitled to immediately delete any unlawful, untrue or misleading information that the expert has included in its entry. Furthermore S-GE is entitled to modify the formal structure of the information provided by the expert, without prior notice, in an effort to improve the quality of the entry.

S-GE may immediately deactivate the entry of the expert and take it offline should the suspicion arise that unlawful or immoral activities are taking place. The expert shall be immediately informed of any such measures. Should the suspicion turn out to be baseless, the entry will be reactivated for the expert at no extra charge.

S-GE reserves the right to delete entries that have been deactivated for more than a year, after sending one notification to the e-mail address registered by the account holder.

The user agrees that the contact inquiry sent to the expert via the function "Send message" may be viewed by S-GE for the purpose of preventing the delivery of unwanted messages (spam), and if necessary may be forwarded only after a certain delay, or deleted, should there be an indication that it is spam. The contact inquiry will be forwarded to the submitted e-mail address of the respective contact person. In doing this, S-GE does not accept liability for the secure transmission of the contact inquiry or for ensuring that only the expert gains access to it.

S-GE retains all rights to the concept, layout and design of the Expert Directory. S-GE similarly retains all the name and trademark rights to which he is entitled.


7. Liability Provisions

Experts are liable to S-GE for all damages caused in connection with the use of the Expert Directory.

In particular, experts are liable to S-GE for the correctness, completeness and quality of information about themselves that is published in the Expert Directory. Specifically, they are liable for any infringement of intellectual property rights and copyrights of third parties caused thereby.

Should S-GE be subject to a claim by a third party as a result of unlawful use of the Expert Directory, the expert shall indemnify and hold S-GE harmless, and specifically shall bear the court costs and out-of-court costs incurred as well as the costs for representation by a lawyer, and shall participate as a secondary party in any lawsuit that may take place.

Should S-GE be subject to a claim by a user as a result of the (alleged) non-performance or faulty performance of an expert, then the expert shall similarly indemnify and hold S-GE completely harmless within the meaning of the previous paragraph.

In no case shall S-GE accept liability for unlawful behaviour of an expert or non-performance or faulty performance by an expert.

Finally, in no case shall S-GE accept liability for the behaviour of users, other experts, or the content of linked external websites.

S-GE does not verify the details provided by the users and their ability to meet financial obligations. Contacting the users and negotiating and concluding contracts with them take place at the person's own risk. Where the representation of a user leads to a contract being concluded (e.g. for an order), then such a contract exists solely between the expert and the user.


8. Duration, Extension and Termination of the Contract

The term of the contract between S-GE and the expert is 12 months.

If S-GE intends to extend the contract made with an expert, S-GE will send an e-mail asking the expert to renew it, setting a deadline of one month. By renewing the entry in the profile status the expert accepts this request, thereby extending the contract for a further 12 months.

If the renewal is not carried out in time, the entry of the expert shall be automatically deactivated and can no longer be viewed by the users. The entry may be activated again at the request of the expert. To do this, S-GE will charge a further registration fee of CHF 140.- for experts based abroad as laid down in section 4. Experts based in Switzerland/Principality of Liechtenstein are free from the registration fee and will be reactivated without charges.

The expert may terminate the contract at any time and without stating the reasons. The decision not to register the entry is taken to mean termination.

In the event of a breach of the present contractual terms and conditions, or of the general contractual terms and conditions for cooperation with experts, the general contractual terms and conditions for the certification of experts, or any other behaviour on the part of the expert that justifies a cancellation of the contract, S-GE is entitled to terminate the contract immediately without stating the reasons and to delete the entry.

In no case, then, is it allowed to demand a refund of the registration fee or processing fee after it has been paid.


9. Proviso

S-GE reserves the right to change the present contractual terms and conditions at any time. S-GE shall publish the amended contractual terms and conditions in the Expert Directory, and send a corresponding notification to the experts by e-mail. The experts must declare whether they accept or reject the amended contractual terms and conditions by selecting the respective button in their profile within a period of two weeks. In the event of rejection, this is deemed to be notice of termination within the meaning of section 8 (4). If no reply is received within two weeks this is similarly deemed to be notice of termination within the meaning of section 8 (4).


10. Final Provisions

Should any individual clauses of these contractual terms and conditions be or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining clauses. The invalid clause shall be replaced by one that is valid and that emulates the content and purpose of the invalid clause as closely as possible.

The legal relationship between the parties is to be governed exclusively by Swiss law.

The sole place of jurisdiction for the legal relationship between the parties is Zurich (Switzerland).

Version 3, September 2013