General terms and conditions
1. Scope
1.1 These general terms and conditions apply to all orders for print products, including orders placed over the internet, online products including databases and subscriptions, conferences, travel and products from hpsmedia GmbH's online shops. Orders from booksellers and commercial resellers are excluded; these are governed by the separate “Delivery and payment terms for the book trade / commercial resellers”.
1.2 Any differing terms are rejected.
2. Offers and availability
2.1 Our offers are non-binding and subject to availability of the goods or the content of our download services.
2.2 Paid online databases
For online databases, the contract with the customer is concluded when hpsmedia GmbH sends the password for the online service ordered. The password is communicated when registering for the online service. For online databases available only in conjunction with a print journal subscription, the right to use the online database arises when the print subscription is concluded.
2.3 Paid downloads
The contract is concluded when, after registering and selecting the required content, the customer enters the information required for the chosen payment method and confirms the order by clicking.
2.4 Registration
Use of paid and free online services requires the customer to register with a password free of charge and without any resulting contractual obligations. The customer must provide truthful and complete information and keep it up to date. If information is incorrect or outdated, hpsmedia GmbH may suspend access to the online service temporarily or permanently without incurring an obligation to refund fees already paid.
3. Delivery of goods and shipping costs
3.1 Goods are dispatched from D-35410 Hungen. Any delivery times or periods stated are non-binding. Risk passes to you when the goods are dispatched.
4. Prices, payment and retention of title
4.1 Our prices include any applicable statutory VAT; shipping costs are added for deliveries of goods and shown separately.
4.2 Invoices are payable immediately unless otherwise agreed. Payments must be made without deduction to one of the accounts stated on the invoice.
4.3 You may offset counterclaims only if they are undisputed or have been established by a final judgment. The same applies to any rights of retention.
4.4 Delivered goods remain our property until the purchase price has been paid in full.
5. Journals, conferences and travel
5.1 Journal subscriptions are invoiced in advance for the current calendar year, starting with the month of the first issue received, regardless of publication frequency. The subscription renews for one calendar year at a time unless the publisher receives written cancellation at least four weeks (28 days) before the end of the subscription year.
5.2 For reduced subscription prices for trainees, students and trainee teachers, appropriate evidence of training must be submitted with the order without being requested. The evidence must state the expected end date of the training. From the calendar year following the end of training, the subscription changes to the standard price unless new evidence has been submitted to the publisher by 31 December of the last invoiced year.
5.3 hpsmedia GmbH does not guarantee that the online service ordered will be available at all times without interruption or error. For paid online services, the customer will be notified of a foreseeable interruption at the email address they provided. Where an interruption falls within the publisher's responsibility, the customer has a right to terminate, to the exclusion of further warranty rights, and must notify the publisher in writing or text form, by letter, fax or email toinfo@hpsmedia-verlag.de). In this case, fees already paid for the unused proportion of the service period will be refunded. For online databases available only in conjunction with a print journal subscription, this termination right applies only to use of the online service. The print subscription is unaffected, but the customer may request an appropriate adjustment to the subscription price.
5.4 All content offered by the publisher is checked for viruses using current technology. Nevertheless, hpsmedia GmbH accepts no liability for damage or impairment caused by computer viruses.
5.5 Unless express guarantees have been given, hpsmedia GmbH is liable for breaches of duty of any kind only in the event of culpable injury to life, body or health. Statutory liability applies in these cases. This also applies to liability under the German Product Liability Act and to damage resulting from a grossly negligent or intentional breach of duty. In cases of slight negligence, liability exists only for breaches of material contractual obligations and is limited to foreseeable damage typical of the contract. Material contractual obligations are the main performance obligations under the contract and other ancillary obligations whose culpable breach could jeopardise achievement of the contract's purpose.
5.5 For both paid and free online services, hpsmedia GmbH grants the customer non-exclusive rights to use the content. Disclosure to third parties is prohibited, and commercial use requires prior consent from hpsmedia GmbH or a separate licence. For institutional customers such as hospitals, use of the content for their institution's purposes is not commercial use and is permitted.
Download allowances for certain access types are limited as follows: single-user subscriptions: thirty downloads per week; institutional subscriptions: three hundred downloads per week; intranet subscriptions: unlimited; trial subscriptions: one current issue.
5.6 Copyright notices and similar notices must not be removed. Customers may not alter or adapt content, communicate it publicly or make it available for download. Customers may also not copy or store online content to create a collection, compile new databases or use it in a local retrieval system.
5.7 Customers must keep their access credentials confidential and must not disclose them to other users. If credentials are lost or unauthorised use by third parties is suspected, the customer must inform the publisher. Customers are also liable for misuse of credentials for which they are responsible. Where access to online content is provided through a static IP address, the customer must restrict IP access to authorised users within their institution and prevent unauthorised third-party access to the online content.
5.8 For paid online databases and subscriptions, the contract runs for one year from the invoice date. It renews for a further year at a time unless the customer cancels in writing at least eight weeks before the end of the respective contract year, i.e. twelve months after the invoice date. Invoicing is always in advance for one contract year. For online databases available only in conjunction with a print journal subscription, the contract term matches that print subscription. Invoicing is in advance for the current calendar year, starting with the month of the first issue received. The subscription renews for one calendar year at a time unless the publisher receives written cancellation at least eight weeks before the end of the calendar year.
5.9 Conferences and travel
hpsmedia GmbH may cancel an event for economic reasons. In that case, participation fees already paid will be refunded; there are no further claims. hpsmedia GmbH reserves the right to replace or cancel individual presentations at a conference. Such changes do not give rise to a right to reimbursement of all or part of the participation fee or other expenses. Presentations and event materials are protected by copyright. Rights of use are transferred only by express written agreement. Participants may not copy licensed material supplied for training or make it available to third parties. Licensed material includes data-processing programs and/or licensed datasets (databases) in machine-readable form, together with associated documentation. Except for material contractual obligations (“cardinal obligations”), hpsmedia GmbH and its vicarious agents are liable only for damage demonstrably caused by an intentional or grossly negligent contractual breach and which remains typical and foreseeable. hpsmedia GmbH is not liable for consequential damage arising from errors in presentations, seminars or seminar materials, for example as regards accuracy and completeness. If registration is cancelled up to the fourteenth calendar day before the event starts, hpsmedia GmbH refunds the full participation fee less a €20 administration fee. For cancellations from the fourteenth calendar day before the event starts, the full participation fee is due. Cancellation must be in writing. A participant may be replaced by another person from the same company. We use registration data within the applicable legal limits to perform our services. Participants appear in the event's participant list with their name, company role, company and location.
6. Warranty and liability
6.1 If you demonstrate defects in our performance, we will provide a replacement or remedy the defect within a reasonable period. If we do not succeed, you may choose to withdraw from the contract or reduce the purchase price. The statutory warranty period applies.
6.2 Beyond this, unless we have given express guarantees, we are liable only for culpable injury to life, body or health caused by us or our vicarious agents. Statutory liability continues to apply in these cases. This also applies to liability under the German Product Liability Act and to damage resulting from a grossly negligent or intentional breach of duty by us or our vicarious agents. In cases of slight negligence, liability exists only for breaches of material contractual obligations and is limited to foreseeable damage typical of the contract, which generally does not exceed the purchase price of the goods ordered. Material contractual obligations are the main performance obligations and other ancillary obligations whose culpable breach could jeopardise achievement of the contract's purpose.
6.3 You are responsible for the secure storage and use of your user credentials, particularly your password. We are not liable for damage you suffer due to misuse or loss of your user credentials.
7. Withdrawal information: right and effects of withdrawal
7.1 Withdrawal from subscriptions and online services
Withdrawal information
A consumer is any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for purposes that are predominantly outside their trade, business or profession.
Right of withdrawal
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day on which you, or a third party nominated by you who is not the carrier, take possession of the first goods. To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (hpsmedia GmbH, Managing Director Prof. Dr. Andreas Lauterbach, PO Box 1155, D-35406 Hungen, telephone: 06402-7082660, fax: 06402-7082669, email address: info@hpsmedia-verlag.de) of your decision to withdraw from this contract by an unequivocal statement, for example a letter sent by post, fax or email. You may use the attached model withdrawal form, but this is not mandatory. To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient to send your communication concerning the exercise of your right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period expires.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse all payments received from you, including delivery costs (except additional costs arising from your choice of a delivery method other than the least expensive standard delivery we offer), without undue delay and no later than fourteen days from the day on which we receive notification of your withdrawal from this contract. We will use the same payment method you used for the original transaction unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no event will you incur fees as a result of this reimbursement. We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back or you have provided evidence that you have returned them, whichever is earlier. You must return or hand over the goods to us without undue delay and in any event no later than fourteen days from the day on which you inform us of your withdrawal from this contract. The deadline is met if you send the goods before the fourteen-day period expires. You bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are liable for any diminished value of the goods only if it results from handling beyond what is necessary to establish their nature, characteristics and functioning.
Exclusion or premature expiry of the right of withdrawal
There is no right of withdrawal for contracts
– for the supply of goods that are not prefabricated and whose manufacture is determined by an individual selection or specification by the consumer, or that are clearly personalised to the consumer's needs;
– for the supply of goods liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly;
– for the supply of alcoholic beverages whose price was agreed when the contract was concluded but which can be delivered no earlier than thirty days after conclusion of the contract and whose current value depends on market fluctuations beyond the trader's control;
– for the supply of newspapers, periodicals or magazines, except subscription contracts.
The right of withdrawal expires prematurely for contracts
– for the supply of sealed goods which are unsuitable for return for health-protection or hygiene reasons if their seal has been removed after delivery;
– for the supply of goods which, after delivery, have become inseparably mixed with other items by their nature;
– for the supply of audio or video recordings or computer software in sealed packaging if the seal has been removed after delivery.
Model withdrawal form
(If you wish to withdraw from the contract, please complete this form and return it.)
To hpsmedia GmbH, Managing Director Prof. Dr. Andreas Lauterbach, PO Box 1155, D-35406 Hungen, fax: 06402-7082669, email address info@hpsmedia-verlag.de :
I/We (*) hereby withdraw from the contract concluded by me/us (*) for the purchase of the following goods (*)
Ordered on (*)/received on (*): _________________________
Name of consumer(s): _________________________
Address of consumer(s): _________________________
Signature of consumer(s), only if this form is submitted on paper
_______________________________________________________
Date
_______________________________________________________
(*) Delete as appropriate.
7.2 Right of withdrawal for deliveries of goods
Withdrawal information
A consumer is any natural person who enters into a legal transaction for purposes that are predominantly outside their trade, business or profession.
Right of withdrawal
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is fourteen days from the day on which you, or a third party nominated by you who is not the carrier, take possession of the goods. To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (hpsmedia GmbH, Managing Director Prof. Dr. Andreas Lauterbach, PO Box 1155, D-35406 Hungen, telephone: 06402-7082660, fax: 06402-7082669, email address: support@hpsmedia.info) of your decision to withdraw from this contract by an unequivocal statement, for example a letter sent by post, fax or email. You may use the attached model withdrawal form, but this is not mandatory. To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient to send your communication concerning the exercise of your right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period expires.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse all payments received from you, including delivery costs (except additional costs arising from your choice of a delivery method other than the least expensive standard delivery we offer), without undue delay and no later than fourteen days from the day on which we receive notification of your withdrawal from this contract. We will use the same payment method you used for the original transaction unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no event will you incur fees as a result of this reimbursement. We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back or you have provided evidence that you have returned them, whichever is earlier. You must return or hand over the goods to us without undue delay and in any event no later than fourteen days from the day on which you inform us of your withdrawal from this contract. The deadline is met if you send the goods before the fourteen-day period expires. You bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are liable for any diminished value of the goods only if it results from handling beyond what is necessary to establish their nature, characteristics and functioning.
Exclusion or premature expiry of the right of withdrawal
There is no right of withdrawal for contracts
– for the supply of goods that are not prefabricated and whose manufacture is determined by an individual selection or specification by the consumer, or that are clearly personalised to the consumer's needs;
– for the supply of goods liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly;
– for the supply of alcoholic beverages whose price was agreed when the contract was concluded but which can be delivered no earlier than thirty days after conclusion of the contract and whose current value depends on market fluctuations beyond the trader's control;
– for the supply of newspapers, periodicals or magazines, except subscription contracts.
The right of withdrawal expires prematurely for contracts
– for the supply of sealed goods which are unsuitable for return for health-protection or hygiene reasons if their seal has been removed after delivery;
– for the supply of goods which, after delivery, have become inseparably mixed with other items by their nature;
– for the supply of audio or video recordings or computer software in sealed packaging if the seal has been removed after delivery.
Model withdrawal form
(If you wish to withdraw from the contract, please complete this form and return it.)
To hpsmedia GmbH, Managing Director Prof. Dr. Andreas Lauterbach, PO Box 1155, D-35406 Hungen, fax: 06402-7082669, email address info@hpsmedia-verlag.de:
I/We (*) hereby withdraw from the contract concluded by me/us (*) for the purchase of the following goods (*)
Ordered on (*)/received on (*): _________________________
Name of consumer(s): _________________________
Address of consumer(s): _________________________
Signature of consumer(s), only if this form is submitted on paper
_______________________________________________________
Date
_______________________________________________________
(*) Delete as appropriate.
8. Final provisions
8.1 You consent to the collection, storage, processing and use of your personal data and, where applicable, their disclosure to third parties insofar as necessary to fulfil your order and process payment. Otherwise, we will treat your data as strictly confidential.
8.2 The place of performance and, for orders placed by merchants, the place of jurisdiction is Gießen. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies exclusively, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
8.3 If any part of the contract or these general terms and conditions is invalid, this does not affect the validity of the contract or the remaining terms.
8.4 Refusal to accept delivery
If a buyer who is not a consumer within the meaning of section 13 of the German Civil Code (BGB) does not accept the goods sold, we may choose either to insist on acceptance or claim ten per cent of the purchase price as flat-rate compensation for damage and expenses, unless the buyer demonstrates that no damage, or less damage, arose. We reserve the right to claim exceptionally high damage. During the buyer's delay in acceptance, we may store the goods at the buyer's risk on our premises, with a freight forwarder or with a warehouse operator. During this period, the buyer must pay a flat rate of €15 per month for storage costs without further proof. This flat-rate compensation is reduced to the extent that the buyer demonstrates that no expenses or damage arose. We reserve the right to claim exceptionally high storage costs.
8.5 Statutory warranty
In a warranty case, the consumer may choose repair of the defect or delivery of defect-free goods (subsequent performance). If the chosen form of subsequent performance entails disproportionate costs, the claim is limited to the remaining form. When defect-free goods are supplied, replacement with a higher-value product of comparable characteristics is deemed accepted in advance where reasonable for both the consumer and us, for example a successor model in the same model range. Further rights, particularly rescission of the purchase contract, may be exercised only after a reasonable period for subsequent performance has expired or subsequent performance has failed twice.
8.6 Business customers
If the buyer acts as a business, we may, at our discretion, remedy the defect or deliver defect-free goods within the meaning of section 439 BGB within one year of delivery. After one year from delivery, warranty claims are limited, at our discretion, to repair or a credit for the current value. If the business customer requests reimbursement of expenses within the meaning of section 478(2) BGB, this is limited to two per cent of the original value of the goods. Claims under section 478 BGB are excluded through the twenty-four-month warranty for businesses under 8.1 by way of equivalent compensation within the meaning of section 478(4), first sentence, BGB.
8.7 Guarantee
Replacement under a statutory warranty or guarantee does not start new warranty or guarantee periods; section 203 BGB remains unaffected.
8.8 Guarantee
We give no guarantee within the meaning of section 443 BGB for the stated characteristics of the goods. Any guarantee rights granted by manufacturers remain unaffected and are governed exclusively by the guarantee declaration supplied to the customer with the goods.
8.9 Liability
Under statutory warranty law, we are liable without limitation for damage arising from injury to life, body or health caused by a negligent or intentional breach of duty by us or our vicarious agents. We are also liable without limitation under statutory provisions for other damage resulting from breach of a material contractual obligation. This applies where the breach concerns an obligation whose fulfilment is essential to proper performance of the contract and on whose fulfilment the customer relied and was entitled to rely.
8.10 Liability
The liability provisions under 8.9 are limited to foreseeable, typically occurring damage and also apply to other breaches of duty outside statutory warranty law. These include, in particular, breaches of main and ancillary performance obligations before delivery of the goods. Otherwise, liability is limited to intent and gross negligence. We are not liable for restoring data unless we caused the loss intentionally or through gross negligence and the buyer ensured that backups were made so that the data can be reconstructed with reasonable effort.