Preamble

The conditions set out in the present charter are intended to apply between the company AVENIR FOCUS, SAS with a capital of €50,000, registered in the Lyon Trade and Companies Register under the number 495.402.604, whose head office is located at 9 rue de l’Arbre sec in Lyon (69001), represented by its Director in office at the said head office, and the person applying to join the AVENIR FOCUS panel, hereinafter referred to as the “PANELIST“.

Both parties undertake to respect them mutually. Failing this, the other party may be released from its obligations.

Article 1 – Purpose of the Charter

AVENIR FOCUS‘ activity is to carry out qualitative and quantitative market research, by means of surveys and questionnaires of an identified population or group of individual consumers or professionals.

For this purpose, AVENIR FOCUS contacts individuals and professionals who have expressed an interest in participating in studies/surveys by registering on the www.avenirfocus.com website.

It is expressly understood that the PANELIST‘s participation is voluntary, free and independent, which excludes any link of subordination between the PANELIST and AVENIR FOCUS.

Article 2 – Registration

2.1. Registration procedure

The registration of a new PANELIST in the AVENIR FOCUS files is subject to :

• voluntary and fully consented registration,
• the communication by the candidate PANELIST of a set of data listed on the registration form accessible from the site www.avenirfocus.com,
• the acceptance of the present conditions by the candidate PANELIST,
• the sending of an email to the PANELIST to open an account and the allocation of a login and password, which constitutes full and express acceptance of the present charter,
• AVENIR FOCUS reserves the right to accept or refuse any new PANELIST without having to justify the reasons for its acceptance or refusal.

2.2 Effects of registration

Once his or her registration has been taken into account, the PANELIST has access to all the services offered on the AVENIR FOCUS site and, in particular, the opportunity to be solicited for a study and to respond to questionnaires by emailing or direct telephone contact with a view to applying for a new study.

Article 3 – Transmission of personal data by the PANELIST

3.1 Content of the data

The personal data transmitted by the PANELIST provides AVENIR FOCUS with information on his or her civil status, marital, family, social, property and tax situation, as well as on his or her consumption habits… It remains strictly confidential.

AVENIR FOCUS reserves the right to ask the PANELIST to provide any additional information or proof necessary for the perfect execution and processing of the study entrusted to it.

3.2 Modification and updating of data

The PANELIST undertakes to update the data concerning him or her and appearing under his or her “profile” on the AVENIR FOCUS site as soon as there is a change in his or her personal or professional situation, or a change in his or her contact information, so as to facilitate the selection work carried out by AVENIR FOCUS and to maintain his or her chances of being solicited for new studies.

In this regard, the PANELIST, in order to keep his or her database up to date, authorizes AVENIR FOCUS to ask him or her to update his or her profile.

3.3 Commitment to truthfulness

The PANELIST formally guarantees AVENIR FOCUS that the data he or she provides is sincere and accurate. AVENIR FOCUS reserves the right to exclude any PANELIST who has provided false or deliberately misleading information at the time of registration, or who has made multiple registrations or attempted to abuse AVENIR FOCUS‘ professionalism by any means.

Article 4 – Commitments of AVENIR FOCUS

4.1. Protection of personal data

What is personal data?

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) expands the definition of personal data. What constitutes “personal data” is much broader and specifically covers “online identifiers.” Personal data is any information associated with a person. It is primarily contact information, but also information that can be used directly or indirectly to identify an individual.

We advise each of our PANELISTS to understand what is considered personal data:

Identifiable information such as:

• Name
• Address
• IP address
• Photo
• Audio / video recording
• E-mail address
• Bank account information
• Online behavior: cookies, social media posts.
• Computer IP address
• Cell phone ID

Profile information/sensitive/special category such as:

• Household information
• Behavior and attitudes
• Medical information
• Diseases
• Ethnicity
• Religion
• Union Membership
• Sexual orientation
• Political views
• Biometric data
• Generic data

The PANELIST is informed that the databases of AVENIR FOCUS respect the regulations in force reinforced by the Regulation (EU) n° 2016/679 called “General Data Protection Regulation” (together the “Applicable Law on the Protection of Personal Data”).

Pursuant to the provisions of the “Informatique et Libertés” law no. 78-17 of January 6, 1978 and the Regulation (EU) no. 2016/679 known as the “General Data Protection Regulation” (together the “Applicable Law on the Protection of Personal Data”), any PANELIST has a right of opposition (Article 26), access (Articles 34 to 38), rectification (Article 36), limitation, deletion and portability of the Personal Data concerning him/her.

To exercise this right, the PANELIST may contact AVENIR FOCUS, 9 rue de l’Arbre sec – 69001 LYON by post or by e-mail at privacy@avenirfocus.com.

4.2 Confidentiality

AVENIR FOCUS undertakes not to divulge to third parties any personal and nominative information in its possession, and in particular the PANELIST’s contact details, except for information that is strictly necessary for the recruitment phase or for the proper conduct of the study. AVENIR FOCUS will take the necessary measures to preserve the secrecy and confidentiality of all information, data and personal documents communicated by the PANELIST.

AVENIR FOCUS implements and maintains appropriate security measures for its information system in order to protect the confidentiality of the Personal Data, in accordance with the requirements of the Applicable Data Protection Law. AVENIR FOCUS undertakes not to assign, rent or transmit the PANELIST‘s Personal Data to unauthorized third parties, unless required to do so by law or by the courts.

Consequently, AVENIR FOCUS undertakes to respect the following obligations and to ensure that its third parties respect them:

• to process Personal Data strictly within the framework of the services agreed between the parties under the contract and to act only on the basis of documented instructions from the client;
• to ensure the confidentiality of the Personal Data and to ensure that each person authorized to process the said data undertakes to respect confidentiality or is subject to an appropriate obligation of confidentiality (article 9);
• to ensure the security and integrity of the Personal Data. To this end, AVENIR FOCUS implements and maintains appropriate security measures for its information system, in accordance with the requirements of the applicable Data Protection Law. These measures aim to (i) protect Personal Data against destruction, loss, alteration, disclosure to unauthorized third parties, (ii) ensure the restoration of the availability of Personal Data and access to them within an appropriate timeframe in the event of a physical or technical incident;
  not to use the Personal Data for any purpose other than those provided for in the contract and strictly related to the performance of the services agreed upon between the parties, and not to keep it beyond the duration of the contract or any other duration specified by the customer. In any case, AVENIR FOCUS undertakes to delete and destroy any copy or return to the client all Personal Data at the end of the contract, with the exception of a copy kept by AVENIR FOCUS for the purpose of proof of the proper execution of its contractual obligations;
• not to license, rent, transfer or otherwise communicate to any other person, all or part of the Personal Data;
• AVENIR FOCUS guarantees that its employees and customers provide sufficient guarantees regarding the implementation of appropriate technical and organizational measures so that the processing meets the requirements of the Applicable Law on the Protection of Personal Data, and guarantees the protection of the rights of the persons concerned;
• to assist the PANELIST in order to enable it to respond, within the time limits and according to the conditions provided for by the Applicable Law on the Protection of Personal Data, to any request for the exercise of a right, request or complaint from a data subject or from a data protection authority or any other regulator;
• to provide assistance to the PANELIST in the context of carrying out impact analyses relating to privacy and/or in the context of formalities that the PANELIST may have to carry out. The PANELIST acknowledges and accepts that the assistance to be provided in this context will be the subject of a separate service proposal from AVENIR FOCUS;
• to make available to the PANELIST, under the condition of respecting a commitment of confidentiality, all the information necessary to demonstrate the respect of the obligations provided for in the present article and to allow the realization of studies;
• not to transfer the Personal Data processed under the contract to countries outside the European Economic Area that have not been recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection (i) without having first obtained the express written authorization of the PANELIST, (ii) without analysis of the country to which the data transfer will be made in order to ensure an adequate level of data protection and (iii) without the implementation of legal instruments recognized as appropriate by the Applicable Law on the Protection of Personal Data to govern the transfer(s) concerned.

Finally, AVENIR FOCUS undertakes to immediately alert the PANELIST in the event of a Personal Data breach and to assist the PANELIST in the implementation of any action enabling the data breach to be dealt with, including notifications to the competent authorities and to the persons concerned by the breaches, and to provide all useful information enabling the extent of the Personal Data breach to be assessed and the means to remedy it to be identified.

RESOURCES:

“The text of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (RGPD) is published on the CNIL website and the European Union website.”

Understand the European regulation on the CNIL website

4.3. Code of Ethics

AVENIR FOCUS respects all the rules and ethical practices governing its profession as well as the rules and ethical practices relating to the use of the Internet.

4.4. Access to www.avenirfocus.com

AVENIR FOCUS makes every effort to maintain the accessibility of its site www.avenirfocus.com.

However, access may be interrupted or suspended for reasons of maintenance or force majeure. AVENIR FOCUS cannot therefore be held responsible for any indirect, intangible or corporal damage of any nature whatsoever resulting from the interruption of access to the site.

Since AVENIR FOCUS does not provide any technical assistance of the “hot line” type, it is the responsibility of the PANELIST to correctly execute the operations to fill in, update or enrich his or her personal data and, more generally, to access his or her personal space.

4.5. Participation of the PANELIST

How does AVENIR FOCUS ensure clear and transparent consent from study participants?

In all AVENIR FOCUS European participant panels or partners, the new consent requirements have been updated since May 25, 2018.

Consent requests are intelligible and easily accessible and clearly state the purpose of data processing.

The consent is clear and distinct from other subjects and uses plain language.

For the panel but also for specific consents, consent is as easy to give as it is to withdraw.

AVENIR FOCUS retains control, management and organization of the studies, surveys or questionnaires entrusted to it by its clientele and consequently reserves the right to choose the participants in a discretionary and unilateral manner. AVENIR FOCUS is under no obligation to send or submit studies, surveys or questionnaires to the PANELIST registered on its site.

In order to avoid any conflict of interest with its client, AVENIR FOCUS will inform the PANELIST of any possible contraindications that may appear in a study, survey or questionnaire and will provide him/her with the documents and items that it deems necessary.

4.6. Responsibility

AVENIR FOCUS will ensure the protection of personal data and access to the site. It is expressly agreed that AVENIR FOCUS is only bound by an obligation of means, in particular with regard to the protection of personal data and access to the site.

Given the specific nature of the use of the AVENIR FOCUS website, the PANELIST may be confronted with technical hazards inherent to the use of the Internet and the interruptions in access that may result. Consequently, AVENIR FOCUS cannot be held responsible for any unavailability or slowing down of the website.

AVENIR FOCUS is not in a position to guarantee the continuity of the availability of the website beyond the obligations described (Articles 2 to 4), which the PANELIST acknowledges. AVENIR FOCUS shall in no event be liable for the direct or indirect consequences of any damage that may affect the PANELIST as a result of :

• the introduction of a computer virus affecting its proper functioning;
• modifications made by a third party not mandated by AVENIR FOCUS;
• illegal or unauthorized intrusions by any third party on the website;
• temporary congestion of the bandwidth;
• in general, any event beyond the control of AVENIR FOCUS.

Finally, AVENIR FOCUS shall not be held liable to the PANELIST for any direct or indirect, intangible or bodily damage of any nature whatsoever that the latter may have suffered as a result of his or her participation or lack of participation in a study, a survey or a questionnaire.

Article 5 – PANELIST’s commitments

5.1. Participation in a study, survey or questionnaire

When a PANELIST agrees to participate in a study, he or she undertakes to do his or her utmost to make himself or herself available to participate when the time comes. In the event that the PANELIST is unable to participate, he or she undertakes to inform AVENIR FOCUS as soon as he or she is aware of the occurrence of the impediment, so as to enable AVENIR FOCUS to provide for his or her replacement in the best possible conditions.

The PANELIST will be contacted, depending on the case, by mail, e-mail or telephone at the address or contact information indicated by the PANELIST at the time of enrolment or by any other means. The PANELIST undertakes to take into account the contraindications and possible conflicts of interest accompanying the study, survey or questionnaire that are brought to his/her attention by AVENIR FOCUS and to consult the documents and attachments accompanying them.

When the PANELIST is solicited via the Internet, AVENIR FOCUS undertakes to do everything possible to facilitate access to the questionnaire and any other attached documents. It is expressly agreed that AVENIR FOCUS is bound by an obligation of means in this regard.

The PANELIST may nevertheless at any time, without prior notice or justification, request that he/she no longer be solicited.

5.2. Restitution

The PANELIST undertakes to return to AVENIR FOCUS all documents, data or information transmitted by AVENIR FOCUS and not to duplicate them.

5.3. Honesty and loyalty

The PANELIST undertakes to answer spontaneously the questions asked of him/her in all honesty, loyalty and independence. AVENIR FOCUS will not be held responsible for the consequences of a discrepancy in what the PANELIST says between the recruitment phase and the meeting phase.

5.4. Personal character

Participation in the panel is strictly nominative. The PANELIST therefore undertakes to make every effort to ensure that no one else can access his or her e-mail address and respond to the studies, in particular by not communicating to anyone the identifier or password allowing access to his or her personal space on the AVENIR FOCUS site.

5.5. Respect for public order and good morals

The PANELIST undertakes to comply with the regulations applicable to the dissemination of information and services on the Internet, in particular the provisions aimed at protecting public order and good morals, so that at no time can AVENIR FOCUS be held liable or sought.

In general, the PANELIST expressly guarantees AVENIR FOCUS against any recourse of any nature whatsoever against any action or claim that may be brought against AVENIR FOCUS with respect to the content of the information, data or documents transmitted by the PANELIST.

5.6. Respect for copyright and the rights of others

The PANELIST undertakes to provide data and/or documents (image, text, videos, soundtracks, etc.) that comply with the regulations in force and guarantees that they are free of all rights. In particular, he/she guarantees that they can be used by AVENIR FOCUS without infringing on the economic or extra-economic rights of third parties and in particular on the personality rights or intellectual or industrial property rights of third parties.

The PANELIST declares that he/she is the sole owner of the content of the data, information or documents transmitted on the AVENIR FOCUS site and is therefore the sole holder of the rights (personal, intellectual or industrial property) attached to them.

In general, the PANELIST expressly guarantees AVENIR FOCUS against any recourse of any nature whatsoever, emanating from any user or third party, and against any action or claim that may be brought against AVENIR FOCUS with respect to the content of the information, data or documents transmitted and their use by AVENIR FOCUS or by third parties.

5.7. Privacy

The PANELIST undertakes to keep confidential all information, data and documents of any nature whatsoever, to which he may have had access during the performance of any study for which he has been requested or in which he has participated. The PANELIST undertakes not to keep them, not to discuss them, not to disseminate, represent, reproduce, distribute them, and generally not to make the said documents, information or data available to third parties. The PANELIST shall take all necessary measures to ensure the secrecy and confidentiality of all information and documents referred to in the above paragraph, under his responsibility.

The PANELIST recognizes the intellectual property rights of AVENIR FOCUS on the information, data and documents transmitted or to which he/she may have had access.

Article 6 – Compensation of the PANELIST

The PANELIST’s participation is free of charge and without counterpart. Consequently, AVENIR FOCUS cannot be held responsible for paying any compensation.

However, and as a thank you for participating in a meeting or an interview, the AVENIR FOCUS client may give (either directly or through the compensation service entrusted to AVENIR FOCUS) to the PANELIST a compensation that can in no case be considered as a remuneration. Moreover, it is neither subject to social security charges nor to taxation since it can in no way be considered as income.

This compensation will be given to him/her at the end of the meeting in the form of a bank check, bank transfer, gift certificate or possibly directly as a gift. Similarly, it may be sent by post following the analysis of all the results of a study. In this case, AVENIR FOCUS undertakes to keep the PANELIST informed of the deadline for receiving the compensation.

Chaque société cliente d’AVENIR FOCUS est seule décisionnaire de ses règles de dédommagement. En aucun cas le PANELISTE ne pourra exiger de dédommagement pour ses frais de transport ou pour la durée de son déplacement ou toute autre raison qu’il lui plairait d’invoquer.

No compensation will be paid in any of the following cases:

• late arrival of the PANELIST at the meeting. The announced time is the time at which the meeting begins. The meeting starts at the exact time, so the PANELIST is invited to arrive a few minutes early,
• A discrepancy between what the applicant said during the recruitment phase and what he or she said during the meeting, placing the applicant in a situation known as “out of quota” or “out of target”. AVENIR FOCUS shall in no way be held responsible for the consequences, for the APPLICANT, of these discrepancies or inconsistencies in statements,
• use by the PANELIST of several identities in order to multiply the number of meetings in which he/she may participate,
• cancellation of the meeting by AVENIR FOCUS‘ client company,
• non presentation of documents that may have been required of him (identity card, vehicle registration document, recruitment validation questionnaire, logbook, homework, ….).

Article 7 – Intellectual Property

AVENIR FOCUS reserves all intellectual property rights relative to the realization of the mission, without limitation of scope or territory, including the copyright relative to the aforementioned mission, namely the rights of use, reproduction, modification, translation and adaptation for any present or future medium, whatever the destination of the medium, subject of course to the rights assigned to the PANELIST.

AVENIR FOCUS declares and guarantees that it is the owner or authorized holder of all intellectual property rights relating to the elements transmitted to the PANELIST within the framework of the present contract, and in particular the texts, still or animated images, files, information, software, databases, trademarks and patents. AVENIR FOCUS declares that it is not bound by any reservation or claim formulated by third parties as to its rights on the said elements. Each of the parties declares that they are not bound by any reservation or claim formulated by third parties as to their rights over the said elements.

Article 8 – Duration

The present charter is concluded and accepted by the PANELIST and AVENIR FOCUS for an indefinite period.

Article 9 – Force majeure

Events beyond the control of the parties, which they could not reasonably be expected to foresee and which they could not reasonably avoid or overcome, shall be considered as force majeure or fortuitous events, insofar as their occurrence makes the performance of the obligations totally impossible.

The following in particular are considered to be cases of force majeure or fortuitous events that relieve AVENIR FOCUS of its obligation to deliver its service within the timeframe initially planned strikes by all or part of the AVENIR FOCUS personnel, fire, flooding, war, epidemics, thawing barriers, roadblocks, strikes, EDF-GDF supply disruptions, or supply disruptions for a reason not attributable to AVENIR FOCUS, as well as any other cause beyond the control and action of AVENIR FOCUS.

In such circumstances, AVENIR FOCUS shall notify the PANELIST by any means of contact: e-mail, telephone, etc., as soon as it becomes aware of the occurrence of the events, and the relationship between AVENIR FOCUS and the PANELIST shall then be suspended by operation of law without compensation, as of the date of the occurrence of the event.

Article 10 – Entire Agreement

This agreement between AVENIR FOCUS and the PANELIST expresses the entirety of the obligations of the parties.

Article 11 – Removal of the panel

At any time, either party may delete the PANELIST’s profile on the AVENIR FOCUS panel.

In the event that the deletion is the result of any breach by the PANELIST of its obligations mentioned in this charter, the execution of payments by check or bank transfer not yet made or the packaging of gifts not yet sent to the PANELIST will be immediately cancelled without any compensation being due by AVENIR FOCUS and without prejudice to any course of action for compensation for the damage(s) suffered.

Article 12 – Disclaimer

The fact that AVENIR FOCUS does not avail itself at a given time of any of the clauses of the present contract shall not constitute a waiver of the right to avail itself of these same clauses at a later date.

Article 13 – Jurisdictional competence

This charter is subject to French law. Any dispute relating to the validity, interpretation and execution of this charter will be subject to the jurisdiction provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure.

Article 14 – Election of domicile

For the execution of the present charter, AVENIR FOCUS elects domicile at its head office, the PANELIST at the address he/she mentioned at the time of registration.