Terms and conditions for digital participation at the KPMG International Business Conference 2022
November 2022
1 Scope
The following terms and conditions for digital participation in the International Business Conference in November 2022 of KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Klingelhöferstraße 18, 10785 Berlin ("KPMG") apply to the purchase of the full conference pass ("ticket(s)") as well as to the registration and participation of visitors, speakers or partners (collectively referred to as "participants") in the event. By purchasing the tickets and/or registering as a participant, the purchaser of the ticket ("customer(s)") and/or the registering participant accept these Terms and Conditions of Participation. Counter confirmations by the customer referring to their own terms and conditions of business or purchase are hereby expressly rejected. Deviations from these Terms and Conditions of Participation shall only be effective if confirmed in writing by KPMG. These Terms and Conditions of Participation shall also apply if KPMG provides services without reservation in the knowledge of deviating or conflicting terms and conditions of the customer.
2 Platform; Blocking
2.1 KPMG uses the platform of rooom AG, Löbstedter Straße 47a, 07749 Jena, Germany, to hold the event.
2.2 The transfer of tickets or any other unauthorised access to the event is prohibited. In the event of a breach of the above provision, KPMG shall have the right in particular to block the ticket (access code) in question and to refuse the user participation in the event by deleting the user profile without compensation and to refuse to sell tickets to the responsible person for another event in the future.
3 Scope of services
3.1 The ticket enables the customer and the registered participant to participate in the event and to use event-related services ("services") provided during the event. Such services may include, subject to availability and without any entitlement thereto: 1:1 video calls, chats, speakers' talks, recruitment and other functions.
3.2 KPMG reserves the right to modify, restrict or cancel the use and/or scope of one or more services prior to and during the event.
3.3 Any statements made by KPMG in relation to the event or the services in promotional materials, on websites and in the documentation are merely descriptive and do not constitute a warranty or representation of any kind unless expressly stated as such.
3.4 Within the scope of KPMG's technical and operational possibilities, KPMG shall endeavour to make the event and the services available for use without interruption as far as possible. KPMG shall have no further obligation in this respect.
3.5 KPMG cannot be held liable in the following situations in particular, unless KPMG can be accused of at least gross negligence or intentional conduct:
• Downtime caused by internet malfunctions or other circumstances for which KPMG is not responsible, in particular an epidemic or pandemic (such as Covid-19) or an event of force majeure;
• Downtime caused by mandatory unscheduled maintenance required to rectify faults; and
• Downtime caused by (temporary) defects in the participant's technical infrastructure, such as hardware malfunctions.
4 User profile
4.1 Participation in the event and use of the services requires the creation of a user profile on the event platform. Customers and registered participants assure:
• to register with their full and correct name and with a valid email address;
• to be at least 18 years of age;
• to use a secure password and to treat this confidentially;
• to prevent unauthorised use of his/her user account by third parties;
• to comply with all applicable laws and these Terms and Conditions of Participation.
4.2 The creation of a user profile with false information constitutes a breach of these Terms and Conditions of Participation and entitles KPMG to terminate the contract immediately and without notice and to exclude the customer or participant from participation in the event.
4.3 The customer and the registered participant are responsible for everything that happens via their user profile in accordance with the statutory provisions.
5 Obligations of the customer and the registered participant; rights of use
5.1 The customer and the registered participant are solely responsible for the provision and maintenance of all technical facilities required for their access to the event and the use of the services, in particular the necessary hardware, an operating system, a sufficient and solid internet connection and up-to-date browser software.
5.2 The customer and the registered participant are obliged not to disclose their password and account to third parties and to protect them from access by third parties. Participants may be held liable for any misuse of their user profile for which they are responsible. The customer and the registered participant must immediately report to KPMG any loss of access data or password or knowledge of such data by a third party. As long as this loss or knowledge is not reported to KPMG in writing, the customer or registered participant shall bear the responsibility for any unauthorised use of their profile.
5.3 The customer and the registered participant hereby undertake to respect the rights of third parties, including the rights of KPMG. Therefore, the customer and registered participant are in particular not permitted to
• use the information obtained in connection with the services (e.g. contact details or other personal data) or communicative services (contact with other users) for advertising purposes, pass it on to third parties or publish it;
• provide false or misleading information;
• damage the reputation of KPMG or any third party;
• send or enter data which, due to its nature, characteristics, size or quantity, could damage or block the IT infrastructure of KPMG or the platform or the computers of third parties or spy on or damage data stored on this IT infrastructure (e.g. by means of viruses, trojans or spam emails);
• in connection with the use of the services, take actions or disseminate content that violate the rights of third parties (e.g. copyrights, trademark rights, personal rights and data protection rights) or violate legal provisions, in particular copyright and art copyright laws, criminal laws, provisions for the protection of minors, data protection provisions and the provisions of competition law.
5.4 The obligation to comply with the aforementioned provisions of this clause shall also apply without restriction after deregistration of the customer and the registered participant or after deletion of the user profile.
5.5 KPMG shall not be liable for contractual or legal breaches of duty by users. In the event of violations of statutory provisions or of these Terms and Conditions, KPMG shall have the right to remove unlawful content without prior notice and/or to block access without prior notice. If the customer and the registered participant violate any of the aforementioned duties or legal requirements, KPMG may also demand compensation for the resulting damage and terminate the contract without notice, unless the customer and the registered participant are not responsible for the breach of duty.
6 Statements, information and content for sharing
6.1 The services may enable the transmission and sharing of statements, information and content between customers or registered participants. Statements, information and content sent or shared by customers or registered participants or otherwise communicated may be viewed by other customers, registered participants or third parties. Customers and registered participants are responsible for the statements, information and content shared with other customers or registered participants and for the method chosen to share statements, information and content.
6.2 KPMG is not obliged to publish statements, information or content via the service; Clause 5.5 applies accordingly.
7 Property rights
7.1 The customer and the registered participant each warrant that the customer or the registered participant is entitled to transmit and/or publish the statements, information and content provided by the customer or the registered participant during participation in the event and use of the services and that such statements, information and content do not violate any applicable law or the rights of third parties (including intellectual property rights). In addition, the customer and the registered participant each warrant that the profile data of the user profile is true and correct. KPMG may be required by law to remove certain statements, information or content.
7.2 The customer and the registered participant each grant KPMG a non-exclusive, royalty-free and transferable right of use, unlimited in time and space, for the statements, information, contributions, photos/images and content (hereinafter collectively referred to as "contributions"), which includes the right to use, copy, modify, distribute, publish and process the contributions made by the customer and/or the registered participant via the platform and/or services or otherwise communicated to the customer and/or the registered participant without further consent of the customer and/or the registered participant and without any further notification and/or obligation to pay a licence fee to the customer or the registered participant, respectively, or to third parties.
7.3 The customer and the registered participant shall each indemnify and hold KPMG harmless from and against any claims, actions and/or other proceedings brought against KPMG by third parties in respect of the right of use granted by the customer and the registered participant to KPMG pursuant to Clause 7.2 above. The indemnification or holding harmless shall include any losses suffered by KPMG and other costs and expenses incurred in particular, but without limitation, by court fees and reasonable legal defence costs.
7.4 The customer and registered participant may terminate the right to use certain statements, information and content at any time by deleting such statements, information and content from the services or closing the user profile, subject to the following:
• other customers and/or registered participants may have copied the statement, information and content shared within the services;
• other customers and/or registered participants may have shared or stored it; and
• KPMG requires a reasonable period of time to remove such statement, information and content (including from security and other systems).
If the platform and/or individual services do not provide a function for the deletion or closure of the user profile, it is sufficient to send an email to KPMG with the specific request for deletion.
7.5 If the customer or the registered participant violates any of the obligations set forth in Clauses 7.1 to 7.4, Clause 5.5 shall apply accordingly.
8 Statements, information and content
8.1 Through the use of the services, the customer and registered participant may encounter statements, information and content that may be inaccurate, incomplete, late, misleading, illegal, offensive or otherwise harmful. KPMG is under no obligation to verify, correct, complete or otherwise amend any statements, information and content provided by other customers and registered participants. KPMG is not responsible for the statements, information and content provided by other customers and registered participants and therefore cannot be held liable for any damage or loss as a result of statements, information and content provided by customers and registered participants.
8.2 In addition, KPMG is not responsible for services offered and/or provided to a customer and a registered participant by another customer or another registered participant or a third party while participating in the event and/or using the services. The offering or provision of services through the use of the services is exclusively between the customer or a registered participant and another customer, another registered participant or a third party.
8.3 IIn this regard, the customer or registered participant accepts that KPMG:
• is not responsible for the offering, performance or procurement of such services; and
• does not endorse any particular service offered by a customer and a registered participant.
8.4 If the customer and the registered participant offer their own services through the services, the customer and the registered participant each individually warrant that the customer or the registered participant has all necessary licences, permits and other authorisations required to offer and/or provide such services and that the customer or the registered participant will offer and/or provide services that comply with KPMG's code of conduct and user policy (if any).
9 Disclaimer and limitation of liability
9.1 KPMG makes no warranties or representations in relation to the event and the services or that the event and/or the services will be uninterrupted or error-free. The event and the services (including content and information) are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis.
9.2 KPMG also makes no warranties or representations as to any revenue or profit expectations and/or business opportunities directly or indirectly associated with the customer's or registered participant's participation in the event and/or use of the services.
9.3 KPMG's strict liability for defects existing at the time of the conclusion of the registration pursuant to Section 536a (1) sentence 1 of the German Civil Code is excluded.
9.4 KPMG shall be liable for damages caused by intentional or grossly negligent conduct, for damages due to injury to life, body and health, for contractually assumed guarantees and within the scope of the German Product Liability Act in accordance with the statutory provisions.
9.5 KPMG shall not be liable for damages caused by slight negligence which do not fall under Clause 9.4, unless these are based on the violation of material contractual obligations (cardinal obligations). Cardinal obligations are those contractual obligations which protect the legal positions of the contracting party, which are essential to the contract and which the contract is intended to grant to the contracting party in accordance with its content and purpose; as well as those obligations whose fulfilment is essential to the proper performance of the contract and on whose fulfilment the contracting party had the right to rely and did rely on. KPMG's liability for breach of cardinal obligations is limited to the typically foreseeable damage.
9.6 The provisions of Clause 9.5 shall also apply accordingly to the limitation of the obligation to reimburse futile expenses (Section 284 BGB).
9.7 The aforementioned limitations of liability shall also apply for the benefit of employees, representatives and vicarious agents of KPMG.
10 Modification/postponement/cancellation of the event
10.1 KPMG reserves the right to change the programme and/or the time of various meetings or services within the event. In such a case, the agreement and access to the event will be automatically extended by the relevant period and the dates for the services to be provided will be rescheduled to the new period of the event.
10.2 If the event has to be cancelled by KPMG for organisational or other reasons for which KPMG is not responsible, any payment for the tickets will be refunded. Further claims by the customer or the registered participant, in particular for losses and damages, are excluded.
11 Online dispute resolution platform
11.1 The European Commission provides an online out-of-court dispute resolution platform (ODR platform), which can be accessed at www.ec.europa.eu/Consumers/Odr. The contact details of KPMG, including the email address, can be found in the imprint on KPMG's website.
11.2 KPMG is neither obliged nor willing to participate in the dispute resolution procedure.
12 Contract term and termination
12.1 This contract is concluded for an indefinite period and may be terminated by either party at any time without notice. The right to terminate without notice remains unaffected.
12.2 In the event that the customer or the registered participant violates any of these terms and conditions or the data protection requirements, KPMG may block the content and terminate the agreement with the customer or the registered participant without notice, without prejudice to any civil or criminal consequences.
12.3 Any notice to terminate must be in writing. Sending an email to the respective other party shall suffice for this purpose.
13 Amendment of the Terms and Conditions of Participation
13.1 KPMG shall have the right to amend these Terms and Conditions of Participation and shall notify the customer and the registered participant of any amendments by email to the email address provided by the user at least six weeks before they take effect.
13.2 If the customer or the registered participant does not object to the amendments before the amended terms and conditions take effect, they shall be deemed to have been accepted.
13.3 In the event of an objection by the customer or the registered participant, KPMG has the right to terminate the contract without notice.
14 Applicable law, jurisdiction and miscellaneous
14.1 This contract is governed by German law excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods [CISG]. The place of performance and jurisdiction for all disputes arising in connection with this contract shall be Berlin, provided that the customer or registered participant is a merchant, a public legal entity or a special fund governed by public law or at least one of the contracting parties has no place of general jurisdiction in the Federal Republic of Germany.
14.2 Should any of the provisions of the contract, an addendum to a supplement or similar, or a subsequently included provision, be or become invalid or unenforceable, as a whole or in part, or omissions become apparent in this contract or addenda, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected, unless the performance of the contract constitutes an undue hardship for one of the parties to this contract.