eLearning Terms and Conditions

General Terms of Use

ROYAL CANIN AUSTRALIA PTY LTD (ABN 88 092 020 178), having its registered office at 727 Collins Street, Docklands VIC 3008, Australia (Royal Canin) provides a digital multi-service platform called “Royal Canin Academy” designed for Professionals and Vet Students and accessible from the internet (Platform).

The Platform is designed to provide Training, whether online or in person, to support Professionals and Vet Students in their daily practice and education, focusing on nutritional recommendations and scientific content. Training may include content related to Royal Canin products. The Platform is a support and assistance tool for Professionals, but in no way should be a substitute to a Professional’s individual and independent professional expertise, review, judgment and diagnosis (as applicable).

By creating an account OR using the Platform, you expressly agree to theSE terms and conditions:


DEFINITIONS:


Account means the individual account allowing the User to access the Platform after acceptance of the General Terms.

Account Admin means an authorised person in either a School or a Vet Practice who is responsible for managing and granting access to an Account.

Breeder means a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates (dogs or cats), to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics.

General Terms means these general terms and conditions applicable to the entire Platform. The General Terms are intended to govern all Training provided under the Platform, except when expressly modified or superseded by the Specific Terms.

Force Majeure Event means any acts, events or circumstances which are unforeseeable, outside the reasonable control of Royal Canin and which render Royal Canin unable to comply, totally or in part, with its obligations under these General Terms.

Pet Owner means a cat and/or dog owner that are clients of the Professional.

Professional may mean a Breeder, a Vet, a Retailer, a Shelter Worker or all of them, as the context requires.

Registrant means a User that has registered to a Training.

Retailer means an authorised distributor of Royal Canin products.

School means, in relation to a Vet Student, the education and/or training facility entitled to use the Platform through separate agreement with Royal Canin.

Shelter Worker refers to any person that works in an animal shelter.

Specific Terms means the particular terms of use governing each individual Training, to be accepted by the User before its first use of, and access to, the relevant Training.

Training means all trainings and courses, whether online or in person, provided by Royal Canin and to which the User can access and register on the Platform.

Training Material means documentation, whether printed or available online, provided by Royal Canin in relation to the Training.

User means a Professional that is entitled to use the Platform through separate agreement with Royal Canin. Where applicable, ‘User’ may also mean a School and/or Vet Students.

User Content means all trademark, copyright, logo, trade name, company name, documents, data and information uploaded by the User to the Platform, including any written materials and commentaries filled in by the User and, where applicable, modifications of results generated or calculated by the Platform, exclusively under a Vet’s responsibility.

Vet means a natural person exercising as a veterinarian or a Vet Practice, duly registered and licensed by the competent professional regulatory body, practicing animal medicine and surgery, as defined by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

Vet Practice means a veterinary practice registered with the Platform where one or more Vets, along with other veterinary team members (including nurses, technicians, office staff and animal health professionals), provide veterinary services.

Vet Student means a student studying an approved veterinary medicine or veterinary nursing course who is permitted to use the Platform under the supervision of their School.

 

Article 1 – Acceptance of the Terms

 

The User may use the Platform and the Training courses under their own responsibility/authority or that of the Account Admin (as applicable).

Registration and navigation on the Platform is subject to the full acceptance of the General Terms by the User. Each Training course made available on the Platform may be governed by additional Specific Terms which should be read carefully before being accepted by the User.

These General Terms form an agreement between Royal Canin and the User. If the User refuses to be legally bound by the General Terms, the User will not be able to use the Platform, the Training courses or the Training Material.

The General Terms and the Specific Terms are able to be viewed at any time on the Platform.

 

Article 2 – Registration on the Platform

 

2.1 Conditions for User’s registration

Users entitled to register on the Platform must be Professionals or Vet Students who undertake to use the Platform for strictly professional purposes or for informative or educational purposes (as the case may be).

Users may only be granted access to the Platform directly by Royal Canin and can only access the Platform through an active Account.

In order for a Professional to create an Account, Royal Canin will send an invitation by email to the Professional, requesting them to fill in a digital form with their information (full name, unique email, profession/role, country of residence, time zone and preferred language). The Professional must provide Royal Canin with true, accurate and complete information about their identity. After verification of the information by Royal Canin, Royal Canin creates the Account for the Professional and sends them an email with a link to the Platform, a login and a temporary password. The Professional will then have a limited time period in which to activate their Account by clicking on the link and creating a new password. If the Professional does not activate their Account within this period, Royal Canin will send them a reminder to proceed with the activation of the Account within a period that will be indicated in the reminder email. In the absence of action by the Professional within this period, the Account will be deleted.

Vet Students may only be granted access to the Platform directly by Royal Canin or pursuant to the authorisation granted by and under the supervision of an Account Admin (i.e. their School). Vet Students are solely entitled to use the Platform for their personal use and for informative and educational purposes only. The Vet Student shall be solely responsible and liable for their use of the Platform.

The User: (a) guarantees the truthfulness, accuracy and completeness of the information provided to Royal Canin and will be solely responsible for any error, omission and update; (b) undertakes to promptly update the data and information provided when necessary; and (c) must, when no longer a Professional: (i) notify Royal Canin by email; and (ii) immediately stop using the Platform.

 

  1. Access to the Platform through the Account

As soon as the User accepts the General Terms, the User (a) may access the Platform via the Account, using a login and password, provided by Royal Canin, which are personal and remain in the User’s custody; (b) must take all necessary precautions to ensure the confidentiality, security and correct use of the User’s login and password, in order to prevent them from being disclosed or used by unauthorised third parties; and (c) is solely responsible for the use by any other person of the User’s login in and password as well as for any operations carried out via the User’s Account. Any connection to the Account and/or transmission of data made using the Account will be presumed to have been made by the holder of said account and under the User’s sole responsibility. In the event of fraudulent use of the User’s password and/or log in, the User undertakes to inform Royal Canin in writing as soon as possible.

The holder of the Account is fully responsible for any use of the Account and warrants and represents that the User undertakes to make proper use of the Platform and to comply with the General Terms.

 

Article 3 – Training

 

3.1 Registration

A User may register to a Training by clicking on the appropriate link and filling in the required information.

3.2 Cancellation of the Training

3.2.1 Cancellation by the User

Registrants may cancel their participation in an online Training at any moment.

3.2.2 Cancellation by Royal Canin

 

Royal Canin reserves the right to cancel Training courses, modify the online Platform (including its visual layout, descriptions and interactive widgets), change instructors, or change, update or delete Training content. In the event that a Training is cancelled, Royal Canin will use its reasonable endeavours to notify Registrants via email at least seven (7) days prior to its commencement.

Royal Canin will not be liable for any cancellation, modification or removal of all or part of the Training or Training Materials from the Platform.

3.3. Proper participation in the Training

The User shall participate in the Training only for an authorised purpose, and in strict compliance with the applicable laws, rules and regulations that govern the practice of its profession (in particular the applicable rules of professional ethics and responsibility) or education (as applicable).

The User undertakes:

 

  • to attend and use the Training courses and Training Materials under normal and reasonable conditions.

     

  • not to engage in acts or behaviours of any nature (in particular, without limitation, downloading, sending, diffusion, edition, emission, publication) which are contrary to Australian law, or infringe a Pet Owner’s rights, rules of professional conduct and ethics, or the reputation or rights of Royal Canin.

     

  • not to: (a) deliberately download, upload, disseminate or forward any information and/or data including or constituting a computer virus or any other code or computer program conceived to interrupt, destruct, distort or limit the features of any software, computer, service or online communication tool; (b) deliberately download, upload, disseminate or forward any false information, illegal, inappropriate or improper content; (c) disrupt, slow down, block or alter the normal data flow exchanged through the Platform; or (d) reproduce, copy, sell, exchange, resell, or use to any commercial purpose any part of the Platform, the Training courses or the Training Materials.

     

  • to comply with all safety rules and regulations and any other reasonable security requirements that apply at the premises at which the Training is provided or otherwise in respect of the Training. Royal Canin reserves the right to remove any Registrant from a Training course in the event Royal Canin and/or the relevant trainer (acting reasonably) considers their behaviour to be inappropriate or otherwise contrary to these General Terms.

 

Article 4 – Content

 

4.1 Nature

The type or volume of Training content (including Training Materials) offered to the User on the Platform will depend on the User’s profession (i.e. Vet, Breeder, Retailer, etc.). The Content will be of an educational nature and will be of two types:

  • Editorial content: content that will not be related to Royal Canin products (e.g. information on pet healthcare or nutrition); or
  • Promotional content: content related to Royal Canin products, which will be identified as such.

Content may only be available for a limited period of time.

 

4.2 Ranking

The Training content (including Training Materials) offered to the User on the Platform may be ranked according to the following criteria:

  • Date of creation of the content or of last modification;
  • The User’s demonstrated interest in certain content or information.

     

    4.3 Discounts

    Royal Canin may decide in its sole discretion, but does not undertake, to offer discounts on Royal Canin products to Users who receive Training that involves promotional content. The benefit of these discounts will be subject to further terms and conditions as notified by Royal Canin.

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  • Article 5 – Royal Canin warranty and disclaimer

  • Royal Canin will ensure that all Training courses are delivered diligently and in a timely and professional manner, consistent with applicable industry standards.

    Royal Canin shall provide trainers to present the Training courses as it, in its sole discretion, deems fit and Royal Canin shall be entitled at any time to substitute any trainer with any other person who it deems suitably qualified to present the relevant Training course.

    Royal Canin does not warrant that the provision of any content through the online Platform will always be available or be uninterrupted, timely or error free, that defects will be corrected or that such content is secure or free from bugs, viruses, errors and omissions.

    The Training and Training Material are provided ‘as is’. There are no warranties, express or implied, by operation of law or otherwise for the use or results of the Training course and Training Materials, that the User will successfully complete the Training course, or that any particular level of knowledge or understanding will be attained by the User. The User is solely responsible for determining whether the relevant training hours completed via the Platform are eligible for any official recognition by their professional regulatory body or School in relation to continuing education.

     

    To the maximum extent permitted by law, Royal Canin disclaims any implied warranties including the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Royal Canin has no responsibility or liability for any advice given by a User pursuant to the use of, or otherwise in reliance on, the Platform.

     

    Article 6 – Duration and Termination

     

    The General Terms come into force for an indefinite period as from their acceptance by the User.

    Royal Canin may terminate the General Terms and the agreement formed between it and the relevant User for convenience (without cause) on 30 days’ written notice to the relevant User.

    Royal Canin otherwise reserves the right to immediately cancel, suspend, or alter the User’s access to the Platform at any time if the User does not comply with the General Terms or an agreement.

    Upon termination of the General Terms or an agreement for whatever reason, Royal Canin will terminate the User’s access to the Platform.

     

    Article 7 – Deactivation and deletion of the Account

     

    7.1 Deactivation of the Account

     

    The User may deactivate their Account at any time. Deactivation of an Account does not lead to its deletion. The User may ask Royal Canin to reactivate their Account at any time, providing it has not already been deleted in accordance with Article 7.2.

    Royal Canin may also deactivate a User’s Account in the following circumstances:

  • Inaction: should the User not log on to its activated Account after a period of 5 months, a reminder email will be sent encouraging activity to maintain the Account within the next 30 days. Should no further activity occur in the following 30 days, the Account will be deactivated; or
  • Non-compliance with the General Terms or a refusal to accept any updated version of the General Terms.

     

    7.2 Deletion of the Account

     

    The User may delete their Account for any reason whatsoever by sending a request to Royal Canin.

    Royal Canin may otherwise delete the User’s Account in the following circumstances:

  • Under the conditions set out in Article 2.1, if the User does not activate their Account after receiving the reminder email from Royal Canin; or
  • After 18 months of the deactivation of the Account.

 

Article 8 – Financial Conditions

 

In general, Royal Canin will not charge the User for their use of the Platform or for registration to the Training courses. However, Royal Canin reserves the right to charge the User fees for certain existing or future Training courses and/or Training Materials in accordance with the Specific Terms governing those Training courses and/or Training Materials.

 

Article 9 – Liability

 

9.1 Royal Canin’s liability

 

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

(a) Royal Canin does not guarantee the accessibility and/or permanent, proper functioning of the Platform or the Training courses, which the User acknowledges and accepts. For technical reasons, an interruption to the Platform and/or all or part of the Training courses is possible;

(b) Royal Canin incurs no liability in the event of unavailability of the Platform and/or of all or part of the Training courses due to any technical defect, problem or reason, including (but not limited to) traffic congestion on the Internet, failure of Internet service providers, human or electrical error, malicious intervention, software or hardware malfunctions and/or the existence of a Force Majeure Event;

(c) Royal Canin does not accept responsibility for anyone acting in reliance of information in, or views expressed on, its Training courses or Training Materials. Royal Canin provides information related to the nutrition and health condition of pets. Such information shall not, in any case, replace the Professional’s own independent and professional expertise, judgment and, if applicable, diagnosis. Royal Canin is not liable if the information appears to be inadequate or if the health condition of a pet is not in line with the information provided on the Platform; and

(d) Royal Canin shall not be liable for any direct, indirect or special damages (including without limitation loss of data, financial loss, loss of profit, loss of opportunity) that the User and/or Pet Owners may suffer as a result of or in connection with the Platform and Training courses, for any reason whatsoever, including (but not limited to) access or inability to access the Platform and Training courses, use or inability to use the Platform or any specific Training or the functioning or non-functioning of all or part of the Training courses. This applies (without limitation) to damages that may result from inaccurate content and errors, slowness or interruption in transmission, loss, disappearance or alteration of data, computer viruses, whatever their origin, or intrusions by third parties.

 

To the extent that Royal Canin is unable to exclude its liability at law, the remedy for such liability (at Royal Canin’s election) is limited to:

  1. Replacement of the relevant goods or services;
  2. Payment of the costs of such goods or services; or
  3. The costs of having the goods or services resupplied.

 

Royal Canin’s liability is otherwise limited to the lower of $10 or the minimum amount payable at law.

Nothing in these General Terms serves to restrict or exclude any warranty or guarantee implied at law that may not be restricted or excluded at law.

Royal Canin shall not be liable whatsoever in relation to any User Content, which is provided by the User under its sole responsibility, and in full knowledge of the facts.

 

9.2 User’s liability

 

The User is solely responsible for (a) complying with the applicable and legally binding rules governing their profession; (b) the decision to register on the Platform and participate in the Training courses; (c) if applicable, the diagnosis and treatment of the medical condition and health status of the pets (only Vets are able to physically examine the pets and treat them); (d) the choice to share certain information or recommendations provided by the Platform as part of the Training with Pet Owners; and (e) any direct and/or indirect loss or damage suffered by a Pet Owner or a third party as a result of any information or omissions provided through the Platform, the Training courses or the Training Materials.

The User (a) shall indemnify, hold harmless and defend Royal Canin against any action, proceedings, claim, complaint or demands whatsoever, by any person (including Pet Owners) arising out of or resulting from the User's activity or use of the Platform, the Training courses or the Training Materials; and (b) undertakes to bear all costs, attorneys' and experts' fees and all damages that Royal Canin may be ordered to pay in this context by a court decision relating to the formation, performance and/or termination of an agreement concluded between the User and a Pet Owner, without prejudice to any damages that Royal Canin may claim from the User.

 

Article 10 – Intellectual Property

 

10.1 Platform

 

All intellectual property rights in relation to the Platform and its content (texts, images, videos, databases, sounds, photographs, business names, logos, trademarks, etc.) but excluding the User Content, are and remain the property of Royal Canin and/or its affiliates, or are subject to licenses and/or authorisations granted to Royal Canin by third parties.

The User is only authorised to use the Platform and its content in accordance with the General Terms and any Specific Terms. The User may not reproduce, make available to the public, perform, publish or modify any part of the Platform and its content without the prior, written agreement of Royal Canin.

 

10.2 Training Material

 

Training Materials are the sole property of Royal Canin. All intellectual property rights in all Training Materials that are made available from time to time, including the design, graphics and text of all printed materials and the audio and video of all webinars and podcasts, are owned by Royal Canin or are subject to licenses and/or authorisations granted to Royal Canin by third parties.

When the User is given access to the Training Material, the User is granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Training Material for the limited purposes outlined in these General Terms. No Training Material may be copied, reproduced, uploaded, posted, displayed or linked to in any way, in whole or in part, without Royal Canin’s prior written permission. Any such use is strictly prohibited and will constitute an infringement of Royal Canin’s intellectual property rights.

 

Article 11 – Personal Information Protection

 

Any personal information that you provide to Royal Canin will be collected, used, stored and disclosed for the purpose of providing you with the Training courses, providing information about our products or services or as stated at the point of collection or otherwise in accordance with the Mars Privacy Policy <https://www.mars.com/privacy-policy-australia>. In the Privacy Policy, you can also find out how to manage your marketing preferences.

Our websites (including the Platform) may use cookies for a variety of purposes. See our Cookie Notice <http://www.mars.com/global/policies/cookie/cn-english> to learn more about what cookies we use and how we use them.

 

Article 12 – Insurance

 

The User acknowledges that, where appropriate, it has subscribed for insurance policy with an insurance company known to be solvent and that the User remains the holder, for the entire duration of the General Terms, of an insurance policy covering their professional civil liability risks up to the amount of sufficient capital. All types of damage (physical, material, intangible, consequential or not) must be covered by the policy.

The User must provide a certificate of insurance to Royal Canin on request.

 

Article 13 – Confidentiality

 

The User undertakes to keep strictly confidential all information relating to Royal Canin and the Platform, except for information that is properly in the public domain through no action or fault of the User. The User will take the necessary measures to ensure that this obligation is respected by any person that may be authorised to access such confidential information.

The User’s confidentiality obligations will apply during the use of the Platform and for a period of 5 years after the termination of the General Terms or any relevant agreement.

 

Article 14 – Modification of the General Terms

 

The User acknowledges and accepts that the Platform developed by Royal Canin is an innovative tool and will evolve in order to add, replace or remove certain features and Training courses.

Royal Canin reserves the right to amend or vary the General Terms at any time.

Upon the User’s first log in to the Platform after the General Terms have been amended or varied, the User will be provided with the opportunity to read and review the updated General Terms, and either (i) accept; or (ii) refuse them. If the User refuses the updated General Terms, the User’s access to the Platform will be deactivated and the User will not be able to use or access the Training courses. If the User continues using the Platform, their usage of the Platform will be considered deemed acceptance of the updated General Terms.

 

Article 15 – General Provisions

 

15.1 Waiver

 

If Royal Canin does not take advantage of or enforce any of the provisions of the General Terms, it may not be interpreted by the User as a waiver of it.

 

15.2 Entire Agreement and severability

 

These General Terms and any Specific Terms (as applicable) form the entire agreement between the User and Royal Canin relating to the use of the Platform, the Training courses and the Training Materials and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous oral or written communications, proposals and representations with respect to the Training courses or any other subject matter covered by these General Terms or any Specific Terms. If any provision of these General Terms and or/Specific Terms is held to be void, invalid, unenforceable or illegal, then that provision (or the relevant part) may be severed from this agreement and the other provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

 

15.3 Independence of the Parties

 

Royal Canin and the User are independent entities, acting in their own name and under their sole responsibility. It is specified that the User carries out his or her activity on the Platform in complete autonomy and at his or her own risk.

The Platform should in no way be a substitute to the Professional’s individual and independent professional expertise, review, judgment and/or diagnosis.

With regard to Vets, Royal Canin undertakes to allow the Users to respect rules governing the Vet’s obligation regarding the practice of veterinary medicine and professional ethics, notably maintaining their independent and objective professional judgment.

 

15.4 Law and jurisdiction

 

These General Terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia.

Any dispute between Royal Canin and the User arising out of the interpretation, execution or termination of these General Terms which cannot be resolved amicably shall be settled by the competent courts of Victoria, Australia notwithstanding any incidental claim or guarantee, or in the event of multiple defendants.