General Conditions of Use (GCU) - Certifier Area

1. Subject

These General Conditions of Use (GCU) define the rules for accessing and using the Certifier Area made available by Alliance for European Flax-Linen and Hemp (‘Supplier’).

This area is exclusively reserved for the Treating agents of the various Local Offices of the Certification Organisation, responsible for monitoring requests for European Flax™ certification (RFQs or Request For Quotation), developing certification offers on the basis of these RFQs, and communicating to Alliance for European Flax-Linen and Hemp the European Flax™ certificates issued associated with the RFQs.

2. Acceptance of GCU

Use of this area is subject to full acceptance of these GCU. The user acknowledges having read them and undertakes to comply with them.

3. Service access

3.1 Registration and access conditions

Access to the Certifier's Area is strictly personal and is only possible via Magic Link sent to the professional e-mail address of the treating agent.

3.2 Data required

To create an account and access the service, the user must provide the following information:

  • Last name
  • First name
  • Professional e-mail address

4. Roles and responsibilities of treating agents

The actions open to treating agents depend on the Local Office(s) (LO) to which they are attached.

Treating agents of Local Offices outside France:

These treating agents have access to all steps in the RFQ (Request For Quotation) workflow. In particular, they can:

  • Consult a Request for Quotation (RFQ - Request for Quotation) at any step.
  • Download the PDF summary of an RFQ at any step.
  • Declare a Certification Organisation Responsible for Treatment for each RFQ among the Treating agents of the Local Office concerned.
  • Request the modification of an RFQ, comment on it and interact with the requesting company, by changing its RFQ status from ‘Awaiting Validation’ to ‘To be modified’.
  • Validate an RFQ by changing its status from ‘Awaiting Validation’ to ‘Awaiting Audit/Certification’. This marks the start of the certification process, managed by the certification organisation.
  • Change the status of an RFQ to ‘Certification issued’ by adding the required documents (PDF with frame of the certificate issued - mandatory, PDF without frame - optional).
  • Cancel an RFQ if necessary (‘no further action/abandonment’ status).

Treating agents of Local Offices in France:

These Treating agents cannot make comments on an RFQ, ask for it to be modified or validate it. However, they can:

  • Consult a Request for Quotation (RFQ - Request for Quotation) at any step.
  • Download the PDF summary of an RFQ at any step.
  • Declare a Certification Organisation Responsible for Treatment for each RFQ among the Treating agents of the Local Office concerned.
  • Change the status of an RFQ from ‘Awaiting audit/certification’ to ‘Certification issued’ by adding the required documents.
  • Cancel an RFQ if necessary (‘no further action/abandonment’ status).

Under no circumstances can processing Treating agents modify the data of applicant companies. Their role is limited to examining and processing the requests in accordance with the validation workflow.

5. Privacy and Data Protection

Treating agents undertake to respect the confidentiality of information relating to applicant companies.

The processing of users' personal data is governed by the Supplier's Privacy Policy.

6. Limits of liability

6.1 Supplier's responsibility

The Supplier makes every effort to provide a reliable and functional service. However, it may not be held liable in the event of:

  • Temporary or permanent malfunction of the platform.
  • Errors or omissions in the certification process caused by incorrect information provided by the user.
  • Loss of data due to a technical incident beyond its control.

6.2 Responsibility of treating agents

The Treating agents act on behalf of their certifier organisation and cannot be held individually responsible for the processing of RFQs, the progress of the certification process or the final certification decisions. The Certification organisation (legal entity) is solely responsible for processing applications and implementing the certification process.

The role of the Treating agents is to assist the companies in completing their RFQ and to ensure that the information collected is sufficiently clear and coherent to be transmitted to the Certification organisation. They must comply with the procedures in force and report any anomalies detected in an application.

In the event of an error in the processing or transmission of an RFQ, the Certification organisation may be held liable, unless the error is the result of erroneous or incomplete information supplied by the requesting company.

7. Intellectual Property

  • The Treating Agents acknowledge that the RFQs (Request for Quotation) are documents belonging to Alliance for European Flax-Linen and Hemp, while the certificates issued are the responsibility of the certification organisation.
  • The RFQ frames and their layout remain the exclusive property of Alliance for European Flax-Linen and Hemp. They may not be modified, reproduced or used outside the framework defined by the certification process.

8. Suspension et Résiliation d’accès

The Supplier reserves the right to suspend or remove access to the Certifier Area in the event of:

  • Non-compliance with these GCU
  • Departure of the agent from his organisation or department (at the request of the user or his employer).
  • Suspicious or fraudulent activity.

9. Applicable Law and Dispute Resolution

These GCU are governed by French law. In the event of a dispute, an amicable solution will be preferred before any legal action is taken.

10. Modification of CGU

The Supplier reserves the right to modify these GCU at any time. Users will be informed of these changes and must accept the new conditions in order to continue to use the service when they log on to the area.