Smart Certificate for the education world

CVTrust General Conditions

Smart Certificate has been recorded by the assignment recordation branch of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). More information about our patent pending is available here.

The Site user agrees to respect the confidentiality of the project, the services, the Internet site, and the computer system of CVTrust, and to respect the intellectual property of CVTrust. He undertakes not to perform any activity that competes with the CVTrust site and accepts that CVTrust may interrupt, suspend or modify the services accessible on this site at any time.

Title I - Introduction

Article 1. Definitions and identification of the various participants

CVTrust is the provider of the Services defined below, operating from the CVTrust Internet platform (GDPR compliant) made up of a computer system and a database specifically designed for the Services, and accessible at the URL address www.cvtrust.com (the Site).

The anonymous company, CVTrust, is registered in the Companies Register under number 0819.649.109 and its registered office is situated 54, avenue Louise (Silversquare) at 1050 Brussels (Belgium), info@cvtrust.com.

− The “Institution” is any academic institution, such as universities, polytechnics schools, business schools, training centres, language schools, etc, authorised to give courses and award certificates and/or documents certifying participation in the courses or training, attendance and/or success in the course given by its participants.

− The “Candidate” is any natural person of majority age registered on the Site. A Candidate may have taken a course at an Institution and be awarded a Certificate.

− The “Addressee” is any natural or juristic person interested, on his own behalf or on behalf of a third party, in the academic profile of Candidates for the purposes of recruitment, canvassing or human resources management. It may be (without the following being exhaustive) a temping agency, a human resources department of a company, a public institution, a representative of a juristic person or a natural person.

− “The Parties” mean, without distinction, every party registering on the CVTrust site or participating in the Services offered by CVTrust.

− The “Certificate” is any document issued by an Institution. This certificate may certify the level of education, aptitudes or knowledge of a Candidate. It may be a Certificate certifying the successful completion of a full course of education or enrolment on a course (certificate of having taken training) or any other document certifying an academic status or similar of a Candidate, certificates, attestation letters, reports, etc.

− The “Electronic Certificate” is a Certificate issued by an Institution to the Candidates, using CVTrust’s Smart Certificate service, in electronic form with a secure mechanism guaranteeing, by encryption, the source of the issue of the Certificate (the Institution) and the unchangeability of its content.

− The “Site” means the CVTrust Internet site, primarily accessible at the address www.cvtrust.com.

− An “Experience” is a set of factual information relating to the training of the Candidate, characterised by a course taken at an Institution.

Article 2. Application of the General Conditions

By registering for the Services the Parties agree to be bound by all of the General Conditions, which they confirm having fully read and understood.

In the event of the adaptation, amendment or establishment of a new version of the present General Conditions, the Parties shall be informed of it and shall have access to the new applicable text, which they confirm they accept. This acceptance is required to access the Site.

If a Party does not accept the general conditions, it may not access the Site for as long as it has not accepted them. CVTrust General Conditions

The new General Conditions shall apply by default, until the acceptance or refusal to accept them. For the Institution that have signed a commercial agreement with CVTrust, the new enforceable General Conditions are considered to be a new annex to the agreement signed between parties.

Title II - Services of CVTrust

Article 3. Definition of the Service offered by CVTrust to the Institutions

CVTrust provides the “Smart Certificate” GDPR compliant solution, enabling Institutions to create unique Electronic Documents and to send them to the Candidates through an encrypted and secure connection.

CVTrust guarantees the identity of the Institution issuing the Electronic Certificate and the unchangeability of the Electronic Certificate.

CVTrust also enables the Institution to obtain information on the academic experience of the Candidates, but only after these last-mentioned have expressly accepted the access to their personal data, and only as a function of the Electronic Certificate that the Candidate presents in his Profile.

Article 4. Definition of the Service offered by CVTrust to the Candidates and Addressees

The Internet platform offers to Candidates a private space (Profile) on the Site with a specially designed interface for the presentation of Electronic Documents, which may then be made accessible to the Addressees of their choice.

The Electronic Certificate is generated on the initiative of the Institution and is refused or accepted and saved by the Candidate.

CVTrust gives the Candidate the possibility to attach his Electronic Certificate in the form of a pdf document, hyperlink or QR code to his electronic curriculum vitae, or any other document of his choice. The Electronic Certificate can also be added on social networks.

Access to Electronic Certificate enable the Addressees to assess the veracity of the information provided by the Candidate relating to his academic Experiences. CVTrust is not a curriculum vitae search engine or editing tool.

The Candidate who has obtained an Electronic Certificate awarded by an Institution may thus make his Profile accessible or register it in secure PDF format, bearing the electronic signature of CVTrust and secured by a class 3 CDS certificate. This certification counts as validation of the Academic Experience concerned, given that it has been issued by the Institution itself and that it is certified as not having been altered.

The registered Addressees may access the Electronic Documents through a link sent to them, that may be integrated in the PDF file of the Documents themselves. They have to agree with the present Terms and Conditions prior to their first access to the Website.

Title III - Registrations

Article 5. Registration of the Institution

In order to benefit from the Services of CVTrust, the Institution must register on the Site using an online form or contact a CVTrust representative at the address sales@cvtrust.com. All compulsory fields must be completed so that the registration request can be sent to CVTrust.

The administrator must enter an e-mail address and password that shall be attached to the account of the Institution. The e-mail address entered is linked to the CVTrust account of the Institution and shall be used as a point of contact between the Institution and CVTrust.

The administrator who registers the Institution guarantees that he is authorised to represent the Institution to this end, and guarantees the veracity of the information stated in the registration form. CVTrust General Conditions

Once the registration request has been sent, the account of the Institution awaits validation and the administrator receives an e-mail from CVTrust at the address provided at the time of registration. The account shall only be activated after confirmation of the registration and validation of the identity of the Institution by CVTrust.

Article 6. Confirmation and validation of the registration of the Institution

As of receiving a registration request from an Institution, CVTrust shall send a confirmation of the creation of an academic account awaiting manual validation.

Manual validation consists of a direct verification by CVTrust with one or more person(s) forming part of the Institution and informed by the administrator, who may give CVTrust all necessary information enabling him to verify the identity and powers of the administrator and the Institution. The manual validation may take several days.

Until the registration of the Institution has not been validated, the Institution may connect to the Site and monitor the status of its validation, and delete its account.

However, the Institution may only create Electronic Documents after validation of its registration and the conclusion of a commercial contract with CVTrust.

Article 7. Administrators

The administrator who has registered the Institution with CVTrust, and whose e-mail address has been used to register the Institution, is able to register other administrators who are able to manage the CVTrust account of the Institution. This is recommended.

The initial administrator specifies the extent of the powers of the other administrators (sending of Documents, registration of new administrators, decryption of Certificate data, etc.) according to the options available on the Site. He can modify them thereafter.

Each administrator of the Institution has his own password.

Besides, CVTrust creates, for each administrator appointed as being authorised to issue Electronic Documents, and thus to encrypt and decrypt the data, a personal private encryption certificate enabling him to encrypt the data of the Documents before the sending, which shall be activated using a complex specific password chosen by the administrator and which is unknown to CVTrust. The private encryption key may not be used without this password.

The private encryption certificate is stored at CVTrust but without the password. The encryption key of the administrators of the Institution is thus not accessible to CVTrust. In the event of the loss of the password a regeneration procedure for a new encryption certificate shall be required as CVTrust does not have the password and thus cannot return it to the administrator. In this case, the last encryption key created shall also be used to decrypt the Electronic Certificate encrypted with the previous encryption key and not yet activated by the Candidates .

This certificate is used to encrypt (before sending to CVTrust) and decrypt (after sending and before activation) the information necessary for the production of the Electronic Documents.

The Institution may end the account of an administrator at any time by notifying CVTrust of this. In this case, the personal private encryption key of this administrator shall be cancelled and the administrator concerned shall no longer be authorised to issue Electronic Documents or to access the data of the CVTrust account of the Institution.

Article 8. Communication between CVTrust and the Institution

The exchange of data between CVTrust and the Institution shall be done by email through the Site.

These communications are encrypted in both directions if made in the secured website (https).

CVTrust may not be held responsible in the event of a failure of the certification or encryption system. CVTrust declines all responsibility in this respect. CVTrust General Conditions

Article 9. Registration of the Candidates

Any Candidate who wishes to activate his/her Electronic Certificate first needs to register on the Site by giving personal data (name, firstname), and a personal password to access his/her Profile. The registration may be done directly on the Site or through an integrated computer system of a third party giving access to the Services via its own platform, if appropriate.

The registration on the CVTrust Site by the Candidate requires the acceptance of the present General Conditions beforehand. The registration of the Candidate who is not already registered is necessarily done using the e-mail address on which he received the activation invitation for his Electronic Certificate. The Candidate shall nevertheless be able to change the e-mail address attached to his Profile in the management page of his CVTrust Profile.

These data of a personal nature are processed in accordance with Title VI of these presents. These data are strictly personal and non-transferable.

The Candidate shall choose a password to access his profile on CVTrust. The password of the Candidate is strictly personal, confidential and non-transferable. It may not be disclosed to or shared with third parties. The Candidate alone is responsible for the confidentiality of his password and discharges CVTrust from any responsibility in this respect. The Candidate undertakes to change his password in the event of a suspicion that its confidentiality has not been able to be safeguarded.

The Candidate guarantees that he is of majority age and that his identification data are correct. He also guarantees that the provisions of the present General Conditions are compatible with the imperative public policy rules of the law that is applicable to him and that he is free to accept them.

An e-mail shall be sent to the address stated by the Candidate enabling this last-mentioned to confirm his registration by clicking on the link inserted in the message.

Once registered the Candidate can access his Profile using his login and password, and may consult his Electronic Documents. The activated Documents cannot be withdrawn by the Candidate but may, if deemed appropriate, be removed from the public profile of the Candidate.

The Candidates commits to inform CVTrust on his own initiative, in case of modification of his email address by actualizing its Profile page. The Candidate who modifies his email address attached to his CVTrust account agrees that this new email address would be communicated to the Institution that has sent him an Electronic Certificate.

CVTrust is allowed to disable a Candidate’s account if the latter’s email address becomes incorrect or is used in a manner that harms CVTrust’s system of the present General Conditions.

Title IV - Electronic Documents

Article 10. Creation of Academic Programmes

Once the Institution inscription has been validated and after signature of the commercial contract with CVTrust, the Institution may create profiles of Academic Programmes for which Electronic Documents are issued, on the basis of two items of compulsory information: the name of the programme and the unique official title, which corresponds to the title of the Electronic Certificate.

The Institution guarantees that the name given to the Academic Programme corresponds to the academic programme given to the Candidates and that it does not infringe the rights of third parties.

Article 11. Creation of model Electronic Documents

The Institution creates one or several templates of Electronic Certificate(s) for each of the Educational Programmes that it registers on the Site. The Institution may create its model(s) on the basis of a document that it creates itself (according to the technical functionalities of the Website), offering several modalities of creation.

In all cases, the model Electronic Certificate must contain the following personalised fields: CVTrust General Conditions

− Name of the Institution (identical to the name of the account of the Institution validated by the digital certificate).

− Name of the Electronic Certificate (identical to the one for which the Electronic Certificate has been created).

− Forename of the Candidate.

− Surname of the Candidate.

The Electronic Certificate may also contain other dynamic data linked to the data relating to the Candidates, free text according to the choice of the Institution, the Institution logo, etc.

The Electronic Certificate shall also bear the CVTrust logo as well as a link and a unique QR-code specific for the document that allow to access to the digital version of the Certificate on the Site.

The Institution guarantees that it has the right to reproduce the names and graphic elements reproduced on the Electronic Documents. It guarantees that the terms employed for the identification of the Certificate and the Academic Programme comply with the practices and characteristics of these last-mentioned. CVTrust may refuse to use registered trademarks or other rights of third parties in the Electronic Documents. CVTrust reserves the right to verify the source and lawfulness of every graphic element inserted in the Electronic Certificate. To this end the Institution may be called on to communicate all information to identify the source of such graphic element and to provide documents assenting the harmfulness of its use.

The Institution also guarantees that the reproduction of the manual signature and the identity of the signatory of the Electronic Certificate correspond to those of the person in the Institution authorised to sign the Documents for the given Academic Programme.

The Institution may register its model Electronic Documents on its Profile and may access them and modify them on the basis of the name of the Academic Programme linked to them.

It is possible for the Institution to create several model Electronic Documents for each Academic Programme.

Article 12. Registration of the data relating to Candidates

Once the registration of the Institution has been validated, the Institution may upload, to the Site, the list of Candidates holding Electronic Documents for each Academic Programme that has been created, in XLS, XLSX or CSV format. The data of the file are standardised according to the nomenclature of CVTrust. The format required for each piece of information is communicated to the Institution by CVTrust.

Only the following information is compulsory for each Academic Programme :

− Surname of the Candidate

− Forename of the Candidate

− E-mail address of the Candidate

The other information on the list proposed by CVTrust is optional. It can then be accessed to produce Documents on the basis of the models created by the Institution.

The Institution guarantees it has legal access to the information used and is authorised to exploit it. The Institution guarantees the exactitude of the data relating to the Candidates. It expressly discharges CVTrust from all responsibility in this respect.

The sending of the file is made trough an encrypted connexion.

The file shall only be accepted by CVTrust if the nomenclature has been respected. This verification is automatic, instantaneous and computerised. In the event of a format problem in the one or the other part of the table, CVTrust shall return the entire document to the Institution identifying these incompatible data or shall identify the incompatible data by a warning that the administrator may decide to overstep. CVTrust consequently has temporary access to non-encrypted data to verify the format compatibility of these data before their encryption. CVTrust undertakes not to store the non-encrypted data for longer than the time needed for this verification.

CVTrust is not responsible for verifying otherwise the data given in the list of Candidates. CVTrust General Conditions

The uploading of data relating to the Candidates initiates the preparation of the Electronic Documents. This operation is unique and instantaneous in the eyes of the Institution, but may in reality be broken down into three sub-steps: registration of the data relating to the Candidates (article 12), the immediate encryption of the data (article 15), and the sending of the validation invitations to the Candidates (article 16).

Article 13. Creation of Electronic Documents

The Electronic Documents shall be prepared on the basis of models created on the Site and chosen by the Institution to generate the corresponding Electronic Documents with the data on the Candidates uploaded by the Institution, which shall be automatically integrated into the personalised fields provided to this end in the model Electronic Documents.

In the case the Institution would have created several templates of Electronic Documents for one Academic Programme, it shall choose the model(s) applicable to each Candidate, at least one needing to be chosen.

The Institution is responsible for verifying that the data uploaded are correct and are stated in the right place.

When the Institution has compiled and uploaded the data relating to the Candidates, the invitations to activate the Electronic Documents shall be ready for sending for the acceptance of the Candidates by clicking on the link provided to this end. The data sent by the Institution and the Electronic Documents are encrypted with the private key of the administrator.

The Electronic Certificate shall be effectively generated only if and when the Candidate has accepted the Certificate by clicking on the activation link mentioned below.

Article 14. Creation of Annexes to the Electronic Documents

The Institution is allowed to encode annex data related to any Certificate, such as grades or any other relevant information related to the Candidate’s academic career.

Those data are not integrated within the Electronic Certificate as such but are mentioned in an Annex. The data are encoded by the Institution in a .zip or .rar file and are sent to each Candidate according to the provisions related to the sending of the Electronic Documents. The Annexes are linked to an Electronic Certificate and meet with the same fate as the previous one, according to what is provided herein.

Thus the Candidate shall access the Annexes as soon as he/she has activated the Electronic Certificate prepared by the Institution. The Candidate does not need to activate separately the Certificate and the Annex linked to it. The Electronic Certificate activation automatically causes the activation of the Annexes linked to it. It is not possible for a Candidate to dissociate both documents.

Article 15. Security of the data relating to the Candidates

The data relating to the Candidates and the Electronic Documents are loaded into the CVTrust system. They are then immediately encrypted using the private key of the Institution, accessible with the complex password chosen by the administrator authorised to issue the Electronic Documents.

The Site also creates an unique public key for each Electronic Certificate, enabling the Candidates alone to decrypt the data concerning them loaded on the Site. This public key is sent to the Candidates in the form of an activation code in the e-mail proposing that he activates his Electronic Certificate.

The public key sent to the Candidates is specific to each e-mail address. There are thus different public keys if the invitation is sent to the Candidate at several different e-mail addresses.

Once the e-mails have been sent, the data relating to the Candidates are stored on the CVTrust server, but in encrypted form only accessible by the Institution. CVTrust does not hold keys enabling the information to be decrypted. CVTrust thus guarantees the protection of the data of a personal nature of the Candidates in its database.

CVTrust does only have access temporarily and for the purpose of the sending, to certain non-encrypted data (name, first name and email address) needed for the sending of the invitations to the Candidates to active their CVTrust General Conditions

Electronic Documents or to decrypted data in the Electronic Documents. As soon as the sending of emails has occurred, CVTrust has no further access to the data until acceptance of the Electronic Certificate by the Candidate.

The data of the Electronic Documents created nevertheless remain accessible to the other administrators of this same Institution, after temporary decryption using their private key.

Article 16. Sending of e-mails to the Candidates

Once the data have been encrypted in accordance with the previous article, an e-mail is automatically sent to the Candidates whose details have been uploaded on the Site to enable them to activate (or otherwise) the Electronic Certificate prepared by the Institution, by clicking on the hyperlink provided.

CVTrust makes a standard message available to the Institution intended for the Candidates, asking them to activate their Electronic Certificate. The Institution is free to change the text or replace it with another standard text, but CVTrust reserves the right to reserve a section of unchangeable text for each e-mail.

The Institution sends the activation emails with the hyperlink to the Candidates through CVTrust platform. The Institution may decide to send this invitation e-mail via a personalised e-mail address (e.g.: Institution@cvtrust.com), or via a generic e-mail address (example:CVTrust on behalf of ...@Institution.ac.be). This choice may be afterwards be changed in the account settings. The Candidate may answer to the invitation email of CVTrust.

Article 17. Monitoring by the Institution of the items sent

The Institution has access, on the page of its account on the Site, to a report recapitulating the items sent to the Candidates. Only the data relating to the Candidates who have activated their Electronic Certificate shall be decrypted on the Site. The data relating to the other Candidates, whose Electronic Certificate has not been activated, shall remain encrypted. The administrator of the Institution may nevertheless temporarily read these encrypted data by manually supplying the password attached to his personal certificate.

If an e-mail is not delivered due to an error in the e-mail address, an error message shall be sent to the Institution by CVTrust. As the data are encrypted, this message does not identify the Candidate with the incorrect address, but only the technical identifier of the Electronic Certificate in the database, i.e. an identification number enabling the Institution to identify the corresponding Candidate, after temporary decryption using his private key.

The Institution may then change the e-mail address so that the invitation to activate the Electronic Certificate can be sent to the Candidate again. This e-mail contains a new public key, which differs from the one attached to the first activation invitation. This operation does not consume additional credit, provided that the sending occurs before the expiration of the hyperlink activating the Electronic Certificate.

The Institution may also resend an activation invitation to a Candidate who has not responded within a certain period of time. The new activation invitation sent to the same Candidate, to the same e-mail addresse(s) or a different e-mail address, does not consume additional credit, provided that the sending occurs before the expiration of the hyperlink activating the Electronic Certificate.

Once the Electronic Certificate have been activated by the Candidates, the Institution shall be able to see the Electronic Documents it has issued, even if this Electronic Certificate is not integrated in the Candidate’s public profile of his CVTrust account

Article 18. Reception of the e-mail by the Candidate

The Candidate who receives the e-mail proposing the Electronic Certificate and who wants to have access to it, must click on the link sent to him in the activation e-mail.

If the Candidate is not yet registered, he must first register with CVTrust. If he is already registered with CVTrust, the Candidate must identify himself using his identifier and password.

By opening the link sent in the e-mail and the registration or connection on the Site, the Candidate permits CVTrust to access his personal public encryption key that is attached to his e-mail. CVTrust General Conditions

CVTrust may then decrypt the information relating to the Candidate and attach it to his CVTrust account. The Electronic Certificate is automatically created and integrated in the Candidate’s Profile.

As of activation of the Electronic Certificate, on the Site the Institution may access information relating to the success of the activation. The decrypted data relating to the Certificate of the Candidate are kept by CVTrust to attach them to the account of the Candidate and the Institution.

Article 19. Activation period of the Electronic Certificate

The Institution may limit the period in which it is possible to activate the Electronic Certificate, collectively for each sending of data.

CVTrust shall only keep the encrypted data of the Electronic Certificate while awaiting the validation of the Candidate for the defined activation period, and shall not access the non-decrypted data at the end of this period.

By default, the activation period shall be one year as of the activation e-mail being sent to the Candidate. The activation period may be set by the Institution, with a minimum of thirty days. The activation period may be variable for each Electronic Certificate and for each Program, but may not be changed any more once the invitation to activate his Electronic Certificate has been sent to the Candidate.

The expiry of the activation period is specified by CVTrust in the e-mail disclaimer sent to the Candidate and this information cannot be modified or deleted by the Institution.

The Candidate who wishes to activate his Electronic Certificate after expiry of the activation period cannot access it directly by connecting to his CVTrust account. He must contact the Institution directly, or via his CVTrust account, to ask this last-mentioned to send him a new activation invitation for his Electronic Certificate.

Article 20. Direct Electronic Certificate request of Candidates to the Institution

When a Candidate who has created a CVTrust account:

− has not received the e-mail asking him to activate his Electronic Certificate(incorrect, unused e-mail address, etc),

− has received an Electronic Certificate containing mistakes,

− or wants to activate an Electronic Certificate whose activation period has expired,

is able to contact the Institution to ask it for an invitation to activate his Electronic Certificate through his CVTrust account, or directly.

As of receiving the request of the Candidate, the Institution may only send a new activation invitation for the Electronic Certificate to this Candidate through the process described above, to a single e-mail address of its choice and without consumption of additional credit, unless activation period is expired.

If the Institution resends an existing Electronic Certificate (but not yet activated), the public encryption key attached to it shall differ from the former encryption key that was attached to the previous activation invitation.

Article 21. Candidates whose email address cannot be found or is invalid

When the Institution misses some Candidates’ email addresses, CVTrust enables the Institution to ask other Candidates if they know the email addresses of the “missing” Candidates.

If the Institution decides to activate the CVTrust Candidate search service, the Candidates can also receive, on their Profile page, a list of “missing” Candidates who could not be contacted. The Institution can limit the list to the “missing” Candidates who were graduated in the same year.

The Candidates contacted by the Institution can send a form to the “missing” Candidates by filing their email address in the field provided in CVTrust website. These email addresses are temporarily stored in CVTrust’s system for the needs of the email sending but are not kept beyond that. CVTrust General Conditions

The “missing” Candidates who receive the CVTrust form and wish to receive their Electronic Documents can contact CVTrust by filing in the form they receive.

CVTrust shall then send inform the Institution that the “missing” Candidate could be contacted and provide them with the information filed in the form by the “missing” Candidate.

The Institution can then send to the Candidate the invitation to activate his/her Electronic Certificate, as indicated above.

The Institution can, depending on its account’s settings, send automatically the hyperlink for the Electronic Certificate activation to the Candidate, or decide to send to the Candidate at first a manual approval of the Candidate’s data before sending him/her the link to activate its Electronic Certificate. The Institution can also request at first information from the Candidate (i.e. an answer to a specific question).

Article 22. Change of the data of the Electronic Certificate

The Institution may not change the data given in the Electronic Certificate once they have been sent to CVTrust prior to the sending of invitation to activate the said Electronic Documents.

In the event of a mistake in the data of the Electronic Documents whose activation invitation has already been sent and accepted by the Candidate, the Institution may withdraw the validation of the erroneous Electronic Certificate and specify the reasons for this decision.

This Electronic Certificate shall no longer appear on the CVTrust Profile of the Candidate who has already activated the Electronic Certificate.

If the Electronic Certificate has not yet been activated by the Candidate and if the Institution corrects or withdraw it, the activation of his Electronic Certificate shall no longer be possible and he shall receive a fail message, even if the activation period is still ongoing.

If the Candidate has meanwhile downloaded the Electronic Certificate in .pdf format, the Electronic Certificate cannot be considered as valid anymore. The QR code and hyperlink shall no longer be valid and shall refer to a page stating that the document is now invalid.

After invalidation of the Electronic Certificate, a message shall be sent through the CVTrust system to the Candidate to alert him of it, and detailing the reasons that the Institution has had to make.

The Institution can send a new activation invitation to the Candidates for an Electronic Certificate whose content has been corrected, if any.

Article 23. Expiry date of the Electronic Certificate

Certain Electronic Documents may have a validity limit (Expiry Date). This Expiry Date is applied in accordance with the regulations of the Institution and indicates the date to which the issuing Institution recognises the validity of this Electronic Certificate.

If applicable, the Expiry Date forms part of the compulsory statements inserted on the Electronic Certificate, under the responsibility of the Institution. It may not be changed.

Once the expiry date has passed, the Electronic Certificate remains accessible on the Profile of the Candidate.

Article 24. Cancellation of the Electronic Certificate

An Institution may invalidate an Electronic Certificate that has already been issued, whether or not the Candidate has activated it. This is done under the exclusive responsibility of the Institution.

The cancelled Electronic Certificate shall no longer appear on the CVTrust Profile of the Candidate who has already activated the Electronic Certificate. The same applies to linked Annexes, if any. CVTrust General Conditions

If the Electronic Certificate has not yet been activated by the Candidate, this last-mentioned may not activate his cancelled Electronic Certificate and he shall receive a fail message, even if the activation period is still ongoing.

In all cases of cancellation of an Electronic Certificate, the Institution must necessarily provide written justification to the Candidate via the Site, referring to the Institution regulations or the law justifying the decision to cancel the Electronic Certificate.

This message shall also be sent to the Candidates who have not yet activated their Electronic Certificate, after having obtained their e-mail address by temporarily decrypting the data relating to these Candidates on their CVTrust profiles.

The Institution guarantees that it shall only cancel the Electronic Documents in accordance with its regulations and the applicable laws, and only after all recourse has been exhausted or the deadline for the said recourse have expired, and only after motivating its decision. Under no circumstances may the cancellation of the Electronic Documents be subject to the discretionary decision of the Institution. The Electronic Certificate may only be cancelled by the Institution in parallel with the paper Certificate (if such exists). The Institution and the Candidates discharge CVTrust from all responsibility in this respect.

Title V - Communication of the Electronic Documents

Article 25. Conditions for the publication of the Electronic Certificate

The Candidate shall select the Electronic Certificate that he wants to make public to the Addressees.

The public part of the Candidate Profile is accessible through a URL link indicated in his Profile. This link gives access to the latest updated version of the public Profile of the Candidate.

The Electronic Certificate may be made accessible to the Addressees by several means:

− Integration of the URL link by the Candidate in his curriculum vitae in the form given by it.

− The Candidate sending the URL link or QR Code in an e-mail.

− Insertion of the URL link or QR Code on a web platform or Profile.

− Implementation of the CVTrust Services in third parties’ integrated personnel management.

− Publication of Electronic Certificate in social networks.

CVTrust shall not spontaneously communicate or otherwise give access to any data of the Candidates.

Addressee may save the Electronic Documents in PDF format (see article below).

The Addressees consult the Electronic Certificate without charge on the Candidate’s profile.

Article 26. Electronic Certificate in PDF format

The Candidate may also download, from his account, the Electronic Certificate in secure PDF format and use it independently of his CVTrust account. This Electronic Certificate may in particular be printed, sent by e-mail or downloaded to an Internet page.

The Electronic Certificate in PDF format is drawn up on the basis of the model drawn up by the Institution and bears all the compulsory statements:

− Name of the Institution (identical to the name of the Institution account validated by CVTrust).

− Name of the Electronic Certificate (identical to the one for which the Electronic Certificate has been created).

− Forename of the Candidate.

− Surname of the Candidate.

It also contains any optional data chosen by the Institution. CVTrust General Conditions

The Electronic Certificate in PDF format is stamped by the CVTrust logo, and contains an Internet link enabling access to the electronic version of the Electronic Certificate on the Site. The Electronic Certificate also contains a “QR” code enabling direct access to this page.

Title VI - Credits

Article 27. Purchase and management of the credits

A credit is a unit enabling the Institution to prepare an Electronic Certificate for sending for activation by the Candidate.

The payable CVTrust Services are only accessible upon receipt of the payment by CVTrust, and without prejudice to the other provisions of these presents.

And all transfer, conversion or other bank charges shall be to the charge of the Institution, unless otherwise agreed.

CVTrust shall send an electronic settled invoice to the Institution after receipt of the payment.

The Institution has access to a management page for its Credits, enabling it to select the desired number of credits on the basis of various plans proposed by CVTrust.

The Institution may access the information relating to the remaining number of credits at any time.

The Institution has access to a history of the purchased credits (purchase date, identity of the administrator who gave the purchase order, number of credits purchased, any reduction, etc).

The Institution has access to a history of spent credits (identity of the administrator, number of spent credits, date of use of the credit, and the titles of the Academic Programme concerned).

When the Institution holds no more than 10% of the credits initially purchased, a notification e-mail shall be sent by CVTrust to all users of the Institution account who are authorised to manage the credits, inviting him to credit the account of the Institution.

Article 28. Spending of credits

The Institution spends credits by sending the invitation to the Candidates to activate an Electronic Certificate or by using any other payable service of CVTrust.

The credit is consumed even in the event of an error in the entry of the e-mail address of the Candidate. A credit is also consumed in the event of a corrected Electronic Certificate being sent to the Candidate for which the previous erroneous Electronic Certificate was invalidated beforehand by the Institution.

The same activation invitation for the Electronic Certificate may nevertheless be resent to another electronic address without the consumption of additional credit for as long as the Candidate has not activated his Electronic Certificate and provided that the activation period has not yet expired. The resending of an activation invitation to a Candidate on the same e-mail address for the same Electronic Certificate does not require the consumption of additional credit.

Title VII – Advertising Banners

Article 29. Creation of Advertising Banners

The Institution can create Advertising Banners relating to its own academic activities, such as training courses, conferences, academic cycles, publications, etc. The Advertising Banners can also provide hyperlinks to the Institution’s website relating to the subject of the Advertising Banner.

The Advertising Banners only appear on the Candidate’s Electronic Certificate Page issued by the said Institution.

The Institution warrants it is legally entitled to exploit all information and all elements communicated in the Advertising Banners and confirms that the information provided are accurate and up to date. The Institution CVTrust General Conditions

expressly discharges CVTrust from all liability regarding the Advertising Banners, including in case of third parties legal action to claim damage.

The Advertising Banners never appear on the Electronic Certificate as such, and must always be directly linked to the academic programs of the Institution. The Advertising Banners will be visible by the Candidates, Addressee or by any other third parties accessing the Candidate’s Profile.

CVTrust reserves the right to withdraw any Advertising Banner that would be considered inappropriate with the Services, that would have no connection with the Institution’s activities, or that would violate third parties’ rights, the public order or the public decency.

Article 30. Appearance of Advertising Banners

The Institution must bind the appearance of the Advertising Banners to particular criteria proposed, such as the type of Electronic Certificate delivered or the type of Academic Program concerned by the Electronic Certificate.

The Institution can neither bind the appearance of the Advertising Banners to other Institution’s Electronic Certificate, nor to the profile of Candidates who have not activated Electronic Certificate it has issued.

The Institution agrees that Advertising Banners issued by another Institutions can appear next to the Candidate’s other Electronic Certificate that has been issued by the same other Institution.

Article 31. Candidate’s acceptance regarding Advertising Banners

The Candidate expressly agrees that some Data of his/her profile such as the Institution(s) that has/have issued its Electronic Certificate(s), or the type of Electronic Certificate issued, the Academic Program concerned, or any other pertinent information, could be used as a reference for the selection and the appearance of Advertising Banners of his/hers Institution.

The Candidate accepts that Advertising Banners issued by Institutions that have issued his/her Electronic Certificate, appears beside the said Electronic Certificate(s).

Title VIII - Protection of data of a personal nature

Article 32. Processing of data of a personal nature

The parties agree and are aware of the fact that the Internet is not an entirely secure means of information and that consequently a total guarantee regarding the respect of their private life and Data entered on the Site(the “Data”) cannot be given.

However, CVTrust shall do its utmost to guarantee observance of the provisions of the Act of 8 December 1992 on the protection of private life with respect to the processing of data of a personal nature. CVTrust has made a declaration for the processing data of a personal nature to the Commission for the Protection of Private Life. The identity of CVTrust, the processing manager, is stated in article 1.

The Parties undertake, for the entire duration of the registration for the Services, to inform CVTrust of every change to their own data and to make the necessary changes on the Site to keep the Profile up-to-date at the earliest opportunity.

The Institution guarantees it is authorised to process data of a personal nature of the Candidate in the framework of his relationship with CVTrust.

The data collected by CVTrust are intended to be processed by CVTrust, who may collect, manage, use, communicate, store, and integrate them in its own database, automatically process them for the purpose of the operation of the Site, the selection and publication of Advertising Banners and for the provision of the Services. CVTrust may use these data to identify and contact the parties, manage the clientele, integrate them in the databases to facilitate the processing, the integration of all data of the Experiences and Validations on the Site, and the creation of Electronic Documents. CVTrust General Conditions

The data are subject to computer processing. They shall not be disclosed to third parties without the authorisation of the person concerned (Candidate or Institution).

When the CVTrust system is implemented in an integrated computer system of a third party and the Candidate has agreed to the addition of the CVTrust option to the Services of the third party, the data shall continue to be processed by CVTrust.

Article 33. Communication of data of a personal nature

The Parties authorise CVTrust to reproduce and distribute all data and to communicate them to the Candidates, to the Institutions and to the Addressees, by any means of electronic communication (e-mail, on the Internet Site, etc), throughout the world and for the entire duration of their registration, for the needs of the provision of Services.

The Candidate authorizes CVTrust to link the appearance of Advertising Banners on his/her Electronic Certificate pages, for the promotion of the activities of the Institution that has issued the said Electronic Certificate concerned (see article below).

This authorisation is granted to CVTrust, its partners and any successors.

By accepting these presents, the parties authorise, without restriction, the transfer of their data to a country that is a not a member of the European Community, that does not ensure a level of protection equivalent to that in force in Belgium, in accordance with article 22, §1.1 of the Act of 8 December 1992 on the protection of private life with respect to the processing of data of a personal nature.

CVTrust reserves the right to exploit the data anonymously, in particular for study and analysis purposes, and the publication of these last-mentioned.

The Institution and CVTrust business partners (including the Addressees) may access certain data communicated by the Candidates or the Addressees for the purposes of anonymous statistics, such as information or combination of information related to the place of work, the economic sector, the Documents received or consulted, etc. CVTrust commits to anonymize the data by removing all personal identification components of the data before any use thereof. Statistics may include information related to the audience measurement of the Advertising Banners.

The Institution may also request access to any new e-mail address communicated by the Candidate to CVTrust.

All access and use of the data communicated by the Candidate require the prior consent of the Candidate.

Article 34. Obligation of the users

Without prejudice to the legal requirements, every user of the Site or the Services with access to data of a personal nature thus undertakes to respect the confidentiality of these data and not to use them in a way that is incompatible with the purpose of the Service, as described in these presents, nor without the authorisation of the persons concerned. This usage is under the sole and full responsibility of the persons concerned, who discharge CVTrust in this respect.

Article 35. Access, rectification and deletion of data of a personal nature

The parties have a right to delete and rectify the Data concerning them, through the modification or deletion option of their Profile or by sending an e-mail to info[@]CVTrust.com.

The deletion of all compulsory data of the Profile is equivalent to deregistration.

Article 36. Technical protection of the data of a personal nature

All precautions have been taken in the CVTrust databases to archive the Data in a secure environment that is only accessible with a username and a password. The employees of CVTrust with access to the Data are bound by a contractual confidentiality obligation relating to the personal data. CVTrust uses a secure Internet and intranet connection in accordance with practices, and does everything to ensure technical protection against the unauthorised access, destruction, loss and modification of the Data. CVTrust General Conditions

The Electronic Documents and the data relating to the Candidates are protected by a private encryption key specific to the Institution (activated by a complex password specific to the administrator of the Institution) and by public encryption keys shared by the Institution and with each Candidate.

The encrypted data cannot be read by CVTrust or by any other party than the Candidate and the Institution.

The data are only decrypted after registration of the Candidate with the CVTrust Services and acceptance by the Candidate of the General Conditions applicable to him, or by the Institution in accordance with the present General Conditions.

Article 37. Storage of the data of a personal nature

After the termination or end of the registration of the Parties, CVTrust may, at its entire discretion, keep the Data submitted in the framework of the registration to the Services for twelve additional months for reports, verifications or consultations.

Once the personal data have been deleted, CVTrust shall only keep summary anonymous data for statistical purposes.

Title IX - Deregistration

Article 38. Deregistration conditions

The parties may request deregistration of their CVTrust account at any time.

Once the Candidate has deregistered, his Profile is no longer active and the URL link giving access to his public Profile and his Electronic Documents for third parties shall also be deactivated.

For Institutions, only the duly authorised administrators may request deregistration from CVTrust.

This deregistration can be done at any time by sending an e-mail to the address info[@]cvtrust.com, indicating the desire to deregister the CVTrust account.

This deregistration is done manually by CVTrust and may take a few days. The deregistration is confirmed by e-mail.

As soon as the deregistration of an Institution has been confirmed, the administrators can no longer access the account of the Institution and all data of the Institution shall be deleted. However:

• The deregistration of an Institution is without effect for the use of Electronic Documents by the Candidates that have already been activated.

• The Electronic Documents for which the activation invitation has been sent to the Candidates and which have not yet been validated may be activated by the Candidate for as long as the applicable activation period has not expired, but CVTrust shall delete all the non-validated data at the end of the activation period.

Any amounts paid to CVTrust and unconsumed credit shall not be reimbursed. The same applies to unlimited subscriptions that are terminated before their expiry date.

Title X - Responsibilities in relation to the use of the Site.

Article 39. Obligations and responsibilities of the parties

In the framework of the use of the Service and the consultation of the Site, the parties undertake in general to respect the applicable laws and the present General Conditions and not to harm the rights of third parties.

Consequently, without prejudice to the other provisions of these presents, each Party undertakes in particular and without reservation, with respect to the consultation and use of the Site : CVTrust General Conditions

− Not to use the Site for commercial purposes (canvassing, etc).

− To only communicate information that corresponds to reality and to regularly update it.

− To only disclose information relating to his private life and person whose distribution and communication he considers does not harm his rights or is prejudicial to him.

− To only communicate information and data for which he has the power and authorisation to disclose and use in the framework of the Services.

− Not to communicate his password to a third party.

− Not to communicate or distribute, in any form or nature whatsoever, content that harms the rights of third parties or is of a defamatory, injurious, threatening, obscene, offensive, hateful or violent nature, or which incites violence, or which is of a political, racist, xenophobic, vulgar, pornographic nature, or any content which in general does not correspond to the Services of CVTrust.

− Not to communicate content that constitutes a breach of criminal law, in particular child pornography, paedophilia, debauchery, racism, xenophobia, publicity for offers of services of a sexual nature, the sale of drugs, etc.

− Not to communicate content able to infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties, or other rights and interests of third parties.

− To demonstrate moderation and ethics in all messages, documents and communication sent through the Site.

− Not to conduct publicity, commercial communications or promote any goods or services whatsoever, except for the authorised Advertising Banners, according to the provisions hereof ;

− Not to send chain mail or spam messages, without prejudice of the sending of emails to Candidates as stated herein ;

− Not to promote sites that directly compete with CVTrust ;

− To behave in a faithful manner towards CVTrust, the other Candidates and Addressees.

− Not to reduce, disorganise or prevent the normal use of the Services of the Site, in particular by interrupting and/or slowing access to the Site, or the circulation of information by means such as viruses, mass messages, “deep link”, “page-scrape”, “robot”, “spider” or any other means, program, method, algorithm that could interfere with the functioning of the Site.

− Not to propose links to or promote third-party sites of an illegal nature, or which are contrary to accepted standards of behaviour or do not comply with the spirit of CVTrust.

− Not to adopt any other unseemly or illegal attitude contrary to accepted standards of behaviour and public order or the good management of the Site, or which is able to harm the rights of third parties.

In the event of the non-observance of the principles given above, CVTrust reserves the right to immediately deactivate the account of the Party, prohibit access to and subsequent registration on the Site, and to claim the payment of all compensation in order to repair the damage suffered by CVTrust further to the non-observance of these provisions.

Article 40. Guarantee of the Institution

The Institution guarantees CVTrust that it is actually authorised to issue its Documents and use the titles that it gives them.

The Institution guarantees that it is authorised to make use of the name and any logo stated at the time of its registration and for the entire duration of the use of the Services.

Article 41. Responsibility of CVTrust

CVTrust expressly declines all responsibility in the event of the non-observance of the obligations of the parties or in the event of damage that is directly or indirectly imputable to them. If applicable, the Party in the wrong or who is liable shall indemnify CVTrust against any judgement pronounced against it.

CVTrust is not responsible either for the erroneous nature of certain data communicated by the parties on the Site.

CVTrust is not responsible for the use that third parties or the Addressees make of the data communicated by the Parties on the Site. CVTrust General Conditions

In the event of the registration of the Candidate with a third-party partner company of CVTrust who has integrated the Services in its own Services, CVTrust may not be held responsible for any harm caused by this third party or by the persons to whom the information of the Candidate is communicated in this respect.

CVTrust has no general obligation to monitor the information that it sends or stores, nor any general obligation to actively search for facts or circumstances revealing illicit activities, in accordance with article 21 of the Act of 11 March 2003 on certain legal aspects of services of the information society.

In the event of the publication of illicit content on the Site, CVTrust may only be held liable in the following cases:

− If it actually knew of the illicit activity or information,

− and if it did not respond promptly, as soon as it knew of all the required details, to remove the illicit information or to make access to it impossible.

CVTrust may be asked to communicate to the competent judicial or administrative authorities the information enabling them to identify the Parties in the event of illicit activities being performed on the Site, with observance of the applicable procedures.

CVTrust does not guarantee that the Services are accessible if the Internet Service provider of the Parties defaults. CVTrust is not responsible for the non-operation, impossibility of access or poor conditions of use due to unsuitable equipment, malfunctions attributable to the Internet Service provider of the Parties, congestion on the Internet, malfunctions of the host and the provider of the CVTrust Services, or for any other reason that is not due to wrongdoing directly imputable to CVTrust. CVTrust declines all responsibility in the event of the loss of data due to the poor functioning of the Site.

CVTrust may temporarily interrupt access to the Site and/or the Services for reasons of maintenance, updates, technical improvements or development of the content or its presentation.

CVTrust may include hypertext links to other Web sites or other Internet sources. However, CVTrust is not able to verify or control these external sources and may not be held responsible for the provision of these sites or sources, nor their content, publicity, products or services offered. The parties consult them at their own risk and under their own responsibility.

CVTrust does not in any way guarantee that the Candidates respond to the invitations to validate the Electronic Documents.

CVTrust does not in any way guarantee that an Addressee shall contact the Candidate, ask for access to his information or offer him a job interview. It does not guarantee either that the criteria of the Candidate meet those sought by the Addressees.

CVTrust does not guarantee the continuity of its Services either.

The Institution shall indemnify CVTrust in the event of any damage or harm further to the non-observance of the undertakings that it gives by accepting these General Conditions.

Title XI - General clauses

Article 42. Intellectual property

The interface, logos, graphics, photographs, animations, videos and text contained on the Site are the intellectual property of CVTrust or its partners, and may not be reproduced, used or represented without its express authorisation. The same applies to the CVTrust database and its content, and to the source codes of the Site as well as any software enabling its operation.

The user rights for these elements, granted to the parties by CVTrust, are limited to access, downloading, printing and reproduction on any media and the use of these documents for private or professional purposes, while registered with CVTrust only and for the purpose of using the Services.

Except in the cases expressly provided by these presents, the Parties are prohibited from changing, copying, reproducing, downloading, distributing, sending, decompiling and compiling, exploiting commercially and CVTrust General Conditions

distributing in any manner, the pages or parts of pages of the Site or the computer codes of the elements making up the underlying software of the Site.

CVTrust and its logo are a registered trademark of CVTrust.

Article 43. Non concurrence

The Candidate and the Institution forbid themself to (make) produce, develop or exploit, in any way whatsoever, directly or indirectly, for themselves or for a third party, any project, application or website that would be similar, analogous, competing or looking alike the Services of CVTrust, neither that may be considered as its derivate, nor induce a confusion, competition or risk of association with them.

This obligation produces its effects during the whole duration of the parties’ collaboration, and during ten more years thereafter.

Article 44. Termination by CVTrust

CVTrust may, without prior notice, deactivate the account of a Party in the event of the non-observance of the rules given in the General Conditions or in the event of fraud. The deactivation of the Profile is without prejudice to any legal action or claims for compensation that could be made by CVTrust to safeguard its rights. This termination shall be equivalent to, and produce the same effects as, the deregistration of the Party concerned.

Under no circumstances may a deactivation of the Profile or an account of a Party give rise to compensation by CVTrust or the reimbursement of any sums paid by this last-mentioned in the event of there being a charge for the registration.

In the event of the detection of fraud in the Electronic Documents, CVTrust reserves the right to remove all Electronic Documents concerned of the Institution from the CVTrust system. This removal is not just from the Profile of the Institution, but also from the Profiles of all the Candidates who have already validated the Electronic Certificate.

Article 45. General clauses

The present General Conditions constitute a contract governing the relations between the Parties and CVTrust.

If certain provisions of these presents turn out to be null and void, the other non-invalidated provisions shall continue to apply.

Without prejudice to article 2, CVTrust may, at any time and without notice, amend the present General Conditions. The Parties shall ensure that they are always familiar with the latest version.

Article 46. Applicable law and jurisdiction

The present General Conditions are subject to Belgian law.

In the event of a dispute relating to these General Conditions, the use of the Site or the Services, only the courts of the legal district of Brussels ruling in the French language shall have jurisdiction.