General Terms of Use for the GLOBALG.A.P. Public Consultation Portal

1. Scope

FoodPLUS GmbH, Spichernstraße 55, 50672 Cologne ("GLOBALG.A.P.") offers registered users a portal for public consultation regarding revisions and updates to GLOBALG.A.P. standards, add-ons and associated documents (“Portal”). These General Terms of Use ("GTU”) govern the use of the Portal by registered users.

2. Registration

2.1 GLOBALG.A.P. will grant the use of the Portal to users that are registered with GLOBALG.A.P. ("Portal Users"). The registration takes place on the Portal’s registration website by opening a new account under agreement to these GTU and acknowledgement of the GLOBALG.A.P. privacy policy. Upon successful registration, a user account is created, which the Portal User can access with the help of its e-mail address and password selected during registration. The password can be changed by the user at any time via the password-protected user area. Alternatively, the Portal User may register using an existing Microsoft account.

2.2 With the registration, a contract on the use of the Portal ("User Contract") is concluded between GLOBALG.A.P. and the Portal User. There is no claim to the conclusion of a User Contract. Terms and conditions of the Portal User that deviate from these GTU shall not apply unless they have been confirmed in writing by GLOBALG.A.P.

2.3 Registration is only permitted for natural persons and legal entities with unlimited legal capacity. Minors are not allowed to register for the use of the Portal. Only an authorized representative may register a legal entity.

3. Access to the Portal

3.1 GLOBALG.A.P. will use its best endeavors to provide access to the Portal free of charge and subject to these GTU. The right of Portal Users to access and use the Portal exists only within the framework of the current state of the art. GLOBALG.A.P. temporarily restricts its services if this is necessary with regard to capacity limits, the security or integrity of the servers or for the implementation of technical measures, and this serves the proper or improved provision of the Portal (maintenance work). GLOBALG.A.P. considers in these cases the legitimate interests of the Portal Users.

3.2 GLOBALG.A.P. reserves the right to improve, expand, change or delete the Portal in whole or in part (e.g., in relation to functionalities), including the partial or complete withdrawal of functions.

3.3 The Portal User is obliged (i) to keep the access data confidential, not to communicate or disclose such data to third parties and to protect its access data against intentional or accidental notice by third parties; (ii) to inform GLOBALG.A.P. immediately if the Portal User has reason to assume that third parties have become aware of its access data or has indications of any form of unauthorized use of access data; (iii) not to provide access to the Portal to third parties.

4. Use of the Portal

4.1 The Portal User may use the Portal to take part in the public consultation process regarding upcoming revisions and updates to GLOBALG.A.P. standards, add-ons and associated documents. The Portal User may participate by submitting comments (either first time comments or responses to previous comments) and other content (“User Content”) to GLOBALG.A.P. for publication. GLOBALG.A.P. has the sole right to decide at its own discretion if the submitted User Content will be published on the Portal. The Portal User has no claim to the publication of its submitted User Content on the Portal.

4.2 Portal Users may only submit User Content that is related to the topic of the respective public consultation that is conducted at the Portal at the time of submission. Any improper use of the Portal is prohibited. In particular, the Portal User may not use the Portal to conduct advertising or to spread spam content. If the User Content contains facts, Portal Users are obliged to only provide truthful information.

4.3 It is the Portal User's responsibility to ensure that its submitted User Content complies with all applicable laws and does not violate any rights of third parties. It is forbidden to submit User Content that violates applicable statutory regulations, these GTU, rights of third parties or morality. Portal Users may inform GLOBALG.A.P. at any time upon User Content that violates applicable laws, these GTU, rights of third parties or morality, and GLOBALG.A.P. will take due care to remove any such illegal User Content within a reasonable period of time.

4.4 The Portal User grants GLOBALG.A.P. free of charge the non-exclusive, transferable, and sublicensable right, unlimited in time, geography, and content, to utilize the User Content online and offline, in particular to make the User Content publicly accessible, to reproduce it, to distribute it and to edit it. The granting of rights also includes the right to combine the User Content with other content (texts, images, hyperlinks, trademarks, logos, etc.) and to use these combinations in accordance with these GTU. The Portal User also agrees that translations of the User Content may be made for the above-mentioned purposes.

4.5 The submitted User Content to be published will be selected by GLOBALG.A.P. based on whether the User Content is suitable for promoting public debate on the planned revision and adaptation of the GLOBALG.A.P. standards, add-ons, and associated documents. In doing so, GLOBALG.A.P. will have the right to (i) publish submitted User Content without modification in content (in this case, GLOBALG.A.P. will not revise the User Content for legality, correctness, and completeness prior to publication), or (ii) publish submitted User Content as follows:

 4.5.1 GLOBALG.A.P. may publish a summary of the User Content submitted by an individual Portal User. In doing so, GLOBALG.A.P. will neither change the content nor substantive statement of the User Content but will reflect it truthfully.

 4.5.2 GLOBALG.A.P. may bundle up User Content submitted by several Portal Users that contains matching or comparable statements and publish a summary of the common statements.

 4.5.3 References to the respective Portal User who has contributed User Content are only made if the respective Portal User agrees thereto; all other publications are made anonymously.

4.6 GLOBALG.A.P. grants to the Portal User the revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Portal and the Portal content solely for the purposes laid down in these GTU, provided that this use complies with the provisions of these GTU as well as with applicable statutory provisions. Portal Users will not be granted any further rights of use.

4.7 Portal Users may not interfere with the Portal in any way, including attempts made to overcome or circumvent the security mechanisms of the Portal or to otherwise incapacitate them.

5. Restrictions of Use

GLOBALG.A.P. may – if there are indications that a Portal User violates applicable statutory provisions, third party rights, these GTU, or if GLOBALG.A.P. has another legitimate interest, in particular to protect other Portal Users – restrict a Portal User's access to and use of the Portal, taking into account the legitimate interests of the Portal User concerned. Such measures may include (i) not publishing or delaying publishing of submitted User Content; (ii) temporarily hiding or deleting submitted or published User Content; (iii) warning Portal Users; (iv) restricting a Portal User’s use of the Portal, in particular the ability to submit comments; and (v) temporarily suspending a Portal User. GLOBALG.A.P.’s right to extraordinarily terminate the contract on the use of the Portal for cause shall remain unaffected.

6. Liability; Limitation of Liability

6.1 GLOBALG.A.P. shall not be held liable for third party content which it does not modify in terms of content, nor shall it be liable for any damages or other failures resulting from any defects of the Portal User's software or hardware or their incompatibility with the Portal. 6.2 Apart from this, GLOBALG.A.P. shall be held liable only under the following circumstances, regardless of the legal grounds: 6.2.1 If one of GLOBALG.A.P.’s legal representatives or executives or other vicarious agents has acted intentionally or grossly negligently;

 6.2.2 In the event of any culpable breach of an essential contractual duty or delayed performance or the impossibility of performance, each party undertakes liability based on the respective merits. The expression "essential contractual duty" describes a duty in the abstract, the fulfillment of which is an essential pre-requisite for the due implementation of GLOBALG.A.P.'s obligations, and that is a duty on whose fulfillment the respective other party can rely as a general rule.

6.3 In the event of liability pursuant to Clause 6.2.2, liability shall be limited, for financial losses and damages to property, to the amount of the typically foreseeable loss.

6.4 The above limitations of liability do not apply to cases of mandatory statutory liability, in particular liability under product liability law, liability for a guarantee that has been assumed, and liability for intentional or negligent injury to life, limb or health.

7. Indemnification

The Portal User shall indemnify GLOBALG.A.P. against all claims asserted by other Portal Users or other third parties against GLOBALG.A.P. due to infringement of their rights by User Content submitted by the Portal User and published on the Portal. In this case, the Portal User shall bear the costs of the necessary legal defense of GLOBALG.A.P. including all court and attorney fees in the statutory amount. This does not apply if the user is not responsible for the infringement. In case of a claim by a third party, the user is obliged to provide GLOBALG.A.P. immediately, truthfully and comprehensively with all information necessary for the examination of the claims and a defense.

8. Term; Termination

8.1 The User Contract is concluded for an indefinite period. Portal Users may terminate the User Contract at any time by giving notice in text form (letter, e-mail) or use the functionalities provided in the Portal (if any). GLOBALG.A.P. may terminate the User Contract at any time with a notice period of 7 days. The right to block the Portal User’s account as well as the right to extraordinary termination for cause remain unaffected.

8.2 Upon termination of the User Contract, the user account of the Portal User will be deactivated. The Portal User can no longer access the Portal from this time.

9. Modifications of Terms of Use

9.1 GLOBALG.A.P. reserves the right to amend provisions of these GTU which (i) only affect in favor of the Portal User, or (ii) are minor in scope or nature, as far as this is reasonable for the Portal User under consideration of GLOBALG.A.P.’s legitimate interests, provided such modifications do not lead to GLOBALG.A.P.'s principal obligations being restructured. GLOBALG.A.P. will communicate, by e-mail or within the Portal, the modified conditions to the Portal User at least 30 days prior to the effective date.

9.2 Any other amendments to these GTU will be communicated to the Portal User by e-mail or within the Portal at least 30 days prior to the effective date. Portal Users who do not object in text form (letter, e-mail, fax) to the modification until the effective date will be deemed to have accepted the respective modification. GLOBALG.A.P. will indicate the possibility of objecting to the modification and the consequences of above deadline. If the Portal User objects to the modified GTU, GLOBALG.A.P.'s request will be deemed to have been rejected. The agreement will then be continued without the proposed modification. Both parties’ rights to terminate the User Contact remain unaffected.

10. Miscellaneous

10.1 The use of the Portal requires the use of special technical systems such as end user devices, software programs, transmission networks, telecommunications and other services provided by third parties, all of which may entail further costs. GLOBALG.A.P. does not provide such end user devices, software programs, communication channels, telecommunications services or other services and therefore will not assume any liability for such services provided by third parties.

10.2 Any individual agreement between GLOBALG.A.P. and the Portal User on the addition or amendment of these GTU must be in written form to be valid (regarding consumers, text form suffices). This shall also apply to any waiver of this written form requirement.

10.3 The conclusion of the User Contract does not authorize either of the parties to make any legally binding declarations on behalf of both parties together, or on behalf of the respective other party, nor does it authorize them to place the respective other party under any obligation or to represent it in any other way.

10.4 Should any individual provision of these GTU be of no effect, as a whole or in part, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The invalid provision will be deemed replaced by that provision that is legally effective and comes closest, in the usual understanding, to the economic intent and purpose of the invalid provision. The same applies to any unintentional omission.