Please read these terms and conditions (“Terms of Use”) carefully as they contain important information about your statutory rights, remedies and obligations. By accessing or using the Empowwer platform you agree to comply with and be bound by these Terms of Use.

Last updated: 6 March 2024

Thank you for using Empowwer!

These terms of use concerns Empowwer, the trading name of Wenestam, Switzerland (hereinafter referred to as “Empowwer”, “we”, “our” and “us”)

These Terms of Use constitute a legally binding contract (“Agreement”) between you and Empowwer (as defined below) regarding your access to and use of the Empowwer website, including all subdomains of the same, and all other websites through which Empowwer provides its services (collectively “Website”), our mobile, tablet and other smart device applications as well as application program interfaces (collectively “Application”) and all related services (collectively “Services”). These Terms of Use are an integral part of all contracts concluded with Empowwer Website and Services together are hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Platform.” Other guidelines that apply to your use of the Platform are incorporated into this Agreement by reference.

The collection and use of personal data in connection with your access to the Platform and its use is described in our data protection declaration.

Providers are solely responsible for identifying, understanding, and complying with all laws, rules, and regulations that apply to their offerings (as defined below). Providers are solely responsible for identifying and obtaining the required licenses, permits, or enrollments for the Sessions they offer. Penalties can include fines or other measures. If you have any questions about the application of local laws to your listings and Sessions on Empowwer, you should always seek legal advice.

1       Scope of Services

1.1    The Platform is an online marketplace that registered or non-registered Users (“Users”) can use to offer and obtain services. Users who offer services are “Providers”, and the services they offer are “Sessions”, and Users who obtain services are “Participants”. Users interact via Empowwer’s Platform to book Sessions. Sessions can include services such as advisory, coaching, workshops or other formats, single or recurring events in various categories, including, but not limited to, professional services.

1.2    As the operator of the Platform, Empowwer is not the owner, seller, reseller or provider of offers or Sessions, nor is it the organizer or operator of Sessions. The Providers are solely responsible for their offers and Sessions. When Participants make or accept a booking, they contract directly with the Provider. When Providers make or accept a booking, they contract directly with the Participant. Both Participant and Provider are thereby bound by these Terms of Use. Empowwer is and will not be a party or other Participant in a contractual relationship between Participants, nor is Empowwer a Session broker or insurer. Empowwer is not acting as an agent in any capacity for any user. Empowwer only performs administrative activities and provides the match Platform as an infrastructure.

1.3    While we can help facilitate dispute resolution, Empowwer has no control over the (i) existence, quality, safety, suitability, or legality of any offer or Session, (ii) the truthfulness or accuracy of any description, rating, or other user content (such as below defined) or (iii) the performance or conduct of Providers, Participants or third parties. Empowwer doesn’t support Participants or Sessions. Any reference to a Provider being “verified” or “vetted” (or something similar) is only indicative of the user having completed an appropriate verification or identification process and nothing else. Such a description does not constitute an endorsement, certification or guarantee by Empowwer for any user, including the user’s identity or background, or whether the user is trustworthy, secure, or suitable. You should always exercise caution when deciding whether to attend a Session, accept a booking request from a Participant, or communicate and interact with Participants. Images (as defined below) are only intended to provide a photographic representation of an advertisement at the time the photo was taken and therefore do not represent support by Empowwer for a Session Provider or an advertisement.

1.4    If you choose to use the Platform as a Session Provider (as defined herein), your relationship with Empowwer is limited to being a Empowwer independent Session Provider and not an employee, agent or partner of Empowwer. A Session Provider acts solely on its own behalf and for its own benefit, and not on behalf of or for the benefit of Empowwer. Empowwer directs or controls Providers only in general and in accordance with the Terms of Use. A Session Provider decides at its own discretion whether to take Sessions or otherwise engage in other business or employment activities.

1.5    In order to promote the Platform and increase the visibility of advertisements for potential guests, advertisements and other user content can be displayed on other websites, in applications, in e-mails and in online and offline advertisements in accordance with Section 5. To support Participants who speak different languages, Empowwer can provide automated tools that enable Participants to translate offers and other content from Participants in whole or in part into other languages. Participants are free to use these tools at their own discretion. Empowwer cannot guarantee the accuracy or quality of such translations, and Participants are responsible for reviewing and verifying the accuracy of such translations.

1.6    The Platform may contain links to third party websites or resources (“Third Party Services”). Such third-party services may be subject to different terms of use and privacy practices. Empowwer is not responsible or liable for the availability or accuracy of these third party services or the content, products, or services available through these third party services. Links to such third-party services do not represent an endorsement of these third-party services by Empowwer.

1.7    Empowwer is not responsible for failures or disruptions in the Internet and telecommunications infrastructure that are beyond our control and which may lead to disruptions in the availability of the Platform. Empowwer can temporarily restrict the availability of the  Platform or certain areas or features thereof, taking into account the legitimate interests of the Participants (e.g. by prior notice), if this is necessary with regard to capacity restrictions, the security or integrity of our servers or to carry out maintenance measures that ensure the proper or improved functioning of the Platform. The regulations in section 16 (liability) remain unaffected. Empowwer can improve the Platform, expand and modify and introduce new Empowwer services from time to time. Empowwer will inform the Participants of changes to the Platform, unless these changes are minor without having a material impact on the contractual obligations of the parties.

2       Participation, Authorization, Use of the Platform, Verification of Participants

2.1    The use of the Platform and the registration of a Empowwer account is only permitted for natural persons, legal persons and partnerships who are capable of acting.

2.2    Participants undertake to comply with the locally applicable laws and Swiss legislation, insofar as these do not conflict with mandatory statutory provisions of local law.

2.3    Empowwer may provide access to the Platform or to certain areas or functions of the Platform subject to certain Terms of Use or requirements, such as the completion of a verification process, the fulfillment of certain quality or admission criteria, the fulfillment of rating or review thresholds or the booking and cancellation history of a User. Empowwer is entitled to exclude a user from the Platform at any time without giving reasons.

2.4    Since the identification of Users on the Internet is only possible to a limited extent, we cannot guarantee the identity of Participants. Notwithstanding the foregoing, to the fullest extent permitted by law and for the purposes of transparency and fraud prevention, we are entitled, but not obliged, (i) to require Participants to provide government identification documents or other information or to perform additional checks to verify the identity and background of Participants, (ii) to verify Participants using external databases or other sources and to request reports from service Providers, and (iii) if we have sufficient information to establish the identity of a User, to obtain reports from public criminal records or sexual offender registers, or (iv) to obtain information from the public prosecutor’s office or the criminal justice department, or to obtain information from the criminal justice department or the criminal justice department of a User’s country of residence, to obtain reports from the criminal justice department or from the criminal justice department.

2.5    The use of certain areas or features of the Platform may be subject to separate policies, standards or rules or may require you to accept additional Terms of Use before accessing such areas or features. If there is a conflict between these Terms of Use and the Terms of Use for a particular area or function of the Platform, the latter shall prevail over your use of that area or function unless otherwise stated. As a user, you do not have the right to comprehensive use; some functions are reserved for specific user categories.

3       Modification of these Terms of Use

Empowwer reserves the right to change these Terms of Use at any time in accordance with this provision. If we make changes to these Terms of Use, we will post the revised Terms of Use on the Platform and update the date and version “Last Updated” above in these Terms of Use. If you do not agree to the revised Terms of Use, you may terminate this Agreement with immediate effect. If you do not terminate your agreement prior to the effective date of the revised Terms of Use, your continued access to or use of the Platform will be deemed acceptance of the revised Terms of Use. We therefore encourage you to review the date of update and content of these Terms of Use regularly.

4       Account Registration

4.1    You must register and create an account (“Empowwer Account”) in order to access and use certain features of the Platform, such as the offering of a service. When you register a Empowwer account for a company, organization or other entity, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to legally bind that company and grant us all rights and licenses set forth in these Terms of Use.

4.2    You may create a Empowwer account with an email address and password creation or through your account with certain third party social networking services, such as Facebook or Google (“SNS Account”). You can deactivate the connection between your Empowwer account and your SNS account at any time by disconnecting your Empowwer account from your SNS account in the “Settings” section of your SNS account. You can still access your Empowwer account if you have access to the email associated with that SNS account.

4.3    You must provide accurate, current and complete information during the registration process and keep your Empowwer account and the public Empowwer account profile pages up to date.

4.4    ou may not create more than one (1) Empowwer account unless Empowwer authorizes you to do so. You may not assign, rent, loan or otherwise transfer your Empowwer account to any other party.

4.5    You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your Empowwer credentials and may not disclose your credentials to third parties. You must notify Empowwer Customer Service immediately if you know or have reason to believe that your access data has been lost, stolen, misappropriated or otherwise compromised, or if you are actually or suspected of using your Empowwer account without authorization. You are responsible for all activities performed through your Empowwer account.

4.6    Empowwer may activate features that allow you to authorize other Participants or certain third parties to perform certain actions on your Empowwer account. For example, we may allow Participants to link their Empowwer accounts with and take action on behalf of companies, we may allow eligible Participants or certain third parties to book offers on behalf of other Participants, or we may allow Providers to add Participants other than co-Providers (as defined below) to facilitate the administration of their offers. These features do not require you to share your login information with others. No third party is authorized by Empowwer to ask for your access data, and you may not ask for the access data of another user.

5       Contents

5.1    Empowwer may enable Participants to (i) create, upload, post, transmit, receive and store content such as text, photos, audio, video or other materials and information on or through the Platform (“User Content”); and (ii) access and display User Content and all content that Empowwer itself makes available on or through the Platform (“Empowwer Content”), access and view. Empowwer content includes own Empowwer content and content licensed or approved by third parties for use by or through Empowwer. Empowwer content and user content are collectively referred to as “collective content”.

5.2    The Platform, Empowwer content and User Content may be protected in whole or in part by copyright, trademark and/or other laws of Switzerland and other countries. You acknowledge and agree that the Platform and the Empowwer Content, including all intellectual property rights associated therewith, are the exclusive property of Empowwer and/or its licensors or for authorization by third parties. You will not remove, alter or obscure any copyright, trademark, service mark or other proprietary notices incorporated into or accompanying the Platform, Empowwer Content or User Content. All trademarks, service marks, logos, trade names and all other Empowwer source names used on or in connection with the Platform and Empowwer content are trademarks or registered trademarks of Empowwer at home and abroad. Trademarks, service marks, logos, trade names and all other proprietary names of third parties used on or in connection with the Platform, Empowwer content and/or collective content are used for identification purposes only and may be the property of their respective owners.

5.3    You may not use, copy, adapt, modify, prepare, distribute, license, sell, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, broadcast or otherwise exploit the Platform or the Collective Content unless you are the legal owner of certain User Content or as expressly permitted in these Terms of Use. You are not granted, implicitly or otherwise, any licenses or intellectual property rights owned or controlled by Empowwer or its licensors, except as expressly granted in these Terms of Use.

5.4    Subject to your compliance with these Terms of Use, Empowwer grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-sub licensable, revocable, non-transferable license to access and display all collective content available on or through the Platform and accessible to you solely for your personal use as a User.

5.5    By uploading, posting or otherwise making available User Content on or through the Platform, you grant Empowwer a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual (or perpetual), sub licensable and transferable license to access such User Content, the use, storage, copying, modification, creation of derivative works, distribution, publication, transmission, streaming, transmission and any other exploitation of these user contents in order to make the Platform available and/or promote it in all media and on all Platforms. Insofar as user content is personal data, it will only be used for advertising purposes to the extent permitted by data protection law; our data protection declaration applies to the processing of such user content. Unless you give your express consent, Empowwer does not claim ownership of such User Content and no provision of these Terms of Use is intended to limit any rights of use or exploitation you may have with respect to such User Content.

5.6    ou are solely responsible for all User Content that you make available on or through the Platform. Accordingly, you represent and warrant that: (i) you are either the sole and exclusive owner of all User Content that you make available on or through the Platform, or you have all the rights, licenses, consents and releases necessary to grant Empowwer the rights to and to such User Content as provided in these Terms of Use; and (ii) that the User Content or your posting, uploading, publishing, transmitting or transmitting of the User Content or Empowwer’s use of the User Content (or any part thereof) as provided under these Terms of Use does not infringe, violate or violate any patent, copyright, proprietary right, trademark, trade secret, moral right, or other proprietary or copyrights of any third party or the right of publicity or privacy, or violate any applicable law or regulation.

5.7    You may not publish, upload, transmit or transmit any User Content that is: (i) is fraudulent, false, misleading (directly or by omission or omission to update any information) or deceptive; (ii) is defamatory, libelous, obscene, pornographic, vulgar or offensive; (iii) Promote discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment or harm against any person or group; (iv) Violence or threat or promotion of violence or actions that threaten other persons or animals; (v) Promote illegal or harmful activities or substances; or violate any Empowwer policy. Empowwer may remove or block access to User Content if it violates any applicable law, these Terms of Use or our policies or standards, or is otherwise harmful or objectionable to Empowwer, its Participants or any third party. If Empowwer removes or blocks access to User Content, Empowwer will notify a User and state the reasons for such action, unless such notification would (i) prevent or impair the detection or prevention of fraud or other illegal activity, (ii) harm the legitimate interests of other Participants or third parties, or (ii) violate any applicable law. You can appeal against such a decision by contacting our customer service.

5.8    If a user violates the above requirements and Empowwer suffers damage, the user must indemnify Empowwer. The indemnity also includes the costs, including external legal advice costs, which Empowwer incurs as a result of processing and resolving such an incident.

5.9    Empowwer respects copyright and expects its Participants to do the same. If you are of the opinion that content on the Platform violates your copyrights, please inform us.

6       Service Charges

6.1    In order to operate the Platform, including services such as hosting, maintenance, development, customer support and payment processing to ensure, Empowwer is to use the Platform fees from Providers e.g. “Provider Fee”) and / or Participant ( “Participant Fee”, collectively “Service Fee”.

6.2    Empowwer has one Service Fee structure for booking a Session based on a (i) Provider Fee and a (ii) Processing Fee. Empowwer charges the Session Provider a Provider fee of 17%, covering the use of our Platform, and 3% Processing Fee, covering the fees charged to us by Stripe, i.e. a total service fee of 20%. This is calculated on the basis of the Session price set by the Provider and automatically deducted before the Session fee is paid out. The final Session price includes all applicable fees and will be shown to Participants during the payment process before they book a Session.

6.3    If Empowwer is required to collect VAT or other taxes, the service fee and VAT amounts will be summarized on the checkout page, which can make the service fee appear higher. Depending on the applicable laws, VAT can be added to the Session price for the Participant. The Service Fee includes this VAT, if applicable. Note that Empowwer only collects VAT for Empowwer’s Service Fee and that Providers, as independent third parties, are solely responsible for their own taxes and social security contributions as per 12.

6.4    Empowwer reserves the right to change Service Fees at any time. Such fee changes will not affect bookings made prior to the fee change taking effect.

6.5    The Provider is responsible for paying the Service Fee that you owe Empowwer. The applicable Service Fee (including any applicable taxes) will be collected by Empowwer. Empowwer will deduct the Service Fee from Session prices before the payout is transferred to the Provider. Unless otherwise stated on the Platform, the Service Fee is non-refundable.

6.5    Payments are processed by Stripe, a third party payment service Provider that securely carries out the payment process between Participants and Providers.

7       Rounding Off and Currency Conversion

7.1    The Service Fee will be rounded up or rounded down the displayed amounts that are payable from the Participant to the nearest whole functional base unit in which the currency is denominated (i.e. to the nearest CHF, Euro or other supported currency); for example, Empowwer may round up an amount of CHF 99.50 to CHF 100.00, and round down an amount of CHF 99.49 to CHF 99.00. If a Session is being booked by a Participant from a country with a foreign currency, the original Session fee will be converted into the Participant’s local currency. The Session Provider bears the exchange rate risk. The booking is made in the local currency of the Participant, the payout to the Session Provider is made in the local currency of the Session Provider. The payment Provider (i.e. local bank of the Session Provider) will determine the exchange rate. Therefore, the actual amount paid out in the local currency may differ from the original booking price.

8       Specific Conditions for Providers

8.1    Conditions Applicable to All Service Offers

8.1.1 When creating an account on or accepting an invitation to join the Platform, you must provide (i) complete and accurate information about (i) your profile, (ii) your calendar availability and (iii) any other relevant information requested by Empowwer. You are responsible for ensuring that your information (including calendar availability) is current at all times.

8.1.2 You are solely responsible for determining a price (including VAT and taxes) for your service (“Session Fee”). As soon as a Participant wishes to book your listing, you may no longer demand that the Participant pays a different price than in the booking request.

8.1.3 Any conditions contained in your listing, in particular with respect to cancellations, shall not conflict with these Terms of Use or the relevant cancellation policy for your listing.

8.1.4 Images, animations or videos (collectively “Images”) used in your Offers must accurately reflect the quality and condition of your Sessions. Empowwer reserves the right to require that offers contain a minimum number of images in a specific format, size and resolution.

8.1.5 The placement of listings in search results on the Platform may vary and depends on a variety of factors such as search parameters and Participant preferences, Session Provider requirements, availability of prices and calendars, number and quality of images, customer service, ratings or type of Session Provider service.

8.1.6 If you accept a booking request from a Participant, you enter into a legally binding agreement with the Participant and are obliged to make yourself available to the Participant as described in the booking request. You also agree to pay the applicable Provider fee and all applicable taxes.

8.1.7 Providers provide Sessions as an independent third party (e.g. self-employed or through their own legal entity). The Provider must not give the impression to Participants or third parties that you are employed by Empowwer or are providing Sessions on behalf of Empowwer.

8.2    Sessions you provide (i) must not violate any contract you may have with any third party and (ii) must comply with all applicable laws, tax requirements as well as other regulations and provisions.

9       Specific Conditions for Participants

9.1    Conditions Applicable to All Bookings

9.1.1 Subject to the fulfillment of the requirements set by Empowwer and / or the Session Provider (e.g. completion of review processes), you can book an advertisement available on the Platform by following the respective booking process. All applicable fees, including the Service Fee and all applicable taxes (collectively “Total Fees”), will be displayed to you prior to booking an listing. You agree to pay the total fees for each booking requested in connection with your Empowwer account.

9.1.2 After receipt of a booking confirmation from Empowwer, a legally binding agreement is concluded between you and your Session Provider, which is subject to the specific conditions of the Session Provider. Empowwer charges the total fees at the time of the booking request or after confirmation by the Session Provider.

9.1.3 As a Participant, you pay the Total Fees via Empowwer. As a Session Provider, it is prohibited to demand further payments from Participants. Empowwer rejects any liability for payments that have not been made via the Platform. Empowwer does not reimburse any amounts that have been requested by Providers in addition to the total fees and that the Participant has paid directly to a Session Provider.

9.1.4 If you are booking a Session Provider service on behalf of other Participants, it is your responsibility to ensure that each Participant meets all requirements set by the Session Provider and is made aware of and agrees to these Terms of Use, as well as all terms of use, rules and restrictions set by the Session Provider. When booking for an underage Participant, you represent and warrant that you have the legal authority to act on behalf of the minor.

9.2    Booking Sessions

9.2.1 You should carefully review the description of a listing respectively of a Session or other Session service you wish to book to ensure that you (or any other Participant for whom you are booking) meet the minimum age, knowledge or other requirements specified by the Session Provider in its listing. In your sole discretion, you may inform the Session Provider of any medical or physical conditions or other circumstances that may affect your ability to participate in a Session or other Session Provider service.

9.2.2 Before and during a Session Provider service, the instructions of the Session Provider must be followed.

9.3.3 You may not bring any other person to a Session or other Session Provider service unless that person was added by you as an additional Participant during the booking process on the Platform.

9.3    Coupons can be redeemed via the Platform as specified in the voucher’s terms and conditions. You can only redeem a Empowwer voucher if the Empowwer voucher is included in your Empowwer account. A cash payment is not possible.

10     Rescheduling, Cancellations and Refunds

10.1  Providers and Participants are responsible for all changes to a booking they make via the Platform (“booking changes”) and undertake to pay additional service fees and/or taxes in connection with these changes.

10.2  Participants and Providers may cancel a confirmed booking up to 24 hours prior to the Session and Empowwer will refund the amount of the Provider Fee only to the Participant. The Processing Fee will not be refunded. The Session is considered as not completed, so that the Session Provider does not receive a Session fee.

10.3  If a Participant cancels a confirmed booking within less than 24 hours prior to the Session, the Participant is not entitled to a refund. Empowwer pays the Session Fee to the Session Provider on the same terms as if the Session had taken place.

10.4  If a Session Provider cancels a confirmed booking within less than 24 hours prior to the Session, Empowwer will refund the amount of the Session Fee to the Participant. The Session is considered as not completed, so that the Session Provider does not receive a Session fee. Empowwer may (i) not keep the calendar available or blocked for the date of the cancelled booking and/or (ii) charge a cancellation fee, unless the Session Provider has a valid reason to cancel the booking within less than 24 hours due to an unexpected circumstance beyond its control. It is the sole responsibility of the Session Provider to provide the necessary documentation for this circumstance and to send it to Empowwer for review, where Empowwer may waive a cancellation fee.

11     Ratings and Reviews

11.1  Within a certain period of time after completion of a Session, Participants may submit a star rating and eventual comment (“rating”) for the Session. The ratings reflect the opinions of individual Participants and not the opinion of Empowwer. The ratings are not checked by Empowwer for correctness.

11.2  Participant assessments shall be correct and shall not be false or misleading.

11.3  Ratings are part of a user’s public profile and may also be displayed elsewhere on the Platform (e.g. on the listing page) together with other relevant information.

12     Taxes and Social Security Contributions

12.1  As a Session Provider, you are solely responsible for the determination of your obligations and you provide your Sessions as an independent third party (e.g. self-employed or through a trading company). All VAT or income taxes (“taxes”) incurred must be reported and transferred by the Providers themselves, and have to be included in the Providers listing fees. In addition, the Session Provider is independently responsible for clarifying all other tax obligations under the law applicable to him or her and for independently paying any social security contributions, such as contributions for old-age provision or unemployment insurance, to the relevant institutions. The Session Provider undertakes to take out the insurance necessary for the practice of the profession.

12.2  Tax regulations may require us to obtain appropriate tax information from Providers or withhold tax from payments to Providers or both. If a Session Provider does not provide us with the documentation required by applicable law (e.g. a tax number) to mitigate our obligation to withhold tax from any payouts to you, we reserve the right to withhold payouts up to the amount required by law until a resolution is passed.

13     Prohibited Activities

13.1  You are solely responsible for compliance with all laws, rules, regulations and tax obligations that may apply to your use of the Platform. In connection with your use of the Platform, you may not do the following or enable or assist others to do so:

Violate or circumvent any applicable laws or regulations, agreements with third parties, rights of third parties or our Terms of Use, policies or standards;

Use the Platform to request, make or accept a booking independent of the Platform, bypass service fees or otherwise request, accept or make a payment for Session Fees outside the Platform;

Contact any User for any purpose other than to ask a question about a booking, listing or use of the Platform by that user, including but not limited to recruiting a user for any services, applications or websites of third parties without our prior written permission;

Use the Platform or the Collective Content for any commercial or other purpose not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use, or in any manner that falsely implies Empowwer’s endorsement, partnership or otherwise misleads you as to your affiliation with Empowwer;

Copy, store or otherwise access or use any information, including personal information about another User, contained on the Platform in any way that is inconsistent with Empowwer’s Privacy Policy or these Terms of Use or that otherwise violates the privacy rights of Participants or third parties;

Use the Platform in connection with the distribution of unsolicited commercial messages (“spam”);

As a Session Provider, offer Sessions that you do not own yourself or that you may make available via the Platform;

Unless expressly approved by Empowwer, book a listing if you will not use the Session Provider services offered therein yourself;

Discriminate against or harass anyone on the grounds of race, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, age or sexual orientation, or otherwise engage in violent, harmful, abusive or disruptive conduct;

To use, display, reproduce or frame the Platform or collective content or individual elements within the Platform, the name of Empowwer, a Empowwer trademark, a logo or other proprietary information or the layout and design of a page or form contained on a page of the Platform without the express written consent of Empowwer;

Impair, soil or otherwise damage the Empowwer trademark in any way, including by unauthorized use of aggregate content, registration and/or use of Empowwer or derived terms in domain names, trade names, trademarks or other source identifiers, or registration and/or use of domain names, trade names, trademarks or other source identifiers that closely mimic or are confusingly similar to Empowwer domains, trademarks, slogans, advertising campaigns or collective content;

Use robots, spiders, crawlers, scrapers or other automated means or processes to access, collect or otherwise interact with data or other content from the Platform;

Avoid, circumvent, remove, deactivate, impair, decrypt or otherwise attempt to circumvent any technological measures taken by Empowwer or any of Empowwer’s Providers or any other third party to protect the Platform;

Attempt to decrypt, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer the software used to provide the Platform;

Take all measures that may damage or impair the performance or proper functioning of the Platform or could damage or impair it;

Violate or impair the rights of others or cause harm to any other person.

13.2  Empowwer is not obligated to monitor user content or actively investigate facts or circumstances that indicate illegal activity. However, Empowwer has the right to review, block or edit User Content in order to (i) operate, secure and improve the Platform (in particular for purposes of fraud prevention, risk assessment, investigation and customer service); (ii) to ensure that Participants comply with these Terms of Use; (iii) to comply with any applicable law or order or request of any court, administrative authority or other governmental body; (iv) to respond to any harmful or objectionable User Content; or (v) as otherwise set forth in these Terms of Use. Participants agree to cooperate with Empowwer, to support Empowwer and to provide Empowwer with such information and to take such measures as Empowwer reasonably requests with respect to any investigation by Empowwer or any representative of Empowwer into the use or misuse of the Platform.

13.3  If you believe that a User with whom you are interacting, whether online or personally, is acting or has acted inappropriately, including but not limited to (i) acting in an offensive, violent or sexually inappropriate manner, (ii) suspecting that he has stolen from you, or (iii) otherwise engaging in disruptive conduct, you should immediately report that person to the appropriate authorities and then to Empowwer by contacting us with your police station and registration number (if available). You agree that your ad does not oblige us to take any action that goes beyond what is required by law.

14     Terms and Termination, Suspension and other Measures

14.1  This Agreement shall continue in effect until such time as you or Empowwer terminate this Agreement in accordance with this provision.

14.2  You may terminate this Agreement at any time by e-mail. If you cancel your Empowwer account as a Session Provider, all confirmed bookings will be automatically cancelled and your Participants will receive a full refund in accordance with Empowwer’s refund policy. If you cancel your Empowwer account as a Participant, all confirmed bookings will be automatically cancelled and any refunds will be subject to the terms of Empowwer’s Refund Policy.

14.3  Without limiting our rights below, Empowwer may terminate this Agreement at any time for convenience by giving you thirty (30) days’ notice by email to your registered email address.

14.4  Empowwer may immediately terminate this Agreement and/or suspend access to the Platform without notice if (i) you have materially breached any of your obligations under these Terms of Use, our policies or standards, (ii) you have violated any applicable law, regulation or rights of any third party, or (iii) such action is necessary to protect the personal safety or property of Empowwer, its Participants or any third party (e.g. in the event of fraudulent conduct by a User).

14.5  In addition, Empowwer may take any of the following actions to (i) comply with applicable law or the order or request of a court, law enforcement agency or other administrative or government agency, or (ii) you have violated these Terms of Use, our policies or standards, applicable laws, regulations or rights of third parties, (iii) you have provided inaccurate, fraudulent, obsolete or incomplete information during registration of the Empowwer account, the listing creation process or thereafter, (iv) you and/or your offerings or Sessions do not at any time meet any applicable quality or admission criteria; (v) you have repeatedly received poor ratings or otherwise obtained knowledge of or complaints about your performance or conduct from Empowwer; (vi) you have repeatedly cancelled confirmed bookings or failed to respond to booking requests without good cause; or (vii) such action is necessary to protect the personal safety or property of Empowwer, its Participants or third parties or to prevent fraud or other unlawful activity:

Refuse to surface, delete or delay any Listings, Ratings, or other User Content;

Cancel any pending or confirmed bookings;

Limit your access to or use of the Platform;

Temporarily or permanently revoke any special status associated with your Empowwer Account;

Temporarily or in case of severe or repeated offenses permanently suspend your Empowwer Account and stop providing access to the Platform.

Empowwer will, except in the case of serious violations, to the extent possible and appropriate announce a measure and give you the opportunity to remedy the violation.

14.6  If we take any of the actions described above (i) we may fully refund to your Participants all confirmed bookings that have been cancelled, irrespective of any existing cancellation policy, and (ii) you will not be entitled to any compensation for any outstanding or confirmed bookings that have been cancelled.

14.7  If this Agreement is terminated, you will not be entitled to have your Empowwer account or any of your User Content restored. If your access to or use of the Platform has been restricted or your Empowwer account has been suspended or this Agreement has been terminated by us, you may not register a new Empowwer account or access and use the Platform through another user’s Empowwer account.

14.8  If Empowwer takes any of the actions described in this Section 14, you may appeal any such decision by contacting our customer service.

15     Liability

15.1  Empowwer disclaims all liability for financial or other non-physical damage that may be associated with the contract concluded or intended in each case, as well as in connection with the visit and use of the Platform, unless the organs of Empowwer and/or their vicarious agents have caused such damage intentionally or in gross negligence.

15.2  Empowwer cannot be held liable for technically justified transmission delays or failures, unless Empowwer has caused such transmission delays or failures in an intentional or grossly negligent manner.

15.3  Empowwer accepts no liability for the uninterrupted availability of the system or for system-related failures, interruptions and/or malfunctions of the technical equipment, insofar as these occurrences are outside Empowwer’s sphere of influence. In particular, Empowwer is not liable for disruptions in the quality of access to the Empowwer service due to force majeure or due to events for which Empowwer is not responsible, in particular the failure of communication networks and gateways. For insignificant interruptions of the services Empowwer assumes no liability.

16     Exemption

To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Empowwer and its affiliates and subsidiaries, including but not limited to Empowwer and their officers, directors, employees and agents, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses and expenses, including but not limited to reasonable legal and accounting fees, arising out of or in any way connected with (i) your breach of these Terms of Use or our policies or standards, (ii) your misuse of the Platform or Empowwer Services, (iii) your interaction with any User, participation in any Session or other Session Provider Service, including without limitation any injury, loss or damage (whether compensatory, direct, incidental, consequential or otherwise) of any nature whatsoever arising in connection with or as a result of such interaction, participation or use, or (iv) your violation of any law, regulation or right of any third party. The indemnity obligation under this Section 15 shall apply only if and to the extent that the claims, liabilities, damages, losses and expenses were reasonably caused by your culpable breach of a contractual obligation.

17     Feedback

We welcome and encourage you to provide feedback, comments and suggestions for improvement on the Platform (“Feedback”). You can send feedback by email to [email protected]. Any feedback you provide to us will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. By sending us feedback, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, sub licensable, perpetual license to use and publish these ideas and materials for any purpose, without compensation to you.

18     Applicable Law and Place of Jurisdiction

All matters relating to these Terms of Use or your use of the Platform, including all disputes, shall be governed by the laws of Switzerland, without regard to conflicts of law provisions or international treaties, including without limitation the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods. The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the Terms of Use is the court responsible for St Gallen, Switzerland, shall be the place of jurisdiction.

19     General Provisions

19.1  Unless supplemented by additional Terms of Use, guidelines or standards, these Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between Empowwer and you regarding the subject matter of this Agreement and supersede any prior oral or written agreement or understanding between Empowwer and you regarding access to and use of the Platform.

19.2  There is no joint venture, partnership, employment or agency relationship between you and Empowwer as a result of this Agreement or your use of the Platform.

19.3  These Terms of Use are not intended to transfer any rights or remedies to any person other than the parties.

19.4  Should individual provisions of these Terms of Use be or become void or ineffective in whole or in part, this shall not affect the effectiveness of the remaining provisions. Any provisions of these Terms of Use that are not included or are invalid shall be replaced by statutory law.

19.5  Failure by Empowwer to enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of that right or provision unless we have given our written consent thereto. Except as expressly provided in these Terms of Use, each party shall exercise all rights under these Terms of Use without limitation of any other rights it may have under these Terms of Use or otherwise.

19.6  You may not assign, transfer or transfer this Agreement and your rights and obligations under this Agreement without Empowwer’s prior written consent. Empowwer may transfer, assign or transfer this Agreement and all rights and obligations under this Agreement at its sole discretion with 30 days’ notice without limitation. Your right to terminate this Agreement at any time remains unaffected.

19.7  Unless otherwise stated, communications or other communications to Participants that are permitted or required by this Agreement will be electronically transmitted and transmitted by Empowwer via email.

19.8  If you have any questions about these Terms of Use, please email us on [email protected].

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