DISCLAIMER:
The English version of the General Terms and Conditions is merely a service provided by the operator. The language of use and contract for cold.world is German. Only the German version of the General Terms and Conditions becomes part of the contract. In the event that the English version of the GTC differs from the German and the parties dispute the interpretation of the GTC, the German version always takes precedence over the English version.
§ 1 Scope
(1) These General Terms and Conditions (GTC) contain the provisions between the Platform operator
cold.world GmbH
Köpenicker Str. 325, Haus 11
12555 Berlin, Germany
030-5490 92283
info@cold.world
Managing Directors: Roy Desens, Nico Desens
Amtsgericht Berlin Charlottenburg, HRB 176569
hereinafter referred to as "operator"
and the respective customer ("user") applicable to the use of the platform "cold.world" and transmission of content to the operator.
(2) The use of the platform and the associated services are aimed exclusively at natural or legal persons or partnerships with legal capacity who act in the air conditioning and refrigeration industry in the exercise of their commercial or independent professional activity. In this respect, the operator expressly points out that his offer applies exclusively to entrepreneurs.
(3) These General Terms and Conditions apply exclusively; the operator does not recognize any terms and conditions of the users that conflict with or deviate from these GTC, unless the validity has been expressly agreed in writing.
(4) Changes to the General Terms and Conditions will be offered to users in electronic form on the platform no later than one month before they take effect. The user's consent shall be deemed to have been given if he has not notified a rejection in text form before the announced date of the changes taking effect.
(5) If the user does not agree with the General Terms and Conditions or their changes, the operator reserves the right to shut down or delete the associated account.
§ 2 User account; Registration
(1) In order to make use of all the services offered by the platform operator and, in particular, to publish content himself, the user has the option of creating a corresponding account by clicking on the "Register" button.
(2) After the start of the registration process, the respective user must transmit the personal data as requested in the form. When registering the user has to submit the company name, first and last name, address, a valid e-mail address and set a password. The operator reserves the right to make the creation of a user account dependent on the provision of further personal data, especially if this is necessary for reasons of effective operation of the platform.
(3) When choosing the password, the user must observe the guidelines for assigning secure passwords in order to protect this password against misuse. For this purpose, the operator recommends a string of at least eight characters, which consists of upper and lower case letters as well as at least one number and one special character. Passing on said password to third parties is prohibited.
(4) If the operator has indications of third-party use of access data for which the user is responsible, the operator reserves the right to take appropriate measures (closure or blocking of the account) as well as claims for damages against the user.
(5) After successful transmission of the registration request, the user must follow the link sent to the specified e-mail address and thus confirm the validity of the e-mail address.
(6) Further information on the collection, storage and processing of this personal data can be found in the data protection declaration (LINK) of the operator.
(7) The user is obliged to provide complete and truthful information when registering. The operator reserves the right to suspend or delete user accounts in which obvious false information has been provided (so-called "fake accounts") at any time and without prior notice. The operator reserves the right to claim damages and other claims resulting from the untruthful information.
(8) Each user may only register once on the operator's platform. user accounts are not transferable. The simultaneous registration of several user accounts is not permitted; this also applies to corresponding circumvention acts.
§ 3 Subject of the contract; Services
(1) Upon successful registration, a user contract is concluded between the user and the operator via the platform cold.world which allows the user – if necessary for a fee (see § 4) – access to the functions of the operator's platform in accordance with these General Terms and Conditions.
(2) The registered user has the option of uploading data in various areas of the platform or transmitting content to the operator, who in turn displays it on the platform. In detail:
a. In the "cold.products" section, the user has the opportunity to publish and advertise products and product groups from the refrigeration, air conditioning, catering and ventilation technology sectors. Other users have the opportunity to contact the offering user, to inquire about the availability of products and to prepare contracts;
b. In the area of "cold.services", the platform offers the user the opportunity to include his company and in particular the services offered in an industry-oriented database, with the help of which third parties can contact the user for the areas of plant construction, assembly, planning, experts and further training;
c. In the "cold.know-how" area, users have the opportunity to convey content to the platform operator, which can be viewed by other users and third parties. These are essentially generally valid technical explanations from the refrigeration, air conditioning, catering and ventilation technology sectors, in particular the description of certain procedures, assistance in construction processes, etc., which are intelligently linked to the appropriate product or service.
d. In the "cold.jobs" section, the user has the opportunity to post job offers and thus generate attention for his company and encourage third parties to apply;
e. in the "cold.news" section, the user can publish articles and news that are displayed on the operator's website.
(3) The publications in the areas "cold.products", "cold.services" and "cold.jobs" are merely invitations to other users and third parties to submit a corresponding offer to conclude a purchase, service or employment contract.
(4) The user does not receive a copy of the contract. He has access to the content published by him via his user account. In the future, the user will be able to communicate with other users directly.
(5) The users are responsible for the conclusion of purchase, service, work and other contracts among themselves via the platform of the operator. The operator does not become part of agreements made or to be made in the future between the users. users are informed that a contract with another user via the platform may already be concluded if the other party declares the object of performance and the price to the user and the user confirms the offer with a simple "yes". For this reason, all users are encouraged to carefully check service descriptions and offers of other users.
(6) The contract of use does not establish a legal entity or other company between the operator and the user. Likewise, no employment relationship is established. Each party remains fully responsible for its actions and tax matters.
(7) The user is not entitled to call himself a commercial agent or otherwise authorized representative of the operator. However, the registered user is permitted to call himself a partner of the provider, to store the logo of "cold.world" on his own website and to refer to his company description of the platform with a backlink.
(8) The operator makes every effort to keep the platform cold.world as well as the associated services and functionalities available around the clock. Nevertheless, temporary disconnections, the need to install updates and improvements as well as other temporary technical restrictions regarding the availability of the site do not constitute any claims against the operator.
(9) Regarding the placement of content, the following applies: the visibility of the advertisement is based on the contractual agreement between the parties. Content from users of a higher-value benefit plan is displayed above. Within the individual performance plans, placement is usually made chronologically according to the date of transfer to the operator. According to the filter selected by third parties, content is displayed according to the technically available sortings (setting date, category, radius, alphabetical, price, etc.). There is no entitlement to a specific placement of the content.
(10) The visual presentation of the content depends on the general design of the platform. The operator is always authorized to visually adapt content transmitted by the user in such a way that it can be integrated into the graphic style of the platform. For this purpose, the operator also reserves the right to place the user's content at another location for technical, legal and/or organizational reasons or to publish it on the platform in any other modified manner, insofar as this is reasonable for the user and the change does not exert any significant influence on the user's content.
§ 4 Membership; Payments
(1) The operator distinguishes between different types of membership on the platform. Regarding the scope of the services and the associated prices, the plan and price overview valid by the operator at the time of registration under LINK is always decisive. The plan and price overview on said website always takes precedence over the general information of these terms and conditions .
(2) In addition, the parties are free to make separate agreements regarding the object of performance and the associated remuneration. Any agreements must be made in text form.
(3) Only the Basic Partner plan is free. Before each booking of a fee-based additional service (Service Partner, Product Partner or Expert Partner), the operator expressly informs the user of the chargeability and the amount of the fee incurred. By clicking on the button "Register now" or "Book XXX partner" located beneath a fee-based offer, a purchase contract for these additional services is concluded between the user and the operator.
(4) The user has the opportunity to test the paid „Service Partner“, „Product Partner“ and „Expert Planer“ plans for 30 days free of charge. This free test phase can only be used once by each newly registered user. The user will be informed about the free test phase and its duration when booking. At the end of the free test phase, said phase is converted into a full subscription according to the operator’s plan and price overview with the consequences of Section 4 (3) of these General Terms and Conditions. During a free test phase, the targeted additional booking of services is excluded and may be rejected by the operator without giving reasons.
(5) The prices set by the operator in connection with these additional services are in euros including the statutory value added tax applicable at the time of booking. Prices at the time of booking apply.
(6) If the user books a fee-based payment, the remuneration – unless otherwise agreed between the parties (e.g. by payment term on the invoice) – is due immediately and the user can pay it by the means of payment accepted by the operator. The accepted means of payment will be displayed to the user on the booking page. Other means of payment are not accepted.
(7) During the free test phase, the additional service used can be terminated by the user at any time without notice. This however requires a notification to the operator in text form. After the end of the free test phase and conversion to a fee-based service plan, the termination modalities are based on Section 7 (2) of these General Terms and Conditions.
(8) If the purchase price for the booked service is not received by the operator within statutory or set deadlines or if the payment fails in any other way due to culpable behavior of the user (initiated chargeback, insufficient account funds, etc.), the operator is entitled to withdraw from the purchase contract. At the time of said withdrawal or if payment is not made within the statutory deadlines, the user loses his claim to all agreed additional services and reverts to the membership "Basic Partner". The user reserves the right to restart the booking process later.
(9) If the booking of additional services repeatedly fails, the operator expressly reserves the right to no longer offer the corresponding user any additional services subject to a charge.
(10) If the user is in arrears with the payment of at least two monthly installments, the operator is entitled to make all outstanding amounts for the remaining contract period due immediately and to make the further provision of services dependent on the settlement of these outstanding amounts.
§ 5 Rights of use for content
(1) By posting content of all kinds (products, services, know-how, job offers and news), the user transfers to the operator all existing rights of use to the texts, images and videos uploaded by him. The operator is entitled to embed this content in the context of the platform cold.world as well as the associated subpages and in particular to publish it on the social media appearances of the operator.
(2) The user is responsible for ensuring that the content protected by him for the description or other advertising of the content protected by copyright and/or trademark law - in particular texts, images and videos - may be used by him for the purposes of the operator. He transfers these rights to the operator for the execution of the user contract. In the event of infringements of rights and resulting claims by third parties, the user is liable and indemnifies the operator from any claims of third parties on first request.
(3) By registering on the operator's website, the user assures that he is entitled to grant the contractual rights of use to the works referred to in paragraph 1.
(4) The transfer of the rights of use in accordance with the previous paragraphs is simple, irrevocable, as well as unlimited in terms of content, time and space. A transfer and granting of further rights of use to or by third parties by the operator more than paragraph 1 does not take place. The operator receives the right to edit texts, images and videos provided by the users. The above rights of use are granted for the fulfilment of the purpose of the contract and for the administration of the platform and its contents.
(5) These rights of use are granted for all types of use known at the time of registration and conclusion of the contract.
(6) The transfer of the rights of use is necessary for the conclusion of the user contract and the transfer of content. The user does not receive a separate remuneration.
(7) Regarding all content uploaded by the user, the operator is permitted to continue to use it even after termination of the user contract and to make it publicly accessible to third parties in the form of an archive. In doing so, the operator assures to comply with the applicable data protection regulations according to the GDPR and the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG).
(8) Insofar as content is provided by the operator itself, this is regularly empirical values based on the earlier provision of the content by registered users. The use of the information provided is therefore always at the user's own responsibility.
§ 6 Rights and obligations of the user
(1) The user undertakes to always provide complete and truthful information when transmitting content and to assign the content to the correct categories. The operator points out that in the case of service descriptions in the area of "cold.services", product descriptions in the area of "cold.products" and job descriptions in the area of "cold.jobs", the subject matter of the contract must be described in detail. Insofar as costs for commissioned services are provided by entrepreneurs regarding the uploaded products and content, these must be stated as gross costs and in the currency Euro (€). A valid imprint must be attached to the published content.
(2) The user acknowledges that the intentional or negligent transmission of illegal content or those that are likely to harm the operator or other users in a financial, technical, or defamatory manner can be rejected by the operator without giving reasons. In the event of repeated transmission of such content or in particularly serious cases, the operator reserves the right to exclude the user from further access to the platform and to shut down or delete the user account. The operator reserves the right to assert claims for injunctive relief and/or damages.
(3) The operator moderates and controls the content uploaded by the user only to the extent that duplication is avoided, readability is guaranteed, and the structure of the platform is maintained. A content moderation only takes place if third parties draw the operator's attention to the illegality of a content or if this is absolutely necessary for moderation according to sentence 1.
(4) When posting offers, the user is obliged to provide all legally relevant information himself. This applies in particular regarding a specific service and product description, special conditions for suitability or any restrictions on the service or product, applicable terms and conditions, the fulfilment of information obligations in accordance with the GDPR and the BDSG, any information obligations towards consumers, information on applicable law and any applicable competition law regulations as well as complete provider information (imprint obligation!).
(5) When transmitting content, the user must refrain from the following actions:
a. Posting, distributing, offering, and promoting pornographic content, services and/or products that violates and/or fraudulently violates youth protection laws, data protection rights, rights of third parties (trademark, copyright, design rights, etc.) and/or other rights;
b. Publication and making available content that insults or slanders other participants or third parties.
c. Posting, publishing, offering, and advertising services that violate the legal provisions on undeclared work. This also includes preparatory actions aimed at the execution of such services.
(6) In addition, the user undertakes to refrain from the following activities in the publication of orders and service descriptions as well as the other use of the platform:
a. send junk and/or spam links and chain letters;
b. distribute viruses, Trojan horses, or similarly harmful files;
c. communicate lewd, offensive, sexually influenced, obscene or defamatory content and refrain from any communication of content that is/are likely to promote or support racism, fanaticism, hatred, physical violence, or other unlawful acts (explicitly and implicitly);
d. to request the operator, other users or third parties to disclose passwords or other personal data and to use them for commercial or illegal purposes.
(7) The user is aware that other users may be bound by legal requirements when calculating the service remuneration (engineers, architects, etc.). The price offers made by such entrepreneurs are in principle non-negotiable.
§ 7 End of user agreement; Termination
(1) The contract of use concluded between the user and the operator is valid for an indefinite period. It can be terminated by the user at any time and without giving reasons. This requires a short message in text form to deleteaccount@cold.world.
(2) If the user has made use of chargeable additional services, he may terminate the purchase of these services – unless otherwise agreed between the parties in text form – with a notice period of two weeks to the end of the month. This applies accordingly to a change of the benefit plan. In this respect, the user always has the choice of whether the membership will continue to be used as a free "Basic Partner" membership, another service plan will be selected or the user contract will be terminated completely.
(3) If the user has booked and paid for a service plan annually in advance, a change during the year is only possible based on a separate agreement with the operator and his consent, contrary to the explanations according to paragraph 2.
(4) After termination or deletion of the user account by the operator, the user's existing access to the functions of the operator's platform will be deactivated and cannot be restored unless the user has decided to continue the membership using the "Basic Partner" plan.
(5) The operator points out that the termination of the user contract or any other suspension of the user account has no effect on any purchase, work, service or other contracts already concluded with other users of the platform. The user remains bound by these contracts regardless of the existence of the user contract with the operator. It is the responsibility of the user to create and store his own backup of the contract texts and conversations with other users.
(6) The extraordinary right of termination is reserved for both parties. This also applies in the event of culpable violation of these GTC or applicable laws.
§ 8 Indemnification; Warranty
(1) The user is responsible for all actions he takes in connection with the use of the platform of the operator, in particular for the transmission of content and the conclusion of service, work and other contracts with other users.
(2) Upon first request, the user shall indemnify the operator against all claims asserted by third parties against the operator due to a breach by the user of legal regulations, rights of third parties (in particular trademark, copyright and personality rights) or against contractual obligations, assurances or guarantees, including the costs of the necessary legal defence (lawyer and court costs in the amount specified by law).
(3) In the event of a claim, the user undertakes to cooperate immediately and completely in the clarification of the facts and to provide the operator with the necessary information immediately and in an appropriate manner.
(4) In the event of intent or gross negligence, the operator shall be liable without limitation for all damages caused by him. In the event of slight negligence, the operator shall be liable without limitation in the event of injury to life, limb or health. In all other respects, the operator shall only be liable if an essential contractual obligation has been violated. Essential contractual obligations are those obligations whose fulfilment makes the proper execution of the contract possible in the first place and on the observance of which the user may regularly rely. In these cases, the liability of the operator is limited to the compensation of the foreseeable, typically occurring damage.
(5) Insofar as the liability of the operator is excluded or limited in accordance with the aforementioned provisions, this shall also apply to its vicarious agents.
(6) Any liability under the Product Liability Act remains unaffected by the aforementioned limitations of liability.
(7) Warranty rights are governed by applicable and applicable law.
§ 9 Changes to terms and conditions, service conditions and/or prices
(1) The operator is entitled to change these General Terms and Conditions, cold.world service conditions and/or prices for additional services with a reasonable notice period, provided that the change is reasonable for the user taking into account the interests of the operator. The operator informs the user of any changes via e-mail.
(2) The operator will only make changes to the detriment of the user for important reasons or if the user is not significantly worse off than the agreements made at the time of conclusion of the contract and/or if they are not significantly deviated from.
(3) Intended changes to the GTC, service conditions and/or prices in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 will be communicated to the user in text form (e-mail) at least six weeks before they take effect. They shall be deemed to have been approved if the user does not object in text form within two weeks of receipt of the notification of change. The operator will inform the user of this legal consequence. If the user objects to the changes, the operator has the right to terminate the contract or parts of the contract affected by the changes with a notice period of two months to the end of the month. The operator must exercise this special right of termination within one month of the user's objection.
§ 10 Data Privacy
(1) The operator ensures that the user's personal data is only collected, stored and processed to the extent necessary for the contractual provision of services and permitted by legal regulations or ordered by law.
(2) In the event that a declaration of consent under data protection law is obtained from the user in the context of the use of the services of the operator, the operator points out that this consent can be revoked at any time with effect for the future.
(3) The data collected in accordance with the user contract and this GTC will be stored solely for processing and only until the termination of the contractual relationship, plus 3 years (due to the statutory regular limitation period), unless further storage is required for legal reasons.
(4) For the user, various rights arise from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including claims for information about the stored data, correction and deletion of the data as well as rights of appeal to the competent supervisory authority. However, deletion claims only exist in the case of an interest in deletion that outweighs the legitimate interest in the use of this data in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR or if the data for contractual processing pursuant to Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a and b GDPR are no longer required (Art. 17 para. 3 GDPR). The aforementioned rights arise from Articles 6, 7, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 77 GDPR.
(5) The responsible party is cold.world GmbH. Further information on data protection is provided by the operator in the data protection declaration on the website under LINK .
§ 11 Final provisions
(1) The contract language is German.
(2) Changes or additions to these General Terms and Conditions require the text form and confirmation of both parties. This also applies to the waiver of the text form requirement.
(3) The place of jurisdiction and place of performance is the registered office of the platform operator. This only applies if the customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law or if the user has no registered office or usual place of residence in the Federal Republic of Germany when the action is brought.
(4) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The statutory provisions restricting the choice of law and the applicability of mandatory provisions, in particular of the state in which the customer as a consumer has his habitual residence, remain unaffected.