General Conditions of Contribution

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Only the original text in French has legal force. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.

Definitions

These General Conditions of Contribution (the "CGC") are based on the following concepts:

  • Contributor: any person who accesses or benefits, directly or indirectly, from the physical and/or digital infrastructures of HOC and/or the fruits thereof;
  • Responsible: any person in charge of a contributory process with other contributors
  • Infrastructure HOC: the physical infrastructure, in particular the spaces where activities are held, and digital infrastructure, in particular websites and platforms, made available by HOC;
  • HOC: the custodian of the Infrastructure HOC;
  • Compatible License: see Article 4 below.

Scope of application

These GTCs govern:

  • the functioning and principles of the Infrastructure HOC including its information assets;
  • the rights and obligations of Contributors, individually and collectively;
  • the rights relating to the works, data or any other creations made by one or more Contributors through the physical and/or digital Infrastructure HOC.

HOC and/or each Contributor may invoke the rights, obligations and rules contained in the GSC against one or more other Contributors.

Missions

The Infrastructure HOC is made available for the following purposes:

  • Promoting and/or improving cooperation and co-construction between Contributors;
  • Building a common information heritage in a sustainable way;
  • Supporting and encouraging the progression of each Contributor's activities.

Principles of contributory development; compatible licence

The principles of contributory development apply within the Infrastructure HOC which consist in sharing under a compatible license all intellectual works (texts, images, designs, documentations, plans, etc.) resulting from the efforts and/or collaboration of Contributors in the Infrastructure HOC as well as derivatives thereof.

A Compatible License is a free/libre and open source license that is subject to the following freedoms and obligations:

  • Freedom to use;
  • Freedom to study;
  • Freedom to modify;
  • Freedom to redistribute, also for profit;
  • Obligation to cite the author and any changes made;
  • Obligation to replicate the same licensing model for any derivative work.

Data resulting from the efforts and/or cooperation of Contributors are in principle also subject to an equivalent regime.

To constitute a compatible license, each Contributor submits their work or any other creation of the mind to the following licenses:

  • for software and computer code: Affero General Public License 3 (GNU AGPL 3, https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html), and any later version;
  • for material and mechanical designs: CERN Open Hardware License 2 strongly-reciprocal (CERN OHL S, https://cern-ohl.web.cern.ch/), and any later version;
  • for the rest or in the alternative: Any other license that is strictly equivalent to a Compatible License as defined above.

Each Contributor ensures the correct application of the compatible licence applicable to a work, as well as the respect of copyright with regard to their own works or other creations of the mind, as well as those of any other Contributor.

Common information heritage

The common information heritage of the Infrastructure HOC consists of all works and other creations under compatible licences.

Access to the common information heritage is freely and openly available to the public via the website houseofcommons.ch.

Each Contributor undertakes to source, document and share, to the extent possible and within its means, all information relating to the exchanges, activities, works and works that are prepared, conceived and/or carried out in the Infrastructure HOC.

HOC provides free of charge to the Contributors an Internet service allowing them to access, add and contribute at any time to the said common information heritage by uploading on the following website houseofcommons.ch. The provision of the Infrastructure HOC, in particular the online resources, is provided by HOC as a best effort obligation.

Data protection; discretion and confidentiality

Each Contributor, including the Responsible Person, is responsible for the words, images and information, including personal data, that they share in the Infrastructure HOC; they alone assume any possible consequences. All information provided in the Infrastructure HOC shall be deemed public, unless circumstances or expressed wishes determine otherwise. Only public information may be sourced, documented and/or shared in the information commons.

In the Infrastructure HOC, each Contributor may request that a shared information be placed under the seal of confidentiality or secrecy. In such a case, they notify the other Contributors present and defines the field of information they wish to cover by this measure; the event is verbalised with evidential value, as far as possible.

If information protected by confidentiality or secrecy is disclosed in the common information pool or if it is similar to personal data whose disclosure was not consented to, HOC undertakes to delete it permanently within 30 days of the notification.

Rules of good faith and compatible behaviour

In their activities within the Infrastructure HOC, Contributors shall act in accordance with the general duties arising from the rules of good faith within the meaning of Art. 2 para. 1 of the Swiss Civil Code. In addition, each Contributor undertakes to behave in accordance with the Contributors' Code of Conduct (CCC) promulgated by HOC and available at: [soon].

Liability

Each Contributor is solely responsible for their acts and omissions, and has no power of representation towards HOC. HOC is not responsible for, nor does it guarantee, the works or other creations of the mind, activities, behaviour, acts and/or omissions of the Contributors. In the event of a claim, dispute or difference with third parties and/or other Contributors, the Responsible Entity undertakes to discharge HOC from any procedure, claim and/or liability relating thereto, including all related costs.

Each Contributor who sources, documents and/or shares information related to the exchanges, activities, works and works that are prepared, designed and/or carried out in the Infrastructure HOC, is solely responsible for the publication and/or content put online by them.

In all cases, the liability of HOC is limited to cases of gross negligence or wilful misconduct (Art. 100 para. 2 OR), and not deriving from the actions of auxiliary persons (Art. 101 para. 2 OR).

Exclusion of a Contributor

HOC or the Responsible Entity has the right, at any time and without explanation of reasons, to refuse or terminate its services and/or access to the Infrastructure HOC to a Contributor, in particular in case of behaviour contrary to the letter and/or the spirit of the present CGC (in particular Articles 3 and 4) and of the Contributors' Code of Conduct (CCC). The Contributor targeted by such a measure shall forfeit any right to compensation or indemnification. Access to the common information heritage held by HOC is in principle preserved.

Applicable law

Swiss law is exclusively applicable. Swiss law shall also apply, except in the case of mandatory law or express stipulation to the contrary, to any agreement discussed and/or agreed between Contributors in or from the Infrastructure HOC.

Dispute resolution; forum

Dialogue

In the event of a dispute or difference between two or more Contributors, the latter shall endeavour to resolve it through dialogue in accordance with the letter and/or the spirit of the provisions of these CGC and the Contributors' Code of Conduct (CCC).

Conciliation

If they are unable to do so or if any attempt appears to be unsuccessful, and subject to provisional measures or any other immediate intervention required by a peril in the house, all disputes or differences arising out of or relating to these CGC shall first be submitted to an extrajudicial conciliation procedure. The conciliation procedure shall be initiated by a written statement from a Contributor or according to the facilities arranged on the premises of the Infrastructure HOC. It shall be conducted in French and on the premises of the Infrastructure HOC unless otherwise agreed.

Once the conciliation procedure has been initiated, the parties propose the appointment of a conciliator, in principle among the other Contributors. If the parties' proposal agrees, the conciliator is appointed as the sole conciliator (conciliation body). If the parties' proposal does not agree, the parties appoint one conciliator each; these conciliators then appoint a final conciliator who will chair the Board of Conciliators (conciliation body). If the parties' conciliators fail to appoint a final conciliator, HOC may, at its sole discretion, choose to appoint a final conciliator in their place or appoint a sole conciliator instead.

The conciliation body shall convene the parties and hear them as soon as possible. The conciliator shall endeavour to understand the respective positions of the parties, with a view to reaching an agreement that resolves the dispute or difference. After having heard the parties and exchanged views, the conciliator shall propose to the parties an agreement as a solution to their dispute or difference; this proposal shall be made in equity with regard to the interests at stake and in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the present CGC and the Contributors' Code of Conduct (CCC).

Exclusive forum

In the event that, subject to a written agreement to the contrary, the dispute or difference could not be fully resolved by conciliation within a period of 3 months from the opening of conciliation or if any solution of the dispute or difference by the conciliation body seems definitively compromised within this same period, each party may assert its claims before the ordinary jurisdiction of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, appeals to the Federal Court remaining reserved.

Meta-information

Version 0.0. Template in French provided by Kalix and IdeaLex, available at https://kalix.ch/ViewerJS/#../ODT/CGC_Kalix_v1.odt.

Version 1.0 released on December 21 2021. Changes made: a) Translation and adaptation to HOC. b) Definition of custodian added in article 1. c) Concertation replaced by cooperation in articles 3 and 4. d) Suppression of open-source term and GNU GPL licence in article 4. e) Correction of typos.

This text is released under license Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International.

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