TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATING IN THE SFA’S CHAIN OF CUSTODY
These Terms and Conditions apply to all eligible parties involved in the SFA’s Chain of Custody (CoC) and set out our respective legal rights and responsibilities in respect of your participation. By submitting this form, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
WHO ARE WE?
1. We are the Sustainable Fibre Alliance (SFA), a UK-registered charity currently operating in Mongolia and implementing a pilot project in China. The SFA has longer-term plans to expand to other cashmere-producing regions.
2. The SFA are a standing holding, certifying and training body, having developed a globally focused, locally applicable standard for cashmere (the SFA Cashmere Standard).
3. We manage an online database of all users of the SFA CoC, including SFA members and non-member companies.
4. These terms and conditions ('Terms') are our agreement with you, the eligible CoC participant ('you' and 'your' being interpreted accordingly) and sets out the following:
- the process by which you, after completing the registration form, are added to the CoC Database; and
- the terms and conditions governing your registration and our provision of services to you as set out in these Terms.
5. By submitting an application form, you agree to be bound by these Terms. Our acceptance of your registration and continuation of your participation in the CoC depends on you complying with these Terms.
HOW DO YOU JOIN THE SFA CHAIN OF CUSTODY?
6. To register as an official participant in the SFA CoC, complete the online application form and submit it to the SFA.
7. The fee for participation is £500 and is valid for 12 months. The fee is subject to review on an annual basis. Instructions on how to pay the annual fee are sent to the primary contact.
8. The SFA CoC participation is renewed annually by paying the annual fee.
9. SFA full members are exempt from the annual fee but must complete the online application form to register.
10. Your entitlement to participating in the CoC is subject to approval by the SFA.
11. You acknowledge that SFA accepting you as a registered party is entirely at SFA's discretion, and we may decide for any reason to reject or terminate your registration.
12. In the event that participation is refused or you decide not to participate within 14 days of applying to the SFA, any participation fees paid will be refunded to the applicant within 30 days. In the event that participation is rescinded, no refund will be given.
WHAT DO YOU COMMIT BY JOINING?
13. By registering to participate in the SFA CoC, you agree to follow the SFA Chain of Custody Guidelines. This includes participation without delay in any audit by the SFA or affiliated certifying bodies (CBs) performed as per the SFA Chain of Custody Guidelines.
14. Participants agree to disclose information regarding purchases and sales of SFA Certified fibre upon request by the SFA, and agree that CBs may disclose information regarding audits and transactions upon the SFA's request.
15. Participants agree to inform potential buyers of the SFA’s CoC requirements, and to ensure that brands and retailers of final SFA Certified products are full members of the SFA or an applicable partner organization.
16. Participants must not engage in any activity which could damage the reputation or interests of the SFA. The SFA reserves the right to define such activities, which include but are not limited to social non-compliance, not respecting contract sanctity or being subject to international sanctions.
HOW WE MAY USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
17. The SFA takes its CoC participants’ privacy seriously, and is committed to keeping their personal and commercially sensitive information safe.
18. The SFA complies with the Data Protection Act 1998, and the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016.
19. You agree that information you provide to us as part of your registration will be shared with the SFA’s staff in UK office, and may also be shared with third parties as necessary to provide the services and information associated with the SFA CoC.
20. In order to ensure that sanctions are upheld according to these Terms, where registration is withdrawn due to misconduct, we will retain sufficient information to ensure that such parties are unable to re-apply for registration until the appropriate period has elapsed.
21. We reserve the right to refuse any registration application, withdraw any offer of registration, suspend your registration and/or terminate your registration altogether, if you unreasonably delay or fail to respond to reasonable information requests from us that are relevant to your registration, or you refuse to reasonably cooperate with our investigations relating to your conduct or registration.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND YOUR LIMITED RIGHT TO USE OUR NAME OR LOGO
22. You must not copy, modify, adapt, distribute, publicly share or make available, rent or lend, republish, frame, provide links to or upload any of the SFA’s intellectual property, or any data, content or material (in any form) extracted or copied from our documents, website or any other SFA online systems for any commercial or non-commercial purpose without SFA’s prior written consent.
