Sign up

Note: This version 2 is applicable since 01/12/2024. This version 2 was approved by the Board of Directors on 26/03/2024. It was approved by the General Assembly on 01/12/2024. Previous version.

Climanosco is a non-profit association registered at the Commercial Registry Office of Zurich, Switzerland, on 11 August 2015 (Registration ID: CHE-415.265.288). Details on the association including its goals and its Statutes can be found at the address: www.climanosco.org/about. Climanosco finances itself through donations, membership fees and sales of items. All donations, membership fees and returns on sales shall be exclusively and solely used by Climanosco to pursue its goals according to its Statutes.

About these Terms

1. To pursue its goals, Climanosco operates a communication web site (hereinafter the “Website”) devised to offer free contents on climate science that are intended to be accessible to a broad audience, and to allow citizens and climate scientists to interact for the purpose of making climate science accessible to everyone. The Website is available at www.climanosco.org.
2. The Website has a Public Area which is accessible to all visitors (hereinafter the “User”). The Public Area offers free climate science articles as well as other public communications and forums. It also offers an Online Shop. The Website has a Members Area which is available to Users who are registered as Members and are logged in. The Members Area offers access to the peer review of manuscripts, to various members forums, activities and member-to-member communication channels.
3. The Website also allows Users to subscribe to news and updates without registering as a Member. Subscribing to news and updates does not grant access to the Members Area however.
4. Registration and subscription take place via a dedicated online form on the Website.
5. These Terms and Conditions of Registration and Membership (hereafter “Terms”) establish the conditions of registration and membership and the terms of use of the Members Area. A Member shall expressly accept these Terms on registration and is bound to comply with them.
6. Any new services, offered online in the Members Area after initial registration, shall also be governed by these Terms unless otherwise specified.
7. Climanosco reserves the right to amend the present Terms at any time and without prior notice and shall inform Members of such amendments at their next log-in. Members shall accept such amendments by checking the appropriate checkbox. The accounts of Members who do not accept the amendments shall be blocked 14 days after notification of the amendments.

Registration

1. Registration and membership is open to all natural persons over thirteen years of age who have an interest in the creation and sharing of accessible climate science. Users under sixteen years of age must first obtain the consent of a parent or guardian.
2. Each User shall only register once.
3. The User shall register online to become a Member of Climanosco.
4. During the registration process, the User can, in addition, opt to become a Member of the Association. Members of the Association are Members of Climanosco with additional accesses allowing them to participate in the General Assemblies and can be elected as Members of the Board of Directors.
5. Members of the Association shall expressly accept Climanosco’s Statutes on registration and are bound to comply with them.
6. By registering with Climanosco, the User accepts that most communications with Climanosco and its Members will take place electronically.
7. It is the User’s responsibility to make sure that she/he has sufficient access to Internet to participate to the activities at the desired extent.
8. Climanosco screens registration applications and reserves itself the right to reject a registration without stating the reasons.
9. Members of Climanosco have access to a notification preferences page where they can define their preferences for the notifications sent to them by email. They have access to the Members Area and can participate in the various activities that are open to Members, depending on their role as a climate scientist or not and their functions.
10. Upon registration, Members are required to supply their name, email address, mail address, areas of interest and a password.
11. Members requesting to be registered as climate scientists are required in addition to supply an affiliation and a list of publications. Climanosco’s team will verify that the member fulfills the necessary conditions for being registered as a climate scientist.
12. The necessary conditions for being registered as a climate scientist with Climanosco at any moment in time are:
    • Have published within the past 6 years, as one of the main authors, an article in a recognized peer reviewed scientific journal in the broad area of climate science; and
    • Have completed or be currently enrolled in a master or doctoral level education in climate science or in a related area of natural sciences.
13. Members vouch that data supplied on registration are true and complete, and that they are kept up-to-date after registration. In particular, members registered as climate scientists who do not fulfill the necessary conditions for being registered as climate scientists anymore must change their registration accordingly.
14. It is expressly forbidden to place accounts at the disposal of third parties and to disclose access details to third parties.
15. For technical reasons, Climanosco cannot establish with certainty whether a registered Member really is the person he/she claims to be. Climanosco shall therefore provide no guarantee as to Members’ true identities. Members shall therefore be responsible for verifying other Member’s identities and shall contact Climanosco in cases of suspicion.
16. Registration as a Member results in a contractual relationship (usage contract) between Climanosco and the Member. By accepting the Terms, they become a contract component. The member receives a personal, non-transferable right, revocable at any time, to use the contents and services provided by the Website and undertakes to comply with these Terms and the restrictions set out in them during such use.
17. Climanosco reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue individual services and/or sections of the Members Area, or all of them, at any time and without prior notice, in whole or in part. Climanosco reserves the further right to limit or deny access to individual or all services, without prior notice at any time.

Termination of Membership

1. Members can resign their membership with Climanosco at any time by communicating their decision by mail or email (see contact details below) or by writing a message in the Comments area of the Profile Update page.
2. The resigning Member shall pay the current year’s membership, if any, in full.
3. The membership can be terminated by decision from the Board of Directors. The concerned person has the right to appeal against this decision at the General Assembly. Cases where the membership has been repeatedly left unpaid (for two years) lead to the expulsion without a right to appeal at the General Assembly.
4. After the resignation or the termination of a membership, Climanosco is entitled to continue without time limitation, to freely use in the Website, emails, publications and advertisements, in full or in part, the contributions (text and other material) the Member submitted to Climanosco before resignation or termination, if any.
5. Resigned Members can apply to revive their registration at any time. The decision to revive a registration is taken by the Board of Directors.

Use of the Members Area

1. Climanosco shall provide Members the access to use the Members Area for the purpose of interactively publishing, sharing, developing and creating knowledge around climate science.
2. The Members Area is designed to offer various tools to allow Members to organise themselves as a network and to create, review and publish member contributions (text and other material) in the pursuit of these goals.
3. In particular, the Members Area comprises all necessary accesses for Members to contribute in the journals Climanosco Research Manuscripts and Climanosco Research Articles.
4. Depending on their specific type, member contributions shall be automatically published in the Members Area only, or in part or fully in the Public Area too. Automatic notifications are also emailed to the corresponding circle of Members and placed in their designated notification page. Detailed information on the automated notification and publication on the Website of a specific type of member contribution shall be available on the corresponding online form or page, or upon request by contacting Climanosco.
5. It is the responsibility of the Members to make sure that they do not include any confidential data in member contributions that are automatically published in the Public Area. Climanosco shall not be liable for any consequences arising from the publication in the Public Area of confidential data consecutive to the submission by a Member of a member contribution.
6. Types of member contributions that are automatically published in the Public Area include but are not limited to: Manuscripts, Articles, comments to Articles, Blogs, comments to Blogs, Events. In the Public Area, data allowing identification of the various contributors (such as names, email addresses,…) are not disclosed at the exception of the names of Author(s) and Editors, if any, in Articles and Blogs. In the Public Area, names of the commenters of Articles are not disclosed and are replaced by substitutes reflecting the commenters’ role with respect to the Article: “A Member”, “A Scientific Member”, “An Author”, “The Editor”. Members submitting Events are responsible for not including any personal data in the Event description. Their email address will be automatically added as a link in the Members Area if they chose a sign up deadline.
7. The Members Area offers various types of accesses to various areas, depending on the Member’s role (e.g. as a scientist) and functions (e.g. as an Editor, a Jury member, a Member of the Board of Directors, an Administrator). It is the responsibility of the Member to respect the confidentiality of the data he/she has access to in the various areas of the Website.
8. In the Members Area, the names of Authors, Editors, Commenters, if any, are disclosed. Reviewers can opt to remain anonymous in Review Reports. In the case of Manuscript Invitations or Ideas, Members signing up will see each other’s email addresses as well as that of the Author, so that they can enter in contact to collaborate.
9. Members shall alone be responsible for ensuring that their contributions (text and other material) are aligned with the purpose set forth in this Article and in no way breach these Terms. Members shall be responsible for ensuring that their content is legal and that they are entitled to publish such content and make it available to third parties. Climanosco hereby declines all liability for such content.
10. Climanosco is not bound to monitor and check content added by members to ensure that no unlawful content and/or content contrary to these Terms appears on the Website, but reserves the right to so do. Climanosco further reserves the right to delete such content without notice, if it discovers, or is informed by third parties, or suspicion exists, that such content breaches applicable law and/or the provisions of these Terms.

Participation in the Association

1. Members of the Association are entitled to all regular Member accesses. In addition, they may participate to the online General Assemblies and may apply to be elected as Members of the Board of Directors.
2. Members of the Association are informed of the General Assembly at the latest 20 days in advance. General Assemblies are held at least once a year.
3. Members of the Association shall be bound by and comply with the provisions of Climanosco’s Statutes.

Intellectual Property

1. All intellectual rights pertaining to the Website, its software, design, contents (text, pictures, videos and other material), news, updates, notifications as well as all email notifications sent by it are ruled by Climanosco’s Copyrights notice. Climanosco’s Copyrights notice forms part of these Terms. By using this Website, Users indicate that they accept and comply with it.
2. In particular, the Members Area offers access to contents with reserved copyrights. These contents may not be copied, transformed or distributed without the prior written consent of the author(s).

Non-Disclosure Agreement

1. In the Members Area, Members of Climanosco are granted access to unpublished Manuscripts, forums, personal profiles and other types of information. All such data are of a confidential nature and are to be held undisclosed outside of the designated (possibly restricted) circle of Members.
2. Data from the Members Area (text or other material) may not be disclosed or used outside the designated (possibly restricted) circle of Members of Climanosco without prior agreement from the author(s) of the data and in accordance with Climanosco’s Copyrights.
3. Climanosco can not be made liable for the disclosure, or its consequences, by any Member of any confidential data (text or other material) submitted to the Website.
4. By registering as a Member, Users indicate that they are responsible for the non-disclosure of the data made available to them in the Members Area and that they will report any event of breach to this Non-Disclosure Agreement Article to Climanosco.

Rules of Conduct

1. All contents submitted to Climanosco shall adhere to basic rules of conduct. An appropriate tone and relevance of the content are required. It is in particular prohibited to submit content which:
   • is openly offensive and fosters or incites racism, bigotry, hatred or physical violence of any kind against groups or individuals or force of any kind against property;
   • is offensive, threatening, obscene, disrespectful, indecent, defamatory or libellous or causes harassment in another way or supports such undesirable forms of behaviour;
   • encourages sexual or violent exploitation of persons;
   • comprises nudity, violence or indecent images;
   • publishes information which poses a risk to the protection of personal data or security;
   • contains or endorses information which, to the best of the member’s knowledge, is false or misleading;
   • infringes intangible property rights (to trademarks, designs, patents or copyright), especially which constitutes or promotes illegal or unauthorized copies of copyright works of other persons, e.g. pirated copies of computer programs or links to them, information on defeating copy protection set up by manufacturers and pirated copies of music or links to pirated copies of music files;
   • entails sending junk mails, chain letters or unsolicited mass mailings, SMS, spinning or spamming;
   • has restricted, password-only access or contains hidden pages or images;
   • promotes or supports unlawful acts or plans or contains instructions on illegal acts, e.g. making or buying illegal weapons, breach of privacy or the supply or development of computer viruses;
   • requires other users to disclose passwords or personal particulars for commercial or illegal purposes, or is designed to do so;
   • contains commercial activities;
   • contains photographs or videos of other people, which have been published without the consent of those people;
   • infringes, or attempts to infringe, in particular privacy laws, contract law or the rights of third parties;
   • contains website links which are prohibited under this Article.
2. Climanosco’s Conflict of Interest Policy defines what is considered a conflict of interest and how it shall be prevented in the peer review of contents. Climanosco’s Conflict of Interest Policy forms part of these Terms. By participating in the peer review of contents, Members indicate that they accept and comply with it.

Membership Fees

1. Membership fees are decided by the General Assembly on a yearly basis.
2. Members are required to pay the membership fees, if any, in due time through Climanosco’s Online Shop.
3. The Board of Directors may decide to grant partial or full membership fee waivers to specific Members. Membership fee waivers are granted in the form of a personal, time-limited voucher which can be redeemed upon purchasing the membership on Climanosco’s Online Shop.
4. Users who may not afford to pay the membership fees can contact Climanosco and ask for a partial or full membership fee waiver. Renewals of membership fee waivers are not automatic. They shall be asked by the Member by contacting Climanosco and shall be decided by the Board of Directors.

Data Protection and Use of Information by Climanosco

1. Collection, protection, use and transmission of personal data submitted to the Website or other User data collected by Climanosco are ruled by Climanosco’s Privacy Policy. Climanosco’s Privacy Policy form part of these Terms. By using this Website, Users indicate that they accept and comply with it.

Languages

1. The first language used for the communication and publications shall be English. Climanosco intends to introduce additional languages in the future.
2. Where official documents are required by the law in German language, Climanosco organises their translation in English for communication with its Users.
3. Climanosco may not be made liable for not providing translations in a language other than English or for translation inconsistencies in translated documents.

Guarantees

1. No guarantees shall be given as to the accuracy of information and opinions conveyed via the Website, either expressly or implicitly.
2. Climanosco shall give no guarantees regarding the minimum availability of the Website. It shall, however, endeavour to maximize such availability. Users shall note that software underlying the Website is continually undergoing development and that processes cannot be guaranteed to be fault-free at all times.
3. Climanosco expressly reserves the right to block the Members Area without notice, where necessary to investigate malfunctions, for maintenance work or for closer examination of cases of abuse.

Liability

1. Climanosco hereby disclaims all liability for the Website, in particular for content displayed thereon and communications passed via it. Climanosco shall likewise not be liable for any losses arising from impossibility of use of the Website. Such disclaimer shall also apply to interruption, temporary suspension or termination of the services.
2. Climanosco shall in no case be liable for content provided by Members. Members are alone responsible for all information and data which they send, display or notify via the Members Area and which may or may not be automatically made accessible in the Public Area.
3. Climanosco shall accept no liability for the behaviour of Members and/or third parties or for content or statements forwarded by Members and/or third parties in the context of the services.
4. Climanosco shall accept no liability for links, for contents of pages linked, and for content uploaded by Members and/or third parties. Climanosco has no influence on third-party web sites. If Climanosco incurs loss through the behaviour of third parties, they shall indemnify Climanosco accordingly.
5. Climanosco shall accept no liability for misuse of Members or Subscribers’ accounts by third parties. The Member or Subscriber shall be liable him/herself for all action taken by third parties using a Member or Subscriber’s access details.
6. Climanosco shall not be liable for minor negligence or indirect losses.

Final Provisions

1. Should any provision of these Terms, including the applicable Conflict of Interest Policy, Copyrights notice and Privacy Policy, be considered unworkable, this shall not affect the validity of all or any other provisions. Failure by Climanosco to implement a provision shall imply no waiver thereof.

Legal Jurisdiction

1. The relationship between Climanosco and its Members, Subscribers, Users, Donors and/or Customers shall be subject to substantive Swiss law, to the preclusion of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods dated 11 April 1980. With respect to all disputes based on or in connection with any order, transaction or contract, the ordinary courts in 8005 Zurich, Switzerland, shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

Communicating with Climanosco

1. Communication with Climanosco can be made by mail or email.
2. The mailing address is:
   Climanosco
   c/o The Hub Zurich Association
   Viaduktstrasse 93-95
   8005 Zurich
   Switzerland
3. The email address for all communications concerning these Terms is:
   

Permalink:
https://ws2.climanosco.org/rule/terms-and-conditions-of-registration-and-membership-v-2/

Note: This version 3 is applicable since 20/12/2018. This version 3 was approved by the Board of Directors on 30/10/2018. It was approved by the General Assembly on 20/12/2018. Previous version.

Legal form, purpose and legal domicile

Art. 1

Under the name Climanosco is founded a non-for-profit, non-political and independent Association, pursuant to the regulatory Statutes provided hereafter and in accordance with Article 66 ff. of the Swiss Civil Code.

Art. 2

The purpose of the Association lies in the opening and dissemination of climate sciences within the general public. The Association organises with this aim the publication of scientific writings and artistic works for the general public in the area of climate sciences. It organises in addition and as needed, scientific research and its funding. To fulfill this purpose, the Association uses and manages websites, licenses and trademarks.

The Association bases its activities on the three following principles:

• Neutrality and independence;
• Highest scientific standards;
• Individual participation of natural persons.

Art. 3

The legal domicile of the Association is located in the municipality of Zürich for an unlimited duration.

Organisation

Art. 4

The bodies of the Association are:

• The General Assembly;
• The Board of Directors;
• The Auditors.

Art. 5

The resources of the Association consist of ordinary or extraordinary membership fees, donations or legs, fundraising, sales of small merchandising items, sales of publications and other proceeds from the Association’s activities. Each donor’s financial contributions are capped to a maximum amount over a given period of time. The Board of Directors is responsible for and decides on the acceptance of donors financial contributions, on which the Board of Directors informs the General Assembly. The Board of Directors is responsible for making sure that each individual donor complies with this cap. The value of this financial contribution cap by individual donors is decided by the General Assembly and shall protect the financial independence of the Association with respect to individual donors.

The financial year begins every year on the 1st January and ends on the 31st December. The first financial year ends on 31st December 2015.

The assets of the Association exclusively secure its liabilities. A personal liability of members is excluded.

Membership

Art. 6

The membership is open to all natural persons who have an interest in pursuing the goals stated in Art. 2.

Within the limits of its available resources, the Association considers publishing a newsletter for its members as well as other interested persons.

Art. 7

Applications for membership are to be addressed to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors decides on the admission of new members and informs the General Assembly about it.

Art. 8

The membership can be terminated through:

1. Resignation by the member: The resigning member shall pay the current year’s membership in full;
2. Expulsion for “important reasons”.

Decisions concerning the expulsion of members are under the responsibility of the Board of Directors. The concerned person has the right to appeal against this decision at the General Assembly. Cases where the membership has been repeatedly left unpaid (for two years) lead to the expulsion without a right to appeal at the General Assembly.

General Assembly

Art. 9

The General Assembly forms the highest body of the Association. It consists of all members of the Association.

Art. 10

The General Assembly is responsible for the following:

• Definition of the orientation of the work and lead of the Association’s activities;
• Adoption and modification of the Statutes;
• Election of the members of the Board of Directors and the Auditors;
• Dismissal of members of the Board of Directors for important reasons;
• Approval of reports; Inspection of the annual financial statement and budgetary decisions;
• Discharge decision on members of the Board of Directors and the Auditors;
• Approval of the annual membership fees and of their revision;
• Approval of the financial contribution cap by individual donors, and of its revision;
• Approval of the Rules as well as their revision and supplementation;
• Control of the abidance of the Rules in accordance with the Guidelines;
• Issuing of position statements on other projects on the agenda.

The General Assembly can express itself or can be asked to express itself on any subject which it has not entrusted to another Association’s body.

Art. 11

The General Assembly is called for by the Board of Directors in written or by email at the latest 20 days before the Assembly. The Board of Directors can call for an extraordinary General Assembly when necessary.

The members of the Association can give their votes in written, by email or on the vote platform prepared for this purpose. The quorums given hereafter also hold for these latter types of votes.

Art. 12

The General Assembly is chaired by the President of the Board of Directors, or if the latter is unavailable, by another member of the Board of Directors.

Art. 13

Decisions of the General Assembly are taken with absolute majority of the participating members. In the event of a tie, the chairman has the casting vote.

A majority of two-thirds of the votes cast is required for the following decisions:

• Revision of the Statutes;
• Dismissal of members of the Board of Directors.

Art. 14

Proxy voting is not allowed.

Art. 15

The General Assembly is held at least once a year.

Art. 16

The Agenda of the annual (and therefore ordinary) General Assembly includes:

• The report from the Board of Directors on the activities of the Association in the last year;
• The reports from the Treasurer and the Auditors;
• The exchange and priority setting concerning the future development of the Association;
• The election of members of the Board of Directors and of the Auditors (as needed according to Art. 21);
• Other propositions.

Art. 17

The Board of Directors shall include on the Agenda of the (ordinary or extraordinary) General Assembly all member’s propositions submitted in written or by email at least 10 days before the General Assembly takes place.

Art. 18

An extraordinary General Assembly takes place upon call by the Board of Directors or upon request by a fifth of the members.

Board of Directors

Art. 19

The Board of Directors is responsible for the implementation and execution of the decisions of the General Assembly. It leads the Association and takes all necessary measures in order to fulfill the purpose of the Association. The Board of Directors decides on all issues that are not explicitly of the General Assembly’s competence.

After the foundation of the Association, the Board of Directors prepares the Association’s Rules and Guidelines, and proposes them at the next General Assembly of the following year.

Art. 20

The Board of Directors is composed of minimum 9 and maximum 13 members. Half of it consists of climate scientists and the other half of non climate scientists in the sense defined in the Association’s Rules. The members of the Board of Directors are elected for three years by the General Assembly. They can be re-elected. The Founding President stays President of the Board of Directors for the first five years of the Association. The Board of Directors constitutes itself in accordance with the Association’s Rules. The Board of Directors meets as often as required by the business of the Association.

Art. 21

The Association is bound by the joint signature of two members of the Board of Directors with signatory power. The President signs singly.

Art. 22

The responsibilities of the Board of Directors are:

• Taking the necessary measures for the fulfillment of the Association’s purpose (in particular through fundraising, the communication with the public, the scientists and their organisations, the development of its Internet platform, and the promotion of activities of publication and research within the Association);
• Call of ordinary and extraordinary General Assemblies;
• Decisions relating to the admission, the resignation and the possible expulsion of members;
• Dismissal of members of the Board of Directors;
• Monitoring of the abidance of the Statutes, the Rules and the Guidelines;
• Preparation of revisions and supplementations of the Statutes and the Rules;
• Elaboration of Guidelines;
• Control of the observance of the financial contribution cap by individual donors;
• Administration of the Association’s assets.

Art. 23

The Board of Directors is responsible for the bookkeeping of the Association.

Art. 24

The Board of Directors decides on the hiring (release) of paid employees and volunteers. It can commission Association’s members or externs on time limited mandates.

Art. 25

The Board of Directors is responsible for the protection of the name “Climanosco” and for the functionality of the Internet platform. It can negotiate licenses with external firms for this purpose. The Board of Directors can outsource the operation of the Internet platform to an external firm, such as for instance to the MSB Climate Science Communication GmbH domiciliated in Zürich.

Auditor

Art. 26

The Auditor examines the Association’s bookkeeping and submits a report to the General Assembly. The Auditor is appointed by the General Assembly and consists of either a natural or a legal person under Swiss law.

Dissolution

Art. 27

The Dissolution of the Association is decided by the General Assembly with a three-quarter majority of the participating members. In the event that the Association owns assets, the assets are transferred to an organisation with similar goals.

These Statutes have been adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2018 in Zürich.

On behalf of the Association,

The President: Dr. Michel S. Bourqui

Disclaimer:
The official and legally binding version of the Statutes is in German and is available hereafter. This translation in English is accurate to the best of our knowledge. However, Climanosco can not accept any liability in cases of any inconsistencies between this translation and the official version.

Permalink:
https://ws2.climanosco.org/rule/statutes-v-3/

Related document(s):
https://www.climanosco.org/files/statutes/Statutes_Climanosco_Association_GA_20181106_EN.pdf
https://www.climanosco.org/files/statutes/Statutes_Climanosco_Association_GA_20181106_GE.pdf