Legal information

General Conditions for the Use of the Site

Please read all of these present General Conditions of Use carefully before accessing the Site.

The present General Conditions of Use are intended to define the conditions of access and use of the site www.wcrr2011.org (hereafter referred to as the "Site"). They are available in English and French versions.

A user of the Site is defined (hereafter referred to as the “User”) as any individual connecting to the Site.

The Site is the property of the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (hereafter referred to as “the SNCF”), whose full contact details appear in the “Credits” rubric which is directly accessible from the Home page.

Using the site is subject to prior approval and to the entire adherence to the following General Conditions of Use.

The SNCF reserves the right to modify or to revise these present General Conditions of Use at any time and without the prior agreement of the User. It is therefore recommended that the User should regularly refer to the latest version of the General Conditions of Use that is permanently available at the Site.

For any question relating to the operation of the Site and these present General Conditions of Use, please do not hesitate to contact the SNCF:

-        Either at the following address: SNCF Direction Innovation & Recherche, Département de la Communication, 45 rue de Londres, 75008 Paris.

-        Or by telephone at +33 1 53 42 09 04. This service shall be invoiced at the local call rate.

1. Object of the Site

The object of the Site is to provide information about the World Congress on Railway Research (hereafter referred to as the “Congress”) which takes place in Lille from 22 to 26 May 2011. This Site is intended for all individuals concerned by and interested in Railway Research. This site is also a gateway between the organisers of the Congress and all individuals wishing to take part in the event.

2. Access to the Site

Accessing the Site is mainly by PC, telephone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or mobile terminal connected to a telecommunications network according to the communication protocols used on the internet.

The cost of access and navigation on the Site is entirely borne by the User.

Availability of the services

The Site is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except in the case of force majeure or due to an event outside the control of the SNCF.

The User declares that he/she has a good understanding of the characteristics and constraints of the Internet, and in particular that the transmission of data and information on the Internet is of only relative technical reliability, as such data circulates on heterogeneous networks with differing characteristics and capacities, which may disrupt access or make access impossible at times.

The SNCF is only bound by an obligation of outcome relating to the accessibility of the Site. The SNCF shall not in any event be responsible for possible interruptions or for the consequences that may arise for the User or for any third party. The SNCF reserves the right to suspend, interrupt or restrict access, without prior notice, to all or part of the Site, in particular for essential maintenance and updating operations required for the proper operation of the Site and related equipment, or for any other reason, especially of a technical nature.

The User is notified that the SNCF may cease or change the nature of the services offered at the Site, at any time, without notice, without the User having any recourse to claim against the SNCF.

Legal Notice

In order to enable the smooth technical operation of the Site, certain technical constraints must be respected by Users. Due to the constant development of the Internet network in this domain, these constraints are liable to be modified.

In general terms, the User is required to respect the technical indications provided in this present article in order to be able to have access to the Site and to be able to use the services offered, in an optimum manner.

The User of the Site acknowledges having the necessary skill and resources to access and use the site, and in particular:

A screen: current levels of resolution (recommended level: 1024 x 768)

Browsers: Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8; Mozilla Firefox 2 and 3; Google Chrome; Safari.

The User acknowledges having verified that his/her computer configuration does not contain any virus and is in perfect working condition. The User also acknowledges having been made aware of this present legal notice and undertakes to abide by it.

In general terms, the User shall refrain from all actions liable to disrupt or interrupt the accessibility or proper operation of the Site.

Technical guarantees

The SNCF does not guarantee that the Site and the server that makes it available, are free from viruses and other dangerous components. It is the responsibility of Users to take all appropriate steps to protect their own data and/or software from contamination by any viruses circulating on the Internet.

The User accepts the fact that the SNCF cannot under any circumstances be held responsible for chance material damage and/or moral prejudice, whether direct and/or indirect that may arise from access or use of the Site, including inaccessibility, data loss, deterioration, or destruction or for viruses that may affect computer equipment and/or for the presence of viruses on their Site.

Furthermore, all material downloaded and/or obtained, by whatever means, during the use of the Site, is at the risk of the User. The SNCF may not under any circumstances be responsible for damage and/or loss of data suffered by the User’s computer.

Use of the Site

Access to the Site and its use are strictly reserved for personal use only. The User shall, in particular (but non-exhaustively) refrain from:

-        using the Site for commercial purposes in general terms in order to offer products and services in exchange for direct or indirect remuneration;

-        “reselling” or making the content of the site available to a third party and/or other Users, for a fee and/or free of charge;

-        using the Site with a view to sending advertisement content or any elements of an unsolicited promotional character, in any form whatsoever,;

Information contained in the Site

The information published on the Site by the SNCF, is non-contractual and supplied by way of information, free of charge and without any obligation on the part of the SNCF which may change such information without notice.

The SNCF shall undertake, to the best of its ability, to ensure the accuracy of information distributed and that it is updated. However, the SNCF cannot guarantee the accuracy, precision and exhaustiveness of the information available on the site and declines all responsibility in this respect.

The user is invited to verify all information distrbuted on the Site with the offcial sources.

Registration form

The User is provided with different kinds of hypertext links that redirect the User to websites, enabling the User to:

-       register for the Congress and pay registration fees: Users complete the registration form and are then redirected to the site of the Bank partner of the Congress.

-       book a hotel or transport: the User is redirected to the corresponding websites. There is no transfer of personal data between the SNCF and the owners of the sites concerned.  

For your information, please note that Users must comply with the General Conditions of Use of these websites.

Form for submission of a Summary

The User may submit a short text summarising a scientific research subject that they wish to present during the conference (hereafter referred to as a “Summary”).

In order to take part, the User must complete a Summary submission form which is provided at the Site at the following address: http://www.wcrr2011.org/railway-research-congress/abstracts-guideline, and which enables registration and submission of a Summary to the Organising Committee.

The deadline for submission for Summaries is 31 May 2010 (inclusive).

The Organising Committee will then select Summaries.

The authors of the selected Summaries will be notified by the congress secretariat In November 2010.

These Summaries that will form part of the Congress programme which be take place in Lille on 22-26 May 2011

During the congress, a digital medium containing the selected Summaries will be issued to each participant.

The SNCF and the Organising Committee decline all responsibility regarding any use by the participants of the Summaries during and after the Congress. Participants must adhere to these present General Conditions of Use and/or legal provisions and in particular Intellectual property law.

Furthermore, the author of a Summary expressly accepts that the SNCF and Organisation Committee reserve the option of publishing their Summary in any medium or format, current or future, world-wide and throughout the legal duration of the author’s rights.

Personal data protection policy

The SNCF may be required to gather certain information concerning the User via the registration form, submission of a summary form and/or the newsletter registration (hereafter referred to as a “Forms”).

The Site respects the privacy of Users and the information gathered from Users through the Forms shall conform to the Law No. 78-17 of 6 January 1978, known as “data processing and liberties”.

The SNCF uses an external provider to collect the personal data. The data gathered shall be the subject of data processing by the company Le Public Système PCO (hereafter referred to as a “PCO”) for the organisation of Congress.

The SNCF, through PCO, will collect only personal data that the Users shall have voluntarily entered on the Forms. This data will be destroyed at the end of the Congress.

This information may not in any circumstances be used for commercial purposes and shall only be communicated to the competent authorities if requested to do so.

The Site also undertakes not to pass this information to any third party. In any event, the User shall be informed of this and given every opportunity to refuse this at the time the information is obtained. 

Data gathering

The information gathered from Users using all the types of forms (registration, Summary submission, newsletters, etc.) shall conform to the Law No. 78-17 of 6 January 1978, known as “data processing and liberties”.

The User must complete certain compulsory fields, such as their surname, forename and the company/organisation for which they work. Each User undertakes to provide accurate information on their identity that is not fictitious.

The User is informed that the completion of fields in grey and framed in red is compulsory, whereas other responses are only optional.

The lack of completion does not entail any particular consequence, except that if fields are incomplete, the application cannot be processed. In addition, if the compulsory information on the form is missing or seems to be deliberately false or fictitious, the Organising Committee reserves the right to refuse or delete a registration, Summary submission and/or newsletter registration.

Conservation of data

PCO shall hold and retain all personal and connection data (IP address, date and time of connection) liable to enable identification of the authors of Summaries and of participants in Congress.

PCO shall also hold and retain all Summaries submitted by participants to the Organising Committee.

PCO shall thus, in this respect provide the service of storage of data (forms and Summaries) on servers protected by SSL certificate (HTTPS protocol, a secured protocol), without actively intervening on their content. These data shall be conserved until the end of the Congress. After this date, the participants’ Summaries will be archived on the digital media support that PCO shall give to the SNCF at the end of the Congress.

For all questions relating to the User data hosting service, please do not hesitate to contact the SNCF:

- Either at the following address: Direction Innovation & Recherche, Département de la communication, 45 rue de Londres, 75009 Paris France.

- Or by telephone on +33 1 53 44 09 04. This is a normal communication rate telephone service.

Means of refusal

The User is informed that he/she may exercise his/her right of refusal, without the need for justification and free of charge, by sending an email to the following address: secretariat@wcrr2011.org.

However, if the User refuses the collection of his/her personal data during his/her registration via one of the Forms, he/she acknowledges expressly that their form shall not be accepted.

These data shall in any event retain a strictly confidential character. The SNCF undertakes not to communicate the User’s data to any third party other than with the express permission of the User. This authorisation must have been previously given by the User at the time of registration.

Notwithstanding the above, this information may be communicated at the request of a competent judicial or administrative authority.

Right of access, modification, correction and deletion

Each User has a right of access, correction and deletion of personal data concerning them. The User may thus require data concerning them to be corrected, completed, clarified, updated or deleted that are inaccurate, incomplete, ambiguous, out of date or whose collection or use, communication or conservation are not permitted. Each User may exercise this right at any time by sending an email to the following address: secretariat@wcrr2011.org. The Site shall do its best to apply the changes requested as soon as possible.

Cookies

The User is informed that one or more cookies, or similar files, may be placed on their hard disk.

In general terms, a cookie does not enable the User to be identified and cannot be used to read the information contained in files on the User’s computer.

A cookie records information relating to the User’s navigation on the Site (pages consulted, the date and time of the consultation, etc…) that may be read at the time of the User’s subsequent visits.

Cookies are used in particular to:

-       facilitate use and participation in some services of the Site;

-       measure the Site audience;

The User is informed that most Internet browsers enable the saving of cookies to be blocked, a warning message to be received before a cookie is copied, or cookies to be deleted from their hard disk. For further information on its functions, users should refer to their browser’s instructions or to the help screen.

However, if the User refuses installation of cookies or deletes them, use of the Site may be adversely affected or impossible.

Security of personal data

The Site, through PCO, undertakes to employ its best efforts in order to implement technical and organisational measures (including the HTTPS protocol present on the pages of the Forms) in order to protect data of a personal nature. The User declares him-/herself to have been thoroughly informed that due to the characteristics and constraints of the Internet network, the data circulating on this network are not protected against all forms of intrusion, including by piracy. The User acknowledges that it is impossible to guarantee total security of data transmitted over the Internet.

In consequence, the Site cannot be held responsible for incidents that may arise from this transmission. It is the responsibility of the User to implement all appropriate means for the purposes of preserving confidentiality of information transmitted in the Internet. In general terms it is recommended that Users should use their personal data with great care.

Intellectual property

In general terms, the User shall refrain from infringing, in any way, the intellectual property rights (author’s rights, related rights, the sui generis rights of the producer of databases, brand rights, domain names, etc…) of the SNCF and/or third parties.

Author’s rights – Related rights – Brands – Domain names

The SNCF is the owner of all current intellectual rights in force both in the structure and in the content of the Site (texts, logos, images, sound elements, software, icons, page layout, databases, etc…) or has duly acquired the rights enabling operation of the components of the Site, without any limitation, to the exclusion of the Users’ Summaries submitted to the Congress Organising Committee. These Summaries may not be printed or published without the prior consent of the author, who shall have ticked the box on the Summaries submission form “I agree to the publication and printing of my abstract”, in accordance with the paragraph on the “Summary submission form”, of this present General Conditions of Use.

The SNCF grants to the User the right to use the Site for their strictly personal needs, to the exclusion of any lucrative use. Subject to the rights granted above, the User is prohibited, in particular, from copying, reproducing, representing, modifying and/or exploiting, in any way possible, and for any purpose whatsoever, all or part of the structure and content of the Site.

In this respect, other than with the prior written authorisation of the SNCF, the User is not entitled to effect the reproduction, representation, adaptation, translation and/or partial or entire transformation, or transfer to another website any of the elements of the Site.

Any downloading, where this is not expressly permitted by the SNCF is formally prohibited. Any improper downloading determined to have taken place, may lead to the legal proceedings by the SNCF and/or any third party concerned, in particular in the case of a violation of intellectual property rights.

The brands and logos reproduced at the Site are registered by the companies that own them. Any reproduction and representation of the names or logos, by any means whatsoever, without prior authorisation from their owner is formally prohibited.

Failure to comply with these provisions may constitute an act of counterfeiting and/or unfair and parasitic competition entailing the civil and/or penal responsibility of the responsible party.

Hypertext link

With the exception of sites distributing information and/or content that is contrary to law and public decency, a User may create a hypertext link on their own site to the Site. The SNCF does however reserve a right of opposition and declines any responsibility in respect of the information contained on these sites that may be linked to its own site by a hypertext link or by any other means.

Conversely, hypertext links on the Site may link to other websites or other Internet sources. To the extent that the SNCF cannot control these sites and these external sources, the SNCF cannot be held responsible for the content, advertising, products, services, or for any other material, available on, or from these sites or external sources. Furthermore, the SNCF may not be held responsible for any damage occurring or alleged, arising from or in relation to the use of their content, or to goods or services available on these sites or external sources. Finally, to the extent authorised by Law, the SNCF cannot be held responsible in the case where the content of the sites contravenes the legal or regulatory provisions currently in force.

Guarantee – Indemnification

The User undertakes, at the time of use of the Site, not to contravene the legislative and regulatory provisions in force, or Internet etiquette good practices or these present General Conditions of Use. The User is informed that any violation of the said provisions may give rise to legal prosecutions and sanctions.

In general terms, the Site declines all responsibility in the case of use of its services that does not conform to the General Conditions of Use.

The User undertakes to act with diligence in responding to any claim. The User is responsible towards the SNCF and/or third parties for any direct and/or indirect material or immaterial prejudice, of any kind whatsoever caused by the User and/or the User’s representatives due to use of the Site in a manner that does not conform to these presents. The User shall hold the SNCF, as well as its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies, its representatives, staff, and partners, free from any application, claim, demand and/or complaint of any kind, arising from any violation of the said provisions.

The User shall ensure that the SNCF at all times and upon the first request, is held free from all damage and/or against any demand, action, or complaint arising from a third party, resulting from any violation of the said provisions. This guarantee covers both the damages and interests that may be declared, and the legal fees, expert assessment costs, court fees and fiscal fees.

Sundry Provisions

The nullity of any part or any of the provisions of these present General Conditions of Use, by virtue of a legal or regulatory provision or legal decision that has become definitive, does not entail the nullity of the other provisions or of the part of the provision not affected by the nullity.

Applicable law and jurisdiction

These present General Conditions of Use are subject to French Law.

Any dispute relating to the interpretation or execution of these present General Conditions of Use shall be subject to the jurisdiction of French courts.