1. Purpose and scope of application

The https://www.louishachettegroup.com website (hereinafter the “Website”) is a non-retail website intended to present Louis Hachette Group as an institution, in France and internationally. The purpose of the Website is to inform the public about Louis Hachette Group’s business, governance, social and environmental commitments, its ownership structure and recent events concerning Louis Hachette Group. 

The purpose of these terms and conditions of use is to define the conditions under which Louis Hachette Group implements the Website.  

2. Definitions

Terms beginning with a capital letter used below, in the singular or plural, shall have the following meanings: 

“Terms and Conditions of Use” or “T&Cs”: the present document setting out the terms and conditions for using the Website and Services. 

“Louis Hachette Group”: a french joint-stock company with a share capital of € 37,000 whose registered office is located at 4 rue de Presbourg – 75116 Paris, registered in the Paris Trade and Companies Register under the reference number 808 946 305.

“Equipment”: all hardware and software, including the information system and networks, workstations, computers, mobile phones, email addresses and tablets, used by the User to access the Service, in the possession of the User and for which the User has sole responsibility and control. 

“Party” or “Parties”: Louis Hachette Group or the Website’s Users, either individually or collectively.  

“Website”: the institutional website made available to Users by Louis Hachette Group and accessible at the URL https://www.louishachettegroup.com, allowing access to the Services under the terms and conditions provided for by the T&Cs. 

“User”: any natural person with access to Louis Hachette Group’s institutional website. 

3. Acceptance and enforceability

Access to and use of the Website are subject to the User accepting and complying with the Terms and Conditions of Use, regardless of the purpose of the User’s visit. By visiting the Website and/or by using the Services provided via the Website, the User is presumed to have read the Terms and Conditions of Use, to have fully understood them and to accept all of their provisions without any restriction or reserve. The T&Cs are enforceable as soon as the User has accepted them. 

If the User does not agree with the Terms and Conditions of Use, he/she must immediately stop using the Website. 

4. Amendments

Louis Hachette Group reserves the right to amend and update the Terms and Conditions of Use at any time without notice. In that event, the amended T&Cs shall come into force from the time they are posted online.  

To be informed of any amendments, Users must refer, before they start using the Website, to the most recent version of the T&Cs, accessible at all times on the Website.  

5. Technical information

a) Technical requirements 

Access to the Website can only be offered to Users who have a compatible IT configuration that meets the following requirements: 

• A broadband internet connection from an access provider that is well known in the market;  
• More generally, equipment and material resources that allow the User to access and browse the Website. 

All costs of accessing and using the Website, including the cost of hardware, software and internet access, shall be borne exclusively by the User. The User is the sole person responsible for the smooth running of his/her IT equipment and for his/her internet access. 

It is also the User’s task to keep track of possibilities for changing the IT and data transmission resources available to him/her, so that those resources can be adjusted to changes in the Website. 

Finally, accessing the Website implies that the User is aware of and accepts the characteristics and limitations of the internet, particularly as regards technical performance, response times for consulting, searching for and transferring information, the risk of interruption and more generally the risks inherent in any connection to and transmission of data on the internet, the lack of protection for certain data against possible misuse, and the risk of being infected by viruses circulating on the network. Accordingly, the User is responsible for taking all appropriate measures to protect his/her data and/or software stored on his/her IT equipment, along with information he/she may send to Louis Hachette Group via the Website, against any infringement, violation or misuse. 

b) Website access methods and availability  

The Website may be accessed free of charge, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, at the URL https://www.louishachettegroup.com, by any User who meets the aforementioned technical requirements, subject to the occurrence of any case of force majeure or any event that is out of Louis Hachette Group’s control, and subject to any interruption, suspension or limitation arising from maintenance and/or updating operations required to ensure the Website’s smooth running. 

Given the nature and complexity of the internet and, in particular, its technical performance and response times when consulting, searching for or transferring data and information, Louis Hachette Group has only a best-efforts obligation regarding the accessibility, operation and/or availability of the Website or of any element on the Website.  

Louis Hachette Group reserves the right, without being required to provide notice or compensation, to limit access to one or more Services or to close the Website temporarily or permanently, for purposes that include but are not limited to updating it or carrying out maintenance operations, modifications, amendments or changes to operational methods, servers and accessibility times, or where legally required to do so. 

Louis Hachette Group is not responsible for any kind of harm that may result from such changes and/or from the temporary unavailability or permanent closure of some or all of the Website or of the Services related to it. 

c) Security  

Louis Hachette Group shall make its best efforts, in accordance with usual practices, to make the Website secure in view of the risks that exist and the nature of data processed. 

The Website is a system for the automated processing of data. 

The User is forbidden to access or remain on the Website or any part thereof in a fraudulent manner. The User must not use any access method other than the interface provided by Louis Hachette Group. If such a method is discovered or if the User inadvertently enters a reserved area without being entitled to do so, the User undertakes to inform Louis Hachette Group of that fact without delay, so that Louis Hachette Group can take the necessary measures. 

The User is also forbidden to delete or modify data contained in the Website, to fraudulently add data to the Website, and to make any change to the way the Website works. In particular, the User must take care not to introduce any virus, malicious code or any other damaging technology into the Website. 

Any access to a forbidden area shall be regarded as fraudulent access. 

The User undertakes to regard all data of which he/she may become aware when accessing an unauthorised area as confidential, and so undertakes not to disclose that data. 

In particular, the User shall refrain from carrying out any operation that aims to overload a page or any operation that hampers or distorts the way the Website works. 

The User undertakes not to use any system or software that would have the consequence of disrupting the smooth running of the Website. 

The User undertakes not to take any action that would place a disproportionate burden on the Website’s infrastructure. 

6. Use of the Website by minors

If the User is a minor, he/she may not use the Website without (i) having received prior consent from his/her parent(s) or guardian(s) and (ii) those parent(s) or guardian(s) having agreed to warrant his/her compliance with the T&Cs. 

The parent(s) or guardian(s) of a minor who uses the Website shall be fully responsible for that minor’s use of the Website. 

7. Description of the Services

The Website provides Users with the following Services:  

• Information presenting the activities of Louis Hachette Group and of the Group’s subsidiaries; 
• General information about the Group (governance, workforce-related, environmental and social commitments etc.); 
• Information concerning Louis Hachette Group’s shareholders (general shareholders’ meetings, financial publications, regulated information etc.);  
• Elements related to recent events concerning the Group (press releases, photo library etc.);  

Information disseminated via the Website is provided by Louis Hachette Group for information only. Accordingly, no representation is made that the information provided is exhaustive.  

Louis Hachette Group makes its best efforts to keep the Website up to date and to disseminate reliable and valid information. However, despite all the care and attention used to select sources and prepare content and information, Louis Hachette Group cannot guarantee the integrity, accuracy, completeness, up-to-date nature or any other quality of the information disseminated via the Website. 

8. Louis Hachette Group’s liability / No warranty

Louis Hachette Group has a best-efforts obligation in relation to providing the Services. 

The User acknowledges and accepts that Louis Hachette Group shall not be held liable for: 

• Harm resulting from the actions of the User and/or the actions of a third party and/or a case of force majeure, as defined in Article 1218 of the French Civil Code;  
• Any inaccuracy or omission in relation to information available on the Website; 
• More generally, any indirect harm, regardless of its cause, origin, nature or consequences, including any loss of profit, clientele or data or any other loss of intangible assets that may arise from any entity accessing the Website, from an inability to access the Website, or from any reliance on any information that comes directly or indirectly from the Website.  

In addition, Louis Hachette Group makes no undertaking and assumes no liability, in any form, regarding: 

• The consequences of any interruption or fault affecting the internet and/or internet access services; 
• The consequences of the User failing to comply with the T&Cs; 
• The consequences of any fault and/or security failure affecting the User’s equipment (computer, telephone etc.); 
• Negligent use of the Services by the User. 

Finally, Louis Hachette Group provides no express or implied guarantee regarding matters including but not limited to the non-violation of third-party rights, the continuity, performance and/or ongoing existence of the Website and/or the suitability and/or consistency of any element of the Website with respect to any particular use or the User’s requirements. 

9. User responsibilities

The User is responsible for his/her use of the Services on the Website and for the equipment he/she uses to access the Website and use the Services.  

The User accepts that he/she will bear sole responsibility for his/her use of the Services. The User bears sole responsibility for using the Services in accordance with the T&Cs. 

The User undertakes to use the Website, the dedicated areas and information that he/she may access solely in accordance with the terms of use defined in the T&Cs. 

10. Intellectual property

The Website and/or any of its elements (including graphical, textual, audio, visual or photographic elements) are protected by intellectual property rights (including copyright, patent rights, trademarks, designs and models, databases, domain names and any other existing or future, French or international intellectual property rights) and belong to Louis Hachette Group or to third parties that have authorised Louis Hachette Group to use and exploit them.  

Use of the Website does not in any way give the User any right of ownership, including any intellectual property right, over the Website and/or any of its elements.  

The User is only granted a right of personal access, granted free of charge and on a non-exclusive basis, and limited solely to consulting the Website and/or elements found on the Website. 

Accordingly, the User is strictly forbidden to represent, reproduce and/or exploit the Website or any of its elements, in part or in full, in any form and using any method, without the prior express written agreement of Louis Hachette Group. The User undertakes not to copy, modify, assemble, decompile, distort, sell, rent out, lend, disseminate, distribute or transfer the Website and/or any of its elements, create works derived from those works, authorise a third party to carry out such acts or allow it to do so, without the prior express written agreement of Louis Hachette Group. 

More specifically, Louis Hachette Group’s names and logos and more generally its distinctive signs that appear on the Website are trademarks registered by Louis Hachette Group or third parties that have authorised Louis Hachette Group to use them. Any representation, reproduction and/or exploitation, total or partial, of those trademarks, of any nature, is entirely prohibited. 

Any databases featuring on the Website are protected by the applicable provisions of the French Intellectual Property Code relating to the legal protection of databases. Accordingly, Louis Hachette Group expressly forbids any reuse, reproduction or extraction of elements from those databases. 

Any reproduction or total or partial representation of the Website or of any element of the Website without Louis Hachette Group’s prior express written agreement shall be an act of copyright infringement, unfair competition or parasitic copying and so may result in civil or criminal proceedings. 

11. Hypertext links

The Website may include hypertext links pointing to other websites. Such third-party websites are not governed by these T&Cs. 

To the extent that such websites are published by independent third-party companies and Louis Hachette Group cannot control their content, Louis Hachette Group shall bear no liability for the content of such websites, for which their publishers alone are responsible, and shall bear no liability for the content, advertisements, products, services or any other material available on or from such third-party websites.  

Accordingly, Louis Hachette Group invites all Users to examine the rules of use applicable to those websites.  

12. Use of cookies

Users are informed that, when accessing and browsing the Website, cookies may be installed automatically via their browser. 

For more information on this, Users may refer to Louis Hachette Group’s cookies policy. 

13. Miscellaneous provisions

a) No waiver 

Tolerance of a situation by one Party does not confer any vested rights to the other Party. 

Neither can such tolerance be interpreted as a waiver of the rights in question. 

b) Independence of the Parties 

The Terms and Conditions of Use do not constitute any association, franchise or mandate granted by one party to the other Party. 

No Party may make any undertaking in the name of or on behalf of the other Party. 

In addition, each Party bears sole responsibility for its actions, allegations, undertakings, services, products and personnel. 

c) Outsourcing 

The management of the Website may be outsourced by Louis Hachette Group. 

d) Titles 

If any difficulties of construction arise from a contradiction between any title of an article of the Terms and Conditions of Use and any article itself, the titles shall be deemed not to exist. 

e) Severability 

If any stipulation of the Terms and Conditions of Use is held to be invalid or void because of the application of an act, regulation or judgment by a competent court that has become final, this shall in no event affect the validity and legal force of the other clauses of the Terms and Conditions of Use. 

f) Entire agreement 

The Terms and Conditions of Use express all of the Parties’ obligations. 

No general or specific condition contained in documents sent or submitted by the User shall be integrated into these Terms and Conditions of Use. 

g) Applicable law 

The Terms and Conditions of Use are governed exclusively by French law. 

Any dispute arising directly or indirectly from the use of the Website shall fall within the jurisdiction of the French courts.