Terms of use and legal notice

Translation generated by artificial intelligence, without human review. Only the French version is authoritative.

Last updated: 2 October 2026.

1. Legal notice, preamble and definitions

These terms of use ("Terms") govern access to and use of the website oetc-rights.eu (the "Site"), published by the association Observatoire Européen pour la Transparence des Coopératives (OETC), a non-profit association governed by the French law of 1 July 1901, whose registered office is at 200 rue de la Croix Nivert, 75015 Paris, France (RNA W751280030; SIREN 990 374 878; contact: info@oetc-rights.eu, +33 1 87 65 02 50).

Publication director: the president of the OETC, legal representative of the association (Article 93-2 of French law no. 82-652 of 29 July 1982).

Hosting provider: Netlify, Inc., 101 2nd Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, United States (www.netlify.com); telephone: +1 650 963 4977 (number given in the official Data Privacy Framework list, consulted on 2 October 2026).

"User" means any person who accesses the Site. "Content" means all the information made available on the Site: articles, guides, analyses and publications.

Accessing and using the Site implies acceptance of these Terms.

2. Purpose of the Site

The purpose of the Site is to inform the public and cooperative members about their rights and to promote transparency and good governance in the cooperative sector, in accordance with the OETC's statutory purpose.

3. Access to the Site

Access to the Site is free of charge. The OETC endeavours to ensure continuous access to the Site but cannot be held liable for a temporary interruption due to maintenance or force majeure.

4. General information and membership

The Content of the Site is accessible to everyone, free of charge.

The OETC does not act as an intermediary between its members and professionals and does not forward any individual request. Membership of the association supports its general work (studies, general information guides, publications and events) and does not give access to any personalised service: no legal advice, no assessment of an individual situation, no introduction to professionals and no preferential rate. Online membership is suspended while the Site is being redesigned.

5. Intellectual property

The Content of the Site (texts, articles, reports, logos, graphics, videos) is the property of the OETC or of the respective rights holders and is protected by intellectual property law. Any reproduction, representation, modification or distribution of the Content, in whole or in part, without the prior written authorisation of the OETC is prohibited, subject to the exceptions provided for by law, in particular analyses and short quotations justified by their critical, polemical, educational, scientific or informative nature (Article L. 122-5 of the French Intellectual Property Code), with an indication of the author and the source (OETC – oetc-rights.eu). Photographs and illustrations are used under licence and may not be reused.

6. User's responsibility

The User undertakes to use the Site in compliance with applicable law and these Terms, in particular not to use it for unlawful or defamatory purposes and not to compromise its security or integrity.

7. Limitation of liability, corrections and right of reply

The Content of the Site is general information of a documentary nature. It does not constitute legal advice and is no substitute for the advice of a lawyer. Although the OETC endeavours to ensure that the Content is accurate and up to date, it cannot be held liable, to the extent permitted by law, for any errors or omissions, or for decisions taken on the basis of the Content. This clause does not limit any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the applicable law.

Any error can be reported to the address given on the Contact page; corrections are published on the page concerned.

Any person named or designated on the Site may exercise their right of reply under the conditions set out in paragraph III of Article 1-1 of French law no. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004, by writing to info@oetc-rights.eu, for the attention of the publication director.

8. Artificial intelligence

The OETC's Content is prepared with the assistance of AI and undergoes an automated AI check of legal aspects, personal-data protection and tone, which does not replace legal advice. Every publication is approved by the OETC. Translations are generated by AI, without human review; only the French version is authoritative.

An AI-based voice assistant answers the telephone number given on the Contact page: it records your message and your telephone number so that the OETC can reply; the recording is kept for a maximum of twelve months. It does not provide any advice and does not handle individual situations.

9. Professional network

The OETC professional network is being redesigned. It will be funded solely by a fixed membership fee giving access to training, documentary resources and events. The OETC does not pass on any request, file or client to members of the network, does not recommend them to anyone and receives no remuneration linked to files, clients or mandates. The OETC does not grant any title, label, approval, accreditation or certification.

The OETC professional network is neither a practice structure nor a multidisciplinary network within the meaning of the rules of the French legal profession: it does not develop any shared clientele and does not share any name, resources or fees. Its members do not use the OETC's name or logo in their professional communication.

10. Reports and individual requests

No report is collected through the Site. At this stage, the OETC does not handle individual requests for help, does not collect any information about people's situations and does not forward any request to professionals. Users are asked not to send documents or details about their personal situation.

11. Personal data

The processing of personal data is described in the Privacy policy and the Cookie policy, which form an integral part of these Terms.

12. Changes to the Terms

The OETC may change these Terms; the date of the version in force is shown at the top of this page. Changes apply to use of the Site after their publication.

13. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by French law. Any dispute relating to their interpretation or performance falls within the jurisdiction of the courts of Paris, subject to the mandatory rules applicable, in particular to consumers and non-professionals.