Terms and Conditions

The last edit to the general terms and conditions was made on September 3rd 2025.

General Terms and Conditions

Article 1. Definitions

  1. BEMAS: Belgian Maintenance Association vzw, with registered office at Avenue des Arts 6-9, 1210 Brussels, and company number BE0438.509.878.
  2. Participant: the natural or legal person who registers for an activity, training or event organised by BEMAS.
  3. Member: the natural or legal person who subscribes to a membership with BEMAS and, in this context, has access to certain services and benefits.
  4. Buyer: the natural or legal person who purchases a product or digital service (such as books, e-learnings and webinar recordings) via the BEMAS webshop.
  5. Principal: the natural or legal person who contacts BEMAS for the provision of a service or customised assignment (such as in-house training or a coaching assignment), referred to as a "contract for services".
  6. Contracting Party: the general term used to include participants, members, buyers, principals, as well as any other party that enters into an agreement with BEMAS. This can include both companies and consumers.
  7. Parties: BEMAS and the Contracting Party together.

Article 2. Application of these general terms and conditions 

  1. These general terms and conditions are communicated to the Contracting Party prior to the conclusion of the agreement, so that they are binding. They are made available in one or more of the following ways:

(1) via the website, where the Contracting Party must tick the box confirming acceptance of these conditions when registering or making a purchase;

(2) via a link or as an attachment when sending a registration form, quotation, contract or order form by e-mail;

(3) by handing over a paper copy when physically submitting a registration form, quotation, contract or order form.

  1. The Contracting Party expressly declares to have read and accepted these general terms and conditions.
  2. In accordance with Article 5.23, §1 of the Belgian Civil Code, these general terms and conditions are considered conditions that have been or could have been negotiated.
  3. In the event of any contradiction between the conditions of BEMAS and those of the Contracting Party, BEMAS reserves the right to refuse to conclude the agreement. By contracting nevertheless, the Contracting Party expressly waives the application of its own conditions that would conflict with those of BEMAS.
  4. If any provision of these general terms and conditions is declared, in whole or in part, null or unenforceable, that provision (or the relevant part thereof) shall be deemed not to form part of these general terms and conditions. In no case shall this affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions. The Parties shall immediately and in good faith enter into negotiations to replace the provision declared null or unenforceable, with retroactive effect if necessary, with another valid and enforceable provision whose legal effects come closest to those of the invalid or unenforceable provision.

Article 3. Activities of BEMAS

BEMAS undertakes the following activities:

  1. Organisation of BEMAS activities, BEMAS training, BEMAS certification, BEMAS conferences and BEMAS events.

BEMAS activities include: seminars, company visits, study afternoons, learning networks, live webinars and other similar initiatives offered by BEMAS, whether or not in cooperation with third parties.

BEMAS training includes: training courses, application programmes, in-house training, training cycles and other similar initiatives offered by BEMAS, whether or not in cooperation with third parties.

BEMAS certification includes: assessments, examinations and other activities carried out by BEMAS to confirm that a person or organisation meets specific established requirements or standards.

BEMAS events include: the award ceremonies of the Technical Team of the Year and the Maintenance Forum, as well as other similar initiatives offered by BEMAS, whether or not in cooperation with third parties.

BEMAS conferences include: one-day or multi-day meetings with lectures, workshops or panel discussions organised by BEMAS to exchange knowledge, share ideas and establish contacts.

  1. Offering BEMAS membership with access to certain services and benefits.
  2. Sale of physical products (such as books) and digital products (such as e-books, webinar recordings and e-learnings).
  3. Carrying out projects, research and market studies.
  4. Provision of customised services and assignments (such as in-house training or coaching assignments).

Article 4. Registrations and commitments

  1. The Contracting Party may register for the activities described in Article 3. Registration is only final once the Contracting Party has received a confirmation message from BEMAS.
    Both companies and natural persons may register as BEMAS members using the form provided by BEMAS via e-mail or the BEMAS website. Membership becomes final once the new member has received confirmation from BEMAS and is valid for the current calendar year. Members joining during the calendar year are also subject to this arrangement, unless otherwise stated at the time of registration.
    Membership is automatically renewed annually and may be terminated for the following calendar year by written notice before 31 December. The date of the postmark on the letter or the dispatch date of the e-mail shall be the official notification date. Membership fees are invoiced annually.
  2. By registering for BEMAS training, the participant undertakes to strictly follow the safety instructions of the organiser and the venue. Before the start of the training, the mandatory personal protective equipment (PPE) is communicated. These must be used correctly throughout the training, in accordance with the trainer's instructions. Failure to comply may result in refusal of participation, without the right to a refund of the registration fee.
  3. By registering as a BEMAS member, the member accepts the articles of association and internal regulations of BEMAS asbl. BEMAS reserves the right to define a specific target audience for each of its activities and to refuse registrations from individuals or companies not within the intended target group.


Article 5. Prices

  1. All prices quoted are in euros and exclude VAT, Recupel, BEBAT and Reprobel, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
  2. Special offers are only valid while stocks last or as expressly indicated. BEMAS reserves the right to apply different rates for BEMAS members and their employees and non-members.
  3. The contracting party owes the price that BEMAS has communicated to it in its confirmation. Obvious (manipulation) errors in the quotation, such as evident inaccuracies, may be corrected by BEMAS even after the agreement has been concluded.

Article 6. Delivery

  1. Delivery and return costs are clearly communicated to the Contracting Party before the contract is finalised.
  2. Orders are delivered as quickly as possible. Unless otherwise specified, the maximum delivery period is thirty (30) days after receipt of the order, except for payments by bank transfer, for which the maximum delivery period is thirty (30) days after receipt of payment. Except for a Consumer/Buyer, the delivery time stated is only indicative and no rights may be derived from it.
  3. Deliveries take place at the address provided by the Buyer at the time of conclusion of the agreement. The shipping costs, which are borne by the Contracting Party, are clearly communicated before the order is definitively placed.
  4. For digital products, such as e-books, e-learnings and webinar recordings, no shipping costs are charged.
  5. As soon as the products to be delivered have been handed over at the specified delivery address, the risk in respect of those products passes to the Buyer.
  6. If delivery is made in parts (for example when some but not all of the ordered products are in stock), BEMAS has the right to treat each delivery as a separate transaction.
  7. BEMAS cannot be held liable for any consequential damage due to late delivery or non-delivery by the carrier appointed by the association. In such cases, its liability is limited to the value of the items proven not to have been received by the customer.
  8. If goods delivered by BEMAS are damaged during transport or do not match the order, the Contracting Party must notify this within 5 days of receipt via info@bemas.org.
  9. If a shipment is lost and not delivered, the Contracting Party must notify this within 10 days of the expected delivery date via info@bemas.org. BEMAS will seek a solution in consultation with the carrier.
  10. BEMAS's liability is limited to the value of an undelivered product and transport (where applicable). BEMAS is not liable for any consequential damages (including loss of profits, production loss, reputational damage or other indirect damages) resulting from late delivery of a product (such as a book) caused by BEMAS, the carrier or a supplier of BEMAS. BEMAS is not liable for any consequential damages (including loss of profits, production loss, reputational damage or other indirect damages) resulting from the non-delivery and cancellation of the order of a product by BEMAS, for example if the product is no longer available from BEMAS's supplier.

Article 7. Acceptance and/or refusal

  1. The Buyer is obliged to take delivery of the goods purchased within the agreed period. Failing this, BEMAS is entitled to demand payment of the purchase price of the undelivered part, or to consider the contract terminated by operation of law, without judicial intervention (subject to repayment to the Buyer of any deposits already paid for the product in question).
  2. The Contracting Party must check the conformity of the delivered physical goods (such as books) upon receipt. Complaints regarding the delivery must be reported within 5 days of receipt of the goods, by e-mail to info@bemas.org.
  3. If the Contracting Party refuses delivery of ordered physical goods (such as books) without valid reason, BEMAS reserves the right to:

(1) demand performance of the agreement in accordance with common law, or

(2) consider the agreement terminated by operation of law after prior notice of default. In this case, the Contracting Party is, by operation of law and without further notice of default, obliged to pay a lump-sum compensation equal to 15% of the sale price, with a minimum of EUR 50.00, within 8 days of notification of termination
 

Article 8. Liability

  1. BEMAS can only be held liable for damage (both material and bodily) to the extent that it is covered by its civil liability insurance.
  2. The Contracting Party waives any claim for liability, contractual or non-contractual, against any of BEMAS's auxiliaries, such as its representatives, volunteers, directors, independent service providers, agents, or employees, whether natural or legal persons. This exclusion does not apply to any liability which, under Belgian law, cannot be excluded.

Article 9. Limitation of liability for knowledge transfer

  1. BEMAS carries out its activities to promote the sharing of knowledge in maintenance and asset management. The Contracting Party acknowledges that the content of this knowledge transfer is purely informative and does not provide any guarantee of success, suitability, or applicability in a specific situation.
  2. BEMAS cannot be held liable for any consequential damages (including economic damage, production loss, reputational damage, or any other indirect damage) resulting from the application of knowledge or information acquired through its services and products. The Contracting Party is fully responsible for how it applies the knowledge acquired from BEMAS in practice.

Article 10. Limitation of liability for the website

BEMAS cannot be held liable for any direct or indirect damage that may result from the use of the information on the BEMAS website (www.bemas.org). Images and product descriptions cannot be considered binding for BEMAS.

If you notice inaccuracies in the information provided on the BEMAS website, please contact us at info@bemas.org. The content of the website may be modified or supplemented at any time without prior notice.

BEMAS does not guarantee the proper functioning of the website and cannot be held liable in any way for malfunctioning or temporary unavailability, or for any form of direct or indirect damage resulting from access to or use of the website.

The website may contain hyperlinks to other websites or pages of third parties, or refer to them indirectly. The inclusion of links to these websites or pages does not imply any implicit approval of their content. BEMAS expressly declares that it has no control over the content or characteristics of these websites and can in no case be held liable for their content, characteristics, or any other form of damage resulting from their use.

Article 11. Cancellation by BEMAS in the event of failure by the contracting party

BEMAS reserves the right to cancel any participation, membership, purchase and/or contract for services of a Contracting Party if it appears that the latter fails to fulfil its contractual or legal obligations towards BEMAS. This includes, but is not limited to, the following situations:

1. The Contracting Party has outstanding and due debts to BEMAS that have not been settled within the set payment term.

2. The Contracting Party is facing financial difficulties, including the protest of bills or cheques, a request for suspension of payment or judicial settlement, or being subject to seizure of all or part of its assets.

3. The Contracting Party is in a situation where the law provides for the immediate enforceability of all debts payable at term.

4. The member fails to comply with the obligations laid down in the statutes.

In case of cancellation on the grounds of the above provisions, the Contracting Party is not entitled to any refund of amounts already paid, unless otherwise agreed in writing with BEMAS.

Article 12. Cancellation and/or amendment by BEMAS without fault and/or due to extraordinary circumstances

  1. Apart from cases of force majeure, BEMAS has the right to cancel a planned but not yet started activity and/or training, or to postpone it to another date and/or place, without being held liable and without compensation. In that case, participants already registered have the right to unsubscribe within 2 weeks of notification and the registration fee already paid will be refunded.
  2. BEMAS also reserves the right to change the programme or speaker of the activity or training programme in the event of exceptional circumstances making the change necessary, without the Contracting Party being entitled to any compensation.
  3. BEMAS reserves the right to cancel, at any time, the orders of goods placed by the Contracting Party, in whole or in part, if the goods ordered are not available from its suppliers, without the Contracting Party being entitled to any compensation.

Article 13. Force majeure

  1. Force majeure means any circumstance beyond its control that makes the performance of its obligations to the other party wholly or partially impossible. Force majeure includes, among other things: war, fire, flooding, accidents, strikes, partial or total unemployment of the factory, any intervention by the government in the economic, financial, customs or monetary fields, illness of the speaker, unavailability of the venue, and any other case of force majeure (including decisions affecting BEMAS's activities or the operator of the event venue) that significantly hinder and/or prevent its organisation.
  2. In the event of force majeure, BEMAS is released from all responsibility.
  3. In the event of force majeure, BEMAS is not obliged to fulfil its obligations towards the Contracting Party. In the event of force majeure, BEMAS is entitled to suspend its obligations for the duration of the force majeure or to terminate the agreement definitively. BEMAS may therefore, in the event of force majeure, cancel assignments or postpone dates without any compensation or termination of the contract being claimed.

Article 14. Cancellation by the Contracting Party

The Contracting Party may cancel participation, membership, purchase and/or contract for services under the following conditions, respectively for:

  1. Participation in BEMAS activities: Written cancellation up to 5 days before the activity concerned free of charge. After this date, an administrative fee of EUR 50 (excl. VAT) will be charged. It is permitted to replace the registered participant(s).

In case of a no-show at the activity, an administrative fee of EUR 50 (excl. VAT) will be charged. Exceptions are possible after contacting BEMAS via info@bemas.org or training@bemas.org.

  1. Subscription to BEMAS membership: Written cancellation possible free of charge as long as no confirmation has been sent by BEMAS. After confirmation, the membership fee for the current calendar year will be due.
  2. Purchase: When the Buyer cancels an order, BEMAS reserves the right to either demand performance of the agreement in accordance with common law, or to consider the agreement terminated by operation of law after prior notice of default, in which case the Buyer is, by operation of law and without further notice of default, obliged to pay, within 8 days of notification of termination, a lump-sum compensation of 25% of the sale price.
  3. Participation in BEMAS training, certification and conferences: Written cancellation possible up to 30 days before the training concerned free of charge. Written cancellation up to 14 days before the training concerned subject to a lump sum of 35% of the participation fee. After this date, the full registration fee is payable. Illness, with or without a medical certificate, is not an exception to these conditions.

Article 15. Right of withdrawal for consumers

  1. For physical goods (such as books), the Contracting Party, insofar as it is a consumer, has a right of withdrawal of 14 calendar days from the day after delivery. This can be exercised by e-mail to info@bemas.org. After notification, the Contracting Party then has a further 14 days to return the product.  The refund is made within 14 days of receipt of the return. The Contracting Party is liable for any reduction in value if the product has been used more than necessary to test its functioning. The right of withdrawal applies only to consumers.
  2. For digital products (such as e-books, webinar recordings and e-learnings), no right of withdrawal applies, in accordance with Article VI.53 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law. 
    By accepting these general terms and conditions, the Contracting Party expressly acknowledges that when purchasing a digital product, delivery takes place immediately and that they lose their right of withdrawal.
  3. In the event of exercising the right of withdrawal, BEMAS will refund the items within 14 calendar days of receipt of the return. The user is liable for any reduction in value of the good resulting from handling that goes beyond what was necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods. After refunding the goods and any shipping costs, BEMAS may claim compensation for such depreciation.

Article 16. Retention of title

Unless otherwise agreed, all physical goods (such as books) sold by BEMAS remain the property of BEMAS until they have been paid for in full, including interest and costs. Until full payment has been made, the Contracting Party may not resell, process, pledge or encumber these physical goods in any way without the prior written consent of BEMAS.

Article 17. Intellectual property, copyrights and restrictions on use

  1. Applicability and protection

All products and services offered by BEMAS, including but not limited to training materials, books, e-books, e-learnings, webinar recordings, presentations, documentation, methodologies, graphic and audiovisual material, software and digital content (hereinafter: "BEMAS Material"), are protected by copyright and other applicable intellectual property rights.

  1. Prohibited acts

Unless expressly agreed otherwise in a prior written agreement with BEMAS, it is expressly prohibited for the Contracting Party and third parties to use BEMAS Material, in whole or in part, for:

i) reproducing, copying, distributing, publishing or commercially exploiting it in any form whatsoever, including but not limited to sale, rental, licensing, sublicensing, or distribution to third parties;

ii) using it for the development, training, improvement or refinement of algorithms, machine learning models, artificial intelligence (AI) or automated systems, unless BEMAS has given written consent for this;

iii) sharing or making it accessible to third parties outside the Contracting Party's own organisation, including but not limited to online platforms, shared networks, or cloud storage services, without BEMAS's express permission;

iv) modifying, editing, translating, disassembling, decompiling or reverse engineering it, unless explicitly permitted by law;

v) using it for competing training initiatives or other commercial purposes that directly or indirectly compete with the activities of BEMAS.

  1. Specific restrictions for digital products

When purchasing or accessing digital products (such as e-books, e-learnings, and webinar recordings), the Contracting Party obtains a non-transferable, non-exclusive right to use the material for personal educational use or for internal educational use within its own organisation. 

It is not permitted to copy digital products, share them with third parties or distribute them by any online or offline method without BEMAS's express written consent or unless otherwise stated in writing.

  1. Infringement and sanctions

Any infringement of these provisions shall be considered a serious contractual breach, leading to immediate termination of the agreement and may result in legal action against the infringer. 

In the event of an infringement, BEMAS reserves the right to claim a lump-sum compensation of at least EUR 5,000 per infringement, without prejudice to BEMAS's right to prove and claim higher damages. 

BEMAS also has the right, without further notice of default, to immediately withdraw access to digital material and to suspend further delivery or services if an infringement is detected.

Article 18. Terms of payment

  1. For online orders with a total amount of less than EUR 100 (excl. VAT), immediate payment via an online payment method is required. An invoice for these payments can be requested in writing via office@bemas.org. For orders from EUR 100 (excl. VAT), payment after receipt of an invoice is possible.
  2. Invoices are payable in cash at the registered office or on a bank account in the name of BEMAS, unless otherwise stated on the invoice or other express agreement. The existence of a complaint does not release the Contracting Party from its obligation to pay invoices within the agreed period.
  3. Protests against the invoice must be made in writing within 5 days of the invoice date. The Contracting Party is requested to always state the invoice number and date.
  4. In the event of non-payment of the invoice on the due date, late payment interest shall be due by operation of law and without prior notice of default from that due date, at the statutory interest rate applicable to commercial transactions, as published in the Belgian Official Gazette and in accordance with the Act of 2 August 2002 on combating late payment in commercial transactions (as amended by the laws of 22 November 2013 and 14 August 2021). For consumers, however, the statutory provisions on late payment and interest under Book VI of the Code of Economic Law apply.In addition, in the event of non-payment of the invoice on the due date, a lump-sum compensation of 10% of the invoice amount, with a minimum of EUR 100 (excl. VAT), shall be payable by operation of law and without prior notice of default. For consumers, however, penalty clauses and interest shall comply with the mandatory consumer protection rules.
  5. In the event of non-payment or if it appears that the Contracting Party fails to meet its obligations, has a protest filed against its signature, requests suspension of payment or a judicial settlement, or if seizure is made of all or part of its goods, BEMAS reserves the right to stop further deliveries, to withdraw membership of BEMAS, and/or to stop and/or refuse participation in BEMAS activities and/or the performance of services. BEMAS also reserves the right to consider the agreement terminated by operation of law and without prior notice of default for all or part of what has not yet been executed.
  6. The absence of a purchase order drawn up by the Contracting Party cannot be invoked as an argument to refuse payment of an invoice or to obtain a deferral of payment without late payment interest. The Contracting Party is itself responsible for spontaneously and immediately providing a valid purchase order if this is required internally within its organisation. If a purchase order is required for the internal processing of an order, it must be provided no later than 8 days after the online order is placed with BEMAS. Failure to provide a purchase order in time does not suspend the payment obligation and does not affect the validity and enforceability of the invoice.

Article 19. Complaints and applicable law

  1. In the event of complaints or comments, BEMAS can always be contacted via info@bemas.org or via https://www.bemas.org/nl/contact.
  2. The Contracting Party and BEMAS expressly agree to submit any contradiction, dispute or conflict to the courts with jurisdiction over the registered office of BEMAS.
  3. All contracts are governed by Belgian law. 

 

 

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