• General terms

OSM – the Medical Students’ Organisation of Cluj – is a nonprofit organization, founded within the “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 1990. HEART is an international annual conference organized within the OSM. It is an innovative and dynamic event with world-renowned speakers which aims to provide novel and inspiring ideas for the medical and biomedical students’ community as well as for students with interests related to the healthcare field, and also for young doctors or PhD students.

For the purpose of these Terms & Conditions “we”, “our”, “the organizers” refers to the HEART 2022 organizers and “you”, “the participant”, “they” refers to a participant at HEART 2022.

It is the participant’s responsibility to verify the accuracy of the provided data. The data entered by the participant during the registration procedure will be used to generate their Certificate of Participation, their personal conference badge and any other printed or electronic materials needed for the purpose of the conference as well as for contacting the participant.

The official language of the HEART conference is ENGLISH. All the events will be held in English, if not specifically stated otherwise. The communication with the participants will be made in English, if not specifically stated otherwise. By accepting these Terms & Conditions and by participating at this conference the participant fully assumes that they have a good understanding and command of English. HEART organizers are not liable for any problems, misunderstandings, losses or damages that may appear due to participant’s poor English language skills.

Entrance to all the conference’s venues and events (scientific and social) can be made only with the official badge containing the participant’s name. If the participant fails to present a valid official conference badge (regardless of the reason) they will be denied access to the respective venue and/or event (scientific or social). No refund will be given. In case of lost or stolen official conference badge, the participant has to immediately contact a member of the HEART staff or send an email to contact@heartcluj.com . A new official conference badge will be issued one more time only.

HEART is a non-smoking conference. It is therefore strictly forbidden to smoke on the event’s premises with the exception of the clearly marked special smoking areas. Smoking on the event’s premises (with the exception of the clearly marked special smoking areas) will result in a ban from any HEART 2022 events. No refund will be given in this situation. It is strictly forbidden to drink alcohol during scientific events and on the conference’s premises, except for the opening ceremony and other social events. Any breach of this rule will result in immediate eviction from HEART 2022 premises, a permanent ban from any HEART 2022 events and of any booking that the participant has made. No refund will be given in this situation. Any verbal or physical abuse, antisocial behavior or unlawful conduct towards a member of the HEART staff, a trainer, a speaker, other participants, partners’ staff or sponsors will result in an immediate eviction from HEART 2022 premises, a permanent ban from any HEART 2022 events and of any booking that the participant previously made. No refunds can be claimed in the above situations. HEART 2022 organizers can and will collaborate with the relevant authorities if such situations arise.

The Terms & Conditions may suffer partial alterations at any time. Any alteration made to the Terms & Conditions will be announced by email to each registered participant. If the participant does not agree with the changes made to the Terms & Conditions, they can send a formal request in no more than 48 hours (from the time they received the email about the changes that were made) at contact@heartcluj.com in which they can demand the termination of his/ her registration at the conference. In this case, the participant will be entitled to a refund of any previously paid fees provided that the participant respects the Refund policy (see also the Refund policy). 

The organizer is not liable for claims arising from physical injuries, intoxication, disease or deaths caused by a third party action (including but not restricted to serving of food and/or beverages, special activities, workshops, presentations, etc). This shall not affect further claims against third parties.

• Registration

The participant is entitled to access the conference premises and to participate in all scientific and social events for the entire duration of the conference, as long as the access regulations are respected (see Events). The participant will receive an electronic Certificate of Participation.

• Deadlines

Participants are required to respect the deadlines shown on the official website or official social media platforms. Any changes to the deadlines will be announced on our website and on our official social media pages. HEART 2022 organizers are entitled, at their discretion and without prior notice, to modify any deadlines. Any change of the HEART 2022 deadlines is not considered a change of the Terms & Conditions.

• Events

The conference includes two types of events: Scientific Events and Social Events.

1. Scientific Events

HEART 2022 includes the following types of scientific events:

1. Conferences
2. Workshops

• Conferences – participants are entitled to participate without paying any additional fee (apart from the participation fee) or previous seat reservations;

• Workshops – participants can participate without paying any additional fees (apart from the participation fee) to one or two workshops according to the organizing team’s logistic possibilities. Participating in a workshop is possible only after booking a place and after receiving the acceptance email. We will not grant access to workshops to any participants that have not previously booked that given event.

The workshops are not restricted to years of study, but each one is addressed to specific years of study. We strongly suggest the participants to keep our recommendations in mind. We are not liable for the participant not understanding parts of the workshops if they decide to book a workshop outside the recommended year of study.

It is the participant’s responsibility to check for the starting hours and the location of the workshop and to make sure they can be present at the time and place indicated by the organizers with at least 15 minutes before the scheduled starting time of the workshop. Access to workshops is strictly prohibited after the workshop has started. HEART 2022 organizers are not liable and no refund will be given for the participants not being able to attend a workshop due to participants’ own scheduling mistakes.

If certain workshop requirements that refer to but are not restricted to wearing a medical robe, scrubs, slippers or others as such are not respected, we reserve the right to not allow the participant to attend the workshop.

The participant is free to book any Workshop, as long as there are available places (the number of available places at any given Workshop is limited). The places will be offered in the order of booking of the conference ticket (according to the timestamp).

HEART 2022 organizers may change at short notice (less than 48 hours before the start of the event) the starting hour and/or place of any of the workshops due to reasons which are outside of the sphere of responsibility of HEART or OSM. In this case, the participant, who has booked, has been admitted to one or two workshops and can no longer attend one of the workshops due to events overlapping will be contacted by our team and he/ she can go to another suitable workshop (provided that there are available places).

The official language of the conference is ENGLISH. There will be no scientific events held in another language if not specifically stated otherwise. Although HEART carefully selects English speaking lecturers and / or trainers, we are not accountable for any problems, misunderstandings, losses or damages that may occur due to the lecturers’ and /or trainers’ poor use of English. HEART will NOT issue any refund in this situation. (see also the Refund policy).

1. Social event

HEART 2022 includes a cocktail party, where access will be permitted to participants based on the conference badge (either printed or electronic), provided they have paid the fee for the cocktail party entrance, as stated in the Participation Fees section and shared on the conference website. 

• Certificate of participation 

Participants will receive the Certificates of Participation in no more than six weeks after the conference’s end, provided they complete the official conference feedback form. Electronic Certificates of Participation bear the same legal validity as the printed versions. 

The official conference feedback form must be completed in NO MORE THAN ONE MONTH after the closing of HEART 2022. No claims for a Certificate of Participation can be made by a participant after the aforementioned deadline. No refund of any previously paid fee will be given in this situation.

6. Participation fees

Participation fees include:

1. Early bird fee for participants – this is the participation fee paid by a participant before the 50 early bird tickets are sold out, without the cocktail party entrance included. The Early Bird Fee is non-refundable. Refund policy terms apply (see also the Refund policy).
2. Early bird fee for participants, with the cocktail party entrance included – this is the participation fee paid by a participant before the 50 early bird tickets are sold out, with the cocktail party included. The Early Bird Fee is non-refundable. Refund policy terms apply (see also the Refund policy).
3. Regular fee for participants – this is the participation fee paid by a participant before the regular fee deadline, without the cocktail party entrance.
4. Regular fee for participants, with the cocktail party entrance – this is the participation fee paid by a participant before the regular fee deadline.

The exact fees will be found on the official website of the conference. The fees paid after the deadline or incomplete payments will not be taken into account, will not be refunded and will not grant entrance to the conference. No workshop can be booked prior to paying the participation fee.

The fees include: Entrance to all scientific events during the official period of the conference. Events section listed in Terms & Conditions above, coffee breaks, official welcome kit with official conference materials and an electronic certificate of participation.

The fees do not include: participation to the cocktail party, transportation, any visa application related costs and accommodation.

Confirmation of all payments will happen for all online payments made through the EuPlătesc.ro platform, via e-mail, by the provider. HEART 2022 organizers do not take any responsibility in case the confirmation of any payment is delayed due to reasons which are outside of the sphere of responsibility of the HEART team (e.g. bank holidays, national holidays, downtime of the banks or internet provider, downtime of the online payment provider, strikes, etc).

HEART 2022 organizers are entitled, at their discretion and without prior notice, to change or modify any participation or special fee and/or any fee deadline. These changes do not affect the participants who already paid and received their payment confirmation. Any changes to the fees and/or fees deadlines will be announced on the official website and on the official social pages of the conference and are not considered an alteration to the present Terms & Conditions.

HEART 2022 organizers have in mind, as their main priority, the safety of all the transactions. Therefore, any fraud, suspicion of fraud by, but not limited to, stolen bank credentials, stolen credit or debit cards, stolen identity, fake bank accounts or any other unlawful attempt will result in the inactivation of the responsible accounts without any further explanation, the cancellation of any previously booked workshop and the permanent ban of the respective individuals from any conference organized by the HEART team. No refund will be given. In this case, the Romanian authorities will be noticed by the organizers and we will be forced to disclose at their request (according to the Romanian law) any personal data they may need to solve the legal case.

All the online payments made with a debit/credit card are processed outside of our website, through the online payment solutions offered by the authorized online payment provider – EuroPayment Services S.R.L. NO bank card data (card type, card number, expiration date, CVV2, etc.) will be processed by or enter the HEART 2022 database. Once on the online payment provider – EuroPayment Services S.R.L. – platform, the participant is under the provider’s own Terms & Conditions and privacy policy which may be different from ours. HEART 2022 organizers are not liable for any losses (personal data, credit/debit card data, money, etc) caused by the online payment provider’s fault. No fees or other penalties can be claimed in this situation from us. This shall not affect further claims against persons and/or companies charged with the online payment procedure. For security purposes:

1. EuroPayment Services S.R.L. guarantees the security of IT systems. Bank card data (card type, card number, expiration date, CVV2, etc.) will not be transferred or stored on the HEART servers or on EuroPayment Services S.R.L. servers.
2. In the case of 3D Secure Payment for Visa or MasterCard cards, the data related to the participant’s card is entered directly into Visa or MasterCard systems, and if the card has been issued by a bank certified in the 3D Secure system, authorization of the transaction is done only after the participant’s authentication in this system – the introduction of a secret code/password known only to him/her, similar to the PIN code for ATM transactions.

7. Refund policy

General refund terms:

No refunds will be given for Earliest and Early Bird fees.

Conference registration may be canceled with a full refund of the Regular ticket fee provided an official request is made any time up until six (6) weeks prior to the conference start date, at contact@heartcluj.com . 

A 50% refund of the Regular ticket fee is available for conference registration provided an official request is made between six (6) weeks and three (3) weeks prior to the conference start date.

No refunds will be granted within three (3) weeks of the conference start date. 

All fees for special events such as the cocktail party are non-refundable.

If the participant chooses to ask for a refund of the fee they will lose the participant status and will no longer be able to participate at HEART 2022 (furthermore you will not receive the welcome kit, promotional materials or certificate of participation).

We will not take into consideration any refund requests made during the conference days and/or after the specified refund deadlines above except for cancellations due to HEART 2022 organizers’ fault.

*In the event of being restricted to organise the event due to fortuitous events, in the case of being given specific regulations submitted by the authorities, we will assure the tickets refund for all participants, within the limits of possibilities.

NO REFUNDS will be made:

• to participants that paid the earliest and early bird fee;
• to participants that committed breaches of these Terms & Conditions (relating to, but not limited to fraud or suspicion of fraud, malicious use of the website, actions that may cause any damage to HEART organizers, to OSM, to Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, to other participants at HEART, the conference  partners or sponsors, to third parties involved in HEART, etc);
• to participants that were banned at HEART due to antisocial behavior, violent behavior towards the HEART staff, trainers, speakers or other participants at the conference or any other serious breach of any provision of these Terms & Conditions during or before the conference;
• to participants that are denied access to HEART events and/ or venues due to the failure of presenting a valid official conference badge (either printed or electronic) and/or valid id card- National ID card or Passport- (irrespective of the reason);
• for failure of proper scheduling of the workshop/workshops due to participants’ own fault (including, but not restricted to the impossibility of being in time for a workshop, not finding the workshop’s location, etc.);
• for any changes that occur in the conference program or in the opening and closing ceremonies program and/or content;
• for any cancellations or changes of schedule, speaker or venues at conferences, keynote lectures, and presentations;
• for any changes occurring in the description or content of the conferences, keynote lectures, workshops, and presentations;
• for any discrepancies between the description on the official website or social media pages of any event at HEART 2022 and what actually happens or is presented at the real event;
• for any problems, misunderstandings, losses or damages that may occur due to the lecturers’, trainers’, HEART 2022 staff or third parties’ staff poor use of English;
• for any changes of the HEART 2022 venues;
• to participants that do not receive the electronic Certificate of Participation due to the failure of completing the official conference feedback form in one month time from the closing of the HEART 2022;
• for any incomplete fees;
• for fees paid after the closing of the registration period;
• for scientific or special social events canceled due to unforeseen or exceptional situations;
• for prizes won in a contest or promotion organized by HEART even if that prize refers to, but it is not restricted to free tickets at HEART 2022, free extra workshops, reductions of the participating fees or similar;
• for any claims and costs arising from delayed confirmation of payment which is outside of the sphere of responsibility of OSM (eg. bank holidays, national holidays, downtime of the banks, downtime of the online payment provider, strikes, delays caused by the website provider, etc);
• for any damages that may occur to the participants by third parties fault (referring to, but not limited to online payment providers, email providers, catering services, bank services, official partners, official sponsors, etc);
• for any material or moral damages that may occur to the participants due to the speakers’ and/or trainers’ behavior, speeches or actions;

8. Contests and promotions

HEART 2022 organizers are entitled to run contests (scientific or of other nature) or promotions before, during and after HEART 2022.

Excluded from participation is the staff of HEART 2022 as well as any participants/ suppliers in respect of the particular competition (including advertising agencies, advertisers, sponsors or producers).

The participant must provide accurate, current and complete information when participating in a contest. HEART 2022 organizers may request the winner, before presenting the prize, to provide proof of their identity information. The decision of HEART 2022 organizers is final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding results and the awarding of the prize. The prize is personal and is registered in the name of the winner.

The prize is not transferable, exchangeable or payable in cash or other products or services. In case of refusal or non-acceptance of the prize or conditions that are inherent to the competition, the prize will not be awarded. In that case, HEART 2022 organizers are entitled to choose another winner. No refunds can be given for prizes won in a contest or promotion organized by HEART even if that prize refers to, but it is not restricted to free places at HEART 2022, free extra workshops, reductions of the participating fees or similar.

If the prize includes travel/accommodation abroad for which a passport or ID card is required, the participant must be in possession of a valid passport or a valid ID card to receive the prize. The prize is not awarded when failing this condition.

Special Terms and Conditions may apply for particular contests and/or promotions held by HEART 2022 organizers. These do not affect the validity of these Terms & Conditions. Any modification to the Terms & Conditions of specific contests or promotions are not considered an alteration to the HEART 2022 Terms & Conditions.

9. Privacy Policy

The protection of your privacy as a participant at HEART 2022 has maximum priority, in particular pertaining to your personal data. Please read carefully and agree to our Privacy Policy.

Use of photos, image rights – The participants are herewith informed that photos, videos and audio recording of the attendees are being created at the event. This material will be published on the internet, official social media pages, professional journals and/or other publications during and after the conference. By participating at this conference and accepting these Terms & Conditions you agree with the publishing of the photos, videos and audio recordings made during the conference. If you don’t wish to appear in any photos, videos or audio recordings made during the conference you have to send a special request to contact@heartcluj.com at least 20 days before the conference starts. Any request after the aforementioned deadline will not be taken into consideration and no compensation will be offered for the use of the recorded material.

10. Event cancelation

In case the event cannot be organized or is subject to change due to reasons which are outside of the sphere of responsibility of OSM (e.g. natural catastrophe, strikes, economical crisis, state of emergency, war, nuclear, chemical or biological war or force majeure, etc.), no claim for refund of the (proportionate) registration fees or for compensation of any (material) losses can be made.

*In the event of being restricted to organise the event due to fortuitous events, in the case of being given specific regulations submitted by the authorities, we will assure the tickets refund for all participants, within the limits of possibilities.

The conference organizer does not take any responsibility for the cancellation or change of scientific events due to speakers’ or partner institutions’ faults and no fees or other penalties can be claimed.

We reserve the right to cancel at short notice any scientific or social event if any reasons which are outside of the sphere of responsibility of OSM occur. No fees or other penalties can be claimed in this situation.

Any change or cancellation of any of the conference’s events will be announced on the HEART 2022 official social media pages and on the official website.

11. Website use

The official website of HEART 2022 is www.heartcluj.com. The owner of the official website is OSM (Medical Students’ Organisation). 

1. a) Content

All text, graphics, user interfaces, visual interfaces, photographs, logos, sounds, music, artwork and computer code (collectively, “content”), including but not limited to the design, structure, selection, coordination, expression, “look and feel” and arrangement of such content, contained on the site is owned, controlled or licensed by or to the OSM, and is protected by copyright and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws.

Except as expressly provided in these Terms & Conditions, no part of the site and no content may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted or distributed in any way (including “mirroring”) to any other computer, server, Web site or other medium for publication or distribution or for any commercial enterprise, without OSM’ express prior written consent.

1. b) Accounts & Security

We will use the participants’ personal data only as necessary for the purposes of our conference. (see also our Privacy policy)

Additionally, by using the site, the participants acknowledge and agree that Internet transmissions are never completely private or secure. They understand that any message or information they send to the site may be read or intercepted by others, even if there is a special notice that a particular transmission (for example, credit card information) is encrypted.

1. c) Limits of use

Any participant and/or visitor of the website is forbidden to use any “deep-link”, “page-scrape”, “robot”, “spider” or other automatic devices, program, algorithm or methodology, or any similar or equivalent manual process, to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of the site or any content, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the site or any content, to obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not purposely made available through the site. HEART organizers reserve the right to ban any such activity.

A participant/visitor of our website may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion or feature of the site, or any other systems or networks connected to the site or to any HEART server provider, or to any of the services offered on or through the site, by hacking, password “mining” or any other illegitimate means.

A participant/visitor of our website is not allowed to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the site or any network connected to the site, nor breach the security or authentication measures on the site or any network connected to the site. A participant/visitor of our website may not reverse look-up, trace or seek to trace any information on any other user or visitor to the site, or any other participant at HEART 2022, including any HEART account not owned by the participant, to its source, or exploit the site or any service or information made available or offered by or through the site, in any way where the purpose is to reveal any information, including but not limited to personal identification or information, other than your own information, as provided for by the site.

The participants agree that they will not take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the infrastructure of the site or networks connected to the site.

The participants/visitors of our website agree not to use any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the site or any transaction being conducted on the site, or with any other person’s use of the site.

A participant/visitor of our website may not forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any message or transmittal they sends to HEART organizers on or through the site or any service offered on or through the site. A participant/visitor of our website may not pretend that they is, or that they represents, someone else, or impersonate any other individual or entity.

A participant/visitor of our website may not use the site or any content for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms & Conditions or to solicit the performance of any illegal activity or other activity which infringes the rights of OSM or others.

1. d) External links

This Site may contain links to other independent third-party Web sites (“Linked Sites”). These Linked Sites are provided solely as a convenience to our visitors. Such Linked Sites are not under OSM’s control, and OSM is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of such Linked Sites, including any information or materials contained on such Linked Sites. The participant will need to make their own independent judgment regarding the interaction with these Linked Sites.

1. e) Disclaimers

HEART DOES NOT promise that the site or any of its content or feature will be error-free. We are not liable for any discrepancies between events (conferences, keynote lectures, workshops, presentations, social events, tours, etc) or any other contest or activity’s description and reality. No refunds can be claimed for such differences. HEART DOES NOT promise that any defects will be corrected or that the participant’s use of the site will provide specific results. The site is delivered on an “as-is” and “as-available” basis. All information on the site is subject to change without prior notice (any other rule regarding this issue from the Terms & Conditions applies). 

The participant assumes full responsibility for the use of this site or any of the linked sites. If the participant is dissatisfied with the use of this website they can stop using it. This disclaimer applies to any damages, liability or injuries caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer/ handheld device virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction of or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use, whether for breach of contract, negligence or any other cause of action. HEART organizers are entitled to modify, suspend or terminate operation of or access to the entire site or to any portion of it at any time, without prior notice, at any time.

12. Additional policies related to COVID-19

Foreword

The current COVID-19 Pandemic is an ever-changing situation, thus all public events are subject to sudden or unforeseen changes of legal policy. Thereby, We (the HEART organizers) exonerate ourselves of any responsibility or liability shall the legal landscape in Romania come to disallow the kind of events we organize, disallow any of our partners or sponsors from supporting our events, or otherwise make it difficult for us to give you the best HEART experience you’ve grown to enjoy.

Refund due to COVID-19 context

We are currently selling tickets for both in-person (onsite) attending, and for online attending. If future changes to the legal policy shall make it difficult or impossible for us to organize HEART in-person, we will announce in due time that we will hold the conference online. In this case, people who have bought an in-person ticket will be entitled only for a refund of the difference in price between the ticket they bought and the most expensive online ticket being sold at the time of the policy change.

The attendee assumes any responsibility if they become ill before or during the conference thus rendering them unable to join public events (such as those held by us). We will not refund in-person tickets for attentings infected with COVID-19 before the conference, but they will be able to also join our events through online methods.

We will not refund in-person tickets if, due to changes in policy or international affairs, the attendees, coming from other countries, are unable to find ways of transportation to our location.

Personal protection equipment

Attendees are required to wear medical-grade face masks, covering, at all times, both the nose and the mouth, correctly. They will supply their own masks, as we do not offer such PPE on premises. They have to have enough masks in order to be able to change them when they become wet or otherwise inefficient at filtering the air.

Symptoms in people that are at the conference

If required by law, HEART volunteers will measure skin temperature of the attendees when they enter the premises. Any attendee having over 37,3 °C at 2 out of 3 measurements will be denied entrance to our venues. HEART volunteers might also oversee visible symptoms of the attendees and might request attendees that repeatedly show specific symptoms (sneezing, coughing, running nose, redness, heavy breathing and so on) to leave premises.

We can and will collaborate with specific local and national authorities (such as, but not limited to, Public Health Department) to ensure a safe, COVID-19-free space.

European Digital COVID-19 Greenpass

If required by law, before giving the badge, our volunteers will have to check, and attendings will be required to offer, proof of vaccination/testing/recovery status. The proof consists of valid ID from the government (for Romanians, carte de identitate/buletin and for foreigners learning in Romania, permis de ședere) and the European Digital COVID-19 Greenpass. The validity of the certificate will be proven by scanning the QR code on the certificate with the official Check DCC application, released by Romanian Special Telecommunication Service, available on Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ro.sts.dcc

For attendees from Great Britain, instead of the European Digital COVID-19 Greenpass, they can present their specific certificate issued by the NHS.

For attendees outside the European Union, and not having a residence permit (thus no European Digital COVID-19 Greenpass), they should contact us for more info.

 

Before buying an in-person/onsite ticket, attendees are required to carefully read this policy and confirm they agree to the requirements. Failure to do so might result in being unable to join the in-person activities and being unable to request a refund.