Royal Start (Breeders)

Terms of Use - NZL

Royal Canin Australia Pty Ltd (Company No. 233 18 68), having its office at 14/666 Great South Road,
Ellerslie, Auckland 1051 ( Royal Canin ) provides a digital platform called “Royal Start” designed for breeders and accessible from the internet on a dedicated website (hereinafter referred to as the Platform ).

The Platform is designed to support Breeders in their daily practice through innovative services focusing on:

• Animal management (including weight management and health / reproduction monitoring)
• Task management (either administrative, medical or related to the daily breeding activities)
• Communication with the pet owner (sharing of information and documents relating to the pet, declaration of sale, etc.)

The Platform is a support and assistance tool for breeders but in no way should be a substitute to the breeders’ individual and independent professional expertise, and to the examination, diagnosis and treatment of the animals by a vet when needed.

BY CREATING AN ACCOUNT AND USING THE PLATFORM, YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS:


DEFINITIONS:

Terms starting with a capital letter shall have the meaning indicated below. Unless otherwise stated, words in the singular include the plural and words in the plural include the singular.

Animal(s) means cat(s) and/or dogs from the Breeding Farm, consisting of breeding animals, litter, or young single animals born in the Breeding Farm.

Account Admin means a Breeder in a Breeding Farm who is responsible for managing and granting access to the Breeder Account to other team members of the Breeding Farm.

Breeder means a natural person or a Breeding Farm, having a cats and/or dogs breeding activity, and having executed a partnership agreement (the “Breed Agreement”) currently running with Royal Canin.

Data Privacy Legislation means all laws and regulations, in any country of the world, which protect the privacy rights of individuals, in so far as those laws and regulations apply to the processing of personal data in connection with these Terms of Use, including without limitation the Privacy Act 2020 (NZ) and data protection legislation enacted by the European Union (EU) and member states of the EU, (including the EU Regulation 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) US federal and state laws relating to data privacy, and similar measures.

Data Security Breach means (1) any unauthorized access to or acquisition of data that compromises the security, confidentiality or integrity of personal data, or (2) any unauthorized disclosure of, access to or use of any personal data, or (3) any unauthorized intrusion into systems containing personal data resulting in unauthorized access or access in excess of authorization. This definition shall apply without regard to whether the Data Security Breach takes place in Royal Canin systems or the User’s.

Breeder Account means the Breeder’s private account allowing the User to access the Platform and use the Services after acceptance of these Terms of Use.

Breeding Farm means a legal entity registered with the Platform where one or more Breeders and employees exercise their cats and/or dogs breeding activity.

Personal Data shall mean any information which relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with an identified or identifiable living individual or household which is processed by the User in the course of providing services on our behalf under these Terms of Use.

Pet Owner means a natural person client of the Breeder who has, depending on the context, purchased or firmly booked an Animal, from the Breeder.

Services: means the specific applications designed to support Breeders’ breeding activity which are available on the Platform and subject to these Terms of Use, such as described in Article 3 below.

Terms of Use means these general conditions applicable to registration on Platform and use of all Services provided thereof.

User means a Breeder entitled to use the Platform either through a direct agreement with Royal Canin, or pursuant to the access granted by the Account Admin and under its strict liability.

User Content means all trademark, copyright, logo, trade name, company name, documents, data and information uploaded by the User in the Platform, including any photos or written materials and notably commentaries, filled in by the User.


Article 1: Acceptance of the Terms

Registration and navigation on the Platform, as well as use of the Services, are subject to the full acceptance of these Terms of Use by the User.

These Terms of Use form a contract between Royal Canin and the User.

If the User refuses to be contractually bound by the Terms of Use, the User may not use the Services.

The Terms of Use are available at any time on the Platform.

Article 2 : Registration on the Platform - Independence

2.1 Conditions for User’s registration

Users entitled to register on the Platform must be Breeders having executed an ongoing Breed Agreement with Royal Canin.
Neither the Platform nor its content are publicly accessible. Upon connecting to the Platform for the first time, User will be asked to create a Breeder Account or log in to a preexisting account with Royal Canin (if any). For the creation of a new Breeder Account, the User shall give true, correct and complete information about his/her identity, and fill in his/her Breeder ID such as provided by Royal Canin as part of the Breed Agreement. The login shall be an e-mail address of the Breeder ‘s choice and the User will need to create a new password. The information related to the Breeder Account is accessible via the tab “Account”. The User can update such information at any time and shall do so when it is necessary for the use of the Services. In particular, the User can complete the information about his/her activity in order to benefit from an adjustment of the Services according to the specific features of his/her activity (for example, modify the species and breed settings).
The User (a) guarantees the truthfulness, accuracy and completeness of the information provided to Royal Canin and will be solely responsible for any error, omission and update; (b) undertakes to promptly update the data and information provided when necessary; and (c) must, if no longer able to practice his or her breeding activity under the conditions of the Breed Agreement, (i) notify Royal Canin by e-mail and (ii) immediately stop using the Platform.

Any natural person registering on behalf of a Breeding Farm to which he or she is attached warrants that he or she has the authorizations for this purpose. Failing this, the natural person is liable to prosecution both by the legal entity concerned and by Royal Canin.

2.2 Access to the Platform

As soon as the User accepts the Terms of Use, the User (a) may access the Platform via the Breeder Account, using a login and password, which are personal and remain in the User’s custody; (b) must take all necessary precautions to ensure the confidentiality, security and correct use of the User’s login and password, in order to prevent them from being disclosed to or used by unauthorized third parties; and (c) is solely responsible for the use by any other person of the User’s login in and password as well as for any operations carried out via the Breeder Account. Any connection to the Breeder Account and/or transmission of data made using the Breeder Account will be deemed to have been made by the holder of said account and under the User’s sole responsibility. In the event of fraudulent use of the User’s password and/or log in, the User undertakes to inform Royal Canin in writing as soon as possible.

If the holder of the account is a legal person, an Account Admin is designated, with the ability to grant access to the Breeder Account to Users among the Breeding Farm. It is acknowledged that only natural person having a breeding activity can be granted an access to the Platform. By way of exception, other team members of the Breeding Farm may access to the Platform, exclusively on behalf and under the strict supervision and liability of the Breeder.

The holder of the Breeder Account is fully responsible for any use of the Breeder Account and warrants and represents that the User undertakes to make proper use of the Platform and to comply with these Terms of Use.

At any time and upon request to Royal Canin, the User can delete his/her Breeder Account, this resulting in the automatic deactivation of his/her access to the Platform.

2.3 Independence of the Breeder

Royal Canin undertakes to allow the Users to respect any applicable professional rules and standards governing the breeding activity.

Article 3 : Services Offered by the Platform

3.1 Access and use of the Services

The User remains free at all times to use or not use all or part of the Services under the User’s sole responsibility and liability and in accordance with the applicable rules and standards that govern the User’s breeding activity.

As the Platform is an evolving tool, the User acknowledges that access to and use of the Services may be temporarily interrupted for technical reasons, notably due to updates or maintenance. Royal Canin shall not be liable for any interruption of the Services.

3.2 Description of the Services

The Platform is intended to (i) help the User to manage the information about Animals of his/her Breeding Farm; (ii) create and manage tasks relating to Animals and Breeding Farm activities and (iii) communicate with Pet Owners.

3.2.1 Management of information about Animals of the Breeding Farm

The User can use the Platform to register either a newborn Animal, a breeding Animal or litters in the Breeding Farm.
In this regard, the following functionalities are open to the User:

a) Animal‘s Profile
The User can connect to the Platform in order to create a profile for each Animal of the Breeding Farm (the “Profile”). User can create a breeding Animal, litter and young, single Animal as part of a litter, being noted that a breeding female must be added before creating newborn Animals. Users must then fill in standard information about the Animal such as, without limitation, the name of the Animal, its birth date, its birth time, its status (available, sold, booked; etc.).

The process for creating, modifying or deleting the Profile of an Animal, is further described in the Support section of the Platform https://breeder.royalcanin.com/support-page/details/animals. It is acknowledged that the Profile of a breeding female cannot be deleted if she is the mother of one of the puppies or kittens of the Breeding Farm.

The Profile will be made available to the User through the “Profile” tab and will recap all the information provided by the User about the Animal.

b) Documents and photos
The User can import different contents on the Platform via two features:
- “Documents” can be used to add various type of documents (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, as well as photos, videos and music, as long as the files are not over 20 MB);

- “Lifestory” can only be used to add and manage photos. The User can create and complete the life story of each Animal registered on the Platform. This consists in uploading pictures of the Animal and commenting on such pictures.
The process for adding photos or documents to an Animal’s Profile is further described in the Support section of the Platform : https://breeder.royalcanin.com/support-page/details/documents.

c) Health tracking
The User can provide health information about each Animal registered in the Platform (the “Health Information”), consisting notably in (i) weight tracking, (ii) risk status, (iii) free comments (“note book”), and for breeding Animals only, (iv) reproductive cycles management.

On the basis of the Health Information provided, the weight curve of the Animal and information/advice on the Health Condition of the Animal will be made available to the User by Royal Canin.
In particular, in the case of dogs only, each puppy will be automatically identified by the Platform as being “at risk” or not on the basis of the Health Information provided by the User. At-risk status only applies in two cases : (i) User entered a birth weight which is too low , according to the criteria set up by Royal Canin and detailed in the following section: https://breeder.royalcanin.com/support-page/details/weight – the puppy will be identified as at risk for a 48-hour period; (ii) User entered a 48-hour weight that is more than 4% below the birth weight – the puppy will be identified as “at risk” for a period of 56 days.

The User can also manually activate or deactivate the at-risk status of each Animal, irrespective of the information/advice on the Health Condition available on the Platform.
It is specified that the information/advice on the Animal’s Health Condition are only for indicative purpose and remain accurate for a limited period of time which will be indicated on the Platform. In any event, the User acknowledges that the Platform shall never replace a vet’s examination and diagnosis when needed.

The User expressly authorizes Royal Canin to make use of the Health Information, notably for any scientific, research or educational purposes.
The processes to carry out health monitoring, weight tracking and reproductive cycle management is further detailed in the “Support” section of the Platform: https://breeder.royalcanin.com/support-page.

d) Sale declaration
The User may declare the sale of an Animal on the Platform, in order to be awarded loyalty points as part of Royal Canin’s Loyalty Program, within the conditions provided in Article 7 below.

On this occasion, the User is notably invited to enter data about the Pet Owner, in order to share information with him/her, within the conditions of Articles 3.2.3 and 10.1 below.

e) Public website
The User may activate its breeding public website and share the link to its breeding public website with Pet Owners and other users and/or third parties. The breeding public website provides information about the Breeder including contact information and other information about Animals and available litters..
The Breeder acknowledges that in choosing to share the link and make its web page public, the Breeder will also be sharing and making public any of the Breeder’s personal information contained on the web page.

3.2.2 Task Management
The User can create tasks manually or programming tasks with the “Plan” feature. These tasks can be administrative, medical or related to the daily breeding activities.
The processes for creating tasks, assigning a plan to an Animal and exporting the tasks is further described in the Support section of the Platform : https://breeder.royalcanin.com/support-page/details/tasks.

3.2.3 Communication with the Pet Owner
The User can send an e-mail to new Pet Owners through the Platform, in order to provide advice on how to welcome their pet, and to invite them to register on a dedicated Royal Canin platform for Pet Owners called Healthy Pets Club designed to provide pet advice, information and offers including (without limitation) allowing Pet Owners to register for a free bag of Royal Canin Pet Food to be shipped directly to their address.

To send this e-mail, the User must fill in the email address of the Pet Owner at the time of declaring the sale of an Animal on the Platform.

The processes for sending e-mails to Pet Owners is further described in the Support section of the Platform https://breeder.royalcanin.com/support-page/details/sellpet

The User shall obtain consent from the Pet Owner to collect and share their Personal Data on the Platform.

3.3 Modifications of the Services
The Services available on the Platform may be modified or discontinued at any time. Royal Canin may, in its sole discretion, modify the Services, remove or replace certain Services or provide new Services. When a Service will be removed or replaced, Royal Canin will make efforts to provide reasonable notice to Users of any removal/replacement of all or part of the Services in order to allow Users to take the necessary measures to download their individual information on the Platform.

Royal Canin will not be liable for any modification or removal of all or part of the Services.

Article 4 : Proper Use of the Services

The User shall use the Services only for a professional purpose, in strict compliance with the applicable rules and standards that govern the Breeders’ activity, and in accordance with the description of the Services.

The User undertakes to use the Services under normal and reasonable conditions and to provide accurate, complete and up-to-date User Content in the Platform.

If the User considers that the recommendations and/or data automatically provided by the Platform regarding Animal management and/or Health Conditions should be modified (where such modification is possible) the User shall make adjustment under the User’s sole responsibility. It is acknowledged that the recommendations provided by the Platform cannot under any circumstances replace a medical examination; it is therefore the exclusive responsibility of the User to have the Animals examined as often as necessary by a vet.

For the data that the User is entitled to share via the Platform, the sharing of such information or data is done by the User in complete independence and under its sole responsibility and liability.

Moreover, the User undertakes not to engage in acts or behaviors of any nature (in particular, without limitation, downloading, sending, diffusion, edition, emission, publication) which are contrary to New Zealand law, any third party’s rights (including intellectual property rights), the professional rules governing the breeding activity or the image or branding rights of Royal Canin.

In using the Platform, the User undertakes (without limitation) not to: (a) deliberately download, upload, disseminate or forward any information, data including or constituting computer virus or any other code or computer program conceived to interrupt, destruct, distort or limit the features of any software, computer, service or online communication tool; (b) deliberately download, upload, disseminate or forward any false information, illegal, inappropriate or improper content; (c) disrupt, slow down, block or alter the normal data flow exchanged through the Platform and the Services; and (d) reproduce, copy, sell, exchange, resell, or use to any commercial purpose any part of the Platform or the Services.

Article 5 : Duration and Termination

The Terms of Use come into force for an indefinite period as from their acceptance by the User.

Each party has the right to terminate the Terms of Use for any reason whatsoever (except in the event of termination for misconduct referred to below) by written notification including e-mail to the other party upon thirty (30) days' notice.

In case of a breach by the User of any of its obligations under the Terms of Use, Royal Canin may immediately by written notice including email, suspend or deactivate the User's access to the Platform, or where such breach is capable of remedy , after sending, by email, a formal notice to remedy this breach and if it has not been remedied within eight (8) days following the date of this notice, suspend or deactivate the User’s access to the Platform.

In the event of termination by either party and for any reason whatsoever, or in the event of termination of the Breed Agreement, Royal Canin will terminate the User's access to the Platform at the end of the notice period. Therefore, the Breeder must take all reasonable measures to download the information (including any User Content) available on the Platform before the end of the notice period.

Royal Canin reserves the right to deactivate the access of the User to the Platform, without prior notice, formality, or indemnification if a court order requests it to do so, or if a force majeure event occurs.

Article 6 : Financial Conditions

Fees for use of the Platform are not charged by Royal Canin to the User. However, fees for certain future functionalities might be charged by Royal Canin to the holder of the Breeder Account in accordance with the special conditions governing such functionalities.

Article 7 : Breeder Rewards Program

In accordance with the Breed Agreement, Royal Canin will offer the User loyalty points and as part of the Royal Canin’s Breeder Rewards Program, in exchange for the registration of certain information in the Platform.

The User will notably be awarded loyalty points:
- for the registration of any valid Animal sales in the Platform (subject to the User entering a valid Pet Owners email address to trigger the sending of the sale email);
- for registration of a User’s first litter within the Platform


To learn more about Royal Canin’s Breeder Rewards Program, please consult the following link: https://www.promos.royalcanin.co.nz/breeder-rewards/faq


Article 8: Liability

8.1 Royal Canin’s liability

Royal Canin does not guarantee the accessibility and permanent, proper functioning of the Platform and the Services, which the User acknowledges and accepts. For technical reasons, an interruption of the Platform and/or of all or part of the Services is possible.

Royal Canin incurs no liability in the event of unavailability of the Platform and/or of all or part of the Services due to any technical defect, problem or reason, including (but not limited to) traffic congestion on the Internet, failure of Internet service providers, human or electrical error, malicious intervention, software or hardware malfunctions and/or force majeure.

The Platform provides information and advice related notably to the health condition and weight management of the Animals based on the information provided by the User on the Platform. Such information and advice are provided as first recommendations and shall not, in any case, replace the independent and professional expertise, judgment and diagnosis of a vet. In the event of any doubt of any kind concerning the health of an Animal, it is the responsibility of the Breeder to have the Animal examined by a vet. Royal Canin shall not be held liable if the information or advice appears to be inadequate or if the health condition of an Animal is not in line with the information and advice provided on the Platform.

Royal Canin shall not be liable for any direct, indirect or special damages (loss of data, financial loss, loss of profit, loss of opportunity) that the User and the Pet Owners may suffer as a result of the Platform and/or of any Service, for any reason whatsoever, including (but not limited to) access or inability to access the Platform or Service, use or inability to use the Platform or any specific Service or the functioning or non-functioning of all or part of the Services. This applies notably to damages that may result from inaccurate content, errors, slowness or interruption in transmission, loss, disappearance or alteration of data, computer virus, whatever their origin, intrusions by third parties, etc.

Royal Canin shall not be liable whatsoever in relation to User Content, which is provided by the User under its sole responsibility, and in full knowledge of the facts.

8.2 User’s liability

The User is solely responsible for (a) complying with the applicable rules and standards governing the breeding activity; (b) the decision to register on the Platform and to use the Services; (c) the management and health tracking of the Animals of the breeding and the decision to have them physically examined and treated by professional vets as often as necessary ; (d) the choice to share certain information or recommendations provided by the Platform as part of the Services with the Pet Owners; (e) the accuracy and reliability of the User Content uploaded on the Platform including, but not limited to, (i) data and information relating to the Animals, their characteristics, and Health Conditions; (ii) data and information relating to the Pet Owners; and (iii) where applicable, free commentaries and modification of the data automatically provided for or calculated by the Platform as part of the Services; (f) the execution of its own contracts with the Pet Owners; and (g) any direct and/or indirect damage suffered by a Pet Owner or a third party as a result of any information provided by the Platform or the Services.

The User (a) shall indemnify, hold harmless and defend Royal Canin against any action, proceedings, claim, complaint or demands whatsoever, by any person (including Pet Owners) arising out or resulting from the User's activity or use of the Platform; and (b) undertakes to bear all costs, attorneys' and experts' fees and all damages that Royal Canin may be ordered to pay in this context by a court decision relating to the formation, performance and/or termination of a contract concluded between the User and a Pet Owner, without prejudice to any damages that Royal Canin may claim from the User.

Article 9 : Intellectual Property

9.1 Content of Royal Canin

All intellectual property rights in relation to the Platform and its content (texts, images, videos, databases, sounds, photographs, business names, logos, trademarks, etc.) but excluding the User Content, are and remain the property of Royal Canin and/or its affiliates, or are subject to licenses and/or authorizations granted to us by third parties.

The User is only authorized to use the Platform and its content in accordance with the Terms of Use. Except for content specifically intended to be shared with Pet Owners, the User may not reproduce, make available to the public, perform, publish or modify any part of the Platform and its content without the prior written agreement of Royal Canin.

9.2 User Content

As part of its use of the Platform, the User will be able to upload User Content. The User grants Royal Canin and its affiliates a royalty free, non-exclusive, worldwide license, for the entire duration of the related intellectual property rights, to make use of the User Content for any reason in connection with the provision of the Services. In addition, Royal Canin shall be able to use the User Content for purpose of promoting and advertising the Platform to third parties.

The User represents and warrants that User Content is free from third party rights, including any intellectual property rights or rights to privacy. The User shall accordingly indemnify, defend and hold Royal Canin harmless from any claim or legal action of a third party related to Royal Canin’s use of the User Content within the scope of the license.

Article 10 : Personal Data Protection

10.1 Pet Owner’s Personal Data

In the context of the sale and booking of an Animal, the User is free to register in the Animal’s Profile certain Personal Data concerning the Pet Owner (notably the Pet Owner’s first name, last name, email address and the date of sale) for the purpose of managing the commercial relationship, and notably sending an e-mail to the Pet Owner, within the conditions provided in Article 3.2.3 above.

In this context, and on the understanding that the User and Royal Canin may each be considered controllers of the Personal Data which is acquired or shared via the Platform or Services pursuant to these Terms of Use :

1. the User and Royal Canin will not be acting as joint controllers.

2. the User and Royal Canin will each ensure full compliance with the applicable Data Privacy Legislation in respect of their data processing obligations under these Terms of Use . The Mars Data Processing Policy (https://www.mars.com/about/policies-and-practices/data-processing) may be used as a checklist to verify compliance with these requirements.

3. the User and Royal Canin will avoid doing anything that might put the other party in breach of its data protection obligations pursuant to Data Privacy Legislation.

4. the User and Royal Canin will reasonably assist the other party with its own compliance with Data Privacy Legislation where necessary and in a position to do so.

5. the User will immediately notify Royal Canin if they know, discover or reasonably believe that there has been a Data Security Breach.

6. If a situation arises where it is appropriate for the relationship to be properly characterized as one of 'data controller' and 'data processor', this will be agreed in advance. In those circumstances, where the User is instructed in the capacity of a 'data processor', the Mars Data Processing Policy will apply.

As the party that is collecting the Personal Data from the Pet Owner, the User represents, warrants and undertakes that it has all necessary rights, consents and legal bases to collect and provide Personal Data to Royal Canin and / or applicable third parties and to permit such party to process and use Personal Data on its behalf. The User shall obtain consent from the Pet Owner to collect and share their Personal Data on the Platform. The User shall indemnify Royal Canin in the event that the User does not have the lawful rights to collect, use and share the Personal Data.

Therefore, the User shall ensure that the collection and processing of the Pet Owner’s Personal Data are made in compliance with the applicable Data Privacy Legislation, including in particular the rules on the mandatory information to be provided to data subject prior to the collection of their Personal Data, and, where applicable, the rules relating to prior consent.

The User shall be responsible to ensure that the period of retention of the Pet Owner’s Personal Data in the Platform is compliant with the Data Privacy Legislation (i.e.: that the Personal Data is deleted when it is not anymore strictly necessary to the User) and to delete the Personal Data if the Pet Owner exercises their right to object to processing.

The User shall not make any use of the Pet Owner’s Personal Data on behalf of Royal Canin and shall indemnify, defend and hold Royal Canin harmless in case of any claim or legal action from a Pet Owner in relation to any use of a Pet Owner’s Personal Data by the User.

For more information regarding the processing of Pet Owners Personal Data by the Platform on behalf of the User, please refer to the Privacy Statement https://www.mars.com/privacy .

10.2 User’s Personal Data

The User’s Personal Data will be processed in accordance with the Mars Privacy Statement https://www.mars.com/privacy .

Article 11 : Confidentiality

The User undertakes to keep strictly confidential all information relating to Royal Canin and the Platform, except for information that is properly in the public domain through no action or fault of the User or that are directly intended to be shared with Pet Owners, such as photos, information and document related to the Animals. The User will take the necessary measures to ensure that this obligation is respected by the members of the Breeding Farm and by any subcontractors.

The User’s confidentiality obligations will apply during the use of the Platform and for a period of 5 years after the termination of these Terms of Use.

Article 12: Modification of the Terms of Use

The User acknowledges and accepts that the Platform developed by Royal Canin is an innovative tool and will evolve in order to add, replace or remove certain features.

Royal Canin reserves the right to amend the Terms of Use at any time.

Upon the User’s first log on to the Platform after the Terms of Use have been amended, the User will be provided with the opportunity to read and review the new Terms of Use, and either (i) accept; or (ii) refuse them. If the User refuses the new Terms of Use, the User’s access to the Platform will be deactivated and the User will not be able to use the Services anymore.

Article 13 : Final Provisions

13.1 : General Provision

If Royal Canin does not take advantage of or enforce any of the provisions of the Terms of Use, it may not be interpreted by the User as a waiver of it.

13.2 : Independence of the Parties

Royal Canin and the User are independent entities, acting in their own name and under their sole responsibility. It is specified that the User carries out their activity on the Platform in complete autonomy and at his or her own risk.

13.3 : Law and jurisdiction

These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of New Zealand.
Any dispute between Royal Canin and the User arising out of the interpretation, execution or termination of these Terms of Use which cannot be resolved amicably shall be settled by the competent courts of New Zealand notwithstanding any incidental claim or guarantee, or in the event of multiple defendants.