Thank you for your interest in participating in Helsinki Open! By registering as a Team, Judge or IA, you’re agreeing to the terms and conditions set out below.
(1) Effect of Registration as a Team
Registration is on a First-come First-serve basis unless otherwise specified. Filling out the registration form signals your intent to register but does not guarantee you participation in the tournament. We will only guarantee your participation in the tournament is only once:
- Both team members have completed the individual registration
- The Registration Fee has been paid and Proof of Payment has been sent to the tournament organizers, or a Payment Extension has been negotiated with the tournament organizers.
- The registration is in line with any relevant tournament rules (for example, the “N – 1” rule regarding judges, registration completed before the stated registration deadline, registration is within the team cap, etc).
The tournament organizers will notify you once your registration is guaranteed by e-mail upon the fulfillment of all conditions as stated above.
While your registration is not guaranteed, the tournament organizers may remove your registration by any deadlines communicated to you if it is clear that your team does not intend to fulfill the conditions stated above. If the Registration Fee has been paid, then it will be refunded if your registration is removed for this reason.
Before your registration is guaranteed, you may request to have your registration removed at any time, without penalty.
If your registration is removed upon request, or removed by the tournament organizers and you have paid the Registration Fee but your registration is not yet guaranteed, the Registration Fee will be refunded . See Refunds for information on how Refunds will be processed.
After your registration is guaranteed, you may request to have your registration removed, but the Registration Fee will only be refunded to you if your request to have your registration removed is due to an extenuating circumstance beyond your control (for example, sickness, bereavement or some other compelling reason). The tournament organizers retain a discretion as to whether or not to grant a refund in such circumstances. The tournament organizers also retain the right to remove your registration if it is found to be in breach of any relevant stated tournament rules. In this case the Registration Fee will be refunded. Otherwise, the Registration Fee is no longer refundable.
(2) Your Participation as a Team in the Tournament
Once your registration is guaranteed, you will be able to participate as a Team in the tournament. However, you may be removed as a Team in the event of:
- A no-show, for example, by failure to check-in on the day, failure to participate in the tournament
- One or both members breaches the tournament’s stated Equity Policy to the extent justifying removal of the Team from the tournament.
- Your actions as a Team impede the tournament from being able to function normally.
If your Team is removed for the above reasons, you will be notified through the contact information given to the tournament organizers. Your Registration Fee will not be refunded in this case.
(3) Refunds
Where a Refund is payable to you, the following terms shall apply:
- We will contact you within five (5) business days of the Refund being payable to obtain payment information which enables us to pay the Refund to you (for example, banking details, etc).
- After the receipt of payment information, we will pay you the Refund within five (5) business days.
- The amount of the Refund shall be any amount paid as a Registration Fee, minus amounts paid by us as transaction fees in obtaining the Registration Fee from you, or in paying the Refund to you.
(4) Effect of Registration as a Judge or as an IA
Registration as a Judge or an IA shall be done on an application basis. The tournament organizers may at their discretion select judges whom they believe will enhance the overall quality of the tournament. Selection is done on the basis of merit, but ultimately remains at the discretion of the tournament organizers and their affiliates.
Registration is guaranteed once all of the following conditions are met:
- The tournament organizers have communicated to you that you have been selected as a Judge
- Any Registration Fee, if applicable, has been paid and proof of payment sent to the tournament organizers.
- Any follow-up registration forms sent to you by the tournament organizers have been submitted in due time.
- If applicable, any offer made to you for compensation as an Independent Adjudicator (IA) has been formally accepted.
While registration is not guaranteed, the tournament organizers retain the discretion to remove your registration.
(5) Your Participation as a Judge in the Tournament
Once your registration is guaranteed, you will be able to participate as a Judge in the tournament. However, you may be removed as a Judge in the event of:
- A no-show, for example, by failure to check-in on the day or failure to participate in the tournament.
- You breach the tournament’s stated Equity Policy to the extent justifying removal from the tournament.
- Your actions as a Judge impede the tournament from being able to function normally.
- Your inability to act as a Judge for all rounds past a given point.
If you are removed as a Judge is removed for the above reasons, you will be notified through the contact information given to the tournament organizers. Your Registration Fee will not be refunded in this case, if one was payable.
If we agreed to pay you compensation as an IA, you will be paid according to the terms set out in (6).
(6) Payment of Independent Adjudicators
The tournament organizers may choose to make you an offer for payment in consideration of you acting as an Independent Adjudicator in the tournament. The offer may be made either on the basis of the attendance of certain rounds of the tournament, or on the basis of an amount for the whole tournament.
If an offer is made to you for the whole tournament, the amount offered shall be pro-rated by the number of tournament “in-rounds” which you indicated that you would be able to attend. If you actually provided your services as an IA fewer “in-rounds” than indicated, then we reserve the discretion to change amount payable to you pro-rated by the number of “in-rounds” that you actually provided your services in. We will not apply pro-rating in cases where there is a compelling or compassionate reason for inability to act as a judge during a round (for example sickness, bereavement, emergency, unavoidable connectivity problems etc).
By making you an offer for payment in consideration for you acting as an Independent Adjudicator in the tournament, we do not intend to conclude any contract of employment. Your relationship to Debating-yhdistys ry shall be that of an Independent Contractor.
As an Independent Contractor, you are responsible for the payment of any relevant income taxes, insurance or other business registration, maintenance or insurance costs which may be applicable to you. We recommend that you research what the rules are applicable in your jurisdiction regarding these matters. If you are required to charge us VAT, you must send us an invoice charging us the amount payable to you inclusive of VAT.
We may be required to collect information from you, including your name, address, tax residence and tax identification number in order to comply with applicable local law. If Tax-at-Souce or with-holding tax is applicable to amounts payable to you, you shall be responsible for the payment of the Tax-at-Source or with-holding tax, which will be deducted from the final amount payable to you. If you do not provide us with this information by the deadlines communicated to you, we are required by law to assume that your tax residence is in Finland and with-hold taxes payable under Finnish Law from the final amount paid to you. Information collected from you is managed under the Aalto Debating Society Events Privacy Policy.
By accepting the offer for payment, you warrant to us that you will provide us true information regarding the above. If you send us false or incorrect information regarding the above, you agree to indemnify us for the amounts payable by Debating-yhdistys ry as a result of the false or incorrect information provided to us.
Payment of the amount owing to you will be made by Debating-yhdistys or its affiliates to the payment method nominated by you within five (5) business days once the following conditions are satisfied:
- You performed the services as an Independent Adjudicator that you agreed to perform during the tournament
- You provided us with information required in order to make payment to you, for example, details of a SEPA bank account that we can make a bank transfer to or details of an an agreed alternative payment method such as PayPal.
- You have responded to reasonable requests made by us for further clarification of your tax residence status, VAT status or requests for other information required by us before we are legally able to make payment to you.
When payment is made to you, we will provide you with a payment receipt indicating the amount payable, the payment method used to pay you and any amounts deductible (for example, taxes and other relevant charges).
(7) Privacy Policy and Data Protection
Information collected from all tournament participants shall be managed in accordance with the Aalto Debating Society Events Privacy Policy.
(8) Disputes
In the event of a dispute, you agree to work with us in good faith to resolve the dispute by negotiation or alternative dispute resolution before commencing any legal action. You may lodge a dispute with us in writing (by means provided in the Contact Information section below) and we will try to resolve it in good faith.
(9) Governing Law and Choice of Forum
These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by the laws of Finland and subject to the jurisdiction of the Helsinki District Court.
(10) Discretion to unilaterally update these Terms and Conditions
To the extent permitted by the applicable law, Debating-yhdistys retains the right to update these Terms and Conditions. Updates to the Terms and Conditions will not prejudice the rights of participants to the tournament or pre-existing payment agreements for Independent Adjudicators. If you indicate that you choose not to accept the updated Terms and Conditions, Debating-yhdistys ry will refund to you any Registration Fee paid in accordance with the Refunds section that applied at the time you last accepted the Terms and Conditions and any registration made by you will be removed.
Participation in the tournament indicates acceptance of the up-to-date to Terms and Conditions.
Participants of the tournament will be notified in a reasonable amount of time when updates to the Terms and Conditions take effect.
(11) Severance
To the extent that any term in these Terms and Conditions is found not to be applicable or inconsistent with the law, the term shall be given an interpretation such that it is applied to the maximum extent applicable.
(12) Contact Information
Debating-yhdistys ry may be contacted in the following ways:
- By email: aaltodebatingsociety@gmail.com
- By Facebook Messenger or Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/AaltoDebatingSociety
- By post, to the registered address of the Debating-yhdistys ry as specified in the “Association Information” page of this website or as specified as the registered address (postiosoite) of the association on the Finnish Patents and Registration Authority (Patentti-ja-rekisterihallitus, PRH) .
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