Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern the contractual relationship between Valteris GmbH, Am Kaiserkai 59, 20457 Hamburg, Germany, registered with the Hamburg Commercial Register under HRB 192405 ("Valteris", "we", "us", "our"), and any natural or legal person who accesses or uses the Longevity Community platform, including the websites operated under longevity-germany.com, longevity-austria.com, longevity-switzerland.com, usa-longevity.com, longevity-china.com, and all associated subdomains, mobile views, and client-side applications (together, the "Service").

The Service is a multi-region community platform dedicated to longevity science, connecting members through chapters, events, challenges, research digests, member profiles, and related features. These Terms apply regardless of which regional domain you use to access the Service.

By accessing or using the Service in any capacity — browsing, registering, participating in events, submitting content, or interacting with any platform feature — you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Service.

"Account" means the personal user account you create to access authenticated features of the Service.

"Content" means any text, image, video, audio, metric, check-in, comment, profile information, goal description, map-spot entry, article like, challenge submission, or other material that is displayed, submitted, or transmitted through the Service.

"User Content" means Content that is created, uploaded, or submitted by you or other users.

"Chapter" means a geographically defined community group (e.g., Longevity Munich, Longevity Vienna) operated under the Longevity Community umbrella.

"Ambassador" and "Chapter Lead" mean volunteers who coordinate community activities in a specific city or region.

"DSA" means Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on a Single Market for Digital Services (Digital Services Act).

"Consumer" means a natural person acting outside their trade, business, craft, or profession within the meaning of § 13 BGB.

These Terms constitute general terms and conditions (Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen) within the meaning of §§ 305 et seq. of the German Civil Code (BGB). A link to these Terms is displayed prominently before registration, and the text is presented in a form that allows you to read, save, and print it before you enter into the agreement.

The contract between you and Valteris is formed (i) when you tick the acceptance checkbox during registration and complete your email confirmation, or (ii) when you first use a Service feature that requires a registered Account, whichever occurs earlier. For unregistered visitors, continued use of the public Service constitutes acceptance of these Terms to the extent legally required.

We do not accept any conflicting or deviating terms proposed by you unless we expressly agree to them in writing. Silence or continued provision of the Service does not constitute such agreement.

You must be at least 16 years old to create an Account on the Service. Users in Austria may create an Account from age 14 where parental consent is not otherwise required under § 4(4) of the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG); users between 14 and 15 should nevertheless obtain parental awareness before registering.

Biometric and health-related features — including the Photo Age Test and the rPPG heart-rate and HRV scanner — are available only to users who meet the account-minimum age in their jurisdiction. Where required by applicable law, explicit parental consent must be provided before use of these features by a minor.

We do not knowingly register users under 13 years of age residing in the United States, in accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If we become aware that an Account was created by a person under the applicable minimum age, we will deactivate the Account and delete associated personal data without undue delay.

Registration is free. To register, you must provide accurate, current, and complete information, including a valid email address and a strong password. You are responsible for keeping your credentials confidential and for all activity that occurs under your Account.

You must notify us without undue delay at hello@valteris.com if you suspect unauthorised access to your Account. We reserve the right to require additional verification (e.g., email re-confirmation) where we have reasonable grounds to suspect compromised credentials.

Each natural person may hold only one Account. Accounts are non-transferable. You may not sell, lease, or otherwise grant access to your Account to third parties.

Username namespace: Valteris owns and operates the username namespace of the Service. You receive a limited, revocable, non-exclusive licence to use your chosen username while your Account is active. We may reclaim or reassign usernames that impersonate third parties, infringe trademarks, violate these Terms, or belong to Accounts closed for cause.

The Service provides, among others: (a) public content such as articles, research digests, and chapter information; (b) registered-user features including member profiles, Health Stack tracking (self-reported supplements and medications), partner matching, activity requests, challenges and leaderboards, cheers and comments, and event registrations; (c) experimental tools including the Photo Age Test (AI-based biometric estimate) and the rPPG heart-rate and HRV scanner (browser-based camera analysis); (d) longevity check sessions operated by chapter leads at in-person events; (e) a newsletter with double opt-in via Brevo; (f) a certification programme for community roles; and (g) an ambassador and chapter-lead programme.

Features are provided on an "as available" basis. We are entitled to modify, extend, restrict, or discontinue individual features at our reasonable discretion, provided that any change does not materially and unreasonably impair the contractual purpose for paying or registered users. Where a change materially alters your rights, we will apply the notice provisions of the Changes clause below.

The Service is currently offered free of charge. We reserve the right to introduce paid features or premium tiers in the future; any such introduction will not retroactively affect features you are already using free of charge unless you expressly consent to new terms.

You retain all ownership rights in the User Content you submit.

You grant Valteris a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sub-licensable-to-service-providers-only licence to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, adapt for technical purposes (resizing, format conversion), and publicly communicate your User Content for the purposes of operating, providing, promoting, marketing, and improving the Service. This licence expressly covers: display on your public profile and in community surfaces (leaderboards, cheers feed, partnership directories); inclusion in automatically generated social-media share previews (Open Graph and Twitter Card images); quotation or reproduction of excerpts of your bio, goals, or check-ins in our newsletter, landing pages, social-media channels, blog, investor or partnership presentations, in each case in a factual and non-endorsing manner; and inclusion in event recordings where you have not exercised your opt-out rights. The licence excludes sale of your User Content as a standalone product and any use that would infringe your moral rights under § 14 UrhG.

Survival: For User Content lawfully incorporated into joint outputs of the Service before deletion of your Account — including historical leaderboards, challenge summaries, aggregated statistics, editorial newsletters already sent, event recordings already distributed, and publicly cached social-media shares — the licence survives deletion of your Account for the continued existence of those outputs. At your written request we will reduce attribution to a pseudonym or remove attribution entirely for current placements, within a reasonable time.

You do not waive your moral rights (droit moral, Urheberpersönlichkeitsrecht) beyond what is permitted under § 29 of the German Copyright Act (UrhG). We will attribute User Content to you via your profile username where technically feasible and in accordance with platform design.

You represent and warrant that (i) you own or have the necessary rights to submit the User Content and to grant the licence above; (ii) the User Content does not infringe any third-party rights, including copyright, trademark, personality rights (KUG §§ 22–23), or data-protection rights; and (iii) the User Content complies with these Terms and applicable law.

You must not, and must not attempt to: (a) post or transmit illegal content, including content that glorifies violence, incites hatred, constitutes sexual exploitation of minors, or otherwise violates criminal law; (b) engage in harassment, bullying, hate speech, or discrimination against any individual or group; (c) impersonate another person, misrepresent your affiliation with any entity, or falsify health data or check-ins; (d) post unsolicited commercial communications, multi-level-marketing pitches, or affiliate links without clear disclosure; (e) spread health misinformation intended or likely to cause physical harm, or present personal opinion as professional medical advice; (f) scrape, crawl, index, or otherwise extract Service data using automated means without our prior written permission; (g) circumvent or attempt to circumvent rate limits, access controls, authentication, or security measures; (h) collect, aggregate, or process personal data of other users beyond what the Service explicitly permits; (i) share event access credentials, Lu.ma invitation links restricted to registered members, or QR codes with unauthorised third parties; (j) reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Service except to the extent expressly permitted by mandatory law.

A violation of this clause is material and may result in the sanctions described in the Moderation clause below, including immediate termination of your Account without refund.

We operate a combination of preventive technical measures and human review to detect and remove content that violates these Terms or applicable law. Preventive measures include honeypot fields on public forms, rate limiting, and automated detection of disposable email addresses and known spam patterns (implemented via our internal spam-protection service).

We do not use automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on users within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR. Automated filtering is limited to clearly defined spam and security signals and is always subject to human review before a user account is terminated or restricted.

Where we detect or are notified of a potential violation, we may, at our reasonable discretion and proportionate to the violation, apply one or more of the following sanctions: private warning, public correction, content removal or de-ranking, feature restriction (e.g., temporary loss of posting rights), temporary suspension, or permanent termination. Repeated or severe violations may result in immediate termination without prior warning.

Proactive moderation: We may remove, edit (for formatting), de-rank, temporarily hide, or restrict visibility of User Content on our own initiative where we reasonably consider it necessary to protect users, the integrity of the Service, our brand, or our legitimate interests, subject to the notice-and-appeal safeguards set out in the DSA procedural clauses below.

Retention of removed content for legal defence and authority cooperation: Where required by law or reasonably necessary to support law-enforcement cooperation or the defence of legal claims, we may retain removed Content in a segregated access-controlled store for a period commensurate with the purpose. We may report User Content and conduct to competent authorities (including BKA, ZAC, NCMEC, and data-protection authorities) where we believe in good faith that the Content or conduct may constitute a criminal offence, threaten public safety, or otherwise warrant authority intervention.

Where content is removed or an Account is restricted, we will apply the procedural safeguards set out in the DSA clauses below, in line with Articles 14, 16, 17, and 20 of the Digital Services Act.

Valteris acts as a hosting service provider within the meaning of Art. 6 Digital Services Act and §§ 7–10 of the German Act on Digital Services (Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz, DDG). We are not under a general obligation to monitor User Content or actively seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity.

Liability under § 10 DDG arises only from the point of actual knowledge of unlawful Content and failure to act expeditiously after obtaining such knowledge.

Our moderation tools (manual review, honeypot filters, spam heuristics) may be activated at our discretion; their use does not create a general monitoring obligation.

We facilitate connections between users, including Heart matches, partner matching for 1-on-1 challenges, ActivityRequest meetups, chapter meetups, and community challenges. Valteris does not screen, vet, or verify users beyond the measures expressly described in these Terms and in our Privacy Policy.

We disclaim all liability for physical, emotional, financial, or reputational harm arising from interactions between users. This limitation does not apply to liability for intent, gross negligence, or injury to life, body, or health caused by Valteris itself (§ 309 Nr. 7 BGB remains unaffected).

We reserve the right to impose additional safety measures (including identity verification or rate-limiting) on users flagged by abuse signals.

Any person may notify us of Content on the Service that they consider to be illegal. Notifications can be submitted via the in-product reporting form available at /report/:type/:id (accessible from the action menu on reportable items) or by email to dsa@valteris.com.

To enable a timely and diligent assessment, a notice should include: (i) a sufficiently substantiated explanation of the reasons why the reporting party considers the Content illegal; (ii) a clear indication of the exact electronic location of the Content (URL and, where relevant, content ID); (iii) the name and contact details of the reporting party, except where the notice concerns content covered by Articles 3–7 of the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation; and (iv) a statement of good faith that the information is accurate and complete.

We acknowledge receipt of notices without undue delay and process them in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary, and objective manner. Where sufficient information has been provided, we inform the reporting party of our decision and of available redress possibilities.

Where we remove, disable, demote, suspend, or otherwise restrict User Content or an Account on grounds of alleged illegality or incompatibility with these Terms, we provide the affected user with a clear and specific statement of reasons.

The statement includes: (a) whether the decision concerns removal, disabling, demotion, or suspension; (b) the facts and circumstances relied upon, including whether the decision was taken on the basis of a notice submitted under the Reporting Illegal Content clause or on our own-initiative investigation; (c) the legal or contractual ground relied upon and an explanation of how the Content or conduct is considered to infringe that ground; (d) information about the possibilities for redress, in particular the internal complaint mechanism set out in the next clause and out-of-court dispute settlement bodies.

We submit statements of reasons to the European Commission's DSA Transparency Database as and when required.

You may lodge a complaint against any moderation decision we communicate to you — including decisions on removal, demotion, suspension, termination, or refusal to act on your notice — for a period of six (6) months from the date on which the decision was communicated to you.

Complaints can be submitted free of charge by email to dsa@valteris.com with the subject line "DSA Complaint", including the reference number from the statement of reasons, a description of the facts, and the outcome you seek.

Complaints are reviewed by qualified personnel who were not involved in the original decision. We communicate the outcome of the review without undue delay. Where a complaint reveals that the original decision was incorrect, we reverse it promptly.

Nothing in this clause limits your right to bring legal proceedings or to engage a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body pursuant to Art. 21 DSA.

Challenges are voluntary community activities (e.g., daily walks, cold-exposure streaks, sleep-consistency challenges) organised on the Service. Participation is free and does not give rise to any cash, prize, or guaranteed reward entitlement. XP points and leaderboard positions are gameful representations with no monetary value.

Fair play is expected. Falsified check-ins, fabricated metrics, coordinated manipulation of leaderboards, or the use of multiple accounts void all XP and may result in removal from the challenge and the sanctions described in the Moderation clause above.

Leaderboards are reset at the end of each challenge cycle. In 1-on-1 partner challenges, if a participant misses three consecutive check-ins or fails to respond within the nudge windows described in the challenge flow, the partnership may be auto-dissolved to free the other participant from ghosting. XP accumulated up to that point remains with the non-ghosting participant in accordance with the challenge rules.

XP points, levels, login streaks, badges, leaderboard positions, certificates, and achievements are virtual items issued by Valteris and remain Valteris's property. You receive a personal, non-transferable, revocable right to display them while your Account is in good standing.

They have no cash value and may not be sold, traded, transferred, bequeathed, or converted into money.

Events organised or promoted on the Service are free of charge unless expressly stated otherwise. Where registration is handled via a third-party event platform such as Lu.ma, your attendance is additionally subject to that platform's terms and privacy policy. We do not control third-party registration platforms.

At in-person events, photography and audio/video recording are governed by German personality rights, in particular §§ 22–23 of the Act on the Protection of Copyright in Works of Art (KUG) and Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. We will announce in advance if an event is being recorded, identify the purpose of the recording, and provide practical opportunities for attendees to opt out of close-up shots (e.g., a designated non-recording area or visible opt-out markers). Attendance at an event does not by itself constitute consent to be photographed or filmed in close-up; such consent must be obtained in addition to the general announcement.

Event-photo licence: Where you appear in recordings at an event and do not opt out under KUG § 22, you grant Valteris a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, and worldwide licence to use those recordings for promotional, editorial, and archival purposes. You may at any time request removal for good-faith reasons (including changed personal circumstances), and we will comply within a reasonable period for current placements and cease further use going forward.

Participation in events — in particular sporting, fitness, or physically demanding activities — is at your own risk. Valteris is not liable for the conduct of other attendees, venue operators, or third-party service providers at meetups. You are responsible for assessing your own physical condition before participating in physical activities. Our liability for injury to life, body, and health, and for intent and gross negligence, remains unaffected (see the Limitation of Liability clause).

Event access credentials (invitation links, QR codes, door codes) are personal to you and may not be shared.

Physical activities offered or facilitated by the Service — including Longevity Check sessions with fitness testing, cold-plunge gatherings, sauna events, yoga, running groups, and similar meetups — carry activity-specific risks (cold exposure, heat exposure, cardiovascular load, falls, contact with other participants).

By registering for an in-person event you (a) acknowledge the specific risks of the planned activities, (b) self-certify that you are physically fit to participate and do not have any medical condition contraindicating participation, (c) accept the organiser's house rules, and (d) accept the organiser's right to refuse your participation on safety grounds.

You participate at your own risk; Valteris and chapter leads disclaim liability for simple-negligence claims for property damage and non-bodily loss. Claims for injury to life, body, or health, for gross negligence, and for intent remain unaffected.

Longevity check sessions are in-person community activities operated by chapter leads, at which participants may voluntarily undergo simple measurements such as body weight, grip strength, sit-and-reach, and similar fitness-related assessments.

Processing of these measurements requires your explicit, separate consent under Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR, captured at the QR-code landing page before the session begins. Consent is freely given, specific, informed, and revocable at any time with effect for the future.

Longevity check sessions are not medical examinations. The measurements are not diagnostic, do not establish a doctor-patient relationship, and are not a substitute for consultation with a qualified healthcare professional. Values are recorded only for your personal reference and, where you have further consented, for aggregated and pseudonymised community statistics.

Retention of longevity-check data is governed by our Privacy Policy. You may request erasure at any time via your account settings or by writing to privacy@valteris.com.

The Photo Age Test and the rPPG heart-rate and HRV scanner are experimental features provided for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. They are expressly not medical devices within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/745 (Medical Device Regulation / MDR) and have not been assessed for diagnostic, therapeutic, preventive, or prognostic use.

Photo Age Test: the uploaded image is transmitted to our EU-hosted serverless function, processed in memory to generate a visual age estimate, and is not stored after the response is returned. No image data is used for training, profiling, or any other purpose.

rPPG heart-rate and HRV scanner: the webcam video stream is processed entirely client-side in your browser using JavaScript. No video frames are transmitted to our servers. Only the derived numeric outputs (e.g., estimated BPM, RMSSD) may, at your option, be saved to your Health Stack.

The outputs of these features are estimates subject to significant measurement error (environmental lighting, motion, skin tone, device camera quality, and physiological variability). You must not rely on them for any health-related decision. Consult a qualified healthcare professional for diagnostic or therapeutic needs.

We may change, restrict, or discontinue experimental features at any time.

All longevity-related information made available on the Service — including articles, research digests, challenge guidance, Health Stack suggestions, and user discussions — is provided for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or a substitute for professional healthcare.

No doctor-patient or other professional relationship is created between you and Valteris, our contributors, ambassadors, chapter leads, or event speakers through your use of the Service.

Longevity science is rapidly evolving, and recommendations that reflect current best evidence may change as new research emerges. You should consult a qualified physician, pharmacist, or other licensed healthcare professional before making decisions about supplements, medications, diets, exercise programmes, or lifestyle changes, particularly if you have a medical condition, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are taking prescription medication.

In case of emergency, contact your local emergency number (112 in the EU) immediately. Do not rely on the Service for urgent care.

We offer a voluntary certification programme for selected community roles. Participation is currently free. We reserve the right to introduce reasonable fees in the future on at least 30 days' prior notice; any fees will apply only to new applications received after the notice period.

Approval of a certification application is discretionary and is not guaranteed. Evaluation criteria may include community voting as one input among several qualitative factors (e.g., contribution history, integrity checks, interview). Community-voting records and certification decisions are retained in pseudonymised aggregate form for auditability and for the defence of legal claims; see the Privacy Policy for concrete retention periods.

Certification may be revoked at our reasonable discretion where (i) the information provided in the application was false or misleading; (ii) claims or qualifications underlying the certification become unsubstantiated or lapse; (iii) the certified individual acts contrary to these Terms or the community guidelines; or (iv) badges are misused (e.g., displayed on contexts implying unauthorised endorsement).

Certified members receive a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to display certification badges issued by Valteris solely in contexts related to the certified activity.

The ambassador and chapter-lead programme is a voluntary community role. Ambassadors and chapter leads do not currently receive any monetary compensation, salary, fee, or commission from Valteris [TODO-USER: confirm no compensation or describe compensation framework].

Ambassadors and chapter leads are independent community volunteers. They are not employees, agents, representatives, or authorised signatories of Valteris, and they have no authority to bind Valteris contractually, to make statements on behalf of Valteris, or to enter into obligations in the name of Valteris.

For the duration of their active engagement, ambassadors and chapter leads receive a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free licence to use the "Longevity [City]" designation and associated visual identity for the sole purpose of organising community activities consistent with these Terms and the chapter-lead handbook.

The engagement may be terminated by either party at any time. We may also suspend or terminate an ambassador or chapter-lead role for conduct contrary to the community guidelines, these Terms, applicable law, or the integrity of the community.

Post-termination duties: Upon termination of your role as ambassador or chapter lead, you cease all use of the "Longevity [City]" designation and associated brand identity within fourteen (14) days, delete or hand over chapter-branded materials, transfer community-owned communications channels and participant lists to Valteris or its nominee, and refrain from starting or supporting a confusingly similar community for twelve (12) months within the same city. This twelve-month non-compete is limited to the city of your former chapter and does not restrict general employment or unrelated community activity.

Some product links on the Service are affiliate links. Where we receive a commission on qualifying purchases, the link is clearly marked as "Werbung", "Anzeige", or "Ad" in line with § 6 of the German Telemedia Act (TMG), § 5a UWG, § 8 of the German Interstate Media Treaty (MStV), and corresponding guidance from the Landesmedienanstalten.

Affiliate commissions do not influence our editorial selection. Product recommendations reflect the honest assessment of our editors and contributors based on publicly available evidence at the time of writing. Affiliate commissions on qualifying purchases accrue solely to Valteris and are not shared with users.

Neither users nor brands have any right or expectation that a product will be featured, retained, or displayed in any position. Inclusion of any product, brand, or vendor is at Valteris's sole editorial discretion.

Health claims (including nutrition and disease-reduction claims) made on or in relation to third-party products are the sole responsibility of the respective product manufacturer. Compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims, with Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information, and with the German Heilmittelwerbegesetz (HWG) where applicable, is not warranted by Valteris for third-party content.

External product pages are governed by the seller's own terms and privacy policy.

Our newsletter uses a double opt-in procedure (DOI). After submitting your email address you will receive a confirmation message with a verification link; you will only be added to the list after you click that link.

Your email address, the opt-in timestamp, and a truncated form of your IP address (where available) are logged in our email service provider Brevo for the sole purpose of demonstrating consent as required by Art. 7(1) GDPR and § 7 of the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG).

You can unsubscribe at any time, free of charge, via the unsubscribe link in every newsletter email or by adjusting your emailPreferences in your account settings. Transactional emails required for the Service (e.g., security notices, account confirmations) are not subject to the newsletter consent and may still be sent after unsubscribing.

All content made available on the Service by Valteris — including text, design elements, logos, badges, brand marks, source code, databases, photographs, illustrations, and videos — is protected by copyright, trademark, database, and related intellectual-property rights and is either owned by Valteris or used under licence from its licensors.

Except for the limited rights expressly granted in these Terms (e.g., to view content in-browser, to use certification badges during valid certification, or as permitted under mandatory statutory exceptions such as the quotation right under § 51 UrhG), you acquire no rights in the Service or its content.

Any copying, distribution, public communication, adaptation, or commercial exploitation beyond the scope of the above requires our prior written consent.

User Content remains the property of the respective user, subject to the licence granted in the User-Generated Content clause above.

Editorial discretion over /products and similar surfaces: Inclusion of any product, brand, or vendor in the Service is at Valteris's sole editorial discretion. Neither users nor brands have any right or expectation that a product will be featured, retained, or displayed in any position. We reserve the right to display advertising, sponsored articles, native placements, and third-party partnership content on the Service, with the labelling required by § 5a UWG and § 8 MStV.

The Service contains links to third-party websites, products, services, and event platforms (e.g., Lu.ma, research journals, vendor pages, social networks). We do not control third-party sites and assume no responsibility for their content, accuracy, availability, security, or data-protection practices.

Linking to a third party does not constitute an endorsement. Your use of any third-party site is at your own risk and subject to the terms and privacy policy of the third party.

The processing of personal data in connection with the Service is governed by our Privacy Policy, which forms an integral reference point for these Terms. The Privacy Policy describes the categories of data we process, the legal bases, retention periods, and your rights under the GDPR, in particular the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection.

The Privacy Policy is available at /privacy-policy on every regional domain and should be read together with these Terms.

We may create and publish aggregated and fully anonymised statistics derived from Service data (for example: "X% of Munich members reported a vascular age under 40"). Such outputs do not permit re-identification of individual users and remain our intellectual property; they may be used for editorial, research, marketing, and partnership purposes without further consent.

Internal model improvement: we reserve the right — not currently exercised — to use aggregated and pseudonymised Service data to improve our own models and heuristics (for example, the rPPG signal-processing pipeline and the Pace-of-Aging scoring model). If and when we exercise this right, we will disclose it in the Privacy Policy. No output of such internal training will re-identify individual users.

We do not currently share User Content with third-party generative-AI providers for their own model training. We reserve the right to do so in the future only on the basis of fresh, specific, opt-in consent.

Valteris is liable without limitation for damage resulting from (i) intent or gross negligence; (ii) injury to life, body, or health; (iii) the absence of a guaranteed characteristic (Garantie) expressly given by us; and (iv) mandatory liability under the German Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz).

For breach of essential contractual obligations whose fulfilment is a prerequisite for the proper performance of the contract and on whose observance you as a user typically rely ("Kardinalpflichten"), our liability for simple negligence is limited to the damage that was foreseeable and typical for contracts of this kind at the time the contract was concluded.

Any further liability for simple negligence — including liability for lost profits, loss of data, loss of goodwill, business interruption, or other indirect or consequential damages — is excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Consumer limitation period: Claims for simple-negligence damages not involving injury to life, body, or health, and not arising from a guaranteed characteristic or the Product Liability Act, become time-barred three (3) years after the user becomes aware of the damage and the identity of the liable party, in accordance with § 195 BGB. No extension beyond the statutory default.

The above limitations also apply in favour of our legal representatives, employees, and vicarious agents (Erfüllungsgehilfen). Statutory rights of consumers under §§ 307–309 BGB, the Product Liability Act, and other mandatory consumer-protection rules remain unaffected.

You are responsible for complying with these Terms, applicable law, and third-party rights in your use of the Service, in particular in relation to User Content that you submit and any conduct carried out from your Account.

To the extent permitted by applicable law and subject to the mandatory limits of §§ 307–309 BGB, you will indemnify and hold Valteris harmless from and against any third-party claims, liabilities, damages, fines, and reasonable legal costs that arise from (i) your breach of these Terms, (ii) your infringement of third-party rights (including IP, personality, or data-protection rights), or (iii) illegal content you submit, except to the extent that the underlying claim is attributable to Valteris's own conduct.

These Terms apply from your first access to or registration for the Service and continue indefinitely until terminated in accordance with this clause.

You may terminate the contract at any time, without giving reasons, by deleting your Account via the account settings (Settings → Account → Delete account) or by written notice to hello@valteris.com. Deletion takes effect promptly; residual data retention for legal obligations is described in the Privacy Policy.

We may terminate the contract for cause (ausserordentliche Kündigung aus wichtigem Grund) with immediate effect where you materially breach these Terms, repeatedly violate our community guidelines despite warning, engage in fraudulent conduct, subject Valteris or other users to legal risk, or where we are compelled to terminate by binding legal obligation.

We may also terminate the contract for convenience on 30 days' written notice, in particular where we discontinue the Service or a regional offering.

On termination, your right to access authenticated features ends, and User Content may be removed from public display subject to the licence terms of the User-Generated Content clause.

We may amend these Terms where reasonably necessary to reflect changes in applicable law, case-law, regulatory guidance, Service features, or our business model. We will not change any essential contractual obligation unilaterally to your material disadvantage.

We will notify registered users of material changes at least 30 days before they take effect by email to the address associated with your Account and/or via a prominent in-product banner. The notice will summarise the changes and indicate the date on which they take effect.

For changes that require your consent (e.g., changes to the scope of data processing that rest on Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), we will request a fresh, specific consent and will not rely on your continued use as evidence of consent.

For other changes, you may object within 30 days of receiving the notice. If you object, you remain free to terminate the contract with effect from the date of the intended change in accordance with the Termination clause. Absent a timely objection, the amended Terms take effect on the announced date.

These Terms and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with them are governed by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

Where you are a consumer with habitual residence in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, this choice of law does not deprive you of the protection afforded by mandatory provisions of the law of your country of habitual residence pursuant to Art. 6 of the Rome I Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 593/2008).

The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with these Terms is Hamburg, Germany, to the extent permitted by law. Consumers may always bring proceedings against Valteris, and be sued by Valteris, in the courts of the consumer's domicile under Articles 17–19 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 (Brussels I bis).

This clause applies to users acting outside consumer capacity (Unternehmer within the meaning of § 14 BGB) — including ambassadors acting commercially, chapter leads organising on a commercial basis, speakers receiving remuneration or commercial benefit, certified companies, affiliate partners, and any business users of the platform.

For such users, exclusive venue for all disputes is Hamburg, Germany.

Claims for simple-negligence damages not involving injury to life, body, or health, and not arising from a guaranteed characteristic or the Product Liability Act, become time-barred twelve (12) months after the user becomes aware of the damage and the identity of the liable party, and in any event three (3) years after the damaging event.

No provisions of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) apply.

The merchants-between-merchants provisions of the German Commercial Code (HGB) are preserved where applicable.

Neither party is liable for failure or delay in performance caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including internet or DNS outages, hosting-provider failures, cyber-attacks, natural disasters, pandemics, strikes, or governmental action.

Third-party service interruptions — including Brevo email delivery, Lu.ma event registration, ImageKit media delivery, MongoDB hosting, and any payment provider we may engage — are expressly included.

Valteris may assign these Terms, the associated User Content licence in the User-Generated Content clause, and all related agreements to a successor entity in the context of a merger, acquisition, asset transfer, spin-off, corporate restructuring, or insolvency proceeding, subject to the successor's written acceptance of obligations no less protective of users than these Terms.

We will notify you in advance via email or in-product banner where feasible.

You may not assign your Account or your rights under these Terms without our prior written consent.

The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (ODR), available at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. Our email address for ODR purposes is hello@valteris.com.

Valteris is not obliged and, at present, not willing to participate in dispute-settlement proceedings before a consumer arbitration body (Verbraucherschlichtungsstelle) within the meaning of § 36 of the German Act on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Consumer Matters (VSBG), given that our workforce and turnover currently fall below the thresholds that would make participation mandatory. [TODO-USER: confirm headcount <10 AND annual turnover <€1M so the VSBG exemption applies; update if Valteris has grown beyond these thresholds.]

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, the Cookie Policy, and any feature-specific terms expressly referenced, constitute the entire agreement between you and Valteris regarding the Service.

Amendments to this agreement require text form (§ 126b BGB); the text-form requirement itself can only be waived in text form.

Should individual provisions of these Terms be or become wholly or partly invalid or unenforceable, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected. The invalid or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a valid and enforceable provision that comes closest to the economic and legal purpose of the original provision. The same applies mutatis mutandis to any contractual gap.

Notices from Valteris to users are deemed delivered when sent to the email address associated with the user's Account. You are responsible for keeping that address current.

Notices from users to Valteris should be sent to hello@valteris.com (general), dsa@valteris.com (DSA matters), or privacy@valteris.com (data protection matters).

Notices require text form (§ 126b BGB).

These Terms are provided in German and English. For users resident in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, the German version prevails in case of discrepancies. For users resident elsewhere, the English version prevails. The contract language for registration and correspondence is, at your choice, German or English.

General inquiries: hello@valteris.com.

DSA matters (notices of illegal content, complaints against moderation decisions, statement-of-reasons queries): dsa@valteris.com.

Data protection and privacy rights (access, rectification, erasure, portability, objection): privacy@valteris.com. [TODO-USER: confirm that privacy@valteris.com is live; otherwise route all privacy mail to hello@valteris.com and update the Privacy Policy accordingly.]

Postal address: Valteris GmbH, Am Kaiserkai 59, 20457 Hamburg, Germany.