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Terms and Conditions for Factories
General Terms and Conditions for Factories
ICTI CARE Foundation Asia Limited
Version 1.2 - 1 September 2008
1.0 General
1.1. ICTI CARE Foundation Asia Limited (hereinafter “ICTI CARE Foundation Asia”) agrees to provide a registration period of 12 months to the factories applying for ICTI CARE Confirmation Seal Program (hereafter “the Applicant”) in accordance with and subject to the terms and conditions herein contained (hereinafter “the Conditions”).
1.2. Documents associated with the Applicant’s application such as CARE application form, factory audit report, corrective action plan and any other related documents of the Applicant are subjected to review by representatives of ICTI CARE Foundation Asia or any of the ICTI Technical Advisory Boards. Members of the ICTI Technical Advisory Boards consist of professionals working in the toy industry who have signed non-disclosure agreements with the ICTI CARE Foundation.
1.3. The Applicant shall pay all applicable fees as published and required by ICTI CARE Foundation Asia. The fulfillment of the fees is a necessary condition for the maintenance of an applicant status. Any non-fulfillment of payment shall automatically invalidate the Applicant’s status.
1.4. Meeting the requirements of the ICTI CARE Process does not necessarily imply/equate meeting the law of the country. The Applicant shall not use its status with the ICTI CARE Process as evidence of compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
1.5. A management representative from the Applicant shall complete, sign and return the application form to ICTI CARE Foundation Asia.
1.6. All fees paid to ICTI CARE Foundation Asia are neither negotiable nor refundable. These fees are subject to change from time to time as necessary and at the sole discretion of ICTI CARE Foundation Asia. The current and valid fee information is at all times published on the website of the ICTI CARE Foundation – www.icti-care.org.
1.7. Applicants failing to meet the ICTI CARE Process standard within the twelve (12) months registration period shall be required to re-register with ICTI CARE as a new Applicant no sooner than three (3) months from the expiration of the original registration period including any extension period granted.
1.8. ICTI CARE Foundation Asia may at its own discretion issue different types of seals to the Applicant to reflect the audit data available. If inconsistencies in documentation and records make it impossible to certify compliance with the wages and working hours part of the standard, ICTI CARE Foundation Asia may issue a Seal that only covers the rest of the standard. These different types of seals will at all times be described in detail in the Process Handbook of the ICTI CARE Process.
ICTI CARE Foundation Asia is not obliged to provide evidence to the Applicant to justify a certain level of compliance and the Applicant agrees that the listing on the ICTI CARE Process website will reflect these different levels of certified compliance as described in Article 5.3 below.
1.9. Applicant’s violation to the Conditions shall invalidate the validity of its contract with ICTI CARE Foundation Asia and any granted Seal of Compliance shall be invalidated and recalled from the Applicant.
2.0 Quality Assurance
2.1. ICTI CARE Foundation Asia reserves the right to assign observer(s) to monitor the process during an ICTI CARE audit. Observer(s) may come from any organization including the toy industry and have all signed non-disclosure agreements with the ICTI CARE Foundation.
2.2. To confirm the continuous compliance to the ICTI CARE requirements, ICTI CARE Foundation Asia reserves the right to assign its auditor(s), or its delegated audit firm, or a combination of both, to perform a Quality Control Audit (hereafter “QC Audit”) with the Applicant. The QC Audit is unannounced. The Applicant agrees to such audit even if it may have received the ICTI CARE Process Seal of Compliance already. ICTI CARE Foundation Asia shall bear the costs of the QC Audit if no critical violations are found. In case critical violations are found during the QC Audit the cost of the audits will have to be paid for by the applying factory. ICTI CARE Foundation Asia auditors may consist of person(s) from any organization including the toy industry and have all signed non-disclosure agreements with the ICTI CARE Foundation.
3.0 Annual Audit
3.1. All annual audits for the ICTI CARE Process are unannounced.
4.0 Withdrawal Confirmation Seal
4.1. ICTI CARE Foundation Asia may cease the Seal of Compliance Status of the Applicant and recall the ICTI Seal of Compliance at its own discretion when,
4.1.1. significant departure from or violation to the ICTI requirements by the Applicant is identified, or
4.1.2. the Applicant refuses an audit arranged by ICTI CARE Foundation Asia, or
4.1.3. the finding of a QC Audit casts reasonable doubt on the compliance by the Applicant to the ICTI CARE requirements, or
4.1.4. The Applicant violates the ICTI CARE Process policy on corrupt and unethical behavior, or
4.1.5. The Applicant brings the ICTI CARE Process into dispute.
ICTI CARE Foundation Asia is not obliged to justify its decision or provide evidence when a Seal of Compliance is withdrawn.
4.2. ICTI CARE Foundation Asia may impose suspension/probation of the Confirmation Seal Status in cases of 4.1 when the Applicant’s violation is to a less serious extent. In such cases, the Applicant shall work according to a corrective action plan, which is approved by ICTI CARE Foundation Asia in order to resume the confirmation status, and the implementation is subject to the verification by ICTI CARE Foundation Asia. The Applicant is not eligible to carry a full Confirmation Seal Status during the suspension/probation period. During this suspension/probation period, the Applicant shall pay all necessary fees in order to maintain the Applicant status. Any non-payment will result in instant termination of the Applicant status and hence the entire registration process.
4.3. The Applicant shall ensure the accuracy and correctness of the information provided to ICTI CARE Foundation Asia. Any discovery of fraudulent information shall result in instant termination of the contract with ICTI CARE Asia and withdrawal of the Confirmation Seal.
5.0 Proprietary Rights
5.1. All rights (including but not limited to copyright) in any publication produced by ICTI CARE Foundation Asia in the course of providing its services shall remain vested in ICTI CARE Foundation Asia. The Applicant shall not reproduce or make copies, publish or disclose the contents of any such material or extracts thereof to any third party without ICTI CARE Foundation Asia’s prior written consent, which may be refused at its sole discretion.
5.2. The Applicant shall not release any proprietary information of ICTI CARE Foundation Asia, which is not available in the public domain to any other party without the prior written prior consent of ICTI CARE Foundation Asia. Such proprietary information shall include, but is not limited to, audit report review comments and correspondence arises during the certification process.
5.3. The Applicant’s name with the registration number, contact details, number of workers and status within the ICTI CARE Process shall be posted on the website of the ICTI CARE Foundation. When significant departure from the ICTI CARE requirements is identified, and/or ICTI CARE Foundation Asia judges the Applicant as non-compliant with the ICTI CARE Codes, the name of the Applicant shall be removed from the list of compliant factories or its current statue changed with specific denotation or identification on the website of the ICTI CARE Foundation.
6.0 Liabilities
6.1. ICTI CARE Asia shall not in any event be liable for any loss or damage caused by delay in performance or non-performance of any of its services.
6.2. All contracts for provision of services by ICTI CARE Foundation Asia and the Conditions shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. For the purpose of any arbitral or litigation proceedings such contracts shall be deemed to have been made and performed in Hong Kong. If any provision contained in the Conditions is and/or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect under the laws of Hong Kong, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions hereof shall not in any way be affected or impaired thereby.
6.3. Any dispute arising out of or relating to ICTI CARE Foundation Asia shall be referred to and determined by arbitration subject to ICTI CARE Foundation Asia’s sole and overriding discretion to commence litigation proceedings in the courts of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region or the courts of any other country as ICTI CARE Foundation Asia may choose. The parties may agree to the appointment of an arbitrator failing which either party may, after having made a written request to concur in the appointment of an arbitrator, request the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (“HKIAC”) to appoint an arbitrator. The place of arbitration shall be in Hong Kong. There shall only be one arbitrator. The language to be used in the arbitral proceedings shall be English.
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