CTO - Confidential Trade Organization GmbH

1. Scope

	1.1	These Terms and Conditions apply to all products, product packages and services (hereinafter called “CTO products”) of CTO - Confidential Trade Organization GmbH (hereinafter called “CTO”).

	1.2	The CTO products, as well as the offers at www.cto-global.org are hereinafter referred to as “CTO-offers”.

2. Copyrights

Our web pages and their contents are subject to German copyright law. Unless expressly permitted by law, every form of utilizing, reproducing or processing works subject to copyright protection on our web pages requires the prior consent of the respective owner of the rights. Individual reproductions of a work are only allowed for private use. The materials from these pages are copyrighted and any unauthorized use may violate copyright laws.

3. Rights of Use

	3.1	The customer has the exclusive right, to use the in the CTO-range contained and thus retrievable company- and product information (hereinafter called “CTO-data”), under the German Copyright Act (UrhG), for their own purpose. Any other use requires prior written consent of CTO.

	3.2	Not in agreement with the German Copyright Act (UrhG) or the here stated terms and conditions and therefore prohibited are: a) the storage or reproduction of any databases from the CTO-range or partial contents for distribution (sale, hire, leasing, etc.) or other dissemination to third parties. b) the supplementation, amendment, except for own purposes, as well as the publication or making accessible of any content of the CTO-range or partial contents.

	3.3	The use of individual CTO-data in publications is in individual cases and only when they are marked with source “CTO - Confidential Trade Organization GmbH" permitted.

	3.4	The client acknowledges that this website contains tracklog data by which unauthorized use can be traced.

4. Orders and terms of payment

	4.1	All orders of CTO-products are binding, as individually agreed, to the contracted period and cannot be canceled prematurely.

	4.2	Remuneration, for any ordered CTO-product is owed irrevocably in all cases. This also applies, in cases, when the customer does not meet the conditions for the implementation of the services, in particular by not sending the required Power of Attorney as well as not transmitting the correct notation of the company names, which have to be protected.

	4.3	Payment terms comply with offered payment methods on the website. Regardless of the chosen payment method, payment should be made within 10 (ten) days without deductions, based on receipt of the order confirmation or invoice from CTO.

	4.4	The customer is in immediate delay, not keeping the agreed payment terms. CTO reserves the right, to suspend any services or stop any activated content and respectively remove these without warning, and without obligation to provide compensation.

5. Graphical and textual content

	5.4	CTO is under no obligation, to check the accuracy and/or admissibility of content. CTO reserves the right to reject, change or remove any content without compensation in regard to legal, moral, political or other reasons.

	5.5	CTO accepts no responsibility, for the implementability of their service, should documents, provided by the customer be incorrect or incomplete. Any resulting limitation to the service does not entitle the customer to a price reduction. At most a proportional refund, as contractually stipulated, for relevant parts of the service, will be paid for justifiable complaints. Any other indemnifications are excluded.

6. Warranty and liability

	6.1	The contents offered by CTO, are being kept up to date to the best of our knowledge.

	6.2	CTO assumes no liability for the accuracy, completeness and/or timeliness of published and/or supplied information (incl. listed links to third party websites). CTO is under no circumstances liable, for any damages (included and without any limitations, are damages for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of business information or data and/or other financial loss), within the scope of commissioned services, as a result, from the ability or inability to use the CTO Portals.

	6.3	Any Acts of God, strikes, bankruptcy of suppliers, partners, authorities and similar institutions or legal changes as part of the offered services, CTO is under no circumstances liable for and/or obligated to pay damages, at the occurrence of the aforementioned.

	6.4	CTO will inform the customer, as far as possible, in good time about service interruptions for the rectification of faults, for maintenance work, the introduction of new technologies, etc. CTO will endeavour to keep such interruptions brief and to place them when possible in off-peak periods. However, CTO accepts no liability for damages of any kind which arise for the customer from such interruptions; the customer has no right to a refund in this context.

	6.5	Claims from third parties, relating to storing and/or external transfer of contents, which have been supplied by the customer, are defended by the customer at their own expense and risk, respectively CTO is excluded from all such claims. The customer, should inform CTO about such claims without any delay.

7. Contract duration and termination

	7.1	All contracts are valid in accordance to the order for the agreed period. The customer will automatically informed about renewal, before the end of the contract.

	7.2	CTO reserves the right to terminate and/or restrict the use of its services with immediate effect, without compensation, should the customer be in violation of the stipulated terms and conditions. All outstanding payments, up to the time of termination are owed to CTO.

8. Use of customer data

8.1

The customer agrees to the use of the provided data within the range of the offered services by CTO, affiliated companies and institutes.

9. Final Provision

	9.1	Changes and additions to the contract and/or these Terms and Conditions have to be made in writing.

	9.2	CTO reserves the right to change these Terms and Conditions at any time. The customer, has to be informed of any such changes.

	9.3	CTO is authorized, to appoint a third party for the provision of their services.

	9.4	Place of performance and debt enforcement (latter for customers domiciled abroad) as well as the exclusive place of jurisdiction is the headquarter of CTO. However, CTO is entitled to assert its rights at the domicile of the customer or before any other competent authorities.

	9.5	Applicable is always and exclusively German law.

Where do the data originally come from?

The data comes from customs, bureaus of statistics etc.

How is it possible that my trade data are visible to anyone?

For publishers it is possible to get access to this sensitive trade data under the freedom of information act.

When I pay, is it 100% sure my trade data will be confidential and secured?

Only after confirmation of CTO your data are treated as confidential information.
After receipt of your payment CTO will start the procedure(s) to get confidentiality, whereby CTO depends
on the decision of the local/national authorities. Although it never happened, theoretically a request for
confidentiality could be refused. Should this nevertheless occur, CTO will of course refund your payment in full.

How can I be sure that nobody else can get or disclose my data?

Because CTO takes care of confidentiality at the source where the data are originated and disclosed.

For how long are they confidential?

For 24 Months after confirmation by CTO.

Is CTO the only one who can file for confidentiality?

After receipt of your payment and Power of Attorney, CTO as your grantee will send an official request
for confidential treatment of your trade data to the responsible authorities.
For you as a non-resident company, it is impossible to send a request for confidential treatment.

Are my trade data immediately hidden when I pay?

No, the entire procedure will take 6-8 weeks, only after confirmation you will be safe.

Is it possible to erase historical trade data?

No, unfortunately these data are already spread on the internet and impossible to erase.

Can I find trade data from my competitors?

Yes, as long as they didn’t file for confidential treatment they are still there.
The most detailed information is offered by www.abrams.wiki

When do I know my trade data are hidden and confidential?

As soon as you get a confirmation from CTO your trade data are safe.

Which guarantee do I have that my trade data are safe? And what happens if they pop up within the 2 years?

After confirmation of confidential treatment by the authorities and CTO, you are safe however, there is always a small chance your name on your shipping documents is spelled slightly different as from the request which has been filed in your certification. In this case that name will be disclosed.

Do I automatically get an alert after the expiration date of confidential treatment?

Yes you do, after 21 months from the starting date of your subscription you will get an alert from CTO.

Why do I have to fill out 9 variations of my company name?

The system filters the companies which have claimed for confidential treatment by its name,
and not a unique number. To be sure your company is covered, also when your name has been written slightly
different or false we ask you to fill out 9 possible variations of your company name.

Why do I have to sign the Power of Attorney?

The power of attorney is there so CTO can act on your behalf, to fulfill all necessary procedures,
make statements, sign documents etc., to become confidential treatment for your company.

Will I get an invoice?

Yes, you will get an invoice. After we have proved your VAT number it will be without VAT.

Where can I check/monitor if my trade data are really hidden and confidential?

Just goto www.abrams.wiki, click on „Tools“ and „Free search“ and type in your company name.
There shouldn’t appear new shipments in the U.S. database after CTO has confirmed confidentiality.

Why do I get a confirmation of confidentiality from CTO and not from Customs or other
sources or certified bodies?

Because CTO has filed for confidentiality at the authorities as your grantee and the government will only
correspond with the grantee in this case.

We are part of a division, do we have to file for confidentiality for every company?
Or can we do that as a corporation?

Since the certification is given to a company and its name, you have to file per company.

Which trade data will be confidential?

The confidentiality will cover your company name (and its variations), address and that of your business partners as shipper, consignee or notified party, including identifying marks and numbers, which are normally on a bill of lading.

When CTO goes bankrupt will I still be protected?

Yes, even when CTO will go bankrupt your trade data are safe. Confidentiality is given to your company.

Are my trade data still visible for CTO after confirmation of confidentiality?

No, once the data are treated as confidential information, nobody except the authorities
will have access to your data, not even CTO.

The smart way to hide your company details despite the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Data legally disclosed under the FOIA – Which details are of interest to whom?

Your customers perspective:

Your customers can see your suppliers, what you are buying, how much and against what price.
Your customers can buy from your source directly!

Your customers can see where and against what prices your competitors are selling.
Your customers can buy from your competitors losing your customers!

Your customers can see your other customers, what you are selling, how much and against what price.
Your customers will force lower prices!

Your competitors perspective:

Your competitors can see your customers, what you are selling, and against what price.
Your competitors can approach your customers with better prices!

Your competitors can see your suppliers, how much you are buying and against what price.
Your competitors can approach your suppliers and get better prices!

Your competitors can see your other competitors.
Your competitors can judge your competitiveness!

Your suppliers perspective:

Your suppliers can see your customers, what you are selling, how much, and against what price.
Your suppliers can approach your customers directly!

Your suppliers can see your competitors, what they are buying, and against what price.
Your suppliers can approach your competitors and offer better prices!

Your suppliers can see your other suppliers, how much you buy and against what price.
You can lose your negotiation position!

YOUR TRADE DATA ARE LEGALLY PUBLISHED – WE TAKE CARE OF CONFIDENTIALITY

Specialized database companies publish probably also your business information via the Internet, e.g. real customer-supplier relationships.

Detailed information about business partners, consignments of goods with product descriptions, quantities, weights and even partly price information are shown, and therefore also visible to your competitors.

CTO - Confidential Trade Organization helps you to ensure that your sensitive business data is treated confidentially and no longer will be published in international databases.

Technically and professionally we are on the move in a dynamic environment, which always brings new exciting challenges with it.
We master these by trusting each other in the abilities and possibilities of each individual team member.

We hire for the next possible date:

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Frontend Developer Student
Frontend Developer Senior

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