Terms & Privacy

Terms of Use

By using or accessing this Web site, you agree to be bound by the Terms of Use below. You represent that you have the legal right and ability to agree to these terms. We reserve the right to revise these terms at any time, with revisions posted to this Web site. By continuing to use the site after such revisions to these terms are posted, you agree to be bound by any such revisions and you should therefore periodically visit this page to determine the current terms to which you are bound.

THE  PRIVACY STATEMENT IS INCORPORATED INTO THESE TERMS BY REFERENCE.
 

Website Content

(a) This website includes without limitation: (a) information pertaining to education, science, advocacy, meetings and conferences, and other valuable information;  (b) content such as data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, or other materials; and  (c) online services accessible via the Website.

(b) ABEM makes no representation that the Website is appropriate or available for use in all locations or that ABEM's Services are available in your location.

(c) ABEM shall have no ownership of, does not claim any interest in, and shall have no obligation of any kind with respect to, any content that you upload or post to, place on, or otherwise transmit, through our process, via the Website ("User-Generated Content").  Any User-Generated Content shall be deemed provided on a non-confidential basis.  ABEM shall be free to use or disseminate such User-Generated Content on an unrestricted basis for any purpose, and you grant ABEM an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, fully transferable license to use User-Generated Content for any and all purposes, including but not limited to, reproducing, modifying, adapting and creating derivative works of, distributing, transmitting, displaying, performing, and publishing (in any and all forms and media, now known or later discovered or created), as ABEM determines in its sole discretion. You represent and warrant that you have proper authorization to grant this license. 
 
ABEM shall have no obligation to, or liability for failing to, actively monitor the site for inappropriate User-Generated Content, and does not undertake editorial control of User-Generated Content.  In the event that any inappropriate User-Generated Content is brought to ABEM's attention, ABEM may take all appropriate action.  ABEM may, but is not required to, pre-screen, refuse, or remove any User-Generated Content that ABEM deems to be abusive, defamatory, obscene, an infringement of others' intellectual property rights, or otherwise in violation of the online Code of Conduct or any other provisions set forth in these Terms.

(d) All Website content produced by ABEM or for ABEM on the Website ("ABEM Content") is protected by copyright, and owned or controlled by ABEM, or, if applicable, the party credited.  You shall abide by all additional copyright notices, trademark notices, information, or restrictions contained on the Website.
 

License

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, ABEM grants you a non-exclusive, nontransferable, limited, fully-revocable (at any time and for any reason) term license to access and use the Website for personal, noncommercial use only.  Any other use of the Content is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of ABEM.
 

Your Obligations

In consideration of Your use of the Website, You agree:

•    not to use the Website to: (i) transmit spam, unsolicited communications, or unauthorized third-party content; (ii) spoof someone else's identity or otherwise misrepresent Your affiliation with a person or entity; (iii) forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers (including URLs) in order to disguise the origin of any User-Generated Content; (iv) disrupt the normal flow of dialogue or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users' ability to use the Website; (v) engage in activities that would violate applicable local, state, national or international law, or any regulations having the force of law; or (vi) collect or store personal data about other users unless specifically authorized by such users; and
 
•    to be entirely responsible for all User-Generated Content and, specifically, not to upload, post or otherwise transmit, via the Website, any User-Generated Content that: (i) is harmful, obscene, pornographic, defamatory, racist, violent, offensive, harassing, threatening, or otherwise objectionable; (ii) constitutes an unauthorized disclosure of personal information; (iii) violates or infringes anyone's intellectual property rights; (iv) contains software viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs designed to interrupt, destroy, or interfere with the operation of any software, hardware, or other equipment; or (iv) violates the Online Code of Conduct; and
 
•    to accept sole and exclusive responsibility (as between ABEM and You) for adequate protection of Your data and/or equipment used in connection with the Website; and
 
•    to defend ABEM from any claim, suit, demand, and action of any third party, and indemnify and hold ABEM harmless from any resulting judgment, settlement, and cost, including reasonable attorneys' fees, due to or arising out of Your use of (or connection to) the Website (including any use by You on behalf of Your employer), Your breach of these Terms, or Your violation of any third-party rights.
 
 

ABEM Directories

The ABEM directories are provided as a public service for individuals who wish to locate a physician in a particular region. Information contained in the ABEM directories can be used for verification purposes.
 
ABEM undertakes reasonable efforts to keep the contact information contained in the profiles accurate; however, ABEM does not warrant the timeliness, completeness, accuracy, or fitness for a particular purpose of the information in the profiles. ABEM does not endorse in any way the individuals described in these profiles, nor does ABEM verify medical qualifications, licenses, practice areas, or suitability of the listed physicians. In no event shall ABEM be liable for any decision made or action taken in reliance on such information.
 
Commercial use of these directories, for any purpose, is not allowed as specified in the ABEM copyright provisions. Users are prohibited from downloading, republishing, reselling, or duplicating — in whole or in part the information in the directory— for commercial or any other purposes, or for purposes of compiling mailing lists or any other lists. Users may not use the data to establish independent data files or compendiums.
 

Advertisers/Promoters

(a) The Website may contain advertisements and/or promotions of third parties ("Sponsors"). The inclusion of advertisements and/or promotions of Sponsors and other Internet sites or resources that offer content, goods, or services on the Website does not imply endorsement of the advertised/promoted products or services by ABEM. You agree that your dealings with, or participation in promotions of, Sponsors (including, without limitation, payment, delivery of goods or services, warranties, representations, and any other terms or conditions associated with such dealings) are solely between you and Sponsors, and ABEM shall have no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, claim, or complaint of any sort or nature you incur as the result of or relating to any such dealings regardless of the presence of Sponsors on the Website.

(b) You may find links to other Internet sites or resources on the Website that offer content, goods, or services. You acknowledge and agree that ABEM has no responsibility or liability (directly or indirectly) for: the availability of such external sites or resources; any content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites or resources; any damage, loss, claim, or complaint (actual or alleged) caused by, arising from, or in connection with your use of or reliance on any such content, goods, or services available on or through any such site or resource.
 

Confidentiality

During your access to and use of the Website, you may obtain information that ABEM or other users consider "confidential" or "proprietary" ("Confidential Information"). You agree (i) not to reveal Confidential Information to any third parties and (ii) to take precautions, which shall be at least the more protective of (A) reasonable and prudent care or (B) those taken in safeguarding your own trade secret, confidential, or proprietary information, whether by instruction, agreement, or otherwise, to satisfy your obligations under these Terms with respect to authorized use, protection, and security of the Confidential Information. The foregoing restrictions do not extend to information that (i) is at the time of disclosure already known to you from a source not under a confidentiality obligation, (ii) is published, or otherwise made known to the public by ABEM, without restriction, or (iii) is received by you from a third party who is not bound by any confidentiality obligations with respect to such information. You agree that the wrongful disclosure of Confidential Information will cause ABEM (or its other users) irreparable injury that is inadequately compensable in monetary damages; accordingly, ABEM shall be entitled to injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction against you for the breach or threatened breach of this paragraph, in addition to any other remedies at law or equity.
 

Intellectual Property Rights

(a) Except as otherwise provided in these Terms, you shall not (via any means, now known or later discovered or created) reproduce, modify, distribute in any manner (including rent, lease, loan, or sell), mirror, frame, republish, transmit, create derivative works of, or remove or modify any copyright or trademark notice or other notice of ownership relating to, content on the Website, in whole or in part.
 
(b) Unless explicitly stated otherwise in these Terms, nothing in these Terms shall be construed as conferring any license to intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication, or otherwise.
 
(c) If you believe that your copyright, trademark, or privacy rights have been infringed, in any way, by any content on the Website, please contact abem@abemexam.org.  ABEM's receiving, investigating, or responding to your e-mail does not constitute ABEM's agreement or verification of your claim(s) nor any admission of liability for those claims
 

Warranty Disclaimer

YOU USE THE WEBSITE AT YOUR SOLE RISK (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM, LOSS OF DATA, OR OTHER DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM OBTAINING ANY CONTENT FROM THE WEBSITE INCLUDING COMPUTER VIRUSES).  TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ABEM PROVIDES THE WEBSITE "AS IS,""AS AVAILABLE"; AND "WITH ALL FAULTS,"; WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, AND ABEM SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT. ABEM MAKES NO WARRANTY, RESPRESENTATION, COVENANT, OR GUARANTEE WHATSOEVER, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED: (I) AS TO THE VALUE, QUALITY, TIMELINESS, USEFULNESS, RELIABILITY, SECURITY, SUITABILITY, TRUTHFULNESS, OR COMPLETENESS OF THE WEBSITE; (II) THAT THE WEBSITE WILL OPERATE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE; (III) THAT THE WEBSITE WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS; (IV) AS TO THE QUALITY OR VALUE OF ANY SPONSORS' PRODUCTS, SERVICES, CONTENT, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL YOU PURCHASE OR OBTAIN VIA THE WEBSITE; OR (V) THAT ANY ERRORS IN THE WEBSITE WILL BE CORRECTED.  ABEM MAKES NO REPRESENTATION THAT THE WEBSITE IS APPROPRIATE OR AVAILABLE FOR USE OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND ACCESS TO IT FROM TERRITORIES WHERE THE CONTENT IS ILLEGAL IS PROHIBITED.  THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO ACCESS THIS SITE FROM SUCH OTHER LOCATIONS DO SO ON THEIR OWN INITIATIVE AND ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LOCAL LAWS
 

Limitation of Liability

(a) To the extent permitted by law, ABEM shall have no liability, relating to your use of (or connection to) the Website, for direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, exemplary, special, or punitive damages even if advised of the possibility of such (including, but not limited to, loss of business, profits, business information, or business interruption, or any other pecuniary loss). This limitation shall be enforced even if it causes an exclusive remedy to fail of its essential purpose.
 
(b) ABEM reserves the right, at any time, in ABEM’s sole and exclusive discretion, to amend, modify, suspend, or terminate the Website, and/or your use of or access to it, with or without notice, and ABEM shall have no liability to you or any other person or entity for any modification, suspension, or termination of the Website, or any loss of related information.
 

Miscellaneous

(a) ABEM may provide notice(s) to you via e-mail, regular mail, reputable overnight delivery service, or by posting notices or links to notices on the Website.
 
(b) These Terms and performance in accordance with these Terms shall be governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota. Sole venue and jurisdiction for any proceedings pertaining to these Terms shall be in the state and federal courts located in Minnesota.
 
(c) ABEM shall not be liable under these Terms for failure to perform any of its obligations during any period in which it cannot perform due to matters beyond its control, including, but not limited to acts of God, strike, fire, flood, natural disaster, war, embargo, or riot.
 
(d) The waiver or failure of ABEM to exercise in any respect any right provided for in these Terms shall not be deemed a waiver of any further right in these Terms.
 
ABEM reserves any rights not explicitly granted in these Terms.
 
(f) If any provision of these Terms is invalid, illegal, or unenforceable under any applicable statute or rule of law, it is, to the extent necessary, deemed modified in order to comply with applicable law, and the remaining provisions shall not be affected in any way.
 
(g) These Terms constitute the entire agreement and understanding regarding your use of the Website and supersede any prior versions of the Terms. No amendment, addition, deletion, or revision to these Terms shall be valid unless in writing and signed by an officer of ABEM. The headings used in these Terms are for convenience only and shall not control or affect the meaning or construction of any provisions of these Terms.
 

Additonal Information Related to GDPR

 
Scope
 
In addition to the information found in the  Terms of Use and Privacy Statement, the following sections apply to you if you are an individual located within the European Union (EU) and your Personal Data is processed in connection with ABEM’s marketing of goods or services within the EU. Personal Data means any information that allows you to be directly or indirectly identified.
 
Data Controller and Contact Information
 
ABEM is the “data controller” for the processing of your Personal Data.  Jacob Sokol can be contacted regarding the processing of your Personal Data by sending an e-mail to jsokol@aanem.org or by calling 507.288.0100.
 
Purposes and Legal Basis for Data Processing
 
You voluntarily provide and we collect your Personal Data as part of your membership agreement with the organization.  Your information allows us to ensure that you receive member benefits to which you are entitled in exchange for paying dues and acting in accordance with our membership policies.  In order to gain the benefits of membership, we may require you to provide us with certain information.  This information is noted as “required” on your membership application form.  If you choose to withhold certain Personal Data requested by us, it may not be possible for you to gain access to certain aspects of membership.  See the information in the Privacy Statement regarding Collection of Information for additional information regarding the processing of your Personal Data necessary for the performance of your membership agreement.
 
The collection of your Personal Data is necessary to support our legitimate interests as a nonprofit organization.  “Legitimate interests” means our interest in conducting and managing our organization and fulfilling our charitable and educational  mission.  When we process your Personal Data for our legitimate interest, we ensure adequate protection of your Personal Data and consider your rights under data protection laws.  See the information in the Privacy Statement regarding Collection of Information for additional information regarding the processing of your Personal Data necessary to support our legitimate interests.
 
We use cookies as described in the Privacy Statement regarding Use of Cookies.  You may withdraw your consent to our use of cookies at any time by disabling cookies in your browser settings.  If you browse our website with the cookies option turned off, you may not be able to use various features of our site.
 
If we collect your Personal Data for reasons beyond the performance of our obligations to our members or the pursuit of our legitimate interests, we will ask for your consent to collect such data.  If we intend to use your information in a way that is different from the reasons for which it was collected, we will notify you before doing so and, if necessary, ask your permission before collecting any additional data or using it in any way.
 
Access to Your Personal Data
 
All ABEM staff members have access to your personal data.
 
Members and nonmembers can access a limited amount of contact information about other members via our membership directory.  See the information in the Terms of Use statement under AANEM Membership and ABEM Directories for specific information regarding directories.
 
See information in the Privacy Statement under Disclosure of Information regarding other organizations ABEM shares information with.
 
If we intend to transfer your Personal Data to an organization outside of the European Union, we will notify you before doing so.
 
Data Processing and Storage of Personal Data
 
We use an association management system called Protech to securely store and process your Personal Data. Data is also stored in a software called Questionmark if you participate in SAE, certification, or maintenance of certification activities.  See the Credit Card Security paragraph for information on credit card data.
 
Any data that is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected will be deleted.
  • Data supplied for the ABEM certification/maintenance - is kept on file permanently  
  • Data supplied for the CNCT certification/maintenance - is kept on file permanent

Rights
 
Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
  • Right of access: You can request an electronic copy of your personal data contained within our system.  Requests should be made by e-mail  to abem@abemexam.org In order to comply with your request, we may ask you to verify your identity.
  • Right to rectification: If your Personal Data is inaccurate or incomplete, you are entitled to have it rectified or completed.  Updates to your Personal Data can be made by e-mail  to  abem@abemexam.org.
  • Right to erasure: You may ask us to delete or remove your Personal Data.  Requests should be made by e-mail  to abem@abemexam.org. In some situations, deletion of certain Personal Data may mean that it is no longer possible for you to gain access to certain parts of our site or retain access to membership activities.
  • Right to restrict or object to processing: You may ask us to restrict or block the processing of your Personal Data in certain circumstances or request no contact from us.  Requests should be made by e-mail  to  abem@abemexam.org.
  • Right to data portability: You have the right to obtain your Personal Data from us that is contained in our system.  Requests for your data should be made by e-mail  to  abem@abemexam.org.
  • Right to withdraw consent: If we rely on your consent to process your Personal Data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on your prior consent. Requests should be made by e-mail  to  abem@abemexam.org
  • Right to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority: If you have a concern about our privacy practices, including the way we have handled your Personal Data, you can report it to the data protection authority that is authorized to hear those concerns.  The relevant authority is the data protection authority in your country of residence, the country where you work, or the country in which the alleged unlawful use of your Personal Data occurred.