General Conditions

I. General information about the Affinity Foundation

The website https://www.fundacion-affinity.org/ is managed by Fundación Privada Affinity (hereinafter, the "Affinity Foundation"), a private cultural and charity not-for-profit organisation, holder of TIN G-58508763, set up in 1987 and registered on the Registry of Foundations of the Government of Catalonia under no. 350. The Affinity Foundation is devoted to disseminating the benefits of the ties between people and their cats and dogs.

The Affinity Foundation has its registered offices at:

Plaça Europa 54-56, 08902 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona 
Tel.: +34 900 800 001
Fax: +34 93 492 70 01
Email: fundacion@fundacion-affinity.org

II. Acceptance and amendments to the General Terms and Conditions of the Website

  • Acceptance of the General Terms and Conditions

These General Terms and Conditions govern the use of this Internet website (hereinafter, the "Website") that is made available to the user (hereinafter, the User"). The use of this Website implies the full and unreserved acceptance of each of the General Terms and Conditions that may be in force at any given time by the User on accessing it and, therefore, if the User disagrees with any of the General Terms and Conditions whatsoever, the User must refrain from using the Website.

  • Amendments to the General Terms and Conditions

The Affinity Foundation reserves the right to amend these General Terms and Conditions of this Website at any time whatsoever, as well as any of the other general or specific terms and conditions, regulations on its use, instructions or warnings that may apply. Therefore, the User must read these General Terms and Conditions every time this Website is accessed. As a consequence, the User expressly and fully accepts that the access to and use of this Website is undertaken under the sole and exclusive responsibility of the User.

III. Personal data

  • Data controller and data protection officer

Unless otherwise stated, the Affinity Foundation is the data controller of all the databases that contain any personal data collected on this Website. This policy on personal data protection may vary over time due to changes in the law, case law or the standards followed by the Spanish Data Protection Agency. The Affinity Foundation hereby informs the Users that it complies with all regulations on personal data protection and, specifically, with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter, the “GDPR”) and with the Spanish regulation derived from the GDPR.

The Affinity Foundation is not subject to the obligation to appoint a Data Protection Officer. However, notwithstanding any other points of contact that are designated in these General Terms and Conditions, should you have any queries, requests or require further clarifications on the processing of your personal data, you may send an email or letter to the following addresses: fundacion@fundacion-affinity.org/ Fundación Affinity, Plaça Europa 54-56 08902 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), with the subject or attention line “Data Protection”.

  • Personal data subject to processing

The Affinity Foundation shall process the following personal data:

-        Any initial data that you voluntarily provide related to a request to register as a user, information requests made to the Affinity Foundation or requests to receive any of the services offered by the Affinity Foundation. We shall give clear, precise instructions on the mandatory data you must provide on each form so that you are able to request the information or service that you may ask us for at any given time.

-        Any data that are subsequently generated or exchanged with Users in order for the Affinity Foundation to fulfil their initial request.

-        Data obtained from the interconnection of different devices with which the User interacts on the Affinity website.

-        Data obtained from the generation of anonymous identification numbers and their association with the accounts of registered Users.

-        Personal data that Users provide through social media in order to handle their requests. These data shall depend on the privacy settings of each User, the use made by each User of social media, in addition to the privacy policies of the social media in question.

  • Purpose of data processing

The Affinity Foundation shall process Users’ data to handle and process requests received from them, whether for information, registration, or the rendering of services.

In addition, Users’ data shall be processed to send, including via electronic media, promotional information about its activities and services, as well as activities and services that are of a similar nature to those previously requested by them.

  • Legal basis for data processing

The Affinity Foundation is legally entitled to process personal data for handing and processing requests from Users, as this is required for the Affinity Foundation to meet its contractual obligations in respect of such requests.

With regard to the analysis of the data obtained and information sent about activities and services of a similar nature to those previously requested or acquired by Users, the processing of their data is a legitimate interest of the Affinity Foundation, expressly recognised by the data protection regulation, as well as by the regulations on services in the information society. Users may now or any time in the future opt out from receiving marketing messages about The Affinity Foundation’s activities and services by sending an email to fundacion@fundacion-affinity.org/.

  • Assignment to third parties

The Affinity Foundation shall only assign the User's personal data to Affinity Petcare, S.A. and its subsidiaries whose business is related to pet food, products and services for the purposes set forth in the sub-section “Purpose of data processing” of this section “III. Personal data”, in which the business of each subsidiary is explained, whenever such an assignment is essential for fulfilling the purposes of processing personal data as described in the aforementioned sub-section of this privacy policy.

Furthermore, in compliance with and within the scope and restrictions provided for in the regulation, the Affinity Foundation may assign the User's data to public administrations and authorities, provided it is obliged to do so due to the regulations that govern the Affinity Foundation’s activity. Beyond such cases, the Affinity Foundation shall not assign the User's personal data to third parties, without the prior express consent of the User on every occasion this occurs.

The Affinity Foundation hereby informs you that it works in partnership with third-party service providers as provided for by law. These providers may have access to your personal data in order for them to provide the services and/or fulfil the obligations arising from the legal relationships entered into between such third parties and the Affinity Foundation, in the framework of the Affinity Foundation fulfilling its goals. In any event, the Affinity Foundation has entered into the statutory non-disclosure and data protection agreements with such service providers, in full compliance with the provisions of the regulations in force on personal data protection.

  • Rights of Users

In respect of the data collected, the Users may exercise their rights as provided for in the GDPR and related regulations and, specifically, the right of access, rectification, objection, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability. These rights may be exercised by sending an email with the subject line “Data Protection” to fundacion@fundacion-affinity.org or by any postal service, providing the Affinity Foundation is able to acknowledge the receipt of notifications sent in this way, by writing to: Fundación Affinity, Plaça Europa 54-56 08902 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), with the attention line “Data Protection”.

Furthermore, if you consider that the processing of your personal data infringes current legislation or your privacy rights, you may submit a complaint:

  • By writing to the postal or email addresses that appear in the section “Personal data storage, purpose and recipients” herein.
  • By lodging a complaint with the Spanish Data Protection Agency via its website or by writing to its postal address.
  • Warning to minors

The Affinity Foundation hereby informs the User that minors under the age of 14 may not register on this Website.

Furthermore, Users are informed that if they are aged over 14 but under 18, it is recommended that they tell their parents or legal guardians that they intend to access the Website before doing so, in order that the former explain to them the implications of these General Terms and Conditions and, specifically, of the personal data policy contained herein, as well as elucidating on the possible uses to be made of this Website, notwithstanding the specific cases in which by law the parents or legal guardians of minors between the ages of 14 and 18 must give their consent for their personal data to be processed.

  • International transfers of personal data

The Affinity Foundation has hired the services of technology providers based in countries that do not have legislation that is equivalent to the EU’s (“Third Countries”). These providers have entered into non-disclosure and personal data processing agreements with the Affinity Foundation, as required by law for providers based in Third Countries, to ensure that all the guarantees and safeguards required to protect your privacy are applied. Users may obtain further information about the safeguards for protecting their privacy by writing to the postal or email addresses that appear in the sub-section “Rights of Users” herein.

  • Data retention period

The personal data of Users shall be kept on record throughout their relationship with the Affinity Foundation. Once a User ends the relationship, the Affinity Foundation shall keep the User’s data on record for the retention periods required by law. In such cases, your data shall only be processed for the purpose of proving that we have met our legal and contractual obligations. Once such statutory limitation periods have expired, your data shall be deleted or, alternatively, anonymised.

  • Cookies policy

The Affinity Foundation has drawn up this policy to inform Users about what a cookie is, the type of cookies the Affinity Foundation uses on this Website and how Users can manage them according to their preferences.

When Users visit this Website for the first time, they are informed that cookies will be installed on their computers and about this "Cookies Policy" of the Affinity Foundation. On any future visits Users may make to this Website, they may consult this Cookies Policy at any time under the “Legal Notice” tag at the bottom of the Website.

By simply browsing this Website, Users consent to the Affinity Foundation installing the cookies on their computers that are described below, unless they have modified the configuration of their browser to reject cookies.

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small data files that some platforms, such as websites, may install on your computer. They serve several purposes: they allow your browsing preferences to be stored, gather statistical information, enable certain technical functionalities, etc. Cookies are sometimes used to store basic information about the browsing habits of Users or their computers, so that they can be recognised. 

Cookies are also used to manage Users' sessions to reduce the number of times they must enter their passwords or to match the contents on the Website to their preferences. Cookies can be session cookies, that is, cookies that are erased from Users' computers once they leave the website that generated them, or persistent cookies, that is, cookies that will be stored on Users' computers until a set date.

Why are they important?

Cookies are important for the following reasons: from a technical point of view, they enable websites to work more swiftly and to adapt to User preferences (they store a User's language or currency, for example). Moreover, they help website managers to improve services, thanks to the statistical information they collect from them.

What types of cookies are used on this Website?

How can Users change cookie settings?

Users can allow, block or delete the cookies installed on their computers by changing the cookie settings on their Internet browser. Links are given below that will redirect you to the information you need to proceed to change your cookie settings on your browser.

Google Chrome: http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=es&answer=95647
Microsoft Internet Explorer: http://windows.microsoft.com/es-es/windows7/how-to-manage-cookies-in-internet-explorer-9
Mozilla Firefox: http://support.mozilla.org/es/kb/habilitar-y-deshabilitar-cookies-que-los-sitios-we
Ópera: http://www.opera.com/browser/tutorials/security/privacy/
Safari in OS X: http://support.apple.com/kb/ph5042

Confidentiality and security in the processing of User data and in electronic messages

The Affinity Foundation undertakes to process all of the User's personal data in the strictest confidence by adopting the technical and organisational security measures necessary to guarantee the security of personal data and prevent their alteration, loss, unauthorised processing and/or access, based on the state of the technology, the nature of the data stored and the risks to which they are exposed, pursuant to the provisions of the GDPR and related regulations. The Affinity Foundation ensures, insofar as it is able and in line with the current state of the technology, the confidentiality and integrity of the data and information that the Users provide in fulfilling the abovementioned purposes.

IV. Intellectual property

This Website may include, by way of example but not limited to, information, data, contents, texts, documents, advertising materials, drawings, databases, sounds, software, corporate symbols, signs, trademarks, graphic designs, a combination of elements, logos and images, which are protected by intellectual or industrial property rights that the Affinity Foundation holds or is a legitimate licence holder thereof.

Thus, it is strictly prohibited to totally or partially reproduce, publicly disclose, modify, transform, copy, distribute or in any other way exploit or handle both this Website and its information, data, contents, texts, documents, advertising materials, drawings, databases, sound effects, software, corporate logos, distinctive signs, trade names, graphic designs, combinations of features, logos, images and, in general, any other information contained on this Website.

Likewise, it is prohibited to take apart, perform reverse engineering on or, in general, in any way transfer or produce works using the software programs required to run and access this Website and the services offered on it, as well as to exploit these elements in any way whatsoever. Specifically, it is prohibited to create links, hyperlinks, frames or similar links that may be posted on the Website, without the express prior consent of the Affinity Foundation.

V. Use of services and contents

All Users who access this Website must make proper use of its services and contents in line with the philosophy of this Website, as described in this section, and under the principles of good faith and in compliance with current laws.

Therefore, in the case of any services offered or that may be offered on this Website (such as blogs, forums and chats), or through official profiles on Social Media, where the opinions of Users may be posted or where they may store contents, the User undertakes not to publish, divulge, disseminate, disclose or distribute any type of material and/or, in general, information or opinions, whose contents go against the legislation in force, moral conduct or public order, are libellous or pornographic, or that tarnish the reputation and image of the Affinity Foundation or any other third parties.

Users likewise undertake to solely and exclusively perform such actions related to the contents if they lawfully hold the corresponding exploitation rights as provided for by law, namely, the rights to reproduce, distribute, publicly disclose or transform the contents.

Furthermore, it is prohibited to make use of any of the services offered or that may be offered on this Website (such as blogs, forums and chats) for profit or in such a way that involves or may involve damage to or unfair competition against the Website and the Affinity Foundation (that is, conducts such as diverting traffic to another website).

This undertaking also applies to the use of the services offered or that may be offered on this Website. Such use must be in line with the main objective and philosophy of this Website, namely, that the Users may receive and/or share information and experiences about the world of pets and, in particular, about the benefits of the ties between people and their cats and dogs.

The Affinity Foundation may not be held liable for any third party contents (such as comments, photographs, videos, chats, forums, etc.) that are in breach of the above and, likewise, it reserves the right to amend or, if necessary, immediately withdraw such contents or information, without this giving rise to indemnity of any kind to the User responsible for posting such contents or information on this Website.

To this regard, the Affinity Foundation enables the Users of this Website to report and make the Affinity Foundation aware of any abuse, incidents, violation of rights, inappropriate contents or contents that are in breach of the provisions in these General Terms and Conditions that may appear on this Website of which they become aware by writing an email to fundacion@fundacion-affinity.org. Users must give a brief description of the reasons for their complaint or of the incident in question. In this regard, the User is hereby informed that the personal data of the informant and the accused may be transferred by the Affinity Foundation for the purposes of investigating the abuse, incident, content or breach reported and deciding whether the competent public authorities should be made aware of this, in which case the data referred to shall be disclosed to the public and/or judicial authorities, and to law enforcement bodies and agencies. Notwithstanding this possibility of divulging and reporting information offered by the Affinity Foundation, the User may use other systems for divulging and reporting information contained on the Social Media on which the Affinity Foundation has created official profiles.

The User is hereby informed that the contents on this Website stored by the User as a consequence of using this Website shall imply the assignment free of charge for an indefinite period to the Affinity Foundation of all of the exploitation rights over the contents referred to, that is, the rights to reproduce, distribute, publicly disclose and transform such contents.

VI. Social media

The processing of the data of Users who become followers of the official profiles of the Affinity Foundation on Social Media shall be governed by the terms and conditions provided for in these General Terms and Conditions (section “III. Personal data”) and, subsequently, by the privacy policies, and terms and conditions of use that may be established by the Social Network used.

The Affinity Foundation shall process the data of the Users who become followers or fans of any of the abovementioned profiles, for the purposes described in section "III. Personal data" of these General Terms and Conditions, as well as for the purposes of properly managing the aforementioned profiles and finding out the opinions and/or comments of Users. By becoming a fan or follower, the Users consent to their data being processed in line with the purposes set out in the environment of the Social Network concerned.

The Affinity Foundation may remove any information or content from its profile that goes against the rules set out in the general terms and conditions of use of the Social Network in question, as well as against the provisions set out in these General Terms Conditions.

Users may exercise their rights of access to, rectification, erasure, to object, restriction of processing and data portability of their data at any time, in the way described in the section "Rights of Users" above. In any event, Users may delete their follower status on the official sites of Social Media by following the steps set out in the terms and conditions of use of any given Social Network, in which case the Affinity Foundation shall not be able to intervene in this process. Users are likewise reminded that any modifications or amendments to their data on Social Media must be made through their user settings, as the Affinity Foundation is unable to make such changes.

In order to submit any queries related to the way the Social Media on which the Affinity Foundation has official profiles process the personal data of followers, the User may contact the Affinity Foundation at the following email address: fundacion@fundacion-affinity.org.

VII. Release of liability

The Affinity Foundation provides its users with pieces of information, which, despite being compiled by experts in the sector and the diligence taken in drawing them up, may contain inaccuracies or errors, or they may not be up to date when the User accesses them. Therefore, having made the User aware of potential inaccuracies in the content of this Website, the Affinity Foundation may not be held liable for damages arising from the hypothetical lack of reliability, completeness and/or relevance of the contents, in addition to possible typing errors, shortcomings or flaws in figures that may be posted on the Website.

Furthermore, the Affinity Foundation may not be held liable for service outages, malfunctions or problems with data network connections through which this Website is accessed, whatever the origin of the malfunction.

The Affinity Foundation is unable to guarantee that the contents on this Website are suitable or available outside of Spain. Should all or part of the contents on this Website be considered illegal in countries outside Spain, their access and use by Users shall be prohibited and, in the event that they do access them, the User shall be solely responsible for their use.

The use that may be made of the information and contents that appear on this Website and/or access to other third-party websites through the links posted on this Website shall remain the sole responsibility of the Users who perform such actions. Under no circumstances may the Affinity Foundation be held liable for any damages that may be sustained from such use or activities.

As a consequence, the User expressly and fully accepts that the access to and use of this Website is undertaken under the sole and exclusive responsibility of the User.

VIII. Applicable law and jurisdiction

These General Terms and Conditions and any matters related to their interpretation, performance or non-performance shall be governed by Spanish law, notwithstanding any EU regulations and international treaties to which they may be subject.

Furthermore, the Affinity Foundation and the User submit, with express waiver of any other jurisdiction to which they may have recourse, all matters, incidents or disputes that may arise related to this Website, to the Courts and Tribunals to which the Affinity Foundation is subject by virtue of its registered address as stated above, notwithstanding any other jurisdictions to which it may be subject by virtue of the application of EU Regulation 44/2001 or any other EU regulations and international treaties to which it may be subject.