General conditions of sale

The EcoTree website has been edited by the company EcoTree.

The company EcoTree is an SAS, (English: 'simplified joint-stock company') with a capital of 130 152.00 € whose headquarters are located at 38 quai de la Douane, 29200 Brest.

It is registered with the R.C.S. of Brest under the number 802 165 704.
The website has been declared to the CNIL under number 2058010.

EcoTree is registered with the AMF under number D-18-01 as an intermediary in miscellaneous goods. Click on the hyperlink to access the information document.

Legal representative: Erwan LE MENE
Publication director: Baudouin VERCKEN

To contact us:
E-mail : contact@ecotree.fr
Phone number: +33 (0)1 75 85 03 22

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410 Terry Ave. North, Seattle, WA 98109-5210, USA.
Website: https://aws.amazon.com

Preamble

These General Terms and Conditions apply without reserve or restriction to all the services offered by EcoTree on this website: i.e. various offers for the purchase of trees by private individuals and legal entities under private law.
EcoTree offers the acquisition of various species spread over different forest areas, either as a one-off acquisition or as a subscription.

The purpose of these General Terms and Conditions of Sale is to define the conditions of use of the EcoTree website and the contractual relations established between the company’s website and the Buyers.

When accessing the EcoTree website, you are considered to be accepting of the General Terms and Conditions.

Changes to these General Terms and Conditions are enforceable for users of the site from the time they are published, but cannot be applied to transactions concluded previously.

« Product »  refers to a tree, both to its species or the forest area where it is located (including its GPS coordinates).
« Offer »  refers to the different products on offer as well as the terms and conditions governing their acquisition,
« Services » refers to all products and services on offer (including subscriptions) by EcoTree on its website,
« Purchaser » refers to any natural or legal person who has opened a Purchaser Account (also referred to as account) on our website,
« Purchaser account or account » refers to the part of the website created by the Purchaser, filled in with his or her personal information and only accessible by the Purchaser with the confidential code issued to him or her at the creation of the account,
« Harvesting date » the date determined by EcoTree on which a tree will be cut in the relevant forest area. This date is indicative and may be adjusted by up to five years to account for sustainable management practices and unforeseen factors that could impact the originally planned silvicultural itinerary.
« Cutting price per unit » refers to the selling price of trees in a forest area in which trees have reached their harvesting date,
« Order » refers to any acquisition of a product made and validated by the purchaser on the website of the company EcoTree,
« General Terms and Conditions » refers to these General Terms and Conditions of Sale and use accepted by the purchaser of a product made on the website of the company EcoTree during the creation of his or her account,
« User » refers to any person visiting the website of the company EcoTree before acquiring any products on offer on this website,
« Website » refers to the Internet Site published by EcoTree, on which its users have the possibility to acquire EcoTree's products,
« Customer Service » refers to the department of the company EcoTree that manages relations with the Purchasers or any person visiting the website and wishing to receive more information about the company’s products and services,
« Trusted Third Party » refers to a natural person that any purchaser (only natural persons) enters into his or her Purchaser Account at its creation.

It is specified that the term " Forest area " designates a forest parcel, that is to say a surface to which is associated a stand (one or several species), a forestry management plan and over a determined period of time. Each year of exploitation of this plan corresponds to "a division". EcoTree's economic model (the right to the product of the cut) is applied at the scale of this parcel. (A forestry management plan is the set of forestry interventions necessary to achieve a given objective in a given context.)

These terms and conditions are valid from August 4th, 2020. This version cancels and replaces previous versions.

Users are encouraged to carefully read these General Terms and Conditions, which are accessible by hyperlink on each page of the EcoTree company’s website. 

Users are advised to download and/or print them and keep a copy.

The acquisition of products is reserved to users who have created a Purchaser Account and who have thereby accepted these General Terms and Conditions in their entirety with one click. 

The explicit acceptance of these General Terms and Conditions is confirmed by creating an EcoTree account, logging into an EcoTree account or by clicking on the hypertext link provided for this purpose. 

Since these may be modified at any time and without notice, it is imperative that the Purchaser consult the General Conditions when acquiring a new Product, in particular, in order to ensure that the contractual clauses in force are respected.

Article 1: Create a Purchaser Account

To order a product on the website of the company EcoTree, the User must be legally capable of contracting and using this site in accordance with these General Conditions.

The User has to create a Purchaser Account by completing an online registration form and filling in all the mandatory fields.

Without needing to justify itself, EcoTree reserves the right to accept or reject by e-mail, at its sole discretion, the creation of Purchaser Accounts.

To guarantee the confidentiality of the personal information saved on his or her account, the Purchaser is invited to choose a password when creating his or her account.

Once the account has been created, the Purchaser agrees not to communicate his or her password to any third party whatsoever.

Otherwise, EcoTree cannot be held responsible for potential unauthorized access to the account of one of its customers.

The Purchaser commits to provide accurate and truthful information.

He or she undertakes to regularly update the data provided when creating his or her Purchaser Account.

Once created, this account can be accessed at any time. When accessing his or her account, the Purchaser will be provided with the following data, updated regularly:

• The valuation in euros over time of the trees the Purchaser has acquired, as punctual purchases or with subscriptions


• Data that enables the measurement of ecosystem services provided by the forests.

The Purchaser will be informed, through their customer area, newsletters or the annual management report, of forestry interventions carried out in the forest area in which their tree is located.

The User is financially liable for the use of the website made both in his or her own name and on behalf of third parties, including minors, unless he or she can prove that the use was fraudulent and did not result from any fault or negligence on his or her part.

Any use of the website's service that is fraudulent or that contravenes these General Terms and Conditions may result in EcoTree refusing the concerned User the access to the services offered on its website at any time.

EcoTree also reserves the right to temporarily suspend access to the Purchasers' accounts, especially in the event of technical problems or maintenance operations.

Article 2: Create an account and designate a Trusted Third Party

The duration of the services offered by EcoTree is spread over a period entirely determined by the development path of its Products.

In accordance with article 10 of these General Terms and Conditions, the Purchaser:
- acquires ownership of one or more trees (movable property by anticipation as defined in Article 521 of the French Civil Code); and
- at the same time, is entitled to a right on the revenues generated by the final cut of the trees that have reached their harvesting date in the relevant forest area; and
- mandates EcoTree to manage the trees they have acquired and then pay them the proceeds of the harvest, once it is carried out.

The time until the trees offered for acquisition reach their harvesting date can take between ten and seventy years. It is totally independent of the life duration of the Purchasers.

In order to preserve the rights of its Purchasers, EcoTree asks them to appoint a Trusted Third Party at the time they create their account.

It is mandatory that the Purchaser designates a natural person of choice at the creation of his or her account in a field reserved for this purpose. He commits him- or herself to renew this nomination every year on the anniversary date of the creation of the Purchaser's account.

For its part, the company EcoTree undertakes to regularly engage its clients to ensure that the information will be updated.
At the tree’s harvesting date, EcoTree undertakes to contact the beneficiary and/or their trusted third-party to give them their expected earnings. In the absence of a designated beneficiary, EcoTree will remit the due sums to a special purposes account with an accredited institution where the concerned party will be able to reclaim them in accordance with the formalities and within the time frame laid down by the law.

Article 3: Placing orders on the website

The User may only order Products on offer on the website of the company EcoTree after having created a Purchaser Account, also called Account, and having accepted, at the creation of this account, these General Conditions by a single click.

The procedure for placing orders consists of (at least) the following steps:

1. The User carries out a search on the website,
2. As a result of the search, the website offers the User one or more Products to be acquired either as punctual purchases, or in the form of a subscription, for him or herself or on behalf of a third party,
3. The User clicks on the Product(s) of choice,
4. A summary presenting his or her choices and the total price of the Product(s) allows the User to check the details of the order,
5. The User must then ensure that all the information displayed, and in particular the information given in the mandatory fields of the order form, is in accordance with his or her instruction. In the case of a punctual purchase, the customer must therefore check the species chosen, the quantity of Products, and the forest area where the chosen Product(s) are located; they may no longer be modified after validation of the order,
6. The User then has to confirm the order,
7. Once the order is confirmed by the User, as well as his or her banking service through which it is placed, the contract is validly concluded with the Purchaser,
8. The online order, which is carried out in secure mode, is validly concluded after agreement of the banking service,
9. EcoTree will send an order confirmation by e-mail as soon as possible, and at the latest five days after the order. This e-mail will confirm the order and list its essential elements, such as the details of the ordered Products and the order's price and quantity.

All the information contained in this confirmation e-mail shall constitute proof of the order's content unless the Purchaser contests it by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt within 8 days.

In the event that the Purchaser does not receive an order confirmation, it is his or her responsibility to contact EcoTree by filling in the standard form provided for this purpose on the website.

It is the Purchaser's responsibility to ensure that the information (identity, e-mail address, postal address, etc.) he or she provided during the order is correct. If any changes concerning the personal information that could affect the order occur, it is the Purchaser's responsibility to update his or her information using the electronic form on the website, in order to ensure that he or she will benefit from the Products ordered.

He or she makes all the necessary modifications to the information previously provided at the creation of the Purchaser's Account/Personal Space.

Article 4: Shipping and Delivery

By reason of the specific nature of the Products marketed by EcoTree, there is no shipment, since the Purchaser buys trees that will be cut when they have reached their harvesting date.

There will therefore be no transfer as such of the Products acquired. But once the order has been confirmed by the Purchaser and the electronic payment has been accepted by the relevant banking service, there will be a transfer of ownership of the product(s) concerned by the transaction.

The Purchaser receives an invoice containing the terms of his or her order:
- The date of the order,
- The species ordered,
- The quantities acquired,
- The forest areas where the products are located,
- The price paid.

This invoice can be downloaded by the Purchaser on his or her Purchaser Account and attests to this transfer of ownership and the related risks.

Article 5: Proof

It is hereby expressly agreed that, unless EcoTree commits an evident mistake, the data stored in EcoTree's information system, in particular in the electronic messaging tools used by the company, constitutes conclusive evidence of the Orders placed by the Purchaser and of the contractual obligations to be performed by all parties.

Data in computer or electronic form stored by the company EcoTree constitute evidence and, if produced as evidence by the company EcoTree in any litigation or other proceedings, shall be admissible, valid and enforceable between the parties in the same manner, under the same conditions and with the same probative force as any document drawn up, received or stored in writing.

Article 6 : Right of withdrawal

The Purchaser is hereby informed that, pursuant to Articles L121-20-12 Et seq. of the French Consumer Code, he or she is entitled to exercise his right of withdrawal from the order he or she has placed.

The Purchaser has fourteen days to cancel his or her order without having to provide any justification in accordance with the provisions of Articles L121-20-12 Et seq. of the aforementioned French Consumer Code.

This period starts from the moment the order has been confirmed, processed and accepted by the relevant banking services.

Order withdrawals requests are carried out by filling in the standard form provided for this purpose on the Website.

EcoTree acknowledges receipt of this withdrawal request with an e-mail.

Article 7: The use of the online feedback service

Any Purchaser may submit a review on the website of the company EcoTree. If he or she is a natural person, he or she must be legally capable of contracting and using the Website in accordance with the General Conditions laid out in this contract.

The person must have personally experienced the purchasing of a Product offered on the Website. Hence, the filing of an online notice is strictly reserved to Purchasers only.

The person must not be in a situation of conflict of interest with EcoTree.

It is compulsory for any Purchaser to complete the form provided for this purpose.

Among the elements requested on the form, only the User's first name and city will appear publicly on the Website. The content published on the Website is labelled as 'Verified Notices', which means that EcoTree has ensured that the Purchaser has both correctly placed an order for a Product found on the Website and paid for the aforementioned Products before publishing a notice on the Site.

The e-mail address provided for filing the notice online must be valid and must allow for the Purchaser to be contacted in order to allow authentication and/or personal contact for the purpose of verifying the authenticity of his or her testimony.

EcoTree must be immediately notified of any misappropriation or fraudulent use of the e-mail address registered for this purpose by e-mail.

The Purchaser may at any time request the deletion of his or her contributions by sending an e-mail to EcoTree, which will process such a request as quickly as possible.

The content relating to an online notice is published on the Website within an average indicative period of 72 hours (including the moderation period). They will then be read by any visitor or other user visiting the website of the company EcoTree.

The default mode will display the content chronologically starting from newest to oldest on the basis of the filing date.

The content will be moderated 'a posteriori' by the company EcoTree.

It will endeavour to publish the content as received from customers.

However, the moderation of the Website allows EcoTree, at its sole discretion and without notice, to remove all or part of the content that would violate the legislation in force.

The company EcoTree reserves the right, at its absolute discretion, to determine which content is published on its Site and to remove any unintelligible or illegal content (including obscene, racist, sexist or defamatory content or publications, or any violation of intellectual property rights, publicity rights or privacy rights).

The Purchaser who submits content bears, in advance, the responsibility to:
- ensure that the content is both relevant and of quality, including aesthetic quality if applicable, that can be used on the site,
- ensure that the content respects the General Terms and Conditions,
- use the same e-mail address to register for the online notification service as the one created for his or her Purchaser Account.

The Purchaser is solely responsible for the content he or she posts on the Website and for complying with the General Terms and Conditions. Under no circumstances may EcoTree be held responsible for published content, nor for errors or omissions perpetrated by customers.

EcoTree reserves the right to remove immediately, without notice, any content contrary to these Terms and Conditions.

EcoTree shall not be liable for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the online notification service, regardless of the cause.

The Purchaser is therefore solely liable for any damages resulting from any violation of the restrictions set out in this article, or any other damages caused by the public disclosure of content on the Website.

EcoTree also reserves the right to suspend access to the online notification platform service, notably in the case of technical problems or for maintenance operation purposes.

Article 8: Our offers

The website of the company EcoTree offers four ways to purchase its Products:
- The punctual purchase for oneself of a specific tree species located in an identified forest area,
- The punctual purchase for someone else of a specific tree species located in an identified forest area,
- Signing up for a subscription for oneself or for others,
- The acquisition of trees to be planted during the next planting season following the date of acquisition. The choice is made from forest species and areas on offer on the website of the company EcoTree.

Customers are also provided with the opportunity to fund several projects at a time, which are aimed at maintaining or generating biodiversity as part of our 'biodiversity' offer. The client is informed that this specific financial operation corresponds to a donation, which renders it ineligible for tax deduction. After the collection of its commission, EcoTree is responsible for allocating all donations made by the customer to the selected projects.

The forest subscription allows the Purchaser to acquire trees selected by EcoTree on a monthly basis. The Purchaser grants EcoTree the mandate to select the specific trees and their species that will be added onto his or her Purchaser Account. The Purchaser who has signed up for a subscription selects the amount of the monthly withdrawal and the account from which he or she wants to be debited. Each month the new trees selected by EcoTree are added onto the Purchaser Account or on the account of another person of choice.

An invoice informing the Purchaser of the details of his or her order is uploaded on their Purchaser Account or on the one of the person he or she has decided to pay for. The invoice provides the amount of new trees, their species, as well as the forest in which they are located.

When the Purchaser has made an acquisition, through punctual purchase or a monthly subscription, on behalf of others, he or she shall indicate for whom he or she has made an acquisition or a subscription in accordance with the stipulations of Article 4 relating to Products acquired on an occasional basis or by subscription for minors.

When making an acquisition on behalf of another party, the Purchaser must enter the beneficiary's e-mail address. An e-mail is sent on the same day of the order or at a later date scheduled at the request of the Purchaser. This e-mail contains a gift code to be entered and instructions explaining the beneficiary how to access the acquired tree property.

The gift code, which justifies the purchase of one or several trees and/or of one or more subscriptions, is valid until one year from its date of issuance. The code is nominative, non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Strictly no extension of the expiry date will be allowed and no exemption to the previously mentioned rule will be authorized with the exception of a withdrawal requested by the Purchaser. In the event of non-use of the gift code within the time limit indicated on the Purchaser's invoice for a third party or on the beneficiary's receipt, neither the Purchaser nor the beneficiary are entitled to a refund.

Except for companies, whose commitment is of a minimum duration of one year (tacitly renewable), the Purchaser has the right to terminate his or her subscription at any time by simply sending EcoTree an e-mail. The cancellation of the subscription will be effective, at the latest, three days after the request (the date of sending being taken as proof). The Purchaser remains the owner of the trees previously acquired.

The effective termination is dependent on paying any excess delivery. Should the payment not be made , EcoTree reserves the right to change the client's portfolio to reach a null account balance.

By subscribing to a forest subscription, as of May 25th, 2018, EcoTree guarantees the following benefits to our (non-professional) customers, as well as to all customers having already subscribed before the given date, without retroactive effect:

• Exclusivity on rare species and trees with short expected time period left before cutting
• Each year, a number of trees are offered, proportional to the number of monthly trees subscribed by the customer. EcoTree draws the customer's attention to the fact that the price of trees offered is at EcoTree's discretion. EcoTree also informs the customer that this exclusivity will only be accorded insofar as EcoTree has officially received the twelve equal and consecutive payments as required under the provisions regarding subscriptions.

These provisions do not cover the subscriptions taken out by professionals.

Article 9: Sponsorship

EcoTree offers customers the opportunity to encourage other people (individuals and professionals) to subscribe to one of its offers in exchange for promotional benefits.

You must be an active EcoTree customer who has purchased to at least one of EcoTree's offers.

A private customer has the possibility to refer one or more people to EcoTree, however, the number of trees offered to you who are refering is limited to 5.

For the referral programme to be validated, the referral code must be entered before registration.

When someone who you've referred to EcoTre have purchased 10 trees (via orders or subscriptions), you'll receives a free tree on your account.

Self-referring or referring within the same household is not permitted. The one you referre to EcoTree must have a different email address and billing address than you. Only the end user of the product will be considered as someone who's referred to EcoTree. The one who's referred to EcoTree must use his or her own means of payment. The referral programme operates in a private setting. The one you referre to EcoTree must be an acquaintance, friend or relative. Artificial orders to inflate the number of people you've referred will be excluded.

EcoTree reserves itself the right to monitor the accuracy of the information provided by participants. Participants in this process (both if you referre someone, or if someone referes you) must authorize any checks regarding the validity of their reference. If, after verification, disputed elements remain, the validation may be refused.

The final validation of the referral only takes place once the legal withdrawal period has expired.

Article 10: The legal nature of the contractual relationship between EcoTree and its customers

EcoTree's social purpose is to develop innovative concepts focusing on sustainable development, notably tree planting and forest management with the aim of selling to individuals and/or companies.

To this end, EcoTree regularly acquires trees of different species located in several forest areas, either from the "PROMENONS-NOUS-DANS-LES-BOIS" (forestry consortium) or from a third party landowner . On behalf of its customers, EcoTree ensures the maintenance and tree growth in order to cut down trees once they reach their harvesting date on behalf of its customers.

EcoTree is based on an ecological model designed not to harm any ecosystem. EcoTree intends to manage forest wood resources in a sustainable fashion in order to preserve the biodiversity of our forests. We strive to guarantee the highest regeneration capacity of our trees, both their present and future vitality, the quality of soils, as well as water in our forest areas.

The implementation of this policy has led EcoTree to set up a management strategy designed to fully enhance our forests' value.

The contractual commitments of the parties: the Purchasers on the one hand, and EcoTree on the other hand, constitute a contractual package under the following terms whereby the Purchaser:

• acquires ownership of one or more trees (movable property in advance according to the French constant case-law of the 'Court de Cassation' with application of Article 521 of the Civil Code); and
• gives EcoTree a mandate to manage the trees they have acquired and then pay them the proceeds of the harvest, once it is carried out.

In execution of this contract, the Purchaser acquires ownership of a movable property by anticipation in accordance with the established French case law of the 'Court de Cassation' for the approval of Article 521 of the Civil Code, namely in this case, a tree intended to be cut down subsequently.

EcoTree draws the customer's attention to the fact that the property acquired is qualified under French civil law as a 'droit de superficie', which closely corresponds to a 'leasehold estate'. As such, the sale of trees enables to separate ownership in two, namely, of the soil (the bottom part) and of the forest with its trees (the upper part).

In view of the unpredictability of nature and the different methods of deforestation and reforestation that entail both the loss and emergence of trees, the number of trees sold by EcoTree is fixed under consideration of the range of a forest massif with a density of 1000 to 10 000 plants per hectare.

EcoTree further draws the customer's attention to the special prerogatives granted to customers who own trees in the same forest area. Each customer owns both a tree and a fraction of the area that includes all the trees located on the same area. As such, each customer has a share of the sale proceeds from the cutting of trees that have reached their harvesting date on the area in question. Each customer correlatively agrees not to benefit from the revenues generated only by his own tree.It should be noted that the tree acquired by the client may disappear before it reaches its harvesting date.

Even in the event of the disappearance of its tree for any reason whatsoever, in accordance with this article, the right of ownership shall be transferred, by real subrogation, to a share of the proceeds of the final cut of trees that have reached their harvesting date on a given forest area as follows:

Right on the products of the final cut = Product of the cut × amount excluding tax subscribed by X/total amount excluding tax subscribed on the given area

It is specified that:

• The "Product of the cut" is equal to the total product of the cut of the trees remaining on the forest area and having reached their harvest due date ;
• The "amount subscribed by X" is equal to the sum of the trees multiplied by their respective purchasing price excluding VAT at T0 (*) purchased by the customer ;
• The "total amount subscribed to on the given area" is equal to the sum of all the "amounts subscribed to" by each of the customers within the area. Total sum of the purchase prices excluding VAT of trees having reached their harvesting date at T(0) ;
• (*) T0: date of first marketing of trees on the EcoTree platform.

As soon as the trees are acquired, the client mandates EcoTree to manage the acquired trees. The purpose of this mandate is to enable EcoTree to implement a management strategy designed to create the most value possible out of the forest areas. This mandate includes forest expertise and maintenance, such as mushroom treatment, clearing, pruning and thinning, etc. In addition, EcoTree reserves the right to use regular partners, such as and notably, forest experts or local forestry companies.

EcoTree's obligation of good forest management is limited to the costs initially planned and provisioned. However, in the event that the massif would be destined to disappear, for reasons outside the obligation of good management of EcoTree, and when the amounts initially planned and provisioned initially planned would not be sufficient, to mitigate this hazard without affecting the general economy of the said forest area and disrupting the existing forestry management plan, EcoTree will have the possibility of carrying out an early cutting of trees held by customers (operating sacrifice). The latter will then receive the price resulting from this anticipated cut and its sale. The proceeds of this cut will be donated in proportion to the customers' commitment as set out below in this document - and the contractual relationship between the customer and EcoTree will thus end. Thus, investor rights would evolve into a pure claim on the proceeds of the cut, which would be paid in full to customers and not used for the repair of the massif.

It is specified that an early cut in no way constitutes an intermediate thinning. The early cut is a hasty exploitation due to an overriding reason (storm, disease, fire, for example) which makes a future harvest uncertain. Intermediate thinning is an operation consisting in the premature removal (in accordance with the established forestry management plan) of certain trees for better environmental performance and productivity.

Considering the risk of fire, or extreme weather or any other natural or criminal hazard, significant cuts may occur within a forest area, resulting from the occurrence of one of these hazards without affecting the general economy of the forest or disrupting the established forestry management plan. By definition, these cuts are exceptional in that they are not provided for in management documents and exorbitant than those necessary for good and habitual forest management. Where applicable, the following is provided:
- All sums resulting from the unplanned cutting that will have been carried out (including windfall) will be deposited to a special purpose account;
-The sums thus consigned will be added to the farm income to be paid to customers at the various deadlines as initially planned. These sums will be distributed in proportion to the amounts invested by customers, as entered in the registers. All products, including the sums deposited, will thus remain paid to customers according to the formula set out in these GTC.
-When applicable, all compensation paid by insurers will be allocated to repairing the massif;the reforested parcels will constitute, if necessary, new forest stands (forest areas), which will be put up for sale by EcoTree. They will not, in any event, be added to the proceeds of the said forest.

The decision to carry out an early harvest with repayment or an exceptional harvest with deposit will be made by an independent forestry expert. In addition, EcoTree will submit, in its annual management report, indexed in the Purchaser's Personal Account, an ad hoc audit of a forestry expert attesting of the quality of silviculture.

EcoTree draws the customer's attention to the fact that he or she will not perceive revenues generated from hunting rights or any other subsidies as these revenues are collected by EcoTree in order to fund the maintenance costs that insure the healthy and sustainable development of the forest.

EcoTree draws the customer's attention to the fact that the Landowner remains the owner of the land. By buying a tree, the customer participates in the financing of the purchase of the land by the Landowner.

From the period ranging from the sale of trees until the final cut at harvesting date - which generates the forest sale revenues - it is stated that EcoTree undertakes: (i) not to form any contractual relation or grant any real rights of any kind whatsoever to a third party (real right on the property of others) on the forest area where EcoTree's trees are sold and located; (ii) and not to transfer ownership of the forest area (of the grounds) to a third party.

Article 11: Early transfer of trees by the Purchaser

EcoTree draws the Purchasers' attention to the fact that the value of his or her investment, unlike that of a basic financial product, derives essentially from the sustainable commitment he or she makes to foster and support healthy forest management on the long-term.

The Purchaser must therefore consider his or her investment as a long-term investment corresponding to the life cycle of the acquired tree. Consequently, the investment might outlive the Purchaser depending on the harvesting date of the acquired species.

EcoTree is not mandated to ensure the liquidity of its clients' financial assets.

Each Purchaser may decide at any time to transfer the rights they have acquired to a third party. A feature is provided for this purpose and accessible in each customer's account.

Article 12: Payment

Prices are indicated in Euros and include all taxes, unless otherwise stated on the website.

The prices shown on the website may be modified at any time without notice. Such modifications will not be applicable to the orders for which the payment has already been confirmed by the banking service EcoTree works with.

Any rejection of payment of an order by the banking service cancels the order. The costs resulting from the cancellation shall be borne by the user, without prejudice to any claim action that may be taken against him.

Payments made on the website are made by credit card (Cards from the following networks: Carte Bleue, Visa, Eurocard/Mastercard or American Express are accepted) via Stripe, a secure payment system.

No banking information is transmitted via the website: the Purchaser pays by entering the number, expiry date and security code on the back of his or her credit card online in the spaces provided for this matter on the form provided on EcoTree's Company Website.

In the event that payment is proven to be irregular, incomplete or non-existent, for a reason attributable to the Purchaser, the sale of the Products will be cancelled. The resulting costs will be borne by the Purchaser, and a civil and/or criminal action may, if necessary, be brought up against the Purchaser.

In order to ensure the security of transactions and consumers, EcoTree reserves the right to block any order that appears fraudulent or does not offer all the necessary guarantees in terms of online security payment.

In this case, the Purchaser may nevertheless acquire one of the Products sold on the website by using other means of payment than the one that has been blocked.

In addition, in the event of any irregularity with regards to payment of an order on the website, EcoTree reserves the right to record the details collected during this purchase on a list of payment incidents.

If necessary, the User may not use these details to place other orders on the website.

An e-mail will be sent to the e-mail address registered at the time of the order to inform the user and invite him/her to regularize the situation with our Customer Service.

Article 13: Intellectual Property

EcoTree is the owner of all intellectual property rights relating to the Site it owns and holds the related user rights.

Access to the EcoTree Company website does not confer on the User any rights over the intellectual property rights relating to the Site, which remains the exclusive property of the EcoTree Company. br />
The elements accessible on the Site, in particular in the form of texts, photographs, images, icons, maps, sounds, videos, software, databases, and data are also protected by intellectual and industrial property rights and other proprietary rights held by EcoTree.

Except as provided in these General Terms and Conditions, the User or the Purchaser may not, under any circumstances, reproduce, represent, modify, transmit, publish, adapt, and adapt, in any medium whatsoever, by any means whatsoever, or exploit in any way whatsoever, all or part of the Site without the prior written consent of EcoTree.

These General Conditions do not entail any transfer of any kind of intellectual property rights on the elements belonging to EcoTree for the benefit of the User.

The Site, trademarks, designs, models, images, texts, photos, logos, graphic charters, software and programs, search engines, databases, sounds, videos, domain names, design or any other information or medium presented by EcoTree, without this list being exhaustive, are its exclusive property and are protected by their copyright, trademark, patent and any other intellectual or industrial property rights that are recognized under the laws in force.

Any reproduction and/or representation, in whole or in part, of any of these rights, without the express authorization of EcoTree, is prohibited and would constitute an infringement punishable by articles L. 335-2 and following of the Intellectual Property Code. Consequently, the user is prohibited from any action or act likely to directly or indirectly infringe EcoTree's intellectual property rights.

Under no circumstances may the User use, print or reformat the content of the EcoTree Company Site for any purpose other than private or family use. He or she undertakes not to download, reproduce, transmit, sell or distribute the content of the EcoTree website.

This prohibition applies in particular, but not exclusively, to practices such as scrapping or the use of robots for the purpose of extracting or reproducing any element of the EcoTree website, including offers of Products presented there, in particular for commercial purposes.

The exploitation not previously authorized by EcoTree, for any reason whatsoever, of all or part of the EcoTree website may be the subject of any appropriate action, including infringement proceedings.

The insertion of hypertext links to any part of the Site is prohibited without prior written authorization from EcoTree.

Article 14: Use of the Website of the Company EcoTree

The use of any software downloaded from the website to access certain services is governed by the terms of the accompanying licence. The Purchaser and/or the User undertakes not to install, copy or use this software before having previously acquiesced to the terms of this licence.

For any software not accompanied by a licence, the Purchaser and/or the User is granted a temporary, private, personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive right of use on this software in order to be able to access, exclusively, the EcoTree company website.

By installing or using the software, the Purchaser and/or the User undertakes to comply with this condition.

EcoTree neither warrants that its website will be free from defects, errors or bugs nor that they may be rectified. Furthermore, EcoTree can not guarantee that the website will operate without interruption or failure or that it is compatible with any particular hardware or configuration of the Purchaser and/or User.

EcoTree is in no way responsible for malfunctions attributable to third-party software.

On no account shall EcoTree be liable for any type of foreseeable or unforeseeable material or immaterial damage (including loss of profits or opportunity...) resulting from the use or inability to use its website in part or in whole.

Finally, EcoTree cannot control all the websites to which it refers to via hypertext links, which only exist to facilitate the User's or Purchaser's searches. EcoTree is therefore not responsible for their content.

Both the User and the Purchaser declare that they are aware of the characteristics and limitations of the Internet, in particular its technical performance, the response times for consulting, querying or transferring data and the risks related to communication security.

Both the User and the Purchaser declare that they have verified that the computer configuration they use does not contain any viruses and that it is in perfect working order.

In the event that the Website contains hypertext links to other sites, it is the responsibility of the Purchaser and/or the User to read the policies of the sites to which the EcoTree company refers to, particularly with regard to the protection of personal data.

EcoTree does not make any commitment regarding any other website to which the Purchaser and/or User may have access via the Website. It cannot in any way be held responsible for the content, operation and access to these websites.

Any creation of a link to its Website is subject to the prior approval of EcoTree.

Article 15: Protection of personal data

Data is collected by EcoTree once the User gives their consent. EcoTree ensures that all collected data is never given, leased or sold to third parties. EcoTree solely handles users’ confidential information for the purpose of operating its website. As acknowledged by the user, the collected nominative data will be processed in order to successfully complete orders. For this same purpose, their personal information may be communicated to EcoTree’s providers. Moreover, EcoTree may collect site visitors’ non-personal data, for the purpose of improving website functionalities (e.g. tracking the number of visitors on particular pages). In accordance with the law of January 6, 1978 amended by the law of August 6, 2004, and the European Regulation 2016/679 relating to the protection of personal data you have a right to access, modify and delete your personal data . If you wish to exercise these rights or have any questions about the processing of your data, you can contact our DPO: dpo@ecotree.green or fill out a claim with the CNIL. This data processing has been declared to the National Commission on Informatics and Liberties (CNIL) under number 2058010. To find out more about our data protection policy, see our dedicated page https://ecotree.green/en/data-protection .

Article 16: Applicable law and jurisdictions

These General Terms and Conditions, and more generally the contractual relations established between the Purchaser and EcoTree, are subject to French law.

Any dispute relating to their interpretation and/or execution shall be referred to the French judiciary.

Article 17: Force Majeure

Neither party will have failed to fulfil its contractual obligations, insofar as their execution will be delayed, hindered or prevented by a fortuitous event or a case of force majeure.

The party affected by such circumstances will notify the other within 7 business days of becoming aware of them.

Any irresistible fact or circumstance, external to the parties that is considered to be unforeseeable, inevitable, beyond control and which cannot be prevented by the parties involved, despite all reasonable efforts, shall be considered as a fortuitous event or force majeure.

The two parties will then get together, within 30 days, to examine the impact of the event and agree on the conditions under which the execution of the order will be continued. If the fortuitous event or force majeure lasts longer than 60 days, the order for Products may be cancelled by the injured party.

In addition to the fortuitous events or force majeure qualifications retained by the French Jurisprudence, EcoTree extends the definition of both to: the blocking of means of transportation, the blocking of delivery or supply, earthquakes, fires, storms, floods, lightning, and/or the shutdown of telecommunication networks.

Article 18: Risks

By choosing to purchase a tree from EcoTree, the customer is exposed to the following main risks:

Risk of total loss of capital
The value of a tree can depreciate, thus leading to a risk of total loss of invested capital.

Inflation risk
Before making an investment decision, the client must also take into account that the value of the currency may fluctuate over time. Consequently, there is a risk of depreciation of the currency that could result in a return rate lower than the inflation rate.

Risk of lack of liquidity
The EcoTree offer is a long-term investment which varies according to the tree's harvest date. Thus, EcoTree does not guarantee the liquidity of its customers' forest assets before the harvest date is reached. The customer has no right to have thei tree taken back or be repurchased by EcoTree.
However, EcoTree reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to acquire trees offered for sale by the customer. EcoTree highlights that this is a simple option to redeem at EcoTree's discretion but does not constitute any binding obligation of EcoTree vis-à-vis the customer. EcoTree can therefore refuse to buy back trees for which a sale request has been made by a customer.
In addition, each customer can decide at any time to sell his tree to a third party buyer of his choice. In this case, the customer must notify EcoTree of the designation of the beneficiary of the sale so that EcoTree can note the change in ownership of the tree and continue to manage and maintain it for the benefit of the new buyer.

Risk related to the underlying market(s) and wood price depreciation
One of the objectives of the investment proposed by EcoTree is to achieve a capital gain when the trees are cut down at their harvesting date. However, the customer's attention is drawn to the fact that the selling price of the final cut of trees at their harvesting date in a forest area is subject to uncertainties related in particular to market fluctuations and more particularly to the possibility of a fall in wood prices or the possibility that the price of wood may be equal to 0 or that the species initially acquired may not meet future demand.

Risk of fire, weather or any other natural hazard & debt securities
Forest areas are subject to a number of natural risks. Thus, when investing in a tree, the client must take into account in his or her decision that natural hazards and risks (storm, diseases, fire, etc.) might damage or destroy the trees. EcoTree has taken out insurance with XLB Assurances, covering risks related to fires, storms, natural disasters, snow, frost, frost and hail.
The document presenting all the risks covered is available on the website at the following address: https://files.ecotree.fr/assurance_foret_2019.pdf]
In the event of a claim covered by the insurance policy taken out by EcoTree, the amount of compensation paid by the insurance will be allocated to repairing the massif.
If an exceptional situation, despite the insurance coverage, endangered the survival of the massif and the clients' investment and justified a partial or total exceptional cut under the conditions defined on pages 5 and 6, then the rights of investors would evolve in a pure right of claim on the product of the cut, which would be entirely transferred to the customers and not used for a repair of the massif.

Fiscal risk
The client must take into account the tax that could be applied to any capital gain realized when selling a pack of trees, a tree by the unit or the right on a tree intended for cutting. EcoTree therefore recommends that its clients contact a tax advisor.

EcoTree failure risk
Before making an investment decision, the client must take into account that there is a risk of default by the company. The latter could result in a total loss of the capital invested by the client due to the duration of the investment.

Article 19: Insurance

EcoTree and its forestry group are insured for civil liability and in the event that they fail to meet their obligations for good forest management. Insurance cover also covers all damages covered by Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, namely negative, serious and measurable changes in a natural resource and/or the ecological functions it performs and consisting of damage to protected soils, waters and species and natural habitats. The client is expressly informed that in the event of compensation following a loss, the insurance will be used to repair the forest area concerned and will not compensate the customer as his right is a right on the harvesting cut.
EcoTree has taken out insurance with XLB Assurances, covering risks related to fires, storms, natural disasters, snow, frost, frost and hail.
The document presenting all the risks covered is available on the website at the following address: https://files.ecotree.fr/assurance_foret_2019.pdf]
In the event of a claim covered by the insurance policy taken out by EcoTree, the amount of compensation paid by the insurance will be allocated to repairing the massif.

Article 20: Stipulation for third parties

When the Purchaser wishes to offer a third person the possibility of acquiring Products, it is agreed between the parties that the Purchaser, in accordance with Article 1205 of the Civil Code, may transfer their rights resulting from this contract to any third party of their choice.

As soon as the designation of the beneficiary has been notified to EcoTree against acknowledgement of receipt, the Purchaser's rights and obligations under these General Terms and Conditions shall be transferred to the beneficiary. If the Purchaser decides to exercise their right of revocation in accordance with Article 1206 of the Civil Code, i.e. before the acceptance of the beneficiary, they must notify EcoTree against acknowledgement of receipt.

Article 21: Fight against corruption

EcoTree is committed to preventing and fighting fraud and corruption, in accordance with the provisions of the SAPIN II law n ° 2016-1691 of December 9, 2016 relating to transparency, the modernization of economic life and the fight against corruption. We intend that any person or company in relation to us adheres to the same principles and scrupulously respects the regulations in force. Consequently, any co-contractor or other partner of EcoTree: • formally refrains from implementing any practice of fraud or corruption, in any form whatsoever, in the context of its relations with EcoTree; • undertakes to take all reasonable measures to ensure that its managers, employees, subcontractors, agents or other third parties under its control comply with this obligation; • undertakes to inform EcoTree without delay of any conflict of interest or event which may be brought to its attention and which could result in obtaining an undue advantage, financial or of any other nature, or more generally the violation of applicable regulations, during its partnership with EcoTree. Any violation of the obligations defined in this article will be considered a serious breach authorizing EcoTree to terminate its relationship with its co-contractor or other partner without notice or compensation, but subject to all damages to which EcoTree may claim in the case of such a shortcoming..

Article 22: Communication

The client expressly acknowledges that its commitment to EcoTree is not part of a carbon offsetting process, but rather the continuation of a prior and indispensable process of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The client acknowledges that it has been warned that mentioning carbon sequestration figures in its communications is often tantamount to establishing an mathematical correlation between its carbon footprint and the forest and, in fact, to positioning the company in a carbon offsetting approach that EcoTree does not approve of. The client's commitment to EcoTree is a contribution to global carbon neutrality through developing forest carbon sinks.

The impact of this commitment should never be over-communicated and should be proportional to the nature, the amount of the commitment, and the reality of the company's ecological transition. Furthermore, the client expressly refrains from communicating primarily about tree planting. This action is only ecologically justified if and only if it is accompanied by a genuine forest management policy (which above all favours the preservation of existing trees and natural regeneration) and the protection of ecosystems in the service of a living forest. The client also acknowledges that it has been warned of the harmful effects on the general public of a communication campaign to promote tree planting, which in no way constitutes, on its own, and even more so when it is carried out in an industrial manner, a solution to the climate crisis.

The client expressly agrees to place at the heart of its communication the sustainable management of forests, which is the only guarantee of their biological diversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and ability to satisfy, now and in the future, the relevant economic, ecological and social functions at local, national and international levels, without causing harm to other ecosystems.

If the client's communication of its commitment includes a promotion of its products and services, EcoTree recommends, in anticipation of the provisions of the Climate Resilience Act, that the carbon footprint of these products and services be displayed.

Article 23 : Carbon clause

When a customer subscribes to a carbon reduction offer managed by the latter, they are signing up for a voluntary, unregulated contribution to projects that focus on social, biodiversity and ecosystem protection aspects.

Ex-ante carbon units are units issued before the carbon capture activity is completed. In the case of a forestry project, these credits are issued prior to the tree planting and anticipate the estimated future carbon capture of the forest in question. Ex-post carbon units are issued after emission reductions have been achieved and verified.

These carbon units are intangible movable assets, materialised by their registration in the account of their owner, freely transferable, and part of the owner’s legal assets who is free to value them as he wishes. However, as soon as the client communicates in any way about their contribution to global carbon neutrality by linking it to these carbon units on their compensatory function, they must be considered as consumed and therefore withdrawn, losing their transferable nature. It is then up to the Client to promptly notify the Service Provider of any operation involving their carbon units (transfer or consumption), so that they can be permanently recorded in the registers.

To this end, the Provider is the sole guarantor for maintaining the records that attest to the Client’s ownership of carbon units. The parties have agreed that this obligation can be delegated.

The proposed carbon offer is based on a methodology developed by the Provider (in some cases by a third-party label) and validated by a third-party certifier. It is inherently empirical and is based on a number of scientific assumptions inevitably subject to change. This carbon methodology is a theoretical and predictive analysis that quantifies the amount of carbon sequestered in forests, stored in wood products, or estimates the substitution effects.

The client is therefore warned that carbon sequestration projects take a long time and are inherently subject to numerous uncertainties, such as storms, fires, and natural disasters, as well as legal and regulatory changes. As a result, there can be no guarantee of achieving specific results that would otherwise give rise to any reimbursement.

This being specified, it is therefore established that :

• The client who acquires a percentage of ex-ante carbon tonnes from a specific forest (according to existing silvicultural practices), is entitled to claim the same percentage on the ex-post carbon tonnes actually recorded, provided that the parties had agreed to carry out this subsequent recording. In any event, the parties have agreed that any difference between the forecasted values and subsequently measured values cannot call into question the purpose of the contract nor give rise to any compensation or renegotiation;
• The carbon methodology in place is designated as such at the time of the third-party certifier’s verification of the ex-ante capture calculations. Therefore, the parties have agreed that the adopted method fixes the contractual relationship (as well as the area on which it operates) and cannot be modified for the future or the past, even if the methodology were to change, unless the parties agree otherwise.

Article 24: Final provisions

These General Terms and Conditions are subject to French law except for conflict of laws rules. In the event of a dispute relating to the formation, validity, interpretation, expiry and/or termination of the present contract, and in the absence of an amicable agreement between the parties, the Jurisdiction will be conferred to the competent courts of Brest. This remains the case notwithstanding multiple defendants and/or warranty claims, even for emergency or protective proceedings in summary proceedings or by application. The jurisdiction clause is not applicable to non-professionals or consumers.

The fact that EcoTree does not invoke, at any time or other, any of the provisions of these General Terms and Conditions shall not be construed as a waiver of its right to do so at a later date.

Without prior notice or information and at any time, EcoTree reserves the right to revise and/or modify these General Conditions.

In the event that one of the provisions of the General Terms and Conditions is declared null and void, it shall be deemed unwritten, without this affecting the validity of the other provisions, unless the provision declared null and void was essential and decisive.