Article 1 – Legal notices

1.1 Publisher

The site is fully financed and updated by Institut Roche (Institut Roche, a simplified joint stock company with a capital of €500 000, whose registered office is located at 4, Cours de l’Ile Seguin 92650 Boulogne-Billancourt, France and registered in the Nanterre (France) Trade and Companies Register under number 529 235 749).

Publishing Director: Magnus FONTES 

The Internet User can contact the site administrator at the following address: [email protected]

1.2 IT outsourcing and data hosting services

The data on this website is hosted on data centers located in the European Union and belonging to Amazon Web Services (AWS) EMA SARL whose registered office is located at 38, avenue John F. Kennedy L 1855 99137, Luxembourg.

Furthermore, the hosting service is provided by Webnet, a simplified joint stock company with a single shareholder with a capital of 532 216€, whose registered office is at 1, avenue de la Cristallerie, 92310 Sèvres, France and registered in the Trade and Companies Register under number 403 821 879.

TVA N° FR57403821879
Tel. : +33 (0)1 46 84 05 05

1.3 Completion

Completion: Roche SAS

Article 2 – Purpose of the General Terms and Conditions of Use and Acceptance

These terms and conditions of use (hereinafter the “TCUs”) are intended to set out the terms of use of the services offered by the site (www.institut.roche.fr) (hereinafter the “Site”).

The TCUs apply to any variations or extensions on existing and future social media.

Any person having access to the Site, regardless of their capacity (individual or healthcare professional), the object and purpose and their access and/or use of the services offered, is a user (hereinafter “the Internet User”).

The Internet User is presumed to know and accept, without reservation, all the TCUs applicable to them solely due to their connection to the Site.

The TCUs apply at the same time as the Personal Data Protection Policy of Institut Roche.

Institut Roche reserves the right to change the TCUs at any time. In this case, the applicable notices will be those in force on the date of connection to the Site. 

Article 3 – Purpose of the Site

The Site is an information space presenting institutional and environmental content on Institut Roche and its activities intended for scientists and students.

The Site presents Institut Roche and its activites: its position within Roche’s ecosystem, its vision and missions, the Institut Roche’s collaborators, examples of research collaborations that have been set up, as well as the latest news related to the activities and partnerships supported by Institut Roche.

It is carried out in accordance with the provisions of Articles L.5122-1 et seq. of the French Public Health Code on the advertising of health products to the public and health professionals.

The content on the Site is not intended to constitute medical diagnoses or as a substitute medical consultation and in no case is it intended to replace the relationship between the physician and their patient. As such, for any question about their health, it is the responsibility of the Internet User to consult a healthcare professional. The Site is not a medical or telemedicine device. 

Institut Roche will not be liable for any alleged or actual damage resulting from the use of the Site and its contents. 

Institut Roche reserves the right to change the content on the Site at any time without prior notice.

This Site does not contain any advertising. No citations and/or references to a medicinal product subject to a medical prescription are allowed, pursuant to Article L.5122-6 of the Public Health Code.

Article 4 – Editorial line of the Site

The purpose of the Site is to present Institut Roche: 

• Its missions
• Its position within the Roche Group
• Its modus operandi
• The scientists who contribute to its development 
• Scientific collaborations and partnerships in all therapeutic areas of interest

The Site offers a selection of news and contributions on the following topics.

Article 5 – Intellectual property

The Site is owned and operated by Institut Roche. The layout, text, software, music, sounds, photographs, images, illustrations, videos, databases, source codes, graphic charter, trademarks, logos and any other works on the Site are protected by the Intellectual Property Code and are the property of Institut Roche. The Internet User undertakes not to reproduce them without the express consent of Institut Roche and not to extract information from the databases used on this media.

Article 6 – Information Technology and Civil Liberties – Personal Data Protection

To review your rights and the conditions under which Institut Roche undertakes to collect and process your personal data, please refer to the Personal Data Protection Policy of Institut Roche.

Article 7 – Pharmacovigilance

The Site is not intended to collect pharmacovigilance information. Pursuant to the provisions of the Public Health Code: 

• Any adverse event or special situation* observed by a healthcare professional must be reported by the latter, either directly to the health authorities on the website signalement-sante.gouv.fr or to the regional pharmacovigilance centre (CRPV) on which it depends (form and contact details available on the website of the ANSM [Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé (National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products)] www.ansm.sante.fr). 
• Any adverse event or special situation* may be reported by a non-health professional, either directly to the health authorities on the website signalement-sante.gouv.fr or to the regional pharmacovigilance centre (CRPV) (form and contact details available on the ANSM website). 

The Internet User wishing to report an adverse event or special situation* may also contact the Pharmacovigilance Department and/or Roche Medical and Pharmaceutical Information at the following addresses: 

If applicable, and within the framework of its legal obligations for pharmacovigilance follow-up, Institut Roche will process this type of report and the Internet User may be and/or will be contacted again by Institut Roche for further information. 

* By special situation, Institut Roche means any information arising from conditions of use, whether or not they comply with the authorisation terms of the medicinal product(s), and whether or not it includes an adverse event. These include: medical error or medical error risk, misuse, overdose, abuse, ineffective treatment, exposure to the medicinal product during pregnancy and/or lactation, use that is non-compliant with the terms of the Marketing Authorisation, professional or non-professional accidental exposure, quality defect of the medicinal product, suspected or confirmed counterfeiting, death, suspected transmission of an infectious agent and medical interactions. 

Article 8 – Public interactions, contributions and comments

8.1 Conditions of interaction and contribution

Institut Roche is present on the spaces. Institut Roche accepts the contributions and comments of Internet Users on these spaces subject to compliance with the TCUs and those of each of these platforms.

The Internet User is solely responsible for the data that they disseminate and/or use and/or transfer on the spaces. 

Institut Roche is not responsible for the content of the testimonials written by their authors. 

To comment on and contribute to these spaces, the Internet User undertakes to be 18 years of age and older or to have the permission of a parent in the case of minors, to have a valid email address and to indicate the sources (references, links, etc.) of the medical information contained in the comments if they do not come from their personal experience.

Comments and contributions must not:

• Be off topic. The purpose of the Site and the spaces is to inform the general public of Institut Roche’s news in France.

• Be related to medical treatment. The dissemination or publication of this type of information could be assimilated to advertising within the meaning of the Public Health Code under the terms of which “Public advertising for a drug is only allowed on the condition that this drug is not subject to a medical prescription, that it is not reimbursable by mandatory health insurance plans and that the marketing authorisation or registration does not include restrictions on public advertising due to a possible public health risk, in particular when the drug is not suitable for use without intervention by a doctor for diagnosis, initiation or monitoring of treatment” (Article L. 5122-6 of the Public Health Code).

• Topics related to a treatment, an identified physician or a healthcare centre will not be published or discussed on the spaces. As a general rule, testimonials should not mention any drug name or personal data. The spaces are not intended to collect information related to pharmacovigilance. Therefore, any contribution concerning the reporting of an adverse event related to a product will not be published. However Institut Roche, as part of its legal obligations to monitor pharmacovigilance, processes this type of report in accordance with the dedicated article in the TCUs.

• Contain information relating to medical treatments in accordance with Article L. 5122-6 of the Public Health Code.

• Contain language that is defamatory, violent or which incites violence, which is abusive, obscene, offensive, discriminatory, racist, or xenophobic, pornographic, paedophilic, revisionist, or negationist.

• Refer to illegal activities in all forms, including unauthorised reproduction, the representation or distribution of software, trademarks, photographs, images, text.

• Cite remarks or messages inducing the commission of crimes and offences.

• Impersonate a name or company name.

• Resume all or part of the content protected by an intellectual property right, in particular the copyright, and for which the Internet User does not have rights as well as the messages constituting the infringement of a trademark.

• Divert the service of the spaces for propaganda, prospection, touting or proselytism, for professional, commercial, or political purposes.

• Take, completely or partially, Institut Roche-specific content (image, article, multimedia object, file, etc.) that the Internet User acknowledges as its property.

• Interfere with or disrupt the operation of the spaces.

• And, more generally, contravene good morals, public order, the applicable laws and regulations, the rights of others.

8.2 Moderation by Institut Roche

Contributions and comments are subject to approval by a Institut Roche editorial committee that commits to review them within 24 (working) hours. A contribution and/or comment that does not comply with the TCUs will not be published.

The Internet User will then be informed of the reasons for the moderation and/or may be asked to modify their contribution or their comment in order to comply with the TCUs.

When moderation on the spaces is done after the fact, if a contribution does not comply with the TCUs, it is deleted from the space. The editorial team will inform the Internet User of the reasons for moderation. The Internet User may be asked to partially modify their contribution or comment in order to comply with the TCUs.

In general, Institut Roche reserves the right not to participate in discussions on the spaces as well as to moderate and/or remove comments and contributions from the spaces.

8.3 Request for deletion

Institut Roche is under an obligation to remove any content that is clearly unlawful and/or does not comply with the aforementioned conditions of interaction and contribution, so long as it has actually been aware of it.

If the Internet User wishes to bring to Institut Roche’s attention the presence of content that they consider to be illegal, they may inform Institut Roche at the following address: [email protected] .

In accordance with the terms of Article 6-I-5 of the law For Confidence in the Digital Economy, the said notification must mention all of the following information:

• The date of the notification
• The identity of the notifying party,
• If the notifying party is a natural person: their surname, first name, profession, domicile, nationality, date and place of birth,
• If the notifying party is a legal entity: its form, name, registered office and the body that legally represents it,
• The names and domicile of the recipient or, if it is a legal entity, its name and registered office,
• The description of the disputed facts and their exact location within the Site (e.g.: URL link of the video),
• The reasons why the content must be removed, including the mention of legal provisions and justifications of the facts,
• The copy of the correspondence sent to the author or publisher of the disputed information or activities requesting its interruption, their removal or modification, or the justification that the author or publisher could not be contacted.

Article 9 – Responsibilities

9.1 Responsibility for use of the Site

Institut Roche provides the Site without any guarantee of compatibility with the Internet User’s computer equipment. All costs related to access to the Site are the sole responsibility of the Internet User. 

Institut Roche does not guarantee that the Site or the Internet will not have a malfunction of any kind. Institut Roche will not be liable for any damages, direct or indirect, suffered by the Internet User that may result from the access, installation, use of the Site or from a malfunction of the Site or the network. 

Institut Roche will not be liable for any damages suffered by the Internet User, including the loss, deterioration or alteration of files, transmission of viruses that could infect their computer equipment or any other property related to the connection and/or consultation and/or use of the Site and its features.

9.2 Responsibility for Site content

Institut Roche strives to provide reliable and up-to-date information but makes no guarantee or representation, express or implied, as to the compliance and completeness of the information and content available on the Site.

Institut Roche assumes no responsibility for the timeliness of the decisions made by Internet Users based solely on information posted on the Site. The use of the information and content remains under the sole responsibility and control of the Internet User.

9.3 Responsibility for links to other sites

Links to access third-party sites are or may be offered to the Internet User. Institut Roche has no control over the content of third-party sites and expressly rejects any responsibility for the information contained therein and the consequences of its use.

Article 10 – Access to the Site

Institut Roche reserves the right to terminate, suspend, modify and discontinue access to all or part of the Sites, at any time, without prior notice, for any reason. 

Institut Roche cannot be held responsible for any interruption or suspension of the site, regardless of the cause (in particular maintenance or incident on the internet network).

Institut Roche further reserves the right to terminate or restrict access to the Site to any Internet User who uses the Site in violation of the notices and/or attempts to connect to it in an unauthorised manner, including but not only through fraudulent use of the system or by usurping the access code.

Article 11 – Evidence agreement

Computerised records maintained in Institut Roche’s computer systems or a company mandated by Institut Roche under reasonable security conditions will be considered evidence of communications and the various transmissions of information between Internet Users and Institut Roche. The storage and archiving of data are carried out on a reliable and sustainable medium pursuant to Article 1379 of the Civil Code.

Article 12 – Applicable law – Dispute resolution

The TCUs and the Site are subject to current French law and regulations. 

In the event of a dispute relating to the performance of the TCUs, the parties may resort to mediation or any other alternative method of dispute resolution. 

Date of last page update: 20 june 2022