General Terms and Conditions of the Career Portal for Entrepreneurs
Last revised: 05/2024
1. Scope of validity
1.1. Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH, Rotebühlstraße 83-85, 70178 Stuttgart (hereinafter referred to as “Mesago”) provides an online portal for job advertisements (hereinafter referred to as “career portal”) on this website. Use of it as an entrepreneur requires registration or login to the user account. For use as an entrepreneur and the booking of advertisements, the following “General Terms and Conditions” (GTC) apply exclusively.
2. Registration, conclusion of the user contract
2.1. The user is obliged to make any necessary updates to their account themselves and to keep the data transmitted up to date. Legal declarations relating to the user contract may be sent to them by e-mail to the e-mail address provided by the user.
2.2. Activation of the account does not mean that the user is entitled to certain services. Mesago is authorised to make changes to the career portal and the functions and content provided to a reasonable extent, insofar as the changes serve the further development of the portal or are technically or legally necessary.
3. Subject of the contract
3.1. By registering or logging into the account, the user has access to the content and optional services available on the career portal, known as “features”. These services include the creation of a company profile including the integration of a logo and description text, and above all the option of booking advertisement packages for a fee. The booking of advertisement packages requires the conclusion of a separate contract using the online ordering process available on the career portal (see Section 4.). Simply searching and viewing job advertisements is possible without registering or logging into a user account.
3.2. On registration, the user also receives an editorial newsletter as a service on request, which informs them, for example, about advertising packages that may be of interest to them. The user can cancel this newsletter service at any time using the “unsubscribe” link in each newsletter or as described in the section of the privacy policy on editorial newsletters.
3.3. Mesago does not provide any placement services or agency-like services via the career portal, but merely provides its users with a platform for placing and viewing job advertisements. The drafting and securing as well as the establishment of a subsequent contractual relationship with respect to a job advertised on the career portal remains the sole concern of the user. Mesago is not party to this transaction, nor is it in any way legally involved in this separate contractual relationship between users.
4. Order process for job advertisement, publication of advertisement and conclusion of contract
4.1. The user can advertise jobs online on the career portal. Among other things, the following order steps need to be completed before the contract is concluded:
- Selection of the desired advertisement package
- Definition of the key data, e.g. duration of the job offer
- Selection of further, optional services, so-called “features” (such as highlighting, refreshing, etc...)
- Entry of personal data, payment method
- Summary
By completing the order process, the user submits a legally binding offer to conclude a contract for the job advertisement created subject to the conditions selected by the user.
4.2. Mesago accepts the user’s contractual offer without the need for an express declaration by placing the job advertisement online. The user is advised that the online placement may take up to 48 hours.
4.3 A prerequisite for the online placement by Mesago is that the user belongs to the sector and product group of the career portal. Mesago reserves the right to check this.
4.4. In addition to publishing the job advertisement on the career portal, Mesago also reserves the right to publish it in trade journals in digital and/or print form. This is carried out in the interest of the user for the purpose of increasing the reach of the job advertisement. The user has no right to additional publication and distribution.
4.5. Mesago is entitled to reject the job advertisement of a user. A job advertisement will be rejected in particular if the user does not belong to the sector and/or product group of the career portal (cf. Section 4.3.). A job advertisement may also be rejected if it contains unlawful content or violates legal regulations or if the advertisement is placed for unlawful purposes, e.g. if the advertisement refers to a position that does not even exist or has already been filled. Mesago reserves the right to check this. If the user violates the provisions of this paragraph or statutory regulations when placing advertisements or using the career portal in general, Mesago reserves the right to exclude the user from using the career portal or to permanently block the user. The same applies if the check shows that the job advertisement does not comply with the contractual or legal requirements.
4.6. After completion of the online advertisement order process, Mesago sends an automated order confirmation to the user’s e-mail address, which again specifies the order conditions. The job advertisement itself can subsequently be edited by the user in their account. In addition to editing, the user can also extend the advertisement and/or repeat the placement. For extension/repeat placement of the advertisement, a new paid order must be placed.
4.7. Once the job advertisement has been placed online for the period selected by the user, the contract has been fulfilled by Mesago.
5. Remuneration, default of payment
5.1. The agreed remuneration for the services ordered is based on the price list valid at the time the contract is concluded; the prices shown on the career portal are net prices. Mesago sends the user an invoice by e-mail for the remuneration to be paid; receipt of the invoice is not a prerequisite for the agreed remuneration being due.
5.2. The agreed remuneration is due immediately on conclusion of the contract (Section 4).
5.3. The claim to remuneration also remains valid if the user does not make use of the services booked and offered or if they are no longer interested in maintaining a job advertisement until the end of the contract period (e.g. due to premature allocation of the position advertised).
5.4. The user is automatically in default 30 days after the due date.
6. Obligations of the user; rights of use
6.1. The user is obliged to protect their password and account from access by third parties. They are liable for any misuse of their account which they are responsible for.
6.2. The user may only use the career portal for the purposes provided for in these GTC. To this end, they are permitted to visualise individual data sets on their screen in the form of job advertisements using only the online search masks provided by Mesago and to produce a printout for permanent visualisation. No further reproduction, distribution or utilisation of the information is permitted. In particular, the user is prohibited from passing the content on to third parties or using it for other personal purposes apart from information purposes, e.g. in the context of their own offer. Assistants of the user and IT service providers are not third parties in the above sense. Furthermore, the user may not process the content offered in any way, e.g. change, translate or remove copyright designations. All rights are reserved by Mesago or the respective author. Automated searches, e.g. using scripts, bots or crawlers, search software, by bypassing the search mask or similar measures (e.g. data mining, data extraction) are also prohibited.
6.3. The user undertakes to respect the rights of third parties, including the rights of Mesago. The user is therefore in particular not permitted to:
- send or enter data which, in particular due to its type, nature, size or number, is capable of damaging or blocking Mesago’s IT infrastructure or the computers of other third parties or of spying on or damaging data contained therein (e.g. through viruses, Trojans, spam e-mails);
- carry out actions or distribute content in connection with the use of the career portal that violate the rights of third parties (e.g. copyrights, trademark rights, personal or data protection rights) or infringe applicable legal provisions, in particular the applicable criminal laws, youth protection provisions, data protection laws or antitrust regulations.
7. Blocking/deletion of content; exemption from liability by the user
7.1. Mesago is not liable for third-party content, but simply provides access to the services available for use, in particular job advertisements.
7.2. The user is responsible for the content of their job advertisements. The user is responsible for ensuring that the information contained in their job advertisements is truthful and that the content does not violate the rights of third parties or legal requirements.
7.3. If claims are asserted against Mesago by a third party, a court or an authority as a result of the behaviour of the user, in particular as a result of a breach of the obligations specified in Sections 4.5, 6 and 7.2, the user undertakes to exempt Mesago from any claims and to bear the costs of legal defence. Mesago is to inform the user of the assertion of such claims. The user is to support Mesago to the best of their ability in defending against these claims. If the user does not fulfil this obligation within a reasonable period specified by Mesago, Mesago is entitled to resolve the third-party claim at its own proper discretion, taking the factual and legal situation into account as it appears to Mesago. The costs of this settlement are to be borne by the user, also in case the settlement subsequently turns out to be unfavourable due to information not provided by the user.
8. Liability of Mesago
8.1. Mesago is only liable for intent and gross negligence and for breach of an essential contractual obligation (cardinal obligation). Cardinal obligations are obligations that are essential for the fulfilment of the contract and which the contractual partner regularly relies on and may rely on. In case of a slightly negligent breach of a cardinal obligation, Mesago’s liability is limited to the damages typical for the contract and foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract. Mesago is not liable for slightly negligent breaches of secondary obligations that are not cardinal obligations. In cases of initial impossibility, Mesago is only liable if Mesago was aware of the impediment to performance or if its ignorance was due to gross negligence, unless this concerns a cardinal obligation.
8.2. To the extent that Mesago’s liability is excluded or limited, this also applies to the personal liability of Mesago’s salaried employees, workers, staff, representatives and vicarious agents.
8.3. The above exclusions of liability do not apply in case of fraudulent concealment of defects, acceptance of a guarantee of quality, or for physical injury (life, body, health).
8.4. With the exception of the claims resulting from Section 8.3, any claims for damages by the user for which liability is limited in accordance with Sections 8.1. and 8.2. expire one year after the start of the statutory limitation period.
9. Rights of use
9.1. Databases, programmes, brands, designs, written works and content and websites of Mesago published on the career portal are copyright protected. The rights to these protected objects are held exclusively by Mesago, with the exception of the user’s rights to the content provided by them, e.g. their job advertisement, in particular any logos, trademarks and business designations contained therein, to which the user reserves the rights.
9.2. By entering content into the database (e.g. when creating job advertisements on the career portal), the user grants Mesago the right to use this content in the ways required for entering it and making it available in the database and for access by third parties, in particular to store, reproduce, edit, modify, make available, transmit, publish and make the content publicly accessible. The above granting of rights is limited to the period for which the job advertisement is placed on the career portal. Mesago is authorised to keep the user’s advertisement in their user account beyond the time limit, e.g. for a repeat placement or extension, as long as the user does not delete the advertisement themselves or request the cancellation of their user account.
9.3. The user affirms that they themselves hold the rights of use required for the granting of rights in accordance with this section and provides Mesago with proof of this immediately upon request. If a claim is made against Mesago due to a violation of third-party rights, the exemption obligation in accordance with Section 7.3 applies accordingly.
10. Ranking and sorting criteria
10.1. The career portal provides the option of listing and displaying jobs in the internal search engine through the advertisement ordering process. These job advertisements are combined in a search for interested applicants.
10.2. Job advertisements placed on the career portal are first presented to the interested applicant in their results list, provided they match their search criteria and standard sorting has been selected. If the interested applicant uses a different sort order (e.g. “employment type”, “professional experience”, “location”, etc.), the results in their results list are sorted exclusively according to these criteria. The standard sorting for the job advertisements sold is based on the quality of the advertisement.
10.3. The quality of the job advertisement is calculated on the basis of several criteria. These include, for example: the date of the job advertisement, quantity and type of the advertisement text, number of images. In addition, companies that place job advertisements can also book optional services known as “features” (such as highlighting, refreshing, etc...) to improve the placement of their job advertisement. Such job advertisements are listed with priority over standard job advertisements or are visually highlighted.
11. Applicable law, place of jurisdiction, severability clause
11.1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
11.2. The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract is Stuttgart.
11.3. Should any provision of these GTC be invalid or not be part of the contract, this will not affect the validity of the rest of the contract.