Terms and Conditions

Article 1 — Publisher and purpose of these Terms

The Cimetière Virtuel and Cimetière Virtuel Animalier websites are operated by the association “Au soleil levant”, a French non-profit association governed by the law of 1 July 1901. The publication director is Daniel COING-DAGUET, the association’s president.

These Terms of Use set out the rules for accessing and using both websites. By creating an account or using the services, users agree to comply with these Terms.

To contact the association, use the contact form. The publisher’s full details are provided in the legal notice.

Article 2 — Access and service availability

• Basic access to the websites is free. Some features or benefits require an active subscription; these are described on the subscription page.
• The association aims to keep the websites available and protect published content. Interruptions may nevertheless occur, including for maintenance or because of a technical incident.
• Pages set to public may be viewed by visitors and indexed by search engines. Users should avoid publishing information they wish to keep confidential.
• Private pages are accessible according to their visibility settings and the permissions granted by their manager.

Article 3 — Member accounts

• Registration is free. Users agree to provide accurate information and keep a valid email address.
• Users are responsible for keeping their login details confidential and for activity carried out through their account. Any unauthorised use should be reported promptly.
• In the event of fraud, abuse or a breach of these Terms, the association may refuse registration, restrict features, suspend or close an account. Where possible, the user will be informed of the action and the reason for it.
• Users may request that their account be closed. Account deletion and any subsequent data retention are handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy and applicable obligations.

Article 4 — Creating and managing memorial pages

• A member account is required to create a memorial page. Any applicable creation limits are stated on the website.
• Before publishing a photograph, text or other contribution, users must have the necessary rights or permissions and respect the privacy of living people depicted or mentioned.
• Users are responsible for the content they publish. It must comply with applicable law and third-party rights.
• Users must not publish unlawful, abusive, defamatory, threatening, discriminatory or pornographic content, or content that infringes intellectual property or another person’s rights.
• To prevent duplicate pages, the association may ask for further information when a page for the same person or animal may already exist.
• The page creator and authorised members may manage a page according to the permissions granted to them and the features available.

Article 5 — Flowers, tributes and messages

• Only signed-in members may leave flowers and tributes. Some options may require a subscription; the applicable terms are stated on the website.
• The display period for a flower is shown when it is placed. The flower is automatically removed from the page when that period ends.
• Messages must be respectful and relevant to the tribute. Advertising, unsolicited links, third-party personal data and unlawful content are prohibited.
• Memorial pages are spaces for remembrance and are not intended for unrelated discussions. Contributions that do not follow these rules may be moderated or removed.

Article 6 — Photos, videos and other media

• Permitted file formats, sizes and quantities are stated in the relevant forms. Limits may vary by feature.
• Users must have the necessary rights to publish an image or video and must respect the image rights and privacy of any living people shown.
• Unlawful, misleading, disturbing or unrelated content may be removed.

Article 7 — Subscriptions and payment

• Subscriptions help cover the operating costs of the websites and provide the benefits stated on the subscription page.
• Before payment, users are shown the subscription duration, total price, included features and how the subscription ends.
• Online payment is offered through PayPal. Card payment may also be available through PayPal, depending on the options shown on the payment page.
• Payment by cheque or bank transfer may be requested from the association by email or private message. The payment instructions are provided before payment.
• Information about any applicable right of withdrawal and exceptions is provided during subscription.

Article 8 — Advertising and cookies

• Advertisements may be shown to visitors and members without an active subscription to help fund the websites.
• Advertising services, including Google AdSense, may use cookies or similar technologies. The consent message allows users to accept, refuse or manage choices relating to advertising.
• Refusing personalised advertising does not necessarily mean that all advertisements disappear: non-personalised or limited ads may still be shown. Depending on AdSense settings, some limited ads may use storage solely to detect invalid traffic.
• Signed-in members with an active subscription and administrators browse without advertising; the Google advertising module is not loaded for them.
• Registration, sign-in and password-recovery pages are also ad-free, regardless of the visitor’s status.
• Further information about cookies and consent choices is available in the Privacy Policy. The cookie settings link can be used to change or withdraw a choice where this feature is available on the website.

Article 9 — Personal data

Information about the data controller, purposes, recipients, retention periods and individual rights is provided in the Privacy Policy.

Passwords are protected using a hashing mechanism and are not stored in plain text. For questions or requests concerning personal data, contact the association through the contact form.

Users may also submit a complaint to the CNIL, the French data protection authority, using the procedure described on its website.

Article 10 — Data from public archives

Some pages may reproduce information from public records, including death records published by INSEE. This information is taken from the available files and may contain omissions or errors.

The association does not alter INSEE’s source files. To report an error or request a review of the visibility of a page published on the websites, contact the association. Each request is reviewed in light of applicable rules and the information provided by INSEE.

Official information is available on the INSEE website and on data.gouv.fr.

Article 11 — Content moderation and reporting

The association may remove content or restrict access to it if it is unlawful or breaches these Terms. To report content, users may contact the association through the contact form, identifying the page and the reason for the report.

Where required by law and where possible, the affected user will be informed of the action taken, the reason for it and the available means of contesting it.

Article 12 — Changes to these Terms

These Terms may be updated. The version published on the website is the applicable version. Significant changes will be brought to users’ attention by appropriate means.