Last updated: 24/08/2021

Les Secrets du Chocolat: General Terms and Conditions of Sale

Article 1 - Application and legal validity of these General Terms and Conditions of Sale

Les Secrets du Chocolat, a French société par actions simplifiée [“simplified limited company”] with share capital of €2,000,000, whose registered office is located at Rue du Pont du Péage, 67118 Geispolsheim, France, is registered in the Strasbourg Commercial Register under number 500 184 429 000 24, and is referred to hereinafter as “Les Secrets du Chocolat”. It provides chargeable services for individual personal customers, on the premises of Les Secrets du Chocolat (admission tickets, workshops, birthdays and gift vouchers). The various formats of these services are described on its website at: www.musee-du-chocolat.com.

 The content of these services, and details of training locations, dates and times, together with their prices, are set out on the website.

 By placing an order, whether verbally, in writing, by email or via electronic data interchange (EDI), the Customer is deemed to have accepted these General Terms and Conditions of Sale in full and unreservedly, regardless of the Customer’s nationality.

 They shall take precedence over any other documents such as publicity leaflets, catalogues, etc. issued by Les Secrets du Chocolat, whose value is merely indicative. No special terms and conditions shall take precedence over these General Terms and Conditions of Sale, unless they have first been accepted in writing by Les Secrets du Chocolat.

 Where orders are placed via the Internet, the Customer’s acceptance shall be evidenced by their electronic signature, in the form of a “validation click”. This electronic signature shall equate to a hand-written signature between the parties. These two steps are deemed to constitute acknowledgement by the Customer that they have fully understood and approved all of the terms and conditions set out below.

 Unless expressly agreed by us in writing, the Customer shall not apply any contrary conditions against Les Secrets du Chocolat, regardless of when they are drawn to the latter’s attention. The fact that Les Secrets du Chocolat does not avail itself at a given time of any of these General Terms and Conditions of Sale shall not be construed as a waiver of its right to rely on that particular term or any of the other terms and conditions at a later date.

Article 2 - Sales of Les Secrets du Chocolat services

1. Tickets granting admission to the Museum

Tickets granting admission to Les Secrets du Chocolat can be purchased in two ways: either at the ticket office at Les Secrets du Chocolat, Rue du Pont du Péage, 67118 Geispolsheim, or from the Chocolate Museum website at www.musee-du-chocolat.com

 All prices are indicated on the website at www.musee-du-chocolat.com

2. Workshops and master classes run by the Secrets du Chocolat chocolatier

 Registration for chocolate-making workshops and master classes is via the Secrets du Chocolat website (www.musee-du-chocolat.com), within the limits of numbers of places available and opening days of the Secrets du Chocolat Museum.

Participants can continue to register for as long as the master class remains open to take bookings on the Secrets du Chocolat website.

A booking for a service becomes firm, subject to receipt of payment (by card, or presentation of the original gift voucher), on the date Les Secrets du Chocolat sends out a confirmation email. Les Secrets du Chocolat reserves the right to cancel the booking at any time if the Customer’s bank details are incorrect.

If one or more services turn out to be unavailable after the order has been placed, Les Secrets du Chocolat will notify the Customer as soon as possible, by means of a phone call, which may be followed up by an email or confirmation letter. Les Secrets du Chocolat will suggest a new date in place of the cancelled service, to the extent that one is available, and the Customer can then either cancel their order and request reimbursement of any payment already made, or accept the new date offered.

3. Gift vouchers

Les Secrets du Chocolat also offers gift vouchers for sale.

Gift vouchers are a method of payment that the beneficiary can use to purchase one or more services offered for sale by Les Secrets du Chocolat.

These gift vouchers are issued by Les Secrets du Chocolat and can only be used for purchases from Les Secrets du Chocolat at Geispolsheim. They are valid for a period of one year with effect from their issue date, and cannot be extended or exchanged for goods of any kind. Gift vouchers are valid solely for purchasing services offered by the Secrets du Chocolat Chocolate Museum, and cannot be used at the gift shop, or restaurants.

 A gift voucher can be used to purchase the service for which it has been issued.

 Gift vouchers are not issued to a named person. They can be purchased by one person (“the purchaser”) and used by a third party (“the beneficiary”).

 Gift vouchers can be used throughout their validity period. Beneficiaries must use their gift voucher number(s) when purchasing an online service. Using a gift voucher whose validity period has expired shall not constitute a method of payment for the service selected; in this case, the order placed for this service will be billed to the Customer.

 Gift vouchers can be purchased either on site at the Secrets du Chocolat Museum ticket office, or from the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website.

 Gift vouchers will be emailed directly to the purchaser’s address. Gift voucher numbers will be used as a discount voucher number on the online sales website at www.musee-du-chocolat.com.

Article 3 - Prices and methods of payment

The current price payable for each service or ticket is as shown on the date a booking is made on the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website

Prices are shown in euros, including VAT.

Payment for services or tickets purchased from our website is due as soon as the order has been accepted, and the following terms and conditions apply:

Any bookings that have not been settled by that time, either by making payment or entering the details of a gift voucher, will be cancelled.

Payments can be made on the Secrets du Chocolat booking website, either by bank card, Paypal or a valid gift voucher. In the latter case, the purchaser or beneficiary shall provide us with the number of the gift voucher as payment. 

Bank cards issued by banks based outside France must be international bank cards.

Article 4 - Cancellation terms

1. Right of withdrawal

Under Article L 121-21-8-12° of the Consumer Code, the right of withdrawal does not apply to museum admission tickets or chargeable museum services. Tickets are non-transferable, non-refundable, and cannot be changed or resold.

2. Cancellation of Les Secrets du Chocolat services

Les Secrets du Chocolat reserves the right to cancel a service where the minimum number of participants is not reached, up to 7 calendar days before the scheduled date of the service. In this case, Les Secrets du Chocolat will suggest a new date in place of the cancelled service, to the extent that one is available.

Unless the right of withdrawal as referred to in paragraph 1 above is exercised, any chargeable services not consumed as a result of the Customer’s doing shall not give rise to reimbursement, other than in cases of force majeure, proof of which must be provided to Les Secrets du Chocolat (medical certificate, etc.).

Any external factors that cannot be anticipated or controlled by the Customer (e.g. a climate event preventing the Customer from travelling, sickness of the Customer, death of next-of-kin, i.e. parent or child) shall be deemed cases of force majeure.

3. Cancellation of gift vouchers

Unless the right of withdrawal as referred to in paragraph 1 above is exercised, any gift voucher not used during its one-year validity period shall not give rise to any reimbursement or equivalent compensation.

The abovementioned one-year period shall commence on the date on which the order for the gift voucher is registered (i.e. its issue date) by the purchaser or beneficiary.

If a Customer who is the beneficiary of a gift voucher cancels their participation for reasons other than force majeure 6 calendar days or less before the scheduled date of the service, or if the Customer fails to appear, the gift voucher concerned will be deemed to have been used and can no longer be re-presented for subsequent use.

Gift vouchers cannot be resold.

Article 5 – Services provided for Groups and seminars

Any bookings for group or seminar services must be submitted as a specific booking request to the Sales Department at: commercial@musee-du-chocolat.com.

Les Secrets du Chocolat reserves the right to decline this request if the participants’ desired dates are not compatible with Les Secrets du Chocolat’s overall timetable of activities. In this case, Les Secrets du Chocolat will do everything possible to offer an alternative date for this service.

A specific set of general terms and conditions of sale applies to Groups and seminars (or to any corporate clients). These are available on request from the Sales Department at: commercial@musee-du-chocolat.com or 03 88 55 04 90 (lines are open from 9.00 to 12.00 and 13.00 to 17.00, Monday to Friday).

Article 6 - Liability

Les Secrets du Chocolat reserves the right to cancel a service in the event of force majeure and is unable to accept any liability for cancellations of this nature.

The Customer acknowledges and accepts that supplies of products destined for chocolate-making workshops and master classes are subject to the uncertainties of the market, especially as regards certain seasonal products or items of an exceptional nature.

The Customer therefore accepts that Les Secrets du Chocolat may make a number of adjustments to a recipe initially offered for a given workshop or master class run by the chocolatier, for reasons of product availability. Where such adjustments do not fundamentally change either the recipe itself or the spirit of the recipe, the master class will continue to run and these adjustments will not give rise to a reimbursement, in whole or in part, of the price paid.

Where the uncertainties of the market force Les Secrets du Chocolat to make fundamental changes to the recipe offered, Les Secrets du Chocolat reserves the right to cancel the course booked by the Customer, and to reschedule it for a later date. Les Secrets du Chocolat will inform the Customer of this cancellation as soon as possible, and will reschedule the course for a later date and reserve a place for the Customer if the latter so wishes: the Customer can then either cancel their order and request reimbursement of any payment already made for the course, or accept the new date offered to them.

The services provided by Les Secrets du Chocolat (master classes, workshops) require the Customer’s active participation at times. The Customer agrees to remain vigilant and to follow the health and safety instructions issued by Les Secrets du Chocolat, so that the course can run smoothly.

Les Secrets du Chocolat shall not be liable for any damage to or loss of objects or personal effects that the Customer has brought with them. At the end of the workshop or master class, if the Customer wishes to reproduce a recipe provided by Les Secrets du Chocolat, they shall do so under their own responsibility and subject to compliance with the intellectual property rights belonging to Les Secrets du Chocolat and with the provisions of Article 7 below. The Customer is responsible for ensuring that no risks arise from preparing the recipe or from consuming any products that they themselves have purchased. Les Secrets du Chocolat shall not be liable for the outcome of a recipe being followed by the Customer, under their own responsibility, on the grounds that this recipe had previously been provided at a course.

Les Secrets du Chocolat shall ensure that its documents or electronic files reproduce the most important information needed by the Customer, in conjunction with the Secrets du Chocolat chocolatiers during the workshop or master class, to allow them to follow the recipe provided during the master class.

The Customer is entitled to take away any pastries or chocolates prepared during the master class or workshop, and to consume them away from Les Secrets du Chocolat’s premises, under their own responsibility. Pastries and chocolates must be kept cool and consumed within a short time. Les Secrets du Chocolat shall not be liable for any harm resulting from the consumption of pastries and chocolate prepared in any of its laboratories and consumed elsewhere.

The Customer must inform Les Secrets du Chocolat staff of any potential allergies they may suffer from. If such problems are not reported, Les Secrets du Chocolat is unable to accept any liability in the event of an allergic reaction to any products or ingredients used.

Article 7 – Intellectual Property

The documents we publish are intended for personal use and must not be reproduced or distributed. The Customer shall not produce any copies of, or distribute, the content of any recipes or booklets suppled as part of the service, either in hard copy or electronic format, without written approval from Les Secrets du Chocolat. Unless written permission is first obtained from the holder of the protected rights, any further use will constitute counterfeiting, and is punishable under the French Intellectual Property Code.

All of the content available on the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website (including texts, images, videos, photos, sound, music, software, recipes and more generally any type of data) is protected by the Intellectual Property Code.

Les Secrets du Chocolat holds the copyright over these items. Les Secrets du Chocolat also holds the database producer’s rights as recognised by Articles L 341-1 et seq. of the Intellectual Property Code.

Any reproduction, public display/performance, adaptation, translation, distribution or broadcasting of these items, or their transfer to another website, in whole or in part, is prohibited without the prior written agreement of Les Secrets du Chocolat.

As an exception to the above rule, the following are permitted:

• reproduction, public display/performance and publication of items appearing on the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website, for the purposes of illustrating an article in the media, after written agreement has been obtained from the Communications or Marketing Department of Les Secrets du Chocolat, at communication@musee-du-chocolat.com

• reproduction, public display/performance and publication of recipes provided by the Secrets du Chocolat chocolatiers for solely private or non-commercial use, provided that the source of the recipe is acknowledged, by stating, on the medium on which the recipe is distributed or presented, and at the end of the recipe, clearly and legibly, “recipe by the Secrets du Chocolat chocolatiers”.

The names Les Secrets du Chocolat – Le Musée, Les Secrets du Chocolat – La Boutique, Les Secrets du Chocolat – Le Restaurant, and the logos of these entities and the products and services offered are registered trademarks belonging to SAS Les Secrets du Chocolat. Their use requires the prior written agreement of SAS Les Secrets du Chocolat. Before creating a hyperlink to a page of the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website, written permission must first be obtained from the Communications Department of Les Secrets du Chocolat. The creation of such hyperlinks must in all circumstances be sufficiently clear and preceded by the name “Les Secrets du Chocolat” and the address of the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website. Les Secrets du Chocolat reserves the right to remove the link if the source website is at odds with the editorial position of the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website.

Article 8 - Confidentiality and personal data

The personal data you are asked to provide is required for the purpose of creating your account and, if applicable, for marketing purposes.

Under EU Regulation 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (GDPR), this data is intended for SAS Les Secrets du Chocolat, which is the data controller, and is based on your consent.

It may be passed on, for the same purposes, to the Marketing and Communications Department of Les Secrets du Chocolat and, if applicable, to our subcontractors or partners.

It will be kept for a period of 3 years following the last contact with you or, if applicable, throughout the term of the business relationship, plus the period of time specified by law.

You can withdraw your consent at any time, so that you no longer receive any marketing communications or appear in our customer database.

You can exercise your rights (right of access, rectification, deletion, right to withdraw consent for processing, right to portability of the information held on you, right to restriction of processing) by sending an email to communication@musee-du-chocolat.com or sending a letter, stating your contact details (identity, proof of your identity), to Service communication, Rue du Pont du Péage, 67118 Geispolsheim, France.

You are also entitled to issue general and special instructions setting out how you would like these rights to be exercised after your death.

To the extent necessary and for further information, or in the event of any disputes concerning your rights, you can contact the DPO at this address: communication@musee-du-chocolat.com. You also have the right to submit a complaint to the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), which is the supervisory authority in France overseeing personal data protection regulations.

Lastly, please note that if you do not wish to receive marketing phone calls, you can withdraw your consent for receiving these calls by entering your landline and/or mobile phone numbers on the French ‘telephone preference list’, which can be accessed via the website www.bloctel.gouv.fr. Your request will be acted on within 30 days following confirmation of your registration. This registration is valid for a 3-year period.

Article 9 - Legal notice

Access to the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website and use of its content are subject to the terms and conditions set out below. By accessing and browsing the website, the user is deemed to have accepted the said terms and conditions unreservedly.

These terms and conditions of use may be amended at any time. As soon as they are published on line, these amendments are deemed to have been accepted by the website user, when they place an order after the amendments have been published on line.

Article 10 - Website content

Les Secrets du Chocolat makes every effort to offer its website users high-quality information, which can be accessed under optimal technical conditions.

However, users are reminded that information and recipes are provided on an indicative and non-binding basis.

The outcome of a recipe depends in large measure on the skill of the person following it. Preparing food according to a recipe published by Les Secrets du Chocolat on its website is the responsibility of the user or third party who is following the recipe. The latter are responsible for ensuring that no risks arise from preparing the recipe or from consuming any products that they themselves have purchased. Les Secrets du Chocolat shall not be liable for the outcome of a recipe being followed by the user, under their own responsibility, on the grounds that it was provided on the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website.

Despite all the care taken over the website’s content, Les Secrets du Chocolat is unable to guarantee either that the information published on the site is accurate, complete or up-to-date, or that the said information complies with the use that the website user wishes to make of it. The website user therefore acknowledges that they are using this information under their sole responsibility.

Article 11 - Technical operation of the website

The Secrets du Chocolat website is accessible 24/7.

Access to part or all of the website may be suspended or discontinued in the event of force majeure, IT problems, problems linked to the structure of telecommunications networks, technical problems or for maintenance reasons, and in these circumstances, Les Secrets du Chocolat shall not incur any liability.

Article 12 – Governing law – Disputes – Jurisdiction

These General Terms and Conditions of Sale are governed by French law.

Any complaints relating to services provided by Les Secrets du Chocolat must be submitted in writing or by email or by telephone to the Customer Service Department: Les Secrets du Chocolat, Service Clients, Rue du Pont du Péage, 67118 Geispolsheim, France – 03 88 45 45 86 or to client@musee-du-chocolat.com

The information provided on the www.musee-du-chocolat.com website can be used as proof of communication between the parties, of bookings made by the Customer on the website and of any transactions that have taken place between Les Secrets du Chocolat and the Customer.

Under Article L 612-1 of the Consumer Code, the Customer is also entitled to use a consumer affairs mediator, whose services are free of charge, with a view to reaching an amicable settlement of their dispute with Les Secrets du Chocolat. To this end, we guarantee that the Customer will have access to a consumer mediation service, and in this context, the Customer is entitled to refer their case to a consumer affairs mediator (who is currently being appointed).

Customers should bear in mind that, under Article L 612-2 of the Consumer Code, a dispute cannot be referred to the consumer affairs mediator in circumstances where:

1° The consumer is unable to prove that they have first tried to resolve their dispute directly with the business concerned, by submitting a written complaint in accordance with the methods specified in the contract, if applicable;

2° This application is clearly unjustified or improper;

3° The dispute has previously been examined, or is in the process of being examined, by another mediator or by a court;

4° The consumer submits their application to the mediator more than one year after they first submitted a written complaint to the business concerned;

5° The dispute lies outside the mediator’s sphere of competence.

The mediator will inform the consumer within three weeks following receipt of the application for mediation, if their application is rejected.

Article 13 - Customer Services Department

The contact details of Les Secrets du Chocolat are as follows:

Secrets du Chocolat, Rue du Pont du Péage, 67118, Geispolsheim, France – 03 88 55 04 90 or communication@musee-du-chocolat.com