Terms and Conditions of Use

Dear User,

Here you will find the General Terms and Conditions of Use (hereinafter also referred to as the “Terms and Conditions of Use”) for the “BQ portal” provided by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (hereinafter also referred to as the “Provider”).

The General Terms and Conditions of Use are divided into

1.) General Terms and Conditions; and

2.) Terms and Conditions for Registered Users (only visible after registration)

 

Part 1) General Terms and Conditions

1. Scope

  1. The Terms and Conditions of Use shall apply to all content and services offered on the pages of the BQ portal.
  2. The Terms and Conditions of Use may be accessed on the Internet at any time and may be printed out. They shall apply to all one-off and ongoing services, unless any more specific provisions apply.
  3. Any terms and conditions of the User that conflict with or deviate from these Terms and Conditions of Use shall not apply.
  4. The Provider reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions of Use  with future effect, e.g. in consideration of changes in the law, changes to the services or loopholes in the provisions. The provider will announce changes to the General Terms and Conditions of Use at least four weeks before such changes come into effect. The changes will become effective if the user does not contradict them within four weeks of the announcement. When announcing the changes, the provider will inform the user of his or her right to object and of the consequences of failure to object. If the user objects within the stated period, the previous contractual provisions shall continue to apply to the use of the services.

2. Provision of Services

  1. No contractual relationship between the User and the Provider shall arise as a result of the mere provision of free content by the Provider of the BQ portal.
  2. The Provider endeavours to operate the portal properly, but does not guarantee the portal’s uninterrupted availability and usability.
  3. The provider is entitled to terminate, upgrade or alter its service at any time after giving reasonable notice. Such changes may be required if – particularly outside the scope of the provider’s responsibility – the technical, legal or commercial conditions for the use of the Internet change and services are made considerably more difficult or no longer reasonable for the provider as a result of this.
  4. The information provided by the Provider of the portal, by third parties appointed by the Provider, or by the authorities responsible for assessing equivalence has been prepared to the best of the provider’s knowledge and having regard to a high duty of care. However, the Provider does not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any content made available in the BQ-Portal. The Provider of the BQ-Portal is a service provider within the meaning of Section 1 of the German Digital Services Act (Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz – DDG) and is responsible  for the content of the portal in accordance with general law. Final responsibility for assessing the information provided rests with the authorities responsible for assessing the equivalence of foreign professional qualifications as stipulated in the German Recognition Act (“Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Feststellung und Anerkennung im Ausland erworbener Berufsqualifikationen”).

3. Use of Services / Access Authorisation

  1. The BQ portal is a web-based information platform that provides information about foreign vocational training systems and German and foreign professional profiles, practical help with the work and evaluation procedures of the competent authorities in Germany and fundamental information about the assessment procedure.

  2. Access to some of the information stored in the portal and to specific functions is restricted and is only available to registered users (in particular the competent authorities). Special terms and conditions of use apply to these users.

  3. The following groups of people will be granted special rights of access to information in the password-protected area (reading, editing, writing or publishing information): Competent authorities within the meaning of Section 8 of the German Professional Qualifications Assessment Act (“Gesetz über die Feststellung der Gleichwertigkeit von Berufsqualifikationen”) or other public bodies at the regional or national level such as the IHK FOSA (Foreign Skills Approval), the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag, DIHK), the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH), the Federation of German Independent Professionals (BFB) etc., as well as other organisations and institutions operating in the field of assessing foreign diplomas after an individual examination.

4. Rights to content / Copyright

  1. The portal contains content (texts, tables, graphics, images, videos, logos, etc.) created both by the Provider and by partners, contractors, and users. Such content is protected by the applicable statutory provisions, in particular trademark law, copyright law, neighbouring rights, and competition law. Reproduction or any other use or exploitation of such protected content is generally not permitted without the consent of the respective rights holder.
  2. In line with the decentralised and collaborative development of the content in the portal, in particular with regard to information about country and occupational profiles and about individual equivalence decision processes (individual cases), registered are asked to review the content provided according to their access rights, and/or to supplement and update such information. As regards the rights to the content added to the portal by users, the special provisions for registered users shall be authoritative.

5. Limitations of liability, liability and warranty

  1. The Provider does not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information made available within the BQ portal and its related services. Neither does the provider guarantee the results that can be achieved by using the information and offers, for example, within the scope of an assessment of equivalence by the competent authorities. Under no circumstances shall the provider be held liable for damage apart from that caused intentionally or through gross negligence. The above limitations and exclusions of liability shall not apply in the event that the provider's strict liability is prescribed by law, or in the event of injury to life, body and health, within the scope of application of the German Product Liability Act, and in cases where the provider assumes express guarantees. The above liability provisions shall apply mutatis mutandis to the provider’s liability in the event of breaches of duty by its statutory representatives or vicarious agents. If the provider’s liability is excluded or limited, this shall also apply with regard to the personal liability of its statutory representatives and vicarious agents.
  2. The operator of the BQ portal is a service provider within the meaning of Section 1 of the German Digital Services Act (Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz – DDG) and is responsible for its own content on the portal in accordance with the general laws. With regard to third-party or linked content, the statutory rules on responsibility under Section 7 of the German Digital Services Act (Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz – DDG) in conjunction with Articles 4 to 8 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on a Single Market for Digital Services (Digital Services Act – DSA) shall apply. Accordingly, there is no general obligation to monitor information transmitted or stored by third parties or actively to seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity, without prejudice to statutory obligations to remove or block information once knowledge has been obtained. For these purposes, third-party content shall also include all information entered by partners or Users of the portal. The Provider shall not be liable for third-party or linked content within the framework of the applicable statutory provisions. If the Provider becomes aware of, or receives notice of, violations of law or infringements of rights caused by third-party or linked content, the Provider shall review such content in accordance with the statutory requirements and, where appropriate, block or remove it.

6. Data Protection and Disclosure of Information

  1. The Provider`s Privacy Policy for the BQ portal shall apply.
  2. The Provider shall be entitled to pass on any information from and about users to third parties, insofar as it has a legal obligation to do so.

7. Applicable Law, Place of Jurisdiction

  1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply.
  2. The place of jurisdiction shall be Cologne, Germany.

8. Final Provisions

  1. Should individual provisions of these General Terms and Conditions of Use be wholly or partially ineffective, the other terms and conditions shall not be affected hereby (severability clause).

  2. The General Terms and Conditions of Use in force at the time of use shall apply. The provider reserves the right to alter the Terms and Conditions of Use (see Part 1 – point 1.4).

  3. These Terms and Conditions of Use shall apply to the BQ portal. The supplementary terms and conditions (see Part 2) shall apply to registered users in addition to the preceding terms. If there are any contradictions, the supplementary terms for registered users shall prevail.

 

Part 2) Terms and Conditions for Registered Users

1. Registration

  1. In order to use the information services made available in the password-protected area of the BQ-Portal, Users must register and login.
  2. By registering, the User undertakes to provide the requested User data completely and truthfully. In addition, the user undertakes not to infringe any third-party rights (for example, through the use of names, profile pictures, etc.).
  3. During registration, the User chooses a password, which must be kept confidential. Passing on the username and password to third parties, including employees of the Provider, is not permitted.
  4. The registration of the User is only completed upon activation by the Provider. A prerequisite for such activation is confirmation by the institution that the person concerned is responsible for this task.
  5. The User is responsible for all actions carried out under his or her name.
  6. Users of the BQ-Portal have no general entitlement to registration. Access to the non-public areas and functionalities is granted to the following groups of users: competent bodies within the meaning of Section 8 of the German Professional Qualifications Assessment Act (Berufsqualifikationsfeststellungsgesetz – BQFG), or other public-law associations at federal or state level such as IHK FOSA, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag – DIHK), the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks – ZDH), the Federal Association of the Liberal Professions (Bundesverband der Freien Berufe – BfB), etc.
  7. In addition, the Provider may grant access to other persons where they can credibly demonstrate an interest, understandable to the Provider, in comprehensive access to the information posted on the portal and the available functionalities. The Provider shall grant such access only after weighing the interests of the person requesting registration against the need to protect the information. Such access may also be limited to certain information areas.
  8. The Provider reserves the right to adapt the User group and, where appropriate, to admit new users or, in consultation with their institutions, exclude already registered Users from further use. Registration does not create any entitlement to use the portal for an unlimited period of time.

2. Termination and Suspension of the User Account 

  1. The User has the right to terminate the User account at any time in writing or by E-Mail.
  2. The Provider reserves the right to suspend or delete an already registered User if that User has violated the Terms and Conditions of Use of the portal and/or has left the employment relationship existing at the time of registration and is no longer part of the group of authorised persons.
  3. If a User has been blocked by the Provider, re-registration under another name is not permitted. If the User account was blocked after the User left one of the authorised institutions, the User may reapply for admission upon re-entering such an institution.
  4. Even after termination or suspension of the User account, content created by the User shall remain in the portal. Termination or blocking does not entitle the User to delete content posted by him or her.

3. Users’ Obligations

  1. Each User is obliged to comply with applicable German law. Users are prohibited from publishing content that glorifies violence, is pornographic or racist, or that could seriously impair interaction within the community services of the portal. This applies in particular to insulting statements or personal attacks against third parties.
  2. Users are furthermore prohibited from publishing commercial or advertising content.
  3. Each User is obliged to ensure that the content posted by him or her is free from third-party rights or does not infringe any third-party rights. The User shall indemnify the Provider against any claims asserted by third parties against the Provider on account of such an infringement. This shall also include the costs of legal defence arising therefrom.
  4. Each User is obliged to notify the Provider of any changes to their details where such changes affect their status as a member of one of the authorised user groups.

4. Liability of the User

  1. The User shall be liable to the Provider in the event of a culpable breach of these Terms and Conditions of Use.
  2. The Provider shall not be liable for any damage arising from a user’s culpable conduct towards third parties.

5. Rights to Content

  1. In line with the decentralised and collaborative development of the content in the portal, in particular with regard to information on professional qualifications and country profiles as well as individual equivalence assessment procedures (individual cases), registered Users are encouraged to supplement and/or update the existing content in accordance with their authorisations.
  2. The User grants the Provider an irrevocable, unrestricted, free of charge, and unlimited right in time to use the content posted by him or her. The Provider reserves the right to adapt and/or modify such content.
  3. The Provider reserves the right to use the content on its own website as well as on the websites and applications of its cooperation partners.
  4. The transfer of rights shall be non-exclusive; the User shall retain the rights to the content posted by him or her.

 

As of April 2026