These Terms of Service (“Terms”) apply to: use of websites and associated online services (together “Online Services”) operated by companies in the American Professional Bureau group (together “American Professional Bureau” or “we”); and sales of books and other physical products via the Online Services. Additional terms may apply to specific American Professional Bureau services, including the Service-Specific Terms below and other terms that are communicated to you. These Terms do not apply to services and transactions of American Professional Bureau Partners under a partner agreement, for which the terms and conditions therein are applicable.
1. Acceptance and Conditions of Use
Registered users of Online Services, including users who pay for Online Services via
a
third party and/or voucher, are required to accept these Terms. If you intend to use our Online Services
as
a visitor, you must comply with these Terms (if you do not agree please do not use the Online Services).
Both registered users and visitors of the Online Services are referred to in these Terms as “Users”.
As a User, you agree to be bound by these Terms for the duration of your use of the Online Services. If
you
wish to terminate your relationship with American Professional Bureau and stop using the Online Services,
you may do so at any time by ceasing to use the platform and contacting American Professional Bureau to
request that your account be deleted. Your outstanding obligations to American Professional Bureau,
including but not limited to payments due, must be fulfilled upon termination.
If you breach any of these Terms, your authorization to use the Online Services is terminated. American
Professional Bureau also reserves the right to terminate your use of the Online Services at any time in
its
discretion, subject to any obligations to deliver services for which you have paid. Upon termination, you
must immediately destroy any materials downloaded from the Online Services unless you have bought such
materials
2. Prohibited Conduct
Users shall not, directly or indirectly, perform any of the following actions:
a. Transmit, install, upload or otherwise transfer any content, software, malware, advertisement,
communication, or other item or process to the Online Services which in any way impairs their use, or
adversely affects American Professional Bureau’s computers, servers or databases.
b. Copy, modify, reverse engineer, disassemble, redistribute, republish, alter, create derivative works
from, assign, license, transfer or adapt any of the software, information, text, graphics, source code or
HTML code, or other content available on the Online Services.
c. Remove or modify any copyright, trademark, legal notices, or other proprietary notices from the content
available via the Online Services.
d. Breach or bypass the Online Services’ security mechanisms or attempt to do so – this includes accessing
any data or server you are not authorized to access.
e. Use any device (such as a “web crawler” or other automatic retrieval mechanism or other means) to
harvest
information about the Online Services, other Users or American Professional Bureau.
3. Confidentiality of Certification Process and Materials
The entire certification process is confidential. Examination and certification services (“Certification Services”) are made available to individuals solely for their own assessment. In connection with Certification Services, you undertake the obligation to comply with applicable Candidate Certification Guides which are made available upon registration. You are expressly prohibited from disclosing, publishing, reproducing, or transmitting any material related to the certification process, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means including visual, aural, verbal, written, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the prior express written permission of American Professional Bureau.
4. Access to Online Services
If you access the Online Services using a Username (e.g. Candidate ID) and a Password
(e.g. Examination PIN) received from us, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your
Username and Password, and for restricting access to any computer while logged in with your Username and
Password. Your account is strictly personal, and should not be shared or transferred to anyone else. You
agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your Username and Password. American
Professional Bureau may terminate User accounts at its sole discretion for any violation of these
requirements or of Candidate Certification Guides.
Users are solely responsible for ensuring that they have sufficient and compatible hardware, software,
telecommunications equipment and Internet service necessary for use of the Online Services. You will be
notified by email where any such hardware, software, equipment and service is required.
American Professional Bureau will make all commercially reasonable efforts to provide uninterrupted access
to the Online Services. However, American Professional Bureau does not warrant availability of the Online
Services. Unavailability of the Online Services may occur due to factors outside of American Professional
Bureau’s control. The Online Services may be unavailable due to periodic maintenance or related reasons,
and
in such cases American Professional Bureau will take all commercially reasonable steps to restore access
within a reasonable period. The term “commercially reasonable” means reasonable efforts taken in good
faith
without an undue or burdensome use or expenditure of time, resources, personnel or money.
5. Intellectual Property Rights
This Online Services and all information they contain (“Materials”) are proprietary
to
American Professional Bureau and its licensors, who reserve all intellectual property rights in all
materials included in the Online Services, except that American Professional Bureau grants you a limited,
non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Online Services to which you have access in accordance
with these Terms.
You should assume that everything you see, read and hear on the Online Services (such as products,
trademarks, logos, service marks, images, video, audio, photographs, illustrations, text, testimonials and
other materials) is copyright and/or trademark protected. American Professional Bureau® and APB® are
registered trademarks of American Professional Bureau. For further information on other trademarks you see
on the Online Services, please visit our Acknowledgements page.
You may not sell, reproduce, distribute, modify, display, prepare derivative works of, re-post or
otherwise
use, store or distribute any Materials without the written consent of American Professional Bureau.
American
Professional Bureau reserves the right to take legal action in case of any breach of these rights and
restrictions.
6. Materials Provided “As Is”
The Materials have been prepared to provide information about American Professional Bureau and its products and services. Whilst American Professional Bureau has taken reasonable care in the preparation of the Materials, the Online Services and Materials are provided on an "as is" basis and without warranties of any kind with regard to the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information. All warranties whether statutory or implied (including fitness for purpose, satisfactory quality and timely delivery) are hereby expressly excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
7. Purchases and Credit Card Payments
American Professional Bureau offers products, exams and services for purchase
remotely
and electronically. Any shipping charges for books and other physical products will be charged at the time
of sale.
Credit card payments are processed securely by our selected payment processors and are not accessed by
American Professional Bureau. A charge from "www.American Professional Bureau.org" will appear on your
credit card statement for any purchase.
8. Cancellation, Refunds and Rescheduling
If you have made a purchase by mistake or have changed your mind, you have the right
to
cancel your purchase by filing a written request of cancellation within 14 days of your initial payment as
follows:
i. Exams: If you have not booked a specific exam date, cancellation can be made within 14 days from your
initial purchase. If you have booked a specific exam date, cancellation can be made within 14 days from
your
initial purchase, provided that this date is at least 14 days prior to the exam date.
ii. Memberships: Cancellation can be made within 14 days from your initial purchase, provided you have not
activated your membership.
ιiι. Physical Books: Cancellation can be made before shipment (so long as within 14 days from order). You
may return a book within 14 days from receipt of the book, provided that you pay for return shipping and
the
book is undamaged. If there is a problem with your book, please get in touch with us within 5 days from
receipt of the book to request a replacement.
iv. E-Books: E-books purchased together with an exam may be cancelled only when the exam is cancelled (see
terms above). Cancellation for e-books purchased separately can be made up to 14 days from your initial
purchase.
v. American Professional Bureau Official Training Materials: Official Training Materials purchased
together
with an exam may be cancelled only when the exam is cancelled (see terms above). Cancellation for Official
Training Materials purchased separately can be made up to 14 days from your initial purchase.
vi. Rescheduling: If you have booked a specific exam date and would like to reschedule your exam, you may
do
so via your American Professional Bureau account. A reasonable fee may apply.
vii. Late/No Shows: If you fail to attend a scheduled exam within 10 minutes after the designated start
time, you will not be able to take the exam and no refunds are available. You may reschedule the exam via
your American Professional Bureau account, and increased rescheduling fees will apply because of the
non-attendance.
All requests for cancellation or refunds must be emailed to customerservice@American Professional
Bureau.org. In the event of an appropriate cancellation request, American Professional Bureau will provide
you with a refund. Refunds will always be made to the same credit card used for purchase. If you have
purchased a voucher from an Accredited Training Organization (ATO) or other American Professional Bureau
partner, any cancellation or refund request should be made to the ATO or partner.
9. Links to Third Party Websites
The Online Services may provide links to other websites maintained by third parties. American Professional Bureau has no responsibility for the content in any linked website. American Professional Bureau does not endorse or make any representations about such sites, or any information, software or other products, services or materials found there, or any results that may be obtained from using them. If you decide to access any of the third-party websites linked from the Online Services, you do this entirely at your own risk.
10. Changes to Products and Services
Products and services available via the Online Services are subject to change and removal without notice. American Professional Bureau will not be responsible for any additional costs, delay or liability which you or your company or agents may incur as a result of such changes.
11. Applicable Law and Disputes
These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of Florida State (United States of America) and any dispute relating to the Terms and conditions shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Florida State (United States of America), except to the extent you have additional rights under your local law. You agree to indemnify American Professional Bureau for any claims or damages resulting from your breach of the Terms.
12. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BUREAU, ITS SUPPLIERS, AND OTHER THIRD PARTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE ONLINE SERVICES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE RESULTING FROM LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, LOST TIME OR INTERRUPTION, LOST BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE, INABILITY TO USE, OR THE RESULTS OF USE OF THIS SITE, ANY WEBSITES LINKED TO THIS SITE, OR THE MATERIALS OR INFORMATION OR SERVICES CONTAINED AT ANY SUCH SITES, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY AND WHETHER OR NOT AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BUREAU HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IF YOUR USE OF THE MATERIALS, INFORMATION OR SERVICES FROM THIS SITE RESULTS IN THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL SUPPORT, SERVICING OR REPAIR, YOU ASSUME ALL COSTS THEREOF. Nothing in this clause shall exclude American Professional Bureau’s liability for personal injury resulting from negligence or for fraud.
13. Amendments
We may revise these Terms to reflect changes in American Professional Bureau products or the law, or for other reasons, and the revised Terms will be posted on this page. If we make any material change to the Terms and you are a registered User, we will notify you. If you use the Online Services after changes have been notified, you will be deemed to have accepted the amended Terms.
14. Severability
If a provision of these Terms is or becomes illegal, invalid or unenforceable, that shall not affect the legality, validity or enforceability of any other provision of the Terms.
This Policy describes how companies in the American Professional Bureau Group (together “APB” or “we”) collect and process data which identify individuals (“Personal Data”) who are customers and other users of our services (“Users”, “you”), and your associated rights. This Policy applies to American Professional Bureau products and services, including websites operated by American Professional Bureau. Your privacy is extremely important to us, and we are committed to offering you a safe and hassle-free experience while visiting our websites and using our services.
1. American Professional Bureau Entities
All the American Professional Bureau entities may be involved in processing your Personal Data. These entities are data controllers under the United States Data Protection Regulation. Where American Professional Bureau is a data processor, we apply the same principles in this Policy, modified as required by our obligations to the data controller.
a. Online account
American Professional Bureau examination
candidates (“Candidates”) must have an online account (“Account”), which is created and accessible via the
American Professional Bureau website. Users who are not Candidates also may voluntarily create Accounts.
Your Account contains some or all the Personal Data that we hold about you and makes it easier for you to
use our services. If the User of the Account is a child below the age of 16 years, we will request consent
for the collection and processing of Personal Data from a holder of parental responsibility over the
child.
American Professional Bureau membership service is available to you with an active membership to the
service https://americanprofessionalbureau.com. Subscribers are required to create an account during the
subscription process. After subscribing you can use these login credentials to access the service, as long
as your subscription remains active.
b. Examination and certification services
American Professional
Bureau provides examination and certification services (“Certification Services”) as a Personnel
Certification Body and Accredited Examination Institute. Some of our Certification Services are offered in
cooperation with (i) organizations (including public authorities) that provide examination content or
otherwise authorize examinations (“Test Owners”) and/or (ii) organizations who are authorized and approved
by American Professional Bureau for delivery of Certification Services (“Partners”). Some authorized
Partners may also provide training services related to American Professional Bureau certifications.
American Professional Bureau also maintains a registry containing details of all certified persons. As a
Personnel Certification Body and Accredited Examination Institute we operate publicly available a
Certificate Verification Service (“CVS”) accessible via our CVS websites for American Professional Bureau.
The CVS allows Users and third parties (e.g., employers) to confirm the authenticity and accuracy of any
American Professional Bureau certificate by entering the serial number of the relevant certificate.
c. Online purchases
American Professional Bureau offers
products, exams and services for purchase remotely and electronically. Payments are processed securely by
our selected payment processors. American Professional Bureau does not store or have access to credit or
debit card information. This information is securely provided by Users directly to our payment processors
at the time of purchase. Where users opt to store credit or debit card information, American Professional
Bureau’s payment processors will use this data for the sole purpose of facilitating further purchases by
the users. To ensure the safety of electronic purchases, American Professional Bureau complies with
PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard)
d. Customer support
American Professional Bureau offers 24/7
customer service support to Users (both organizations and individual Candidates) to handle their requests.
You may submit your request through email and online chat. Online chats may be recorded to ensure proof of
transactions. If you do not wish to contact us by the above means, you can always send us a message at
customerservice@americanprofessionalbureau.org.
e. Marketing communications
If you have opted in to receiving
marketing communications, American Professional Bureau may occasionally contact you via various means
(e.g., email, SMS) to inform you of new American Professional Bureau products and services, and other
American Professional Bureau developments. Our partners and Test Owners are not permitted to use your
Personal Data for marketing or similar purposes unless specific consent has been given by you. You have
the option of opting out of such communications at any time, by using the “unsubscribe” links in the
communications or by contacting us at dataprotection@americanprofessionalbureau.org. Additionally, we may
collect directly or indirectly (from our partners) your contact details during corporate events and we may
contact you in order to promote our new products or/and services.
f. Cookies
American Professional Bureau uses cookies on its
websites to optimize user experience, enhance security and combat fraudulent and/or malicious web
activity. You can adjust your browser settings to refuse or accept cookies. For more information about
cookies, please check our Cookie Policy
3. With whom American Professional Bureau shares your Personal Data
We never sell your Personal Data or disclose it to third parties for marketing purposes (if Test Owners whose examinations you take market other services to you, it is their responsibility to comply with applicable data protection legislation). We may disclose Personal Data to third parties in the following circumstances:
4. Transfers of Personal Data to third countries
Whenever we transfer your Personal Data out of the European Economic Area (EEA), we
ensure that your Personal Data is protected in accordance with applicable law, including through
contractual commitments where required. If you or the Partner through which you took your examination are
based outside the EEA, we transfer your Personal Data to you or the Partner in order to establish or
perform a contract with you, or otherwise with your consent.
In other circumstances, we will only transfer your Personal Data to third countries that have been deemed
to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission, or where there
are appropriate safeguards or other bases for transfer under applicable law. For example, we may transfer
your Personal Data to the United Kingdom based on the adequacy decision for the United Kingdom.
Appropriate safeguards to protect your Personal Data may include Standard Contractual Clauses adopted by
the European Commission.
5. Your rights
If you wish to exercise any of your rights please complete the GDPR Data Request Form and send it to the American Professional Bureau Data Protection Officer contact us at dataprotection@americanprofessionalbureau.org.
6. How we protect your Personal Data (Data Security)
We use appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect Personal Data from unauthorized use, access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These precautions include physical, electronic, and operational procedures in compliance with the ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials standards. These are indicatively:
7. Laws in Other Countries
At American Professional Bureau, we are committed to complying with all applicable
privacy laws in the countries where we operate our services. Some countries have privacy laws or
regulations that may grant you additional rights beyond what is stated in this Privacy Policy. If you
believe that you have such rights, please inform us. We are committed to addressing any valid privacy
requests promptly and in accordance with the relevant laws.
a) US Family Educational and Privacy Act (“FERPA”)
American Professional Bureau complies with FERPA where it is applicable. In this section, “Education
Record” and “Directory Information” have the definitions provided in FERPA. In particular, we:
8. Third Party Links
Our websites may include links to third-party websites or applications. Clicking on those links may allow third parties to collect or share your data. We do not control these third-party websites and applications and are not responsible for their privacy notices. We encourage you to read the privacy notices of third-party sites that you visit.
9. Amendments to the Privacy Policy
This Policy is updated when necessary. If there are significant changes in our
Policy, we will make reasonable efforts to inform you (by any appropriate means) before the changes take
effect.
We encourage you to read this Data Privacy Policy from time to time to stay informed about the processing
of your personal data by American Professional Bureau. This Data Privacy Policy was last modified on
23/10/2023.
10. Contact details and complaints
For any questions, requests, clarifications, or complaints about the processing of
your personal data, please contact the American Professional Bureau Data Protection Officer:
By e-mail: dataprotection@americanprofessionalbureau.org
If you believe that we have not addressed a problem with processing of your Personal Data, you may lodge a
complaint before the data protection authorities in your country.
At American Professional Bureau, we use this technology, to offer an improved user experience and better services.
Cookies List
A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site may not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. According to the applicable legislation, your action is not required for the acceptance of these cookies. Third party providers may have access to information in the cookies.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to continuously improve the level of our services, by collecting and analyzing statistics regarding your landing to us from another website and overall website traffic (e.g., number of visitors, most common searches). Third party providers may have access to information in the cookies.
Targeting Cookies
Your interaction with the American Professional Bureau website is used by us and third-party providers for analysis and commercial/advertising use, such as for analyzing your interaction with website content and show you relevant content. Third party providers may have access to information in the cookies.
Functional Cookies
These cookies facilitate the personalization of website content. The language you choose, as well as the rest of your choices, allow us to offer you the optimum browsing experience, tailored to your preferences. Third party providers may have access to information in the cookies.
What options do I have?
You have three options. You may either proceed with the acceptance of all cookies and
other mechanisms (“Accept all”), which will enable you to access all our website functions, you may refuse
any non-necessary cookies (“Accept only necessary”) or you may proceed with the customization of your
cookie settings (“Confirm my choices”). The latter two choices may impair your website experience.
Necessary cookies are installed upon your website visit. As they are strictly necessary either from a
technical perspective, or to offer you the website services or functionalities of your choice, applicable
law allows us to install them without requiring any action or consent from you. By selecting the button
“Accept only necessary”, which you will find next to the initial basic information that we provide, you
continue your browsing only with the Necessary cookies. We will remember your choice for a year. When this
period is over, or if you visit us from another device or a different browser, we will ask you again.
Unfortunately, if you do not wish for Necessary cookies to be installed at all, you should not use our
services and manually delete the cookies that have already been installed on your browser.
Preference, Performance and Targeting cookies are installed if you select the “Accept all” button, which
you will find next to the initial basic information that we provide, as well as underneath the expanding
full notification (banner). We will remember your choice for a year. When this period is over, or if you
visit us from another device or a different browser, we will ask you again.
By selecting the button “Confirm my choices”, which you will find underneath the expanding full
notification (banner), any of the Preference, Performance or Targeting cookies will be installed, if you
have ticked the relevant box. If you have not ticked any of the boxes and select “Save settings”, then
only Necessary cookies will be installed. We will remember your choices for a year. When this period is
over, or if you visit us from another device or a different browser, we will ask you again.
Change of settings – Withdrawal of consent
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At any time, you may change for future use, the choice you have made with respect to cookies and similar
technologies on our website. At the bottom of this Policy, you will find the button: “Cookies settings”.
Regardless of what was your selection the last time we asked you through a pop-up banner if you accept the
installation of cookies and similar technologies, you can decide again easily, directly and free of
charge, through the pop-up banner, which will emerge again after selecting the “Cookies settings” button.
For example, if you had selected “Accept” and you changed your mind, you may select at the new pop-up
banner any (or none) of the cookie categories you want to and then select “Save settings”. This action
would act as a withdrawal of the consent you had already given to us and it would apply for future use,
namely from this change onwards, our website will not use (these particular) cookies and similar
technologies on your device. In case you also wish to remove the cookies that had already been installed
on your device before the withdrawal of your consent, then you may do so manually by following the
instructions that you will find in the “Control via browser settings – Removal of cookies” section below.
Control via browser settings – Removal of cookies
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You may also control and manage the cookies via the settings of the browser you use. Some of your
options
(depending on the browser) are, for example, acceptance of all cookies, notification before installation
of cookies or the ban of their installation.
Through the settings of your browser, you may reverse any installation of cookies and similar mechanisms
by our website, by deleting the files already stored.
To manage and deactivate cookies, you may follow the relevant instructions per browser: