Terms and Conditions of Use

IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY: These terms and conditions of use constitute a legal agreement between you and the Partnership for Air Conditioning, Heating, Refrigeration Accreditation, a Delaware non-profit corporation ("PAHRA or "we" or "us" or "our") and govern your access and use of this web site, including all services rendered in connection with it, and all servers, mirrors and URLs operated by or for PAHRA.

BY ACCESSING OR USING ANY AREAS OF OUR WEB SITE, YOU ARE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE SET FORTH BELOW, AS WELL AS THE TERMS OF OUR PRIVACY POLICY. IF YOU REJECT ANY OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO ACCESS THE WEB SITE OR RECEIVE OR USE ANY SERVICES OFFERED THROUGH THIS WEB SITE.

Permission to Use this Web Site

Subject to the terms and conditions of use set forth on this page, we grant you permission to do the following:

  1. view and use solely for your personal purposes and solely for their intended purposes those portions of this Web site to which we have granted you access;
  2. make one complete, unaltered electronic copy and/or one complete, unaltered paper (i.e. printed) copy of any page on this Web site to which we have granted you access, provided you retain all copyright, trademark and other proprietary rights notices and that you use it solely for personal or internal business purposes and do not distribute or republish it;
  3. prior to accessing those portions of this Web site that require registration, you agree to register to receive our services, subject to payment of all applicable charges and agreement to the terms and conditions of any license agreement or other agreement associated with such products and services; and
  4. use the services to which you have been granted access in ways that do not violate any of these terms and conditions, our Privacy Policy, and any other applicable agreement to which you are bound.

Any other use of this Web site or its contents (which may include text, photographs, graphics, sound recordings, video, software and any other information or material) is prohibited without first obtaining written permission from us.

Copyright, Trademarks and Other Proprietary Rights

This Web site may contain text, data, software, digital photographs, graphics, videos, music, sounds and other information and material ("content") that is protected by state, national and international law pertaining to copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and other proprietary rights. Unless indicated otherwise, all of this content and the proprietary rights protecting it are the property of PAHRA and/or its licensors or affiliates. PAHRA and its licensors and affiliates reserve all rights with respect to this Web site's content, including, without limitation, all rights to copy, display, distribute, transmit, modify, remove, and create derivative works of it.

PAHRA and the PAHRA logo are trademarks, trade names, and service marks of PAHRA. You may not make any use of these trademarks, trade names or service marks except as expressly authorized in these terms and conditions or except as expressly agreed to in writing between you and our authorized representative prior to any such use. Other trademarks, product names, company names, and logos appearing on this Web site are the property of their respective owners. You must obtain prior permission from those owners before copying or using their trademarks, product names, company names, or logos.

Linking, Framing, and Metatags

You may make referential links to any of the publicly accessible pages on this Web site that are not password protected, subject to review and termination by us at any time and for any reason. Please be aware that we continually update and revise our Web site. We cannot guarantee that each page to which you may provide a link will remain available or that its content will remain the same.

You may not link to our Web site in any way that might lead others to believe that our Web site or any of its contents were created or are operated or offered by you or any party other than PAHRA. Unless you have entered into a separate written agreement with us permitting you to do so, you may not frame or otherwise display any portion of our Web site or any of its contents, nor may you place any text or other content on your Web site that states or implies that there is any association between you and PAHRA.

You may not use any of PAHRA's trade names, trademarks, service marks or any of the textual content of our Web site as metatags in your own Web site, unless we have granted you a license explicitly permitting you to do so.

Communication and Submissions via this Web Site By You

You grant to PAHRA and its successors, assigns, perpetual, irrevocable and fully sub licensable, a license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display (in whole or in part) and to incorporate into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed content you submit, upload or make available to, via or on the web site.

Whenever you communicate with us or others using this Web site or its services, your communications are non-confidential. PAHRA is free to use all submissions, ideas, and feedback contained in your communications in any manner that is consistent with our Privacy Policy, including, but not limited to, incorporating your suggestions into our software and service offerings without any financial or other obligation to you.

PAHRA may preserve content and may also disclose content if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce these terms and conditions; (c) respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third-parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of PAHRA, its users and the public.

You understand that the technical processing and transmission of PAHRA's services, including your Content, may involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. PAHRA and its designees have the right (but not the obligation), in their sole and absolute discretion, to remove any content that violates these Terms and Conditions of Use or is otherwise objectionable. However, you, and not PAHRA, are entirely responsible for all content that you upload post, email, transmit, or otherwise make available through PAHRA's services. PAHRA is not responsible for any loss of data resulting from deletion or corruption of any content you have communicated, uploaded, or submitted, by network or system outages, file corruption or any other reasons.

Third Party Content

You acknowledge that PAHRA does not pre-screen content posted or uploaded by others. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or usefulness of such content. In this regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any content created by PAHRA or submitted to PAHRA.

PAHRA does not control the content posted by others via its services and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such content. All content, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, are the sole responsibility of the person from which such content originated. PAHRA is not responsible for any opinions, advice, or statements made by others. Except as required by law, we have no obligation to monitor postings to this web site, or to remove or retain any content, although we reserve the right to do so.

PAHRA makes no representation or warranty with respect to the quality, reliability, or non-infringement of any content, service, or material accessible on or via this web site. Your rights with respect to third party products, services, or data may be subject to the terms and conditions of separate agreements with the third parties providing them.

Third Party Web Sites

This web site may contain links to third party web sites. These links are provided solely as a convenience to you. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, they are not intended as a certification or endorsement of the owner of any third party web site, such web site's content, or any products or services available on or via such web site. PAHRA does not control linked web sites, or any web sites (other than our own) that are linked to them. PAHRA is not responsible for linked web sites, or any web sites that are linked to them.

Account, Security and Password

If any of the services available to you on this Web site requires you to open an account; you must complete the registration process by providing us with current, complete, and accurate information as prompted by the applicable registration form. You may be asked to choose a user name and/or password. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account. Furthermore, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify PAHRA immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. PAHRA will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your password or account, either with or without your knowledge. You will be held liable for losses incurred by PAHRA or another party due to someone else using your account or password, either with or without your knowledge or permission. You may not use anyone else's account at any time, without the permission of the account holder.

No Warranties

THIS WEB SITE AND ITS CONTENTS ARE PROVIDED TO YOU ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. PAHRA, AND ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, CONTROLLED OR CONTROLLING ENTITIES, BUSINESS PARTNERS, AGENTS, THIRD-PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS, LICENSORS AND SUPPLIERS (COLLECTIVELY, "AFFILIATES"), MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND ABOUT THIS WEB SITE OR ITS CONTENT, AND THEY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES REGARDING THIS WEB SITE AND ITS CONTENTS, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF CONTENT, OR THE AVAILABILITY OR QUALITY OF ANY TOOLS, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES AVAILABLE VIA THIS WEB SITE (EXCEPT AS MAY BE SET FORTH IN ANY LICENSE OR OTHER AGREEMENT RELATED TO THOSE TOOLS, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES).

Limitation of Liability

EXCEPT AS MAY BE PROVIDED IN A SEPARATE WRITTEN LICENSE OR OTHER AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND US PERTAINING TO OUR SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, NEITHER PAHRA NOR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER LOSSES OR DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO USE OF THIS WEB SITE OR ANY SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES DISTRIBUTED ON OR PROVIDED THROUGH THIS WEB SITE, WHETHER AS A RESULT OF ERRORS, OMISSIONS, LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA, DEFECTS, VIRUSES, INTERRUPTIONS OR DELAYS IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, OR ANY OTHER CAUSE. THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY WILL APPLY REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL THEORIES UNDER WHICH RELIEF IS SOUGHT AND EVEN IF PAHRA AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THE LOSSES OR DAMAGES ALLEGEDLY SUFFERED. SOME JURISDICTIONS LIMIT THE EXCLUSION OF DAMAGES OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IF ANY PART OF THE EXCLUSIONS OF DAMAGES OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SET FORTH ABOVE IS UNENFORCEABLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, THE LIABILITY OF PAHRA AND ITS AFFILIATES WILL BE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY SUCH APPLICABLE LAW.

Export and Import Restrictions

This Web site is controlled and operated by PAHRA from its offices within the United States. PAHRA makes no representation that the software, products, services, and other materials available through this Web site are appropriate or available for use in other countries, and access to them from countries where their contents or use is illegal is prohibited.

Prohibited Activities

We reserve the right to remove any content that we find, in our sole discretion, violates these Terms and Conditions of Use or is otherwise in violation of the law. You may not:

  • Use our services, including our Web site,
    • to make unsolicited offers or proposals or to send junk mail to users of our services or our software,
    • to post or transmit or in any way exploit any information, software, or other material for commercial purposes, or that contains advertising;
    • to post or transmit or in any way exploit any information, software, or other material that contains advertising;
    • to harass, defame or defraud users of our services;
    • to promote or provide material that is grossly offensive to the online community, including blatant expressions of bigotry, prejudice, racism, hatred or profanity;
    • to promote or provide material or instructional information about illegal activities; or
    • to promote physical harm or injury;
  • Knowingly damage or interfere with the operation of our services, any software that utilizes them, or any user's enjoyment of them, by any means, including uploading or otherwise disseminating viruses, worms or other harmful code;
  • Disable, circumvent, avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair or otherwise interfere with security-related features of our services, features that enforce restrictions or limitations on use of our services, or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any content or other material accessible through use of our services;
  • Upload, transfer or otherwise make available, files that contain images, photographs, software or other material protected by intellectual property laws including without limitation copyright, trademark, patent, or trade secret laws or by rights of privacy or publicity, unless you own or control the rights or have received all necessary consent to do so;
  • Upload, transfer or otherwise make available images, photographs, software or other material that is lewd, pornographic, obscene or otherwise offensive;
  • Download any file posted by another user that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally reproduced, displayed, performed, and/or distributed in this manner;
  • Access or use our software or services in violation of any local, state, national, or international law, including, without limitation, laws governing the provision of financial services, data protection and privacy, obscenity, child pornography or other pornography and/or export or import control;
  • Use any robot, spider, scrapper or other automated means to access our web site for any purpose without our express written permission;
  • Take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole determination an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
  • Bypass any robot exclusion headers or other measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to our web site;
  • Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the web site or the services of PAHRA offered through this web site; or
  • Otherwise access or use our software, products, services or this web site in violation of these terms and conditions or any other applicable agreement.

Consequences of Unacceptable Use

We reserve the right to take any and all action we deem appropriate if we become aware of conduct that we believe does not conform to the requirements of any agreement pursuant to which you use our services or any software that utilizes them, the Terms and Conditions for use of this Web site, or applicable law, including without limitation: (a) terminating your right to use this Web site; (b) terminating any registration or license you have to use our products, services or this web site or any portion thereof; (c) banning you from future use of our products, services or this web site by name, e-mail address, IP address and/or any other means; or (d) any other action that we deem appropriate in our sole discretion.

Special Notice Regarding Copyright Infringement

You may not use our services to infringe copyrights. Although we do not police any content posted to this web site, we will attempt to terminate service to anyone who we become aware is repeatedly using our services in violation of copyright law. IT IS YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY TO USE THE SERVICES IN COMPLIANCE WITH ALL APPLICABLE COPYRIGHT LAWS. Notification of claimed copyright infringement should be made in accordance with our Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement. NOTICES UNRELATED TO ALLEGED COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OR NOT IN CONFORMANCE WITH THIS PROCEDURE WILL NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE.

Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement

Pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c), all notifications of claimed copyright infringement using our services should be sent ONLY to our Designated Agent. NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED EXCLUSIVELY FOR NOTIFYING PAHRA THAT YOUR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL MAY HAVE BEEN INFRINGED. DO NOT SEND ANY NOTICES OR INQUIRIES UNRELATED TO ALLEGED INFRINGEMENT OF YOUR COPYRIGHTS TO OUR DESIGNATED AGENT. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE.

Your written notification must be sent to the following Designated Agent:

Service Provider: Partnership for Air Conditioning, Heating, Refrigeration Accreditation
Agent Designated to Receive Notice: Webmaster
Address of Designated Agent: 2800 S Shirlington Road, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22206
Telephone Number of Designated Agent: (703) 575-4477
Facsimile Number of Designated Agent: (703) 575-9121 fax
E-Mail Address of Designated Agent:

Under Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c) (3) (A), your Notification of Claimed Infringement must include the following:

  • An electronic or physical signature of the owner or of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
  • Identification of the copyrighted work(s) that you claim have been infringed;
  • A description of the material that you claim is infringing, and the location where the original of an authorized copy of the copyrighted work exists (for example, the URL of the page of the web site where it is lawfully posted; the name, edition and pages of a book from which an excerpt was copied, etc.);
  • Your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
  • A statement that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  • A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

Miscellaneous Terms and Conditions

The Terms and Conditions of Use apply generally to your access to and use of this Web site and our software, products and services. Some of these terms and conditions may be modified or superseded by expressly designated legal notices located on other pages of this Web site or by the terms and conditions of the User Agreements or other agreements pursuant to which you obtain our software, products, or services. A specific provision in any of those notices, licenses or agreements that addresses the same subject matter as a provision on this page overrides the provision on this page.

No delay or failure to take any action or exercise any right that PAHRA may take or exercise pursuant to these terms and conditions or applicable law will constitute a waiver of that action or right by PAHRA.

Any litigation arising out of or related to your access to or use of this web site and services provided by it will be brought only in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, or, if federal subject matter jurisdiction is lacking, then in any Virginia state District Court located in Arlington, Virginia. By accessing or using this web site, you submit to the personal jurisdiction of these courts and waive all objections to placing venue exclusively before them. The prevailing party in any litigation will be entitled, in addition to any other relief granted to it, to recover reasonable attorney's fees, expenses and costs incurred in connection with the litigation.

The terms and conditions contained on this page will be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Virginia, USA, without regard to any of its choice of law rules that might lead to application of the law of another jurisdiction. If any of the terms or conditions page are determined to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remaining terms and conditions will remain in full force and effect, and the invalid or unenforceable term or condition will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable term or condition that matches the practical effect of the original provision as closely as possible. These terms and conditions set forth our entire agreement with you related to your use of this Web site, and they prevail over any other communications we may have regarding its use, with the exception of an agreement signed by an authorized representative of PAHRA that explicitly authorizes a use that is inconsistent with these terms and conditions.

This agreement is effective until terminated by PAHRA at any time without notice. However, the disclaimers and limitations of liabilities set forth in this agreement will survive.