Platform Terms & Organiser Declaration

Effective Date: October 2026 • Version: 2026-v1

1. Nature of the Platform (Technological Intermediary)

CertiMerit provides software-as-a-service infrastructure for digital credential generation, delivery, and cryptographic verification. CertiMerit is strictly a technological service provider and is NOT an accreditation authority, Royal College, university, or awarding body.

CertiMerit does NOT independently examine, test, or audit event attendees, curricula, or attendance records. The veracity, completeness, and educational legitimacy of every issued certificate is warranted solely by the issuing organiser or educational institution.

2. The Organiser Declaration & Warranties

All event creators, surgical faculties, and institutional accounts must execute and remain bound by the following Organiser Declaration prior to issuing credentials or collecting feedback through CertiMerit:

1. Attendance & Learning Objectives Fulfilment

The Organiser warrants that all delegates issued certificates have legitimately fulfilled the required attendance and educational criteria.

The Organiser explicitly warrants and represents that each delegate registered or marked as attended has satisfactorily completed all required learning objectives, modules, and hours associated with the stated Continuing Professional Development (CPD) or Continuing Medical Education (CME) activity. The Organiser maintains full responsibility for maintaining primary attendance logs, sign-in sheets, or digital telemetry for a minimum of 24 months.

2. Accreditation & Institutional Authority

The Organiser warrants that it holds legitimate authority or accreditation to award the claimed hours and credentials.

The Organiser warrants that the programme, event, or curriculum is properly accredited by the relevant statutory, collegiate, or professional bodies (such as the Royal Colleges of Surgeons, GMC-recognized authorities, or independent accreditation boards) where claimed, or is accurately represented as self-certified educational activity without fraudulent attribution to third-party bodies.

3. Recipient Data Protection & GDPR Compliance

The Organiser confirms lawful grounds to process delegate names and emails for credential issuance.

The Organiser confirms that all delegate personal information (including names, professional registration numbers, and email addresses) uploaded to CertiMerit has been lawfully collected in full compliance with the UK Data Protection Act 2018, UK GDPR, and applicable privacy regulations, and that delegates expect credential issuance communications.

4. Indemnification & Hold Harmless (Platform Immunity)

The Organiser indemnifies CertiMerit against any third-party claims, regulatory inquiries, or damages.

The Organiser agrees to fully defend, indemnify, and hold harmless CertiMerit, its directors, employees, and technological partners from and against any and all claims, regulatory audits, disciplinary investigations, losses, liabilities, or legal expenses arising out of or related to: (a) fraudulent, incorrect, or unauthorized certificate issuance; (b) disputes over delegate attendance or credit allocation; or (c) any misrepresentation of accreditation status.

3. Deprecation of Manual Platform Verification

To prevent legal ambiguity regarding assumption of duty, CertiMerit does not manually inspect attendee rosters, confirm medical register numbers, or adjudicate event credit equivalencies. The platform replaces manual ad-hoc review with an affirmative, binding legal warranty executed by verified organizers and cryptographically tracked in immutable audit logs.

Zero Tolerance for Credential Fraud: Any organiser found to have falsified delegate attendance, claimed unaccredited Royal College status without authorization, or engaged in fraudulent credit issuance will have their account immediately terminated, all certificates publicly marked as REVOKED, and their details reported to relevant professional governance bodies (e.g. the General Medical Council).

4. Limitation of Liability & Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, CertiMerit, its affiliates, and representatives shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages resulting from the use or inability to use the service, including but not limited to career progression disputes, revalidation rejections, ARCP outcomes, or employer licensing decisions.

The issuing organisation expressly agrees to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless CertiMerit against any claims or regulatory penalties resulting from erroneous data supplied by the organiser.

5. Verification Disclaimers on Public Certificates

Every public certificate verification URL and PDF certificate generated through CertiMerit contains the standard technological platform disclaimer:

"Technological verification infrastructure provided by CertiMerit. Event attendance and curriculum accreditation are certified and warranted solely by the issuing organisation under the platform's binding Organiser Declaration."

Questions regarding terms, governance, or reporting a fraudulent certificate may be directed to [email protected].