Fairpicture AG General Terms and Conditions for visual creators

Fairpicture AG (hereinafter referred to as "Fairpicture") has its registered office at Spitalgasse 28 in CH-3011 Bern. Fairpicture offers services for the procurement of photographs and videos to civil society and public sector organisations, international organisations as well as private companies and media (hereinafter referred to as "client"). For this purpose, Fairpicture maintains a worldwide network of professional local photographers and videographers (hereinafter referred to as "visual creators") and commissions them photo and video projects as individuals or collectively.

The present General Terms and Conditions (GT&Cs) refer to the relationship between the visual creator and Fairpicture. They are an integral part of all contracts that Fairpicture concludes with visual creators.

1. Realisation of a project

1.1 Fairpicture usually first sends the visual creator a non-binding enquiry in which the potential project, the expected workload and the fee are described. This enquiry also contains a link to the project website on the Fairpicture platform, which contains further details. If Fairpicture cannot estimate the effort of the visual creator with sufficient precision, Fairpicture will contact the visual creator before sending them the non-binding enquiry. This way, they gain clarity regarding the number of days required for travel, shooting and post-production (working days) to complete the potential project. Fairpicture will then send the non-binding enquiry to the visual creator.

1.2 The visual creator then informs Fairpicture whether they are interested in carrying out the project under the stated conditions. This notification constitutes an offer by the visual creator to Fairpicture.

1.3 Fairpicture then informs the visual creator whether it accepts the offer or not. Only the acceptance of the offer by Fairpicture constitutes an approval, which creates a contractual relationship.

2. Fee, payment, cancellation and cancellation fee

Unless otherwise agreed in individual contracts/agreements/arrangements, the following shall apply:

2.1 The individually agreed number of working days as well as the other agreed regulations are fixed, unless additional agreements are made during the project.

2.2 Fairpicture may provide an advance on the fee so that the visual creator can pre-finance travel expenses (e.g. plane ticket) or other expenses.

2.3 Post-production includes the selection and processing of the visual material as well as the provision of consent forms and standard metadata in accordance with the Fairpicture Post-production Guidelines.

2.4 The visual creator shall keep the larger costs, which are reimbursed according to the actual amount (e.g. costs for travel, accommodation, necessary equipment etc.), within an appropriate local framework and document them completely. Fairpicture may decide in individual cases at its discretion whether it will also reimburse insufficiently documented costs. To cover other minor expenses (meals etc.), the visual creator shall receive an additional daily fee of CHF 30.00 per travel and shooting day.

2.5 Payments by Fairpicture to the visual creator in foreign currencies or to foreign currency accounts shall be made at the exchange rate at the time of the respective payment. Fairpicture shall bear the transaction costs if possible. Excluded from this are the costs of intermediary banks. 

2.6 Fairpicture commissions projects to visual creators after Fairpicture itself has received a project from a client. If this client cancels the project to Fairpicture, Fairpicture must also cancel the project commissioned to the visual creator. In this case, Fairpicture has imposed the following regulations on its clients for the benefit of the visual creator:

2.7 If the client cancels a project given to Fairpicture 

2.7.1 up to 15 days prior to the beginning of the travel or photo/film activity of the visual creator, a total of 50 percent of the agreed fee amount shall be due for immediate payment as compensation for the visual creator and as compensation for expenses for Fairpicture;

2.7.2 14 to 8 days prior to the beginning of the travel or photo/film activity of the visual creator, a total of 75 percent of the agreed fee amount shall be due for immediate payment as compensation for the visual creator and as compensation for expenses for Fairpicture; 

2.7.3 less than 8 days prior to the beginning of the travel or photo/film activity of the visual creator, a total of 100 percent of the agreed fee amount shall be due for immediate payment as compensation for the visual creator and as compensation for expenses for Fairpicture. 

2.8 Expenses already transacted (e.g. car rentals, airline tickets, accommodation), which are not reimbursed, will be fully paid by the client in the event of cancellation, regardless of the time of cancellation. Fairpicture will pay these in full to the visual creator.

2.9 If a date shift initiated by the client after commissioning the project to Fairpicture leads to a loss of the project for the visual creator, the client shall owe the visual creator a cancellation fee of 50 percent of the agreed fee amount. Fairpicture will request this sum from the client and then pay it to the visual creator.

2.10 The visual creator shall invoice Fairpicture for the agreed expenses plus the expenses documented by receipts.

2.11 Fairpicture will make the transfer to the account specified by the visual creator no later than 15 days after receipt of the correct invoice.

3. Safety regulations during the project

3.1 During the project, the visual creator is subject to any safety regulations and structures of Fairpicture's client. The client or an appointed representative may issue instructions to the visual creator for safety reasons. 

3.2 Any local contact person of Fairpicture's client and Fairpicture itself shall be informed immediately by the visual creator if difficulties arise during the performance of the project (e.g. accidents, safety issues, inability to work, harassment or other incidents). Fairpicture has the right to take appropriate measures in any case. 

3.3 Fairpicture’s client or an appointed representative (e.g. local contact person) is obliged to inform the visual creator about the relevant aspects of the safety situation on site. This must be done in good time and in any case before the visual creator starts their travel or photo/film activity. If the security situation changes in a relevant way later on, Fairpicture’s client or their representative shall inform the visual creator immediately.

3.4 If necessary, a security briefing will be held in due course by Fairpicture's client or an appointed representative. The visual creator is obliged to attend any such safety briefings.

3.5 Fairpicture proceeds on the principle that no picture is worth a life. Therefore, Fairpicture does not create any incentive with hazard pay of any kind.

4. Liability

4.1 The visual creator is a contractor of Fairpicture and is therefore responsible for the coverage of all insurance payments (e.g. social security, illness, accident and repatriation). The corresponding responsibility does not lie with Fairpicture or a client of Fairpicture.

4.2 Neither Fairpicture nor a client of Fairpicture are liable for damages incurred by the visual creator during the project. 

4.3 Neither Fairpicture nor a client of Fairpicture are liable for damage caused to third parties by the visual creator during the project.

4.4 Neither the visual creator nor Fairpicture are liable for damage caused by the client's use of the visual material created during the project.

4.5 Fairpicture shall endeavour to obtain consent forms from all persons photographed/filmed, as far as practicable in individual cases. However, it does not guarantee its clients that this is always the case. It is not practicable to obtain the consent of all persons photographed/filmed, e.g. when filming a crowd of people.

5. Copyrights and rights of use

The copyrights and rights of use of the visual material created during a project are held by the visual creator and are regulated in the individual contracts.

5.1 All parties entitled to use the visual material must always name the parties involved when using it. The credits must always have the following form: "Photo/video: Visual creator/Client/Fairpicture".

5.2 Visual material may not be published in a way that portrays the persons depicted in an inaccurately negative or unfavourable light, ridicules them or causes them to be disparaged.

6. Rights of the persons photographed/filmed

6.1 All persons photographed and/or filmed 

6.1.1 have the right to their own image;

6.1.2 shall be informed by the visual creator and/or the client or an appointed representative about the content, purpose and possible publication of the photo and/or video material, as far as practicable in the individual case. The visual creator and the client shall consult each other in this respect;

6.1.3 are asked by the visual creator to give their explicit informed consent to the photograph and/or video as well as to the use of it via the declaration of consent in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as far as practicable in the individual case. Fairpicture will provide the digital and analogue tools necessary to obtain informed consent.

6.2 If children (or adults with a legal guardian) are photographed or filmed, the informed consent of the parent or legal guardian is required.

6.3 If children (or adults with a legal guardian) are photographed or filmed at school or in institutions, the consent of the school or institution management is sufficient if the parents or legal guardians are informed in advance and if individual children or adults with a legal guardian who are not to be photographed or filmed have the option to stay away from the shoot.

6.4 All persons photographed and/or filmed may withdraw their consent to the use of their image at any time. In this case 

6.5 -the visual creator, Fairpicture and Fairpicture’s client shall be obliged to sort out, delete or archive the affected visual material in their possession in such a way that any further publication is excluded;

6.6 -the visual creator, Fairpicture and Fairpicture's client are obliged to do everything in their power to withdraw affected photographs and videos published online and to ensure that the visual material of the persons concerned is no longer available to the public, either in print form or online.

6.7 The provisions of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) apply.

7. Other Regulations

7.1 The visual creator complies with the provisions of the Fairpicture Code of Conduct, fulfils the requirements of the Fairpicture Safety Checklist as well as the Fairpicture Safety Manual.

7.2 If the visual creator engages a third party to perform or help them with a project agreed upon with Fairpicture, they will require the third party to comply with all obligations imposed on them under the project;

7.3 The visual creator undertakes, with immediate effect and for a period of five years from the conclusion of a project, not to conduct any business with Fairpicture's client who assigned a present project to Fairpicture, without the involvement of Fairpicture.

8. Acknowledgement of the General Terms and Conditions

By explicitly accepting these General Terms and Conditions (which are presented when submitting an offer on the Fairpicture platform or by email), the visual creator confirms that they have taken note of the content of these GT&Cs and fully agree to their validity.

9. Applicable law and place of jurisdiction

Swiss law applies to the relationship between Fairpicture and the visual creator. The ordinary courts of the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, shall have exclusive jurisdiction for the settlement of disputes, irrespective of the parties' place of business or residence.