Terms and Conditions

Find in this page Tethys Research Institute’s terms & conditions applied to field research expeditions.

Any dispute concerning the interpretation, application and enforcement of these terms & conditions, and everything it entails, will be settled in the Court of Justice of Milan, Italy.

Tethys Research Institute does not sell online any commercial good. However, for any problem concerning online payments/purchases you can consult the European platform ODR (Online Dispute Resolution, https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr). Through the ODR platform, the consumer/user will be able to consult the list of ADR bodies, find the link to the website of each of them and start an online resolution procedure for the dispute in which he is involved. Tethys Research Institute contact email is: istituto.tethys@gmail.com

When applying for a field expedition, within the Cetacean Sanctuary Research project in the Ligurian Sea, or within the Ionian Dolphin Project, in Greece, you accept the Tethys Research Institute’s Terms & Conditions. The following Terms & Conditions are present in the Booking Forms that you will receive together with the Order Confirmation email, after having paid the contribution to the project (Booking Forms for CSR and IDP), and must be signed and returned to the Tethys Research Institute office, viale G.B. Gadio 2, 20121 Milano – Italy (or by email: tethys@tethys.org) prior to your departure. Should you not agree with the following Terms & Conditions, we kindly invite you to abort your checkout.

Cancellation

  • The participation to a field expedition will not be confirmed until the Booking Form and payment are not confirmed by our office
  • Cancellations received in writing 30 days or more before the start of expedition will be fully reimbursed minus 20% of the full fee, to cover administrative costs
  • Cancellations received within 30 days from the beginning of the expedition will not be reimbursed

Furthermore, if in an expedition the minimum number of participants cannot be met, and in case of cancellation of an expedition due to technical/logistical problems, the Tethys Research Institute will reimburse the applicants with the full amount paid (with no additional reimbursements) or, upon request, will try to place applicants in other teams, depending on availability.

Informed consent

  • Participants have the right to quit any of Tethys Research Institute’s activities or abandon the research location whenever they feel that such activities may represent a threat to their safety: they will not be entitled to any sort of reimbursement
  • Participants have the right in case they are not satisfied with the quality of the research boat or the field base: they will not be entitled to any sort of reimbursement
  • Tethys Research Institute and its legal representatives, all its members and all those responsible or involved in the course logistics cannot be held responsible for any inconvenience, accident or incident, or illness participants may suffer from/during their participation in the team

Participants are asked to declare in advance (Booking Forms) that they:

  • have read the Expedition Briefing document in full, and accept it
  • are in good physical and mental health and are capable of taking part in the activities described in the “Project Conditions” section of the Expedition Briefing (CSR or IDP)
  • have informed the Institute of any relevant medical/physical condition at the time of their subscription and that they will inform the Principal Investigator upon arrival at the field base

Participants aged 13 – 15 are allowed if accompanied by a parent.  Young participants aged 16 – 17 may be unaccompanied only on specific expeditions (see calendar), but a co-responsibility agreement must be signed by parents (here for CSR and IDP). Children younger that 13 will be considered on a case-by-case basis (Please contact our office)

The Christmas Discount Code is valid during the Christmas time holidays only (check on our home page the period of validity). It is not cumulative, hence it is not usable with other discounts (e.g. student discount). It is valid only for expeditions entirely paid during Christmas time.

The Christmas discount is not applied to Vouchers at the moment of the voucher payment. However a 10% discount will be applied at the moment of the full payment of the expedition, only for those vouchers purchased during Christmas time (check on home page the validity time). A personalized discount code (valid for one single use) will be sent in a different mail once the payment for the voucher has been received, that can be used when booking the expedition.

Tethys Research Institute is a ONLUS association, and any sort of donation can be deductible from Italian taxes, as from Law D.L. n. 35/2005 and following modifications (L. n. 80/2005) for Italian tax contributors.

Advice: If you wish to deduct the donation from your personal income tax, it is obligatory to fill in the Fiscal Code field provided in the Billing details form. The Fiscal Code is used to issue a valid receipt that Tethys will send to the Billing address.

Any further information about the fiscal advantages of a contribution to ONLUS associations can be found here.