Public offer for a paid genealogy services agreement
1. General provisions and key terms
This Public Offer sets out the conditions for entering into a paid services agreement (hereinafter — the “Agreement” or “Service Agreement”).
The text of this Public Offer is the official public proposal of the Contractor, addressed to an interested group of persons, to enter into the Service Agreement in accordance with clause 2 of article 437 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
Performance of the actions specified in this Offer confirms the consent of both Parties to enter into the Agreement on the terms, in the manner and to the extent set out in this Offer.
The Agreement is deemed concluded and enters into force at the moment when the Parties perform the actions provided for in this Offer, which means unconditional and full acceptance of all the terms of this Offer, without any exceptions or restrictions, on terms of adherence.
1.1. Contractor — Limited Liability Company “Tsentr Genealogii Semeynaya Relikviya” (Family Relic Genealogy Centre LLC; PSRN 1217800151381, INN 7842196068; 191144, St Petersburg, 10th Sovetskaya St 14, letter A, apt. 43; email: info@myrodoslovie.ru).
1.2. Contractor’s website on the internet — the set of computer programmes and other information held in the information system, access to which is provided over the internet at the domain name and network address myrodoslovie.ru (hereinafter — the “site”, the “Contractor’s site”).
The site sets out the services provided by the Contractor, the conditions for purchasing them and the prices. The site is available around the clock. Orders are processed and fulfilled daily from 09:00 to 19:00 Moscow time.
1.3. Agreement — the text of this offer together with its Annexes, which form an integral part of the Offer, accepted by the Customer by performing the actions provided for in this Offer.
1.4. Customer — any natural or legal person who has placed an order for services provided by the Contractor in the manner set out in section 3 of the Offer.
1.5. The Offer enters into force at the moment it is posted on the Contractor’s site and remains valid until withdrawn. The Contractor may change or withdraw the Offer unilaterally. All changes take effect and are deemed brought to the buyer’s attention from the moment of posting on the site. Orders already placed at the moment of any change or withdrawal are performed on the terms in force at the time they were placed.
2. Subject of the Agreement
2.1. The Contractor undertakes, on the Customer’s instruction, to provide services in the field of genealogy research, and the Customer undertakes to accept and pay for them.
2.2. The name, quantity, content, characteristics, price, timing and other particulars of the services are determined by the Brief (Annex No. 1 to the Agreement), based on the information set out on the Contractor’s site and the Customer’s agreed request.
2.3. The Contractor performs services under the Agreement personally or with the involvement of third parties; the Contractor remains responsible to the Customer for the actions of such third parties as for its own.
2.4. The outcome of the services consists of locating and obtaining information and/or documents in accordance with the Brief, or obtaining confirmation that the genealogy information sought is absent from the available sources, or that the sources themselves (or access to them) are unavailable. Any biographical information about the Customer’s ancestors obtained during the work is also provided to the Customer in full, together with the genealogy data.
3. Procedure for concluding the Agreement; placing an order
3.1. The Offer is deemed accepted at the moment the Customer signs the Brief for the services and, in cases provided for by the Brief, pays for them. From that moment the Agreement is deemed concluded.
For services that do not require a Brief to be agreed, acceptance is expressed through the Customer’s implied actions (placing an order), namely: completing a request on the site and/or providing the information required to conclude the Agreement by phone, email or messengers listed on the Contractor’s site, including during a call back by the Contractor in response to the Customer’s request; completing the table of source data; and paying for the order in full.
3.2. Agreement of the Brief includes the Customer reviewing the information on the Contractor’s site, selecting the type of services, agreeing the terms of the Brief with the manager, and providing the necessary information, documents and details.
3.3. The Customer provides the Contractor with their full name (or company name), contact phone number and email, delivery address, preferred date, time and method of delivery, and method of payment. The Customer chooses these parameters taking into account the terms of the Offer and the available delivery territories and time windows.
3.4. To confirm conclusion of the Agreement on the terms of the Offer, the Contractor sends the Customer a signed Brief for the services.
For services that do not require a Brief, the Contractor notifies the Customer of the date and number of the placed order by email, SMS to the phone number provided, or a message in the messenger indicated by the Customer.
3.5. By placing an order and entering into the Agreement on the terms of the Offer, the Customer confirms that they:
are a legally competent citizen or an authorised representative of a legal entity;
have reviewed the current version of the Offer, guarantee that all its terms are clear and
agree to its terms in full, without reservation;
undertake to pay for the services within the agreed deadlines and to accept them;
have provided accurate information when entering into the Agreement and placing the order;
transfer to the Contractor for processing (including transfer to third parties) solely for the
purposes of concluding and performing the Agreement, their personal data: full name, type of identity document and its details, phone number, email and delivery addresses (clause 5, part 1, article 6 of Federal Law No. 152-FZ of 27 July 2006 “On Personal Data”), by both automated and non-automated means. The Customer also consents to the processing of the transferred personal data for the purposes of sending promotional offers, conducting surveys and prize draws among Customers, and monitoring Customer satisfaction (clause 1, part 1, article 6 of the Federal Law “On Personal Data”). Consent is given for the entire term of the Agreement and the storage of personal data. The Customer may withdraw consent at any time by giving written notice to the Contractor at the details set out in the Offer.
4. Price of the Agreement and payment
4.1. The price of the services and the payment procedure are set out in the Brief, agreed with the Customer based on information provided at the time of the request, or fixed on the Contractor’s site.
If the seller changes the price of the services after the Agreement has been concluded or the order has been placed, payment is made at the price applicable at the time the order was placed.
4.2. If the genealogy information can be obtained only by way of biographical research, the cost of that work is calculated as for genealogy data.
4.3. Payment may be made in cash or by non-cash means. The payment method is chosen at the time of placing the order, subject to the limits on cash settlements established by Russian law.
4.4. The price of the services under the Agreement does not include, and the Customer pays separately for:
travel expenses and other additional costs (fees, services of a notary or translator, etc.), provided that these have been agreed in advance with the Customer.
In cases provided for by the Brief, the Customer also pays separately for archival expenses (preparation of archival certificates, copies and digitisation of materials, certification of copies, paid issue of files in reading rooms, document translation, recording on CD/DVD, arranging access to archive and library reading rooms and to specific collections, postage, payment of commissions on current expenses, and payment to archive staff in cases where issue is refused — when the document is fragile, heavy, in poor binding or undergoing restoration).
Additional and archival expenses are paid by the Customer within 5 (five) working days of receiving the Contractor’s request.
The Contractor provides reliable information and source documents confirming the additional expenses.
5. Rights and obligations of the parties
5.1. The Contractor undertakes to:
5.1.1. Provide the Services in accordance with the approved Brief, in the agreed scope, to proper quality and within the deadlines set out in this Offer.
5.1.2. When providing genealogy research or genealogy expertise services:
carry out preparatory work for the subsequent search — a comprehensive review and analysis of archive and library collections, as well as other auxiliary sources, in order to identify documents that may contain
information relating, directly or indirectly, to the subject of the Agreement;
on the basis of the initial data provided by the Customer, carry out
research work to search for and retrieve genealogy information from archival, electronic, printed and other sources, through correspondence with archives and/or the work of the Contractor’s on-site representatives and/or trips by the Contractor’s specialists;
where the primary sources of the information sought are absent, carry out a search, study and analysis of additional (auxiliary) sources, which may include library holdings, cartographic, local history and reference materials for the territory where the Customer’s ancestors lived, and reference and analytical materials in available information databases;
where research is halted (because the information sought is absent and/or the sources of information are absent) on any family branch listed in Annex No. 1 to the Agreement, continue the research (subject to agreement between the Parties) on another family branch indicated by the Customer where the prospects of research are better;
organise all information found, with references to its sources (for archival documents — the archive code including the archive name, the fund number and title, the inventory number, the file number and title, and the sheet number(s); for printed publications — full bibliographic description with all imprint data), in the following genealogy formats: line diagram of the family (ascending pedigree); family tree (descending pedigree); pedigree table; family map; generational record; card index of persons.
5.1.3. Where questions arise about the source data and/or the content of the Services, contact the Customer within 5 (five) working days to clarify them.
5.1.4. At the end of the services, hand over to the Customer all documents and materials obtained during the research, which may take the form of archival certificates; extracts from documents certified by the archive; copies (digital or printed); digital photographs of documents and so on.
5.1.5. If the sources studied contain no information directly relevant to the subject of the research, provide the Customer with a detailed analytical report listing all the archive collections studied under this Agreement.
5.1.6. During the term of the Agreement, except for the periods set out in clauses 6.4 and 8 of the Offer, provide the Customer with information (including in the form of reports) on the progress and scope of the services, or documents confirming the impossibility of performing them during the reporting period.
5.2. The Customer undertakes to:
5.2.1. Provide the Contractor with all available information and documents (source data) necessary for proper performance of the Agreement, within no more than 30 (thirty) days of the date the Agreement is concluded.
5.2.2. Provide the Contractor with the cooperation needed to perform the Agreement. Within no more than 5 (five) working days of receiving the Contractor’s requests, respond to them and provide the necessary information and/or documents (where available), as well as notarised powers of attorney for work in archives and to represent the Customer at registry offices and other bodies, in the wording supplied by the Contractor. Any changes or corrections to the wording of the power of attorney, including those made by the notary, must be agreed with the Contractor.
Where required (at the demand of the archives, registry offices or other bodies in which the search is being conducted), provide the Contractor with copies and/or notarised copies and/or originals of documents needed to prove kinship (certificates of birth, marriage and death).
5.2.3. Pay for the Contractor’s services in the amount, manner and within the deadlines set out in the Brief or agreed at the time of order, together with any additional expenses agreed between the Parties under this Offer.
5.3. The Contractor has the right to:
5.3.1. Request and obtain from the Customer the information and documents needed to perform its obligations.
5.3.2. By giving written notice to the Customer, unilaterally extend the deadlines for the services where difficulties arise in conducting the research, including obstacles, actions or omissions on the part of archives, registry offices or other bodies, lack of access to sources, or delays in the Customer providing source data and/or other requested information and/or documents (including powers of attorney) needed for the research.
5.3.3. Without mentioning the Customer’s name or any details of the Customer’s present-day personal life or private family information, discuss orally or in writing the most effective search path for the current research within the genealogy community; this includes posting depersonalised information about the fact of the search, the details, place and time of the search on the internet, so as to attract the widest possible circle of specialists to discuss the case and find the most effective route. The Customer’s prior consent to such actions is not required, unless agreed otherwise in an additional supplement to the Agreement.
5.3.4. Give advice and recommendations based on the Contractor’s own experience and knowledge of archival work, and make proposals on further research at any stage of performance under the Agreement.
5.4. The Customer has the right to:
5.4.1. Monitor the progress and quality of the services, without interfering in the Contractor’s work.
5.4.2. Assign payment for the Services to a third party, whether natural or legal, provided this is agreed in advance with the Contractor and confirmed in writing by the Contractor.
6. Deadlines and procedure for providing services; acceptance of the result
6.1. The deadline for the services is set out in the Brief. For services that do not require a Brief, the standard term is three months.
6.2. The deadline runs from the moment the Customer provides the source data. If access to sources is unavailable, the deadline is extended by the time spent waiting for access.
6.3. If the Customer initiates changes to the deadline, the type or scope of services, or the type of research, the Parties sign a supplementary agreement, which becomes an integral part of the Agreement. Until that supplementary agreement is signed, the Contractor may suspend the services without incurring any liability.
6.4. If the Customer fails to perform their obligations under the Agreement, including payment or the provision of documents and information, in a way that prevents the Contractor from performing the Agreement, the Contractor suspends the services and notifies the Customer.
Once the circumstances preventing performance have been removed, within 14 (fourteen) days of the notice, the Contractor resumes performance without delay. Otherwise the Contractor’s obligations are deemed performed and the Customer’s prior payments are not refunded. Research can be resumed only once the obstacles have been removed; the Parties then draw up a new Brief setting out the conditions and prices in force at the time of signing.
6.5. The provision and acceptance of services is confirmed by an acceptance certificate.
6.6. The Contractor sends the Customer an acceptance certificate listing the services performed and their total cost, no later than 5 (five) days after the end of the service period, together with the documents and information provided for in clause 4.1 of the Offer.
The Customer must, within 5 (five) working days of receiving those documents, accept the services and return a signed acceptance certificate or a reasoned refusal. If no written reasoned refusal is received within that period, the services are deemed accepted in full.
Where the Customer issues a reasoned refusal, the Contractor remedies the identified defects at its own cost within deadlines agreed between the Parties, after which the Parties proceed with re-acceptance.
7. Liability of the parties
7.1. The Parties are liable for non-performance or improper performance of their obligations under the Agreement in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. Lost profits and indirect losses of the Parties are not recoverable under this Agreement.
7.2. By entering into the Agreement on the terms of the Offer, the Customer acknowledges and agrees that research may, for reasons beyond the Contractor’s control (absence of the necessary sources of genealogy information, absence of the information sought in the available sources, lack of access to sources due to obstacles from archives, registry offices and other bodies — closures, relocations, transfer of needed documents for restoration, poor physical condition preventing issue from storage, and so on), produce a negative result.
In that case the Contractor may unilaterally withdraw from further performance of the Agreement by giving written notice in accordance with clause 9 of the Offer.
7.3. The Contractor is released from liability for failing to achieve a result satisfactory to
the Customer or for failing to provide services in the previously agreed scope or within the agreed deadlines, where the source data provided by the Customer contain incorrect, inaccurate or unreliable information. The Customer accepts full responsibility for providing accurate and reliable source data. If, during the work, the Contractor detects inaccurate or unreliable source data, the price, deadlines and/or scope of services may be changed by the Contractor unilaterally. If the Customer does not agree to those changes and refuses to sign a corresponding supplement to the Agreement, the Contractor may unilaterally withdraw from performance under clause 9 of the Offer.
8. Force majeure
8.1. The Parties are released from liability for non-performance or improper performance of obligations under the Agreement if proper performance has become impossible due to force majeure, that is, extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances in the given conditions, including: military action, epidemics, natural disasters, sanctions, acts and actions of state authorities and international organisations, and other circumstances which make it impossible to perform the obligations under the Agreement.
8.2. The Party affected by force majeure must notify the other Party of the occurrence, nature and likely duration of the circumstances no later than 5 (five) working days after they arise, supported by a corresponding document. If notice is not given in good time and in the form specified, the affected Party cannot rely on force majeure to be released from liability, except where the force majeure itself prevented notice from being sent.
8.3. During the period of force majeure that releases the Parties from liability, performance of the obligations is suspended and no sanctions for non-performance are applied.
If the force majeure continues for more than 3 (three) months, the Parties must agree on the fate of the Agreement. If no agreement is reached, either Party may unilaterally withdraw from the Agreement by giving the other Party written notice.
8.4. The existence and duration of force majeure circumstances are properly evidenced by certificates issued by state authorities or the chamber of commerce and industry.
9. Conditions and procedure for terminating the Agreement
9.1. The Agreement may be terminated by written agreement of the Parties, or unilaterally in the manner provided by Russian law and this Offer.
9.2. The Agreement may be terminated out of court in the following cases:
9.2.1. At the Customer’s initiative, where the Customer considers it necessary to suspend or interrupt the services, after agreeing this with the Contractor and giving 30 (thirty) calendar days’ written notice before the proposed date of termination.
9.2.2. At the Contractor’s initiative, where archives, registry offices or other bodies obstruct the provision of services (clause 7.2 of the Offer).
9.2.3. At the Contractor’s initiative, where the Customer has not provided the agreed and correct source data and documents needed for the services within the deadlines set out in clauses 5.2.1 and 6.4 of the Offer.
9.2.4. At the Contractor’s initiative, where the Customer has delayed payment for the services on the terms of this Offer for more than 30 (thirty) calendar days.
9.3. Where one of the Parties unilaterally refuses performance on the grounds set out in clause 9.2 of the Offer, the Agreement is deemed terminated at the moment the other Party receives the corresponding notice.
9.4. From the moment notice is received, the Contractor halts all actions relating to performance under the Agreement and hands over to the Customer all documents and materials obtained up to the date of termination, together with a research report and an acceptance certificate covering the services provided up to that point.
9.5. Where the Agreement is terminated early, the cost of the search work is calculated in years if the service was measured in years, and in generations if the service was measured in generations.
9.6. Where one Party refuses performance of the Agreement on the grounds set out in clause 9.2 of the Offer, the Contractor’s fee is not recalculated and is not refunded to the Customer. In all cases of refusal of the Agreement, and where the Agreement is terminated due to force majeure, the Customer also reimburses the Contractor for actual expenses incurred, determined on the basis of source documents, no later than 10 (ten) working days from the date the Parties sign a reconciliation statement. The above applies to services performed with a negative result, the cost of which is calculated based on actual expenses and the cost of the specialist’s working time.
9.7. On termination or early cessation of the Agreement, the Contractor provides the Customer with a final report (electronic or written) within 14 (fourteen) working days of the date of termination.
10. Confidentiality
10.1. Each Party agrees to treat all information transferred between the Parties when concluding the Agreement and in the course of performing obligations arising from it as confidential information of the other Party, including: the Customer’s personal data, and the names, dates, family connections and genealogy and biographical facts of the Customer’s relatives and ancestors.
10.2. Confidential information does not include information that has become known to the Contractor in the course of performing its obligations from publicly available sources.
10.3. The Contractor undertakes to use confidential information only for the purposes of performing its obligations under the Agreement or for the purposes for which the information was provided.
10.4. Each Party undertakes not to transfer confidential information to third parties without the consent of the other Party, and to take care to protect its confidentiality in other ways, save where required by law or necessary for performance under the Agreement. The Contractor may pass on documents and information relating to the conclusion and performance of the Agreement (to the extent necessary for that purpose) to its employees, consultants, contractors and performers, who are bound by confidentiality obligations.
11. Miscellaneous
11.1. All amendments and additions to an Agreement entered into on the terms of this Offer must be made in writing.
11.2. Once the Agreement is concluded, all previous written and oral arrangements, correspondence and negotiations between the Parties on the subject of the Agreement cease to have effect.
11.3. Neither Party may assign rights (claims) under the Agreement to third parties without the consent of the other Party.
11.4. The Parties confirm their mutual consent to exchange legally significant documents
(certificates, agreements, letters and other documents) and scanned copies thereof electronically. The Parties recognise the legal force of electronic documents sent by email or in the messengers indicated in the Brief (request), treating them as equivalent to paper documents with handwritten signatures. An automatic software notification received by a Party confirming receipt of an electronic message by email or messenger is treated as confirmation of receipt. All documents, including all documentation, notices, claims, correspondence and related material sent by the Parties to each other by the above means are deemed official correspondence with full legal force.
11.5. The Contractor sends documents and the research report by post or courier to the address indicated by the Customer.
11.6. The current price list for the Contractor’s services and the tariffs for additional expenses are available on the Contractor’s site at myrodoslovie.ru.
11.7. An annex to the Agreement is Annex No. 1 “Brief for the services”.
11.8. Professional terms and concepts used in the Agreement and agreed by the Parties:
Genealogy research
— the process of searching for information in archives and other institutions, with the aim of reconstructing all family ties along the direct male line, for a specific family branch, over a defined number of years (100 years, 200 years), counting from the earliest documented event.
Biographical data
— a set of documents and information that makes it possible to reconstruct the life history of a person from birth to death, in close connection with the working and social reality, culture and daily life of the time.
Genealogy expertise
— the process preceding genealogy research, which involves searching for information in archives and other institutions, covers two generations of a specific family branch, and indicates how promising the full research is likely to be.
Counting one hundred years
— the count starts from the earliest documented primary event (birth, marriage, death) in the life of a representative of the lineage under research.
Counting by years
— the process of defining the depth of research based on the commonly used calendar — a system of counting time (in years) from a specified event.
Counting by generations
— the process of defining the depth of research based on the membership of a specific family group, determined by date of birth and family ties.
Family branch
— a set of generations of people who share a single surname and are blood relatives along the direct male line.
9. Contractor’s details
Tsentr Genealogii Semeynaya Relikviya LLC (Family Relic Genealogy Centre LLC)
PSRN (OGRN): 1217800151381
INN: 7842196068
KPP: 784201001
Registered address: 191144, St Petersburg, Smolninskoye municipal district, 10th Sovetskaya St 14, letter A, apt. 43
General Director: Pavel A. Ovchinnikov
Taxation: simplified system, VAT not applicable
Account number: 40702810032060018919
Bank: St Petersburg Branch of JSC Alfa-Bank, BIK: 044030786
Correspondent account: 30101810600000000786
Email: info@myrodoslovie.ru
Tel. +7 800 550-58-90
Website www.myrodoslovie.ru