Terms and Conditions

Vetspanel is an online independent opinion panel of veterinary professionals. These terms and conditions relate to the Vetspanel website www.vetspanel.com (referred to here as the “Website”) for registered members of the Vetspanel panel (“Members”) and those wishing to join. It also covers membership of the Vetspanel panel (the “Panel”), participation in online, telephone, video-conferencing or face-to-face market research surveys created and managed by Vetspanel (“Surveys”), and both use of the Website and participation in Surveys by those not registered on the Panel (“Non-Members”).

Vetspanel, the Panel, Surveys and Website are owned and operated by CM Research Limited. By continuing to browse and use this Website, become or remain a member of the Panel or participate in Surveys, you agree to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use (the “Terms and Conditions”) which, together with Vetspanel’s Privacy Policy , govern the relationship between you and CM Research in relation to, or in connection with, this Website, Panel or Survey and your use of the same. Your use of this Website, Panel or Survey, and any dispute arising out of such use, is subject to the laws of England and Wales and the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

The term “Vetspanel” refers to the organisation described above, owned by CM Research Limited, whose registered offices are at First Floor, 74 Church Street, Leatherhead, KT22 8ER, United Kingdom. The term “you” refers to the user or viewer of the Website, any participant in the Surveys, or any individual who has registered (or requested to register) as a member of the Vetspanel Panel.

1. Services provided by CM Research

1.1 CM Research offers all individuals access to the Website free of charge. Certain areas are only available to Members.

1.2 CM Research offers Members the opportunity to participate in different veterinary related Surveys, including online surveys, face-to-face individual and group interviews, video-conferencing interviews and telephone interviews. Non-Members may also be given the opportunity to participate.

1.3 Clients commission CM Research to collect research data on their behalf (hereinafter referred to as “Clients”).

2. Members’ Obligations

2.1 Vetspanel membership is open to all veterinary professionals, including surgeons, doctors, specialists, technicians, nurses, managers and students.

2.2 By registering as a Member of the Vetspanel Panel, you agree not to provide misleading or false personal information and not to register under a false identity. All registrations are subject to validation and approval and Vetspanel membership will not be granted if identity cannot be confirmed or is suspicious. By registering, you agree that CM Research may verify your registration information. CM Research will use the results of such verification only for the purposes of determining the accuracy and completeness of the information that you provide.

2.3 CM Research reserve the right to deny or terminate registrations at any time and may refuse any and all current or future access to, or use of, this Website.

2.4 Vetspanel Members are only permitted one (1) active account at any given time, even if you have multiple email addresses. If a Member is found to have, and taken part in Surveys across, multiple accounts, CM Research reserves the right to remove an account without notice. If this happens, all accumulated points in the account will be forfeit.

2.5 If a Member is found to have provided untrue or inaccurate information, in either their Vetspanel membership account or a Survey, CM Research reserves the right to remove the account without notice. If this happens, all accumulated points in the account will be forfeit.

2.6 Each Member is responsible for updating their information through the Website and ensuring it remains accurate.

2.7 To access the Member section of this Website, you will require a username and password. New Members will be assigned a username, their registered email address, and allowed to either set or receive a temporary password, the latter of which should be changed as soon as possible. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your account, username and password. Any unauthorized use of your account, username or password must be immediately reported to CM Research or Vetspanel.

2.8 You confirm that you will not violate any employment regulations by participating in Surveys.

2.9 By registering as a Member, each Member agrees to abide by the following:

a) You may not have more than one (1) account, as mentioned above.

b) You may not allow other individuals (either Members or Non-Members) to participate in a Survey using your account.

c) You may not use bots, algorithms, AI, machines, or other automatic functions to generate Survey responses, other content or accesses to web pages.

d) You may not create access to any CM Research or Vetspanel web page or Website in which a person is requested to read material that has the primary reason of generating profit.

e) You may not use or access this Website for commercial purposes.

f) You may not manipulate the results of any Survey on or in connection with this Website or CM Research in general.

g) You may not interfere with this Website or any other Members’ use of and/or access to this Website.

h) You may not copy or frame sections of this Website on another website, amend the appearance of this Website, or establish links from any other website to any webpage on this Website without the prior express written consent of CM Research.

3. Content Accountability

3.1 CM Research expressly disclaims any and all responsibility, liability, and accountability for any content or other material posted on this Website or in Surveys by any Member(s) or Survey participants. You are solely liable, responsible, and accountable for any information submitted, uploaded, and/or made available by you, including the accuracy of such information.

3.2 CM Research and Vetspanel maintain a zero-tolerance policy for fraudulent or offensive behaviour. You agree not to post or send any threatening, libellous, defamatory, obscene, scandalous, or inflammatory content, material, or information or any other content, material, or information that could violate applicable laws.

3.3 The opinions or advice submitted, uploaded, and/or made available by you do not constitute an endorsement by CM Research. You hereby waive, release, and discharge CM Research from any and all claims, damages, demands, liabilities, losses, and/or costs and expenses, including without limitation reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs, arising out of, resulting from, related to, and/or in connection with any content, material, and/or information submitted, uploaded, and/or made publicly available by you. In the event of such claims, you agree to indemnify CM Research for any liabilities, losses, awards, judgments, and/or costs and/or expenses, including without limitation reasonable attorney’s fees and/or court costs incurred by CM Research in defending against such claims.

3.4 The Website may include or contain links to other websites maintained and/or operated by third parties, or information about products or services offered by third parties. CM Research disclaims any and all liability, responsibility, and/or accountability for any content of, or products or services listed on, the linked websites to the maximum extent permitted under applicable law.

3.5 CM Research reserves the absolute right to modify or delete any content material and/or information submitted, uploaded, and/or made publicly available by any Member on this Website.

4. Survey Participation

4.1 Members may receive Survey invitations by email. Your participation in a Survey is entirely optional and voluntary.

4.2 Vetspanel’s failure to invite you to participate in a particular Survey or Surveys shall not give rise to any cause of action against CM Research.

4.3 You agree to answer and complete all Surveys accurately and honestly. Providing incorrect or inappropriate answers may result in the cancellation of your membership without prior notice.

4.4 Any Surveys sent to you by Vetspanel must be personally taken by you (or not at all) and you must not delegate the participation of any Surveys to any other individual, including the practice employees. It is your responsibility to notify CM Research and Vetspanel if you know, or suspect, that someone else is participating in Surveys in your name.

4.5 If you are a veterinary or medical professional, CM Research may be required to report any Adverse Events mentioned in Surveys to local authorities. CM Research or Vetspanel may contact you via email to obtain consent for your personally identifiable information to be shared with the Client for that Survey for the purpose of reporting the Adverse Event(s) mentioned. You are not obliged to give such consent, and the Adverse Event(s) may be reported anonymously.

4.6 Withdrawal of participation in particular Surveys is possible at all times, and cancelling your membership will result in exclusion from future survey invitations, once the unsubscribe process is completed.

4.7 You may unsubscribe from further communication or participation at any time by following the unsubscribe process described on this Website and later in this document.

5. Incentive Reimbursement For Survey Participation

5.1 When inviting you to participate in Surveys, Vetspanel may offer incentives by way of Vetspanel Points (Members only), gift cards, prize draws, charity donations or other monetary rewards (“Incentives”) as a reward for those completing the Survey adequately and honestly, and as a compensation for your time and effort.

5.2 The type and amount of Incentive will be specified in the Survey invitation email, and points redemption options will be presented in the “Redeem” section of the Vetspanel Website for Members. Non-Members will be given more details and options within the Survey itself.

5.3 You will only be entitled to the Incentive if you complete 100% of a survey, click “Submit” at the end, and pass any necessary validation checks.

5.4 Depending on the laws of your country of residence, you may be required to pay taxes on the Incentive.

6. Vetspanel Points

6.1 Vetspanel incentivises Members to complete surveys using a points system. The number of points available for completing a particular survey will be detailed in the Survey invitation email and within the Survey itself.

6.2 Points can be exchanged for various rewards, including gift vouchers, cash via PayPal or charity donations. Points redemption options will be presented in the “Redeem” section of the Vetspanel Website.

6.3 Points are valid for 14 months after they have been credited to your account. If after this period Points have not been used, Vetspanel reserves the right to delete them from your account.

6.4 All gift vouchers are provided with an expiration date and the validity period varies across each issuing company, therefore checking the expiry date and validity period of redeemed vouchers is the sole responsibility of the Member. Vouchers that have been redeemed from Vetspanel but not used before their expiry date cannot be reissued. Vetspanel cannot be held responsible for the vouchers that have been redeemed from Vetspanel member account but not used before the expiry date.

6.5 Vetspanel reserves the right to remove points from your account if fraud or abuse is suspected, or if points are credited to your account in error.

7. Refer a Colleague

7.1 Vetspanel may contact you by email to invite you to refer a colleague to participate in a particular Survey, or to join the Panel.

7.2 To be eligible, your referred colleague must work as a veterinary professional in the country specified in the Vetspanel invitation, be willing to participate in veterinary market research and must not have been a Vetspanel Member any time in the six months prior to the referral request. At the time of the referral, your colleague must not have already been recommended by another member.

7.3 If you pass on a colleague’s details to Vetspanel, you confirm that you have your colleague’s permission to do so.

7.4 In order to receive the referral reward, your colleague must follow the link provided in the invitation email to sign-up or participate in our research. If they do not use this particular link to do so, you will not be eligible for the “Refer a Colleague” reward.

7.5 All referrals are subject to a verification process to ensure that any new members and/or participants in our research are veterinary professionals and not already Members. All information submitted via a registration form or through a Survey will be reviewed prior to the allocation of the “Refer a Colleague” reward.

7.6 To receive the credit for the “Refer a Colleague” reward on your account, you must be an active Vetspanel Member. You must have been a Member for the 12 months prior to the referral request with at least one (1) survey completed in this time. Vetspanel reserves the right to remove or refund credits applied through the “Refer a Colleague” scheme if fraud or abuse is suspected, or if credits are made in error. Vetspanel reserve the right to withdraw this offer at any time.

8. Confidentiality

8.1 When participating in a Survey (including online surveys, video-conferencing interviews, focus groups, face-to-face interviews or telephone interviews), you agree that you will not disclose information and will hold in strict confidence any information obtained or gleaned regarding any questionnaire or any other market research project or activity related to or facilitated by CM Research and Vetspanel. All information displayed in our Surveys, including answers or information provided by you, is considered confidential proprietary information belonging to CM Research and its Clients.

8.2 Copying, screenshotting, downloading or printing any screen or information shown to you during participation in Surveys is prohibited unless specifically asked to do so as part of your participation.

8.3 You may be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement or affirm your agreement to confidentiality provisions prior to participating in some research projects. All information provided by you during your participation in any of our research project is confidential and shall be used solely for the purpose of discussing and providing information to CM Research, Vetspanel and its Clients.

8.4 All aspects of this Website, including its appearance, design, logos, text, photographs, Surveys, and other materials, are considered proprietary information belonging to CM Research, and should be regarded as such.

8.5 You may not copy, modify, display, upload or distribute the information on this Website without the prior express written consent of CM Research.

8.6 Any communication or material you send to Vetspanel or CM Research by email or otherwise, including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, Survey responses and profile information, is, and will be treated as, non-confidential and non-proprietary, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Anything you send or post may be used by Vetspanel, CM Research or its affiliates for any purpose, including, but not limited to, reproduction, disclosure, transmission, publication, broadcast, and posting. Vetspanel, CM Research or its affiliates are free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any communication you send to this Website without compensation and for any purpose whatsoever.

9. Privacy

9.1 CM Research takes the privacy of your personal data very seriously. For more information, please see the Vetspanel Privacy Policy .

9.2 CM Research may share certain information from the profile data supplied by each Member to assist Clients in designing Surveys or selecting Members to participate. However, personally identifiable information (name, address, telephone number, clinic name, email address) will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent.

10. Indemnification and Limitations of Liability

10.1 You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless CM Research, its directors, officers, employees, and/or agents from and against any and all third-party claims, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, and costs and/or expenses, including without limitation reasonable legal fees and court costs, arising out of, resulting from, related to, or in connection with any breach or other violation by you of the Terms and Conditions and/or applicable law.

10.2 In no event shall Vetspanel or CM Research be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive loss or damage, or for loss of income, loss of profit, and/or loss of goodwill suffered by any Member or Members of this Website or others under or in connection with the use of this Website or as a result of Vetspanel’s or CM Research’s performance or non-performance under these terms and conditions, regardless of whether or not the possibility of any such damages was disclosed to Vetspanel or CM Research or could have been reasonably foreseen by Vetspanel or CM Research.

10.3 Neither Vetspanel nor CM Research are responsible or liable for any damages, whether direct or indirect, incidental, special, or consequential, or losses that result from participation in any Survey offered to Members or reliance on or use of information, products, services, or merchandise listed on or provided through this Website, except where liability is mandated by applicable law.

11. Disclaimer

11.1 This Website, including all content or services made available on or accessed through this Website, is provided “as is.” To the fullest extent permissible by law, CM Research makes no representations or warranties of any kind whatsoever for the content on this Website.

11.2 CM Research disclaims any expressed or implied warranties, including, without limitations, non-infringements, title, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. CM Research does not warrant that the functions contained in this Website, or any material or content contained therein will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that this Website or the server that makes it available will be free of viruses or other harmful components.

12. Cancellation

12.1 CM Research may suspend or terminate a Member’s account without prior notice, if the Member breaches or otherwise violates these terms and conditions.

12.2 Members may unsubscribe from this service at any time by accessing the Profile section of their Vetspanel member account and clicking “To unsubscribe please click here” at the bottom of the page. The cancellation process may take up to 4 days and Members may still be invited to surveys while the process is finalised. Members should be aware that once the account is deleted from Vetspanel.com, any points that have not been redeemed BEFORE cancellation of the account will be lost.

13. Inactive accounts

13.1 Vetspanel and CM Research reserve the right to remove any Member accounts which have not been active for a period of 14 consecutive months. An active panellist is a member who registered to join Vetspanel and has participated in at least one survey or has updated his/her profile data within the last 14 months. “Participated” is here defined as having started taking part in a Survey.

13.2 An inactive account on Vetspanel.com is an account held by a Member who has not either made use of the Members’ area of the Vetspanel Website and/or not participated in Surveys for 14 consecutive months. Inactive accounts will be sent a notification email after 12 months of inactivity and deleted with no warning after 14 months of inactivity. Any points remaining on the account at the time of deletion will be lost.

14. Changes to the General Terms and Conditions

14.1 All information posted on this Website is subject to change without notice. These Terms and Conditions may be changed at any time without prior notice. CM Research will make such changes by posting them on the Vetspanel Website. You should check this Website for such changes frequently. Your continued access of this Website after such changes conclusively demonstrates your acceptance of those changes.

15. Legal Jurisdiction and Address for Service

15.1 Your use of this Website and any dispute arising out of such use of this Website is subject to the laws of England and Wales and the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

16. Notices

16.1 Any notices required hereunder shall be given by email and shall be sent to [email protected] in the case of Vetspanel, and to you at the email address provided by you to Vetspanel during the registration process, or such other address as either party shall specify.

17. General

17.1 Headings are for reference purposes only and in no way define, limit, construe, or describe the scope or extent of such section. Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our rights to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. This document sets forth the entire understanding and agreement between CM Research and you with respect to the subject matter contained herein.

18. Severability Clause

18.1 In the event that one or more provisions of these Terms and Conditions are deemed wholly or partially invalid, it shall be deemed severed from these Terms and Conditions, and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect. Any provision that is invalid shall be replaced with a provision that is as similar as possible to and best meets the intended purpose of the invalid provision.

19. Questions

19.1 If you have questions or concerns regarding these Terms and Conditions, please contact us by email at [email protected] or by postal mail to Vetspanel c/o CM Research, First Floor, 74 Church Street, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 8ER, United Kingdom.