Membership terms and conditions

1. About these terms

1.1 These terms apply to every member of Foreningen Custorian, a voluntary non-profit association (frivillig forening) registered in Denmark under CVR 46399455, Rådhusstræde 15, 1466 København K ("Custorian", "we"), and to every expert contributor to the Parents' Alliance library (clause 11).

1.2 They sit below Danish and EU law, the Articles of Association (the "Articles"), resolutions of the general assembly and the Governance Charter, in that order. If these terms conflict with any of them, those prevail. Custorian's policies, referred to below by number and listed on the Policies page, also apply. If the Danish and English texts of the Articles differ, the Danish text prevails (Articles § 1.3).

1.3 You accept these terms when you join, and when you sign in to the members area for the first time, and again whenever we publish a new version. We record the version you accepted and the date.

2. Membership classes

2.1 Support Membership is the voting class of membership (Articles § 3.1). Every Support Member has the same rights. Only the annual fee differs: Individual (individuals, including parents and youth representatives) €10; Trust & Safety Expert €50; Organisation (non-profit civil-society organisations supporting the association's purpose) €100; For-profit Organisation (for-profit organisations that are not, and could not become, subject to assessment, and neither control nor are controlled by a platform or service that could) €500. All fees are a year, excluding VAT.

2.2 An organisation holds one membership and one vote, exercised by a named representative.

2.3 Parents' Alliance membership is for parents and others who have parental responsibility for, or day-to-day care of, a child, wherever they live. Those who join by 31 December 2026 are founding members and get free lifetime membership; after that the fee is €5 a year excluding VAT. Alliance Members are the parents' voice of Custorian: they build local and online chapters, run campaigns and talks with decision makers, vote in alliance polls and set the alliance's priorities, under the alliance charter. Once the alliance has 1,000 paying members, with active chapters in at least two countries, Alliance Members elect a Parents' Council of seven from among themselves to lead it, and the Council may put proposals directly to Custorian's Board. Members are admitted on payment, under a standing resolution of the Board. Alliance membership is a separate class from Support Membership, with its own voice: it does not carry a vote at Custorian's general assembly, and, like every membership, gives no role in the standard or certification (clause 6.4).

2.5 Support Membership and Parents' Alliance membership are separate, with separate benefits. A parent who wants both joins both and pays both fees. Individual and Trust & Safety Expert applicants can ask to join both in one checkout.

2.6 The Board sets the fees each year (Governance Charter § 10.1). A fee change applies from your next renewal, and we tell you at least 30 days before.

3. Who can join

3.1 Support Membership is open to the categories in clause 2.1, admitted by decision of the Board (Articles § 3.1). The Board has delegated these decisions to Custorian's membership team, which decides on its behalf. Youth representatives state on application the basis of their connection to young people's circumstances.

3.2 Platforms cannot be members. A platform or service that is, or may become, subject to assessment under Custorian's standard cannot be a member at any level, or an expert contributor. Neither can a company that controls one or is controlled by one, nor an organisation substantially funded by, or acting on behalf of, such a platform or service, such as a foundation, fund, consultancy or industry association (Articles § 7.7, Policy 7). This is the firewall that keeps the standard independent of those it measures.

3.3 When you apply, you confirm in writing that you, or the organisation you join for, are not covered by clause 3.2, and we record that confirmation (Policy 7). If that changes, you must tell us within 30 days, and the Board will act under clause 9.2.

3.4 For-profit members confirm that their own products are not candidates for assessment. Membership never gives anyone a path to certification. No member may take part in, influence or benefit from any certification outcome (Policy 3).

3.5 Members and expert contributors must be 18 or over.

4. Applying and joining

4.1 You apply or join at members.custorian.org/join. Applying for Support Membership is not a payment and does not make you a member.

4.2 Our membership team reviews Support Membership applications on the Board's behalf, normally within 10 working days, and may approve or decline them. An application that raises a question of eligibility (clause 3.2) or a conflict of interest goes to the Board instead. We do not have to give reasons for declining. If you are declined, you may ask the Board in writing, within 30 days, to review the decision. Information you give must be true and complete; we may ask for more before deciding.

4.3 If your application is approved, we email you a secure payment link for your fee level. Your membership starts on the day your first annual fee is paid. If your fee is waived under clause 5.5, it starts on the day of approval. If you have not paid within 60 days of approval, the approval lapses and you can apply again.

4.4 Parents' Alliance membership needs no application: it starts when your first fee is paid.

4.5 Once your membership starts, we add you to the member register and you can sign in to the members area. We send you guidance on Custorian's mission, the firewalls that keep the standard and certification independent, and the limits of a member's role.

5. Fees and payment

5.1 Fees are annual and shown excluding VAT. VAT is added at checkout where the law requires it: Danish VAT at 25%, or the VAT rate of your EU country. For members outside the EU, checkout applies the rules for where you live. Organisations with a valid EU VAT number may be charged under the reverse-charge rules.

5.2 You pay by card or another method offered at checkout, through our payment provider, Stripe. We never see or store your full card details.

5.3 Your membership renews automatically each year on the anniversary of your first payment, at the fee then in force, until you cancel.

5.4 If a renewal payment fails, Stripe retries it and emails you. While a fee is unpaid, you cannot vote at a general assembly (Articles § 4.8). If it is still unpaid 60 days after the renewal date, the Board may end your membership under clause 9.

5.5 We may waive or reduce a fee on request, for example in cases of hardship, under rules set by the Board. A waiver is recorded in the member register and does not change your rights.

5.6 Fees fund the association's purposes (Articles § 2). They are not a donation and give no right to any share of the association's assets.

6. Your rights as a member

6.1 As a Support Member you may attend general assemblies, propose agenda items and vote on every matter reserved to the general assembly (Articles § 3.4). Each member has one vote. Notice of a general assembly is sent by email at least 14 days ahead. Changes to the Articles need two thirds of the votes cast.

6.2 Three-month rule. To vote at a general assembly, your membership must have run without a break for at least three months before the assembly, and any fee due must be paid (Articles § 4.8).

6.3 Board seats are filled by the Board and presented to the general assembly, which may ratify or refuse each appointment.

6.4 No influence over the standard or certification. The technical content of the standard is set through the technical governance process and is not put to a member vote (Policy 3). Certification is issued only by accredited certification bodies, independent of the Board and the general assembly.

6.5 Parents' Alliance members can use the alliance parts of the members area: chapters, events, the forum, polls, live talks, the monthly News Digest and the expert library, as set out in the alliance charter.

6.6 Members are not personally liable for the association's obligations.

7. What we ask of members

7.1 Act in line with the association's purpose (Articles § 2) and treat other members, staff and volunteers with respect, online and in person.

7.2 Declare conflicts of interest. Tell us in writing about any employment, board seat, shareholding, funding relationship or close personal relationship involving a platform or service that is, or may become, subject to assessment; a certification body under the scheme; Custorian's commercial subsidiary; or a registrar, hosting provider or intelligence provider that could appear in Custorian's monitoring (Policy 3). Update it within 30 days of any change. You can do this under Settings.

7.3 Do not speak for Custorian, to the press or anyone else, or use its name, logo or the standard's marks, without written clearance (Policy 6). Membership is not an endorsement of you or your organisation. Members, including Alliance Members and chapter leads, are not spokespeople for Custorian: what you say or do is your own, and Custorian may say so publicly.

7.4 Keep confidential anything marked Internal or Restricted, and treat unmarked members-area material as Internal (Policy 9). This continues after your membership ends. It never stops a disclosure the law requires, a whistleblowing report or a safeguarding report.

7.5 Never post, share or link to child sexual abuse material, or to sites suspected of hosting it. If you come across it, do not open, copy or forward it. Report it to your national hotline (in Denmark, AnmeldDet.dk; others at inhope.org) or to the police (112 if a child is in immediate danger), and tell us through Report a concern, giving only the date, the channel and the sender (Policy 2).

7.6 Zero tolerance of harassment. Sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination are not tolerated in any Custorian setting, including the members area (Code of Conduct, Policy 1 Annex A). Never seek private or unsupervised contact with a child through your membership.

7.7 Safeguarding concerns. If you are worried about a child, call 112 first if they are in immediate danger, then use Report a concern in the members area, which goes only to our Designated Safeguarding Lead (Policy 1).

7.8 Raising concerns. You can report wrongdoing, including by Custorian or its people, under the Whistleblowing Policy (Policy 11). Mark the report "Confidential, Whistleblowing" and send it to info@custorian.org. We acknowledge it within 5 working days, and you are protected from retaliation.

7.9 Keep your contact details up to date, so notices of general assemblies reach you.

8. Cancelling your membership

8.1 You can resign at any time by written notice (Articles § 3.2), for example by email to info@custorian.org. Resignation takes effect when we receive it, or on a later date you give. There is no cancellation fee.

8.2 To stop renewals, use Manage membership under Settings, or the link in your Stripe receipts. Cancelling a renewal is not the same as resigning: you stay a member, including any vote, until the end of the year you have paid for, and you can undo it before then.

8.3 14-day right of withdrawal. If you join as a private individual, you may withdraw within 14 days of your first payment and receive a full refund, by writing to info@custorian.org. If you have voted at a general assembly in that period, we may deduct a proportionate amount.

8.4 Apart from clause 8.3, fees already paid are not refunded when you cancel, lapse or are excluded.

8.5 When your membership ends, your access to members-only parts of the members area ends too. This clause applies to Alliance Members and expert contributors in the same way.

9. Suspension and exclusion

9.1 The Board may exclude a member who acts against the association's purpose or interests (Articles § 3.3), for example by breaching clause 7, failing to declare a conflict, or giving false information.

9.2 If a member, or the organisation it represents, becomes covered by clause 3.2, the Board will exclude them, following clause 9.3.

9.3 Before deciding on exclusion, the Board tells the member in writing what is alleged and gives them at least 14 days to respond. The decision and its reasons are given in writing. No Board member with a conflict takes part.

9.4 While an exclusion is being considered, the Board may suspend access to the members area. A suspension never affects the right to appeal, or to receive notice of, attend and vote at a general assembly.

9.5 An excluded member may appeal to the general assembly by writing to the Board. The appeal is put on the agenda of the next general assembly. This clause applies to Alliance Members in the same way.

10. The members area

10.1 The members area at members.custorian.org is for members and expert contributors. You sign in with a one-time link sent to your email address. Keep that email account secure and do not share sign-in links. One account per person; an organisation's account is used by its named representative.

10.2 Forum posts, chapter messages and questions for live talks are checked before they are published: first by an automated check, then by a person. They may be edited for safety or declined. Content that suggests a child may be at risk is not published; it goes to our Designated Safeguarding Lead, and we point you to the right help service.

10.2a Discussions in the alliance (forum, polls, chapters and live talks) follow the Chatham House rule: you may use what is said, but you must not reveal the identity or affiliation of the member who said it, inside or outside the alliance. Named guest speakers, and anything in a recording we publish, are on the record.

10.2b You may post, comment or ask a poll anonymously. Other members then do not see your name or country. Custorian moderators can still see who wrote it, and use this only to moderate, to deal with breaches of these terms, and for safeguarding under clause 10.2. Poll votes are always secret: only totals are shown or shared.

10.3 Live talks may be recorded only when everyone taking part has been told beforehand. Recordings we share are reviewed under the Communications Policy (Policy 6) and may be edited or withheld.

10.4 General assembly votes follow the procedure in each notice. Once § 4.10 of the Articles is adopted, you may vote online, or give a written proxy to another voting member for a specific assembly; no one may hold more than two proxies.

10.5 We aim to keep the members area available but do not guarantee it. If it is unavailable when a notice or vote is due, we use email instead.

11. Expert library contributors

11.1 Child safety professionals can apply to contribute resources to the Parents' Alliance expert library. A contributor account is not membership of the association and gives no vote.

11.2 We vet every applicant: qualifications and experience, the declaration of interests, and independence. Contributors may not be employed, paid or funded by a platform that can be certified by Custorian, or by any organisation the Parents' Alliance scores or assesses (clause 3.2, Policy 7). Tell us within 30 days if this changes.

11.3 Contributor fee. Approved contributors pay €50 a year excluding VAT, unless we waive it. We charge this fee so we can vet every expert and carry out due diligence, to make sure the Parents' Alliance gets the best possible advice, referrals, products and services. It renews automatically and can be cancelled as in clause 8. It is not refunded if a resource is declined, apart from the right in clause 8.3.

11.4 Every resource is reviewed by Custorian before members can see it. We may publish it, ask for changes, decline it, or later unpublish it, and we give a short reason.

11.5 When you submit a resource, you confirm that you have the right to share it, that it is accurate to the best of your knowledge, that it contains no personal data about a child, and that it declares any product or service you sell or are paid to promote. You give Custorian a free, non-exclusive licence to show it to members while it is published. You can withdraw it at any time.

11.6 Resources are general information, not medical, legal or therapeutic advice. The author is responsible for the content. Your name, role, organisation, qualifications and bio are shown to members next to your resources.

11.7 We may suspend or end a contributor account if the independence condition stops being met, if a declaration was false, or if content puts children or parents at risk.

12. Your personal data

12.1 Custorian is the data controller for the members area. We hold your name, email, country and, if you give them, region and municipality; your language; your membership class, fee level and status; the dates you joined, paid and accepted these terms; your conflict-of-interest declarations; your participation, such as chapters, events, posts, general assembly attendance and open votes; and, for expert contributors, the application and resources.

12.2 We use this to run your membership or contributor account (contract, GDPR Article 6(1)(b)), in our legitimate interest in running the association and checking conflicts of interest (Article 6(1)(f)), and to keep accounts and general assembly records, which the law requires (Article 6(1)(c)) (Policy 5).

12.3 Poll votes are recorded against your account so each member votes once. Because a vote may reveal a view on policy, you give explicit consent each time you vote (GDPR Article 9(2)(a)). Only totals are shown or shared, never who voted for what. You can ask us to delete your votes at any time.

12.4 Reports made through Report a concern can be read only by our safeguarding staff and are handled under Policy 1. They are never shared with chapter leads or other members.

12.5 The member register is stored in the EU. Payments are handled by Stripe; we receive your payment status and billing details, not your card number. Stripe may process payment data outside the EU under its own GDPR transfer safeguards. Emails are sent through Google Workspace.

12.6 Payment and accounting records are kept for 5 years after the end of the financial year, as Danish bookkeeping law requires. Other member data is deleted or anonymised 2 years after your membership ends (Policy 12), unless needed for an open appeal or legal claim. General assembly minutes are kept permanently.

12.7 You can ask to see, correct or delete your data, or object to its use, by writing to info@custorian.org. We answer within one month. You can complain to the Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet).

13. General

13.1 Liability. Our liability to you is limited to the fees you paid in the last 12 months, except where Danish law does not allow a limit, such as for gross negligence or intent. Nothing in these terms limits your rights as a consumer.

13.2 Changes. We may change these terms. We tell you at least 30 days before a change takes effect, and ask you to accept the new version at your next sign-in. If you do not accept, you may cancel under clause 8. A change that the Articles require takes effect when the Articles change.

13.3 Notices. We send notices to the email address in the member register. You send notices to info@custorian.org.

13.4 Law and disputes. These terms are governed by Danish law. Disputes go to the Danish courts, with the Copenhagen City Court as the first instance. Consumers keep any right to bring a claim in their own country, and may complain to the Danish Consumer Complaints Board (Forbrugerklagenævnet).

13.5 Contact. Foreningen Custorian, Rådhusstræde 15, 1466 København K, Denmark. CVR 46399455. For any question or problem: info@custorian.org.