Refund Policy

1. INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE This Refund and Cancellation Policy explain how payments, subscriptions, cancellations, and refunds work when you purchase or subscribe to the Research Intelligence Service (“RIS”), operated by the Center for Contemporary & Emerging Technologies (“CCET”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). It applies to every paid transaction on the RIS Platform, including individual purchases of SOP content and paid subscriptions. This Policy should be read together with the RIS Terms of Use, the Research Advisory Ethics Charter, and the RIS Privacy Policy. It is governed by the Competition and Consumer Protection Act No. 24 of 2010 (as amended) and the other laws of Zambia. Nothing in this Policy is intended to exclude or limit any right you have under that Act or any other written law. 2. KEY TERMS ● “Individual Purchase” means a one-off payment that unlocks a specified Full SOP (Description & Scope), on a time-limited, credits or otherwise defined basis as configured on the Platform. ● “Subscription” means a recurring paid plan granting access to a defined quota of SOP products for a defined period (for example, a monthly plan) or credits. ● “SOP Preview” means the free portion of an SOP product that you can view before paying. ● “Access” means the ability to view, unlock, or download SOP content following a successful payment. ● “Digital Content” means the SOP products and related materials delivered electronically through the Platform. 3. THE NATURE OF RIS PRODUCTS Understanding how RIS products are delivered explains how this Policy works: ● RIS products are digital content, delivered and made accessible immediately upon confirmation of your payment. ● A free SOP Preview is available for every product, so that you can assess its discipline, scope and relevance before you pay. ● SOP products are intellectual scaffolds intended to guide your own research, as set out in the Research Advisory Ethics Charter; they are not finished academic work. ● Paid content is watermarked and access-controlled, and, once unlocked, cannot be “returned” in the way a physical product can. 4. YOUR STATUTORY CONSUMER RIGHTS You have important rights under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act No. 24 of 2010. In particular, where content or a service we supply is defective, not fit for its normal purpose, materially not as described, or not provided with reasonable care and skill, you are entitled to a remedy, which may include a refund of the price paid or the re-supply of the content or service to a reasonable standard. Nothing in this Policy excludes, restricts, or disclaims any right you have under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act No. 24 of 2010 or any other written law. Where this Policy and that Act differ, the Act prevails. 5. GENERAL REFUND POSITION Because RIS products are digital content delivered instantly, and because a free preview of every product is provided before purchase, purchases are generally final once the content has been unlocked, accessed, or downloaded, and a change of mind is not by itself a ground for a refund. This general position does not affect your statutory rights described in Section 4, or the specific circumstances in Section 6 in which we will provide a refund. 6. WHEN YOU ARE ENTITLED TO A REFUND We will refund (or, where you prefer and it is practicable, re-supply or grant access to) a purchase in the following circumstances: ● Non-delivery: you were charged but access to the purchased content was not granted, and the problem was not caused by your own device, connection, or account. ● Duplicate or erroneous charge: you were charged more than once for the same item, or charged in error. ● Wrong product: you were given access to a different product from the one you paid for. ● Defective or materially misdescribed content: the content is corrupted, inaccessible, or materially different from its preview and description. ● Unauthorised transaction: a payment was made from your account without your authorisation, subject to our verification and any investigation with the payment provider. 7. WHEN A REFUND WILL NOT NORMALLY BE GIVEN Subject always to your statutory rights, a refund will not normally be provided where: ● you have unlocked, accessed, or downloaded the content and simply changed your mind; ● the content matches its preview and description but you are dissatisfied with it as a matter of preference; ● you did not use, or made limited use of, a subscription or purchased item during its access period or credits; ● your access has been suspended or terminated because of a breach of the Ethics Charter or these terms, including account sharing, redistribution, scraping, or academic-integrity misuse. Refund normally available Refund not normally available ● Paid but no access granted ● Duplicate or erroneous charge ● Wrong product delivered ● Content corrupted or materially not as described ● Unauthorised transaction (subject to investigation) ● Change of mind after access ● Dissatisfaction with content matching its description ● Non-use or limited use of a purchase or subscription ● Suspension/termination for your breach ● Sharing, resale, or scraping of content 8. SUBSCRIPTIONS: CANCELLATION AND RENEWAL ● You may cancel a subscription at any time through your account dashboard or by contacting us. Cancellation stops future renewals; it does not, by itself, generate a refund for the current period. ● Where your subscription has already been paid for the current period, you will normally retain access until the end of that paid period, after which the subscription will not renew. ● Where a subscription renews automatically, we will make the renewal terms clear at sign-up, and you may turn off automatic renewal before the next renewal date. ● Unused SOP quota within a subscription period or credits does not roll over to a later period and is not refundable, unless the law requires otherwise. ● If a scheduled subscription payment fails, we may retry the payment and may suspend access until payment succeeds, in accordance with the Platform’s payment terms. 9. FREE PREVIEWS SOP Previews are provided free of charge. As no payment is made for a Preview, no refund arises in respect of it. 10. HOW TO REQUEST A REFUND To request a refund, contact us at ccetzm@gmail.com, ideally within fourteen (14) days of the transaction, and provide: ● the name and email address on your RIS account; ● the transaction reference or receipt or invoice number; ● the product or subscription concerned; and ● a brief description of the reason for your request, with any supporting evidence (for example, a screenshot of an error). Requesting a refund within fourteen (14) days helps us resolve it quickly; it does not limit any statutory right that applies for a longer period. 11. HOW REFUNDS ARE PROCESSED ● Refund requests are reviewed and, where approved, processed by CCET administratively. ● Approved refunds are made to the original payment method where possible (for example, the mobile-money account or card used), in the original currency. ● We do not store your card details; card refunds are handled through our payment provider. ● We aim to process approved refunds promptly; as a guide, within seven (7) days for a defective or non-delivered product, and within fourteen (14) days where a service is to be refunded or re-supplied, consistent with the timeframes recognised under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act. Actual crediting times may depend on your bank or mobile-money provider. 12. CHARGEBACKS If you believe a charge is wrong, please contact us first so that we can resolve it quickly. Initiating a chargeback with your bank or mobile-money provider without first contacting us, in circumstances where no refund is due under this Policy, may result in suspension or termination of your account, as provided in the Research Advisory Ethics Charter, without prejudice to your statutory rights. 13. PRICING AND PROMOTIONS Prices are displayed on the Platform before you pay, and you will not be charged more than the displayed price. We may change prices or run promotions from time to time; any change applies to future purchases only and does not affect a purchase already completed at the price you paid. 14. CANCELLATION OR TERMINATION BY CCET We may suspend or terminate access, a purchase, or a subscription where there is non-payment, fraud, a chargeback in respect of a valid charge, or a material breach of the Ethics Charter or these terms. Where we do so, any refund will be determined in accordance with this Policy and the Ethics Charter; termination for your breach does not, of itself, entitle you to a refund. This does not affect any refund or remedy required by law. 15. COMPLAINTS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION If you are unhappy with a refund decision or any aspect of this Policy, please contact us first at ccetzm@gmail.com so that we can try to resolve the matter. If it cannot be resolved, you have the right to refer the matter to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and, where applicable, the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal, established under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act No. 24 of 2010. 16. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, the Platform, or the law. The current version, with its version number and effective date, is published on the Platform. Changes apply to purchases made after the updated Policy takes effect. 17. HOW TO CONTACT US Refunds and Cancellations — CCET Center for Contemporary & Emerging Technologies (CCET), Plot 25667 Mosioatunya Road, Woodlands Ext, Lusaka, Zambia. Email: ccetzm@gmail.com. Telephone: +260 979 298 145 | 0 767 924 02 | www.risscholar.com 18. GOVERNING LAW This Policy is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Zambia, including the Competition and Consumer Protection Act No. 24 of 2010 (as amended), and is to be read together with the RIS Terms of Use, the Research Advisory Ethics Charter, and the RIS Privacy Policy.