General sales conditions

Article 1 | Acceptance of these general conditions

These general sales conditions govern all the relationships between the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe and its clients/students with respect to enrolments, except in the case of express, written derogation. By placing an order and/or enrolling, the client and/or the student accept these general conditions. These conditions shall apply exclusively from the enrolment of the client and/or the student.

Article 2 | Age limits

The student must be 18 years old minimum to be enrolled for training with the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe. Exceptionally, a student of (minimum) 13 years old may be enrolled for the suitable training, provided that a parent or guardian signs an official waiver and that both expressly and irrevocably undertake to accept these general conditions.

Article 3 | Enrolment conditions and formalities

All enrolments are personal and non-transferable.

By validating his/her enrolment, the client confirms his/her irrevocable undertaking to follow, or to have a student follow, the training, subject to the right of cancellation or deferral set out in Article 5.

For standard lessons, the possession of the learning materials is essential.

Article 4 | Refusal of enrolment

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe reserves the right to refuse enrolment on a training course, as well as any renewal, particularly in the case of inappropriate behaviour by the student in compliance with the “internal rules guidelines”.

Article 5 | Right to withdraw – Deferral of enrolment and reimbursement

Any withdrawal from enrolment for a training course that has been validly carried out will lead to the refund of training fees within thirty working days of receipt of the properly formulated request, however, this is subject to the deduction of an amount of 50 (fifty) EUR for administrative costs.

Furthermore, the client and/or the student have the right to defer the training for which they are validly enrolled or to have the fees for this refund within 6 months commencing with the date of the request for deferral. This is a postponement of the session according to the calendar established by the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe.

The deferral or refund of training is authorized subject to, and on penalty of nullity, the request for deferral or refund being either (i) sent in writing to the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe at info@alliancefr.be using the form specially provided for this purpose, within 14 days of the date of its receipt or receipt of the purchase confirmation email sent by the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe. The Alliance française de Bruxelles Europe will refund to the client, within a short time, the amounts already paid, in proportion to the lessons already provided by the teacher after deduction of a sum of 50 (fifty) EUR for administrative costs.

Article 6 | Pricing and methods of payment

Training costs are subject to the pricing set out in all the communications media of the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe (website, brochures, online purchasing platform, etc.). The amounts indicated are all-inclusive but do not include the cost of learning materials.

Our services are VAT exempt under Article 44§2.4° of the VAT Code. Thus, the company number of the Alliance Française Bruxelles-Europe is: 0408 099 685.

The total amount due for training (namely training costs and costs of learning materials) must be paid before the start of training. Bank transfer fees are at the client’s expense.

All transactions made via the Ingenico payment platform, with a credit or debit card, are debited at the time of purchase.

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe reserves the right to refuse access to any person have not fulfilled all the enrolment formalities set out in Article 3 above.

Article 7 | Renewal of enrolment

Any renewal of enrolment will only be valid if all the requirements set out in Article 3 above are fulfilled before the start of training.

Article 8 | Payment delays

Any amount unpaid on the due date for any given training will be increased, commencing with the month following the start of the training, by a one-off amount of 80 (eighty) EUR per month, up to a limit of two times the total amount of the initial enrolment.

Article 9 | Cancellation of training by the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe reserves the right to cancel a training course, even if this has been subject to enrolments if it believes that the training has an insufficient number of learners or cannot take place in optimum conditions of safety, comfort, management and/or learning, and in the event of force majeure or exceptional circumstances.

In the event that a training course is cancelled, each client/student who is validly enrolled will be personally advised by email and the possibility of requesting his/her enrolment on a later training course will be offered, as far as the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe is able to do so, or to be refunded his/her enrolment for the training.

The client/student must advise of his/her decision to take part in a later training course or to be refunded within 6 months of receipt of the email informing him/her of the cancellation of training. Beyond this time all training costs shall be the definitive property of the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe.

In the event that a training course has to be cancelled by the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe once it has started, partway through the session and the client or student opts for the cancellation of his/her enrolment, this cancellation will only be effective for the future and the refund of enrolment fees and training costs will be on a prorated basis applied to lessons which have not been provided – whether or not the student has attended lessons that have been given.

Article 10 | Issue of certificates

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe issues, on the client’s and/or student’s request, a certificate or enrolment and/or attendance.

The certificate of enrolment is only issued once the total payment of the enrolment fees and training costs has been made.

A certificate of attendance can only be provided if the student concerned has been present for at least 70% of lessons for the session in question.

Enrolment and/or attendance certificates will no longer be issued after a period of 6 months has elapsed after the end of the training in question.

Article 11 | Assessment of training – Transition to a higher level

Transition to a higher level is conditional on a continuous assessment or the student passing a mandatory end of the level assessment, administered at the end of the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe levels.

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe continuous assessment or end of level assessment result is valid for six months from the date of presentation of this test. Beyond this time, a new placement test will be required to assess the student’s level.

Article 12 | Identification of teachers and premises

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe will have sole discretion to designate the teacher who will provide lessons and to nominate the premises in which lessons will take place. There is no right to teach from specific teacher, nor right to benefit from a specific premises.

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe cannot guarantee the same teacher for the whole of a training course or session.

As far as possible, in the event of the absence of a teacher, the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe undertakes to guarantee continuity of service. If circumstances do not allow the replacement of the absent teacher, the lessons will be postponed to a later date.

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe cannot accept any responsibility in the event of cancellation or time changes for lessons resulting from the behaviour of a student or any third party.

Article 13 | National holidays

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe is closed during national legal holidays in Belgium. Accordingly, lessons due to take place on these days are automatically cancelled without the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe owing any compensation whatsoever or being obliged to alter the date of any lesson(s).

Article 14 | No liability for Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe in the event of failure

The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe cannot accept any responsibility in the event that the student’s learning goals, or the candidate’s certification goals are not achieved. The Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe is only bound by an obligation of means in this respect. The student undertakes to follow training assiduously and with the application.

Article 15 | Interpretation in conformity with the French version of these general conditions

If an ambiguity or contradiction should arise between the various translations of these general conditions, the terminology used in the French version shall take precedence.

Article 16 | Applicable law, competent jurisdictions and language of proceedings in the event of a dispute

These general conditions are subject to Belgian law. In the event of a dispute, only jurisdictions sitting in the French language of the judicial district of Brussels will be competent.

1. For all examinations carried out at the Alliance française Brussels-Europe

Registration

All registrations are nominative and non-transferable. Postal charges for sending diplomas or certificates are not included in the examination fee.

All registrations must be made online at https://www.alliancefr.be/ or at the reception of the Alliance française de Bruxelles-Europe during the registration periods indicated on the website. Candidates must pay by the closing date for registration.

Refund / Credit note

At the latest on the last day of the registration deadline, the candidate may request either :

A credit note for the full amount of the examination fee without deduction via the credit note request form available on the AFBE website or via the contact form on the website.

Reimbursement of the examination fees via the request for reimbursement form available on the AFBE website or submitted by email. A compensation for unilateral cancellation of the examination registration will be charged at 5% of the examination fee.

After the closing date of registration, the examination fees are not refundable, whatever the reason for absence, change of level, withdrawal or impossibility to take the examination (except in case of force majeure duly justified, described below). By “force majeure” is meant “an event of an insurmountable nature, and according to some unpredictable, independently of any fault of the person invoking it, which prevents the latter from carrying out his or her obligations arising from the contract concluded and the consequences of which could not have been avoided in spite of all the diligence deployed by the person invoking it, such as illnesses, climatic events, health crises, other major events, etc.”.

In the event of force majeure and upon presentation of official proof no later than the day before the first test, a credit note worth 50% of the examination fee may be created and made available on the candidate’s personal Alliance française online space. This credit note is non-refundable and will be valid for six months on all AFBE products on sale. The request must be made via the credit note request form available on the AFBE website or via the contact form on the website.

Taking the examinations

Candidates must make the necessary arrangements to respect the dates and times of the tests mentioned on the invitation. If candidates are late on the day of the examination, they will not be allowed to sit the examination.

Candidates are required to notify the invigilators or jury on the day of the examination of any corrections to their civil status. Any correction postponed after this date, and which will therefore imply the reissuing of their diploma, will be invoiced to them at the price of 20 € (excluding postal charges for sending the diploma).

During the test, it is forbidden for candidates to communicate with each other or with the outside world and to exchange material (pens, rulers, etc.). Any attempt to cheat will be penalised.

Postage of diplomas and certificates

The cost of sending diplomas or certificates is not included in the examination fee.

Candidates wishing to have their certificates sent by registered mail to their address must request this in accordance with the procedure indicated in the e-mail sent to them. Candidates are responsible for the validity of the address indicated in the candidate’s Alliance française personal space to which the registered mail will be sent. If the registered mail is returned to the AFBE, the certificate will be archived. The cost of sending it again will be charged to the candidate.

2. TCF (specificities)

Photo-taking on the day of the test

For the TCF Canada and the TCF Integration, Residence and Nationality (TCF IRN), candidates must have their photo taken on the day of the session.

For the TCF Québec and TCF Tout Public exams, candidates can either upload a photo to a platform whose link will be sent to them by email by France Education International, or have their photo taken on the day of the session. If the photo submitted on the platform by the candidate does not comply with the requirements, the photo will be taken again on the day of the session.