Respondent Terms & Conditions

These terms and conditions ("Terms") govern the provision of market research and related services ("Services") provided by Growman Research and Consulting Pvt. Ltd., having its registered office at 1102/1103/1104, C Wing, Teerth Technospace, Bengaluru--Mumbai Highway, Baner, Pune, Maharashtra 411045, India, a company incorporated under the laws of India ("GRG Health", "we", "us"), to the client identified in the applicable SoW/MSA or project agreement.

These Terms apply to all health care professionals ("Respondents", "you", or "your") who are approached by GRG Health, including its subsidiaries and affiliates, to participate in such Services.

These Terms contain important information regarding your rights with respect to your participation, including your relationship with us. By participating, you are accepting these terms and representing that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by them.

1. Participation Criteria

In order to participate in the Services, you must be at least 18 years old and by participating, you represent and warrant that:

(a) you are able to form a legally binding contract under applicable law, and

(b) you are not prohibited from participating in Services under any applicable law or regulation;

(c) any information you submit to us is accurate, truthful, and current;

(d) your participation and the information you submit to us does not violate any applicable law or regulation.

You consent to receive communications from us electronically. We may communicate with you by call, email, SMS or other means.

You understand and agree that you may receive transactional emails and text messages from us related to your participation in Services, including without limitation Project invitations, study confirmations, scheduling reminders, payment notifications.

You may opt out of non-essential SMS communications at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in any such message (e.g., replying STOP), and you may optout of marketing emails by following the unsubscribe instructions in such emails.

You agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

You further agree that any notices provided by us electronically are deemed to be given and received on the date we transmit any such electronic communication as described in these Terms.

2. Proprietary Rights

GRG Health owns and retains all right, title and interest in and to:

(a) the Services and all improvements, enhancements or modifications thereto;

(b) any software, applications, inventions or other technology developed in connection with the Services or support; and

(c) all intellectual property rights related to any of the foregoing.

Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as granting you any rights in or to the Services, other than the right to participate as expressly stated in these Terms.

Unless otherwise noted, all GRG Health's content within the Services is the property of GRG Health and/or our affiliates or licensors and is protected from unauthorized copying and dissemination by copyright law, trademark law, international conventions, and other applicable intellectual property laws.

3. License Grant

Subject to these Terms and any other agreement between you and us, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to participate in our Services solely in the manner enabled by us.

Your license to participation is automatically revoked if you violate these Terms, or we terminate these Terms.

The foregoing license grant is not a sale of any aspect of our Services or a sale of a copy of any aspect of our Services, and we and our partners and suppliers retain all right, title and interest in our Services.

We reserve all rights not expressly granted under these Terms.

We may, at any time and in our sole discretion, temporarily or permanently:

(a) alter, suspend, discontinue, terminate or subcontract our Services in whole or in part, at any time and for any reason, without notice, or;

(b) add or remove features, including without limitation making free Services into paid Services and vice versa.

Our Services may also periodically become unavailable due to maintenance, technical issues, or other reasons.

We may monitor all your access with respect to our Services for security, operational, improvement and performance purposes.

4. Third-Party Beneficiary

Our clients (for whom the Services are conducted) are express and intended third-party beneficiaries of these Terms solely with respect to (i) Section 2 (Proprietary Rights), (ii) Section 5.3 (Confidentiality), (iii) Section 5.4 (Participation and Access Restrictions), and (iv) Section 10 (Indemnification).

To the extent that your breach or threatened breach of any of the foregoing provisions causes any damage or liability to any such client, such client shall have the right to enforce such provisions directly against you.

Except as otherwise expressly provided in these Terms, there shall be no third-party beneficiaries to these Terms.

5. Your Obligations

Participant Information

You acknowledge and agree that in order to participate in Services, you will be required to provide certain information to us, including without limitation personal information, such as contact information and demographic information.

By participating in Services, you agree to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which is available on our website.

You represent and warrant that:

(a) all information you provide to us will be accurate and complete;

(b) you have the right to provide such information and have obtained all necessary consent where applicable;

(c) the information does not violate the rights of any other person or entity;

(d) the information does not contain the confidential or proprietary information of any other person or entity; and

(e) you have no agreement with or obligations to any third party that would prohibit your participation in Services in the manner so used.

You acknowledge and agree that your submission of any personal information to us is voluntary and based on your informed consent.

GRG Health shall process your personal information solely for the specific research purpose(s) notified to you at the time of collection and as set out in our Privacy Policy, and in accordance with the applicable law and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation and other applicable data protection laws.

You retain the right to withdraw your consent at any time and to request access to, correction of, or erasure of your personal information, subject to GRG Health's legitimate retention obligations under applicable law, contractual audit requirements and industry research codes (including EphMRA and Intellus Worldwide).

Where GRG Health uses respondent data in anonymised, aggregated or de-identified form (such that you cannot be identified, directly or indirectly), GRG Health may use such data for purposes including service improvement, benchmarking, analytics and the training, validation and evaluation of artificial intelligence and machine learning models, in each case in accordance with applicable law.

Confidentiality

You agree to protect and keep confidential all information relating to Projects and Services that you participate in or that are otherwise made available to you through Services, whether in hardcopy, electronic, or oral format ("Confidential Information").

You shall not, except to the extent permitted by these Terms or expressly authorized by us or the applicable client in writing, use or disclose such Confidential Information.

Confidential Information includes, without limitation, the identity of any Client affiliated with a Project or research activity, the specific terms of or activity related to your participation in a Project or research activity, and the feedback, information, or responses you provide or receive in connection with a Project or research activity.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may disclose Confidential Information to the extent compelled by law or the order of a court or other governmental body, provided that you notify us and the applicable client promptly and in writing (to the extent legally permitted) and reasonably cooperate with us and/or the client in any lawful action to contest or limit the scope of such required disclosure.

Services may also be protected under the terms of a confidentiality agreement between you and the applicable client, in which case in the event of any conflict between the terms of such agreement and this Section 5.3, the terms of such agreement shall supersede this Section 5.3.

You acknowledge that any actual or threatened breach of this Section 5.3 may cause irreparable harm to us and/or a client, the extent of which may be difficult to ascertain.

Accordingly, you agree that, in addition to all other remedies available at law or in equity, we and/or such client will be entitled to seek an immediate injunction against any breach or threatened breach of this Section 5.3 without the posting of any bond and without proof of actual damages.

Your obligations under this Section 5.3 shall survive indefinitely the termination or expiry of these Terms and the conclusion of your participation in the Services.

Participation and Access Restrictions

You shall not, nor shall you authorize or facilitate any attempt by another person to:

(a) use services in any manner or for any purpose other than as expressly provided in these Terms;

(b) use services in an unlawful or fraudulent manner or for any unlawful or fraudulent purpose;

(c) participate in Services if GRG Health has previously banned you from participation;

(d) take any action that may disrupt or interfere with GRG Health's systems or Services;

(e) misrepresent yourself, your identity, qualifications, characteristics, or other information;

(f) circumvent, remove or otherwise interfere with any security-related features of the Services;

(g) access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Services or its underlying infrastructure;

(h) introduce viruses, worms, or other malicious code;

(i) reproduce, modify, distribute, create any derivative works from, reverse-engineer, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to or attempt to discover the underlying source code or structure of the Services;

(j) use any robot, spider, or automated device to access, retrieve, scrape or index any portion of the Services;

(k) resell, assign, sub-license, disclose, distribute, or otherwise transfer or make available the Services in any form to any third party;

(l) remove or alter any copyright notices within the Services;

(m) submit false, inaccurate, or otherwise invalid information;

(n) post or transmit information that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, hateful, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable;

(o) Post or transmit information that infringes a third party's intellectual property rights;

(p) Post or transmit information that violates any applicable law or regulation;

(q) Harass, threaten, stalk, embarrass, or invade the privacy of any person;

(r) Collect personally identifiable information from other users without permission;

(s) Use the communication systems of the Services for any reason not explicitly authorized by these Terms;

(t) Engage in unsolicited advertising, marketing, or promotion of products or services;

(u) Undertake any activity inconsistent with the business or purpose of the Services; or

(v) Attempt to indirectly undertake any of the foregoing.

If GRG Health reasonably determines that you have violated any of the foregoing restrictions or any other provision of these Terms, GRG Health may, in its sole discretion and without prior notice or any obligation to refund or compensate you in any way, take any one or more of the following actions:

(a) terminate or suspend you from availing any services, in whole or in part;

(b) forfeit any Honorarium earned, pending, or otherwise payable to you, including without limitation any Incentive that has been requested by you but not yet distributed;

(c) reverse, claw back, or otherwise recoup any Honorarium previously paid or distributed to you;

(d) offset any amount recoverable under and report the violation, and provide associated information about you and your activity, to applicable law enforcement, the affected client, the applicable tax authorities (including, without limitation, the Indian Income Tax Department, the US Internal Revenue Service, or any other relevant tax authority), or any third-party payment provider as GRG Health deems appropriate.

GRG Health's exercise of any of the foregoing rights shall not be your sole remedy and shall not limit any other rights or remedies available to us at law or in equity, including the right to seek damages and injunctive relief.

The provisions of this paragraph shall survive any termination of association with us or these Terms.

6. Data Protection

Data Fiduciary status and lawful basis. GRG Health acts as a Data Fiduciary under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (India) and applies controls equivalent to the EU General Data Protection Regulation in respect of projects involving EU respondents or sponsors. GRG Health processes your personal information only on the basis of your informed consent, for the specific research purpose(s) notified to you at the time of collection, and as set out in our Privacy Policy. GRG Health's processing is conducted consistent with industry research codes including those of EphMRA, Intellus Worldwide and BHBIA, and an information security management system aligned to ISO 27001.

Your rights. Subject to applicable law and GRG Health's legitimate retention obligations (including for audit, regulatory and contractual purposes), you have the right to: (i) withdraw your consent at any time; (ii) access the personal information GRG Health holds about you; (iii) seek correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal information; (iv) request erasure of your personal information; and (v) raise grievances or queries with our designated Grievance Officer / Data Protection Officer. Requests should be addressed to the contact set out in Section 17 (Contact Us).

Retention. GRG Health retains respondent data only for as long as necessary for the documented research purpose and for related audit, regulatory and contractual obligations, and in accordance with GRG Health's internal data governance procedures. Without limiting the foregoing: (i) operational respondent datasets used for internal validation are purged within ninety (90) days following project closure; (ii) a limited audit sample (approximately 5--10% of validated respondents) may be retained in a secure, access-restricted environment for a period of three (3) to five (5) years for compliance verification; and (iii) any respondent subset disclosed to a client for validation is deleted within thirty (30) days of disclosure, save where retention is required by law or under a legal hold.

Recordings. Where research activities are audio or video recorded, GRG Health will expressly disclose the recording in advance and obtain your specific consent to be recorded. Recordings will be handled as personal information in accordance with this Section and the Privacy Policy. Recordings may be transcribed, including through secure automated transcription tools, for the purpose of producing research deliverables. Any use of recordings or transcripts in identifiable form for the development, training or evaluation of artificial intelligence models occurs only where you have provided separate, explicit informed consent for that specific purpose; anonymised and de-identified use remains governed by clause 5.7.

Cross-border transfer. You acknowledge that GRG Health is headquartered in India and operates through affiliates and subsidiaries in jurisdictions including, without limitation, the United States, Singapore and the Philippines. Your personal information may be transferred to, processed in and stored in such jurisdictions in connection with the Services, in each case subject to appropriate safeguards and the protections required by applicable data protection laws.

Platform membership verification. Where you choose to register as a member of GRG Health's verified community platform, additional identity verification applies, which may include biometric liveness detection and government-ID face-match verification prior to any honorarium payment. Such verification applies only to platform members, is performed with your explicit consent captured in the registration flow, and is described further in our Privacy Policy. Participation in individual research projects outside the platform does not involve biometric verification unless separately disclosed and consented.

Adverse event reporting. Some research is conducted on behalf of pharmaceutical, biotechnology or medical device companies that are subject to pharmacovigilance and product-safety obligations. If, during your participation, you mention an adverse event, suspected side effect or product complaint relating to a sponsor's product, GRG Health may be required to report that information to the research sponsor and/or the relevant marketing-authorisation holder. Any such report will be made without disclosing your identity, unless you separately and expressly consent to be identified for safety follow-up. Mentioning an adverse event in research is not a substitute for reporting through official channels, and you should continue to report safety information through the applicable regulatory or manufacturer reporting systems.

7. Payments and Taxes

Honorarium/incentives

GRG Health may, at its sole discretion and subject to applicable law, client requirements, industry research codes, healthcare compliance rules, and project-specific eligibility criteria, offer monetary or non-monetary honoraria, incentives, rewards or other consideration to Respondents ("Honorarium") for participation in research activities.

Participation in certain instances may also be voluntary, pro bono, or unpaid, where no Honorarium is offered or payable.

Honorarium, where offered, are intended to recognise your time, effort, expertise and inputs across research modalities, including surveys, interviews, online communities and other qualitative or quantitative engagements.

The nature, amount and mode of any honorarium may vary depending on factors such as study type, duration, respondent profile, expertise required, complexity, geography, fair market value considerations, client-approved budgets and project requirements.

Honorarium may include monetary payments or, where applicable, non-monetary or in-kind benefits such as access to aggregated insights, benchmarking information, practice-pattern summaries, research findings or other knowledge resources.

Such information is provided for informational and research purposes only and shall not constitute medical advice, clinical guidance, promotional material, or any recommendation, endorsement or inducement to prescribe, purchase, use or recommend any product, treatment, therapy or service.

Payment or provision of any honorarium is subject to participation and satisfactory completion of the research activity, validation and quality checks, compliance with these Terms and Conditions, and provision of accurate payment/tax information, where required.

GRG Health may withhold, reduce, cancel, forfeit or recover any honorarium in case of incomplete participation, inaccurate, misleading, duplicate, fraudulent or poor-quality responses, breach of confidentiality or other participation obligations, or failure to meet applicable eligibility or quality requirements.

Once we have issued an Honorarium to you (including, without limitation, by causing a virtual Visa card, digital gift card, electronic payment, or other Honorarium instrument), our obligation in respect of that Honorarium shall be deemed satisfied in full, regardless of whether you subsequently access, redeem, activate, or otherwise use the Honorarium.

After issuance, the terms of redemption, expiration, and use of any Honorarium instrument are governed solely by the terms of the third-party issuer of such instrument (for example, the card network and program manager for a virtual Visa card, or the third-party gift-card issuer for a digital gift card).

GRG Health is not the issuer of any such instrument and has no responsibility for, and disclaims any liability arising from, the terms, expiration, redemption, replacement, or non-use of any Honorarium after issuance.

Any claim relating to an Honorarium after issuance must be directed to the applicable issuer.

You agree to claim and redeem each Honorarium promptly and in any event within the timeframes specified by the applicable issuer.

Honorarium is offered solely for bona fide research participation and is not intended to influence the substance of any response, opinion, recommendation, prescription, purchase decision or professional judgment.

Respondents remain solely responsible for their independent professional judgment and for any taxes or statutory obligations arising from receipt of any honorarium, incentive or reward.

GRG Health is not responsible in any way for your failure to report taxable income or to remit any taxes that may be due to any tax authority.

8. Relationship of the Parties

No partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship is intended or created by these Terms, either with us or any other party, including any client.

Nothing in these Terms will constitute either party as the agent of the other party for any purpose or entitle either party to commit or bind the other party in any manner.

9. Third Party Sites

Our Services may contain links to third-party sites, tools, and integrations which are independent of GRG Health and are governed by their own terms and privacy policies.

You acknowledge and agree that GRG Health does not control and has no liability for such third-party sites, including their content, security, functionality, operation, or availability.

These links are provided "as is" and "as available" without any warranties, representations, or conditions of any kind.

In addition, a link to any third-party site does not imply that we endorse or accept any responsibility for the content or use of such site.

10. Warranty Disclaimer

The services and all related content are provided "as is" without any warranties, to the fullest extent permitted by law.

GRG Health disclaims all guarantees regarding accuracy, reliability, availability, or performance, and is not responsible for errors, interruptions, or results from use.

You use the services at your own risk, and GRG Health is not obligated to support or maintain them.

It also does not verify user statements or project details and is not responsible for the actions of any participants or third parties.

You are solely responsible for your interactions and should take appropriate precautions.

Clients cannot contact Respondents outside the platform or involve them in research activities without using the Services.

Any violations should be reported. Participation outside the platform is at your own risk.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and otherwise hold harmless GRG Health, its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities and all costs and expenses of defense, including without limitation fees for attorneys and other professional advisors, resulting directly or indirectly from a claim or proceeding by a third party arising out of, relating to, resulting from, or otherwise in connection with:

(a) your access to or use of the Services,

(b) the content you submit using the Services,

(c) your breach of these Terms or any representation, warranty, or agreement referenced in these Terms,

(d) your violation of applicable law or regulation,

(e) your negligence or willful misconduct,

(f) your violation of the rights of any third party, including intellectual property right, right of publicity, confidentiality, property, or privacy, and/or

(g) any dispute or other issue stemming from your interaction with any third party in relation to your use of the Services.

GRG Health reserves the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you (without limiting your indemnification obligations) and you agree to cooperate with our defense of that claim.

If the defense or settlement is assumed by you, GRG Health may at any time thereafter elect to take over control of the defense and settlement of the claim.

You must not settle any claim that you are defending on behalf of us without our prior written consent.

This provision does not require you to indemnify GRG Health for any unconscionable commercial practice by such party, or for such party's gross negligence, fraud, deception, false promise, misrepresentation or concealment, suppression or omission of any material fact in connection with the Services.

You agree that the provisions in this section will survive any termination of association with us, these Terms, or your participation in the Services.

12. Limitation of Liability

Except to the extent prohibited by applicable law, under no circumstances and under no legal theory (whether in contract, tort, negligence, or otherwise) will GRG Health be liable to you or any third party for accidents, property damage, personal injury, death, or for any indirect, special, incidental, exemplary, punitive, reliance, or consequential damages of any kind (including without limitation damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data, or other intangible losses) arising out of or in connection with the services or your use of the services, even if informed of their possibility in advance.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will GRG Health's aggregate liability to you under these Terms exceed the greater of (i) the Honorarium paid or payable to you in the three (3) month period immediately preceding the event giving rise to liability, and (ii) INR 10,000 (or equivalent in the applicable local currency).

13. Entire Agreement

These Terms contain the complete and exclusive statement of the mutual understanding of the parties and supersede all prior written and oral agreements, communications and other understandings relating to the subject matter of these Terms, other than any click-through or end user license agreement provided by us.

14. Waiver, Severability, Assignment

The failure of GRG Health to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, such provision will be modified and interpreted so as to best accomplish the original provision to the fullest extent permitted by law, and the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in effect.

You may not assign or delegate any rights or obligations under these Terms in whole or in part, and any such attempted assignment or delegation shall be void and without effect.

GRG Health may freely assign or delegate all rights and obligations under these Terms, in whole or in part.

15. Governing Law

For any dispute, you and GRG Health agree that the courts of Pune shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

You agree to accept service of process by mail and waive any objections to jurisdiction or venue.

These Terms shall be governed by the laws of India.

16. Changes to the Terms

GRG Health reserves the right, at its reasonable and sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time.

You are responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any such modifications.

If we determine that a revision is material (including, without limitation, any change that introduces a new purpose for processing your personal information, materially expands GRG Health's rights, or materially reduces your rights under these Terms), we will provide you with reasonable prior notice of such change and a reasonable opportunity to withdraw your consent or discontinue your participation in the Services before such change takes effect.

Non-material changes will be effective on the date the modified Terms are posted or otherwise made available to you.

Use of or access to the Services by you after any modification to the Terms constitutes your acceptance of the Terms as modified.

If you do not accept the changes, you must discontinue using and accessing the Services.

17. Contact Us

Grievance Officer: Akshat Bhatnagar, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer -- compliance@grgonline.com

If you have any questions, comments, or requests related to these Terms, please email us at compliance@grgonline.com, being the Grievance Officer / Data Protection Officer designated by GRG Health.