Code of Conduct

AHRI Connect Community Rules & Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines

Thank you for being part of AHRI Connect. To ensure the best possible experience for all community members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best-suited to the medium.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, contact AHRI's member services department at membership@ahrinet.org. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules.

Antitrust Laws

AHRI Connect Users Must Abide by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute Antitrust Guidelines and all applicable Antitrust Laws

The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) provides members and guests the lawful opportunity to engage one another on AHRI Connect to transact AHRI business and to further AHRI's legitimate goals. Such lawful activities include: the development of performance standards that provide a benefit to the public, the running of certification programs, the petitioning of federal, state, local, or foreign governments on issues that have an impact on AHRI's members as a whole, the promotion of the industry, the conducting of educational programs, the provision of statistical reporting, and the conducting of pre-competitive research.  Because participants in AHRI Connect are companies with competing, and sometimes opposing economic interests, AHRI's actions are subject to close antitrust scrutiny.  Therefore, AHRI, its members, and any guests shall adhere to AHRI’s Antitrust Guideline which can be provided, upon request, by membership@ahrinet.org.

Generally, all communications and discussions that could directly influence the decisions of individual AHRI members regarding production levels, product pricing, marketing strategies, or selection of customers or suppliers must be avoided.  The following areas must not be discussed in AHRI Connect:

• Price or any elements of price or pricing policies, including costs, discounts, rebates, profit margins, etc.
• Terms or conditions of sale, including warranties, credit, and shipping arrangements.
• Particular competitors, suppliers, or customers.
• Sales or production quotas or limits, allocation of customers or sales territories or refusal to sell to certain customers or to buy from certain suppliers.
• The market share or sales territory of any particular competitor.
• The operating statistics, inventories, sales, marketing methods, or strategies of any particular competitor.
• Controlling competition or excluding any competitor from any market.

 
When Discussing or Collaborating on Documents:

• Confine discussions of product standards or certification of compliance with standards to technical, scientific, engineering, and safety considerations. Commercial considerations are not proper factors for consideration or discussion. 
• Provide truthful representations with respect to testing procedures and performance rating standards.
• Prevent discussions on prices, production, or competitors.
• Develop performance standards not construction or specification standards except in exceptional circumstances.
• Insure that standards reflect existing technology.
• Insure that standards are kept current and adequately updated to allow for technological innovation.
• Develop voluntary standards.

The Rules

• Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question.
• Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals instead of products or services that you provide. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a respectful way.
• Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
• All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
• Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.
• When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.
• Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

Discussion Group Etiquette

• State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
• Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

Do Not Post

Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials.  Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. AHRI Connect users may mark Discussion posts or Library items as inappropriate or report inappropriate posting to membership@ahrinet.org. In the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute we will take all appropriate action. 

The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these rules.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold AHRI and each of the Directors, officers, agents, contractors, partners and employees, harmless from and against any loss, liability, claim, demand, damages, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, arising out of or in connection with any user content, third party applications, software, or content you post or share through AHRI Connect, your use of AHRI Connect, your conduct in connection with AHRI Connect or with other users of AHRI Connect, or any violation of this code of Conduct or of any law or the rights of any third party.

By using AHRI Connect, you agree that the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without regard to conflict of laws, will govern this Code of Conduct and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and AHRI. You agree not to commence or prosecute any action in connection therewith other than in the local and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and you hereby consent to venue and jurisdiction in the local and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia and waive all defenses or lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non conveniens.

Warranties and Disclaimers

AHRI Connect is provided as a service for AHRI members and invited guests of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute.  The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on AHRI Connect by others. 

INFORMATION ON AHRI CONNECT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY RELEVANT LAW AHRI DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. AHRI DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT HOST SOFTWARE OR CONTENT ON THE AHRI CONNECT SITE ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT OR ERROR-FREE OR THAT THE SITE, ITS SERVERS, OR ANY PLATFORM APPLICATIONS ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. THEREFORE, YOU SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION IN THE USE AND DOWNLOADING OF ANY CONTENT OR MATERIALS AND USE INDUSTRY-RECOGNIZED SOFTWARE TO DETECT AND DISINFECT VIRUSES. AHRI ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE TIMELINESS, DELETION, MISSED DELIVERY OR FAILURE TO STORE ANY USER COMMUNICATIONS OR PERSONALIZATION SETTINGS.

IN NO EVENT SHALL AHRI OR ITS DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOST DATA OR PROFITS), OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBLE DAMAGE, UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THIS SITE, EVEN IF AHRI IS AWARE OR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.