Circular Economy Hub Individual Membership Terms

Circular Economy Hub Individual Membership Terms

This is an English translation of the individual membership terms of Artiql Inc., which operates Circular Economy Hub and Circular Economy Hub Japan. It is provided for convenience only. Where the Japanese and English versions differ, the Japanese version prevails.

Note for readers of the English edition: the English edition of Circular Economy Hub Japan currently offers Reader membership only. The terms below are the terms of the service as a whole and therefore also refer to Community membership, which is offered on the Japanese edition.

Circular Economy Hub Individual Membership Terms (in force from 7 September 2026)

These terms set out the conditions under which individual customers may use the “Circular Economy Hub” membership service (the “Service”) provided by Artiql Inc. (the “Company”). Individual customers who use the Service must agree to these terms before doing so. Corporate customers who wish to subscribe to the Service should read the Corporate Membership Terms separately established by the Company and apply for corporate membership.

Article 1 (Definitions)

The terms used in these terms are defined as follows.

1. The Service — the service operated by Circular Economy Hub and its related services.
2. The Site — the website on which the content of the Service is published (Circular Economy Hub) and any equivalent website, including social media accounts operated by the Company.
3. The Content — the collective term for the text, sound, still images, video, software programs, code and the like provided through the Service, including information posted by users.
4. User — any person who uses the Service.
5. Member — a user who uses the Site on a paid basis, namely a “Reader member” or a “Community member”.
6. Individual member — an individual user who has agreed to these terms and has completed registration as a Member in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the Company.
7. ID — the unique string of characters held by a user that identifies that user’s attributes for the purpose of using the Service.
8. Password — the code that a Member sets uniquely in correspondence with an ID.
9. Personal information — the collective term for information by which a specific individual can be identified, such as address, name, occupation and telephone number.
10. Registered information — the collective term for the information registered by a Member on the Site, excluding information posted by the Member.
11. Intellectual property — inventions, devices, new plant varieties, designs, works of authorship and other products of human creative activity (including discovered or elucidated laws or phenomena of nature that have industrial applicability), trademarks, trade names and other indications of goods or services used in business activities, and trade secrets and other information useful for business activities, whether technical or commercial.
12. Intellectual property rights — patent rights, utility model rights, plant breeders’ rights, design rights, copyrights, trademark rights and other rights provided for by laws and regulations in relation to intellectual property, or rights relating to legally protected interests.
13. Service agreement — the agreement formed when a person seeking to become an individual member applies on the premise of these terms in order to use the Service and the Company accepts that application.

Article 2 (Agreement to these terms)

• An application for a service agreement by a person seeking to become an individual member is not a valid application unless that person completes the procedure for agreeing to these terms.
• Unless the Company specifies otherwise, an application for a service agreement under the preceding paragraph is made by the following steps:
  • selecting the desired membership type and billing cycle (monthly or annual) from the Reader member or Community member button displayed on the Site, entering the required information on the website of the payment platform Stripe (“Stripe”) and clicking the application button;
  • receiving the email sent on the basis of the information entered in the preceding item;
  • entering the required information on the website specified in that email and sending that information to the Company;
  • activating the account from the website specified in the account verification email sent by the Company.
• In response to an application under the preceding paragraph, the service agreement is validly formed at the point at which the Company sends an email confirming that the account has been activated and that email is recorded in a readable state in the mailbox of the person seeking to become an individual member; at that point these terms become the content of the service agreement.
• A person seeking to become an individual member who is a minor must obtain the consent of a person with parental authority or another statutory representative before applying for a service agreement.
• Where a minor applies for a service agreement by falsely stating that the consent of a statutory representative has been obtained when it has not, or by falsely stating that they are of full age, or otherwise uses deception to make others believe that they have full capacity to act, no juridical act relating to the Service may be rescinded.
• Where a user who was a minor when agreeing to these terms uses the Service after reaching the age of majority, that user is deemed to have ratified all juridical acts relating to the Service.
• Registration may not be accepted where a person seeking to become an individual member falls under any of the following:
  • there are reasonable grounds on which the Company judges it inappropriate to permit membership registration;
  • the registration details are incomplete;
  • the person has been suspended from using all or part of the Service or the products as a result of a breach of these terms or otherwise;
  • the person is a minor and has not obtained the consent of a statutory representative.
• An individual member registers and manages, at their own responsibility and at their own discretion, the information they register in order to use the Service (the “membership registration information”, including email address, ID and password, and registrations for communities such as social media). An individual member must not allow a third party to use it, or lend, transfer, change the name on, or sell it.
• A Member may not lend, sell, transfer, provide as security or cause to be succeeded to any third party their status as a Member or any of their rights and obligations.
• Where damage is caused to the Company or a third party by the unauthorised use of registered information, the individual member shall compensate the Company and the third party for that damage.
• Registered information is managed at the responsibility of the individual member. Except where the Company acts intentionally or with gross negligence, the Company is not responsible for any disadvantage or damage suffered by an individual member because registered information was inaccurate or false.
• All equipment and the environment required to use the Service (computer terminals, communication charges, electricity costs and the like) shall be prepared at the cost and responsibility of the individual member.
• If it becomes apparent that registered information has been misappropriated or is being used by a third party, the individual member shall immediately notify the Company and follow the Company’s instructions.
• If an individual member becomes aware that they are acting in breach of these terms, they shall immediately report this to the Company, formulate measures to prevent recurrence and notify the Company of those measures without delay in writing (including by electronic means such as email).

Article 3 (Changes to these terms)

• The Company may revise the content of these terms where it deems it necessary.
• When the Company revises these terms, it will notify individual members of the timing of entry into force of the revised terms and of their content by a method prescribed by the Company, or will make them known by publishing them on the Site or by another appropriate method. However, where the revision is of a nature that requires the consent of individual members under laws and regulations, the Company will obtain that consent by a method prescribed by the Company.

Article 4 (Payment and automatic renewal)

• Membership of the Service is subject to a fee (set out separately), and an individual member selects either monthly or annual billing when applying.
• The unit of the term of the service agreement is one month in the case of monthly billing and one year in the case of annual billing. Unless the individual member completes the withdrawal procedure set out in Article 5 by the expiry date of that term, the agreement is automatically renewed on the same conditions.
• Where an individual member’s period of use is less than one month in the case of monthly billing, or less than one year in the case of annual billing (including where use of the product is suspended or the member withdraws), the full monthly or annual fee, as applicable, applies, and the Company does not make any refund or reimbursement on a pro-rata basis or otherwise.
• Where an individual member changes the billing cycle between monthly and annual billing, the change applies from the day after the expiry date of the term in progress at the time of the change procedure (the next renewal date), and no refund or reimbursement is made of fees already paid for that term.
• Fees for use of the Service are paid through Stripe. The individual member shall pay the fees and the consumption tax thereon to the card company in accordance with the conditions established by Stripe or by each card company.
• For individual members on monthly billing the Company aggregates, each month, and for individual members on annual billing each year, on the relevant renewal date, the amount of the usage fees and other obligations for that term on the basis of the individual member’s registered information, and bills the card company that issued the credit card registered by that individual member. Where the card company does not pay, the Company may seek payment directly from the individual member. Fees and other costs required for payment are borne by the individual member.
• The Company may change, at its discretion, the price of content provided free of charge or for a fee under the Service. In that case the revised fee applies from the first renewal date arriving after the change, following advance notice by a method prescribed by the Company.
• Where an individual member is late in paying consideration for paid content, that member shall pay the Company late-payment damages at the rate of 14.6% per annum.
• Where a dispute over payment arises between an individual member and a card company, it shall be resolved between those parties, and the Company bears no responsibility except where it acts intentionally or with gross negligence.

Article 5 (Withdrawal by an individual member)

• An individual member may cancel their membership registration by carrying out the prescribed withdrawal procedure.
• The withdrawal procedure under the preceding paragraph is a procedure to stop automatic renewal from the next renewal date onwards, and withdrawal takes effect on the expiry date of the term in progress at the time of that procedure. The individual member may continue to use the Service until that expiry date.
• Even where an individual member carries out the withdrawal procedure part-way through a term, the Company does not refund or reimburse fees already paid for that term. The same applies to both monthly and annual billing.
• When withdrawal takes effect, the purchase and use agreement relating to the Content on the Site also terminates, and the Content can no longer be viewed or used on the Site.
• Where an individual member falls under any of the following, the Company may suspend part of their use, or terminate the purchase and use agreement by causing them to withdraw, without any notice or demand:
  • where they have breached these membership terms;
  • where they have died;
  • where it becomes apparent that they do not exist;
  • where they cannot be reached at the contact details registered;
  • where it becomes apparent that the registered particulars contained statements contrary to fact (including impersonation of a third party, false statements and errors);
  • where they fail to pay part or all of the fees by the prescribed date;
  • where a bill or cheque issued by them is dishonoured, or they fall into a state of suspension of payments;
  • where they are subject to a suspension of banking transactions;
  • where they are subject to a provisional attachment, provisional disposition, attachment, compulsory execution or petition for auction by a third party, or to disposition for non-payment of taxes and other public charges;
  • where a petition for bankruptcy, special liquidation or civil rehabilitation is filed against them or by them;
  • where they resolve to dissolve;
  • where they are subject to a disposition of revocation or suspension of business by a supervisory authority;
  • where reasonable grounds arise on which the Company judges that continued use of the Service would cause operational or technical impediments.
• Even if an individual member suffers any disadvantage or damage as a result of the measures taken by the Company under the preceding paragraph, the Company bears no responsibility whatsoever. In that case too, the Company does not refund or reimburse fees already paid.

Article 6 (Changes to membership registration information)

• Where there is a change to the information registered, the individual member shall promptly carry out the prescribed change procedure on the Site.
• The Company bears no responsibility whatsoever where a Member suffers a disadvantage because the procedure for changing registered information was not carried out.

Article 7 (Membership information)

• The Company shares the membership information of individual members with other media that it owns, in addition to Circular Economy Hub.
• The Company handles the membership information of individual members appropriately in accordance with its privacy policy. Where a contractor handles membership information under the preceding article, that handling also follows the protection policy.
• In addition to using membership information for the operation of the Service and for the sale and promotion of products, the Company jointly uses it, excluding credit card information, within the scope of the purposes of use set out in the following items. Where the prior consent of the individual concerned has been obtained, personal information may be used within the scope of that consent. Membership information is not disclosed to third parties without permission.
  • delivery and provision of products and services;
  • information about products, services and events;
  • surveys for the improvement of existing products and services and the development of new products and services;
  • information about products, services and events provided by partner companies and others, and the sending of gifts and questionnaires;
  • work incidental to the above items.

Article 8 (Prohibited acts)

In connection with a Member’s use of the Service, users are prohibited from the following acts. Where the Company considers that an individual member has breached the prohibited items, the Company may take such measures as it judges necessary, including suspension of use and deletion of posts, and the individual member agrees to this without objection.

• acts that infringe the intellectual property rights of the Company or a third party;
• acts that damage the honour or credit of the Company or a third party, or that unjustly discriminate against or defame them;
• acts that infringe, or risk infringing, the property of the Company or a third party;
• acts that cause economic damage to the Company or a third party;
• threatening acts against the Company or a third party;
• using computer viruses or harmful programs, or inducing their use;
• placing excessive stress on the infrastructure of the Service;
• attacks on the servers, systems or security of the Site;
• attempting to access the Company’s services by means other than the interfaces provided by the Company;
• obtaining multiple IDs;
• sharing an ID with a third party;
• any other act that the Company judges to be inappropriate.

Article 9 (Handling of the Content)

• Users may use the Content of the Service only within the scope determined by the Company.
• All rights relating to the content provided through the Service belong to the Company. Nothing grants users a licence to work or use the patent rights, utility model rights, design rights, trademark rights, copyrights or other intellectual property rights held by the Company.
• Users are prohibited from reproducing, transmitting, transferring (including sale between users), lending, translating, adapting, reprinting without permission, making secondary use of, using for commercial purposes, altering, disassembling, decompiling or reverse engineering the Content by any means beyond the scope of use determined by the Company.
• Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, where an individual member loses their status as a user through withdrawal or otherwise, the right to use the content provided also ceases.

Article 10 (Disclaimer)

• Except where it acts intentionally or with gross negligence, the Company bears no responsibility whatsoever for any damage arising from changes to, interruption of, or termination of the Service.
• The Company is not involved in, and bears no responsibility whatsoever for, the environment in which a user uses the Service.
• The Company gives no warranty that the Service is suitable for a user’s particular purpose, that it has the functions, commercial value, accuracy or usefulness expected, that a user’s use of the Service complies with the laws and regulations or internal rules of industry bodies applicable to that user, or that no defects will occur.
• The Company does not warrant that the Service is compatible with all information terminals, and users acknowledge in advance that defects may arise in the operation of the Service as a result of version upgrades to the operating systems of the information terminals used for the Service.
• The Company does not warrant that such defects will be resolved by program corrections or other steps taken by the Company where they occur.
• Except where it acts intentionally or negligently, the Company bears no liability for damages whatsoever for damage caused to a user directly or indirectly by use of the Service.
• Even where the Company bears liability for damages in connection with use of the Service, it bears no responsibility whatsoever for indirect damage or lost profits arising from lost opportunities, business interruption or the like suffered by a user or another third party, whether or not the Company was notified in advance of the possibility of such damage.
• Even where the Company bears liability for damages in connection with use of the Service, it bears no responsibility to compensate damage arising from special circumstances.
• Where the Company bears liability for damages to an individual member in connection with use of the Service, its liability is limited to the amount of one year’s fees under the service agreement with that individual member.
• Where the Company is subject to a claim for damages or otherwise from a third party as a result of the acts of an individual member, that individual member shall resolve the matter at their own cost (including attorneys’ fees) and responsibility. Where the Company pays damages to that third party, the individual member shall pay the Company all costs, including those damages (and including attorneys’ fees and lost profits).
• Where an individual member causes damage to the Company in connection with use of the Service, that individual member shall compensate the Company for that damage (including litigation costs and attorneys’ fees) at their own cost and responsibility.

Article 11 (Advertising)

Users understand and accept that the Service may contain advertising of all kinds, and that the Company or its partners may place advertising of all kinds. The form and scope of advertising on the Service may be changed by the Company at any time.

Article 12 (Termination of the Service)

• The Company may terminate the Service by notifying individual members by an appropriate method.
• Individual members agree in advance and without objection that, where the Service terminates, they lose all rights to use paid content and can no longer use that paid content thereafter.
• Where the Service terminates for any reason, the Company bears no responsibility whatsoever for damage suffered by individual members as a result, except where the Company acts intentionally or with gross negligence.

Article 13 (Prohibition of assignment)

• An individual member may not assign to a third party all or part of their status under these terms or of their rights or obligations under these terms without the prior written consent of the Company.
• The Company may assign all or part of the Service to a third party at its discretion. In that case, all rights of individual members relating to the Service, including their accounts, transfer to the assignee within the scope of the rights assigned.

Article 14 (Severability)

Even where any provision of these terms or part of it is held invalid or unenforceable under the Consumer Contract Act or other laws and regulations, the remaining provisions of these terms and the remainder of any provision held partly invalid or unenforceable continue in full force and effect.

Article 15 (Operation of the Service)

The Company may outsource all or part of the operation of the Service to a third party. The Company may also entrust that contractor with the handling of the membership information set out in Article 7 to the extent necessary to perform the outsourced work, and individual members consent to this in advance.

Article 16 (How to contact the Company)

Users should contact the Company with communications and enquiries about the Service through the contact form placed at an appropriate location within the Service or Circular Economy Hub, or by another method separately specified by the Company.

Article 17 (Governing law and jurisdiction)

• The validity, interpretation and performance of these terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Japan.
• The Tokyo Summary Court or the Tokyo District Court, depending on the amount claimed, shall be the court of exclusive agreed jurisdiction for any discussion, litigation or other dispute between the Company and an individual member.

In force from 25 November 2022
Revised 7 September 2026 (Articles 2, 4 and 5)

(Reference) Articles 4 and 5 as they stood before the revision, applicable up to 6 September 2026

Article 4 (Payment)

• Membership of the Service is subject to a monthly fee (set out separately).
• Where an individual member’s period of use is less than one month (including where use of the product is suspended or the member withdraws), the full monthly fee applies.
• Fees for use of the Service are paid through Stripe. The individual member shall pay the fees and the consumption tax thereon to the card company in accordance with the conditions established by Stripe or by each card company.
• The Company aggregates, as at the last day of each month, the amount of the monthly fees and other obligations for that month on the basis of the individual member’s registered information, and bills the card company that issued the credit card registered by that individual member. Where the card company does not pay, the Company may seek payment directly from the individual member. Fees and other costs required for payment are borne by the individual member.
• The Company may change, at its discretion, the price of content provided free of charge or for a fee under the Service.
• Where an individual member is late in paying consideration for paid content, that member shall pay the Company late-payment damages at the rate of 14.6% per annum.
• Where a dispute over payment arises between an individual member and a card company, it shall be resolved between those parties, and the Company bears no responsibility except where it acts intentionally or with gross negligence.

Article 5 (Withdrawal by an individual member)

• An individual member may cancel their membership registration by carrying out the prescribed withdrawal procedure. On withdrawal, the purchase and use agreement relating to the Content on the Site also terminates, and the Content can no longer be viewed or used on the Site.
• Where an individual member falls under any of the following, the Company may suspend part of their use, or terminate the purchase and use agreement by causing them to withdraw, without any notice or demand:
  • where they have breached these membership terms;
  • where they have died;
  • where it becomes apparent that they do not exist;
  • where they cannot be reached at the contact details registered;
  • where it becomes apparent that the registered particulars contained statements contrary to fact (including impersonation of a third party, false statements and errors);
  • where they fail to pay part or all of the fees by the prescribed date;
  • where a bill or cheque issued by them is dishonoured, or they fall into a state of suspension of payments;
  • where they are subject to a suspension of banking transactions;
  • where they are subject to a provisional attachment, provisional disposition, attachment, compulsory execution or petition for auction by a third party, or to disposition for non-payment of taxes and other public charges;
  • where a petition for bankruptcy, special liquidation or civil rehabilitation is filed against them or by them;
  • where they resolve to dissolve;
  • where they are subject to a disposition of revocation or suspension of business by a supervisory authority;
  • where reasonable grounds arise on which the Company judges that continued use of the Service would cause operational or technical impediments.
• Even if an individual member suffers any disadvantage or damage as a result of the measures taken by the Company under the preceding paragraph, the Company bears no responsibility whatsoever.