Legal - Milna

This document refers to all Milna projects, and is a contract between us referred to as Milna and the Interested party, referred to as the Participant or his/her Legal guardian(s) when the Participant is minor or under guardianship.
As a transparent organization, we want the things to be clear from the beginning, prior to signing any agreement. Therefore, we invite you to read and understand all the terms and conditions of the project. If something is not clear, please share that with us, so that we can explain it to you in writing. That our commitment will be true.

Please read these Terms carefully before using the services. If You do not agree to these Terms, You may not use the Services. By paying any amount to Milna, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions below. Milna retains an unconditional right to modify or amend these Terms. You can determine when these Terms were last modified by referring to the “T&c Last Updated” legend below. The version of the terms and conditions which will apply, will be those preceding the validated order received by Milna.

(T&c Last Updated: 02 Mar 2024 – 00:00 GMT+1)

1. Milna is an international non-profit organization with the aim to create links between people.
2. The projects taking place in Europe/Africa/America are organised and under the responsibility of Milna (France), the projects taking place in Asia/Oceania are organised by Milna (France) and under the responsibility of The Milna Trust (India).
3. The Participant under the age of full legal responsibility is considered Minor and requires the approval of his legal guardian(s) to participate to Milna projects. The Participant having at least the minimum age of full legal responsibility, unless under guardianship, is considered as an Adult.
4. If a Participant becomes a legally responsible adult between the time of registration and the end of the project, Milna will consider the new adult Participant as the Interested Party.
5. The Participant has to involve himself in the preparation of the project.
6. The Participant must give us the exact name as per his/her passport at the time of enrollment.
7. Enrollment is strictly personal and may not be transferred, assigned, or resold to another individual.
8. If the Participant does not have a valid passport at the time of enrollment, he takes the commitment to apply without delay for a passport, to be able to provide it no later than 6 weeks before the departure if a visa is required for the Participant. Else, no later than 4 weeks before the departure.
9. If a visa is required, the Participant and his passport have to be available for the group visa application appointment between the 6th week and the date of departure. If not available, the Participant will have to apply for his own visa individually. The date of the appointment will be a date that suits the majority.
10. The Participant has to abide by the laws and rules of the visited country.
11. The passport of the Participant should comply with the requirement of the concerned government and its embassy. The Participant is required to contact the embassy of the concerned country if he/she needs a visa. Milna will facilitate any visa formalities but has no say on whether the Participant will be granted a visa as this is entirely the prerogative of the concerned consulate/embassy to decide on. If visa is required for the Participant, we advise to apply for it no later than six weeks from the date of departure or as advised by the embassy.
12. If your passport requires a visa, unless included in the project cost, the eventual visa fee will be borne by the Participant. Milna will help in the visa application process.
13. The enrollment of the Participant is considered complete, only when the “Unique form Participant” is completed. The Participant has no more than 7 days after the selected payment deadline or 14 days from the date of order, whichever is earlier, to complete the “Unique form Participant“. Any delay by the Participant in providing the information asked in “Unique form Participant” might postpone the date of departure, change the rate as per the new deadline, exclude the concerned Participant(s) from the group with all the consequences that may follow or cancellation of the enrollment on the account of the concerned Participant(s) and application of the cancellation fees. Milna declines any liability in case of delay or malfunction in the steps of implementation of the project caused by the non cooperation of the Participant(s) in providing the requested information.
14. The Participant undertakes to respect his declarations and commitments made via the “Unique form Participant“.
15. The Accompanying Adult undertakes to respect his/her declarations and commitments made via the “Unique form Organisation“.
16. In instances where a family or school hostel cannot accommodate a specific Accompanying Adult, that Accompanying Adult must be replaced by someone more suitable, aligning with the expectations and hosting capabilities of the school host.
17. If the Participant has been refused a Visa in the past, he has to inform Milna and apply for his own Visa outside the group. In case the Participant hides this information and still apply with the group. In case of rejection, the participation to the project of concerned Participant will be cancelled and no refund can be claimed. In case the group has been impacted also, the concerned Participant and his legal representative will be responsible for the loss and damage created to the group.
18. The cost of the project is as seen on our website milna.org at the time of enrollment, what is included and what is not can be seen directly on the concerned project page.
19. The cost of the project does not include: the cost of the passport, personal expenses, miscellaneous charges such as sim card, cancellation insurance, currency exchange fees etc.
20. The cost is calculated in EUR currency. It’s the reference currency.
21. The cost mentioned on Milna.org or a proposal in a currency other than Euros (EUR) is given for information and is subject to change as per the currency rate of exchange of the EUR. The Participant can pay in the reference currency or in the other available currencies. The equivalent amount and mode of payment are available only on Milna.org
22. Milna.org is connected to an information source allowing the automatic updating of exchange rates. Multiple times a day they are updated. This is the exchange rate that Milna.org takes as a reference.
23. When an order is placed on Milna.org and full payment received within the 7 days, the rate of exchange will be locked for the Participant. Beyond 7 days without payment received, the order is automatically cancelled and a new order with the updated rate of exchange will be required.
24. When 100% of the amount is received by Milna within 7 days of the placed order, the Participant will face no potential rate of exchange impact. However when the installment possibilities are availed by the Participant, in the event of changes in the exchange rate unfavorable to Milna, the amount still to be paid may be impacted upwards depending on the exchange rate updated autocratically on Milna.org
25. The aviation is impacted by the Covid slow down, inflation, petrol cost, aviation staff crunch…. making the execution of our projects more complicated without rising our rates. This means that the airline fares are higher than usual, with less choice of flights, longer stopovers. The Participant agrees to show flexibility with the dates and flights to make the project happens.
26. The Participant has to comply with any rule to be allowed to travel. Rules that might be: Vaccination, PCR, mask, social distancing and any other rules that can be implemented by the government, airline…
27. Payments have to be made to Milna on or before the respective deadlines to be considered valid. To avoid change in price, the Participant has to strictly respect the deadline.
28. Milna can only accept payments made by a third-party on behalf of the Participant/legal representative if no deduction is made and 100% of the amount of the order is credited to Milna’s account. If at all any deduction to be made, has to be adjusted by the way of a special estimate issued in the name of the organisation including such deducted amount to match the final order amount and to be paid directly by the third-party and/or the Participant/legal representative.
29. This is something rare, but modification of Airport taxes might result in the modification of the cost per Participant of the project until the day of departure.
30. The enrollment is nominative and can in no case be transferred to another person.
31. Up to 24 hours before the departure, for whatever reason, if the Participant does not wish or can’t participate to the project, the Participant has to send a cancellation request by email to Milna. 25% of the cost will be non-refundable along with the cost incurred by Milna to. After receiving the refund request the remaining amount will be refunded to the Participant within 30 days. No cancellation request will be accepted if Milna does receive it less than 24h before the departure.
32. If one or several Participant(s) are not able to take the flight booked by Milna for the group, only if it is feasible, they can join the group later by their own expenditure. (Example : the host family is still able to host, etc.)
33. If the cancellation of one or more Participant(s) makes the ratio (Number of students/number of Accompanying Adults) below the required one displayed on the project page/customized quotation, the new situation needs to be reevaluated and the main priority is to avoid impacting the remaining paid Participants.
  – We will consider removing the extra Accompanying adults no more respecting the ratio or transform him/her/them to a paid Participant. If Milna has already engaged expenses for the Accompanying Adult that needs to be removed, the “left amount to be refund” to the cancelling Participant might be used to cover such non refundable expenses.
  – If the extra Accompanying adult accept to pay the full fare rate, only the normal cancellation policy with apply to the cancelling Participant.
  – If all the other Participants accept to pay the new rate, only the normal cancellation policy with apply to the cancelling Participant.
  – The “left amount to be refund” to the cancelling Participant might be used to cover any extra cost generated to the other Participants by his/her/their cancellation(s).
  The remaining amount, if any, will be given to the cancelling Participant(s) after all the applicable deductions.
34. In case the Participant is going in a group project, Any communication Milna would have with the organisation the Participant belongs to will be considered as “Participant and legal representative approved”. Decisions and instructions given on behalf of the Participant and his legal representative. Any group decision/instructions received from the organisation is considered as communicated and approved by all/the Participant(s) and their legal representative.
35. If Milna does not receive a refund from a transportation, accommodation, service provider concerning the cancelling Participant within 23 days after the refund request, Milna will refund the Participant 7 days after receiving it. Which means, if we get a refund from a flight company 34 days after the refund request, Milna will have 7 extra days to send the refund to the Participant.
36. If any Participant and/or his parents request his/her return to the home country, before the scheduled date of return, for any reason, the entire cost of the return shall be borne by his/her parents.
37. Feel free to contact your insurance advisor/agent, to take a “cancellation insurance” if you wish to cover your own risk of cancellation due to any reason.
38. The project might be cancelled by Milna if it does not have the concerned minimum number of Participants required for the project, 30 days before the departure. In this case, another offer will be suggested to the Participant. In case of refusal, Milna will refund 100% of the amount already paid by the Participant within 15 days of such a cancellation by Milna.
39. Milna projects are designed for the sake of motivated Participants, who wish to participate actively in the project, willing to discover, adapt to different cultures and ways of life.
40. If Milna is not able to execute the project for any unforeseeable force majeure reasons, the entire amount that has been paid already, except what is incurred by Milna, will be refunded to the respective Participants.
41. The health or religious diet of the Participant will be respected.
42. During the project, you can reach the Milna person, in case of an EMERGENCY, at any time, and the numbers will be provided to you at the time or before the departure.
43. Travel insurance typically functions as follows: In the case of hospitalization, the insurance company typically settles the bill directly with the hospital. However, for visits to a doctor, an initial payment is usually required, and this amount is the responsibility of the participant or their legal guardian to be paid upfront.
44. Travel insurance is not included unless explicitly mentioned in the “Rate including” section of the Rates and Departures tab. We strongly recommend that each participant verifies their existing coverage and procures suitable travel insurance as needed.
45. If the Participant can’t pay, Milna will advance up to 500 EUR for each Participant and expects an immediate refund from the Participant or the parents, before the return of the Participant to his country.
46. Once the parents or the Participant refunds Milna, Milna will give them the original bills and all necessary documents that are required to apply for a refund from the insurance company. Our team will guide the Participant and his/her parents in the formalities.
47. The personal belongings of the Participant are under his own responsibility at all times.
48. Milna follows the French rules and does not have the right to give medicines to anyone without a valid medical practitioner’s prescription and shall not be held responsible if the Participant has consumed any such medication without such a prescription. Milna will never hesitate to take a Participant to a doctor, each time the Participant asks for it or if necessary otherwise.
49. If the Milna person is requested to help to give medicines without a valid prescription, he will do it only after taking the Participant to a doctor and availing a medical prescription.
50. The Milna person has the knowledge and experience of group management and is also well trained to provide first aid and do everything as per the French law and regulations, specifically designed to protect minors. In any event, if a Participant’s behavior (such as theft, vandalism, alcohol, drugs, violence, damage to property and/or persons etc.) causes hindrance in the group
  management, security or major incompatibility with the spirit of the project and the capacity of the Milna person and the teacher/s to manage the crisis, Milna reserves the right to organize the “disciplinary return” of a Participant to port of departure, after communicating the same with the legal guardian (if minor) and have exhausted the credible and reasonable dialogue solutions. The cost of the Participant’s return and the adult support, if minor, will be totally borne by the Participant’s legal guardian and no refunds will be made in case of any interruption of the project.
51. Milna is responsible for the Participant and the proper implementation of the project during the entire stay in the foreign country and Milna will do everything in its power to take care of the Participant and its obligations. However, Milna may waive all or part of its liability by responsibility but can’t be held responsible in case of force majeure event(s) such as strike, war, notorious political instability, riots, terrorism, restrictions on the free movement of persons, and that, whatever the reason may be, including public health, safety or weather, limitation or prohibition of aviation traffic, disasters or delays in execution of services resulting from the same causes. If circumstances require, and if it’s in the interest of the Participant(s), Milna may decide, at any time, to change dates, routes, order of activities without any claim from the Participant for the same. In the case of vandalism, deterioration. Destruction or theft by any Participant, Milna reserves the right to invoke the responsibility of such Participant and/or his family.
52. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is or becomes illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable under the laws of any state or country, it shall be removed from these Terms and Conditions. The legality, validity and enforce-ability of any other provision herein under the law of that jurisdiction shall not be concerned or harmed.
53. The Legal guardian or the Participant, if an adult, authorizes Milna to take, if any, all necessary actions (medical treatment, hospitalization, surgery) necessitated by the condition of the Participant at the time.
54. Irrespective of the airline the Participant will take, only one check-in bag (max 23 kg) + 1 cabin backpack (No cabin trolley bag) can be carried by each Participant. (Unless mentioned otherwise in writing by Milna).
55. Each Participant has to carry a working phone, having the app called “WhatsApp”, with a SIM card having a phone number of the main project’s country (+33… for France, +41… for Switzerland, +34… for Spain…) and a working internet to be reachable at anytime of the project by Milna.
56. In case of group project, the dates of the project will be as per communicated by the Participant Organization to Milna.
57. All correspondence regarding any cancellations or project requests must be mailed to us at contact@milna.org.
58. Valid only for Family Stay projects: The norm is one Participant with one hosting family, unless the hosting family can welcome and wish to welcome more.
59. Valid only for Family Stay projects: You will have the full profile of the hosting family before the departure including address, contact numbers, photographs, introduction of the family and their house. If the payment and/or completion of the Unique Form Participant are delayed, participants may not receive their family host details on time or may be required to stay in the hostel provided by the welcoming school. Additionally, their participation may be subject to cancellation in accordance with the application of the cancellation policy.
60. If any provision of this Agreement is or becomes invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected.

Participant	Legal representative
Signature :	Signature :
Date :	Date :
Place :	Place :

Milna – 64 b rue Pergolèse, 75116 Paris, France
+33 1 83 81 83 40 | contact@milna.org