Terms and conditions of sale of ACCA exams

1. Definitions and interpretation

1.1 Definitions:

ACCA Exam means an examination owned and set by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and invigilated by the British Council or a third party under contract with the British Council.

British Council means the UK Charity or other British Council Entity selling the ACCA Exams to you as notified to you in the Registration Confirmation.

British Council Entities is defined in the introduction to these Terms.

Cancellation Period means the 14-day cancellation period for ACCA Exams commencing on the date of Registration Confirmation.

Complaints Page means the complaints page.

Contact us means the contact us page.

Contract means the legally binding contract between you and the British Council on these Terms.

Exam Date means the date of the ACCA Exam provided to you under these Terms.

Exam Token is a unique ID number created for the specific exam you have purchased and which you will receive 2-3 days prior to your scheduled exam. The Exam Token will allow you to access the ACCA Exam content to take your exams.

Exam Voucher means a voucher provided to you by your Learning Provider or Employer or other third party as a method for you to pay for an ACCA Exam.

Exam Voucher Code means the code provided with an Exam Voucher that you may use to register for an ACCA Exam.

Face to Face Exam means any ACCA Exam or part of an ACCA Exam where you are physically present to sit it in person (eg, face to face examination at premises of the British Council).

General Terms and Conditions means the terms set out in Part 2 of these Terms.

Learning Provider or Employer means the person that purchased Exam Voucher(s) from the British Council for you to use (i.e. your employer, learning provider or other third party).

Location-Specific Terms and Conditions means the terms (if any) set out in Part 3 of these Terms which set out any additional local law variations to the General Terms and Conditions.

Materials means the ACCA Exam questions and any associated hard or soft copy materials.

Online Exam means any ACCA Exam or part of an ACCA Exam that is delivered online (whether real time or self-access).

Registration Acknowledgement  means the registration request acknowledgement displayed to you in the test taker portal or platform and which shows that the British Council has received your registration request and is processing it.

Registration Confirmation means confirmation of registration emailed to you in accordance with clause 1.3 of the General Terms and Conditions.

Payment Processor means the British Council’s designated third party payment gateway provider.

Privacy Policy means the privacy policy.

Terms means these terms and conditions of sale (including the introduction, these definitions, the General Terms and Conditions, Location-Specific Terms and Conditions) and any other documents referred to in them.

UK Charity means the British Council entity incorporated in England and Wales by Royal Charter and registered as a charity (under number 209131 in England and Wales and number SC03773 in Scotland), whose registered office is at 1 Redman Place, Stratford, London, E20 1JQ.

you means the person agreeing to these Terms.

1.3 Interpretation:

a. References to Parts are to the parts of these Terms and, unless stated otherwise, references to clauses in a Part are to the clauses of that Part.

b. Any words following the terms including, include, in particular, for example or any similar expression are illustrative.

c. Any references to calendar are to the gregorian (western) calendar and any reference to day means calendar day, or month means calendar month.

Please note:

• Special Terms and Conditions may apply to the Contract in the location in which you are normally resident. If so they will be set out in Part 4 and any General Terms and Conditions or Terms and Conditions of Use of Digital Content which conflict with the Special Terms and Conditions will not apply to the extent they are limited by the Special Terms and Conditions.
• Additional Terms and Conditions may apply to certain Products and these are set out in Part 5 and will take precedence over the rest of the Terms.

1. How the Contract is formed

1.1 The pages of the test taker portal will guide you through the steps you need to take to register for an ACCA Exam. The online registration process allows you to verify and correct any errors before submitting your registration request. Read carefully and check your registration at each stage of the online registration process.

1.2 By submitting a registration request you confirm that you are at least 18 years of age. Under 18s who would like to register for any ACCA Exam should ask their parent or guardian to submit a registration request on their behalf.

1.3 Once you have submitted your registration request you will receive a Registration Acknowledgement stating that the British Council has received your registration and is processing it.

1.4 Once the Payment Processor receives a legitimate payment for the ACCA Exam into its designated bank account (or if you are paying using a voucher, once the voucher code has been accepted by the British Council), your Registration Confirmation will be emailed to you.

1.5 The Registration Confirmation confirms the British Council’s acceptance of your registration request and the Contract will only be formed, and become legally binding, when the Registration Confirmation is provided to you.

2.1 Unless cancelled earlier in accordance with these Terms, the Contract will terminate once all ACCA Exams in your Registration Confirmation have been delivered in full, at which point the obligations set out in the Terms shall cease (except for the restrictions on use of Materials and ACCA Exam content set out in clause 14, or your consent for the British Council to use your image or other recordings of you as set out below, which will continue forever).

2.2 Exam Tokens for ACCA Exams expire 90 days after their date of purchase. Exam Tokens cannot be extended past their expiration date. You should register for, schedule and attempt the ACCA Exam before the Exam Token expiry date.

3.1 All prices for ACCA Exams will be displayed online. All prices quoted include applicable taxes and charges incurred by the British Council for use of debit or credit cards or other online payment methods unless otherwise stated. You may incur additional charges for the use of debit or credit cards or other online payment methods from your provider and such charges are in addition to the advertised price. Prices may change from time to time, but this will not affect any registration request which has been confirmed by a Registration Confirmation.

3.2 Payment can be made by credit or debit card or by Exam Vouchers as explained in the registration process. In all cases the British Council treats payment as confirmation that you are the person authorised to use such payment method and that you are over the age of 18 years.

3.3 Payments by credit or debit card are processed immediately via the Payment Processor over a secure link. No card details are held by the British Council.

3.4 For the avoidance of doubt, until you have paid for the ACCA Exam in full, you have no right to sit the relevant ACCA Exam (by attending in person or online, or otherwise) and the British Council may prevent you from sitting all or any part of the relevant ACCA Exam without liability to you.

3.5 Any discount (by discount code or otherwise) is personal to you and cannot be transferred.  You will only be permitted to use one discount per purchase and any refund made to you will not include the value of the discount.  Discounts will expire three months from the date of issue unless otherwise stated by the British Council.  

4.1 The British Council may cancel the Contract by giving you notice in writing (whether by email or otherwise) for any reason at any time prior to the Exam Date. If the British Council cancels the Contract pursuant to this clause 4.1 and you have paid via credit card, debit card, gift vouchers or other online payment methods, it will refund the price paid by you for the relevant ACCA Exam.

4.2 The British Council may also cancel the Contract at any time, without liability to you if:

(a) you breach these Terms; or

(b) the British Council is unable to provide the relevant ACCA Exam in full due to a reason beyond its reasonable control.

4.3 If the British Council cancels the Contract under clause 4.2(a) the British Council will be entitled to retain (or be paid the balance of, as the case may be) the price paid by you in full. 

4.4 If the British Council cancels the Contract under clause 4.2(b) you will be entitled to receive a full refund of the price paid.

4.5 If the British Council cancels the Contract pursuant to clause 4.1 and you have paid using an Exam Voucher, the British Council will issue a replacement Exam Voucher to the Learning Provider or Employer directly – if you wish to use the replacement Exam Voucher, you will therefore need to contact the Learning Provider or Employer.

4.6 If the British Council cancels the Contract under clause 4.2(a), where you have breached these Terms and you paid using an Exam Voucher, this will no longer be valid.

4.7 If the British Council cancels the Contract under clause 4.2(b), where the British Council is unable to provide the relevant ACCA Exam in full due to a reason beyond its reasonable control, and you have paid using Exam Voucher(s), the British Council will notify the Learning Provider or Employer. If you wish to use another Exam Voucher for payment, you will need to contact the Learning Provider or Employer.

Please note, as the British Council incurs expense in making an ACCA Exam available to you, you will not be permitted to cancel a Contract for an ACCA Exam less than 24 hours before the Exam Date.

If you fail to appear for a scheduled exam you will forfeit the fees paid and will need to repeat the registration and payment process in full, unless you have informed the British Council of the specific reason for your cancellation as set out below.

General provisions

5.1 You have a legal right to cancel the Contract for any reason (including if you change your mind) during the Cancellation Period except that this right to cancel will not apply if:

(a) you try to cancel less than 24 hours prior to the Exam Date of the ACCA Exam;

(b) you have scheduled the ACCA Exam with the remote proctoring provider, but do not appear for the scheduled exam slot; or

(c) the ACCA Exam has been fully delivered or you have activated the link to access or download the Online Exam.

5.2 To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform the British Council of your decision to cancel the Contract by a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or an email - see the Contact Us Page for the relevant contact details).  You may use the model cancellation form (see here), but this is not compulsory.

5.3 To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your cancellation statement before the Cancellation Period has ended. Refunds:

5.4 The British Council will make any repayment without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after it is informed about your decision to cancel the Contract as permitted under these Terms.

5.5 The British Council will make any repayment using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of the repayment.

5.6 When a refund is approved for an Exam booked using an Exam Voucher, that refund will be in the form of a replacement Exam Voucher. This replacement Exam Voucher will only be issued to the Learning Provider or Employer. There will be no cash refunds for exams booked using an Exam Voucher.

5.7 The British Council reserves the right to decline refund requests at its discretion. Refund requests made under the following circumstances will be rejected:

• Failure by the candidate to perform the pre-ACCA Exam system check prior to attending or attempting to attend their booked exam slot.
• Failure by the candidate to perform technical checks before booking an exam and because their equipment not meeting minimum specification.
• Failure of the candidate to attend a booked exam because the wrong subject has been selected. We advise all candidates to carefully consider the exam selection at the time of booking.
• Failure by the candidate to notify the British Council or the remote proctoring provider of a cancellation or transfer request prior to a booked ACCA Exam slot. Refund or transfer requests received after the booked ACCA Exam slot, will not be considered.
• Failure of the candidate to supply a functioning email ID for communications regarding ACCA Exam bookings or failure of the candidate to monitor all such email IDs supplied. It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure all submitted contact details are correct and functioning.
• Candidates suspended due to alleged breaches of ACCA Exam regulations. Refer to Student Terms & Conditions for Remote On-Demand CBEs and Student Information Sheet for exam regulations. Failure by the candidate to present ID to ProctorU for verification on the exam day and the candidate does not want to re-schedule.

Rescheduling:

5.8 Any candidate that requests to reschedule ACCA Exams may reschedule through their account up to 24 hours prior to the start time of the ACCA Exam slot booked. Should candidates choose to reschedule, they will need to select a date that is at least 7 days from the date they are rescheduling. You may not reschedule your previously booked ACCA Exam within less than 24 hours prior to the start of the ACCA Exam slot.

CANCELLATION WITHIN THE CANCELLATION PERIOD

5.9 Candidates can also cancel their ACCA Exam for other, non-specified reasons. In this case:

(a) If the ACCA Exam booking is cancelled within 14 days of payment and the candidate has not booked an ACCA Exam slot with the remote proctoring provider, a full refund will be provided in accordance with the European ‘cooling off’ period.

(b) If the cancellation is requested within 14 days of payment and the candidate has booked an ACCA Exam slot with the remote proctoring provider and the Exam Date is more than 2 days (48 hours) away a full refund will be provided to the candidate.

(c) If the cancellation is requested within 14 days of payment and the candidate has booked an Exam slot with the remote proctoring provider and the Exam Date is less than 2 days (48 hours) away – no refund will be given, unless the candidate can prove exceptional circumstances (see clauses 5.11 – 5.13 below).

CANCELLATION AFTER THE CANCELLATION PERIOD

5.10 After the Cancellation Period has expired, you have no automatic right to cancel the Contract.  Any cancellation of the Contract after this period will need the British Council’s approval – please contact the British Council (see the Contact Us Page for the relevant contact details) to explain why you would like to cancel the Contract and to see if the British Council will accept the cancellation. 

Cancellation for specified reasons:

5.11 Cancellation requests for specified reasons (under clauses 5.12 – 5.13) must be received at least 24 hours before the Exam Date.

5.12 Candidates may need to cancel their Exam for medical or other serious reasons. In these circumstances, candidates may receive a full refund at the British Council’s discretion. Serious causes can include:

• Illness, for example a serious illness, hospital admission or injury
• Loss or bereavement – death of a close family member
• Hardship/trauma – for example, a victim of a crime or traffic accident
• Military service

5.13 You are asked to provide appropriate documentation and/or evidence, such as a medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner, to support your refund request. The British Council online centre will then advise you within 5 working days of lodging your application whether it has been approved and the full refund is processed.

YOUR RIGHTS IN RESPECT OF FAULTY EXAMS

5.14 The British Council is under a legal duty to supply ACCA Exams that are in conformity with this Contract. As a consumer, you have legal rights in relation to ACCA Exams that are faulty or not as described - you may have a legal right to end the Contract (or to get a service re-performed or to get some or all of your money back). These legal rights are not affected by anything in these Terms. Advice about your legal rights is available from your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or Trading Standards office or local equivalent.

6.1 If the ACCA Exam cannot take place or stopped prematurely due to any technical issues, refunds will only be considered on exceptional grounds, on a case by case basis and at the British Council’s discretion.

• If the premature end of the ACCA Exam or it not being able to take place was caused by a candidates’ failure to perform system check prior to the ACCA Exam, no refund will be granted.
• If the premature end of the ACCA Exam or it not being able to take place was caused by internet connectivity, power outage etc. the candidate is entitled to reschedule the exam free of charge, but no refund will be granted.

7.1 You will receive registration confirmation with details of the ACCA Exam including relevant exam regulations and further log in instructions via email after you have registered for the ACCA Exam on the test taker portal. If you do not receive the registration confirmation, you should contact your local British Council office immediately.

8.1 You must not engage in any form of malpractice that could damage the integrity and/or safety of the ACCA Exam. Malpractice includes, but is not limited to, the following:

8.1.1 attempts to copy in any way, including copying the work of another candidate or using notes of any kind or any device;

8.1.2 attempts to help another candidate to copy;

8.1.3 impersonating another candidate or having another candidate impersonate you;

8.1.4 interrupting the ACCA Exam in any way;

8.1.5 using inappropriate language during the test or in writing and speaking test components; and

8.1.6 altering the data contained in the test taker report.

8.2 If you are involved in any type of malpractice, you will not be allowed to complete the ACCA Exam. If you are found to have been involved in malpractice after the exams have finished the British Council will initiate further steps.

8.3 You agree not to:

(a) provide access to the Materials to any other individual or legal entity;

(b) disrupt, interfere with or restrict the use of the services provided by the British Council;

(c) upload or display any comments or materials which are false, offensive, sexually explicit, defamatory, threatening, obscene or unlawful or which infringe intellectual property rights;

(d) probe, scan or test the vulnerability of ACCA Exam content or attempt to circumvent or hack any user authentication or security controls in respect of such content;

(e) reverse compile, disassemble, reverse engineer, decompile, copy, duplicate, modify or adapt any software or other code or scripts forming part of any ACCA Exam content (except to the extent permitted by law) or attempt to transmit to or via ACCA Exam content any information that contains a virus, worm, Trojan horse or other harmful or disruptive component;

(f) change, modify, delete, interfere with or misuse any files or other data created, owned or provided by the British Council or any third party provided as part of ACCA Exam content (except as expressly permitted under these Terms); or

(g) use ACCA Exam content in contravention of any applicable law.

9.1 The British Council will ensure that each ACCA Exam is delivered in all material respects as described at the point of sale. However, the British Council will be entitled to make variations to the content and delivery of an ACCA Exam where those variations do not alter the ACCA Exam materially. The British Council may update, or require you to, update digital content to implement such changes. Please note with regard to certain ACCA Exams the British Council will not be in a position to confirm the Exam Date of those ACCA Exams to you in advance due to scheduling reasons of third party providers. If this is the case this will be made clear to you during the registration process and the British Council or the third party provider will communicate the Exam Dates of those ACCA Exams to you as soon as possible. By pressing the “I Accept” button you confirm and acknowledge that the provision of these Exam Dates to you is not a material change to the Contract between you and the British Council. 

10.1 All British Council entities protect personal information in accordance with the data protection legislation applicable in the UK and any local equivalent law if this is stronger.

10.2 Your personal data will be processed in accordance with the Privacy policy published here: https://www.britishcouncil.org/privacy-cookies/data-protection (the ‘Privacy policy’).

11.1 The British Council seeks to ensure equal opportunities are provided to all individuals.

11.2 If you have a disability or special need, the British Council will make reasonable adjustments to make sure that you have, as far as is reasonable, the same access to everything that is involved in participating on the relevant ACCA Exam as a person without a disability or special need.

11.3 Please provide the British Council with details of your disability and special needs as soon as possible (ideally at least 8 weeks before the relevant Exam Date).

12.1 The British Council believes that all children have potential and that every child matters – everywhere in the world. The British Council affirms the position that all children have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse as set out in article 19, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

13.1 You must: 

(a) at all times behave with honesty, integrity and show courtesy, consideration and respect to others when sitting the ACCA Exam (in person or online); 

(b) prepare for the ACCA Exam as reasonably required by the British Council; 

(c) attend or otherwise take part in all sessions and other activities which form part of the ACCA Exam (subject to absence for medical or other agreed reasons); and 

(d) respect the confidentiality of all information that you acquire in connection with the ACCA Exam.

13.2 The British Council reserves the right to refuse admission or deny you access to any ACCA Exam (including requiring you to leave any venue where Face to Face Exam is delivered) if your behaviour is considered disruptive, likely to cause damage, nuisance, offence or injury, is in breach of venue rules and regulations, the Terms or the Privacy Policy, or is otherwise unacceptable. The British Council may on occasion have to conduct security searches to ensure the safety of delegates, and/or the venue where Face to Face Exam is delivered, (and you hereby consent to this). The unauthorised use of photographic and recording equipment and any form of online duplication of any ACCA Exam is prohibited (except for any copying permitted under clause 14).

14.1 The copyright and all other intellectual property rights in all Materials and ACCA Exam content (including any digital content), including in the design, structure, ‘look and feel’ and the arrangement of such content, shall remain the sole and exclusive property of the British Council and its licensors (such as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants). You undertake that you will not copy or permit the copying of Materials or ACCA Exam content (except for any copying permitted this clause 14) or distribute any of these Materials or this content via internet or intranet or disclose or permit the disclosure or sell or hire the same to third parties.

14.2 On Registration Confirmation, the British Council agrees to grant to you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty free licence to access and use:

(a) the relevant Materials for the purposes of your study and research in relation to and (where permitted) for your participation in the ACCA Exam; and

(b) the relevant ACCA Exam content (including any digital content) in accordance with these Terms, but not for commercial purposes.

15.1 Nothing in the Terms shall limit or exclude the British Council’s liability (or the UK Charity’s liability) for death and/or personal injury caused by the negligence of the British Council or the UK Charity or any of their employees, agents or subcontractors, for fraudulent misrepresentation and any other liabilities which cannot as a matter of law be limited and/or excluded.

15.2 Subject to clause 15.1, the British Council and the UK Charity do not accept responsibility and expressly exclude liability for any loss or damage to your property that occurs where the British Council is delivering ACCA Exam. When siting any Face to Face Exam, you should take particular care not to leave any valuables (including mobile devices, tablets or laptops) unattended at any time.

15.3 Subject to clause 15.1, the British Council and the UK Charity shall not under any circumstances whatsoever be liable to you (whether for breach of contract, negligence, breach of statutory duty or otherwise) for any:

(a) losses that were not foreseeable to both you and the British Council and/or the UK Charity when the Contract was formed;

(b) losses that were not caused by any breach on the part of the British Council; or

(c) loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption or loss of business opportunity arising under or in connection with the Contract.

15.4 If defective digital content which the British Council has supplied damages a device or digital content belonging to you and this is caused by the British Council’s failure to use reasonable care and skill the British Council will either repair the damage or pay you compensation for the damage caused. However, the British Council will not be liable for damage which you could have avoided by following the British Council’s advice to apply an update offered to you free of charge or for damage which was caused by you failing to correctly follow installation instructions or to have in place the minimum system requirements advised by the British Council.

15.5 Subject to clauses 15.1, 15.2, 15.3 and 15.4, the British Council's liability in connection with the Contract will be limited to the price paid by you for the ACCA Exam(s) registered for under that Contract.

16.1 The British Council may transfer the Contract (in whole or in part), or subcontract or delegate the delivery of the ACCA Exam in any manner at its sole discretion to: (i) any separate entity controlled by the British Council or otherwise forms a part of the British Council group of entities; or (ii) any provider of outsourcing or third party services that is engaged under a service contract to provide services to the British Council.

16.2 The Contract is personal to you and so you cannot transfer any or all of your rights or obligations under these Terms to another person without the prior written consent of the British Council.

16.3 The British Council intends to rely upon these Terms as being the entire Contract between you and the British Council in relation to the relevant ACCA Exam. To avoid any misunderstandings about the content of the Contract, please make sure that you ask for any changes, or additions, to the terms of the Contract be put in writing by a British Council representative.

16.4 If the British Council does not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these Terms, or if the British Council delays in taking steps against you in respect of you breaching this Contract, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent the British Council taking steps against you at a later date.

16.5 Each of the clauses of these Terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful or unenforceable, the remaining clauses will remain in full force and effect.

16.6 Subject to the Location-Specific Terms and Conditions (Part 3) the laws of England apply to the Contract and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with the Contract or its subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims). For the avoidance of doubt, this Contract is deemed to have been formed in England unless the Special Terms and Conditions state otherwise.

16.7 The British Council hopes to make your experience of dealing with the British Council an excellent one and welcomes your comments, suggestions and details of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. If you have any comments or complaints in relation to the Contract, please refer to the Complaints Page (see the definition of “Complaints Page” for further details) and follow the procedure set out there.

16.8 If a complaint, dispute or claim is not successfully resolved through discussions between you and the British Council, the courts of England will have non-exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to, the Contract. This means that all claims relating to the Contract can be settled by a judge (or a number of judges) in an English court but you or the British Council may, alternatively, bring proceedings in your country of residence or any other relevant country.

16.9 The British Council may contact you or provide a notice referred to in this Contract by sending you an email to the nominated email address provided by you during the registration process.

16.10 As ACCA Exam digital content will be provided through a third party web browser (such as Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox), you should also read the terms of use and privacy policy that apply to your use of that web browser.

17.1 If you have any questions, comments or enquiries about the Contract or a Product, please contact the British Council by using the contact details on the Contact Us Page (see the definition of “Contact Us Page” for further details).

None