Online PDC customer agreement
Online PDC Customer Agreement
Version: online-pdc-pt-b2c-v3
This is the agreement presented for new Online PDC purchases by private customers resident in mainland Portugal. Save or print this page for your records.
1. The parties
The supplier is Mark Jude D'Cruz, trading as Mă-Kè Permaculture Academy (the Academy), Rua Projetada a Dona Maria II 9, Vila Pinheiro, 2500-532 Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. Portuguese tax number: 316974838. Course, account and withdrawal enquiries may be sent to enquiries@makepermaculture.com.
The customer is the private individual named in the Academy account and Stripe Checkout details. You confirm that your contact and billing information is accurate and that you are buying as a private customer resident in mainland Portugal.
2. Course supplied
The Academy supplies access to the English-language Online Permaculture Design Certificate (Online PDC). It is a guided 72-hour course, normally completed over 16–24 weeks, organised into eleven modules.
The course includes sequenced lessons; knowledge checks; applied and reflective activities; saved progress; three tutor-review points; orientation and monthly online learning circles where scheduled; required milestone assessment; final design portfolio review and presentation; and the opportunity to earn a digital Mă-Kè Permaculture Design Certificate after meeting every completion requirement.
The Solidarity, Standard and Supporter fees provide the same curriculum, support, assessment standard and certificate eligibility. The fee selected does not change academic treatment.
3. Course provider, educational tradition and certificate status
The Mă-Kè Permaculture Design Certificate is issued by Mă-Kè Permaculture Academy after the learner has completed the required course work and assessment and received tutor approval. It is not represented as a Portuguese state-recognised qualification.
The course follows the established 72-hour Permaculture Design Course educational tradition pioneered by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. Its curriculum is grounded in Mollison’s Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual.
4. Price, VAT and payment
| Fee | VAT-inclusive total |
|---|---|
| Solidarity | €295.00 |
| Standard | €395.00 |
| Supporter | €495.00 |
Each total includes Portuguese mainland VAT at 23%. VAT is included within, not added above, the displayed total. Stripe processes one payment in euros by card. The Academy does not receive or store the complete card number.
After authoritative payment confirmation, the Academy records the separate Portuguese fiscal-document obligation for InvoiceXpress item PDC-ONLINE. The payment confirmation email is not the official fiscal document.
5. Access period and delivery
Access begins only when Stripe authoritatively confirms successful payment and the Academy activates the enrolment. Standard access lasts for six calendar months from the successful payment date. A browser success page, failed payment or abandoned Checkout does not activate access.
The Academy may agree an extension, pause or deferral in writing, but none is automatic. Flexible study does not require fixed attendance except where a tutor conversation, learning circle or final presentation is arranged and communicated separately.
6. Technical requirements and support
You need a current computer or tablet with a supported browser, JavaScript and essential cookies enabled; reliable internet and email; the ability to view course material and upload ordinary documents or images; and access to a familiar place, project or system for observation and applied learning. You do not need to own land.
Tell the Academy before purchase about an accessibility requirement that may affect participation so reasonable arrangements and genuine limitations can be discussed.
7. Assessment and certification
To earn the Academy's digital certificate, you must complete all required lessons, activities and reflective work; achieve at least 60% in each required section knowledge check; meet the published rubric standard for every required tutor-reviewed milestone; submit the final design portfolio; complete its presentation; address required revisions; confirm academic integrity; and receive the recorded approval of an authorised human tutor.
Submission does not guarantee approval. Earlier versions and feedback may be retained as part of the assessment record. Certificate eligibility and certificate issuance are separate recorded decisions after academic completion.
8. Fourteen-day withdrawal right and early supply
For an online distance contract, a private consumer normally has 14 calendar days from the day after the contract is made to withdraw without giving a reason. Send an unequivocal statement to enquiries@makepermaculture.com before the period expires. You may use the model form below, but you do not have to.
- If you expressly request the continuing educational service to begin during the 14-day period and validly withdraw while the right remains available, the Academy may deduct only the proportionate value lawfully supplied before withdrawal.
- If you expressly consent to immediate supply of digital course content and acknowledge the consequence, the statutory withdrawal right for that digital content is lost when its supply begins.
- Immediate access does not remove statutory rights relating to non-conformity or any right that cannot lawfully be excluded.
9. Cancellation, refunds and course changes
Before access begins, a valid statutory withdrawal produces a full refund. After immediate digital access begins with the required consent and acknowledgement, no change-of-mind refund is due for digital content where the statutory exception applies. Any continuing-service deduction is limited to the proportionate value lawfully supplied.
If the Academy cannot provide a material part of the course, the remedy may include restored service, an extension, transfer, proportionate price reduction or refund. A refund is complete only when Stripe has recorded it and any required linked fiscal correction has been recorded. Statutory rights remain unaffected.
10. Learner responsibilities
Keep your Academy login private, submit your own work, credit sources and collaborators, communicate respectfully, and use the learning platform only for lawful personal study. Course materials may not be republished, sold, shared as a substitute course or used to provide another person with account access.
11. Personal data and service providers
The Academy uses account, agreement, learning, assessment and payment information to perform this agreement, protect the platform, provide support, and meet legal, tax and accounting obligations. Stripe processes payments; Hostinger hosts the service; Supabase provides authentication and database services; Resend delivers transactional email; and InvoiceXpress supports fiscal records. Read the Privacy and Cookie Notice.
12. Complaints, alternative dispute resolution and governing law
Raise course, account, accessibility or billing concerns first through enquiries@makepermaculture.com.
For an eligible consumer dispute, the competent alternative-dispute-resolution entity for Caldas da Rainha is the CNIACC – Centro Nacional de Informação e Arbitragem de Conflitos de Consumo. Information about its territorial coverage and procedures is available on its website. This information does not state that the Academy has voluntarily adhered to arbitration beyond any obligation imposed by law.
Portuguese law applies, without depriving a consumer of mandatory protections. Nothing in this agreement excludes a right that cannot lawfully be excluded.
Confirmations recorded before Checkout
- I have read and accept the Online PDC Customer Agreement (version
online-pdc-pt-b2c-v3) and the Privacy and Cookie Notice. I confirm that I am buying as a private customer resident in mainland Portugal. - I expressly request Mă-Kè Permaculture Academy to begin the educational services and activate my six-month course access as soon as Stripe confirms payment, even if this is within the 14-day withdrawal period. I understand that, if I validly withdraw from a continuing service, I may have to pay the proportionate value supplied before withdrawal.
- I expressly consent to immediate supply of the Online PDC digital content. I understand and acknowledge that, once access to that digital content begins, I lose the statutory 14-day withdrawal right for the digital content supplied. My rights if the content or service is not in conformity are unaffected.
Model withdrawal form
To: Mark Jude D'Cruz, trading as Mă-Kè Permaculture Academy, enquiries@makepermaculture.com
I hereby give notice that I withdraw from my contract for the Online Permaculture Design Certificate.
- Customer name:
- Customer address:
- Academy account email:
- Order date and number:
- Date:
- Signature (only if sent on paper):