International Association of Dive Professionals
Terms & Conditions of IADP Membership, Ethics and Portal Use
These Terms govern IADP membership, access to TheDiveProfessional.org, member conduct, ethics obligations, portal use, digital services, membership benefits, renewals, cancellations, suspension, and termination.
1. About IADP and TheDiveProfessional.org
The International Association of Dive Professionals, referred to in these Terms as “IADP”, is an independent professional association established as a Belgian ASBL/VZW. IADP exists to represent, support, organise, and strengthen dive professionals, diving-industry workers, contributors, volunteers, supporters, and institutional partners across the wider diving industry.
TheDiveProfessional.org is the IADP membership portal. It is used for membership registration, account management, member communication, digital services, community functions, member resources, membership administration, and the progressive development of IADP’s professional network.
Membership is issued by IADP. TheDiveProfessional.org is the digital platform through which membership, access, communication, and related services are managed.
References in these Terms to “IADP”, “we”, “us”, or “our” mean the International Association of Dive Professionals and, where applicable, the administrators, officers, authorised representatives, moderators, volunteers, contractors, or service providers acting on behalf of IADP.
References to “member”, “user”, “applicant”, “you”, or “your” mean any person or organisation applying for, purchasing, renewing, holding, accessing, or using an IADP membership, account, service, portal function, or related benefit.
2. Scope and Acceptance of These Terms
These Terms apply to all persons and organisations applying for, purchasing, activating, renewing, upgrading, downgrading, holding, or using an IADP membership or account connected to TheDiveProfessional.org.
By applying for, purchasing, activating, renewing, upgrading, or using an IADP membership, you agree to be bound by these Terms. This includes the membership conditions, ethics obligations, portal rules, cancellation rules, immediate-access acknowledgement, conduct standards, disciplinary provisions, and limitation of liability contained in this document.
These Terms also apply to free accounts, trial access, volunteer accounts, honorary access, institutional access, staff accounts, administrative access, and any other account type granted by IADP, unless a separate written agreement expressly states otherwise.
If you do not agree with these Terms, you must not complete registration, purchase membership, use member access, use TheDiveProfessional.org, or claim IADP membership status.
These Terms form the central membership acceptance document used for IADP memberships managed through TheDiveProfessional.org. Other public policies, including privacy, cookie, website-use, governance, and operational policies, may apply in addition to these Terms.
In case of conflict between these Terms and the formal statutes of IADP, the statutes and mandatory provisions of Belgian law prevail for matters that legally require statutory treatment.
3. Nature of IADP Membership
IADP membership is participation in a professional association and access to the association’s applicable member services, communications, digital resources, benefits, and community functions.
IADP membership is not a diving certification, diving qualification, professional licence, government authorisation, employment contract, agency teaching status, insurance contract, safety endorsement, or guarantee of professional competence.
Membership does not authorise a member to conduct diving activities, teach diving, operate a dive business, perform commercial diving work, guide clients, fill cylinders, operate vessels, provide medical or hyperbaric services, or carry out any regulated professional activity unless the member separately holds the required legal authority, licences, permits, training, insurance, and qualifications.
Members remain solely responsible for holding the licences, permits, insurance, certifications, medical clearance, professional approvals, business registrations, employment authorisations, and legal permissions required for their own activities, country, sector, and professional role.
IADP may support, represent, inform, and advocate for the profession, but it does not replace national law, competent authorities, training agencies, employers, insurers, classification bodies, maritime authorities, labour authorities, health and safety authorities, or any other applicable regulator.
4. Membership Categories
IADP may offer several membership categories, including but not limited to Associate, Affiliate, Professional, Sustaining, Senior, Fellow, Honorary, Corporate Partner, Educational Partner, NGO/Association Partner, and Industry Patron memberships.
Membership categories may differ in eligibility requirements, access rights, benefits, fees, voting rights, portal permissions, visibility, communication rights, representative status, and available services.
Some membership categories may be opened progressively and may not be available at all times. IADP may add, suspend, rename, restructure, merge, or withdraw membership categories where necessary for the development, financial stability, governance, legal compliance, or operational structure of the association.
Where a membership category requires verification, IADP may request evidence of professional experience, sector involvement, company registration, qualifications, institutional status, employment, previous work, portfolio material, professional references, or other relevant information.
IADP may refuse to grant, renew, or upgrade a membership category where the applicant does not meet the relevant criteria or where granting such membership would be misleading, inappropriate, harmful, or inconsistent with IADP’s objectives.
Honorary, Fellow, Senior, institutional, partner, staff, or representative statuses may be subject to additional approval, internal review, invitation, board decision, or documented eligibility requirements.
5. Eligibility, Verification and Approval
Membership applications are subject to review, acceptance, and continued compliance with IADP’s objectives, governance standards, ethics expectations, and operational requirements.
IADP may refuse, delay, downgrade, suspend, or reject a membership application where the applicant provides false or incomplete information, does not meet the relevant membership criteria, acts against the interests of IADP, has previously breached IADP rules, or is considered unsuitable for the requested membership category.
IADP may require additional verification before granting access to certain membership levels, professional categories, volunteer roles, administrative functions, internal working spaces, community areas, directories, or restricted services.
IADP may request clarification, supporting documents, proof of identity, proof of professional activity, proof of institutional status, proof of company registration, proof of qualifications, or other reasonable evidence connected to the membership category requested.
Membership is not automatically granted merely because payment has been attempted or completed. If a paid membership application is refused before access begins, IADP will arrange an appropriate refund unless there is a lawful reason not to do so.
If false information is discovered after access has been granted, IADP may suspend or terminate the membership, remove portal access, cancel benefits, and refuse refund where permitted by law.
6. Membership Fees, Duration and Renewal
Membership fees are published by IADP and may vary by membership category. Unless otherwise stated, membership fees are annual and cover the relevant membership period only.
Membership becomes active after successful registration, payment where applicable, and any required approval or verification by IADP.
IADP may update membership fees for future membership periods. Fee changes do not retroactively alter the price of an already-paid membership period.
Where automatic renewal is enabled, the member is responsible for reviewing the renewal conditions, keeping payment information up to date, and cancelling future renewal before the renewal date if they do not wish to continue.
Where manual renewal is required, the member is responsible for renewing before the membership expiry date if they wish to maintain continuous access and benefits.
Failure to pay renewal fees may result in expiry, suspension, downgrade, or loss of membership benefits, portal access, directory visibility, member status, community access, and any other services connected to the active membership.
IADP is not responsible for loss of access caused by failed payment, expired payment method, incorrect account details, rejected transaction, payment processor issue, member error, or failure to renew on time.
Membership fees do not include any additional third-party costs, insurance premiums, event fees, course fees, certification fees, professional licensing fees, travel costs, equipment costs, or other external expenses unless expressly stated.
7. Immediate Access to Digital Membership Services
By purchasing, activating, upgrading, or renewing an IADP membership through TheDiveProfessional.org, the member expressly requests that IADP begins providing membership access, account functions, digital services, member-only areas, community features, communications, and applicable membership benefits immediately after successful registration or payment.
The member acknowledges that access may include digital services, online account functionality, member-only areas, profile functions, private or restricted content, documents, community areas, communication tools, directories, downloadable material, membership benefits, and other digital services.
The member acknowledges that once access to membership services, digital content, member-only areas, downloadable materials, community functions, benefits, or other digital services has begun, the right to cancel and receive a full refund may be limited or lost, to the extent permitted by applicable consumer law.
This clause does not affect any mandatory legal rights that cannot be waived under Belgian or European consumer protection law.
Where a refund is required by law or approved by IADP, IADP may take into account whether access has already been granted, whether member-only services or materials have been used, whether account functions have been activated, and whether membership benefits have already been consumed.
IADP may record acceptance of these Terms, checkout confirmations, payment records, access activation, account creation, login activity, and use of digital services for administrative, legal, and compliance purposes.
8. Cancellation, Withdrawal and Refunds
A member may cancel future renewal of their membership through the available account tools or by contacting IADP. Cancellation of future renewal does not automatically cancel the current active membership period.
Membership fees are generally non-refundable once membership access, digital services, member-only areas, portal access, community functions, downloadable materials, account functions, or membership benefits have been activated or used, except where a refund is required by applicable law or expressly approved by IADP.
If a member cancels before access to any membership services, digital content, member-only areas, portal functions, community features, or benefits has begun, the member may be entitled to cancellation or withdrawal rights under applicable consumer law.
If a member has expressly requested immediate access and access has begun, the member acknowledges that their right to receive a full refund may be limited or lost to the extent permitted by applicable law.
IADP may grant refunds at its discretion in exceptional circumstances. A discretionary refund does not create a general entitlement to refunds in other cases and does not oblige IADP to grant similar refunds in the future.
Refunds may be refused where membership has been terminated, suspended, restricted, or refused because of misconduct, false information, misuse of IADP systems, breach of these Terms, abuse of the portal, misuse of member data, reputational harm, or conduct harmful to IADP, its members, its objectives, or its systems.
Payment processor fees, currency conversion costs, bank charges, card fees, intermediary charges, and other third-party transaction costs may be deducted from refunds where permitted by law and where such costs are not recoverable by IADP.
Cancellation requests and refund questions should be sent to
9. Member Responsibilities
Members must provide accurate, complete, and current information during registration and throughout their membership period.
Members must update their account details where relevant information changes, including contact details, professional status, institutional status, billing information, or other information required for membership administration.
Members are responsible for keeping their login details secure and must not share, transfer, sell, lend, assign, or otherwise allow another person to use their account, profile, membership status, or member access.
Members must use IADP services, TheDiveProfessional.org, community functions, member directories, messaging systems, documents, and digital resources in a lawful, respectful, professional, and non-abusive manner.
Members must not use IADP membership to mislead clients, students, employers, employees, authorities, other members, partners, customers, sponsors, insurers, media, or the public.
Members must not use IADP services to promote unlawful activity, unsafe operations, fraudulent services, misleading professional claims, abusive commercial approaches, exploitative employment practices, environmental harm, or conduct contrary to IADP’s objectives.
Members remain responsible for their own professional activities, business conduct, safety practices, legal compliance, insurance, employment relationships, contractual obligations, public statements, and conduct toward third parties.
Members must cooperate reasonably with IADP where IADP requests clarification, correction, investigation assistance, account verification, conduct review, payment clarification, or resolution of a complaint connected to the member’s use of IADP services.
10. Ethics and Professional Conduct
IADP membership is conditional on ethical conduct. Members must act with integrity, honesty, professional responsibility, and respect for the diving profession, aquatic environments, fellow professionals, students, clients, communities, and the public.
The following principles form the ethical baseline expected of all IADP members. These principles are part of these Membership Terms and are binding on members, account holders, volunteers, institutional representatives, and users of TheDiveProfessional.org.
1. Honesty
Members must prioritise truthfulness and transparency, avoiding deceit, false claims, misleading statements, manipulated information, and dishonest professional conduct.
2. Integrity
Members must adhere to ethical principles even under pressure and must act with honour, consistency, and professional responsibility.
3. Trustworthiness
Members must provide accurate information, honour commitments, act reliably, and conduct themselves in a way that builds trust with colleagues, clients, students, employers, partners, and the public.
4. Loyalty
Members must respect legitimate commitments to colleagues, clients, partners, employers, organisations, and IADP. Loyalty includes appropriate confidentiality and responsible handling of sensitive information.
5. Fairness
Members must act with justice and equity, avoid exploitation, avoid abuse of position, and support an inclusive and respectful professional environment.
6. Concern for Others
Members must consider the welfare, safety, dignity, and legitimate interests of others. Operational, commercial, or personal goals must not be pursued through avoidable harm, exploitation, or reckless disregard for others.
7. Respectfulness
Members must respect human dignity, diversity, professional differences, cultural differences, and the rights of others. Harassment, intimidation, bullying, discrimination, and degrading conduct are incompatible with IADP membership.
8. Law Abiding
Members must comply with applicable laws, regulations, site rules, employer policies, operational procedures, safety requirements, environmental rules, and professional obligations in every operational context.
9. Commitment to Excellence
Members must pursue competence, preparation, continuous improvement, responsible practice, and professional development appropriate to their role, sector, and level of responsibility.
10. Leadership
Members must lead by example where their role gives them influence over students, staff, clients, volunteers, colleagues, communities, or the wider profession.
11. Reputation and Morale
Members must act in ways that protect the credibility, reputation, morale, and constructive development of the diving profession and the association.
12. Accountability
Members must take responsibility for their actions, decisions, statements, omissions, and professional conduct. Members must be willing to correct errors, cooperate with legitimate review processes, and accept consequences where conduct falls below expected standards.
These ethical principles complement, and do not replace, applicable laws, regulations, site rules, employer policies, agency standards, professional procedures, and operational requirements. Where requirements differ, the stricter requirement applies.
Members must not engage in harassment, threats, intimidation, discrimination, defamation, fraud, abuse, exploitation, coercion, bullying, stalking, hate speech, personal attacks, malicious reporting, racism, xenophobia, sexism, or other conduct incompatible with IADP’s objectives and professional standards.
Members must not knowingly make false claims about their qualifications, experience, employment, professional status, training agency status, insurance, company registration, authority, legal permission, institutional status, or relationship with IADP.
Members must not use IADP platforms or membership status to promote unsafe diving practices, unlawful operations, exploitation of workers, environmental harm, fraudulent schemes, deceptive business practices, or activities that endanger divers, students, clients, staff, communities, or the public.
Members must not use IADP membership to attack competitors, damage other professionals without basis, conduct personal vendettas, spread knowingly false allegations, manipulate disputes, or use the association as a weapon in private commercial conflicts.
Members must respect the diversity of the diving industry and the different sectors represented by IADP, including recreational, commercial, scientific, medical, environmental, public safety, military, media, manufacturing, operational support, and sports-related diving activities.
Members must respect environmental responsibility and must not use IADP platforms to promote avoidable harm to aquatic ecosystems, illegal wildlife trade, destructive collection, pollution, reef damage, or practices contrary to responsible aquatic stewardship.
Breach of these ethics obligations may lead to warning, content removal, access restriction, benefit suspension, portal suspension, removal from volunteer or administrative roles, refusal of renewal, termination of membership, or further action as described in these Terms.
11. Use of IADP Name, Logo and Membership Status
Active members may refer to themselves as members of IADP only in a truthful, accurate, and non-misleading manner appropriate to their membership category.
Acceptable wording may include “Member of IADP” or “IADP Associate Member” where accurate and where the membership is active.
Membership does not authorise a member to claim that they are certified, licensed, approved, endorsed, accredited, insured, employed, appointed, supervised, monitored, represented, or officially authorised by IADP unless IADP has provided explicit written authorisation.
Members must not use wording such as “IADP certified”, “IADP approved”, “IADP accredited”, “IADP licensed”, “official IADP representative”, “IADP instructor”, “IADP school”, “IADP training centre”, “IADP appointed”, or similar wording unless IADP has expressly authorised that status in writing.
Members must not use the IADP name, logo, brand assets, membership badge, documents, slogans, project names, images, visual identity, or written materials in a misleading, unauthorised, commercial, political, defamatory, or reputationally harmful manner.
Members must not create unauthorised websites, pages, groups, documents, certificates, cards, social media accounts, advertising, seals, badges, or marketing materials that imply official IADP status.
Members must immediately stop using IADP membership references, badges, logos, or related materials if their membership expires, is suspended, is terminated, or if IADP instructs them to do so.
IADP may require correction or removal of any public or private use of its name, logo, status references, brand identity, or materials where such use is inaccurate, misleading, unauthorised, damaging, or inconsistent with these Terms.
12. TheDiveProfessional.org Portal and Community Rules
TheDiveProfessional.org is the IADP membership portal and professional community space. It exists to support constructive communication, professional exchange, member services, volunteer coordination, learning, project development, and the progressive organisation of the diving profession.
Access to the portal is a privilege connected to membership, approved registration, volunteer participation, or authorised access. It is not an unconditional right and may be limited, suspended, or removed where necessary to protect IADP, its members, its systems, its data, its reputation, or its objectives.
Portal access and IADP membership are connected but not identical. IADP may restrict, suspend, or permanently remove portal access without automatically terminating membership. However, serious or repeated breaches of portal rules may also lead to suspension, refusal of renewal, or termination of membership in accordance with the IADP statutes, internal regulations, and applicable Belgian law.
All users must act respectfully, professionally, and constructively. Disagreement is allowed. Abuse is not.
The following conduct is not permitted on TheDiveProfessional.org or through any IADP-managed communication channel:
- racism, xenophobia, hate speech, or discriminatory conduct;
- harassment, bullying, intimidation, threats, stalking, or personal attacks;
- sexist, degrading, abusive, or humiliating language;
- defamation, malicious accusations, or knowingly false statements about another person or organisation;
- publication of private, confidential, or personal information without permission;
- scraping, harvesting, copying, exporting, or misusing member data;
- spam, scams, misleading offers, aggressive commercial solicitation, or irrelevant mass messaging;
- impersonation of another person, organisation, officer, volunteer, or IADP representative;
- false claims about qualifications, experience, authority, membership level, or professional status;
- unauthorised use of IADP names, logos, badges, documents, groups, or project identities;
- posting unlawful, harmful, obscene, violent, threatening, or exploitative material;
- promotion of unsafe diving practices, illegal operations, worker exploitation, or environmental harm;
- attempts to bypass access controls, interfere with security, misuse admin tools, or disrupt portal functions;
- conduct that damages the credibility, safety, reputation, or proper functioning of IADP or its community.
IADP may remove, edit, hide, restrict, or archive content where necessary for legal, ethical, operational, security, reputational, or community-management reasons.
IADP may restrict access to specific functions, groups, messaging tools, directories, files, discussions, volunteer spaces, or administrative areas without removing the entire account where a limited measure is sufficient.
Free accounts, inactive memberships, expired memberships, suspended memberships, trial accounts, and limited-access accounts may receive reduced portal access or no portal access, depending on the membership structure and operational needs of IADP.
13. Portal Breach Scenarios and Possible Measures
IADP applies portal rules according to the seriousness, context, repetition, intent, and impact of the conduct. Not every breach leads to dismissal. IADP may choose a proportionate measure depending on the situation.
Minor or first-time issue
Examples include accidental posting in the wrong area, inappropriate tone, excessive self-promotion, or minor misuse of a discussion space.
Possible measures: informal reminder, content removal, moderator note, or request to correct behaviour.
Repeated or disruptive behaviour
Examples include repeated arguments, ignoring moderator instructions, repeated commercial posting, hostile communication, or continued misuse after warning.
Possible measures: formal warning, temporary messaging restriction, group removal, temporary portal restriction, or suspension of selected features.
Abusive or discriminatory conduct
Examples include racism, discrimination, harassment, bullying, threats, intimidation, hate speech, degrading language, or targeted personal attacks.
Possible measures: immediate content removal, temporary or permanent portal ban, suspension of benefits, referral to the Board or ethics process, and possible membership termination.
Misrepresentation or false professional claims
Examples include false claims about qualifications, professional status, IADP authority, membership level, company status, insurance, or experience.
Possible measures: profile correction, warning, suspension of membership status display, portal restriction, refusal of renewal, or membership termination where serious.
Data misuse or privacy breach
Examples include scraping member data, copying directories, exporting contact details, publishing private information, or using member data for unauthorised commercial outreach.
Possible measures: immediate portal suspension or ban, removal of access to directories or groups, membership suspension, legal action, and possible membership termination.
Security, fraud, or system abuse
Examples include hacking attempts, password sharing, payment fraud, uploading malicious files, bypassing access controls, or misuse of administrative permissions.
Possible measures: immediate account lock, portal ban, removal of all admin access, suspension of membership, legal action, and possible permanent exclusion.
Reputational or organisational harm
Examples include unauthorised public statements on behalf of IADP, false representation, publication of confidential material, or conduct that seriously damages the association.
Possible measures: immediate restriction, removal from volunteer or representative roles, formal review, suspension, refusal of renewal, or membership termination.
These examples are not exhaustive. IADP may take similar action for other conduct that is harmful, unlawful, abusive, unsafe, unethical, misleading, or contrary to the association’s objectives.
A portal ban does not automatically cancel IADP membership. However, the same conduct that justifies a portal ban may also justify membership suspension, refusal of renewal, or formal termination where the conduct is serious, repeated, dishonest, abusive, discriminatory, unsafe, unlawful, or damaging to IADP.
Where the issue relates only to portal behaviour and does not justify membership termination, IADP may restrict portal access while leaving the membership itself active until expiry or further decision.
Where the conduct makes continued membership incompatible with IADP’s ethics, reputation, safety, legal obligations, or objectives, IADP may initiate suspension, refusal of renewal, or dismissal procedures in accordance with the statutes, internal regulations, and applicable Belgian law.
14. Content, Messaging and Member Data
Members are responsible for the content they publish, upload, send, share, or make available through TheDiveProfessional.org, IADP communication tools, groups, comments, profiles, forums, messages, directories, or related services.
Members must not publish or share unlawful, defamatory, abusive, discriminatory, obscene, threatening, fraudulent, misleading, confidential, privacy-invasive, copyright-infringing, or otherwise harmful material.
Members must not use internal communication tools to send spam, mass unsolicited messages, deceptive offers, commercial pressure, chain messages, scams, recruitment schemes, political campaigning, or irrelevant promotional material.
Members must not scrape, copy, export, sell, transfer, reuse, or commercially exploit member data, directories, email addresses, contact details, profiles, private discussions, internal documents, group content, or messages obtained through IADP systems.
Access to member information is provided for legitimate association, community, professional, and membership-related purposes only.
IADP may monitor, moderate, remove, restrict, or investigate content, messages, profiles, files, or platform activity where necessary for security, abuse prevention, legal compliance, community management, or enforcement of these Terms.
IADP is not required to pre-screen all member content and is not responsible for every statement made by members. However, IADP may act when content is reported, discovered, or considered harmful.
15. Volunteers, Staff Roles and Administrative Access
Volunteer participation, staff access, committee participation, administrative access, moderation rights, project roles, working-group participation, or representative functions are separate from membership.
Membership does not automatically grant any right to volunteer status, staff status, administrative access, voting authority, committee membership, project leadership, internal documents, strategic information, or the right to speak on behalf of IADP.
IADP may require volunteers and internal contributors to hold a minimum membership level, complete onboarding, accept additional policies, sign confidentiality obligations, follow internal procedures, and comply with role-specific instructions.
IADP may remove, suspend, restrict, or modify volunteer roles, administrative access, project roles, staff permissions, internal access, or representative functions at any time where necessary for operational, ethical, security, governance, legal, or reputational reasons.
Unless expressly agreed in writing, volunteer participation does not create an employment relationship, paid position, agency relationship, partnership, mandate, legal representation, or authority to bind IADP.
Volunteers and internal contributors must not disclose confidential information, internal discussions, private documents, strategy material, unpublished plans, member information, passwords, technical details, financial information, or governance information unless authorised.
IADP may immediately revoke administrative or volunteer access where there is a risk to systems, data, members, reputation, governance, finances, or the proper operation of the association.
16. Institutional Members and Partner Organisations
Institutional memberships may include corporate partners, educational partners, NGO or association partners, industry patrons, and other organisational membership categories created by IADP.
Institutional membership does not create ownership, control, voting authority, sponsorship exclusivity, endorsement, certification, accreditation, preferred-supplier status, or decision-making authority unless expressly agreed in writing.
Institutional members are responsible for ensuring that employees, representatives, contractors, agents, and authorised users connected to their organisation respect these Terms when using IADP systems, benefits, logos, references, communication tools, or member access.
Institutional members must not imply that IADP endorses their products, services, training, safety standards, environmental claims, commercial activities, political positions, or public statements unless IADP has expressly authorised such wording in writing.
IADP may request correction or removal of any institutional communication that misrepresents the relationship between IADP and the organisation.
IADP may suspend, restrict, or terminate institutional access where the organisation, its representatives, or its use of IADP status damages IADP, misleads the public, breaches these Terms, or acts against the interests of the association.
17. Benefits, Partner Offers and Third-Party Services
IADP may provide membership benefits, communications, digital resources, partner offers, discounts, access rights, professional opportunities, educational resources, directories, community tools, or other services depending on membership category and availability.
Benefits may vary by membership category, region, partner availability, technical capacity, project phase, governance decisions, operational readiness, and applicable law.
Some benefits may depend on third-party partners, service providers, sponsors, educational providers, insurers, travel providers, payment processors, software providers, event organisers, or other external entities.
IADP is not responsible for third-party decisions, availability, pricing, eligibility criteria, technical failures, refusal of service, withdrawal of offers, quality of service, contractual disputes, or changes to third-party offers.
IADP may modify, suspend, replace, withdraw, or restructure benefits where necessary. Membership does not guarantee that any specific benefit will remain available permanently.
Members are responsible for reading and complying with the terms, conditions, exclusions, eligibility rules, payment rules, and privacy policies of any third-party provider whose services they use.
IADP may remove or change partner offers where a partner fails to perform, changes terms, becomes unsuitable, creates reputational risk, or no longer aligns with IADP’s objectives.
18. Moderation, Complaints and Investigations
IADP may review complaints, reports, disputes, suspected breaches, account misuse, harmful conduct, portal abuse, false claims, member conflicts, misuse of IADP status, or other matters affecting the association.
Complaints may be submitted through official contact channels, Crisp chat where available, or by email to
IADP may request information from the complainant, the member concerned, witnesses, administrators, moderators, volunteers, or other relevant parties.
IADP may take temporary protective measures while a complaint or suspected breach is being reviewed. These measures may include content removal, access restriction, suspension of messaging, suspension of portal access, suspension of benefits, removal from groups, or temporary suspension from volunteer roles.
IADP is not required to disclose confidential evidence, private member data, internal deliberations, security information, legal advice, or information that could compromise the association, complainants, witnesses, systems, or third parties.
IADP will seek to act reasonably and proportionately, but it may act immediately where there is a credible risk to members, systems, data, finances, safety, reputation, governance, or legal compliance.
False, malicious, abusive, or bad-faith complaints may themselves constitute a breach of these Terms.
19. Suspension, Restriction, Termination and Dismissal
IADP may take action where a member or user breaches these Terms, provides false information, misuses IADP membership, misrepresents their status, abuses the portal, harms other members, damages IADP’s reputation, acts against IADP’s objectives, or engages in unlawful, unsafe, abusive, fraudulent, discriminatory, or unethical conduct.
Measures may include informal warning, formal warning, content removal, profile correction, access restriction, temporary portal restriction, removal from groups, messaging restriction, suspension of benefits, removal from volunteer or administrative roles, downgrade, refusal of upgrade, refusal of renewal, suspension of membership, termination of portal access, termination of membership, permanent refusal of future membership, referral to the Board or an ethics process, or legal action where necessary.
IADP may restrict portal access, suspend benefits, or suspend a member on a temporary, precautionary, or immediate basis where necessary to protect members, the association, its reputation, its systems, its data, its finances, its legal position, or its activities.
A portal ban or portal restriction does not automatically cancel membership. Portal access is an access-control measure. Membership dismissal is a formal membership measure. The two may occur together where the conduct justifies both, but one does not automatically equal the other.
Serious breaches may result in immediate restriction or suspension without prior warning.
Serious breaches include but are not limited to harassment, threats, intimidation, discrimination, racism, xenophobia, hate speech, fraud, false professional claims, impersonation, unauthorised representation of IADP, misuse of IADP name or logo, scraping or misuse of member data, spam, scams, aggressive commercial abuse, publication of confidential material, reputational harm, cyber abuse, payment fraud, legal threats made in bad faith, or conduct that endangers divers, students, clients, staff, communities, or the public.
IADP may immediately remove or restrict administrative access, volunteer access, moderation rights, internal documents, staff tools, project access, or communication tools where there is any credible security, governance, operational, legal, or reputational risk.
Formal termination or exclusion of membership shall be handled in accordance with the IADP statutes, internal regulations, applicable governance procedures, and Belgian law.
Where the statutes or applicable law require a formal decision by a particular body, IADP may still take temporary protective measures pending that formal decision.
Suspension, restriction, termination, refusal of renewal, or dismissal for breach of these Terms does not automatically entitle the member to a refund.
A dismissed, suspended, expired, or terminated member must immediately stop claiming active membership status and must stop using any IADP membership references, badges, logos, member-only materials, internal documents, or access credentials.
20. Data Protection and Privacy
IADP processes personal data for membership administration, account management, payment processing, communication, member verification, governance, service delivery, security, compliance, and the operation of TheDiveProfessional.org.
IADP handles personal data in accordance with applicable data protection law, including the General Data Protection Regulation, and the IADP Privacy Policy.
Members must not misuse, copy, harvest, export, sell, share, disclose, or otherwise process other members’ personal data obtained through IADP systems, directories, groups, messages, events, volunteer spaces, community features, internal documents, or communications unless they have a lawful basis and explicit authorisation to do so.
IADP does not sell member personal data.
IADP may retain records connected to membership, payments, account access, acceptance of terms, complaints, disciplinary action, security incidents, and legal compliance for as long as reasonably necessary for administrative, legal, accounting, governance, security, and compliance purposes.
Members should not upload or share sensitive personal data, private documents, third-party personal data, medical information, identity documents, or confidential information unless requested by IADP for a legitimate purpose through an authorised channel.
Privacy questions should be directed to
21. Limitation of Liability
IADP provides membership, association services, communications, digital resources, community functions, and professional-support structures on a reasonable-efforts basis.
IADP does not guarantee employment, contracts, professional recognition, business success, training outcomes, legal compliance, insurance cover, government approval, partner discounts, third-party services, industry acceptance, media exposure, project participation, or professional opportunities.
IADP is not liable for professional decisions, diving activities, business activities, employment relationships, operational failures, safety decisions, commercial outcomes, legal compliance failures, reputational damage caused by members, or third-party services used by members.
IADP is not liable for loss caused by incorrect member information, unauthorised account sharing, expired membership, failed payment, third-party service failure, internet outages, software issues, user error, unauthorised use of login credentials, or member misuse of the platform.
Members remain solely responsible for their own diving activities, professional conduct, legal compliance, safety procedures, certifications, permits, insurance, business registrations, employment relationships, and relationships with clients, students, employers, employees, contractors, authorities, and partners.
Nothing in these Terms limits liability where such limitation is not permitted by applicable law.
22. Changes to These Terms
IADP may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in membership structure, portal functions, legal requirements, governance, services, benefits, ethics rules, internal procedures, operational needs, or technical systems.
Material changes may be communicated through the website, member portal, email, direct account notice, or other reasonable communication channels.
Continued use of membership services, portal access, account functions, member-only areas, or renewal after changes have been published constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.
If a member does not accept updated Terms, the member must stop using membership services and may cancel future renewal. Non-acceptance of updated Terms does not automatically entitle the member to a refund for an already active membership period unless required by law.
The version published on the IADP website or TheDiveProfessional.org at the time of use, renewal, or relevant dispute shall be considered the applicable version unless otherwise required by law.
23. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms are governed by Belgian law.
Unless mandatory consumer protection rules provide otherwise, disputes relating to IADP membership, these Terms, or the use of TheDiveProfessional.org shall fall under the competent courts of Brussels, Belgium.
Nothing in these Terms removes rights that a consumer, member, or user may have under mandatory Belgian or European law.
Where any clause of these Terms is found to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, the remaining clauses remain in effect to the fullest extent permitted by law.
24. Contact
Questions about membership, cancellation, refunds, portal access, conduct, privacy, complaints, or these Terms should be directed to IADP through the official contact channels published on the IADP website or TheDiveProfessional.org.
The official legal and membership terms contact email is:
IADP also uses Crisp chat on its websites for direct contact where available. Crisp may be used for practical questions, first contact, account questions, membership questions, or support requests. Formal legal, privacy, refund, disciplinary, or membership-status matters may still need to be confirmed by email through
Members should contact IADP promptly if they believe their account has been misused, their membership status is incorrect, their renewal has failed, their payment was processed incorrectly, their access has been restricted in error, or they need clarification regarding their obligations under these Terms.
