Refund & Cancellation Policy

This policy explains how SIP 2027 handles participant cancellations, event changes, refunds, transfers, duplicate payments, and payment disputes. It applies to registration and related conference services purchased directly from the Research and Education Promotion Association (REPA) LLC for SIP 2027.

All SIP 2027 registration fees are final and non-refundable after payment to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. No refund, credit, transfer, or compensation is provided for participant-initiated cancellation, withdrawal, non-attendance, inability to travel, schedule conflicts, loss of funding, failure to obtain institutional or employer approval, change of mind, change of personal circumstances, or inability to participate in the originally selected attendance mode. Any non-waivable refund or cancellation right required by applicable law remains unaffected.

Visa or eTA refusal, delayed or unsuccessful immigration processing, passport problems, border or entry decisions, travel restrictions, flight disruption, accommodation problems, medical or family circumstances, or any other travel-related difficulty do not create a refund entitlement because those matters are outside the organizer's control. Where SIP 2027 elects to permit a change from in-person to virtual participation, that accommodation is discretionary and does not create a refund, partial-refund, credit, or compensation right.

Except for a right that cannot lawfully be excluded, a refund or payment correction is available only in the following limited circumstances and only after verification by SIP 2027:

• A duplicate payment for the same participant and the same registration service.
• An amount demonstrably charged in error by SIP 2027 or its authorized payment processor.
• An unauthorized payment established through appropriate verification by the payer, cardholder, financial institution, or payment provider.
• Cancellation of the entire SIP 2027 conference by the organizer where the organizer does not provide a substantially equivalent replacement, rescheduled event, transfer option, or virtual delivery of the purchased conference service.
• A material failure by the organizer to provide the purchased registration service, where the failure is not caused by the participant, a third party, force majeure, travel or immigration circumstances, or another matter outside the organizer's reasonable control.
• A refund or cancellation remedy that SIP 2027 is legally required to provide under applicable non-waivable law.

No refund will be issued merely because a participant no longer wishes to attend, cannot use an invitation letter, does not obtain a visa or eTA, does not travel, does not present, does not receive institutional funding or approval, changes attendance plans, withdraws a submission, receives an adverse review or publication decision, or does not obtain a desired immigration, academic, professional, or publication outcome.

Any refund or payment correction that SIP 2027 is required to provide is limited to the amount actually received by SIP 2027 for the specific affected service, less any amount lawfully non-refundable or already returned. Travel, accommodation, visa or immigration expenses, insurance, foreign-exchange losses, banking fees, card-issuer fees, courier charges, professional fees, and all other third-party costs are excluded and are not reimbursed by the organizer except where applicable law requires otherwise.

Registrations are issued to the named participant and are non-transferable unless SIP 2027 gives prior written approval. A requested change of participant, registration category, or attendance mode is an administrative accommodation only, may require identity verification, payment of any fee difference or administrative charge, and updated registration records, and may be refused. A refusal or inability to approve a requested transfer or attendance-mode change does not create a refund, credit, or compensation right.

The organizer may make reasonable changes to speakers, session times, room assignments, presentation formats, program content, catering, technical services, venue arrangements, dates within the announced conference period, or delivery mode where required by operational, safety, contractual, legal, public-health, venue, technology, or force-majeure circumstances. Such changes do not constitute cancellation and do not create a refund, credit, or compensation right where SIP 2027 continues to provide the substantially purchased conference service or a reasonably comparable alternative.

Registration payment purchases conference-registration services only. It does not purchase or guarantee abstract or paper acceptance, a particular review result, presentation approval, publication, indexing, DOI assignment, inclusion in any specific proceedings volume or journal, publisher acceptance, certificate eligibility, visa success, or any other academic, immigration, or professional outcome. Rejection, revision requirements, withdrawal, non-publication, removal from publication consideration, failure to satisfy presentation requirements, or a publisher's decision does not create a registration-fee refund, credit, transfer, or compensation right.

Before initiating a payment dispute or chargeback, participants and payers are requested to contact support@sip2027.org promptly so that SIP 2027 can investigate any suspected billing error, duplicate charge, unauthorized payment, or service issue. The notice should identify the participant, invoice or receipt number, payment date, amount, and the specific basis of the request. Sensitive card numbers, passwords, or banking credentials must not be sent by email.

Nothing in this policy limits a non-waivable right of a cardholder to contact a bank, card issuer, or payment provider. However, initiating a dispute or chargeback does not itself establish a right to a refund and does not override these registration terms. If a payment is disputed, reversed, reported as unauthorized, charged back, or otherwise becomes unsettled, SIP 2027 may immediately suspend the associated registration and any related invitation letter, verification record, certificate, publication processing, presentation eligibility, or other conference service until the payment matter is finally resolved. If the payment is reversed, charged back, remains unpaid, or is determined not to have been authorized, the registration may be canceled and associated conference-issued documents may be revoked, invalidated, or marked as no longer valid.

Where documented evidence reasonably supports intentional payment abuse, a knowingly false or materially misleading dispute or chargeback, identity misuse, impersonation, unauthorized use of another person's payment method, falsification or alteration of a conference-issued document, misuse of a visa invitation letter or verification record, or another material violation of the applicable SIP 2027 policies, SIP 2027 may, to the fullest extent permitted by law, cancel or permanently restrict the affected registration or services, revoke or invalidate related conference documents, preserve and submit relevant evidence to payment providers and financial institutions, notify an affiliated institution or other directly affected organization where reasonably necessary, report suspected fraud or document misuse to an appropriate authority, refuse future registration or service, and seek recovery of unpaid balances, reversed funds, and reasonable chargeback, payment-processing, collection, legal, or administrative costs where legally recoverable.

SIP 2027 does not publish a person's identity merely because that person requests a refund, makes a complaint, or exercises a lawful payment-dispute right. Where, however, a conference-issued invitation letter, acceptance letter, certificate, receipt, verification record, or similar document has been revoked, invalidated, materially altered, fraudulently used, or continued to be represented as valid after revocation, SIP 2027 may maintain or publish a neutral factual verification notice when reasonably necessary to protect the conference, payment providers, institutions, authorities, or other third parties from deception or reliance on an invalid record and where permitted by applicable law. Any such notice will be limited to verified facts and the minimum identifying information reasonably necessary to identify the affected record, which may include the participant's name and professional or institutional affiliation.

• Send the request from the payer's or registered participant's email address.
• Provide the participant name, invoice or receipt number, payment date, amount, and the specific alleged billing or payment error.
• Submit supporting evidence where relevant, without sending full payment-card numbers, passwords, or unnecessary passport information.
• Submit the request promptly and, where possible, within 30 calendar days after the alleged billing or payment issue is discovered.

SIP 2027 may require reasonable verification before acting on a request. A request for review does not create or imply a refund entitlement. Any refund or correction will be made only where SIP 2027 determines that one of the limited circumstances stated in this policy applies or where applicable law requires the remedy. Any approved refund will normally be returned to the original payment method where technically possible.

Questions should be submitted before payment to support@sip2027.org. Related information is available on the Registration Fees, Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Policy pages.