FAQ

The decision to transfer the material was made by your cryo preservation provider (known today as Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation) in the context of the company's very difficult financial situation, which might have threatened the safety of the samples. The material was transferred to FamiCord Group as a part of the safe biological material storage contract by and between Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland and FamiCord Group to provide the Customers with an uninterrupted and highest quality service (“Back-up Agreement”). The back-up agreement between our banks has been concluded in February 2019 for five years. Your cryo preservation provider decided to entrust this service to our bank due to the fact that FamiCord Group is regarded as the most reliable bank among European banks, their highest storage standards, and many years of very good financial standing.

FamiCord Group is by all means the largest stem cell bank in Europe and one of the largest in the world, storing around 500 thousand different stem cells specimen for nearly 385 thousand  families not counting samples transferred from Cryo-Save AG . FamiCord Group is present directly or indirectly in: Albania, , Bosnia & Hercegovina, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Egypt, Estonia, Italy, Hungary, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania Serbia, Slovenia Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK and Ukraine. The FamiCord Group’s 11 ultra-modern and specialized laboratories process over 37% of the umbilical blood portions collected annually in Europe. FamiCord Group has a robust financial background, the FamiCord Group parent company (PBKM) is controlled by German investment fund Active Ownership Capital. Among shareholders are trusted financial institutions such as Nationale-Nederlanden, Invesco, Oil Fund of Norway, Esaliens and others.  
PBKM  is listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange.

FamiCord Group the highest quality laboratory in Warsaw is one of the largest and modern  in family stem cell banking sector worldwide and it holds accreditations of national and international authorities and many renowned institutions including American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), ISO (International Organization for Standardization), TUV (Technischer Überwachungsverein).

If you like to learn more about FamiCord Group, please check it out at https://famicordcryobank.ch/home

We are not a party to contracts between you and your cryo preservation provider, therefore we are not able to provide the reason why the previous cryo preservation provider contacted the customers in the manner they actually did.

It is worth mentioning, that the transfer of the material to Poland was conducted under emergency situation and was supposed to ensure the continuity of the storage of the biological material.

FamiCord Group managed to save samples of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland’s customers, but had no impact on its information policy. We as FamiCord Group assume that the right to information is one of the key rights of the client, so we try to reach the clients and inform about the situation.

In order to check whether your material is stored, you will have to provide information that will enable us to identify the material sample and at the same time verify your right to this biological material. Typically sample has been split into few subunits.

Please provide such data at https://famicordcryobank.ch/contact-for-clients-with-samples-from-backup-agreement/check-your-sample

When filling out the form, please note whether you provide data in the required format. To confirm that your form has arrived at FamiCord Group, you will receive an automatic return message to the e-mail address you provided.

Confirmation of the storage of all your samples in the FamiCord Group laboratory will be send as soon as possible. Usually it should take no more than one week from the date of filling form with rare  exceptions explained  below in text.  If we only  find at least one subunit belonging to a family this family will be promptly informed about it.

Please remember that under GDPR regulations, in order to inform you regarding stored samples we need your explicit consent – that is why, filling provided form is important!

FamiCord Group manual check was done rack by rack and container by container. That was much more efficient than looking for all the samples belonging to particular family. However at this point this first stage of verification is finished and most of the Parents received their confirmations. In conclusion, we are able to answer the families with much bigger confidence than a year ago whether and where we have their samples stored. 

Overall we have checked the biological material located in 58 storage containers (out of which 55 were provided by Cryo-Save AG). It is important to mention that the biological material collected from one child could have been divided into up to 8 different cryopreserved parts (subunits). Each of those subunits could be of different type of package, size and located in different storage containers. Each sample had to be scanned and matched with the customers’ records in our database. All of that made our work extremely difficult and time consuming. It was the largest project of its kind in the world.

The manual verification was made based on electronic data we have received from Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation but these data were not complete and contained a lot of errors which should be corrected. For the Parents who are still waiting for the confirmation of their children's biological material we have opened the next stage of verification which will be focused on additional verification of the codes with our documentation or scanned versions of it. We estimate it can take another few months so we will be very grateful for your patience and understanding. We are doing our best to provide the Parents with reliable information regarding the biological material of their children.

That could happen when at the moment of placing the request by Parent his sample was already found. Also if the number of the agreement with your cryopreservation provider was not entered to the contact form in a correct format - there are spaces, dots or typos, our system will not be able to automatically match the contact details with the child's information. Usually the correct format of agreement number is: XXX/XX/XXXXX - where the middle section is the year of concluding a contract. If you have more than one child the agreement numbers should be separated only by coma. The other reason the Parents might wait is that electronic information we have received is not complete. That is why we have closed the first stage of verification and opened a second one, based on paper documentation.  We feel fully responsible for providing you correct and true information. Therefore, we send confirmations when we verify the location of the sample and not by the date of receipt of the request.

When filling in our contact forms you must enter the contract number - if you leave this field blank, the form will not be sent. However, if you don't know the contract number, please type "I don't know" and then include any additional details in the comment. The contract number is very useful information which enables FamiCord’s specialists to verify whether the biological material is stored in FamiCord’s laboratory easier and quicker. However, in any case lack of the contract number does not limit your right to the biological material. In such situation more effort both from you and our staff will be required to confirm you right to the samples. In particular we may request certain additional information or documents. To be able to make this – please remember to provide us with correct address information. Nonetheless, we, as FamiCord Group – company focused on meeting the needs of Parents and taking care of biological samples of your children, will do our best to identify your samples.

FamiCord Group has the largest experience in Europe with the safe transport of stem cells to transplantation centres all over the world. It means that during the transfer all the standards and requirements (technical, medical and legal) regarding biological material transport are met.

So far we have sent several units transferred to our laboratory pursuant to the back-up agreement to transplantation.

FamiCord Group will support Parents throughout the procedure and will be responsible for release the material to the clinic. During this process we will ask the Parents to send us a set of signed documents e.eg. permission for conducting the tests on the reference sample and for sharing the documents to the transplant centre. After completing the formalities, our Medical Director gives permission to release the sample. FamiCord Group will organize the safe transport of samples to the clinic.

If Parents have signed a new agreement with FamiCord Group and they have also added Transplant Assistance Package to the contract we will not charge them. The only costs on the Parents/clinic side are the costs of genetic compatibility test (HLA test) of the transplant recipient.

If the Parents did not conclude any contract with FamiCord Group before, we need to sign a special agreement just for release of the biological material so we can have a legal base to follow the release procedures. Parents will be charged (at market rates) for the storage until the moment of signing a contract, testing and issuing the sample and also for the transport to the transplantation clinic. Of course when concluding this special release contract, Parents cannot purchase the Transplant Assistance Package anymore so all the logistic costs are on their side.

If you need to use your biological material, please contact us as soon as possible so we can assist you with the process and provide you with all the necessary support. Contact us on: info@famicordcryobank.ch or call us: https://famicordcryobank.ch/contact-for-clients-with-samples-from-backup-agreement/call-us

Samples of biological material for each contract are divided into subunits. Usually, the umbilical cord blood sample is divided into two subunits. If the Parents decided to store the umbilical cord, it is also usually divided into two subunits. In our email storage confirmation sent by FamiCord Group we provide you with numbers of such subunits.

As far as we know not all Parents have received from their former cryo preservation provider certificates with sample numbers or have been certified only for cord blood or only for umbilical cord, therefore they may not recognize these numbers. For this reason we are now adding the former cryo preservation provider’s contract number to the confirmations we send.

Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation has been active in many countries through subsidiaries and other entities with capital or commercial links to it. That case may concern you if you have signed a stem cell storage agreement with companies:

In these cases, you should also complete our contact form: https://famicordcryobank.ch/contact-for-clients-with-samples-from-backup-agreement/check-your-sample to check whether your child's samples have been transferred to the largest FamiCord Group laboratory in Warsaw.

The operation to transfer the newly collected biological material to Biosckin took place under a prior agreement between Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland and Biosckin in order to ensure adequate preparation and continuity of storage under the required conditions, which Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland was unable to guarantee at this stage of activity due to its financial problems resulted in company bankruptcy.

Most of samples stored at Biosckin are the samples of customers whose children were born in 2019 and beyond. They were transported to Biosckin because the Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland laboratory was already closed and the preparation of biological material by the laboratory had to be started immediately in order to avoid the loss of the material. The safety of the biological material was in this situation a priority over the obligation to provide information to Parents, as it determined the quality of the collected stem cells.

Biosckin, Molecular and Cell Therapies, S.A. is a health biotechnology company whose main activity is the cryopreservation of stem cells from cord blood and cord tissue since 2006.

Biosckin's laboratory is authorized by the Directorate General of Health and specializes in the analysis, processing, cryopreservation, storage and distribution of stem cells from umbilical cord blood and cord tissue, complying with all legal and quality requirements applicable to this activity, namely Law No. 12/2009 of March 26 and Netcord recommendations.

Owner of a Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) nucleus, named BioMat&Cell, Biosckin is also dedicated to the development and research of cellular products aiming their use in Regenerative Medicine/Tissue Engineering, in association with biomaterials. The company is currently certified by ISO 9001 and NP4457.

The operation to transfer the newly collected biological material to Biosckin took place under a prior agreement between Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland and Biosckin in order to ensure adequate preparation and continuity of storage under the required conditions, which Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland was unable to guarantee at this stage.

Under the back-up agreement on storage concluded between Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland and FamiCord Group, at the beginning of 2019, containers with the biological material of about 98% of its customers were safely transported from local facilities to the biggest of the FamiCord Group laboratory located in Warsaw, Poland. However, a small part of the biological material was stored in Biosckin, mostly belonging to the customers whose samples were collected after the last transfer of the containers to Warsaw in June 2019.

In order to help these customers, we as FamiCord Group was negotiating with Biosckin which resulted in an agreement that enabled the transfer of great part of  client samples from Biosckin under FamiCord Group control to Warsaw in May 2020.

We ensure that during the transfer, which was supervised by a group of experts, all the medical and safety standards and requirements for the transportation of biological material were observed. We would like to also assure you that during the transfer operation all the standards and requirements (technical, medical and legal) regarding biological material transport were met. Cryogenic containers were equipped with special sensors to measure temperature.

In order to check whether your biological material is stored by FamiCord Group in Warsaw, you will have to provide information that will enable us to identify the material sample and at the same time verify your right to this biological material.

Please provide such data at  https://famicordcryobank.ch/contact-for-clients-with-samples-from-backup-agreement/check-your-sample.

Great part of the Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland samples that were transported to Biosckin are samples of customers whose children were born in 2019. They were transported there because the laboratories of Cryo-Save AG were already closed due to the company's difficult situation and the preparation by the laboratory had to be started immediately in order to avoid losing the material.

The samples in question could not be included in the transports from Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland to FamiCord Group, because the biological material of the children born starting from May 2019 went directly to Biosckin to be processed and freezed by the laboratory and stored properly.

We always act with the best of our knowledge. At the time FamiCord Group had no knowledge regarding exactly which ones and how many samples are in Biosckin possession. We only had information that they might be stored as a part of the biological material of the Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland’s clients, especially from children born in 2019 in Portugal.

FamiCord Group negotiated with Biosckin to obtain information on the remaining samples. The resulting agreement allowed the transfer of most samples under FamiCord Group control.

FamiCord Group is responsible for the biological material from the moment in which it was received from the Biosckin’s laboratory. For obvious reasons FamiCord Group cannot be held liable for the quality of the sample, its preparation and storage before this reception; however, there are no reasons to consider that Biosckin could prepare and store the biological material improperly. Biosckin’s and Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland’s laboratories hold all the necessary accreditations and met all the medical and safety standards to store the biological material.

FamiCord Group is a reliable, trustworthy partner. We want to ensure that you can trust our 18 years of experience in the professional long-term storage of biological material. We are the largest private family stem cell bank in Europe. We have been operating since 2002 with proven track of successes within Europe. The financial statement published yearly by FamiCord Group proves the very healthy and sound situation of the company. The Group is controlled by German entity Active Ownership Capital. Among shareholders are trusted financial institutions such as Nationale-Nederlanden, Invesco, Oil Fund of Norway, Esaliens, etc.

The fact that we have decided to store samples of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland clients also proves FamiCord Group’s social responsibility towards Parents. By storage of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland samples FamiCord Group expressed its willingness to take care of the samples transferred to Poland in the best professional, medical and legally approved way to secure both parties: Parents and FamiCord Group.

Legal regulations concerning the transfer and the storage of the biological material require that the stem cell bank has access to certain information concerning the biological material and its donor. It is necessary for proper effectuation of its obligations as an authorized stem cell bank, in particular to ensure traceability of the stored samples from donor to recipient and vice versa. That’s why we received the necessary database from Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, together with the samples that we were about to transfer.

The controller of your personal data shall be Polski Bank Komórek Macierzystych S.A. (PBKM), with its registered seat at al. Jana Pawła II 29, 00-867 Warsaw. PBKM appointed a person responsible for personal data processing, i.e. the Data Protection Officer, whom you may contact at the e-mail address: inspektor@pbkm.pl regarding any matters related to personal data processing and rights related to data processing.

However, such data are limited and they are used only for proper and lawful storage of the biological material and FamiCord Group takes every effort to process them in compliance with the applicable law, in particular:

• Directive 2004/23/EC of the European Parliament, and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on setting standards of quality and safety for the donation, procurement, testing, processing, preservation, storage and distribution of human tissues and cells;
• Commission Directive 2006/86/EC of 24 October 2006 implementing Directive 2004/23/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards traceability requirements, notification of serious adverse reactions and events and certain technical requirements for the coding, processing, preservation, storage and distribution of human tissues and cells and
• Commission Directive (EU) 2015/566 of 8 April 2015 implementing Directive 2004/23/EC as regards the procedures for verifying the equivalent standards of quality and safety of imported tissues and Cells.

The following categories of personal data are involved:

• contact and identification data such as inter alia name, address, e-mail
• special categories of personal data e.g. health-related data (due to storing of umbilical cord blood and/or other biological material)

We understand how difficult and disturbing the whole situation is for the Parents, but we receive thousands of e-mails weekly and although we try to respond as quickly as we can, sometimes it takes more time than we would like to.

If you send us an e-mail at info@famicordcryobank.ch you can be sure that you will receive an answer. Sometimes it takes a few hours, but often (e.g. following important events) this time can be extended to several days. But we always answer.

Our helplines works every day from 9 to 16 CET. There are several of them, but sometimes even that's not enough. As with emails, it's harder to get through when thousands of customers try to get information at the same time. Please remember that the consultants of each of our 6 hotlines  https://famicordcryobank.ch/contact-for-clients-with-samples-from-backup-agreement/call-us  can help you, as long as you know the language supported by the number. So if you're Italian and have trouble calling an Italian helpline, but you speak English, you might as well get help at our others numbers dedicated to customers whose samples have been transferred to Warsaw. Try each of these numbers, and you'll be able to get a call to a consultant much faster.

The only person who owns the biological material is the Child (and the persons who represent the child until he or she reaches the age of majority, usually his or her Parents). Thus, only the Child and the Parents are entitled to dispose of the samples.

Our priority is to ensure the safety and proper storage conditions of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland customer samples because we know how difficult the situation is for Parents and we want to ensure that they can trust our 18 years of experience in the professional long-term storage of biological material.

FamiCord Group is the biggest stem cell bank in Europe. We store over 450 000 samples. It is not possible to make it for every client to visually inspect his sample – for example for security or organizational reasons. Only authorized specialists have access to the warehouse.

A few months ago, we exceptionally agreed to organize several visits, which was attended by representatives of various social groups, i.e. doctors, researchers, journalists. We have already finished this stage for safety reasons.

We ensure that during the transfers, which were supervised by a group of experts, all the standards and requirements (technical, medical and legal) for the safe transportation of biological material were observed. Cryogenic containers were equipped with special sensors to measure temperature. Any opening of container for checking the samples was filmed. Additionally, all transfers were covered by FamiCord‘s Group insurance policy provided by a group of insurance companies. Whole transfer process was planned very precisely and with details with logistic specialists. We did not notice any of adverse events during the transport.

Since the transfer was completed, the biological material is stored under strict controlled conditions in FamiCord laboratory.

Together with the samples, FamiCord Group has also received the database which includes some information regarding Clients. Among these data there are also contract and sample numbers. The contract number and the sample numbers are individual designations ascribed solely to one contract and one sample. In our opinion such data is fully sufficient to confirm that the given biological material belongs to your child.

Furthermore we have already had cases in which we had to release the biological material transferred to our laboratory pursuant to the back-up agreement for medical treatments and the samples in fact belonged to the patients and there were no objections to their quality.

FamiCord Group is responsible for the biological material from the moment in which it was received from your former cryo preservation provider. For obvious reasons FamiCord Group cannot be held liable for the quality of the sample, its preparation and storage before this reception; however, there are no reasons to consider that your former cryo preservation providers could prepare and store the biological material improperly as their laboratories had all the necessary accreditations and met all the highest standards to store the biological material. We shall underline however we have identified visible quality issues with 0,3% of checked sub-units.

We would like to inform you that after verifying location of at least one sample of your child’s biological material, you can conclude a contract with the FamiCord Group. Completing the formalities will allow FamiCord Group to ultimately assume responsibility for the safety of the stored samples from the date on which they have been transferred to the FamiCord’s laboratory and, if necessary, release them to the owners for use in therapeutic treatment.

You may review the terms and conditions of the contract and the contract conclusion manual at any time under https://famicordcryobank.ch/contact-for-clients-with-samples-from-backup-agreement/contract-for-customers-whose-biological-material-is-stored-in-warsaw-under-the-back-up-agreement. If you will decide to sign the contract with FamiCord Group please follow the instruction under the following link https://client.famicordcryobank.ch/en/client/km/step-1. By deciding to sign a contract with FamiCord Group, you are guaranteed that all storage payments made to your former cryo preservation provider will be honoured - which in practice means that you will not incur any costs until the prepayment period expires.

There is no need to send back the signed contract as the contract can be concluded online only. Also a copy of the contract will be available on the client’s panel with an electronic signature of authorized persons. To sign the contract with FamiCord Group, please check following link https://client.famicordcryobank.ch/en/client/km/step-1.

By deciding to sign a contract with FamiCord Group, you are guaranteed that all storage payments made to your former cryo preservation provider will be honoured - which in practice means that you will not incur any costs until the prepayment period expires.

Execution of the contracts with FamiCord Group does not require termination of contract between Parents/Child and your cryo preservation provider. It is discretionary decision of the parents what to do with their existing contract. Contracts create legal relations only between their parties so execution of contract with FamiCord Group formally does not affect existence of the contract with other entities and your rights arising from such a contract.

It is understandable that termination of the contract with  your current cryo preservation provider prior to the execution of a contract with FamiCord Group may provide more clarity in the legal relations but it is not necessary and in any way required by FamiCord Group. It shall be also underlined that after expected deletion of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation from the Swiss registry your agreements signed with this entity would be  expired.

We as FamiCord Group believe that the contract should be signed without undue delay as it is necessary to properly secure the samples that are safely stored PBKM FamiCord high-tech Laboratory  and we do not have any legal authority to store them for all the years for which the contract with your initial cryo preservation provider has been signed. Your samples are currently held by us under a back-up agreement signed by Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland with FamiCord Group in February 2019, which is binding for us for 5 years. All along, however, it should be borne in mind that liquidation of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation will necessitate decisions by the Client as to the exact manner of continued storage of the samples in accordance with all applicable standards.

FamiCord Group feels responsible for the stored samples since the moment of receipt from your cryo preservation provider’s laboratories and we store them on the basis of back-up agreement with Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, but also because we know that this is precious material for Parents.

To mutually regulate the relations between Parents and FamiCord Group, FamiCord Group proposes to conclude contract for storage in subscription model (clients pays annualy less than 100 Euro) or prepayment model (client will prepay for chosen number of years). What is important those payments will be due when period of storage for which client already paid to  your initial cryo preservation provider will be over. We do not expect any payments from Parents now. What is also important that until that time clients are free to do anything with their samples (including move to another bank). In such scenario no payments for storage will be due to FamiCord Group.

We think this is fair proposal for our clients.

Our primary objectives when entering into back-up agreement with Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, was to help the company and its affected by the situation customers. If no action had been taken, clients samples would be at risk. FamiCord Group is a socially responsible company. We believe that it is our obligation to help families in need.

We have incurred additional costs (hiring dedicated multilanguage call center, manual inspection process, lawyers etc.) and in the light of financial situation of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, we do not earn anything at the moment from the decision to take care of samples formerly stored across Europe.

FamiCord Group is a for-profit organization so we would like to offer customers whose samples have been transferred to the laboratory in Poland our services for which we will be paid. We also hope that in the future more Parents (Clients) will choose FamiCord Group as a trustworthy partner, as we are a socially responsible company, operating on the highest medical and business standards.

Finally, as far as possible future benefits for FamiCord Group are concerned, we strongly believe that Parents who have met us in this difficult situation as a responsible company will either choose us FamiCord Group to store their next children's material or recommend it to their friends. And in such an attitude, indeed, FamiCord Group can count on future, measurable results from the situation, which at the moment is difficult to consider in terms of any benefits.

For former Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland customers who have become our customers, we plan exactly the same communication as for all our clients.

Our standard procedure is an e-mail information one month before the first invoice is issued for the next billing period. Subsequently, further relevant invoices will be sent to customers, both by e-mail and successively placed on the Customer Panel.

At the same time, we would like to inform you that we plan to send you information about the end of prepayment period agreed in your former cryo preservation contract.

However, please bear in mind that FamiCord Group complies with the European laws, in particular with the GDPR. Therefore, we will be able to contact you only upon providing us with you consent, which can be done completing the form at our website: https://famicordcryobank.ch/contact-for-clients-with-samples-from-backup-agreement/check-your-sample.

As long as Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland is not liquidated and deleted from the Swiss commercial register the samples will be safe in FamiCord Group laboratory stored pursuant to the back-up agreement. After this time the Client should make decision how and where store the samples. At the moment we may estimate the deletion of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation from the registry will happen in 1^st quarter of 2021.

The legislation does not provide an explicit procedure for dealing with "abandoned" biological material. Regulations, allowing e.g. to destroy such material are included in contracts between the cell bank and the customer. However, as no entity from FamiCord Group is a party to agreements between Cryo-Save AG and its customers, FamiCord Group has no right to invoke the provisions of such agreements when deciding on further handling of samples.

FamiCord Group is fully aware of how important biological material containing stem cells may be in the future. Currently, the only legal basis for FamiCord Group’s storage of biological material is the Back-Up Agreement. After the liquidation of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, i.e. after the expiry of the Back-Up Agreement, with regards to the biological material of persons who have not signed a new storage contract, there will be no contractual regulations determining the lot of the samples. In particular until a new agreement is concluded or a decision is made on further handling of the samples (e.g. their destruction), there will be no contractual regulations concerning remuneration for storage of the samples. In such situation, FamiCord Group will be obliged to comply with the request of the entitled person but it may require the client to reimburse the market costs of releasing samples and their securing and storing in FamiCord Group’s laboratory.

It must be also emphasized that in any case and in any time, including upon final liquidation of Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland FamiCord Group will comply with the applicable regulations of law and decisions of the official authorities concerning of the storage of the biological material transferred pursuant to the Back-Up Agreement.

The FamiCord Group stores samples, among others, in 12 laboratories located in 8 countries, such as Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Portugal and Hungary and others. In the contract or by means of a separate statement the customer will be able to indicate, where their samples are to be transferred to from the FamiCord Group laboratory in Warsaw for further storage. A fee for transferring biological material from the FamiCord Group laboratory in Warsaw to one of the laboratories that may be mentioned in the contract will be indicated in the Price Table in the contract.

Let us add that our recommendation is to leave the material where it is stored now – in Warsaw, Poland. For the time being only around 5% of Parents have decided to store samples outside Warsaw laboratory. FamiCord Group Central Laboratory in Warsaw, Poland is the largest and ultra-modern laboratory of the Group, which meets all restrictive safety and medical standards.

Customer service will be provided by FamiCord Group or another entity from the capital group or a subcontractor, so the customer will have the opportunity to contact the provider in their native language, where possible. The customer who enters into a contract with FamiCord Group will always be informed about the customer service entity and will receive the relevant contact data of such an entity. Our customer service is based in various European countries.

We would like to inform that FamiCord Group hotline is open for you from Monday to Friday 9:00 - 16:00 CET in the following languages:

  Bulgaria (Bulgarian and English) +48 221 230 299

 Germany (German and English) +49 34122389 994

 Hungary (Hungarian and English) +36 14453973

 Italy (Italian and English) +39 0289735043

 Netherlands (Dutch, German, English) +49 34122389994

 Serbia (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin and English) +38 1114250189

 Spain (Spanish and English) +34 937370283

 Switzerland (Italian, German, French and English) +41 315087679

 Poland (Polish and English) +48 224364050 IVR: 1,4

You can contact us also by e-mail at: info@famicordcryobank.ch

Discounts for subsequent contracts are as follows:

• Second child - 20%
• Third child - 30%
• Fourth child - 40%

Discounts will be added in the e-shop based on the previous contract number.

FamiCord Group will respect payments already made by customers to their former cryo preservation provider’s account. Payments for a storage period of up to 20 years will be accepted without proof of payment. If the pre-paid period has been longer than 20 years, FamiCord Group may ask Parents to provide proof of payment, but there is no need to send it to us immediately. If the necessity arises after the conclusion of the contract, we will contact the Parents regarding this matter.

If the customer concludes a contract with FamiCord Group, all payments for the storage of the biological material made to initial cryo preservation provider will be fully recognized by FamiCord Group and the Customer will be required to pay another fee only after the end of the already prepaid period.

For example in case someone contracted with Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland in 2007 for 20 years we will keep the sample for free until 2027. Payments for a storage period up to 20 years will be accepted without proof of payment. If the pre-paid period has been longer than 20 years, FamiCord Group may ask the Parents to provide a proof of payment, but there is no need to send it to us immediately. If the necessity arises after the conclusion of the contract, we will contact the Parents regarding this matter.

As indicated above, FamiCord Group accepts all payments for the storage of biological material without going into their details - for storage periods up to 20 years we do not even ask for any proof of payment.

Without access to Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland's billing records, i.e. payment details and invoices, we assume in each case that the contract period has been paid in full. In any case, if the payments to your initial cryo preservation provider have not been made in full, parents owe that money to that company not to our bank, so we treat any payments referred to in our contracts with Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland as having been made in full.

We will be able to provide you with a new Certificate after signing the contract for storage with us provided that the biological material of your child has been transferred from your initial preservation provider to FamiCord Group. We will send you the Certificate by email after conclusion of the contract and confirmation of storage of all subunits.

We have already issued thousands of new certificates for former Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation with registered office in Pfäffikon, Switzerland customers who have signed a contract with us.

You must be aware that with the company being liquidated, all of its contracts (and therefore your contract with Cryo-Save AG for the storage of biological material, but also FamiCord Group back-up agreement with Cryo-Save AG) have expired.

It is difficult for us to predict what exactly might happen in this situation further, but it is certainly not a fully secure situation for the biological material owned by your children. This is a situation of great uncertainty which can be remedied in advance by signing a contract with authorized stem cell bank (e.g. FamiCord Group) for the storage of samples - then our Company assumes full legal responsibility for the biological material entrusted to it and can guarantee the continuity of its safe storage over many decades (depending on the length of the storage period chosen from the Cryo-Save AG, and the preferred continuation with FamiCord Group after its expiry). We have still undertaken to store samples free of charge for the entire prepaid to Cryo-Save AG period.

And here it is worth returning to the question about the best time to sign the contract. This moment is definitely now, when you can secure your samples against uncertainty caused by the liquidation of Cryo-Save AG and choose such preferential

s, which are offered now and certainly they do not have to remain so in the future. However, in any case execution the agreement with FamiCord Group is your own decision.

Yes, we believe that we as FamiCord Group is the only authorized company to keep the samples and process personal data directly connected with storage of the samples and required by applicable law.

FamiCord Group has the right to conclude contract with you but in any case execution the agreement with FamiCord Group is your own decision.  

Currently, we do not expect any payments from clients who concluded a contract with FamiCord Group. However, we reserve the right to change it, especially with regards to fees for services which were supposed to be paid additionally under your agreement with Cryo-Save AG.

Regulations in the area of cell and tissue banking require from bank to have valid title to keep samples. FamiCord Group has valid legal title to keep them on the basis of back-up agreement. As Cryo-Save AG in Liquidation is liquidated by the Swiss court decision, FamiCord Group’s contractual title to store them has expired. We might be in situation that official authorities request FamiCord Group to give away samples of clients which do not have contract with FamiCord Group.