The present document contains the general terms and conditions of the Contract for the use of the information services and resources provided by Law and Internet Foundation through the EVIDENCE Website (accessible via www.evidenceproject.eu) and it regulates the relations between Law and Internet Foundation and any user of the services and resources accessible through the EVIDENCE Website.
I. Definitions
For the implementation and interpretation of the present Terms of Use, the terms and expressions used shall have the following meaning:
I.1. “Chance Event” is a circumstance of unusual nature unforeseen at the moment of the contract conclusion which makes the provision of the Services objectively impossible.
I.2. “EVIDENCE Consortium” shall mean the “European Informatics Data Exchange Framework for Courts and Evidence” Consortium formed by the following beneficiaries (partners) acting jointly as a consortium under Grant Agreement No. 608185: National Research Council, Italy, acting in the capacity of coordinator, University of Groningen (the Netherlands), The International Criminal Police Organization (France), Leibniz Universitat Hannover (Germany), Laboratory of Citizenship Sciences (Italy), University of Malta (Malta), Centre of Excellence in Information and Communication Technologies (Belgium), Law and Internet Foundation (Bulgaria) and Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (Belgium).
I.3. “the EVIDENCE Website” (http://www.evidenceproject.eu/) is a Website developed, managed and administered by LIF within the Project through which Users are provided with various information services and resources, subject of the present Terms of Use.
I.4. “Intranet” is an internal section of the EVIDENCE Website accessible only for Team Members upon their registration.
I.5. “Information system/System” is each particular device or combination of connected or similar devices, which is or one of which is designed to store, send and receive electronic documents.
I.6. “IP address” is a unique identification number associating a device, a web page or a User's resource in a way that allows their localization in the Internet.
I.7. “Law and Internet Foundation” (“LIF”) is a foundation – a non-for-profit legal entity, established and existing under to the laws of Republic of Bulgaria, registered under company file No. 2343/2001 at the Register of the Non-Profit Legal Entities with Sofia City Court, BULSTAT No. 130511877, having its seat and registered address at Bulgaria, Sofia 1303, Vazrazhdane District, 54 Balgarska Morava Str., floor 7. Law and Internet Foundation is registered under the Bulgarian Value Added Tax Act.
I.8. ”Link” is a link (reference) designated in a particular Internet page that allows automatic forwarding to another Internet page, information resource or object using standard protocols.
I.9. “Malicious Actions” are actions or inactions, violating the Internet ethics or causing damages to persons connected to the Internet or associated networks, as well as sending of unsolicited communications (SPAM, JUNK MAIL), flooding, gaining access to resources by using somebody else’s rights and passwords, using system imperfections for own benefit or for gaining information (HACK), committing actions, that can be qualified as industrial espionage or sabotage, damaging or destruction of systems or information massifs (CRACK), sending of “Trojan Horses” or causing installation of viruses or unauthorized remote control systems, disturbance of the other Internet and associated networks user’s normal work, committing any actions that can be qualified as crimes or administrative offences according to the Bulgarian or other applicable legislation.
I.10. “Partner” shall mean each of the beneficiaries within the EVIDENCE Consortium.
I.11. “Password” is a unique combination of letters, ciphers and/or symbols selected by the User which, along with the e-mail address specified by the User upon his/her registration, serves for access to his/her User Account.
I.12. “Registered User” is any User that has successfully passed the registration procedure and has created a User Account, including any User that has created a Team Member Account, in order to use the Services available through the EVIDENCE Website.
I.13. ”Server” is a device or a system of connected devices, on which system software is installed to perform tasks related to storing, processing, receiving or sending information.
I.14. “Services” are the services provided through the EVIDENCE Website.
I.15. “Stakeholder Forum” is a section of the EVIDENCE Website, representing a communication platform aimed at discussion on relevant topics within the scope of the Project.
I.16. “Team Member” shall mean a User, who is a member of a Partner’s team and acts on behalf of the respective Partner when accessing the EVIDENCE Website and using the Services.
I.17. “Team Member Account” is a kind of a User Account registered by a Team Member.
I.18.“The Project” shall refer to any activity carried out and any result achieved within performance of Grant Agreement No. 608185.
I.19. “Unregistered User” is any User not meeting the criteria for a Registered User.
I.20. “User” is any person that uses the information services and resources provided through the EVIDENCE Website.
I.21. “User Account” is a separate section of the EVIDENCE Website, containing information on the Registered User, as required by LIF upon registration and stored on LIF’s server. The access to the User Account by the Registered User is performed by entering the e-mail address and Password specified upon his/her registration. The User Account enables the Registered User to use certain limited-access Services, to configure the use of the Services, to manage and update the information provided by him/her in his/her User Account, to stop the use of the Services, to change the e-mail address specified by him/her upon registration and his/her Password, to post, upload and remove User Content which he/ she has previously posted or uploaded on LIF’s Server, so that it can be accessed through the EVIDENCE Website, etc.
I.22. “User Content” is any text, photo, any other graphical content, multimedia content, video, link or any other material or information, including any opinion or respectively a reply thereto posted or uploaded by a User on LIF’s Server, so that it can be accessed through the EVIDENCE Website.
I.23. “Website” is a specific place in the global Internet accessible through its unified address (URL) under HTTP or HTTPS protocol, containing files, text, programmes (software), sound, picture, image, electronic links or other material and resources.
“Web Page” is a composite part of a Website.
II. Subject
II.1. Through the EVIDENCE Website, LIF provides the User with the Services specified in these Terms of Use under the condition of strictly observing the requirements of the Terms of Use mentioned herein by the latter.
II.2. Some of the Services provided may be used without necessarily completing a preliminary registration. These Services include, but are not limited to, services connected with searching and acquiring access to information in the form of text, video materials, images, etc. made available for Unregistered Users on the EVIDENCE Website, as well as other services conceded to Unregistered Users.
II.3. Some of the Services provided can be used only after the User completes a preliminary registration and creates a User Account. These Services include, but are not limited to, possibility to post comments and to post and upload other User Content in the Stakeholder Forum, to view information about other Registered Users, to manage and update the information provided by the respective Registered User in his/ her User Account, to change the e-mail address and Password specified upon registration, to send to and to receive personal messages from other Registered Users, etc.
II.4. Some of the Services provided may be used only by a Team Member upon completing a preliminary registration and creating a Team Member Account. These Services include, but are not limited to, possibility to moderate the discussion topics within the subsection/s associated with the Partner on whose behalf the respective Team Member acts and within the internal allocation of the tasks and responsibilities in the respective Partner’s team, possibility to post, upload and store User Content in compliance with the available functionalities of the EVIDENCE Website (i.e. in the Stakeholder Forum and in the Intranet), to remove posted or uploaded by him/ her User Content on the EVIDENCE Website, to access and download any User Content available within the Intranet, to manage calendar events, to send circular messages to all Team Members within the Intranet, etc. A Team Member with a Team Member Account shall have access to all Services accessible for a Registered User as per the present Terms of Use.
II.5. The Services provided do not include provision of computer or other equipment (terminal devices for Internet access) and connection for transfer of packets between the respective User and the Web Page, necessary for gaining access to the EVIDENCE Website. LIF does not bear responsibility if the User cannot gain access due to problems which are not in the control of LIF (hardware, software issue, problems regarding Internet connection, etc.).
II.6. Due to the fact that the Services provided by LIF are various and are constantly being modified with view to their improvement and tailoring to the aims of the Project, the number and characteristics of the Services as well as the regime of Service provision may be altered at any time by LIF. Notwithstanding the modifications, the provision of the Services remains free of charge and LIF shall not at any time collect pecuniary or other kind of remuneration for the provision of the Services.
III. Acceptance of the Terms of Use
III.1. The present Terms of Use shall apply to the relations between LIF and the Registered Users. The present Terms of Use shall also respectively apply to the relations between LIF and the Unregistered Users, in which case the rights of the Unregistered Users shall be limited to the right to use the Services specified in Art. 2.2.
III.2. The text of the present Terms of Use is available on the Internet, on the following Web Page http://www.evidenceproject.eu/info/general-terms-and-conditions.html in a form that allows their storage and reproduction. A Link to the Web Page containing the text of the present Terms of Use is displayed at the bottom of every Web Page of the EVIDENCE Website, including the Stakeholder Forum and the Intranet. With every use of the information services and resources of the EVIDENCE Website, including by opening a Web Page of the EVIDENCE Website, as well as by clicking on a Link displayed on the home page or any other Web Page of the EVIDENCE Website, the Unregistered User declares that he/she has read the present Terms of Use, agrees to them and undertakes to observe them. If an Unregistered User does not agree with any requirement, provided for in the present Terms of Use, the latter shall not use the EVIDENCE Website or any of the Services.
IV. Registration
IV.1. In order to use the Services specified in Art. 2.3 or in Art. 2.4 of the present Terms of Use, the User shall create a User Account by completing the electronic registration form, available on-line on the following Web Page http://forum.evidenceproject.eu/index.php?action=register and by agreeing to the present Terms of Use. The User shall complete all fields marked as mandatory in the electronic registration form.
IV.2. For being able to complete the registration as per Art. 4.1 and to create a Team Member Account the Team Member shall be automatically provided with a Team Member Code by LIF and shall fill in this Team Member Code in the respective field of the registration form. LIF shall send a Team Member Code to the e-mail address of the respective Team Member as specified by the legal representative or another duly authorised representative of the respective Partner. The Team Member shall not reveal his/her Team Member Code to third parties and shall immediately notify LIF in case of unauthorised access, as well as if there is probability of such to his/her Team Member Code. The Team Member shall be obliged to take all due care and the necessary measures, which are reasonably needed in order to protect his/her Team Member Code and shall be fully liable for all actions performed by him/her or by a third party through the use of the respective Team Member Code.
IV.3. By marking the check box “I agree to the Terms of Use of the EVIDENCE Website” in the process of registration and by clicking the “Registration” button in the respective registration form, the User makes an explicit electronic statement within the meaning of the Bulgarian Electronic Document and Electronic Signature Act by which he/she declares that he/she has read the present Terms of Use, agrees to them and undertakes to observe them. By registering it on a respective data carrier on the Server of LIF through a common standard for technical conversion which allows reproduction, the electronic statement acquires the status of an electronic document within the meaning of the Act mentioned above. LIF may keep log files with the IP address of the User on their Server, as well as any other information, necessary for identification of the User and reproduction of the User’s electronic statement for the User’s consent with and acceptance of the Terms of Use, and may use any such information in case legal disputes arise.
IV.4. Registration of a Team Member Account shall be done only by a person who is duly authorised to act on behalf the respective Partner with respect to the registration in the EVIDENCE Website and the use of the Services. In the process of registration the Team Member shall declare that he/she is granted with the necessary authorisation to act on behalf of the respective Partner and to commit on behalf of the latter the respective legal and factual actions when using the respective Services available via the Team Member Account. In case a person acts on behalf of a Partner without actually being duly authorised to act in such a manner, this person shall owe compensation for all damages caused to the respective Partner, to LIF, to EVIDENCE Consortium and to any other third party as a result of the actions committed by the person by using a Team Member Account.
IV.5. When filling the fields of the electronic registration form the User is obliged to enter his/her full and true identification data, as well as all other information required by the electronic registration form; any change in the data mentioned above shall be submitted within a 7-day period as of their change. The User guarantees that the data presented at the moment of registration is true, exact and exhaust and in the event of data change the latter shall update them in due term. In cases where false data is presented LIF is entitled to terminate or to suspend immediately and without prior notification the provision of the Services and to block the access to the User Account. In this case, the termination of the provision of the Services shall be considered as an automatic termination of the contract.
IV.6. Prior to the statement under Art. 4.3 the User may without any restriction correct the information which he/ she has entered in the registration form.
IV.7. In case where the User refuses to present the required mandatory information in the electronic registration form, LIF is entitled to decline the registration.
IV.8. LIF shall have the right, but shall not have the obligation, to undertake and carry out at any time (prior or after the registration) any further actions to check and verify whether a Team Member is duly authorised to act on behalf of a respective Partner. LIF shall have the right to immediately block the access to a Team Member Account and to terminate the contract without any prior notice to the Team Member upon being informed by the legal representative of the respective Partner that the person who uses such Team Member Account on its behalf is not a member of its team. In the latter case the Partner shall have the right to access, manage, use or remove any User Content posted, uploaded or stored by the respective person via his/her Team Member Account by naming another Team Member who will act on its behalf.
V. Conclusion of the Contract
V.1. The contract between the parties shall take effect at the moment when the consent is expressed as described under Section III and respectively Section IV above. The contract is concluded in English. By agreeing to the present Terms of Use the User agrees the communication with him/ her to be performed by email and messages sent to his/her User Account.
V.2. After the conclusion of the contract via registration LIF shall confirm immediately the receipt of the statement under Art 4.3 by sending a message to the email address (identifier) specified by the Registered User during his/her registration, which message shall include the name, registered address and contact details of LIF, the text of the present Terms of Use as well as a Link for registration confirmation.
V.3. The term of the contract is:
V.3.1. for Unregistered Users – until the termination of Service use;
V.3.2. for Unregistered Users who subscribed to receive newsletters via the “Newsletter Sign-Up” form – until their explicit electronic statement for unsubscribing addressed to LIF;
V.3.3. for Registered Users – for an indefinite period until its termination under the terms provided for in these Terms of Use.
VI. Team Member Account
VI.1. The registration of a Team Member Account entitles the Registered User (i.e. the Team Member) to use the Services as per Art. 2.3 and Art. 2.4 of the present Terms of Use free of charge. The Team Member shall use the Services on behalf of the respective Partner.
VI.2. By accepting the present Terms of Use the Team Member agrees that his/her access to the Team Member Account can be blocked or temporary suspended by LIF at any time upon respective request by the Partner. By accepting the present Terms of Use the Team Member also agrees that his/her contract with LIF concluded under the present Terms of Use could be terminated at any time by LIF upon respective request by the Partner without any advance notice and that the Partner shall have the right to access, manage, use or remove any and all User Content or other information provided, posted, uploaded, stored or otherwise made available on the EVIDENCE Website by the Team Member (including his/her personal data) via his/her Team Member Account. By accepting the present Terms of Use the Team Member undertakes and declares that he/she shall not use his/her Team Member Account for his/her personal needs, activities, purposes, communications or messages which are not related to or necessary for the completion of the activities and responsibilities of the Partner within the Project. Notwithstanding the above, the Partner shall not have the right to access the content of the personal messages sent and/or received by the Team Member via his/her Team Member Account.
VII. User Account
VII.1. The User Account is activated and can be accessed by the Registered User by clicking on the confirmation link specified in Art. 5.2.
VII.2. The information provided by the Registered User in his/her User Account shall be true, exact and not misleading.
VII.3. The Registered User undertakes not to reveal his/her Passwords to third parties and to immediately notify LIF in case of unauthorised access, as well as if there is probability of such. The Registered User is obliged to take all due care and the necessary measures, which are reasonably needed in order to protect his/her Passwords and shall be fully liable for all actions performed by him/her or by a third party through their use.
VII.4. LIF shall not verify and shall not be liable for the truthfulness of the information provided by the Registered User upon his/her registration or during the use of the Services, nor whether the username (nickname) indicated by him/her affect any rights of third parties, including any rights on a name or other personal rights, right on a trade name (company name), right on a trademark or any other intellectual property rights.
VIII. Stakeholder Forum
VIII.1. The Stakeholder Forum is a section of the EVIDENCE Website, representing online discussion board and containing conversations in the form of posted comments and other User Content. It is structured, as follows:
VIII.1.1. A discussion section with subsections managed by LIF or by different Partners via their Team Members with search options within its content;
VIII.1.2. Member list section which provides information about the Registered Users and a search engine for searching information about Registered Users upon different criteria;
VIII.1.3. Personal messages section which allows the Registered Users to send messages to other Registered Users and to receive messages from other Registered Users.
VIII.2. The information available in the discussion section under Art. 8.1.1 can be accessed and searched by any User, notwithstanding their registration.
VIII.3. The full set of Services under. Art. 8.1, including the possibility to post comments or other User Content in the discussion section of the Stakeholder Forum is available only upon registration via any kind of a User Account.
IX. Rights and Obligations of the User
IX.1. The User is entitled to online access to the Services, provided through the EVIDENCE Website in compliance with the requirements for access to the respective Services as determined by LIF.
IX.2. The User is entitled to post and upload User Content on a Server of LIF through the tools indicated at the EVIDENCE Website (posting comments in the Stakeholder Forum; file upload forms; information upload forms, etc.) in compliance with all requirements contained in these Terms of Use and on the respective Web Pages, from which the respective tools are accessible.
IX.3. The User is entitled to access the User Content, as well as any other content uploaded in the EVIDENCE Website, solely for the aims and purposes set by LIF and by using the regular functionalities of the EVIDENCE Website. Access to multimedia User Content and other content (audio and video records/files) may be carried out only by streaming – transmission of a steady stream of audio and video signals via the Internet from the EVIDENCE Website to the end device of the User, enabling the User to watch and listen to audio and video records online, in real time whereupon no permanent copy remains and no download is possible, unless that is explicitly and unequivocally allowed by LIF, such as indication of a download option (a download button or Link) to the respective content.
IX.4. The User undertakes in the process of use of the Services provided by LIF not to load/upload on a Server of LIF and not to make known to third parties in any way whatsoever User Content – information, data, text, sound, files, software, video, photographs, graphics, audio materials, communications, nor any other materials or Links to materials:
IX.4.1. inconsistent with Bulgarian legislation, the applicable foreign laws, these Terms of Use, the Internet ethics or the common rules of decency and morality;
IX.4.2. subject to intellectual property rights of third parties, save with the consent of the right holder;
IX.4.3. constituting trade or professional secret or any other confidential information, whose disclosure is forbidden by a contract, law or an act of a competent state or municipal authority;
IX.4.4. containing information of other Users’ passwords or access rights without the consent of their holder, as well as software for access to such passwords or rights;
IX.4.5. containing personal data regarding third parties or any other information protected by law, except in compliance with all applicable requirements for their protection, processing and use;
IX.4.6. calling for or containing human or animal violence, humiliation of human dignity, threats to life and physical integrity of persons or animals;
IX.4.7. depicting accidents and other serious incidents or crimes; victims of accidents, incidents or crimes;
IX.4.8. with pornographic or explicit sexual content;
IX.4.9. representing or calling for discrimination, based on sex, race, nationality, ethnicity, citizenship, origin, religion or belief, education, beliefs, political affiliation, personal or public status, disability, age, sexual orientation, marital status, property status or any other signs as well as propagating any other undemocratic ideology;
IX.4.10. harmful to the good name, honour or dignity of third parties;
IX.4.11. calling for a violent change of the constitutional order, commission of a crime, personal violence or incitement of racial, ethnic or religious hatred;
IX.4.12. presenting or encouraging behaviour, which threatens environment protection;
IX.4.13. containing information, inciting the commission of terrorist activities and any information relating to terrorism;
IX.4.14. violating any proprietary rights or any legitimate interests of third parties;
IX.4.15. of poor quality and unclear content;
IX.4.16. with file size exceeding the maximum size determined on the respective Web Pages at the EVIDENCE Website.
IX.5. The User undertakes not to access the User Content or any other content uploaded on the EVIDENCE Website, by any other technology or device, different from the technologies and devices provided by the EVIDENCE Website and carried out through its regular functionality.
IX.6. The User undertakes in the process of use of the Services provided by LIF:
IX.6.1. not to perform Malicious Actions within the meaning of these Terms of Use;
IX.6.2. not to use, copy and distribute User Content, uploaded by other Users or any other content accessible on the EVIDENCE Website for any commercial purposes;
IX.6.3. not to engage in political campaigning or religious propaganda;
IX.6.4. not to use methods causing the unwanted loading of content unauthorized by the Internet users by using “pop-up”, “blind link” and the like;
IX.6.5. not to impersonate another person or representative of a person who is not authorized to represent or otherwise mislead LIF or third parties with regard to his/her identity or affiliation to a certain Partner or a group of people;
IX.6.6. to immediately notify LIF of any case of performed or discovered violation in the use of the provided Services;
IX.6.7. to notify LIF upon detection of damaged files with a view to their removal.
IX.7. The Registered User may cease at any time at his/her sole discretion the use of the Services provided by LIF by cancelling his/her registration on the EVIDENCE Website. The contract between the parties shall be deemed automatically terminated as of the date of cancelling the registration of the Registered User, as LIF shall suspend his/her access to his/her User Account and shall also be entitled to suspend the access of the rest of the Users to the User Content and to remove from its Servers all User Content uploaded by him/her.
IX.8. The above rule of Art. 9.7, last sentence shall not apply in cases where the Registered Used is a Team Member. In such cases the contract between the parties shall be deemed automatically terminated as of the date of cancelling the registration of the Team Member, as LIF shall suspend his/her access to his/her Team Member Account, but the respective Partner shall have the right to access, manage, use or remove any User Content posted, uploaded or stored by the respective Team Member via the respective Team Member Account by naming another Team Member who will act on its behalf.
X. Rights and obligations of LIF
X.1. LIF has no obligation or objective ability to control the way in which the User uses the provided Services and is not liable for the User Content, neither for the activity of the User in connection with the Use of the Services. LIF has no obligation to monitor the information stored on its Servers or made accessible by the use of the Services, neither to seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity carried out by the User through the use of the Services.
X.2. In compliance with the requirement of the legislation in force LIF stores informational materials and resources, uploaded by the User on the Servers of LIF and shall be entitled to submit them to the competent state authorities in the cases upon proper request in compliance with the relevant procedure.
X.3. LIF undertakes to take due care to enable the User to use the Services normally and undisturbed. Notwithstanding the above, LIF does not guarantee that the information, accessible on the EVIDENCE Website, including the User Content on it, is full, accurate, correct and errorless.
X.4. LIF is entitled, without being obliged to, at its sole discretion and without notice to suspend, restrict or change the Services provided to the User, as well as to approach the competent state authorities if, through its behaviour the User, in LIF’s opinion, violates provisions of the Bulgarian legislation in force, of these Terms of Use or the rights and legitimate interests of third parties.
X.5. LIF is entitled, without being obliged at its sole discretion and without any prior notice, to suspend or restrict the access to certain User Content and respectively to remove partially or in full from its Servers User Content, when it finds that the latter is inconsistent with the Bulgarian legislation in force, these Terms of Use or the rights and legitimate interests of third parties. For avoidance of any doubt this rule shall apply to any User Content, including to User Content posted or uploaded via a Team Member Account.
X.6. Upon receipt of claims of third parties that User Content uploaded on the EVIDENCE Website violates their intellectual property rights, as well as in case that the User violates intellectual property rights of LIF, LIF shall be entitled at its sole discretion and without prior warning to suspend the access to such User Content until the settlement of such dispute by an act of a competent state authority. Upon receipt of an order from a competent state authority, concerning the User Content, LIF shall be entitled to suspend the access to the respective User Content without prior warning and to carry out other actions pursuant to the received order.
X.7. LIF is not obliged to store or restore User Content or other information from or for the User, which has been deleted by the User, by LIF, by another Registered User or by a third party, regardless of the reasons for such deletion.
X.8. LIF is entitled without prior notice to deactivate the Password for access to the User Account of the Registered User in case that in LIF’s opinion the Registered User violates provisions of the Bulgarian legislation in force, these Terms of Use or the rights and legitimate interests of third parties. In such cases LIF shall be entitled to cancel the registration of the Registered User and to delete from its servers all the User Content he/she has uploaded. In cases where such Registered User has a Team Member Account, the respective Partner shall have the right to access, manage, use or remove any User Content posted, uploaded or stored by the via the respective Team Member Account by naming another Team Member who will act on its behalf. The contract with the Registered User shall be deemed automatically terminated as of the date of cancelling his/her registration.
X.9. Whenever LIF receives information, which gives grounds to assume that the User’s behaviour in the use of the Services may constitute a crime or an administrative violation, LIF shall be entitled at its sole discretion to approach the competent state authorities and to provide them the necessary cooperation and all necessary information and material, requested in compliance with the relevant procedure, which could be of help for identifying the perpetrator and proving the committed crime or an administrative violation.
X.10. LIF retains the right to suspend the provision of particular Services, accessible through the EVIDENCE Website, after giving a notice by publishing a communication on the relevant Web Pages at the EVIDENCE Website and/or in the User Accounts of the Registered Users.
X.11. LIF is entitled to place on each of the Web Pages of the EVIDENCE Website, including in the User Accounts Links to Websites out of LIF’s control. LIF is not liable for the content, truthfulness and conformity with the law of such Websites and resources, neither for goods or resources, which have become known to the User in the process of use of the Services, nor for the content, truthfulness and conformity with the law of the information in the opinions uploaded by them and other User Content.
X.12. LIF is entitled to send newsletters to each User who has a subscription to receive newsletter via the “Newsletter Sign-Up” form available on the EVIDENCE Website or via his/her User Account (for Registered Users). By such subscription the User agrees to receive such unsolicited commercial communications from LIF.
XI. Intellectual property
XI.1. By uploading any video material, image, text or another material (User Content) on the EVIDENCE Website, the Registered User grants to LIF the non-exclusive right to use it, record it, store it, distribute it publicly on the Internet, including to offer access to it to an unlimited number of persons in a manner allowing this access to be carried out from a place and at a time individually chosen by each of them, for the needs of and in connection with the provision of the Services, subject to these Terms of Use, without due consideration, and without territorial limitations. Notwithstanding the above, a Registered User with a Team Member Account (i.e. Team Member) shall have the right to determine via his/her Team Member Account whether the User Content posted or uploaded by him/her to be accessible to any User, to Registered Users only or to Team Members only via the Intranet.
XI.2. The right under the preceding paragraph shall be granted for the period of time in which the User Content is uploaded on a Server of LIF, as well as for a reasonable term following its removal or deletion. The right granted to LIF includes the right to use the User Content, including the right to sublicense the use of the User Content to other media in connection with the development of the activity of the EVIDENCE Consortium and/ or for the Project. The Registered User declares that he/she is a copyright holder or has the right to use the respective material in the manner specified herein, including the right to sublicense the use of the respective material, having acquired this right on legal, contractual or another lawful grounds, as well as that the uploading of this content on the EVIDENCE Website and its use in compliance with these Terms of Use does not violate the rights of any third parties. In addition, the Registered User declares that he/she has been given the consent of each person, who participates or is depicted or is in any way whatsoever mentioned in the User Content he/she uploads with view to the shooting, depicting, use of the name or other data regarding such person, as well as the uploading of the respective material on the EVIDENCE Website.
XI.3. By uploading any User Content on the EVIDENCE Website, the Registered User agrees and grants to all other Users, including the Unregistered Users, the non-exclusive right to access the uploaded materials, the right to use and reproduce them in the manner provided by LIF through the Services, without due consideration and without territorial limitations (for the whole world). The right under this paragraph shall be granted for the period of time in which the User Content is uploaded on a Server of LIF, as well as for a reasonable term following its removal or deletion. In cases where the access to the User Content is restricted by the respective Registered User to Registered Users only or to Team Members only via the Intranet, the above rights shall be considered granted by the respective Registered User to Registered Users only or to Team Members only.
XI.4. By uploading any User Content on the EVIDENCE Website, the Registered User agrees and grants to LIF the right to visualize the uploaded materials in the User Accounts, created by other Registered Users, as well as to use at its sole discretion graphic images, advertising formats, etc. in the designing of the Web Pages of the EVIDENCE Website, where the User Content is visualized.
XI.5. In the use of the Services the User has access to various contents and resources, which are subject to copyright of LIF, EVIDENCE Consortium, Partner/s , other Registered Users, or third parties indicated respectively. The User shall have access to the content with a view to its use for personal needs in compliance with these Terms of Use and shall not be entitled to use, record, store, reproduce, change, adapt, publicly distribute the content, which has become accessible to him/her during the use of the Services, except for the cases where he/she has been given the explicit consent of the respective right holders.
XI.6. The User shall be obliged not to circumvent, conduct or otherwise obstruct the normal operation of technical or software applications installed by LIF on the EVIDENCE Website with a view to prevention or restriction of the use of the EVIDENCE Website content in violation of the present Terms of Use, including limiting the ways of using or copying User Content.
XI.7. The Registered User is solely liable for the legitimacy of the User Content posted, uploaded or otherwise made accessible by the him/her through the use of the Services, as well as for his/her actions related to the posting, uploading or otherwise making available such content and the respective consequences.
XI.8. The intellectual property rights on all materials and resources on the EVIDENCE Website, apart from the User Content set by the Users, are subject to protection pursuant to the Bulgarian Copyright and Related Rights Act and/or the Bulgarian Marks and Geographical Indications Act and are held by LIF or the respective holder of the IP right that has granted the right of use to LIF, and may not be used in violation of the legislation in force.
XII. Liability
XII.1. LIF takes all due care that the information available on the EVIDENCE Website will always be correct and up-to-date, but does not guarantee the authenticity and thoroughness of the content and does not commit to any deadlines for updating the information, unless otherwise specified on the EVIDENCE Website (as might be applicable). LIF takes due care to provide the Services for normal use to the User, but LIF is not obliged to and does not guarantee that the Services provided free of charge will satisfy the User’s requirements or that the Services will be uninterrupted, timely and secure. By accepting the present Terms of Use, the User declares that the use of the Services provided shall be entirely at his/her risk and liability, and the parties agree that LIF shall not be liable for any damages that might be incurred by the User in the course of the use of the Services, unless such damages are caused by LIF intentionally or due to gross negligence.
XII.2. LIF shall not be liable for any damages caused on the User’s software, hardware, devices and equipment, neither for any loss of data, arising from any materials or resources uploaded or used in any way through the medium of the Services provided.
XII.3. LIF shall not be liable for non-provision of the Services due to any circumstances beyond its control – in cases of force majeure events, Chance Events, any problems in the global Internet and in the service provision beyond the control of LIF, any problems due to the User’s equipment, as well as in case of unauthorised access or intervention by third parties in the operation of LIF’s Information System or Servers.
XII.4. By accepting the present Terms of Use, the User declares that he/she realises the possibility of any interruptions and other kinds of problems in the provision of the Internet connection to the EVIDENCE Website that might arise irrespective of LIF’s due care. The User declares that he/she will not claim any indemnifications from LIF for loss of profit, any damages incurred or inconvenience caused as of result of the aforesaid interruptions or problems in the Internet connection, including with respect to the capacity of the Internet connection.
XII.5. LIF shall not be liable for the availability, quality of the services or trustworthiness of the external information provided to the User by third parties and indicated in the EVIDENCE Website by means of any reference, including any Link references to external data resources.
XII.6. The parties acknowledge that LIF shall not be liable for the non-provision of the Services or provision of Services with worsened quality as result of tests performed by LIF for examination of the equipment, connections, networks and others, for the purposes of improvement and optimization of the Services provided. In such cases, LIF shall notify the User in advance of the expected temporary non-provision or provision with worsened quality of the Services by publishing a relevant announcement on the EVIDENCE Website or in any other appropriate manner.
XII.7. LIF shall not be liable for the User Content, as well as for the User’s activity related to the use of the Services. Besides, LIF shall not be liable for any damages incurred by other Users as a result of their access to or use of this content provided to them by the User or made accessible through the EVIDENCE Website. LIF shall not be liable before the User and any third persons for any damages incurred and loss of profit arising as a result of the termination, suspension, amendment or limitation of the Services, the deletion, modification, loss, inauthenticity, inaccuracy or incompleteness of messages, materials or information used, recorded or made accessible through the EVIDENCE Website.
XII.8. LIF shall not be liable for damages incurred, including loss of profit by the User or any third persons arising as a result of the termination, change or limitation of the Services or the termination of the contract due to violation by the User of these Terms of Use or the legislation in force, or due to provision of information or execution of orders issued by competent authorities.
XIII. Indemnifications
XIII.1. The User shall indemnify LIF and any third party for any and all damages and loss of profit incurred, including for penalty payments, attorney fees, litigation expenses and other expenses arising from filed claims by and/or paid compensations to third persons in relation to the User Content or other information and materials made available to third persons or made accessible by the User through the use of the Services in violation of the Bulgarian legislation, applicable foreign laws, these Terms of Use and in violation of good faith, as well as other breach of the User’s obligations under these Terms of Use.
XIII.3. Apart from the above, the Registered User shall be obliged to compensate LIF for any and all damages incurred as a result of the use of the Services by third persons that have been provided by the Registered User with his/her Passwords in violation of these Terms of Use.
XIII.3. The obligations of the parties under the present Section XIII of the Terms of Use shall remain in effect even after the termination of the contract with the User, including after the termination of the activity and existence of the EVIDENCE Website itself.
XIV. Personal Data Protection
XIV.1. LIF shall be entitled to collect, process and use information concerning the Registered Users. The information through which the Registered Users can be identified may include: name, contact details as email address, ICQ, AIM, MSN, YIM and the like, username (nickname), title, profession, place of work, position, resume, age, date of birth, location, photo, website, as well as any other information, voluntarily provided by the Registered User at the registration under Section IV or through his/her User Account. The information may include any other data, which the Registered User enters, uses, or voluntarily provides when using the Services or, respectively, any other information which becomes otherwise accessible for LIF as a result of the requesting and using the Services by the Registered User, as well as any information provided by the Registered User to LIF in connection with questionnaire forms, inquires, question forms and other similar completed through the EVIDENCE Website. LIF shall also collect, process and use log files (date, time and respectively source - IP addresses) when required by applicable law, as well as log files and any other information necessary to reproduce electronic statements made by the User when using the Services (for example acceptance of the Terms of Use, etc.) and for identification of the User in the event of a legal dispute.
XIV.2. LIF shall undertake the due care and shall bear responsibility for protection of the information for the User, which has come to its notion in the conduct of provision of the Services, except in the event of force majeure events, Chance Event or Malicious Actions of third parties.
XIV.3. LIF shall indicate the voluntary or mandatory nature of the data provision and the consequences of refusing to provide them in the respective registration forms. For avoidance of any doubt, the provision of data indicated as mandatory in the respective registration forms is a mandatory condition for successful registration and any failure to provide them represent an obstacle for the access to the Services which require such registration as per the present Terms of Use. By expressing his/her consent with the present Terms of Use, the Registered User agrees his/her data to be processed as provided therein.
XIV.4. Beyond the above information, LIF shall have the right (but not the obligation) to automatically save certain information that a computer or other User’s terminal device sends to the LIF’s Servers in connection with the User activity. The information shall be stored in log files on LIF’s Servers and may include information about Web Pages on the EVIDENCE Website visited by the User, websites that have forwarded the User to the EVIDENCE Website, websites visited by the User through Links on the EVIDENCE Website, date and time of these visits, the User IP address, the type of Internet browser the User uses, the User keywords used when searching on the EVIDENCE Website, the number of users who have seen a specific Web Page in the EVIDENCE Website, the number of clicks on Links in the EVIDENCE Website, etc. This information shall not be connected to the information that identifies the Registered User and shall be used for statistical purposes and to improve the offered Services.
XIV.5. LIF shall collect, process and use the information under Art. 14.1 for the purpose of providing the Services, for ensuring identification of the Registered User when necessary, for reproducing and proving the electronic statement made by the latter in the event of occurrence of a legal dispute or in cases where their reproduction or proving is necessary for fulfilment of the obligation of LIF in conformity with the applicable law, for meeting its obligations provided by law, for realization and protection of its rights and interests protected by law, for other purposes explicitly provided for in the present Terms of Use, as well as for statistical purposes.
XIV.6. By accepting these Terms of Use the Registered User acknowledges that he/she is familiar with the rights granted to him/her by the Bulgarian Personal Data Protection Act, including but not only:
XIV.6.1. his/her right of access to his/her personal data processed by LIF;
XIV.6.2. the right to correct and update his/her personal data processed by LIF;
XIV.6.3. the right to request deletion, correction or blocking of his/her personal data, the processing of which does not meet the requirements of the applicable legislation;
XIV.6.4. the right to request from LIF to notify the third parties to whom it has disclosed his/her personal data for any deletion, correction or blocking of such data, save for the cases where this is impossible or involves excessive efforts for LIF;
XIV.6.5. the right to object against the processing of his/her personal data for the purposes of direct marketing; and
XIV.6.6. the right to be notified before his/her data are disclosed for the first time to third parties or used on their behalf for the purposes of direct marketing, and to be provided the opportunity to object against such disclosure or use.
XIV.7. LIF undertakes not to disclose any personal data of the Registered User and not to provide any third parties – state authorities, companies, natural persons, etc. - with personal data collected hereunder, except in the event that:
XIV.7.1. this is provided in the present Terms of Use or when the User has given his/her explicit consent upon registration or at a later stage.
XIV.7.2. the information is requested by state authorities, court bodies or officials that according to the applicable legislation are competent and authorised to request and obtain such information in compliance with the procedures established by law;
XIV.7.3. the disclosure of personal data by LIF is necessary for protection of the rights and legal interests of LIF;
XIV.7.4. the data is provided to data processors acting on behalf of LIF. Those persons will be obliged to process the data only and solely under the strict instructions of LIF and will not have the right to use or process in any other way the personal data of the Registered User for other purposes, except for the purposes specified in these Terms of Use;
XIV.7.5. other occasions provided by law or specified in these Terms of Use.
XIV.8. In the event that the Registered User or third parties under his/her control have performed Malicious Actions within the meaning of the present Terms of Use or have violated any rights or lawful interests of third parties, LIF shall be entitled to provide the relevant competent authorities with the Registered User’s personal data in order to initiate the necessary legal procedures, in ccordance with the applicable law.
XIV.9. By accepting these Terms of Use and by subscribing via his/her User Account to receive newsletters, announcements and/or notifications the Registered User agrees that his/her personal data and contact details, such as email address, ICQ, AIM, MSN, YIM and the like, provided by the latter to LIF upon his/her registration or at a later stage may be processed by LIF for the purposes of direct marketing. The Registered User agrees to receive unsolicited commercial communications from LIF with regard to the Project and the Services provided via the EVIDENCE Website, as well as that LIF may address him/her with inquiries, questionnaires and the like. The Registered User is entitled to revoke the consent so granted at any time.
XIV.10. LIF has the right (but not the obligation) to install on the User’s computer or other terminal device cookies – small text files which are preserved on an Internet page through Internet Server on the User’s hard drive and give the opportunity to recover information about the User as they identify the sites/pages used by his or her terminal device and/or browser. The cookies used by LIF shall not contain any information which enables the identification of the User as an individual. LIF shall use two types of cookies, as follows:
XIV.10.1. “permanent cookies” (which are being kept on the User’s terminal device until he/she erases them). The permanent cookies can be removed by the User following the instructions of the Internet browser used. The cookies used by LIF contain an identification number which facilitates the identification of the used by the User browser and/or terminal device;
XIV.10.2. Web-analytics cookies – outsourced to Google Analytics and used for statistical and analytical purposes (for detailed information – visit Google Developers Website). LIF does not have access to or control over the use of these cookies.
XIV.11. The User has the right at any time to reject the preserving and/or the access to the information saved on his/her terminal device. The prohibition and/or the erasure of cookies by the User may lead to full or partial impossibility of the User to access the EVIDENCE Website and/or the Services, for which LIF does not take responsibility. The User shall have the right at any time to receive information from LIF about the data preserved on his/her terminal device by sending a question to LIF on the following electronic mail address: office@evidenceproject.eu.
XIV.12. When providing the Services LIF preserves information and receives access to the information saved on the User’s terminal device and processes it in order to:
XIV.12.1. secure the User’s normal and quality access to the Services with all their functional possibilities;
XIV.12.2. check for the presence of scripts, software applications and settings of the User’s terminal device necessary for the normal access and use of the Services and notify him or her about the lack of them;
XIV.12.3. trace and prevent multi-accounting (registration and use of many User Accounts by the same person) and Malicious Actions;
XIV.12.4. visualize and non-visualize elements from the EVIDENCE Website which have specific requirements compatible or non-compatible with certain features, qualities or options of the User’s terminal device (for example: screen width, resolution and others);
XIV.12.5. adjust the Services and secure automatic showing or hiding of different elements of the EVIDENCE Website in accordance with the User’s preferences and settings.
XV. Termination of the Registration. Termination of the Contract
XV.1. Each Registered User shall be entitled to terminate his/her registration at the EVIDENCE Website by means of the deactivation option provided in the User Account, following the procedure specified therein. The contract with the Registered User shall be deemed automatically terminated as of the date of termination of his/her registration.
XV.2. Upon deactivation of the User Account from the EVIDENCE Website, the User Content published by Registered User through this User Account shall be deleted. In cases of deactivation of a Team Member Account, the respective Partner shall have the right to access, manage, use or remove any User Content posted, uploaded or stored by the via the respective Team Member Account by naming another Team Member who will act on its behalf.
XV.3. Besides the cases stipulated in the present Terms of Use, the contract between the parties shall be terminated upon occurrence of one of the following circumstances:
XV.3.1. Termination of the support of the EVIDENCE Website;
XV.3.2. Upon mutual consent of the parties;
XV.3.3. In other cases as provided by law.
XV.4. In case of termination of the contract between the parties on any grounds, LIF shall be entitled to immediately terminate the access of the respective Registered User to the User Account, to terminate his/her registration and delete from its Servers the whole User Content set by the User, in compliance with the provisions of the applicable law.
XVI. Amendments to the Terms of Use
XVI.1. As far as the Services provided by LIF are various and constantly supplemented and modified for the purpose of their development and improvement and with view to legislative changes, the Terms of Use may be unilaterally amended by LIF.
XVI.2. In case of any amendments to the Terms of Use, LIF shall notify the User of such amendments by publishing them on the EVIDENCE Website and/or by publishing in the User Account of the Registered User an announcement containing the texts of the amendments or a Link to a Web Page containing the amendments. The Registered User shall be granted by LIF a reasonable term to study the amendments to the Terms of Use, but not less than two weeks as of the publication of the amendments as described above.
XVI.3. If within the term under Art. 16.2 the Registered User does not claim to reject the amendments to the Terms of Use, the amendments shall be deemed binding for the Registered User. Should the Registered User state to reject the amendments by sending a notification to LIF to the following email address: office@evidenceproject.eu or otherwise as specified by LIF, the contract under Art. 5.1 shall be deemed terminated immediately upon the receipt of the rejection notification.
XVI.4. An Unregistered User shall express his/her disagreement with the amendments to the Terms of Use by suspending the use of the Services accessible to Unregistered Users.
XVII. Other Provisions
XVII.1. Unless otherwise explicitly provided, the written statements and notifications stipulated in these Terms of Use shall be deemed valid if made in the form of a letter with a return receipt, email, pressing on or checking in a virtual button/ check box on the EVIDENCE Website and in other similar manner, as far as the statement is technically recorded in a way allowing its reproduction.
XVII.2. By accepting the present Terms of Use and entering into a contract, the parties express their consent to deem the electronic statements exchanged between them to be received upon their entry into the Information System specified by the addressee, without an express confirmation. In case the User has specified an invalid email address, the message shall be deemed received upon its being sent by LIF, even if not actually received.
XVII.3. If any provision of the Terms of Use proves to be null and void, this shall not entail nullity of the contract, other provisions or other parts thereof. The void provision shall be replaced by the imperative norms of law or by the established practice or custom.
XVII.4. These Terms of Use shall not apply to Services assigned with specific rules, unless otherwise provided therein.
XVII.5. The Terms of Use shall be governed by Bulgarian law and for all matters not settled by the present Terms of Use, the provisions of the Bulgarian legislation in force shall apply.
XVII.6. All disputes between the parties arising from or pertaining to the contract between them, including those arising from or related to their interpretation, validity, performance or termination, as well as disputes on filling any gaps in the contract or its adaptation to new circumstances, shall be resolved amicably and in good faith, through negotiations and mutual concessions. If it proves impossible to reach agreement, the dispute may be referred for resolution to the competent court in Sofia, in compliance with the Bulgarian legislation in force.
The present Terms of Use are adopted by with a decision of the Managing Board of Law and Internet Foundation on 31 May 2014.