Subscription terms and conditions for contracts signed before 15 May 2017

Terms of use

This page (together with the documents referred to on it) tells you the terms of use on which you may make use of our website and its contents (“Website”), whether as a guest or a registered user (collectively “Terms”). For a full list of websites to which these Terms of Use applies please click here.

Please read these Terms carefully before you start to use the site. By using the Website, you indicate that you accept these Terms and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to these Term, please refrain from using the Website.

1. ABOUT US

1.1 The Website is operated by Dods Parliamentary Communications Limited ("Dods"). We are registered in England and Wales under company number 01262354 and have our registered office at 11th Floor, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG. Our VAT number is GB 792 0679 00.

2. ACCESSING THE WEBSITE

2.1 Access to certain areas, contacts, features and functionalities of the Website may be restricted to access on subscription basis (”Subscriber Content”) or non-subscription basis (“Restricted Content”, which term shall include “Subscriber Content” where referred to in these Terms), by those people who subscribe to receive access to all or some areas of the Website (“Subscribers”) and/or those persons who we otherwise permit to use the restricted areas of the Website (“Permitted Users”, which term shall include “Subscribers” where referred to in these Terms).

2.2 In addition to these Terms, Permitted Users must also comply with the terms of any corresponding agreement(s) with us relating to their subscription and/or access to and/or use of Restricted Content (“Subscription Agreement”/”Order Form”). To the extent there is a conflict between these Terms and the Subscription Agreement or Order Form, the Subscription Agreement or Order Form will take precedence unless the Subscription Agreement or Order Form expressly states otherwise.

2.3 You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Website (including obtaining and maintaining all telephone lines, computer hardware and other equipment needed to access the Website) and you shall bear the costs associated with the same. You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access the Website through your internet connection are aware of these Terms, and that they comply with them.

2.4 If the relevant Subscription Agreement or Order Form under which you have the right to access Restricted Content terminates or expires and/or you cease to have permission from us to access Restricted Content (e.g. as a result of a change in employer etc) then your right to access and use the Restricted will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return, delete or destroy any copies of the Restricted Content you have made and on request certify to us that you have complied with this section.

3. LOG-IN DETAILS FOR PERMITTED USERS

3.1 If you are a Permitted User, you (or your employer) will be given access details, codes, credentials, passwords and/or other information in order to be able to access and/or use Restricted Content (“Log-In Details”). You must treat your Log-In Details as confidential, and you must not disclose these to any third party. You must only access the Restricted Content using your unique Log-In Details as supplied by us. You are responsible for all activities that take place using your Log-In Details and agree to notify us immediately if you believe there has been unauthorised use of your Log-In Details or unauthorised access of the Restricted Content using these.

3.2 We may disable any user Log-In Details, at any time, if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms.

4. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

4.1 Unless otherwise expressly stated, we are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in the Website and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

4.2 “DODS” and its corresponding logo(s) are trade marks of Dods and all goodwill and reputation relating thereto is owned solely by Dods.

4.3 You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from the Website for your personal reference and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to material posted on the Website. Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of material on the Website must always be acknowledged.

4.4 You must not;

4.4.1 modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text; or

4.4.2 use any part of the materials on the Website for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

4.5 If you print off, copy, use or download any part of the Website in breach of these Terms or the Subscription Agreement, your right to use the Website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return, delete or destroy any copies of the content (including any Restricted Content) you have made and on request certify to us that you have complied with this section.

5. USING OUR WEBSITE AND ITS CONTENTS

5.1 You may only use the Website for lawful purposes. Non-Subscribers may only use the Website for personal use and purposes. You must not use it:

5.1.1 in any way that breaches any applicable law or regulation;

5.1.2 in any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has such a purpose or effect;

5.1.3 to transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (also known as "spam"); or

5.1.4 to knowingly introduce or transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, logic-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code or material which is malicious or technologically harmful or designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.

5.2 You also agree:

5.2.1 not to reproduce, duplicate, copy or re-sell any part of the Website in contravention of the provisions of these Terms.

5.2.2 not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt:

(a) any part of the Website;

(b) any equipment or network on which the Website is stored;

(c) any software used in the provision of the Website; or

(d) any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party.

5.3 You agree not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt any part of the Website or any equipment or network on which the Website is stored, any software used in the provision of the Website, or any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party connected or used in relation to the Website. By breaching this provision, you may commit a criminal offence. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use the Website will cease immediately.

5.4 You may only link to the home page of the Website, provided that you do so from a website owned by you and in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it or in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval, sponsorship or endorsement on our part. However, we reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice for any reason whatsoever.

6. INTERACTIVE SERVICES

6.1 We may from time to time provide interactive services within the Website, including, without limitation in particular the “Central Lobby” section for the purpose of enhancing information and debate in the political arena, and any bulletin boards, communications facilities, and discussion forums (“interactive service(s)”).

6.2 Where we do provide any interactive service, we will provide clear information to you about the kind of service offered, if it is moderated and what form of moderation is used (including whether it is human or technical). Unless otherwise stated we will not moderate or monitor any interactive service.

6.3 We will do our best to assess any possible risks for users from third parties when they use any interactive service provided on our site, and we will decide in each case whether it is appropriate to use moderation of the relevant service (including what kind of moderation to use) in the light of those risks. However, we are under no obligation to oversee, monitor or moderate any interactive service we provide on our site, and we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any interactive service by a user in contravention of our content standards, whether the service is moderated or not.

6.4 The use of any of our interactive services by a minor is subject to the consent of their parent or guardian. We advise parents who permit their children to use an interactive service that it is important that they communicate with their children about their safety online, as moderation is not foolproof. Minors who are using any interactive service should be made aware of the potential risks to them.

6.5 Where we do moderate an interactive service, we will normally provide you with a means of contacting the moderator, should a concern or difficulty arise.

7. CONTENT STANDARDS

7.1 These content standards (“content standards”) apply to any and all material which you contribute to our site, including without limitation, all types of information, text, software, sound recordings, photographs, graphics, video, databases or any other compilations, (“contributions”) and to any interactive services associated with it.

7.2 You must comply with the spirit of the following standards as well as the letter. The standards apply to each part of any contribution as well as to its whole.

7.3 Contributions must:

7.3.1 Be accurate (where they state facts).

7.3.2 Be genuinely held (where they state opinions).

7.3.3 Comply with applicable law in the UK and in any country from which they are posted.

7.4 Contributions must not:

7.4.1 Be used for sales promotion or other commercial purposes.

7.4.2 Contain any material which is defamatory of any person.

7.4.3 Contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory.

7.4.4 Promote sexually explicit material.

7.4.5 Promote violence.

7.4.6 Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.

7.4.7 Infringe any copyright, database right, trade mark, confidentiality or other intellectual property right of any other person.

7.4.8 Be likely to deceive any person.

7.4.9 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.

7.4.10 Promote any illegal activity.

7.4.11 Be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.

7.4.12 Be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person.

7.4.13 Be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person.

7.4.14 Give the impression that they emanate from us, if this is not the case.

7.4.15 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.

7.5 You must not send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with our content standards.

8. UPLOADING MATERIAL

8.1 Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to upload material to our site, or to make contact with other users of our site, you must comply with the content standards. You warrant that any such contribution does comply with those standards, and you indemnify us for any breach of that warranty.

8.2 Any material you upload to our site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary, and we have the right to use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose. We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any material posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

8.3 We will not be responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials posted by you or any other user of our site.

8.4 We have the right to edit, reject or remove any material or posting you make on our site for any reason including in particular (without limitation) if, in our opinion, such material does not comply with the content standards. Where in our reasonable opinion any offending contribution by you cannot be removed, or where you have repeatedly supplied or inputted offending contributions, we may, in our sole discretion either suspend your access to the Website or terminate this Agreement.

8.5 Where reasonably requested by you, we will as soon as is practicable, make any additions modifications or deletions to the Website Content.

9. WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY

9.1 You warrant that:

9.1.1 you are the legal owner of any contribution and any intellectual property rights in any contribution supplied by you;

9.1.2 all contributions supplied by you will comply with the contribution standards

9.1.3 all contributions supplied by you will comply with all provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998;

9.2 You indemnify us and hold us harmless fully and effectively indemnified against any loss, damage, cost or expense (including, without limitation, reasonable professional fees and expenses ) arising directly or indirectly out of breach of its obligations, warranties and/or undertakings in these Terms.

10. TERM AND TERMINATION

10.1 So far as they relate to any Subscription Agreement or Order Form (“Agreement”):

10.1.1 These terms shall be effective from the Commencement Date stated in the Agreement, for the Initial Term stated in the Agreement, and thereafter shall continue on an annual basis unless terminated:

(a) after the Initial Term, by written notice from one party to the other at least 180 days prior to the end of the then current year of the Agreement, if you are terminating the Agreement you must obtain an acknowledgement of receipt in writing from us, that we have received the notice of termination.

(b) upon notice by either party to the other if the party receiving the notice is in material breach of this Agreement such breach, if capable of remedy not having being remedied within 30 days of written notice to do so.

11. PAYMENT OF FEES

11.1 To the extent any amounts are payable under any Subscription Agreement or Order Form (“Agreement”)

11.1.1 Payment is payable in advance on signing the Agreement at the period specified in the Payment Terms set out in the Agreement.

11.1.2 We reserve the right to vary the any fees, at our discretion, on each anniversary of this Agreement, such variation to be notified to you in advance.

11.1.3 You warrant, represent and undertake that you will pay all fees due immediately upon receipt of an invoice.

11.1.4 If the Client fails to pay any sum when due, the Company shall be entitled to charge interest on the amount due at the rate of 8% per annum above the then prevailing Bank of England base and/or suspend operation of any part of the Services until payment is received in full.

12. ADDITIONAL FACILITIES

12.1 All Permitted Users agree to provide such assistance as is reasonably required by us for the design, build and maintenance of any facility to be created for Permitted Users within the Website including, but not limited to:

12.1.1 timely delivery of content to be included in the facility, to us, in a form reasonably required by us.

12.1.2 providing as appropriate access to and the co-operation of the staff within your organisation identified in the order form

12.1.3 reviewing the facility, prior to its going live and notifying us within 14 days of being provided with access to the test the facility, of any changes required to be made. Failure to notify us of any such changes shall be deemed, on expiry of 14 days following the provision of access to the test facility to constitute acceptance of the test facility.

13. DODS PEOPLE

13.1 Where you have subscribed to the Dods People service, the following terms apply:

13.1.1 we shall provide one hour training for the Dods People service. We reserve the right to charge for additional training.

13.1.2 ownership of all contributions inputted by you to the Dods People service under this Agreement remains with you at all times.

13.1.3 you may use the Dods People provided that concurrent access to the service, where applicable, is limited to the number of users specified in any Subscription Agreement or Order Form.

13.1.4 you are permitted to use fifty (50) Megabyte space for you proprietary data. We reserve the right to separately charge for additional space.

13.1.5 we agree to provide reasonable telephone support for the Dods People service during normal business hours.

13.1.6 on termination of your subscription to the Dods People service for any reason, we will make available, at your request, any contributions inputted by you into the Dods People service (in raw text or CSV format).

14. DODS MONITORING

14.1 Where you have subscribed to the Dods Monitoring service, the following terms apply:

14.1.1 you must notify us of the name(s) of the recipient(s) of the Dods Monitoring service. You agree to keep us updated of these recipients throughout the duration of the service.

14.1.2 unless expressly varied in the Subscription Agreement or Order Form you may keep one copy of any information received as part of the Dods Monitoring service, whether in hard copy, digital form and may maintain one archive or back-up copy of the Information (in whatever form). Delivery methods and media will be agreed, but if not agreed, shall be selected by us in our reasonable discretion. We agree to accommodate your reasonable requests relating to the medium by which the Dods Monitoring services will be delivered. You agree to reimburse to us any expenses incurred on your request.

14.1.3 you are entitled to reasonable use of the Dods Monitoring hotline service. We reserve the right (acting at our sole and reasonable discretion) to charge separately for any excess use of the hotline service.

14.1.4 you are entitled to receive monitoring services, which will sent to a single group of email recipients notified to us by you. We reserve the right to charge a separate amount where you requires monitoring information to be provided to more than one grouping of email recipients.

14.1.5 the following items which may be provided by us are not included in the scope of the Dods Monitoring services and we reserve the right to charge separately for any such item: (a) Any publications bought in by us for the specific purpose of servicing your account (such as legislation, white/green papers, marshalled lists of amendments, select committee reports); (b) Any items ordered by us expressly on your behalf and passed on to you by us; (c) Any request by you for information that is above and beyond the normal terms of the service. This would include any requests for committee attendance, personal profiles, obtaining non parliamentary or Stationery Office publications or any other general research.

15. SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION OF ACCESS

15.1 We may take all steps we believe reasonably necessary to ensure these Terms and the terms of any Subscription Agreement are being complied with. We may investigate all actions which we suspect breach these Terms and any Subscription Agreement.

15.2 We will determine, in our reasonable discretion, whether there has been a breach of these Terms or the Subscription Agreement. When we believe a breach has occurred, we may take any action we deem appropriate, including but not limited to all or any of the following actions:

15.2.1 issue of a warning to you;

15.2.2 immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use the Website and/or the services available via the Website;

15.2.3 immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any posting or material uploaded by you to the Website;

15.2.4 legal action against you; and/or

15.2.5 disclosure of information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary.

16. SECURITY AND ERRORS

16.1 Whilst we use reasonable endeavours to maintain the security of the Website and to ensure that the Website is error free and up to date, you acknowledge that the Website, may be subject to breaches of security and other technical issues. Therefore, we do not represent or warrant that the Website or the features on it will be uninterrupted, error-free, up to date or free from breaches of security.

16.2 By accessing and using the Website, you confirm that all necessary firewall, anti-virus, data backup and other security software is installed and operational on the device(s) from which you access the Website and is up to date.

17. DISCLAIMERS

17.1 Commentary, communications and other materials or content posted, transmitted, or otherwise made available on or via the Website are the personal views or opinions of the contributor(s) and do not reflect the opinions or views of, and are not endorsed by, Dods or any company or body associated with it and are not intended to amount to advice on which reliance should be placed.

17.2 Commentary, communications and other materials or content posted, transmitted, or otherwise made available on or via the Website are the sole responsibility of the person who originated such content. We may not monitor or control the content posted on or via the Website and, we shall not take responsibility for such content. Accordingly, you understand that by using the Website, you may be exposed to content that might be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate, or in some cases, postings that have been mislabeled or are otherwise deceptive.

17.3 Under no circumstances will Dods be liable in any way for any content, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred on or as a result of the use of any content posted, transmitted, or otherwise made available via the Website or broadcast elsewhere.

17.4 There may be links from the Website, or in communications you receive from the Website, to third party websites. Accessing those third party websites requires you to leave the Website. We do not control those third party websites or any of the content contained therein and you expressly acknowledge and agree that we are in no way responsible or liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of any of those third party websites.

18. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU

18.1 We will not be liable to you for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of the Website or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.

18.2 Whilst we try to ensure the Website is normally available 24 hours a day, we will not be liable to you if for any reason the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period. We reserve the right to withdraw or amend any part of the Website and/or any feature/service we provide on the Website without notice (on a temporary or permanent basis). You agree that we will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Website or any part thereof.

18.3 Commentary, communications and other materials or content posted, transmitted, or otherwise made available on or via the Website are for information purposes only and is not intended to amount to advice on which reliance should be placed. We therefore exclude all liability for any loss or damage arising from your reliance on, or use of, such information.

18.4 To the extent permitted by law we hereby expressly exclude:

18.4.1 all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity; and

18.4.2 any liability for the following loss or damage incurred by you in connection with the Website or in connection with the use, inability to use, or results of the use of the Website, any websites linked to it and any materials posted on it:-

(a) loss of income or revenue;

(b) loss of business;

(c) loss of profits or contracts;

(d) loss of anticipated savings;

(e) loss of, damage to or corruption of data;

(f) loss of opportunity or goodwill; and

(g) indirect, special and/or consequential loss however arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

18.5 In the event we cannot exclude our liability to you as set out in this section 9 and we are liable to you under these Terms in no event will our total liability in aggregate in any calendar year to you exceed £50. 

18.6 These Terms are not intended to and do not affect our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, nor our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter, nor any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

19. GENERAL

19.1 Any information about obtain from you, or provided by you via the Website will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy. By using the Website, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.

19.2 We gather the content on our Website from a variety of sources. Such information may from time to time be subject to specific terms and conditions as to its use and dissemination. You agrees to be bound by such specific terms and conditions where you are notified of such terms or conditions prior to their receipt by you.

19.3 Any notices to be given under these Terms shall be delivered by hand or sent by first-class post or electronic mail to the person at the address or email address of the other party as set out in the order form.

19.4 You may not assign, or transfer its rights under this Agreement in any way.

19.5 All parties acknowledge and agree that the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall not apply to this Agreement.

19.6 Time shall not be of the essence in relation to this Agreement.

19.7 You acknowledge and accept that we do not warrant that the whole or any part of the Website will be continuously available. Where downtime is within our control, we will use our reasonable endeavours to keep it to a minimum and where possible will notify you of any pending downtime

19.8 We shall be entitled, to refer to any company subscribing to, or permitted access to, the Website either in written or pictorial form in our promotional materials, including use of any trade marks or logos.

19.9 We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to modify or otherwise update these Terms by posting revised and/or updated terms to the Website at any time. If you continue to use the Website following such posting you will be agreeing to be bound by such modifications or updates. We recommend therefore that you review these Terms on a regular basis.

19.10 These Terms and the documents referred to in them, constitute the entire agreement and understanding between us relating to the use of the Website and supersede all prior written or oral understandings, arrangements, representations or agreements relating to such (and no reliance is placed on, or remedy is available in relation to, such).

19.11 A person who is not a party to these terms has no rights under the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any of these terms, but this section does not affect a right or remedy of a third party which exists or is available apart from that Act.

19.12 If for any reason any part of these Terms is deemed unenforceable by a competent authority, then that part of the Terms will be deleted and this will not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining Terms.

19.13 Any waiver by us of the breach of these Terms shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any subsequent breach of any provision.

19.14 The English courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to, a visit to or use of the Website. These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England.

20. CONTACT US

20.1 If you have any queries at all regarding the Website or these Terms, please do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail at info@dods.co.uk or via post at Dods Parliamentary Communications Limited, 11th Floor, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG and we will be more than happy to assist you.