Legal notice

Introduction

Purpose

The Procurement Forum seeks to become the foremost online hub of all things related to public procurement of innovation. It sees itself as the starting point for public authorities, procurers, policy makers, researchers and other stakeholders working in the field of public procurement. To achieve this we have made certain services available through this website to allow our users to connect, exchange and collaborate.

Scope

By registering on the Procurement Forum you agree to abide by certain rules of conduct to ensure that all users have a pleasant and productive experience on the site.

Language

The primary language of the Procurement Forum is English. All structural and update information will be supplied in English though where appropriate content can be posted in other languages.

Rules of Conduct

• Provide accurate, current and complete information about yourself on any registration forms on the Procurement Forum ("Registration Data");
• Only use the Procurement Forum to post, use or send content and messages that comply with our instructions and which are legal (in respect of the law applicable in Germany and in any country from which it is posted) and appropriate to the Procurement Forum;
• Maintain the security of your user name and password;
• Maintain and promptly update the Registration Data, and any other information you  provide to us, to keep it accurate, current and complete;
• Not create additional registered user accounts for the purpose of abusing the functionality of the Procurement Forum, or other users;
• Attempt to pass yourself off as another person or user; and you comply with these Terms.

Please keep in mind that you are responsible for all actions taken under your username and password.

• Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, intimidate, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy or intellectual property rights where applicable) of others; impersonate any other person or entity, whether actual or fictitious or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent yourself, your age or your affiliation with any person or entity or use or attempt to use another Registered User\'s account;
• Upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any content that we deem to be obscene, indecent, unlawful, harmful, threatening, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, fraudulent, hateful, or racially, ethnically, sexually or otherwise objectionable;

• Use the Procurement Forum for commercial purposes; upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any unsolicited advertising (although you may advertise events you think may be of interest to other Registered Users acting in their professional capacity). Before advertising a commercial event or activity, the permission of the Procurement Forum managers must be sought.

• Upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available confidential content;

• Upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any material that contains viruses or any other computer code, corrupted files, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

• Delete any required author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in, or falsify the origin or source of, any material that is uploaded;
• Use automated scripts to collect information from or in any way seek to change the Procurement Forum or otherwise interact with the Procurement Forum;
• Register for more than one user account, register for a user account on behalf of an individual other than yourself, or register for a user account on behalf of any group or entity; or,

• Upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make publicly available on the Procurement Forum any private information of any other party, including, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and credit card numbers without first having obtain their written consent to this.

The administration team of the Procurement Forum will determine if these conditions have been breached and take the appropriate course of action.

Availability of Service

The Procurement Forum management reserve the right to withdraw, suspend or amend access to all or any part of the Forum at any time without notice.  

Access to, and the use of, some parts of the Procurement Forum is restricted to members only.

It remains at the sole discretion of the Procurement Forum management to refuse a registration, provide access or terminate the membership of a user without providing reason for doing so, though where possible this will be given. 

All possible effort is invested in ensuring that the Procurement Forum is available 24/7. However, interruptions of service, planned and unplanned, may occur. We will endeavour to ensure that the service is as accessible as possible.

The Procurement Forum uses up-to-date technology to ensure a contemporary collaborative experience. We cannot guarantee that this will be compatible with any or all hardware running on your system. Please ensure that you access the Procurement Forum over a secure internet connection to protect your personal information.

Registration

Only users who have completed the registration form are considered as registered users and can access the Procurement Forum

Personal Information

A certain amount of personal information is required to register as a member on the Procurement Forum. This will not be transmitted to third parties.

Malicious Offensives on the Procurement Forum

Users will refrain from introducing content that contains viruses or malicious devices. Neither shall users deploy spyware or other tracking software on the Procurement Forum.

Some Words on Content

What is content? In the context of the Procurement Forum, content can be considered to include posts, comments, images, resources, and other files uploaded to the system.

Content remains the responsibility of the user and will not be reviewed or updated by the Administrators. The Procurement Forum accepts no liability for false or misleading statements by registered members.

Content posted is general in nature and is not intended to be interpreted as advise or recommendations to you in the course of your professional work. Any use made of content posted to the Procurement Forum is at your own risk. By posting content to the Forum, you accept that it can be viewed by the members of the Forum. Resources will also appear in the public domain. Content posted by registered users on specific topics remains the intellectual property of that user and s/he must be contacted if you wish to make use of that content.

Downloading or other acquisition of any materials through the site is done at your own risk and with your consent that you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the downloading or acquisition of any such materials.. 


Unless stated otherwise, you are free to download material and images. Images, documents and information may not be modified or altered in any way unless another indication is present. You may not remove any copyright or other proprietary notices contained in the pictures, documents and information. Should you display any images or content originating from this site, they should be attributed to ICLEI or the registered user in question, unless otherwise stated.

Apart from user-generated content on the Procurement Forum, all trademarks, corporate design elements, database rights and other intellectual property rights in or relating to the Procurement Forum entity remain the property of ICLEI European Secretariat or our third party licensors, Organiq.  You may access, use and reproduce these (excluding any software code) solely for the purposes of your use of the Procurement Forum. However, permission must be sought if you wish to syndicate database or other content.

Fees & Pricing

The Procurement Forum is a free-to-use service provided under the auspices of the Procurement of Innovation Platform project, coordinated by ICLEI European Secretariat on behalf of the European Commission’s DG Enterprise and Industry. However, we reserve the right to charge fees for establishing a group or the use of other Forum services at a later point in time. Should your registration be cancelled for breaching the Terms of Service, no refund will be issued.

Liability for Links


This webpage provides links to third party sites. The linked sites are outside the control of ICLEI and ICLEI is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site.  These links are provided to you only as a convenience and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by ICLEI, nor of any goods or services offered on those sites.

Liability Regarding Content

The Procurement Forum cannot be considered liable for:

• Any damages and costs thereof to your computer or system resulting from downloading content from the Procurement Forum;
• Any interpretation of user-generated content in a professional context that results in professional damages or costs thereof.

In turn, you agree to indemnify the Procurement Forum and its management against all claims, damages, losses, liabilities and costs arising from your use of the Procurement Forum.

Termination of Relationship Between Users and Forum Administration

Should you wish to terminate your activity on the Procurement Forum you simply have to clear your user profile.

If the Administrators of the Procurement Forum feel that a user has not complied with these Terms of Service, then they reserve the right to terminate that users account without notice.

Notifications

The Administrators of the Procurement Forum will share system update information with you via the Forum and via email. By registering as a user, you accept this.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

This website complies with German legislation and adheres to the principles of European law on this subject. Should disputes arise to be settled legally, the overriding jurisdiction is the Amtsgericht Freiburg.

Comments Welcome!



ICLEI strives to provide relevant and user-friendly services and products, both in terms of quality and quantity of information design and of the actual information supplied. If you would like to send us your feedback and comments, please contact procurementforum@iclei.org. We will carefully evaluate all your comments and proposals. Thank you.

Ethical issues

ICLEI undertakes to respect all basic ethical principles as outlined in the Charter of European Fundamental Rights, including human dignity; cultural, religious and linguistic diversity; equality and anti-discrimination; freedom of expression and of information; and respect for the environment.

Contact

This website is managed by the European Secretariat of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability located at Leopoldring 3, 79098 Freiburg Germany (Wolfgang Teubner, responsible). The system has been built and is hosted by Organiq New Media B.V., Oostplein 224 A-B, 3063 CE Rotterdam, Netherlands (Andries van Vugt, responsible).