General Terms & Conditions of Use

SEEDIS is an independent nonprofit initiative for professionals, practitioners, service providers, academics, and government authorities to promote their solutions for the sustainable development and operation of the built environment.   SEEDIS provides the BuildAction™ platform for countries, communities, companies, and civil society to cooperate, collaborate and encourage sustainable development and use of land, buildings and infrastructure.

The BuildAction platform enables communities to take action for their sustainable development and protection.  BuildAction communities provide a proper and respectful environment for community stakeholders to communicate, collaborate, cooperate, and coordinate community action.

Your use of the platform is predicated on Your understanding of the Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy in conjunction with these General Terms and Conditions, which You are agreeing to when using the Platform.

Our Privacy Policy complies with data protection legislation, in particular with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and includes Our Cookie Policy.  We comply with all applicable legal provisions regarding data protection.

The Official Language of the Terms and Conditions is English.  Use the auto translator below for the translation of content into one of the available languages.

The terms and conditions (“Terms”) specified herein constitute an agreement between SEEDIS and You (the “User”) and govern use of the Platform.  These Terms represent the entire understanding relating to the use of the Platform and prevail over any prior or contemporaneous communication between the SEEDIS and the User.

These Terms are to be read together with any terms, conditions or disclaimers provided on any of the individual pages of the Platform, including the Code of Conduct, Privacy Policy, Copyright Notice, and Legal Disclosure.  In the event of any conflict, the terms provided on the relevant page of the Platform shall govern your use of the Platform.

Each Users of the Platform accepts and agrees to be bound by and comply with these Terms.  Otherwise, use of this Platform is prohibited.

Definitions

“Agreement” means this Agreement constituted by the Terms specified herein.

"Association" means the nonprofit legal form of organization for SEEDIS.

"Arrangement" means any legal relationship agreed between SEEDIS and the User.

"Attendee" means a person who attends an Event organized by SEEDIS.

"Community" means a group of Users of the BuildAction Platform who communicate, cooperate, collaborate, and coordinate action (see Community).

“Content” means data or other information in any form whatsoever provided on the SEEDIS Platform, including these Terms.

“Content Provider” is a provider of Content, be it SEEDIS or a third party.

“Customer” means a User who enters into any transaction with SEEDIS either for himself/herself on behalf of someone else, to whom the invoice for the transaction shall be addressed and to whom the relevant terms and condition of the transaction apply.

"Enabler" means any organization or individual who has registered with SEEDIS on the BuildAction platform in this capacity (see Enablers)

“Enrollee” means any individual who has registered with SEEDIS and is enrolled to attend an Event organized by SEEDIS.

“Enrollment” means the selection of a certain Event for an individual to attend, following Registration.

“Event” means any activity organized by SEEDIS, including seminars, courses, workshops, conferences and any other planned occasion for which individuals are registered with the SEEDIS and in which they are enrolled to attend.

“Event Fee” means the fee payable by the Customer in relation to each Enrollment in an Event.

"Expiration" means the end of the period of the Arrangement between SEEDIS and the User.

"Fair Dealing" means the limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work as established under Article 9(2) of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

"Fair Use" means a doctrine in the law of the United States that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder.

"Facilitator" means an individual who acts in this capacity in SEEDIS BuildAction Communities.

“Glossary” means the compilation of the terms, definitions, abbreviations, synonyms and associated information on the Platform.

“Initiative” means the SEEDIS advocacy.

"Leader" means a Community Stakeholder who encourages, facilitates, leads and moderates the engagement of other Community Stakeholders (see Leaders)

“Material” means any document, including but not limited to graphic images, provided on the Platform.

"Member" means a registered User of the SEEDIS BuildAction platform.

"Official Language" means English.

“Organization” means SEEDIS, its organizers, agents and Members.

“Platform” ("Website" or "Site") is the www.seeedis.org website and any of its subdomains, including BuildAction.

“Product” means any Event, Courseware, software, e-book or other goods or Services furnished by SEEDIS to the User, Member, Customer or Subscriber that is subject to the applicable terms of use or end-user license agreement as set forth by SEEDIS.

“Proxy” means any individual who effects the purchase of a Product on behalf of another individual and who instructs SEEDIS to whom the respective invoice will be issued.

“Registered User” means any User, Member, Customer or Subscriber registered with the Platform.

“Registration” means the process of providing personal details about the User.

“SEEDIS” means the SEEDIS Initiative, Platform and Organization and "We", "Us", Our" or other such pronoun that refers to SEEDIS.

"Services" means professional services rendered to Customers by persons duly authorized by SEEDIS and to accept payment for the services.

"SEEDIS™" is a trade name and trademark of SEEDIS.

"Stakeholder" means any individual who has registered with SEEDIS on the BuildAction platform in this capacity (see Stakeholders)

“Subscriber” is a registered user of a SEEDIS Product.

“Subscription Period” means the period of time during which the Subscriber has the licensed right and entitlement to access and use of the subscribed Product.

“Subscription” means the licensed right and entitlement to use Platform Products.

“Terms” or "Terms of Use" means these General Terms and Conditions.

"Termination" means the end of any Arrangement either by Expiration or notice.

“Third-Party Content” means any Content on the SEEDIS Platform provided by a third party or such Content on websites that Users may access through the Platform.

“Third-Party Terms of Use” means the terms of use applicable to any Third-Party Content that Users may access through the SEEDIS Platform.

“User” means any person who accesses and uses the SEEDIS Platform and "You", "Your", "Yours" or any such pronoun that refers to the User.

Scope

The following terms and conditions are valid for the services provided by SEEDIS to the User within the framework of this contract.

SEEDIS reserves the right to amend these Terms at any time without giving reasons.  Should the Terms be amended, SEEDIS shall publish due notice of any amendments.  You agree to review the Terms regularly and your continued access or use of the SEEDIS Platform shall mean that you agree to any changes.

If any provision of these Terms is, for any reason, invalid and/or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Changes may be made to the SEEDIS Platform Content without notice.

The SEEDIS Platform may include inaccuracies or typographical errors.

All Site Content is copyrighted.  All rights reserved.  Content on this Site may also be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.

Each Registered User receives a unique user ID and password for use to gain access to the restricted areas of the SEEDIS Platform.  Under no circumstances whatsoever may Registered Users share or distribute their User ID or password to third parties.  Any breach of this term will result in the immediate suspension of the account.

Fair Use of or Fair Dealing with copyrighted materials permits use of content that might otherwise be infringing.

Purpose

BuildAction enables civil society and the stakeholders in the private and public sectors to take the action required for the sustainable development and operation of their communities.  The Platform provides a proper and respectful open environment for interested parties in the local and regional built environment to participate and communicate, collaborate, cooperate and coordinate the appropriate action among the stakeholders in their community.

BuildAction allows You to engage with the enablers of the sustainable development and operation of the built environment, offer products and services, suggest resources, repost relevant news, and post petitions addressed to national policymakers.  At the local level, You can also voice concerns, engage in discussions, request solutions for local projects, repost news of interest to the community, announce meetings, and post petitions addressed to local and regional policymakers.

Site User Representations and Warranties upon Registration

Each User is entitled to register with SEEDIS only once and the User may not establish more than one user profile.

The User warrants that all data provided for registration are accurate.

The User shall choose a password upon registration and keep this password secret.  SEEDIS shall not disclose the password to any third party.

Use of Content

Unauthorized use or duplication of any Content without express and written permission from the owner of the Content is strictly prohibited and may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws.

Where the publication of Content is authorized, it may not be altered in any fashion.  Excerpts and links may be used provided that full and clear credit is given to the owner of the IP rights and only with appropriate and specific direction to the original Content.

Where use of Content is granted, any Content held or saved in any fashion whatsoever by the User or any third party on the User's behalf shall upon Termination of the Arrangement promptly return, delete or destroy all such Content, but no later than in five business days of the Content Use.

Disclaimer

SEEDIS provides the Platform and its Content on an “as is” basis and does not make any express or implied warranties, representations, endorsements or conditions with respect to the Platform or the Content, including without limitation, warranties as to merchantability, operation, non-infringement, usefulness, completeness, accuracy, currentness, reliability and fitness for a particular purpose.  Although every reasonable effort is made to present current and accurate information, SEEDIS makes no such guarantees of any kind.

The Content of the SEEDIS Platform is for information purposes only and is not intended to provide to the User specific financial, investment, tax, legal or accounting advice and should not be relied upon in that regard.  The User shall not act or rely on any Content without seeking the advice of a professional.

SEEDIS does not review, monitor, control, endorse, approve or guarantee any Content created by external sources or information contained in links to external websites nor does it endorse any views expressed or products or services offered therein nor is SEEDIS responsible for the content of those external sites.  SEEDIS is providing these links to the User solely as a convenience.

SEEDIS does not represent or warrant that the Platform will meet the requirements of the User, that access will be uninterrupted, that there will be no delays, failures, errors or omissions or loss of transmitted information, that no viruses or other contaminating or destructive properties will be transmitted or that no damage will occur to the User’s computer system.  The User has sole responsibility for adequate protection and backup of data and/or equipment and to take reasonable and appropriate precautions to scan for computer viruses or other destructive properties.

Unless otherwise explicitly stated, the Content on the SEEDIS Platform is provided “as is”.  All express or implied conditions, representations and warranties, including any implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement are disclaimed, except to the extent that such disclaimers are held to be legally invalid.

In the event the User is referred to another party by SEEDIS at the User’s request, SEEDIS gives no warranty or undertaking whatsoever with regard to the professional competency of the person to which the User is referred.

Products provided by third-parties has have not been independently authenticated by SEEDIS.

Limitation of Liability

The User accepts that it makes use of the Content provided on the SEEDIS Platform and/or Products provided by SEEDIS at the User’s own risk.

SEEDIS shall not in any event be held responsible or liable to the User or anyone else for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with the User’s use of or inability to use the Platform or the Content or any action or decision made by the User in reliance on the Platform or the Content or any unauthorized use or reproduction of the Platform or the Content.

SEEDIS shall not in any event be held responsible or liable to the User or anyone else for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services available on or through any external sites or resource linked to or from the Platform.

Any unprotected e-mail communication over the Internet is not confidential, subject to possible interception or loss and subject to possible alteration.  Therefore, SEEDIS is not responsible for and shall not be held liable to anyone for any damages in connection with an e-mail sent by the User to or an e-mail sent by SEEDIS to the User at the User’s request.

The Customer must comply with all applicable laws and regulations of the country for which the Products are destined.  SEEDIS shall not be liable for any breach by the Customer of any such laws.

Your Rights and Obligations

Your use of the BuildAction platform is predicated on Your understanding and agreement with these Terms and Conditions of Use.

You have the right to take advantage of the BuildAction platform and make full use of it at your discretion.  You have the right to interreact on the platform in accordance with these Terms of Use, which includes the BuildAction Code of Conduct.

You bear all responsibility for any postings on the Platform from you.   We explicitly disclaim any responsibility for your postings whatsoever (see Disclaimer).

The Community Leaders take responsibility for encouraging and moderating the Users’ interaction on the platform.  See Leaders for the role and responsibility of BuildAction Leaders.

Platform Users have no financial obligation whatsoever towards SEEDIS.  The financial support of SEEDIS and the BuildAction initiative (see Support)  is strictly voluntary.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

The Content of all of the Articles and the Glossary is registered and copyrighted with the U. S. Patent Office and Trademark Office.  All Rights Reserved.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the Content owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used provided that full and clear credit is given to SEEDIS only with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.  Except where otherwise noted, Content on this Site is also licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.

All Content is provided by or to SEEDIS is the copyrighted work of SEEDIS or the Content Provider.  The User shall ensure that no Content be copied, mirrored, photocopied, reproduced, modified, uploaded, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior express written permission of the copyright owner.  Any unauthorized use of the Content is strictly prohibited and constitutes a copyright infringement.  Any User found in breach of this term shall have their account suspended immediately and violation of this term may lead to prosecution.

Nothing on this Platform shall be construed as conferring any license or permission under any of the Platform’s or any Content Provider’s intellectual property rights, whether by implication, or otherwise.  The User shall acknowledge sole responsibility for obtaining any such permission.

Permission is granted to display and download Materials on this Platform provided that: (1) the use of the Materials is solely for personal, non-commercial and informational use and shall not be copied or posted on any networked computer or broadcast in any media; and (2) no modifications of any of the Materials are made.  This permission terminates automatically without notice upon breach of any of these Terms by the User. Upon termination, the User shall immediately destroy any downloaded and printed Materials.  Any unauthorized use of any Materials contained on this Platform may violate copyright laws, trademark laws, the laws of privacy and publicity, and communications regulations and statutes.

SEEDIS may, at its sole discretion, remove Materials that it suspects may infringe or otherwise violate intellectual property rights of others.

Copyright Disclaimer

We profile organizations and use publicly available information, including logos, of our own volition and in the public interest.  This is for transformative and nonprofit educational purposes such that this "fair use" of or "fair dealing" with copyrighted works is not an infringement of copyright in countries that have adopted the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

Under section 107 of the US Copyright Act of 1976, “fair use” is explicitly allowed for purposes such as teaching, education, scholarship, criticism, comment, news reporting and research.  A similar notion of "fair dealing" was established under Article 9(2) of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

Copyright law in the EU explicitly states “fair dealing with a work for the purpose of criticism or review, of that or another work or of a performance of a work, does not infringe any copyright in the work provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement (unless this would be impossible for reasons of practicality or otherwise) and provided that the work has been made available to the public”.

"Fair use" of or "fair dealing" with copyrighted materials permits the use of content that might otherwise be infringing.   Any information displayed on the BuildAction platform can be edited by the copyright holder by claiming control of the Enabler's profile.  If any information about the Enabler of substantial significance and publicly displayed on the Platform is incorrect or misleading, the copyright holder can serve Us written notice to this effect via the contact form or by email.

The Platform is provided to the public free of charge and copyrighted content is published on it with appropriate attribution and for noncommercial purposes.

Access to Linked Sites and Use of Third-Party Content

You acknowledge your understanding and agree that access to any Linked Sites and Third-Party Content is provided to Site Users for information purposes only and made available by SEEDIS to Users without cost (free of charge).  You also acknowledge your understanding and agree that SEEDIS is not responsible for, and has no obligation to control, monitor or correct Third-Party Content.

While every care has been taken by SEEDIS in providing all Content on this Site, such data, information and materials are provided on an “as-is” and “as available” basis without any warranty of any kind whatsoever, either express or implied.  In particular, no warranty regarding accuracy, validity, sequence, timeliness, completeness, continued availability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, security or freedom from computer virus is given in conjunction with Linked Sites and Third-Party Content.  SEEDIS shall not be held liable for any errors or delays in accessing Linked Sites and Third-Party Content or for any actions taken by Users in reliance thereon.

SEEDIS does not undertake any duty to update the content on Linked Sites or otherwise advise Users of changes in Third-Party Content.

No Content on the Site is intended to provide professional advice and shall not be relied upon in that regard.  Site Users are advised to obtain appropriate professional advice when necessary.

Users accessing Linked Sites and Third-Party Content are required to inform themselves about and observe the terms of use of the relevant Linked Site and Third-Party Content.  For further information on the accessing and use of Linked Sites and Third-Party Content can be found in our Terms of Use.

Products and services referred to on SEEDIS's Site are offered only in jurisdictions where and when they may be lawfully offered by SEEDIS.  Site Content is not intended for use by persons located or resident in jurisdictions that restrict the distribution of such content by us.  Persons accessing the Site are required to inform themselves about any relevant restrictions and observe them.

Non-Disclosure of Confidential Information

The User undertakes to treat confidentially any information obtained or received from SEEDIS to the extent that at the time of such disclosure is not within the public domain.  The User shall not divulge or communicate such confidential information in whole or in part to any unauthorized person other than to those whose province it is to know the same or upon explicit approval of SEEDIS and shall use his/her best endeavors to prevent the publication or disclosure of any such confidential information by any other person.  This restriction will cease to apply to information that comes into the public domain – other than through the User's breach of the Terms – and will continue indefinitely

Privacy

Any information obtained from the User when communicating with SEEDIS or otherwise is stored by SEEDIS.  This information is collected solely for the purposes of communicating with the User, processing registrations, creating and maintaining user records, keeping Users informed of upcoming events and products, and assisting SEEDIS in improving services.  Under no circumstances shall this confidential information be passed by SEEDIS to a third party, except with the explicit approval of the User or as may be required by law, court order or governmental regulation or if such disclosure is otherwise necessary in support of any criminal or other legal investigation or proceeding.

See Privacy Policy for detailed information on Our privacy policy.

Association Membership

The Members of the Association are classified as Ordinary Member, Extraordinary Member, Sponsor Member and Honorary Member.  Ordinary Members participate fully in the work of the Association, Extraordinary Members support the activities of the Association primarily by paying an increased membership fee, Sponsor Members support the activities of the Association primarily through some means of sponsorship, and Honorary Members are persons who are appointed as Member of the Association at the sole discretion of the Board of Directors.

All natural persons as well as corporations and partnerships with legal capacity may become Members of the Association.  The Association's Board of Directors decides on the admission of members and can refuse admission without giving reasons.

Event Registration and Enrollment

All Registrations and Enrollments to an Event organized by SEEDIS are deemed to have been placed by the Registered User.

Event Attendees may be substituted.  There is no charge for a substitution unless the substitute Attendee is ineligible for any discount given to the original Attendee, in which case an invoice shall be issued to the Customer for the difference.

SEEDIS reserves the right to cancel an Event at any time without liability.  In such cases, the Customer shall be offered an alternative date or refunded any amounts received by SEEDIS for any cancelled Enrollments of the Customer.

Charges and Terms of Payment for Products and Services

All prices are in euro (€) and valid only as currently displayed.  Products and Services are quoted net of sales tax/valued-added tax (VAT).  Any applicable sales tax shall be borne by the Customer.

The Customer shall be promptly invoiced for all agreed reimbursable out-of-pocket expenses.

All fees and any applicable taxes are calculated in accordance with the laws in effect at the time.  In the event additional applicable taxes or levies are subsequently imposed, these shall be borne by the Customer.

The invoices submitted by SEEDIS to the Customer are payable promptly without any deductions and free of charges.  Payment should be made by electronic (wire) transfer.  All costs for funds transfer are to be borne by the client.

Non-compliance on the part of the Customer with the payment date gives SEEDIS the right to discontinue the provision of the agreed service and to withdraw from the contract.  All costs connected therewith as well as any loss of profit shall be borne by the Customer.  In case of delayed payment, interest on payment in arrears will be charged at customary bank rates.

The Customer is not entitled to withhold payment because of unsatisfactory delivery, warranty claims or complaints.

Unless explicitly included, the Attendee shall be held liable for any meals (breakfast, lunch or dinner) taken during the Event.

We reserve the right to amend and/or terminate any promotion at any time and without notice.

Miscellaneous

Unless otherwise stated in these Terms, the User shall submit all notices to SEEDIS using the contact form provided on the User Site or by e-mail.  SEEDIS shall correspond with the User by e-mail to the User's e-mail address in the User's user account.

The User's Terms and Conditions of Purchase are invalid for the legal transaction which is the subject of this agreement as well as for the entirety of the business relationship between SEEDIS and the User.

The place of performance of the Platform under these Terms shall be the User's registered office.

The contractual relationship and this Agreement between SEEDIS and the User shall be governed and construed in accordance with Austria law.

The User acknowledges agreement with and acceptance of these Terms by checking the checkbox statement “I have read and accept the General Terms and Conditions.” and clicking the submit button.

Official Language

The official text of this Agreement and any appendices, exhibits and schedules hereto, or any notice given or accounts or statements required by this Agreement shall be in English.  In the event of any dispute concerning the construction or meaning of this Agreement, reference shall be made only to this Agreement as written in English and not to any other translation into any other language.

Governing Law

This Agreement between SEEDIS and the User shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws applicable to SEEDIS.