Terms of Use of the Simpl Community (last update: 26/07/2024)
About the Community
This Community is managed by the Consortium (currently Sovereign-X and hereinafter referred to as Consortium) on behalf of the European Commission, DG Connect Unit E.2.
The Simpl Community will comprise of a network of individuals and institutions that voluntarily contribute to and participate in the ongoing formulation and expansion of Simpl. The Community and its respective spaces favour the exchange of insights and input which can be used to improve Simpl services and facilitate implementation.
By accessing and using the Simpl Community (hereinafter, the ‘Community’), all Users agree to be bound by these Terms of Use.
The European Commission, as host of the Europa Communities platform, may modify these Terms of Use to reflect changes to the Community policies or functionalities, or for legal and security reasons. The European Commission will inform Users of any substantial modifications to the Terms of Use.
1. Submission of content to the Community
Users must behave in a courteous and professional manner and treat all other users with respect, dignity, and consideration, in the spirit of valuing a diversity of views and opinions. The submission of unsuitable content is not allowed. The following content, among others, is deemed unsuitable:
- content that violates any laws or any third parties’ rights.
- abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, xenophobic, threatening or sexually oriented comments;
- spam, advertising for a website or product;
- duplicate content, where the same content has been posted more than once by the same user;
- off-topic comments; and
- links to illegal or pirated software.
Users must respect intellectual property. They must only submit content that they have personally created and own or have permission to use and have properly credited.
Users may not use the Community in a manner which may mislead or confuse people into believing that any products and services provided by the User are in some way endorsed or certified by the European Union. Under no circumstance shall the User use the European Commission logo or otherwise spend the official name and credentials of the European Commission to imply affiliation, endorsement or other official link to European Commission unless explicitly permitted under the European Commission's visual identity policy (https://ec.europa.eu/info/resources-partners/european-commission-visual-identity_en).
Users shall follow all applicable laws and regulations. Users must refrain from attempting or performing any activity that could harm or violate the website's network performance and/or security, or any other activity driven by unlawful purposes.
2. Content ownership and licence
Users who submit content to the Community retain ownership of all copyright and/or any other intellectual property rights in relation to said content and remain free to use it, for any purpose, outside the Community.
Without prejudice to the previous paragraph, by submitting content on the Community, Users are granted access by the Consortium managing the Simpl website on behalf of the European Commission and the European Union. This is a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, non-commercial, sub-licensable licence to use that content, including the rights to reproduce, distribute, modify, translate, create derivative works, display, and communicate it to the public, for the purposes of operating, promoting, or improving the Community or promoting the European Union and/or the activities of the Consortium, provided that the source is acknowledged. The licence is granted for the entire duration of the copyright and, where applicable, related rights.
3. Content review
Although the use of the website requires all Users to comply with these Terms of Use, some inappropriate user-generated content may still be submitted and displayed. The Consortium managing the Simpl website on behalf of the European Commission reserves the right to reject, edit, move, or delete any content that violates the Terms of Use, without notice.
The review of content by the Consortium managing the Simpl website on behalf of the European Commission shall not limit the liability of Users, who remain fully responsible for their content and liable for any damages or other liability arising from unlawful use of the Community.
Without limiting any of these Terms, the Consortium managing the Simpl website on behalf of the European Commission has the right (though not the obligation) to, in its sole discretion (i) refuse or remove any content that, in its opinion, violates any policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable, or (ii) terminate or deny access to and use of the Community to any individual or entity for any reason.
4. Suspension and termination
The Consortium reserves the right to suspend or terminate access to the Community if it considers there are grounds for doing so, and in particular in the event of violations of the Terms of Use, without creating any liability on its part. In the event of a decision to suspend or terminated access of a User, the Consortium managing the Simpl website on behalf of the European Commission may, at its own discretion, notify the User, specifying the reasons for the suspension or termination, the date on which it takes effect and the duration in case of suspension.
Users are entitled to terminate their use of the Community at any time.
5. Warranties and Liability
Users hereby warrant that:
- they are the author and/or rightsholder of the content they submit and/or have obtained all necessary licences and consent from third parties that have rights over such content.
- no third party has any rights to the submitted content that could in any way limit the rights of the Consortium, the European Union or other Users resulting from the Terms of Use.
- they are entitled to grant a licence to use the content in accordance with the Terms of Use.
- submitted content does not violate any laws or any third parties’ rights.
- Users are fully responsible for their content and shall be liable for any loss or damage caused to the Consortium, the European Union or to third parties by any unlawful conduct in the use of the Community.
6. Disclaimer
The European Commission and the Consortium cannot guarantee that information made available on the Community is reliable or up to date.
While, as host of the Europa Communities platform, the European Commission takes all possible steps to minimise disruption caused by technical errors, the European Commission cannot guarantee that access to the Community will not be interrupted or otherwise affected by problems.
Access to the Community may also occasionally be suspended, restricted or impeded in order to perform repairs, maintenance operations or to introduce new services. Neither Consortium nor the European Commission will be liable for any incidental, consequential, direct or indirect damages including but not limited to the loss of data, lost profits, or any other financial loss arising from the use of, or inability to use, the Community even if the Consortium or the European Commission has been notified of the possibility of such loss, damages, claims or costs or for any claim by any third party.
The European Commission or the Consortium on behalf of the European Commission can at any time decide to close the Community.