ECOMMERCE FORUM AFRICA TERMS AND CONDITIONS (“TERMS”)
1. INTRODUCTION
These are the terms and conditions on which eCommerce Forum Africa (“ecomafrica”, or “we” or “us” or “our”) offers its website at www.ecomafrica.org (“Website”) and any digital content (“Content”) available for use to the public. Please read these terms carefully. These terms tell you who we are, how we willprovide the Website and Content to you, and what to do if there is a problem and
other important information. If you think that there is a mistake in these terms,please contact us at [email protected] to discuss.
2. INFORMATION ABOUT US AND HOW TO CONTACT US
2.1 We are a non-profit company registered in accordance with the company laws of South Africa. We consist of a voluntary association of members who are interested stakeholders in the South African eCommerce industry. Our registered office is at Post Office Box 1752 Jukskei Park, 2153 Gauteng.
2.2 You can contact us by visiting our Website and submitting a comment to us at http://ecomafrica.org/contact-us/ or calling us 011 704 0937 or by emailing us at [email protected]
2.3 How we may contact you. If we have to contact you we will do so by telephone or by writing to you at the email address you provided to us either by registering as a member or when you submitted a comment to us on our Website.
2.4 Please note that the following are incorporated into and form part of these Terms:
(a) our privacy policy, accessible at [INSERT HYPERLINK] (“Privacy Policy”);
and
(b) if you subscribe as member of eCommerce Forum Africa, the membership and subscription terms which is applicable to members, accessible at
[INSERT HYPERLINK] (“Membership Terms”).
2.5 By agreeing to these Terms, you also agree to be bound to the provisions of the Privacy Policy and if you are a member, the Membership Terms, as if they were included in these Terms in full.
2.6 You are not allowed to make use of any Content or associated services (“Services”) offered to you by us if you do not agree to these Terms, or you do not pay your current annual fee. If you make use of the Content or the Services, this will mean that you agree to our Terms. If you do not agree to our Terms, you must stop using the Content or the Services.
3. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS, OUR WEBSITE OR CONTENT
3.1 General: We may revise or change these Terms.
3.2 If you are member, we may change the Terms and we will notify you of such changes. We do this by sending you an email, or a pop-up message when you access the Website as a member which:
(a) reflects the changes; and
(b) if applicable, if the changes will not affect your use of the Website, the Content or our Services.
3.3 If you are not a member, all changes to the Terms, including the Privacy Policy, will take effect from the time we make the changes on our Website. It is your responsibility to review and check the Terms when you choose to use our Content or Services. You may then contact us if you do not understand any of the changes.
3.4 We may update our Website at any time, and we may change the Content at any time. However, please note that any of the Content on our Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update it. This Website may therefore not always contain the correct or most up-to-date information, details and descriptions relating to our Services. You are advised to contact us before using or relying on the information on the Website.
4. ACCESSING OUR WEBSITE AND THE USE OF THE CONTENT AND SERVICES
4.1 Access to our Website is made available free of charge but you may be required to pay certain membership fees to receive access to the benefits offered to members in accordance with the Membership Terms.
4.2 We do not permit copyright infringing activities and infringement of intellectual property rights on the Website, and we may, at our sole discretion, remove any infringing Content if we are of the view that such Content infringes on another's intellectual property rights.
4.3 We do not guarantee that our Website, or any Content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. Access to our Website is permitted on a temporary basis. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of our Website without notice. We will not be liable to you if for any reason our Website is unavailable at any time or for any period.
5. THIRD PARTY WEBSITES AND LINKING
5.1 Third Party Links and Resources in our Website
(a) The Website and the Services available through the Website may contain links to other third party websites, including social media platforms such as Facebook ("Third Party Websites").
(b) If you link to Third Party Websites, you may be subject to those Third Party Websites’ terms and conditions and other policies. Any participation on Facebook will be subject to Facebook terms and conditions. Hyperlinks provided on this Website to Third Party Websites, are provided "as is" and we does not necessarily agree with, edit or sponsor the content on such websites. We have no control over the contents of the Third Party
Websites or resources.
5.2 Linking to our Website
(a) You may hyperlink to our home page, provided you do so long as the hyperlink link does not portray us, our employees, affiliates or agents in a false, confusing, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive manner or in any way associate us with any derogatory or otherwise offensive content.
(b) You must not establish a hyperlink in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.
(c) You must not establish a hyperlink to our Website in any website that is not owned or licensed by you.
(d) Our Website must not be framed on any other Website, nor may you create a link to any part of our Website other than the home page.
(e) You agree to ensure that any hyperlink to the home page of the Website is clearly visible.
(f) We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
(g) You may not “hotlink or inline link” any images or Content without our prior written consent.
6. ACCURACY OF INFORMATION
6.1 Whilst we have taken all reasonable and foreseeable precautions to ensure the accuracy of all of the Content available on our Website, the Content is intended and produced for general information purposes only, and to the extent allowed by law, should not be relied upon by you as specific advice of any kind.
6.2 The Content is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely on and you must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the Content on our Website. You understand and agree that Content on this Website may change from time to time.
7. YOUR ACCOUNT AND PASSWORD
7.1 If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.
7.2 We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.
7.3 If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your user identification code or password, you must promptly notify us at [email protected].
8. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
8.1 We collect personal information from you. We will handle the collection, processing and storage of your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy further described in our Privacy Policy accessible at [INSERT LINK].
8.2 By disclosing or submitting your personal information to us, you consent to us collecting, processing and storing your personal information for the purposes described in our Privacy Policy.
9. YOUR BEHAVIOUR WHEN USING THE WEBSITE AND THE SERVICES
9.1 You may only use the Website and our Services if you comply with these Terms.
9.2 You may not use the Website to obtain or distribute copyrighted material or material protected by law without our prior written consent; or material containing viruses or any other destructive materials or data or code which is able to corrupt, interfere with, jeopardise, disrupt, disable, harm or otherwise impede in any manner the operation of a computer system or hardware or software.
9.3 You must not perform any act which may jeopardise or interfere with the functionality or the operation of any part of the Website or our Services. We may restrict, suspend or terminate your use of these Services or the Website where, in our sole discretion, we believe that there may have been such a misuse such as:
(a) using the Website for any improper, unlawful, or immoral purpose;
(b) causing any nuisance by your use of the Website or causing the operation of the Site to be jeopardised or impaired;
(c) using the Website to create, host, or transmit any defamatory, offensive, or obscene material, or engaging in activities which would cause offence to others on grounds of race, religion, creed, or sex;
(d) using the Website to harm or attempt to harm minors in any way;
(e) using the Website to create, host, or transmit any material that threatens or encourages bodily harm or the destruction of property, or would constitute a criminal offence or give rise to civil liability;
(f) using the Website to create, host, or transmit material which infringes the copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy, right of publicity, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights of any other party;
(g) using the Website to create, host, or transmit unsolicited advertising material to other users;
(h) using the Website to create, host, or transmit any material that harasses another;
(i) using the Website to make false, misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items or services, or to send chain letters or pyramid schemes or the like;
(j) adding, removing, or modifying identifying network header information or copyright management information, including author names, publication dates, or clearance agency names, in an effort to deceive or mislead;
(k) using the Website to access, or attempt to access, the accounts of others or to penetrate or attempt to penetrate our or a third party's security measures, computer software, hardware, electronic communication systems, or telecommunications systems;
(l) using the Website to collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent, or to engage in “screen scraping,” “database scraping,” or any other activity with the purpose of obtaining lists of users or other data;
(m) using the Website for any activity which adversely affects the ability of other people or systems to use the services or the Internet generally, including, without limitation, flooding and hacking;
(n) reselling, repurposing, or redistributing any Intellectual Property provided by us our contractors or our licensees without our prior written consent; or impersonating any person or entity or using a false name that you are not authorised to use;
(o) disclosing any personally identifiable information about yourself or any other party (e.g. telephone number, geographic address, or any other information from which an individual’s identity or contact information can be derived);
(p) knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our Website, the server on which our Website is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our Website. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. 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 our Website will cease immediately; and
(q) intercept any information transmitted to or from us or the Website which is not intended by us to be received by you.
9.4 This list provides examples and is not meant to be an exhaustive list of the type of unacceptable uses of the Website that may result in the restriction, suspension, or termination of your use of the Website. Due to the global nature of the Internet, you also agree to comply with all local rules regarding online conduct and acceptable
content. You agree to comply with any applicable rules regarding the export of any data from any country. Any restrictions on the use of the Website or the Content shall also apply to any part of the Website or the Content which may be cached when using the Website or the Content.
9.5 The Website and the Content may only be used by you for lawful purposes and shall not extend to the use of the source code of the Website or the Content. You are not allowed to (i) frame, modify, distribute, commercialise, exploit and/or alter the Website or the Content; (ii) incorporate any part of the Content in any other work or
publication; and/or (iii) perform any other act which may not be considered fair use.
9.6 You shall not and shall not allow a third party to:
(a) decompile, disassemble or otherwise reverse engineer or attempt to reconstruct or discover any source code, underlying ideas, algorithms, file formats, programming of the software forming part of the Website and/or the Content ("the Software") or any files contained in or generated by the Software by any means whatever;
(b) remove any product identification, copyright or other notices, from the Software or documentation;
(c) lend to a third party or use any portion of the Software (whether or not modified or incorporated with other software) on or with any machine or system other than your practice's hardware; or
(d) disseminate performance information or analysis of the Software from any source relating to the Software.
10. PUBLIC FORUMS AND POSTINGS
10.1 The Website may contain interactive services, including but not limited to discussion groups, news groups, bulletin boards, chat rooms, blogs and other social networking features (collectively, "Public Forums"), which may allow you to post, transmit or submit information, including but not limited to writings, images, illustrations, audio recordings, and video recordings ("Postings"). We may or may not actively monitor Postings on Public Forums. Similarly, we may or may not exercise editorial control over Postings on any Public Forum. You may be exposed to content on Public Forums that is inaccurate, fraudulent or deceptive, or that you find offensive or objectionable. Your use of Public Forums is at your own risk.
10.2 We reserve the right, but are not obliged, to monitor Public Forums and to remove or alter any Postings that we consider, in our sole discretion, to constitute misuse of these rules. We may restrict, suspend or terminate your use of these services or the Website where, in our sole discretion, we believe that there may have been such a misuse.
10.3 Any Postings you make will be deemed not to be confidential or secret. You understand that personal and other information (e.g., username, email address, phone number) that you post on or through Public Forums is generally accessible to, and may be collected and used by, others and may result in unsolicited messages or other contact from others. You should not include any personally identifiable information about yourself or any other person in any Postings. We reserve the right, but not the obligation, to remove any Postings that contain personally identifiable information. We shall not be liable for the use or misuse of any information or data, including personal information that you post on our Public Forums.
10.4 You represent and warrant that your Postings are original to you, do not infringe on another party’s intellectual property rights, are not obscene, vulgar, offensive, malicious, discriminatory, defamatory, or otherwise unlawful, that no other party has any rights thereto, and that any “moral rights” in your Postings have been waived, and you grant us a royalty-free, unrestricted, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, and fully transferable, assignable, and sub-licensable right and license to use, copy, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display such Postings (in whole or part) and/or to incorporate them in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed for any editorial, commercial, non-commercial, promotional, or other purpose.
10.5 We are not responsible for maintaining your Postings and we may delete or destroy them at any time.
10.6 Content, information, and materials posted by users to public forums (including Third Party Websites) are not endorsed by us. It is your responsibility to evaluate and confirm the accuracy of information provided by other users on or through public forums. The opinions expressed in Public Forums are not necessarily ours. Any statements, advice, and opinions made by participants are those of such participants only. We shall not be held responsible for any statements, advice, opinions, or other content or materials on Public Forums. You release us from all claims and demands of every kind and nature, known and unknown, howsoever arising out of or in any way connected with a dispute with another user of the Website.
11. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
11.1 All rights in all material (including Intellectual Property Rights) and content (including, but not limited to, text, images, web pages, sounds, software (including code, interface, and website structure), and video, and the look and feel, design, and compilation thereof) on the Website are owned or licensed by us. You agree that you are permitted to use this material and/or content as set out in these Terms.
11.2 For purposes of these Terms, "Intellectual Property Rights" shall mean any patents, rights to inventions, copyright and related rights, moral rights, trade marks, service marks, logos, trade names and domain names, rights in get-up, rights in goodwill or to sue for passing off, rights in designs, rights in computer software, database rights, scripts, graphics, photos, sounds, music, videos, interactive features and the like, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications (or rights to apply) for, and renewals or extensions of, such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which may now or in the future subsist in any part of the world.
11.3 We reserve all rights (including all intellectual property rights) not expressly granted wherein to the Website and the Content we make available on or via the Website.
11.4 You agree to not engage in the use, copying, or distribution of any of the Content other than as expressly permitted herein, including any use, copying, or distribution of Content of third parties obtained through the Website for any commercial purposes. If you download or print a copy of the Content for personal use, you must retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained therein.
11.5 You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security related features of the Website or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on the use of the Website or the Content therein. All moral rights of eCommerce Forum Africa and its employees/agents are reserved.
11.6 Any reproduction, modification, creation of derivative works from or redistribution of the Website, the Content, or the collective work or compilation is expressly prohibited. Copying or reproducing the Website, the Content, or any portion thereof to any other server or location for further reproduction or redistribution is expressly prohibited.
11.7 Where any of the Content has been licensed to us or belongs to any third party, your rights of use will also be subject to any terms and conditions which that licensor or third party imposes from time to time and you agree to comply with such third party terms and conditions.
12. INDEMNITY
12.1 As far as the law allows, you agree to defend, indemnify us and hold us and our officers, subsidiaries, holding companies, affiliates, successors, assigns, directors, officers, agents, service providers, suppliers, and employees harmless from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to attorneys' fees) arising from:
(a) your use of and access to the Website, and/or the Services;
(b) your violation of any term of these Terms;
(c) your violation of any third party right, including without limitation any copyright, trademark, trade secret or other property, or privacy right; or
(d) any claim that your Content caused damage to a third party. This defence and indemnification obligation will survive termination, modification or expiration of these Terms and your use of the Services and the Website.
13. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
13.1 Subject to paragraph 13.2 below, neither us nor any of our agents, officers, subsidiaries, holding companies, affiliates, successors, assigns, directors, service providers, suppliers, employees or representatives shall be liable for any damage, loss or liability of whatsoever nature arising from the use or inability to use the Website or the Services or content provided from and through the Website.Furthermore, we make no representations or warranties, implied or otherwise, that, amongst others, the content and technology available from the Website are free from errors or omissions or that the Services will be 100% uninterrupted and error free.
13.2 No provision of these Terms (or any contract governed by these Terms):
(a) does or purports to limit or exempt us from any liability (including, without limitation, for any loss directly or indirectly attributable to our gross negligence or wilful default or that of any other person acting for or controlled by us) to the extent that the law does not allow such a limitation or exemption; and
(b) requires you to assume risk or liability, to the extent that the law does not allow such an assumption of risk or liability.
14. EXCLUSION OF WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS
14.1 As far as the law allows, the Website and the Services are provided without any representation or warranty whatsoever, whether express, implied or statutory, including (without limitation) any representation or warranty as to the operation, integrity,compatibility, availability or functionality of the Website or as to the operation, accuracy, completeness, integrity, compatibility, availability functionality or reliability of the Content.
14.2 While the Membership Services provided by us may be subject to the additional payment terms and conditions provided in accordance with the Membership Terms, to the extent allowed by law, the Website and the Content are supplied in an "as is" basis and have not been compiled or supplied to meet your individual requirements.
14.3 These Terms, and any rights and licenses granted hereunder, may not be transferred or assigned by you, but may be assigned by us without restriction.
15. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
15.1 These Terms and the relationship between us shall be governed and construed in accordance with South African law.
15.2 Any disputes arising in connection with these Terms and our Services shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Cape Town, South Africa.
Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid (including, without limitation, because such provision is inconsistent with the laws of another jurisdiction) or inapplicable, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavour to give
effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision.
15.3 The termination of any contract created by these Terms will be without prejudice to any other rights or remedies that you or we may be entitled to under the agreement or at law, and will not affect any of our or your accrued rights or liabilities nor the coming into or continuance in force of any provision of these Terms which is
expressly or by implication intended to come into or continue in force on or after such termination.
15.4 These Terms, and any rights, obligations and licenses granted hereunder, may not be transferred, ceded, delegated or assigned by you, but may be transferred, ceded, delegated or assigned by us without restriction. We may sub-contract our obligations without your consent and we do not have to inform you if we subcontract any of our obligations.
15.5 These Terms shall apply for the benefit of and be binding upon each party’s successors and assigns.
15.6 Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
15.7 If these Terms (or any contract governed by these Terms) or the Services provided and/or made available on the Website are regulated by or subject to the Consumer
Protection Act 68 of 2008, as may be amended from time to time
(the "Consumer Protection Act"), it is not intended that any provision of these Terms contravene any provision of the Consumer Protection Act. Therefore all provisions of these Terms must be treated as being qualified, to the extent necessary, to ensure that the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act are complied with.
16. VARIATION OF CERTAIN DEEMING PROVISIONS IN THE ECT ACT
16.1 By using the Website and/or the Services, you agree that these Terms create a binding contract between us and you, even though these Terms are wholly or partly in the form of a data message. You agree specifically that:
(a) the contract will be treated as if it was concluded at our physical address on the date on which you first made any use of the Website;
(b) an electronic signature is not required by you or us for purposes of agreeing to these Terms;
(c) your use of the Website and/or the Services is sufficient evidence of your agreement to these Terms;
(d) any data message sent by either you or us to the other will be deemed to have been sent from our physical address if neither your usual place of business nor residence is located within South Africa;
(e) subject to the further provisions of these Terms, any communication sent to you by an information system programmed to operate automatically on our behalf will be a data message attributable to, or authorised by us; and
(f) subject to the further provision of these Terms, a data message sent by you to us will only be treated as having been received by us when an acknowledgement of receipt is sent by us personally or a person who had authority to act on our behalf in respect of that data message.
17. REQUIRED INFORMATION IN TERMS OF SECTION 43 OF THE ECT ACT
17.1 The ECT Act states that when goods or services are offered by way of electronic transactions, the seller must make certain information available to customers on websites where the goods or services are offered. This information is set out below:
(a) Full name: Ecommerce Forum Africa
(b) Main business address of receipt for legal service: Post Box 1752, Jukskei
Park, 2153 Gauteng
(c) Office bearers: Nic Robertson (Chairman), Terry Murphy (Convenor),
Alastair Tempest (Director)
(d) Our membership to any self-regulatory or accreditation bodies: N/A
(e) The manner and period within which you can access and maintain a full
record of any payment transaction: N/A
(f) Webmaster: Kode88
(g) Official website: www.ecomafrica.org
(h) Email address: [email protected]
----------------------------------