Terms & Conditions

Use of this website constitutes an Agreement with the following terms and conditions:

General information 

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) maintains this website (the “Site”) as a courtesy to assist the members of the Legal and Technical Commission(“Users”) in undertaking their work. All content on the Site is copyright protected.

ISA grants permission to Users to visit the Site and to download, copy and print information, documents and materials (collectively, “Materials”) from the Site for non-commercial use, without any right to resell or redistribute them or to compile or create derivative works therefrom, subject to the terms and conditions outlined below, and subject also to more specific restrictions that may apply to specific Material in accordance with  the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as well as Rules Regulations and Procedures of the ISA.

Permission to reproduce the Material and/or translate in whole, in any form, whether for commercial/for profit or non-profit purposes, must be requested in writing. Any original Material may not be altered or separately published without permission.

Confidentiality

By using this Site, users acknowledge that in the course of performing their responsibilities, they may become exposed to or acquire Confidential Information or data that is proprietary to and/or confidential to ISA Contractors, their respective clients, and investors or to third parties to whom the other party owes a duty of confidentiality. With respect to all such Confidential Information, users shall consent to the following:

(i) The user shall exercise a reasonable standard of care in the use of data obtained from the Site. Users shall not copy, reproduce, summarize, quote, sell, assign, license, market, transfer or otherwise give or disclose information obtained from the Site to third parties or use such information for any purpose other than assisting in the work of the Commission.

(ii) maintain and ensure effective security measures to protect Confidential Information from unauthorized disclosure or use by third parties, including but not limited to protecting user login credentials from third party access;

(iii) immediately report to the ISA Secretariat in the event of a suspected breach or unauthorised access by third parties to the confidential content obtained from the Site.

Photographs

Where ISA is the exclusive copyright holder, the conditions for reuse of the photographs on the ISA Sites are the same as those for other content, except that photographs must not be modified without prior permission. Where the copyright ownership is shared between ISA and the photographer (or where ownership cannot be determined from ISA Sites), permission must be requested for any reuse beyond downloading for private use, research, and teaching purposes.

Permission must be requested for any commercial use, advertising, marketing, storage, or third-party distribution of ISA photographs. ISA reserves the right to withhold distribution and/or permission to reproduce ISA photographic material should intended use be considered inappropriate. ISA photographs must be credited each time they are published. The recommended citation format for photographs is ISA/ [name of photographer].

Copyright-protected material

The Site may include third-party copyright material for which rights and permissions must be obtained from the copyright holder(s) indicated.

The ISA emblem (official logo) is ISA’s corporate identifier and official seal. It is protected under international treaties and conventions on intellectual property. Accordingly, its use is highly restricted and is prohibited without prior permission. Requests for the use of the ISA emblem for any reason whatsoever, whether or not in association with other logos, must be obtained from ISA. If permission for the use of the ISA emblem is granted, instructions for its placement and display, including related disclaimers, must be strictly adhered to.

The use and reproduction of content containing the ISA emblem must not be associated with advertising or with the names of proprietary products and must not imply the ISA’s endorsement of products or services in any way. The ISA reserves the right to request the immediate removal of its emblem from unauthorized Sites or products.

 Disclaimers

ISA periodically adds, changes, improves, or updates the Materials on this Site without notice. Under no circumstances shall ISA be liable for any loss, damage, liability, or expense incurred or suffered that is claimed to have resulted from the use of the Site, including, without limitation, any fault, error, omission, interruption, or delay with respect thereto. The use of the Sites is at the User’s sole risk. Under no circumstances, including but not limited to negligence, shall ISA or its affiliates be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, even if ISA has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

The User specifically acknowledges and agrees that ISA is not liable for any conduct of any User. As a condition of use of this Site, the User agrees to indemnify ISA and its affiliates from and against any and all actions, claims, losses, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of the User’s use of this Site, including, without limitation, any claims alleging facts that if true would constitute a breach by the User of these Terms and Conditions. If the User is dissatisfied with any Material on this Site or with any of its Terms and Conditions of Use, the User’s sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the Site.

This Site may contain links and references to third-party websites. Such linked websites are not under the control of ISA; therefore ISA is not responsible for the content of any such website. The inclusion of a link or reference does not imply the endorsement of the linked website by ISA.

Communication forums

This Site may contain bulletin boards, chat rooms, access to mailing lists or other message or communication facilities (collectively, “Forums”). The User agrees to use the Forums only to send and receive messages and materials that are proper and related to the particular Forum. By way of example and not as a limitation, the User agrees that when using a Forum, they shall not do any of the following:

1. Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others;
2. Publish, post, distribute or disseminate and defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent or unlawful material or information;
3. Upload or attach files that contain software or other material protected by intellectual property laws (or by rights of privacy and publicity) unless the User owns or controls the rights thereto has received all consents, therefore, as may be required by law;
4. Upload or attach files that contain viruses, corrupted files or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another’s computer;
5. Delete and author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in any file that is uploaded.
6. Falsify the origin or source of software or other material contained in a file that is uploaded;
7. Advertise or offer to sell any goods or services, or conduct or forward surveys, contests or chain letters, or download any file posted by another user of a Forum that the User knows.

ISA reserves the right to remove, for any reason and without notice, any material deemed to be unauthorised or inappropriate content from forums, including, without limitation, e-mail, and bulletin board postings.

Preservation of Immunities

Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or a waiver of the privileges and immunities of ISA, which are specifically reserved.

Inviolable rights

ISA reserves its exclusive right in its sole discretion to alter, limit or discontinue the Site or any Materials therein contained. ISA shall be under no obligation to take the needs of any User into consideration in connection therewith.

ISA reserves the right to deny within its sole discretion any user access to this Site or any portion thereof without notice.

No waiver by ISA of any provision of these Terms and Conditions shall be binding except as set forth in writing and signed by its duly authorized representative.

Notification of Amendments

ISA reserves the right to revise these Terms at its sole discretion and at any time. Any revisions to the Terms will take effective immediately. For any material changes to the Terms and conditions of use, ISA will take reasonable steps to notify the user of such changes, via a banner on the website, email notification, or other method(s). The continued use of the Site following the implementation of such changes, with or without notification, constitutes a binding acceptance of the revised Terms and conditions.