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Terms of Service

These terms of service (“Terms of Service”) apply to the Research Software Directory (the "RSD"), developed by the Netherlands eScience Center.

The RSD is hosted and maintained by Stichting Netherlands eScience Center ("eScience Center", "us", "we" and the like) in the Netherlands. The Netherlands eScience Center is the national centre for innovative software solutions in academic research, with the aim to bridge the gap in knowledge and expertise between digital technologies and academic inquiry.

1. What is the RSD

1.1 The RSD is an online content management system for research software ("Research Software"), through which organizations ("Organizations") and individual users ("Users") can make their Research Software findable and accessible, and present it in its academic context. The RSD contains entries with respect to Research Software, which includes relevant information about the Research Software, its developers and project team members involved (each a "Contributor") as well as metadata and hyperlinks to related publications, e.g. as blogs, in books, papers, journals, video’s, etc. (each a "Mention").

1.2 Users can get access to the RSD by logging in via a supported identity provider ("Identity Provider"). When a User logs in for the first time, an RSD account ("Account") will be created automatically for that User. Through this Account, a User can contribute information about Research Software and Projects to the RSD. A User can only contribute to Research Software and Projects for which the User is registered as a maintainer ("Maintainer"). A User becomes a Maintainer automatically when the User adds new Research Software or Projects to the RSD, or by invitation of a Maintainer of existing Research Software and projects.

1.3 For an Organization to become a member ("Member") of the RSD the Organization must contact the RSD Team ("RSD Team") to discuss the terms of membership. After an agreement is reached, the Organization will be registered an official Member. The Organization may then appoint a User as Maintainer of the Organization information in the RSD.

2. What do we expect of you when using the RSD?

When you use the RSD, you agree to and, where applicable, declare the following:

  • You are 18 years or older and you are legally authorized to conclude agreements under applicable laws;
  • You are authorized by your Organization to have and use an Account and to use the RSD. "Use" of the RSD for the purpose of these Terms of Service also includes accessing it and adding content ("Content") to it;
  • You shall use the RSD only for your own and/or your Organization’s purposes;
  • You shall provide at your own expense all hardware, internet service and other devices and times necessary for the use of the RSD;
  • You shall use the RSD in accordance with applicable laws and regulations and not in violation of any third-party rights;
  • You shall not knowingly place incorrect or otherwise misleading or unlawful Content in the RSD;
  • When you add your details in your profile under your Account, you shall add your real details and keep them up to date (you can update your information at any time through your Account);
  • You shall keep your log-in details secure and will not share them with any other person, whether inside or outside your Organization;
  • You are responsible for all activity occurring under your Account. If you believe your Account has been, or can be, accessed by an unauthorized person, you should immediately change your password and should notify us immediately by email at rsd@esciencecenter.nl;
  • You shall make sure the device on which you use your Account, and the internet connection used, are properly secured, so that unauthorized others cannot access your Account;
  • Neither you, nor your Organization are restricted from using the RSD, for example due to export controls in any jurisdiction and/or because you and/or your Organization are listed on a restricted parties list in any jurisdiction and/or if we have previously blocked your Account;
  • Neither you, nor anyone on your behalf shall use the RSD in a manner that would require us and/or you to obtain an export control license in any country. Such use includes without limitation training or use for weapons, whether biological, chemical, nuclear or otherwise and for any other military or nuclear devices;
  • You may delete your Account at any time, in which case the data in your Account will also be deleted. Content you have added to the RSD will not be deleted.

3. What can you expect of us?

3.1. We will try to answer your questions about the RSD as soon as possible but we currently do not provide ongoing support for the RSD in the sense that we can solve issues of individual Users. We may decide at our discretion which functionality is offered in the RSD and we can update the RSD from time to time. You are welcome to send us improvement suggestions with respect to the RSD, but we cannot be obliged to implement suggestions.

3.2. We provide the RSD with the functionalities and other specifications “as is, where is”. We do not give any guarantees with regard to the RSD, such as that it has full functionality, that it is free from errors or that it operates 24/7. We will however try to keep the RSD available to you as continuously as we can.

4. Personal data

4.1. In order for us to offer you the RSD and make your Account available to you, we must process your personal data. Please find more information about the processing of your personal data in our Privacy Policy.

4.2. We are the controller of the personal data of Contributors and Users processed in the RSD, as meant in the European General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR").

4.3. You will view and use the personal data of Contributors for your own or your Organization’s purposes through your Account – in the context of contributing to Research Software entries. You or your Organization are responsible as a controller for the processing of such data and you and your Organization warrant that you will comply with applicable laws, such as the GDPR, with respect to such data processing. This means, amongst others, that if you cause a data breach, for example because your log-in details are used by an unauthorized person to access your Account, you are responsible for notifying this to the competent authorities and the relevant Contributors and Users involved, if so required by law. It also means that you and/or your Organization are responsible for informing Contributors and (where applicable) the Users about the data processing and its purposes, and that you and your Organization may only process the personal data for the purposes as made known in the Privacy Policy of the RSD and/or for purposes that are compatible with those purposes, or with the relevant data subject’s valid consent.

4.4. Should you access personal data in the RSD from outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"), and such access can be regarded as a transfer of personal data to a third country under the GDPR, you agree to be bound by the European Commission’s then current Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers to outside the EEA applicable to controller to controller transfers.

4.5. If you add information with respect to a Contributor you must inform the Contributor that you have done so. If the information of the Contributor turns out the be incorrect on incomplete (e.g. you have added the wrong Contributor to a certain Research Software entry), you shall correct the information yourself as soon as you find the error, or at our, or the Contributor’s request. You may ask us, respectively the Contributor to evidence why the information is incorrect. You and your Organization shall also handle other requests from Contributors or, if you are an Administrator, from the relevant Users, with respect to their personal data for which you or your Organization are the controller.

4.6. If you and/or your Organization has violated the GDPR, other applicable data protection and/or privacy legislation and/or this Section 4, you and your Organization indemnify and hold us harmless from the costs, damages and other losses we suffer as a result of such violation.

5. Intellectual property rights

5.1. All intellectual property rights, including ‘sui generis’ database rights and the like related to the RSD ("our intellectual property rights") remain ours or our licensors’. For the avoidance of doubt: the foregoing does not include third-party content included in the RSD.

5.2. You are granted a revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, limited right to use the RSD for the purposes set out in these Terms of Service, we reserve all other rights.

5.3. You grant us an irrevocable, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide and perpetual right to use the Content in and in the context of the RSD. You and your Organization indemnify and hold us harmless from any costs, damages and other losses we suffer as a result of third-party claims stating that the Content infringes such third-party rights or is otherwise unlawful.

5.4. You are not allowed to grant or transfer the right granted to you to any others, or make copies – or parts of it – of the RSD, or to sell, exploit, transfer, lease, distribute, rent it or otherwise dispose of the RSD, or grant other any other any rights thereto without our prior consent. You may not make changes to the RSD, except of course when you are adding Content during your use of the RSD.

6. Notice and take down

6.1. We do not moderate contributions that Users make to the RSD. However, we may be pursuant to applicable laws, be obliged to remove evidently unlawful Content.

6.2. If someone finds any Content to be unlawful, e.g. because it does not comply with applicable laws, with these Terms of Service or because it infringes their rights, they may contact us (see below under “How can you contact us?”) and request us to remove such Content. In the request, the requestor must identify themselves, indicate what Content they wish to be removed, explain why it is unlawful and provide the information required to support this and give us a reasonable term to remove the Content.

6.3. If we determine the Content is unequivocally unlawful, we shall remove it. If we determine the Content is not unequivocally unlawful, we shall inform the requestor thereof and indicate why.

7. When can we block your account?

7.1. We reserve the right to temporarily block or permanently remove your Account if:

  • We find that you are in violation of one or more provisions of these Terms of Service;
  • We are asked to do so by competent authorities, including competent courts;
  • We have received a request as indicated above in Section 6 and we find the Content is unequivocally unlawful;
  • You have passed away;
  • You are a Maintainer of an organization and no longer work for that Organization.

We may, but do not have to, warn you before we block your account.

7.2. We will block a User’s account who has passed away upon the request of the User’s family or heirs or the User’s Organization. We reserve the right to ask proof of the User’s demise.

7.3. After your Account has been blocked (and deleted), you can no longer use the RSD or your Account.

7.4. We reserve the right to stop offering the RSD and to stop updating the RSD for our own reasons without being liable for any costs, damages or other losses. If we then close all Accounts, this means you can no longer use your Account.

8. Liability

8.1. To the extent permitted under applicable law, we, as well as the parties and persons we work with in relation to the RSD, limit our liability as set out below.

8.2. Our liability is limited to compensation of direct damages, and to either amount paid by our insurer, or, if our insurer does not pay out, an amount of EUR 250 (two hundred and fifty euro’s). Direct damages are solely understood to mean the reasonable and evidenced costs for determining the damage and our liability. We cannot be held liable for any other types of damages, including without limitation any indirect damages, consequential damages, special damages, punitive damages, loss of business revenue, loss of profit, loss of business operations, loss of data, loss of business information, reputational damage, damage caused by, or to other Users and/or to Contributors, damage caused by us blocking your Account as set out in these Terms of Service, damage caused by incorrect links in the RSD, other types of damages other than direct damages, even if you or we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

8.3. The foregoing limitations do not apply in case of the intent or gross negligence of our managing directors – who cannot however in any case be held personally liable.

8.4. We also, to the extent permitted under applicable law, disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including without limitation, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, results or performance of a service, or non-infringement, or that the servers that make the RSD available are free of viruses or other harmful components.

8.5. You agree that, because we are a non-profit organization and use of the RSD is free or for a non-commercial fee, the above limitations of liability are justified.

8.6. We are not liable for damage as a result of force majeure events. This includes amongst others errors in telecommunications infrastructure or the internet, problems with operating system manufacturer of your device, problems with our suppliers, service providers or other hired third parties, government measures, agents or suppliers which we depend on to make the RSD available.

8.7. In any event we can only be liable for damage after we have been served a written notice of default, setting out the default in detail and allowing us a reasonable remedy term of at least four weeks to remedy the default, and if we have then not remedied the default within such term.

8.8. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, you are responsible for any claims from others that we receive, and which are the result of you not complying with these Terms of Service, or any other of your acts or omissions.

9. Can we change these Terms of Service?

We may have to change these Terms of Service from time to time. If we do so, we will introduce the changed terms by making them available to you at log-in for your approval. If you do not agree with the changed terms, you can delete your Account.

10. What else?

10.1. The legal relationship with you, including these Terms of Service and any ensuing conflicts are governed by the laws of the Netherlands.

10.2. The court in the area of our main establishment in the Netherlands has jurisdiction with regard to any conflicts between Users and us.

10.3. In case a provision of these Terms of Service is invalid in any way, this does not influence the other provisions of the Terms of Service. The invalid provision will be deemed replaced by a provision that is valid, in view of its original intent and purpose. We will update our Terms of Service as soon as possible.

10.4. If we do not enforce a certain provision of these Terms of Service, this does not mean we waive our rights to enforce such, or any other provision.

10.5. The agreement with you is archived in the sense that we log your acceptance of these Terms of Service and the registration of your Account.

10.6. The agreement with you is concluded in English. If these Term of Service are translated, the English version always prevails.

10.7. For Organizations that are established outside the Netherlands, articles 6:232 and 6:234 (jo. 6:230c) of the Dutch Civil Code apply.

10.8. Article 6:227b paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code does not apply and you waive your right to dissolution or annulment under Article 6:227b paragraph 4 and / or paragraph 5 of the Dutch Civil Code as well as Article 6: 227c paragraph 2 and / or paragraph 5 Dutch Civil Code.

11. How can you contact us?

If you have any questions or complaints or another reason to contact us, please do so at:

Stichting Netherlands eScience Center
Science Park 402 (Matrix III)
1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
rsd@esciencecenter.nl