Terms and conditions
1. Terms of use
This page and any pages it links to explains the CCS website terms of use. You must agree to these to use the CCS website.
Who we are
The CCS website is managed by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) on behalf of the Crown. CCS is part of the Cabinet Office and will be referred to as ‘CCS’ from now on.
Using the CCS website
You agree to use the CCS website only for lawful purposes. You must also use it in a way that doesn’t infringe the rights of, or restrict or inhibit the use and enjoyment of, this site by anyone else.
We update the CCS website all the time. We can change or remove content at any time without notice.
Only access the system using organisational email accounts. Personal email accounts are not permitted (e.g. Hotmail, Gmail, Google Mail).
Keep passwords and access codes secure and confidential and do not share them with others.
Services and transactions
You can use the CCS website to access CCS services and transactions, eg The Purchasing Platform.
These can be managed by CCS or another agency.
Some services have their own terms and conditions which also apply – read these before you use the service.
Linking to the CCS website
We welcome and encourage other websites to link to the CCS website.
You must contact us for permission if you want to either:
- charge your website’s users to click on a link to any page on the CCS website
- say your website is associated with or endorsed by CCS or another government department or agency
Linking from CCS website
The CCS website links to websites managed by other government departments and agencies, service providers or other organisations. We don’t have any control over the content on these websites.
We’re not responsible for:
- the protection of any information you give to these websites
- any loss or damage that may come from your use of these websites, or any other websites they link to
You agree to release us from any claims or disputes that may come from using these websites.
You should read all terms and conditions, privacy policies and end user licences that relate to these websites before you use them.
Using CCS content
Most content on the CCS website is subject to Crown copyright protection and is published under the Open Government Licence (OGL).
Some content is exempt from the OGL – check the list of exemptions.
Departmental logos and crests are also exempt from the OGL, except when they form an integral part of a document or dataset.
If any content isn’t subject to Crown copyright protection or published under the OGL, we’ll usually credit the author or copyright holder.
You can reproduce content published on the CCS website under the OGL as long as you follow the licence conditions.
Contact us if you want to reproduce a piece of content but aren’t sure if it’s covered by Crown copyright or the OGL.
We make most of the content on the CCS website available through feeds for other websites and applications to use. The websites and applications that use our feeds aren’t our products, and they might use versions of our content that have been edited and stored for later use (‘cached’).
We don’t give any guarantees, conditions or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of any content used by these products. We’re not liable for any loss or damage that may come from your use of these products.
Disclaimer
While we make every effort to keep the CCS website up to date, we don’t provide any guarantees, conditions or warranties that the information will be:
- current
- secure
- accurate
- complete
- free from bugs or viruses
We don’t publish advice on the CCS website. You should get professional or specialist advice before doing anything on the basis of the content.
We’re not liable for any loss or damage that may come from using the CCS website. This includes:
- any direct, indirect or consequential losses
- any loss or damage caused by civil wrongs (‘tort’, including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise
- the use of the CCS website and any websites that are linked to or from it
- the inability to use the CCS website and any websites that are linked to or from it
This applies if the loss or damage was foreseeable, arose in the normal course of things or you advised us that it might happen.
This includes (but isn’t limited to) the loss of your:
- income or revenue
- salary, benefits or other payments
- business
- profits or contracts
- opportunity
- anticipated savings
- data
- goodwill or reputation
- tangible property
- intangible property, including loss, corruption or damage to data or any
- computer system
- wasted management or office time
We may still be liable for:
- death or personal injury arising from our negligence
- fraudulent misrepresentation
- any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law
Requests to remove content
You can ask for content to be removed from the CCS website. We’ll only do this in certain cases, eg if it breaches copyright laws, contains sensitive personal data or material that may be considered obscene or defamatory.
Contact us to ask for content to be removed. You’ll need to send us the web address (URL) of the content and explain why you think it should be removed. We’ll reply to let you know whether we’ll remove it.
We remove content at our discretion in discussion with the department or agency responsible for it. You can still request information under the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act.
Information about you and your visits to the CCS website
We collect information about you in accordance with our privacy policy and our cookie policy. By using the CCS website, you agree to us collecting this information and confirm that any data you provide is accurate.
Virus protection
We make every effort to check and test the CCS website for viruses at every stage of production. You must make sure that the way you use the CCS website doesn’t expose you to the risk of viruses, malicious computer code or other forms of interference which can damage your computer system.
We’re not responsible for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or computer system that might happen when you use the CCS website.
Viruses, hacking and other offences
When using the CCS website, you must not introduce viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or any other material that’s malicious or technologically harmful.
You must not try to gain unauthorised access to the CCS website, the server on which it’s stored or any server, computer or database connected to it.
You must not attack the CCS website in any way. This includes denial-of-service attacks.
We’ll report any attacks or attempts to gain unauthorised access to the CCS website to the relevant law enforcement authorities and share information about you with them.
Governing law
These terms and conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.
Any dispute you have which relates to these terms and conditions, or your use of the CCS website (whether it be contractual or non-contractual), will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
General
There may be legal notices elsewhere on the CCS website that relate to how you use the site.
We’re not liable if we fail to comply with these terms and conditions because of circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
We might decide not to exercise or enforce any right available to us under these terms and conditions. We can always decide to exercise or enforce that right at a later date.
Doing this once won’t mean we automatically waive the right on any other occasion.
If any of these terms and conditions are held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining terms and conditions will still apply.
Changes to these terms and conditions
Please check these terms and conditions regularly. We can update them at any time without notice.
You’ll agree to any changes if you continue to use the CCS website after the terms and conditions have been updated.
2. Privacy policy
We collect certain information or data about you when you use the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Portal.
This includes:
- details that you provide at registration
- questions, queries or feedback you leave, including your email address if you send an email to CCS
- your IP address, and details of which version of web browser you used
- information on how you use the site, using cookies and page tagging
- techniques to help us improve the website
- preferences updated in ‘My Account’
- details to allow you to access CCS services and transactions, eg an email address (you’ll always be told when this information is being collected, and it will only be used for the purpose you provide it for)
This helps us to:
- improve the site by monitoring how you use it
- respond to any feedback you send us, if you’ve asked us to
- provide you with information about relevant services if you want it
- enable you to sign in to other CCS applications with the same user credentials
Where your data is stored
We store your data on our secure servers in Europe.
It may also be stored outside of Europe, where it could be viewed by our staff or suppliers.
By submitting your personal data, you agree to this. If you no longer wish for CCS to hold your personal data you can contact Customer Service Desk below with the below details or online
Email : info@crowncommercial.gov.uk
Tel: 0345 410 2222
Keeping your data secure
Transmitting information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and we can’t guarantee the security of your data.
Any data you transmit is at your own risk.
We have procedures and security features in place to try and keep your data secure once we receive it.
We won’t share your information with any other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes, and we don’t pass on your details to other websites.
You can update your marketing preferences by Logging into My account and updating your profile information.
Disclosing your information
We may pass on your personal information if we have a legal obligation to do so, or if we have to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements. This includes exchanging information with other government departments for legal reasons.
Your rights
You can find out what information we hold about you, and ask us not to use any of the information we collect.
Links to other websites
The CCS website contains links to and from other websites.
This privacy policy only applies to this website, and doesn’t cover other services and transactions that we link to.
Following a link to another website
If you go to another website from this one, read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information.
Following a link to the CCS website from another website
If you come to the CCS website from another website, we may receive personal information about you from the other website. You should read the privacy policy of the website you came from to find out more about this.
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