FSC Trace Beta Terms & Conditions

For the purpose of these Terms and Conditions, specific terms and abbreviations are used which shall have the meaning as defined below:

1.1.    ‘Approved’ is the result of Validation as compliant with the User’s FSC Certification.
1.2.    ‘Processing Run’ is a process when a set of inputs is transformed into one or more outputs by a license holder; this processing typically occurs in batches, but the term also applies to production of single items.
1.3.    ‘FSC AC’ is a company with its registered office in Calle Margarita Maza de Juárez # 422, Col. Centro, 68000 Oaxaca, Mexico. FSC AC is an international not-for-profit membership organization established to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, economically viable and overall sustainable management of the world’s forests. 
1.4.    ‘FSC GD’ is the Forest Stewardship Global Development GmbH with limited liability wholly owned by FSC AC and constituted according to German Law: Bonn HRB 15990. FSC GD is operating the FSC Connect Portal.
1.5.    ‘FSC Group’ stands for FSC AC and all of its subsidiaries.
1.6.    ‘Information Leakage’ means when any confidential information is revealed to unauthorized Third Parties and when User discovers he/she/it has access to confidential information which he/she/it should not be authorized to access according to these Terms and Conditions.
1.7.    ‘Matching’ means the process of an organisations Transaction Data being compared for matching with sales or purchases made by their trading partners. The Transaction Data used for the process of matching is sales document ID, transaction type, quantity, unit of measurement and FSC claim. 
1.8.    ‘User Onboarding’ means the process by which the data of the User, including the name(s), functional role, job title, contact ID, global system ID, organization`s name, organization`s website, working address, contact information, username, encrypted password, log in times to the platform, IP address, or any other personal notes if provided by User.
1.9.    ‘Personal Data Breach’ means a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure of, or access to, personal data transmitted, stored, or otherwise processed according to Article 4 (12) GDPR.
1.10.    ‘Unmatched’ is the status of a transaction that is not compliant with the User’s FSC Certification.
1.11.    ‘Terms and Conditions’ stands for all of the following Terms and Conditions including all appendixes. All such documents form an integral part of this Agreement in relation to the use of the FSC Trace Beta Application. 
1.12.    ‘Third Party’ or ‘Third Parties’ refer to a party or to parties which is or are not explicitly named in this Agreement and are no Party thereof. 
1.13.    ‘Transaction Data’ means data which is required by the FSC normative framework related to the FSC sales or purchases of an FSC License Holder, such as: sales document ID, transaction date, trading partner’s license code, product type, quantity, unit of measure, FSC claim or percentage claim. It can also include optional data such as HS codes and Geospatial co-ordinates and other meta data that the License Holder may wish to record.
1.14.    ‘User’ means an individual that has successfully signed up to the FSC Trace, and holds a valid account therein, and is himself/herself or works for an entity that is a FSC License and Certificate Holder. Users are required to register for an FSC Connect account which will provide access to the FSC Trace.
1.15.    ‘Primary Contact’ means an individual who is a user and has been recorded as the primary contact on the FSC Certificate by their certification body. For FSC Trace the Primary Contact can advise FSC of additional User accounts required by submission of a request for access to FSC Trace from their FSC Connect User Management application.
1.16.    ‘Trading Party’ are the organisations your certified company trades with, either buying or selling materials.
1.17.    ‘Partner Types’ identifies trading partner type (customer or supplier) and their relationship in the supply chain (direct/indirect). 
1.18.    ‘Inventory Details’ the process whereby the user of FSC Trace self declares the volume of an organisations stock holding/s. 
1.19.    ‘Data Sharing’ the process and rules by which a Blockchain user can share information and data about their FSC traded materials.
1.20.    ‘Counterparty’ identifies the entities involved in transactions (purchase or sale) of FSC materials.
1.21.    ‘Blockchain Status’ displays information on whether an organisation is registered/unregistered for FSC Trace.
1.22.    ‘Products’ defines the FSC materials an organisation is certified to trade.
1.23.    ‘FSC Certification requirements’ mean all requirements that must be met by a FSC Certificate Holder in order to qualify for, obtain and maintain FSC Certification. The Certification Requirements are revised according to FSC-PRO-01-001 and include all documents (e.g., Policies, Standards, Directives, Advice Notes, Guidance Documents, Interpretations, and any other documentation developed by the FSC Group) that are necessary for operating the FSC Certification Scheme.

2.1.    FSC Trace Beta Application is available to FSC License Holders when an FSC license is in place and the License Holder’s Certification Body has confirmed the contact details of the registered primary contact.
2.2.    Access to FSC Trace Beta Application and functions therein are determined by the status of an organization’s License Agreement. More information regarding certification status can be found at https://connect.fsc.org/
2.3.    FSC Trace Beta Application is a web-based interface accessible via the FSC Connect platform. https://connect.fsc.org/
2.4.    The purpose of the FSC Trace Beta Appliation is to provide Licence Holders with a digitised service to capture, store, share and process data and information related to FSC traded materials, supporting traceability to source, demonstration of compliance and facilitating privacy enabled sharing of supply chain information with trading partners.
2.5.    Users can upload Transaction and Processing Running data in the FSC Trace Beta Application via the web-based interface (UI), via an Excel Spreadsheet for bulk uploads or an Application Programming Interface (API).
2.6.    For added security, all the transaction data are encrypted and hashed before storing into the Kaleido Trace database. Encryption is done using an anonymized unique key. The System generates a unique key for every Certificate Holder Organization and stores it in Azure keyvault. During encryption and decryption, the system reads the key from Azure keyvault and preforms the encryption/decryption operation. Transaction data is encrypted on receipt and the non-blockchain database is enabled using Azure Cosmos's integrated encryption. With this system, Azure manages an encryption key and encrypts data for storage as it is uploaded. 
2.7.    Transaction Data checking is an automated process that checks the validity and scope of the organisations’ FSC Certifications  and it is either matched or unmatched. Matched transactions are recorded in FSC Trace.
2.8.    License Holders can attach  legality and supporting information or documentation to their transactions.
2.9.    Users have access to privacy enabled sharing where they can manage access and onwardly share data and information with others in the supply chain. 
2.10.    All Transaction Data and other data entered into the FSC Trace Beta Application will be retained for a period of ten (10) years after the relationship between FSC and User has ended, and deleted in line with FSC retention and deletion guidelines. Should the Transaction Data be relevant for any ongoing or finalized integrity investigation by FSC, ASI or CB, FSC reserves the right to retain it for a period of twenty (20) years.
2.11.    Users of FSC Trace can input the license or certificate code of their trading partners and invite them to join FSC Trace Beta Application. A list of trading partners and details of their trading information is then displayed when the user logs in and views trading partners.
2.12.    Users of FSC Trace Beta Application are required to input their starting inventory in compliance with the FSC Certification requirements.

3.1.    Access to the FSC Trace Beta Application is only possible with a valid User login which can be obtained when an organization’s primary contact has been recorded on the FSC Certification data base by their Certification Body and the License Holder has been  invited by FSC to register for an FSC Connect account at connect.fsc.org the Users shall be responsible for providing accurate, complete and up-to-date login information. 
3.2.    When using the FSC Trace Beta Application, FSC grants access to a single user (i.e., the access credentials can be only used by one person), royalty-free, non-transferable, and non-exclusive license, subject to limitations set forth herein. 
3.3.    Primary contact users of a License Holders FSC Trace Beta Application account may add, amend, and delete users to their organization’s FSC Trace Beta Application account.
3.4.    FSC reserves the right to deny registration and/or access requests to a User and is entitled, at any time and without obligation to give reasons, to deny the right to access the password-protected area by blocking their Login Data.
3.5.    These Terms and Conditions are agreed between the User and FSC when the User registers to the FSC Trace Beta Application for the first time and whenever the Terms and Conditions are modified.

4.1.    According to § 7 (1) of the German Telemedia Act (“Telemediengesetz”, hereinafter ‘TMG’) FSC is only liable for any data input in the FSC Trace which FSC has created itself. According to §§ 7 (2), 8 to 10 TMG, FSC is not obligated to monitor Third Party information that is transmitted or stored in the FSC Trace , or to investigate circumstances that indicate illegal activity by Third Party users of the FSC Trace , while FSC’s legal obligations to remove or block the use of infringing information remain unaffected. FSC shall only be liable from the date it receives knowledge of a specific infringement. Therefore, upon notification to connect@fsc.org of relevant violations, FSC will investigate the infringement and where necessary will remove the User’s access. FSC may remove such content immediately.
4.2.    Subject to the limitation in Section 4.1, the FSC Trace and any material published on the website, is provided ‘as-is’ and FSC shall not be liable for defects in quality, including but not limited to fitness for a specific purpose and usability. FSC shall only be liable in cases of personal injury, health damage or death, and under the German Act on Product Liability (“Produkthaftungsgesetz”).
4.3.    FSC may stop the operation of the FSC Trace in full or in part at any time. Due to the nature of the internet and computer systems, FSC is under no obligation to ensure the continuous availability of the FSC Trace for Users. 
4.4.    In all cases, FSC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to remove or edit any material uploaded by Users for any or no reason. FSC may take these actions without prior notification to Users or any Third Party. 
4.5.    Although FSC takes reasonable endeavors to keep the FSC Trace free from viruses, spammers, data loss, DoS, or phishing attacks, FSC does not warrant that it is free of such threats. In addition, FSC Trace uses cookies for improving user experience which are saved in user’s computer. The User acknowledges that, for its own protection, it should take all appropriate security measures and utilize effective security measures before using the FSC Trace .
4.6.    The User shall indemnify and hold FSC harmless from and against any Third-Party claims alleging that use of the FSC Trace not in line with these Terms and Conditions and when User infringes any right of any Third Party and shall compensate FSC and its directors, officers, employees or subcontracting parties for any financial losses, claims, property damage, personal injuries and expenses, including attorney fees, incurred by or in connection with any such Third-Party claims.
4.7.    Although FSC conducts automated checks to ensure FSC Trace Beta Application contains valid data it is the responsibility and obligation of the user to upload correct and truthful data and information in line with the FSC Certification requirements. Should the User intentionally or otherwise enter incorrect or false information or data into FSC Trace, FSC is not liable for the data upload or results of the automated checks. FSC shall only be liable from the date it receives knowledge of the upload of false data. Therefore, upon notification to connect@fsc.org of relevant violations FSC will investigate and where necessary will remove the User’s access.  FSC may remove such content immediately.

5.1.    Upon acceptance of these Terms and Conditions by completing registration for using the FSC Trace Beta Application, FSC allows the User to access the FSC Trace Beta Application and use it.
5.2.    The User shall make use of the FSC Trace Beta Application in good faith and in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. In particular and without limitation to the generality of the foregoing, the User shall  report to FSC on functionality, detected errors, suggestions of genuinely new ideas and critical areas; and the User shall report to FSC any case of Personal Data Breach or Information Leakage. In case the User deliberately does not report such Personal Data Breach or Information Leakage, the User undertakes to pay a contractual penalty in the amount of 2,000.00 USD for each case of culpable violation of this obligation, irrespective of any claims for damages.
5.3.    The User warrants, with respect to any use of the FSC Trace Beta Application the data it has provided to the FSC Trace that: (i) it has all necessary rights to submit these materials to the FSC Trace and grant the licenses set forth herein; (ii) FSC and User will not need to obtain licenses from any Third Party or pay royalties to any Third Party with respect to use of the material; (iii) these materials do not infringe any Third Party's rights, including intellectual property rights, data protection, and privacy rights; (iv) these materials comply with these Terms and Conditions and all applicable laws.
5.4.    The User agrees that it will not upload any material comprising, featuring or otherwise including any infringing, illegal, or inappropriate material, including but not limited to materials which: (i) contain any pornographic, obscene, offensive, defamatory, or otherwise unlawful or immoral content; (ii) exploit minors; (iii) depict unlawful or violent acts; (iv) depict animal cruelty or violence towards animals; (v) promote fraudulent schemes or gives rise to a claim of deceptive advertising or unfair competition; or (vi) violates any law, statute, or regulation.
5.5.    With the limitations set in the privacy statement or otherwise explicitly mentioned in these Terms and Conditions and accepted by the User, generally by uploading the material the User grants to FSC an unlimited, worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable, royalty-free, perpetual, transferrable and irrevocable license to any uploaded material in any manner now or in the future known; exemptions required by law remain unaffected. These rights in particular explicitly include commercial use, the right to make the uploaded material publicly available, to copy, to distribute, to modify, translate or otherwise amend the material and to transfer or sublicense the rights to Third Parties, including any user downloading the material. To the extent allowable under applicable local laws and copyright conventions, User also waive and/or agree not to assert against FSC any moral rights that User may have in the material.

6.1.    Either Party can send a written notice of termination within two (2) weeks to terminate the account on the FSC Trace Beta Application. The FSC e-mail address for providing the notice is connect@fsc.org.
6.2.    The license granted to FSC under Section 5.4 remains perpetual; exemptions required by law remain unaffected.

7.1.    Should any provision of these Terms and Conditions be or become invalid or unenforceable or should these Terms and Conditions contain an omission, then the legal effect of the other provisions shall not be affected thereby. 
7.2.    The invalid or unenforceable provision shall be deemed to be substituted by a suitable and equitable provisions which, to the extent legally permissible, comes as close as possible to the economic intent and purpose of the invalid or unenforceable provision. In case of an omission, a suitable and equitable provision shall be deemed to have been agreed upon which reflects what the Parties, in the light of the economic intent and purpose of these Terms and Conditions, would have agreed upon, if they had considered the matter. 
7.3.    These Terms and Conditions - and all disputes relating to or in connection with these Terms and Conditions or their subject matter - shall be enforced under, subject to and governed by the laws of Germany. 
7.4.    The application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sales of Goods (CISG) of 11 April 1980 is excluded.
7.5.    Where the User is a merchant within the meaning of the German Commercial Code (“Handelsgesetzbuch”), the exclusive place of jurisdiction shall be Bonn, Germany.
7.6.    Considering the international nature of the FSC Group and the purpose and scope of this FSC Trace, both Parties have chosen the English language for these Terms and Conditions. Notwithstanding the foresaid, in case of usage of technical or legal terms in German language the Parties agree that these shall have the meaning under and shall be interpreted exclusively in accordance with German law and language; the English translation of terms shall be for ease of reference only.