Terms & conditions of use

Definitions

For clarity and comprehension, we have defined certain words used in the Terms and on the Websites. Additional definitions are included elsewhere in the Terms.

"Content" means all materials and content, including designs, editorial, text, graphics, audiovisual materials, multimedia elements, photographs, videos, music, sound recordings, reports, documents, software, information, formulae, patterns, data and any other work.

“Member Firm” means a local partnership, firm or other entity that is a member of the PwC network of firms, each of which is a separate legal entity, as well as any affiliate or subsidiary of any Member Firm.

“Partner” and “Principal” mean an individual who is a partner, principal, member, shareholder or equivalent of a Member Firm, in accordance with terminology commonly used in professional services organisations.  Likewise “office” refers to any office of one or more Member Firms in the relevant jurisdiction.

“PwC”, “we” or “us” refer to the PwC network and/or its individual Member Firms. “PwC”, “we” or “us”, as used in individual articles and thought leadership pieces available on the Websites may, depending on context, refer to the PwC network as a collective or to individual Member Firms.

“PwC Parties” refers collectively and inclusively to the individual Member Firms of the PwC network, including their respective officers, directors, partners, principals or equivalent; personnel; affiliates; business associates; licensors; and contractors and subcontractors.

“Registered User” means a User who has registered and created an Account with PwC to access enhanced features of a Website.

“User” means all users of a Website.

“you" means you as an individual user of a Website.

Informational purposes only

The Websites and content available within them is for informational purposes only. Neither the Websites nor the content available within them constitutes professional advice, and neither should be relied upon by you or any third party, including for example to operate or promote your business, secure financing or capital in any form, obtain any regulatory or governmental approvals, or otherwise to procure services or other benefits from any entity.  Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult with professional advisers. 

Submissions, including Comments and Feedback 

The Websites may contain functionality that permits you to comment on articles; share materials; provide ideas, proposals, suggestions (“Feedback”); or otherwise make available certain materials through or in connection with your use of the Websites (collectively, “Submissions”). 

If you choose to make publicly available any of your personally identifiable or other information through the Websites (for example through posting a comment or other form of Submission), you do so at your own risk. You will also comply with all relevant requirements set out in these Terms when making a submission.

You acknowledge and agree that your Submissions are not confidential; that your provision of Submissions is gratuitous, unsolicited and without restriction; and that the provision of any Submission does not place PwC under any fiduciary or other obligation.

We may (but have no obligation to) monitor, evaluate, alter or remove Submissions before or after they appear on the site; however, we have no control over and are not responsible for any use or misuse (including any distribution) by any third party of Submissions. 

Your responsibilities 

Acceptable conduct

You will use the Websites only for lawful purposes.  If at any time you become aware of any violation, by any person or entity, of any part of these Terms, you will immediately notify us via this contact form and provide us with assistance, as requested, to stop or remedy such violation.

Prohibited conduct

In using the Websites, you must not do any of the following:

• Post, transmit or otherwise make available through the Websites any materials that are or may be: (a) threatening, harassing, degrading, hateful or intimidating, or otherwise fail to respect the rights and dignity of others; (b) defamatory, libellous, fraudulent or otherwise tortious; (c) obscene, indecent, pornographic or otherwise objectionable; or (d) potentially harmful or invasive or intended to damage or hijack the operation of, or to monitor the use of, any hardware, software or equipment, such as a virus, worm, Trojan horse, Easter Egg, time bomb, spyware or other computer code, file or program (each, a “Virus”).
• Post, transmit, or otherwise make available through the Websites any material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of publicity or privacy or any other proprietary right, without the express prior written consent of the applicable owner.
• Use the Websites for any commercial purpose or otherwise use the Websites for processing data or other information on behalf of any third party.
• Use the Websites for any purpose that is fraudulent or otherwise tortious or unlawful.
• Interfere with or disrupt the operation of the Websites or the servers or networks used to make the Websites available, including by hacking or defacing any portion of any of the Websites; or violate any requirement, procedure or policy of such servers or networks.
• Restrict or inhibit any other person from using the Websites.
• Create or share content without first obtaining any necessary permissions from third parties or otherwise use the Websites to post or transmit any information that you do not have the right to provide; that would violate any applicable law or regulation; or that would violate, infringe or misappropriate any third party right or interest. 
• Reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works of, sell, rent, lease, loan, timeshare, distribute or otherwise exploit any portion of (or any use of) the Websites except as expressly authorised herein, without PwC’s express prior written consent.
• Reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of any of the Websites, except where such restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law.
• Remove or alter any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notice on the Websites or content you access via the Websites.
• Frame or mirror any portion of the Websites, or otherwise incorporate any portion of the Websites into any product or service, without PwC’s express prior written consent.
• Systematically download and store Websites’ content.
• Use any robot, spider, Websites search/retrieval application or other manual or automatic device to (a) retrieve, index, “scrape,” “data mine” or otherwise gather content from the Websites, (b) reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Websites, or (c) Harvest or collect information about users of the Websites without PwC’s express prior written consent.

If you do not comply with these Terms (or if we have reasonable grounds to suspect or are investigating suspected non-compliance), we may suspend your access to the Websites or take any other steps we consider appropriate.

Registration

Features 

Certain features of the Websites are available only to Registered Users. Current examples include access to premium content, reading lists, and any on-site commenting or collaboration activities. Additional features may be made available to Registered Users over time.

How to register

To register, you will need to provide certain information about yourself and create a username and password. This combination of information (“Account”) will be your Account as a Registered User. 

Registrations may be accepted, rejected or cancelled by us at any time and for any reason.  If your registration is cancelled, you will continue to have access to the Websites; however, you will no longer have access to features available only to Registered Users.

Responsibilities of Registered Users

If you choose to register with us and become a Registered User, you agree you are solely responsible for your Account and any and all activities that occur under your Account, including all activities of any persons who gain access to your Account with or without your permission. In becoming a Registered User, you also agree to:

• provide true, current, accurate and complete information about yourself as requested by us from time to time and notify us promptly of any changes to your information so that your Account information is current, complete and accurate;
• maintain the confidentiality and security of your Account, including your username and password;
• notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your Account, Account password, or service provided through your Account, as well as any breach of security with respect to your Account, Account password, or service provided through it; and
• assist us, if and as we request, to stop or remedy any breach of security related to your Account.

Privacy of Registered Users

Our Privacy statement explains how we protect and use your information; the Registered User section of the Privacy statement explains additional information we collect and additional uses of information about Registered Users.  

Termination 

We may, in our sole discretion, suspend, restrict or terminate your use of the Websites (including your Account, if you are a Registered User), effective at any time, without notice to you, for any reason, including because the operation or efficiency of the Websites or our or any third party's equipment or network is impaired by your use of the Websites; we have received a third party complaint which relates to your use or misuse of the Websites; or you have been or are in breach of any term or condition of these Terms. We will have no responsibility to notify any third party, including any third party providers of services, merchandise or information, of any suspension, restriction or termination of your access to the Websites.

Liability and Warranties

Warranties

PwC makes no representations or warranties about the site, which is provided “as is”.  To the maximum extent permitted by law, we exclude all implied warranties regarding the site, including without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for purpose, title, and non-infringement.

Limitation of Liability 

The Websites are provided for information purposes only and, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, PwC and the PwC Parties exclude all liability for any loss or damage of whatever kind and however arising in connection with your use of, or inability to use, the Websites and any materials you obtain via the Websites.

You acknowledge and accept that use of the Websites is subject to the risks inherent in any connection and transmission on the internet, in particular in relation to security risks and vulnerabilities, technical performance and risk of interruption. Accordingly, neither PwC nor any PwC Parties are liable to you in any circumstances for any losses or damages caused by disruption or failure of internet networks or for any interruptions to or restrictions on the accessibility of the Websites arising for any reason, including, but not limited to, by reason of a virus, security related vulnerability, or technical or operational failure of any nature.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE PwC PARTIES DISCLAIM ALL LIABILITY AND SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS OR REVENUES, GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, SECURITY BREACHES, VIRUSES, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES OR COMMERCIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF ANY OF SUCH PARTIES ARE ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSSES, ARISING UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TERMS, THE SITE, THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SAME, OR ANY OTHER SUBJECT MATTER HEREOF.

THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE PwC PARTIES SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN THE WEBSITES; ANY INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THEM; ANY DECISION MADE OR ACTION TAKEN IN RELIANCE ON THE WEBSITES OR THE INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THEM; OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGES - INCLUDING CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR SIMILAR DAMAGES - THAT ARISE OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITES OR ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS OBTAINED BY YOU VIA OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITES.

Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend (at the indemnified party’s option), indemnify, and hold the PwC Parties and their insurers harmless from and against any action, proceedings, claims, causes of action, demand, debts, losses, damages, charges and costs, including reasonable legal costs and/or any amount paid to settle any action or to satisfy a judgement and expenses of any kind and character whatsoever incurred by us relating to or arising from any content or information posted or transmitted by you using the Websites or otherwise arising out of your use of the Websites or use of the Websites by any third party who is given or gains access to the Websites due to your action or inaction. Your indemnificationobligation to the PwC Parties includes but is not limited to any instance where one or more of your submissions (a) infringes any Third Party Content or other third-party intellectual property rights, or (b) is inappropriate, profane, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent or unlawful.

The PwC Parties have the right at any time to forego the indemnification and assume the defense of any claim. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is not the intent of the PwC Parties to affect the rights of the PwC Parties or their insurers to assume the defense or settlement of any claim against any PwC Party for which insurance coverage is sought under any applicable insurance policy.

Disclaimers and Assumptions of Risk 

The Websites and all information provided to you via the Websites is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the PwC Parties disclaim all express, implied, and statutory warranties with respect to the same, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, non-infringement, non-interference, error-free service, and uninterrupted service.  PwC neither represents nor warrants that the Websites, services and content provided through the Websites, or software or information downloaded from the Websites will be accurate, current, uninterrupted, error-free, omission-free, or free from viruses or other harmful components.

BY MAKING AVAILABLE THE WEBSITES, PwC IS NOT MAKING AN OFFER OF ANY FINANCIAL, TAX, ACCOUNTING, LEGAL OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OR GOODS, AND NONE OF THE INFORMATION PRESENTED ON THE WEBSITES SHOULD BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL, TAX, ACCOUNTING OR ANY OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OR SERVICE.  

Some jurisdictions prohibit the disclaimer of certain warranties or conditions or the limitation of certain types of liability. In such circumstances, to the extent that such prohibitions prohibit any exclusions and limitations in these Terms, such exclusions and limitations will not apply to you strictly to the extent necessary to make these Terms consistent with such prohibitions.