Data Stations Terms of Use

Contents
Definitions
Terms
1. User Terms
2. Depositor Terms

Definitions
Access request: a request from a User for permission to access restricted files, as referred to in article 2.2;
Account: a User-controlled means of access to the Service protected by a User-created login username and password;
Dataset: a study, experiment, set of observations, or publication that is uploaded by a Depositor, comprising of a single file or multiple files;
Depositor: a User who makes use of a Data Station for purposes of archiving, disseminating, and preserving Datasets;
Metadata: data that define and describe a Dataset;
Service: the Data Stations websites including their sub domains, the DANS Data Stations applications and all of the available services, functions, and capabilities afforded on these applications;
Terms of Use: these terms of use for Users;
User: an individual or entity who has an Account in a Data Station.

Terms
1. User terms
This part of the Terms of Use applies to all Users, including Depositors.

1.1 Status of Terms of Use
The following terms govern all use of the Service. The Service is operated by Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS), an institution of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW, Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences), a legal person under public law. The Service is offered subject to acceptance without modification of all of the terms and conditions contained herein.
You represent and warrant that you are not under any obligation or restriction created by law, contract or otherwise that would prevent you from entering into and fully performing these Terms of Use.
DANS reserves the right to modify or replace any of the Terms of Use at any time. Your continued use of the Service following the posting of any changes to the Terms of Use constitutes acceptance of those changes.

1.2 Account registration and information
In order to register a new Account, DANS will require your first name, surname, valid e-mail address, and a User Name.
You must provide DANS with accurate and valid information and keep this updated.
DANS reserves the right to refuse registration in its sole discretion.
If you are a registered user of a legacy system that has been migrated or will be migrated to the Data Stations, DANS will maintain your credentials and migrate the required information to the Data Stations.

1.3 Account usage
You are solely responsible for activity that occurs on your Account and shall be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Account password. You shall never use another User’s Account without such other User’s express permission. You will immediately notify DANS in writing to of any unauthorised use of your Account, or any other Account related security breach of which you are aware.

1.4 Accessing and using Datasets
You must comply with the licence conditions and, where applicable, access restrictions pertaining to each Dataset you access or use.
You will promptly notify DANS of any confidentiality, privacy or data protection, licensing, or intellectual property issues regarding Datasets that you become aware of.

1.5 Limitation on use of the Service
While using the Service, you shall not, nor permit others to, upload, download, post, submit or otherwise distribute or facilitate distribution of any information that:
a) infringes intellectual property rights, including patents, copyrights, know how, trademarks and trade secrets, or other rights, including privacy rights, of any third party;
b) is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libellous, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another’s privacy, tortious, obscene, offensive, or profane;
c) constitutes unauthorised or unsolicited advertising, junk or bulk e-mail (“spamming”);
d) contains software viruses or any other computer codes, files, or programs that are designed or intended to disrupt, damage, limit or interfere with the proper function of any software, hardware, or telecommunications equipment or to damage or obtain unauthorised access to any system, data or other information of DANS or any third party; or
e) imposes or may impose (as determined by DANS in its sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on DANS’s or its third party providers’ infrastructure.

In addition, you may not:
f) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Service or any activities conducted on the Service; or
g) bypass any measures DANS and other parties may use to prevent or restrict access to the Service and other Accounts or computer systems connected to the Service.

1.6 Termination
Unless you are a Depositor, you may terminate your Account at any time in writing by sending an email to DANS or by contacting us via the channels provided in the Data Stations.
DANS reserves the right to terminate your Account or your access to all or part of the Service at any time, with or without notice, if any of the following occurs:
a) you fail to comply with the Terms of Use;
b) DANS is required to do so for legal reasons, such as a court order;
c) the email address associated with your Account is no longer valid;
d) you have not logged into your Account for more than five years; or
e) DANS, in its sole discretion, decides to terminate or limit the Service, of part thereof.

All provisions of the Terms of Use which by their nature should survive termination will survive termination, including provisions regarding intellectual property, indemnity and liability.

1.7 Liability
Your use of the Service is solely at your own risk. The Service is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind. DANS is not liable for any damage resulting from your use of the Service, unless the damage is due to DANS’s deliberate intent or willful recklessness (opzet of bewuste roekeloosheid).
You will indemnify and hold DANS harmless from any damage and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs, arising from i) your use of the Service; or (ii) any violation of the Terms of Use by you or anyone using your Account.

1.8 Intellectual property
You may not use the name “DANS” or the name of a Data Station, such as “Data Station Archaeology”, (as an abbreviation or in full, alone or as part of another name) in advertising or promotional materials without DANS’ prior written approval.

1.9 Miscellaneous
DANS may assign, transfer or delegate any of its rights and obligations under the Terms of Use without consent.
Your use of the Service, your relationship with DANS and the Terms of Use are governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Netherlands. Disputes in this regard which cannot be settled amicably will be settled by the competent court of Amsterdam.

2. Depositor terms
This part of the Terms of Use applies to Depositors only. In the event that a stipulation of the Depositor terms in this section conflicts with a stipulation of the User terms in the section above, the Depositor terms’ stipulation will prevail.

2.1 General
As part of the Service, DANS provides the possibility to submit Datasets for the purposes of publication, archiving and preservation. Submission of a Dataset to DANS is non-exclusive, meaning that you are free to submit the Dataset to other publishers or repositories.
You acknowledge and agree that any Dataset you submit to DANS is subject to review and approval under the terms of article 2.2. The submission of a Dataset will therefore always constitute a submission for review.
Provided that the total size of the Datasets submitted in your Account remains under 50 gigabytes, the Service is free of charge for Depositors. If you exceed this limit, DANS may require you to pay a fee for the additional use of your Account.
You acknowledge that DANS will act as the data processor in respect of any personal data forming part of the files within your Dataset or the Metadata. The DANS Data Stations Processing Addendum, available through the website of DANS, applies to all data processing. The foregoing does not apply to personal data which are required for the scientific justification of the Dataset, including title, name, affiliation and contact information of the author of the Dataset, of authors of sources cited in the Dataset, of other contributors to a Dataset and of rights holders to data forming part of the Dataset. DANS will be considered the controller for these personal data.

2.2 Conditions for submitting a Dataset for review
In order to be able to submit a Dataset, you must be registered as a User.
You certify that each of the following statements holds true for each Dataset you submit for review in a DANS Data Station at the moment of submission:
a) the Dataset complies with the DANS Data Stations Policy;
b) you have the right to submit the Dataset for the purposes of publication, archiving and preservation and to determine its licence conditions and access restrictions, or have been authorised to do so by the person or persons having such right;
c) to the best of your knowledge, nothing in the Dataset infringes anyone’s intellectual property rights;
d) to the extent that the Dataset contains any sensitive information, including personal data or legally protected information, you will choose appropriate access restrictions;
e) publication of the Dataset on or after the release date selected does not infringe any embargo periods required by other parties, such as a journal publisher;
f) to the best of your knowledge, the information forming part of the Dataset and the Metadata is accurate;
g) the Dataset does not contain any software viruses or computer codes, files, or programs capable of allowing unauthorised access or disrupting, damaging, limiting or interfering with the proper functioning of the Service or any third party’s, including other Users’, software, hardware, or telecommunications equipment;
h) the Dataset does not contain material that is illegal to publish or to possess; and
i) publication of the Dataset does not violate your obligations to third parties.

If the Dataset is based upon work that has been sponsored or supported by an agency or organisation, you must fulfil any obligations in relation to such sponsorship or support before submitting your Dataset for review.

Provided that you have well-founded reasons to do so (as outlined in the Data Stations Policy), you may choose to restrict access to files so that they are only accessible to Users who have been granted access by you, meaning that files will be subject to an “Access request”. This access restriction will only apply to the files you select for restricted access. In addition, you may choose to limit the possibilities to download files which are subject to Access requests, meaning that the file will only be available for access in a controlled environment.

2.3 Dataset review and curation
DANS strives to archive your Dataset in accordance with the DANS Data Stations Policy and to curate it accordingly.
When you submit a Dataset, DANS will review it for compliance with the Terms of Use, which implies compliance with the policy and guidelines referred to in article 2.2 sub a). In addition, as part of the Dataset review, DANS may:
a) verify the completeness of the Dataset, both with regard to the deposited files and Metadata;
b) verify the readability of the files;
c) assess the file format of the files, in order to verify whether it is possible to open and use the files, today and in the future;
d) verify the Metadata for correctness, and improve it where necessary;
e) assess privacy-sensitive information, both in the files and in the Metadata, to verify that the Metadata, the licence conditions and access restrictions are appropriate, and adjust the Metadata, the licence conditions and access restrictions where necessary;
f) verify the clarity of file directory structure, and adjust it where necessary.

DANS is entitled to request alterations or to reject a Dataset if it does not comply with the Terms of Use. If a Dataset meets the required conditions, DANS will further process it for the purposes of publication, archiving and preservation.

To enable DANS to perform its curation services, you agree that:
a) DANS is authorised to convert files within your Dataset to any medium or format, and to make multiple copies of the files for the purposes of security, back-up, and preservation.
b) DANS may, if necessary, make changes to Metadata, including enhancements (such as addition of keywords) and corrections.
c) DANS may require you to make changes to the files within the Dataset or the Metadata, before it publishes the Dataset.
d) DANS will not change the content of files as submitted, but may make changes to your files for curation purposes.

You acknowledge and agree that DANS will be stated as the publisher of your Dataset if it is published for the first time.
If you submit a Dataset that has been published before, whether in whole or in part, you are required to indicate the original publisher.
Any changes made by DANS, as described above, will be documented in the Service, and a new version of the Dataset will be created once the improvements are committed. The files forming part of the Dataset originally submitted by the Depositor will always be kept in unchanged form as the initial version.
DANS will, to the best of its ability and resources, permanently archive the Dataset, preserving its readability (format preservation) and fixity (ensuring that there is no information loss due to physical deterioration of storage).

2.4 Dataset access
Subject to these Terms of Use, DANS will receive the right to make the Dataset, or substantial parts of it, available to third parties by means of electronic distribution, in any format that suits the expectations of the end user community, including in downloadable form.
You understand and agree that DANS commits to providing public access, with applicable restrictions, to Datasets through maintenance of persistent webpages, Metadata, and identifiers, and to providing access metrics, which may include page-views, downloads, and citations.
You authorise DANS to include all Datasets you have submitted in its Service, meaning that all files will be publicly accessible and available for downloading, unless you have selected one of the options to restrict access. The Metadata associated with the Dataset will always be publicly accessible.
DANS will make the files in a Dataset accessible under the licence conditions indicated by you, which will apply to all files within the Dataset.
DANS will, to the best of its ability and resources, implement technical provisions in order to prevent unauthorised third parties from accessing restricted files.
DANS will deliver Access requests to the email address specified in your account. You undertake to respond to such requests within a reasonable period. 
In the event that DANS finds a violation of the applicable licence conditions or access restrictions by a User, DANS aims to notify you and to suspend the User from further use of Datasets and its Account until the issue has been resolved.

2.5 Removal of or changes to a Dataset
DANS may remove, or restrict the availability of, a Dataset or part thereof at any time if it, or its Depositor, does not comply with these Terms of Use or if continued storage would lead to criminal liability or an unlawful act on the part of DANS. In light of its objectives, DANS will only resort to removal if there are no viable alternatives.

You may, stating reasons, request DANS to:
a) make a Dataset temporarily or permanently unavailable to third parties;
b) change the Dataset’s access or licence conditions;
c) appoint a third party as a successive Depositor for your Dataset; or
d) remove it entirely or partly from the Service.

DANS will evaluate requests for the above amendments in accordance with its Data Stations Policy and engage with the Depositor to determine the most appropriate course of action. You understand that if the licence terms for, or ownership of the copyright to a Dataset change, it is your responsibility to notify DANS of these changes.

2.6 Account termination
As a Depositor, you can only terminate your Account subject to a notice period of six months.
If you nominate a third party to act as successive Depositor for your Datasets, the notice period will be shortened, and will end on the day the successor is registered with DANS as the Depositor for your Datasets. If you do not nominate a third party as a successor, or if DANS terminates your Account in accordance with article 1.6, DANS will in its discretion be entitled to appoint a successive Depositor or to do whatever is reasonably necessary with a view to achieving its objectives, including to appoint itself as the Depositor.
Upon termination, your Datasets will remain available under the licence conditions and access restrictions current on the day of your Account’s termination. Accordingly, DANS’s rights under these Terms of Use will not be affected by the termination of your Account.
You can request the transfer of your Datasets to an equivalent, trustworthy repository, subject to a notice period of six months. On completion of such a transfer, your account will be terminated.
Should you pass away, or be discontinued if you are an organisation, and you have not informed DANS of a person who will act as successive Depositor with regard to your Datasets, DANS will in its discretion be entitled to appoint a successive Depositor or to do whatever is reasonably necessary with a view to achieving its objectives, including to appoint itself as the Depositor.

2.7 Limitation of Liability
As a Depositor you are solely liable for the contents of the Datasets you submit. You indemnify DANS against all claims from third parties that may be brought against DANS in relation to the contents of your Datasets, as well as against the costs that DANS may incur in this regard.
Although DANS does its utmost to disseminate, archive and preserve your Datasets in accordance with its obligations under these Terms of Use, it does not accept any liability for damage resulting from the Service, including damage related to loss or partial loss of a Dataset, or unauthorised access to a Dataset. This exclusion of liability does not apply if the damage is due to the wilful intent or gross negligence of DANS.
You indemnify DANS against all claims from third parties that may be brought against DANS in this regard, and shall reimburse DANS for the costs it would incur in relation to such a claim. In the event that the damage is due to the wilful intent or gross negligence of DANS, the aforementioned limitation of liability will not apply.

 

 

© DANS. R.2.2.1. Version 1.5, Aug 21, 2024