Website Terms of Use

1. Who we are and how to contact us

  • These terms of use explain how you may use this site and its content.

  • www.covid19inquiry.scot is a site operated by the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry (“We”). We are a public inquiry established under the Inquiries Act 2005.
  • You can contact us by e-mail at contact@covid19inquiry.scot

2. By using our site you accept these terms of use

  • You should read these terms of use carefully before using this site
  • Each time you use our site, in doing so, you:
    •  agree that you are solely responsible for all costs and expenses you may incur in relation to your use of the site;
    • confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to comply with them.
  • If you do not agree to these terms of use, you must not use our site.
  • If you have any difficulties using the site, please contact us using contact@covid19inquiry.scot. We try to make the site as accessible as possible.
  • The following also apply to your use of our site:
    • Our Privacy policy. See further under “How we may use your personal information”.
    • Our Cookies policy which sets out information about the cookies used on our site.
  • Where we say “content” in these Terms of Use, it includes, but is not limited to, all text, graphics and images that appear on this site, and the design, look and feel of the site itself.

3. We may make changes to our site

  • We may update and change our site from time to time. We will only provide reasonable notice of any material changes to the content of this site where we are required to do so by law.
  • Every time you wish to use our site, please check these terms of use to ensure you understand the applicable terms at that time.

4. We may suspend or withdraw our site

  • Our site is made available to you free of charge.
  • We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of our site for any reason at any time. We will try to give you reasonable notice of any suspension or withdrawal, although this may not always be possible.
  • We may suspend or withdraw your access to the site, if you do not comply with these terms of use or any applicable law.

5. Access to our site outside the UK

  • We make no promise that the site is appropriate or available for use in locations outside of the UK. If you choose to access the site from locations outside the UK, you acknowledge that you do so at your own initiative and risk and are responsible for compliance with local laws where they apply.

6. How you may use material on our site

  • We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in any text, images, video, audio or other multimedia content or other information or material accessible from the site. We and our licensors reserve all our intellectual property rights (including, but not limited to, all copyright, trade marks, domain names, design rights, database rights, patents and all other intellectual property rights of any kind) whether registered or unregistered anywhere in the world. This means, for example, that we remain owners of them and are free to use them as we see fit.
  • You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our site for your personal use and you may draw the attention of others to content posted on our site.
  • You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text. You must not adjust, try to circumvent or delete any notices contained on the site or its content (including any intellectual property notices) and, in particular, in any digital rights or other security technology embedded or contained within the site or its content.
  • Our status as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged.
  • Nothing in these terms of use grants you any legal rights in the site and you must not use any part of the content on our site for commercial purposes, without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.
  • If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

7. Our site gives general information only

  • The content on our site is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice or use your own independent judgement before taking, or refraining from taking, any action based on the content on our site. 
  • Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our site is accurate, complete, up to date or fit for any purpose. Any reliance you may place on information on the site is entirely at your own risk. 

8. We are not responsible for websites we link to 

  • Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. Such links should not be interpreted as approval by us of those linked websites or information you may obtain from them. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.

9. Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

  • You agree not to use our site for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity as a result of your use of this site.
  • We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

10. How we may use your personal information

  • Your privacy and personal information are important to us. Any personal information that you provide to us will be handled in line with our Privacy Notice which explains how the inquiry will collect your personal data and your rights.

11. We are not responsible for viruses and you must not introduce them

  • We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.
  • You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.
  • You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

12. Rules about linking to our site

  • You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and lawful and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it. You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.
  • You must not establish a link to our site in any website that is not owned by you.
  • Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page.
  • We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
  • If you wish to link to or make any use of content on our site other than that set out above, please contact us using the details set out at the top of the page.

13. We are not responsible for events beyond our control

  • We are not liable to you if we fail to comply with these terms of use because of circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including breakdown of systems or network access.

14. Which country’s laws apply to any disputes?

  • If you are unhappy with our site, please contact us as soon as possible using the details set out at the top of this page. We will try to resolve any disputes with you quickly and efficiently.
  • If a dispute cannot be resolved in this way, you can bring court proceedings against us. The law of Scotland will apply to these terms of use. The Scottish courts will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to these terms of use.

15. Accessibility

  • If you would like to receive these terms of use in alternative format, for example, audio, large print or braille, please contact us at contact@covid19inquiry.scot. Please see our Accessibility Policy for more information on how we strive to make this website as accessible as possible.

16. Version control

  • This is the first version of these terms of use, approved by the Chair on 17 May 2022.