Please read these terms and conditions of use (“Terms”) carefully. These Terms are a binding agreement between you (“you” or “User”) and the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group (“IFC”, “we” or “us”) and govern your use of our website located at www.ifc.org (the “Site”).
BY USING THIS SITE, YOU ARE STATING THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY, THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO USE THIS SITE.
User specifically acknowledges that its use of the Site may be subject to local, state, federal, national, provincial, foreign, and international statutes, treaties, regulations, rules, orders, and other laws (collectively “Law”), including the rules and regulations of various stock exchanges and regulatory authorities, as well as restrictions imposed by various data providers, any or all of which may restrict such use. User agrees to identify and obtain any agreement, approval, license or permit which may be required for User to access or use the Site, at User's own expense.
Nothing on any Site or in any content (including but not limited to all information, text, displays, images, video and audio, and the design, selection and arrangement thereof) (“Content”) thereon shall be construed, implicitly or explicitly, as containing any investment recommendations. Nothing on the Site, or in any Content, constitutes an offer of or an invitation by or on behalf of IFC to purchase or sell any of the shares or securities of companies mentioned, nor should it be considered as investment advice.
1. Appropriate and Lawful Use of the Site
A. You agree not to use the Site or Content:
a. in violation of these Terms or any Law;
b. to post or upload information, material or content that is false, inaccurate, or misleading;
c. to transmit or display any information, material or content that is illegal, abusive, inflammatory, threatening, tortious, violent, discriminatory, obscene, defamatory, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or otherwise objectionable or offensive, or to harass or harm IFC, or another entity or individual;
d. to infringe any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy of any party;
e. to transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional materials;
f. to transmit any material that contains adware, malware, spyware, software viruses, or any other harmful code;
g. to impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
h. to interfere with or disrupt the Site or any software, hardware, telecommunications equipment or networks used by us;
i. to further or promote any illegal activity or enterprise or provide instructional information about illegal activities;
j. to obtain or attempt to access or otherwise obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available or provided for through the Site; or
k. to interfere with other users’ use and enjoyment of the Site (for example, by spamming, advertising or offering to sell any goods or services, conducting promotions, soliciting or overly promoting personal interests).
B. You are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Site, including, without limitation:
a. accessing data not intended for you or logging onto a server or an account which you are not authorized to access;
b. attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization; or
c. accessing or using the Site or any portion thereof without authorization, in violation of these Terms or in violation of Law.
Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. We will investigate occurrences that may involve such violations and may involve, and cooperate with, law enforcement authorities in prosecuting people who are involved in such violations.
C. We reserve the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in our sole discretion, violates these Terms, including, without limitation, removing the offending content from the Site, suspending or terminating the access of such violators to the Site and reporting violations to the law enforcement authorities.
D. The Site may feature interactive tools, message boards, access to mailing lists and other interactive features or message or communication facilities (collectively, “Forums”). By using such Forums, you acknowledge and agree that the information contained therein is intended solely for general informational purposes. Any such information (including any information you provide) is provided subject to Section 3 hereof. We do not guarantee screening, monitoring, endorsement or authentication of the information contained in any such Forums. User specifically acknowledges and agrees that IFC is not liable for any conduct or content of any other user.
E. IFC reserves the right for any reason to remove without notice any contents of the Forums received from any users, including, without limitation, e-mail and bulletin board postings.
2. Our Content and Proprietary Rights
A. As between you and us, we own all content developed or acquired by us (“Our Content”), including but not limited to our selection and arrangement of Third Party Content (as defined below), but excluding Third Party Content itself. Our Content is protected under United States and international copyright Laws and is subject to other Laws. In addition, the “International Finance Corporation” and “IFC” names and logos, as well as certain other of the names, logos, designs, slogans and materials displayed in or through the Site constitute registered and unregistered trademarks, trade names or service marks of us, other members of the World Bank Group and our or their business partners or content providers (collectively, the “Marks”).
B. As between you and us, ownership of the Marks and the goodwill associated with them remains with us. We authorize you to view or download a single copy of a reasonable amount of Content from the Site, solely for your personal, noncommercial use. You are not authorized to use any of Our Content or the Marks other than as expressly provided in these Terms or as expressly licensed to you. You must abide by all rights, notices, information, or restrictions contained in or attached to any of Our Content and must not remove any trademark, copyright, or other notice from the Site or any of Our Content. We reserve the right to remove any of Our Content in our sole discretion, without notice.
C. As between you and us, the technology and software underlying the Site is our property (the “Software”). You agree not to copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, sell, assign, sublicense, or otherwise transfer any right in the Software.
D. Any rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved by IFC.
3. Third Party Content (Including Your Content)
A. No Responsibility for Third Party Content. We will not be liable in any way for any content or materials of any third parties (including users) (collectively, “Third Party Content”). We do not control any Third Party Content on the Site and do not guarantee the availability or display of any Third Party Content. We reserve the right to remove any Third Party Content at any time in our sole discretion. Any opinions, advice, statements, views, positions, services, offers, or other Third Party Content expressed or made available on the Site are solely those of the respective authors or distributors, and do not necessarily reflect our opinions, views, or positions.
B. Your Content. If you submit information or material through any means (collectively, “Your Content”) to the Site, you, to the extent you have any rights in such information or material, grant IFC, other members of the World Bank Group, and our or their members, business partners and service providers and each of their and our respective licensees, successors and assigns a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferrable and fully sub-licensable right to use, exploit, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, perform, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, display and otherwise disclose to third parties Your Content throughout the universe in any media whether now known or hereafter devised. You grant us and our sub-licensees the right to use the name, screen name, city or zip code, and other biographical information that you submit in connection with Your Content, if we or they choose. You represent and warrant that: (i) you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post, including any intellectual property or other proprietary rights other than content that you clearly identify as Third Party Content, e.g., links to third party websites; (ii) Your Content is accurate; (iii) neither Your Content nor your posting or submission of Your Content violates any of these Terms, including, without limitation, the prohibitions on use of the Site set forth above; and (iv) neither Your Content nor your posting or submission of Your Content will cause injury to any person or entity, including posing any privacy or security risk.
4. Third Party Services and Sites
Portions of the Site may allow you to use third party products and services, which may include without limitation social networking services, and the Site may contain links to third party websites or resources (such products, services, websites, and resources, collectively “Third Party Services”). We are not associated with and do not control such Third Party Services and such links are provided for your convenience only. Your use of Third Party Services is subject to the policies and agreements applicable to such Third Party Services. We do not approve or endorse any Third Party Services, their content, or any views expressed on any Third Party Service. IFC has no responsibility to you for any Third Party Services.
5. Linking to Our Sites. If you wish to link to the Site, you may include an active link on any website you control directing a browser to that Site. You may link to our homepage, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part with respect to your site or any of its content or for your entity or its business or mission. You may not link to or otherwise provide access to the Site in any way that alters the look, feel, or functionality of any aspect of the Site.
6. Infringement Claims. We respect the intellectual property rights of others. Accordingly, we have a policy of removing Third Party Content that violates copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property Law, suspending access to all or any portion of the Site to any user who uses the Site in violation of any such Law, and/or terminating in appropriate circumstances access to the Site and the account (if any) of any user who uses the Site in violation of any such Law. If you believe that any contributions of other users violate your copyright, please see our Copyright Statement for instructions on sending us a notice of copyright infringement.
7. Indemnity and Release. You agree that you will release, indemnify and hold harmless us, the World Bank Group, and each of our or their business partners, content providers, licensors and service providers, and any of our or their respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees, contractors, representatives, or agents (collectively, the “IFC Parties”) from and against any and all claims, actions, losses, damages, costs, fees and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to: (i) your use of the Site, (ii) Your Content, (iii) your connection to the Site, (iv) your violation of these Terms, or (v) your violation of any rights of another. You waive any rights and benefits you may have or that may accrue to you under any Law providing that a general release does not extend to claims that the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor, or something substantially similar. The IFC Parties reserve the right, at their own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, and you shall not in any event settle any matter without the written consent of the indemnified IFC Parties.
8. Disclaimer of Warranties. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT USE OF THE SITE, OUR CONTENT, ANY THIRD PARTY CONTENT, OR ANY THIRD PARTY SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SITE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. THE IFC PARTIES DISCLAIM ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE, OUR CONTENT, ANY THIRD PARTY CONTENT, OR ANY THIRD PARTY SERVICES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE, TITLE, QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT). IN PARTICULAR, THE IFC PARTIES DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT ANY INFORMATION OR OTHER CONTENT OBTAINED OR VIEWED BY YOU AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF THE SITE WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE OR RELIABLE, THAT YOUR ACCESS TO THE SITE OR CONTENT WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, FREE OF MALICIOUS CODE OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED. IFC DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY ARISING FROM ANY RELIANCE PLACED BY ANYONE ON ANY CONTENT OF THE SITE. THE IFC PARTIES DISCLAIM ALL EQUITABLE INDEMNITIES.
9. Limitation of Liability. IN NO EVENT WILL ANY OF THE IFC PARTIES BE LIABLE UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PERSONAL INJURY/WRONGFUL DEATH, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES (EVEN IF SUCH PARTIES KNEW OF OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, AS A RESULT OF: (A) YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE, ANY WEBSITES LINKED TO IT, OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITE OR ANY OTHER WEBSITES, (B) ANY OF OUR CONTENT, ANY THIRD PARTY CONTENT, OR ANY THIRD PARTY SERVICES AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE OR (C) ANY LOSS OF DATA. SHOULD ANY IFC PARTIES BE FOUND TO BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING AND SECTION 14, SUCH LIABILITY WILL NOT EXCEED $100.00 IN THE AGGREGATE.
10. Exclusions and Limitations. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages. Accordingly, some of the above limitations and disclaimers may not apply to you. To the extent that we may not, as a matter of applicable Law, disclaim any implied warranty or limit our liabilities, the scope and duration of such warranty and the extent of liability of the IFC Parties will be the minimum permitted under such applicable Law.
11. Refusal of Service; Modification of Sites; Termination. We reserve the right to refuse service, deny access, disable or prohibit logins, remove or edit Content (including Third Party Content), limit access to Content, or modify or discontinue the Site or features on the Site in our sole discretion. We reserve the right to provide existing or additional optional services for a fee. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, we may terminate, suspend, or modify your access to all or part of the Site, without notice, if you violate these Terms or you engage in any conduct that we, in our sole and absolute discretion, believe is in violation of any applicable Law or is otherwise harmful to the interests of us, any other user of the Site, or any third party.
12. Modifications to Terms. We may update or change any of the terms and conditions contained in these Terms at any time and in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them, and apply to all access to and use of the Site thereafter. If any modification is unacceptable to you, your only recourse is to terminate your use of the Site. Your continued use of the Site following our posting or emailing of a change notice or revised Terms as provided in this section will constitute your binding acceptance of the change. You are expected to check this page from time to time so you are aware of any changes, as they are binding on you.
13. Disputes. These Terms and the relationship between us will be governed by the Laws of the District of Columbia, United States of America, without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the District of Columbia or any other jurisdiction). You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the Site or these Terms must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred. You may only resolve disputes with us on an individual basis and may not bring and expressly waive bringing a claim as a plaintiff or a class member in a class, consolidated, or representative action. Class arbitrations, class actions, private attorney general actions, and consolidation with other arbitrations are not allowed.
14. Preservation of Immunities. Nothing in these terms shall be construed as a limitation upon or a waiver, renunciation or modification of any immunities, privileges or exemptions of IFC accorded under its Articles of Agreement, international convention or any applicable law. Such immunities, privileges or exemptions are specifically reserved.
15. Electronic Communications Notice. When you use the Site or send emails to us, you are communicating with us electronically. You consent to receiving communications from us electronically. We may communicate with you by email or posting notices on the Site. You agree that all agreements and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing. If you do not grant us or wish to withdraw your consent for us to communicate with you electronically, you may not use the Site.
16. Mobile Site. The Site may include certain services that are available via a mobile device, including (i) the ability to upload content to the Site via a mobile device and (ii) the ability to browse the Site from a mobile device (collectively, the “Mobile Site”). To the extent you access our Service through a mobile device, your wireless service carrier’s standard charges, data rates and other fees may apply. In addition, downloading, installing, or using certain elements of the Mobile Site may be prohibited or restricted by your carrier, and not all aspects of the Mobile Site may work with all carriers or devices. By using the Mobile Site, you agree that we may communicate with you by electronic means and that certain information about your usage of the Mobile Site may be communicated to us.
17. Related Agreements and Policies.
A. Privacy Policy. You agree that we may use any information we obtain about you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. These Terms incorporate by reference the terms and conditions of the Privacy Policy.
B. Copyright Statement. By using the Site, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by the Copyright Statement, incorporated herein by reference.
C. Additional Terms. Some of the Site, or portions of the Site, may be subject to additional terms (“Additional Terms”), which will be described in separate policies posted on the Site. The Additional Terms will supplement these Terms and will control over any conflict between the Additional Terms and these Terms with respect to the Site, or portions thereof, subject to the Additional Terms.
18. Miscellaneous. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any Additional Terms constitute the entire and exclusive agreement between us with respect to their subject matter, and govern your use of the Site, superseding any prior agreements or negotiations between us with respect to that subject matter. Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. No waiver by IFC of any provision of these Terms shall be binding except as set forth in a writing signed by its duly authorized representative. If any provision of these Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, you nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to our intentions as reflected in the provision, and that the other provisions of these Terms remain in full force and effect. The section titles in these Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.
Last updated: August 2016