Terms of Use

1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE

These are the Terms of Use for services provided through our website (https://www.rtr-initiative.com) (“Website”). The Website is operated by or on behalf of the RTR members, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles SA, Deutsche Bahn AG, Faiveley Transport SA, Hitachi Rail SpA, Knorr-Bremse AG, Nederlandse Spoorwegen NV, Norske tog AS, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen AG, Siemens Mobility GmbH and Trenitalia SPA (collectively referred to as “RTR Members”, “we”, “us”, and “our”). The relevant company identification information of the RTR Members is included in section 14 (‘Contacting Us’) of these Terms of Use.

We have created the Website to provide information on the Round Table Rolling Stock (RTR) initiative of the RTR Members, which was created to simplify existing processes for the development and procurement of rolling stock in the European railway sector, in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and enhance the competitiveness of European train operators. The Website aims at allowing to make relevant documents available to legitimate stakeholders in the rolling stock industry.

We license use of the services offered on the Website (“Services”) to you on the basis of these Terms of Use, and by using or accessing any Service, with log-in, or where a log-in is not required, you agree to be bound by them in their current form. Use of your personal information submitted to or via the Website is governed by our Privacy Notice, which explains how we use your personal data. We may revise these Terms of Use from time to time and will notify you if we are making any significant changes. The revised Terms of Use will apply as of the revision date which is indicated at the top of this document.

2. REGISTERING WITH US

Certain parts of the Website are only accessible with a valid account. You should only apply for registration for and use the download section of the Website if:

• you are a legitimate stakeholder to the rolling stock industry, such as railway operators, buyers, (sub-) manufacturers of rolling stock, etc.;
• you agree to use the Website in accordance with these Terms of Use;
• you agree to provide your name, professional email address, company name and motivation for registering to us upon registration for the Website; and
• you acknowledge that the Website is intended for use only by persons who are at least 18 years of age. By using the Website, you confirm to us that you meet this requirement.

After completing the registration form, you will receive an email confirming receipt of your request for registration. Within 72 hours, you will receive a second email confirming whether your registration has been approved or rejected. Please note that this timeframe is indicative and that the RTR Members may take longer to approve or reject your request. RTR Members may reject your registration and the right to access the password-protected area, in particular if you:

• use false data for the purpose of registration;
• violate these Terms of Use or neglect your duty of care with regard to user data;
• violate any applicable laws in the access to or use of the Website; or
• if you cannot provide sufficient motivation or legitimate interest.

You only need to register once. You must provide us with an accurate, complete and up-to-date email address at which you can be contacted at all times. You are responsible for the information you provide to us.

3. PASSWORD

Upon completing the registration form, you will be asked to create a password.

You must keep your password confidential at all times and use it only to access and use your account and not for any other purpose. You are the only authorised user of your account (unless expressly specified otherwise in writing) and, accordingly, you must not disclose your password to anyone else. You are liable for all transactions and other activities carried out in connection with your account. At the end of each online session you shall log-off from the password protected website.

You should contact us immediately upon discovering any unauthorised use of your account or error in the operation of your password (see the ‘Contacting us’ section below for further details). Any breach of these Terms of Use and/or any use of your account by anyone to whom you disclose your password will be treated as if the breach or use had been carried out by you, and will not relieve you of your obligations to us.

After receipt of a notice according to the previous paragraph, the RTR Members will deny access to the password-protected area. Access by you will only be possible again upon a new registration.

4. CHANGES TO THE SERVICE

We reserve the right to make changes to the Services, the Website and/or to these Terms of Use from time to time.

5. SERVICE SUSPENSION & TERMINATION  

We may, from time to time, with or without prior notice, temporarily suspend the operation of any Service and/or any part of the Website (in whole or in part) for repair or maintenance work or in order to update or upgrade any contents, features or functionality.  

We may, with or without prior notice, terminate any agreement between you and us or suspend and/or terminate any Service and/or your use of your account in the event that you have breached any of the terms of these Terms of Use.

If you have breached these Terms of Use, we may take such action as we deem appropriate including, but not limited to the right to withdraw your ability to use the Website or account at any time. Such a breach by you may result in our taking, with or without notice, all or any of the following actions:

• issue of a warning to you;
• immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use any Service or your account;
• legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all recoverable loss and damage resulting from the breach; and/or
• disclosure of all relevant information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary.

The rights described above are cumulative and are not limited, and we may take any other action we deem appropriate.

Upon termination of any agreement or Service or your account, for any reason:

• all rights granted to you under these Terms of Use will immediately cease;
• you must promptly discontinue all use of the Website and/or your account. 

6. ACCESS TO THE WEBSITE

By accessing the Website, you acknowledge to have read our Privacy Notice.

We cannot guarantee the continuous, uninterrupted or error-free operability of our Website. There may be times when certain features, parts or content of the Website, or the entire Website, become unavailable (whether on a scheduled or unscheduled basis) or are modified, suspended or withdrawn by us, in our sole discretion, without notice to you.

You agree that we will not be liable to you or to any third-party, subject to the liability terms set out in these Terms of Use, for any unavailability, modification, suspension or withdrawal of the Website, or any features, parts, or content of the Website.  

The Website connects to services via the internet via your third-party internet services provider or mobile services provider’s network and a stable internet connection is required to access our Services. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for any unavailability of the internet, connection quality issues, service interruption or diminished functionality on the Website which you may experience as a result of any such unavailability of any part of the internet or issue with your device’s internet connectivity.

7. WHAT YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO

You may only use the Website in accordance with these Terms of Use. You may retrieve and display content from the Website (including documents available for download on the Website) on a computer screen, print and copy individual pages and, subject to the next section, store such pages in electronic form.

Additional terms may also apply to certain features, parts, or content of the Website and, where they apply, will be displayed on-screen or accessible via a link.

8. WHAT YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO

Except to the extent expressly set out in these Terms of Use, you are not allowed to:

• breach public morality in its manner of use;
• ‘scrape’ content or store content of the Website on a server or other storage device connected to a network or create an electronic database by systematically downloading and storing all of the content of the Website;
• submit any content to the Website which is false, misleading or fraudulent or which could be considered defamatory, offensive or otherwise objectionable;
• transmit, store or upload hyperlinks or contents to which you are not entitled, in particular in cases where such hyperlinks or contents are in breach of confidentiality obligations or unlawful;
• upload any contents containing a virus, so-called Trojan Horse, or any other program that could damage data or the Website;
• distribute advertising or unsolicited emails (so-called “spam”) or inaccurate warnings of viruses, defects or similar material and, to solicit or request the participation in any lottery, snowball system, chain letter, pyramid game or similar activity;
• remove or change any content of the Website or attempt to circumvent security or interfere with the proper working of the Website or the servers on which the Website is hosted;
• violate any intellectual property right or any other proprietary right by republish, redistribute, reverse-engineer or re-transmit the Website, and/or any of the content made available on the Website; or
• otherwise do anything that is not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use.

You must only use the Website and anything available from the Website for lawful purposes (complying with all applicable laws and regulations), in a responsible manner, and not in a way that might damage our name or reputation or that of any of our affiliates, employees, agents, or representatives.

All rights granted to you under these Terms of Use will terminate immediately, without court intervention, in the event that you are in breach of any of them.

9. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

You acknowledge that all intellectual property rights in any content of the Website (including text, graphics, software, photographs and other images, videos, sound, trademarks and logos) are owned by us or our licensors.  

Except as expressly set out here, nothing in these Terms of Use gives you any rights in respect of any intellectual property owned by us or our licensors and you acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by downloading content from the Website. In the event you print off, copy or store pages from the Website (only as permitted by these Terms of Use), you must ensure that any copyright, trademark or other intellectual property right notices contained in the original content are reproduced.

10. WEBSITE FEATURES & CONTENT

We may change the format, features, and content of the Website from time to time. You agree that your use of the Website is on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis and at your sole risk.

Whilst we try to make sure that content on the Website consists of information which we reasonably believe to be correct and accurate, you acknowledge that the Website may make content available which is derived from a number of sources for which we are not responsible. In all cases, information on the Website is not intended to amount to authority or advice on which reliance should be placed. You should check with us or the relevant information source before acting on any such information.

Whilst we take reasonable steps to ensure that the Website and content available via them is free of malware and viruses, we cannot and do not guarantee that any content on the Website will be free from viruses and/or other code that may have contaminating or destructive elements. It is your responsibility to implement appropriate IT security safeguards (including anti-virus and other security checks) before downloading any information, software, or documentation to satisfy your particular requirements as to the safety and reliability of content you access through our services.

11. EXTERNAL LINKS

The Website may, from time to time, include links to external websites, which may include links to third-party offers and promotions. We include these to provide you with access to information, products, or services that you may find useful or interesting. The RTR Members shall have no liability for the contents of such external websites and do not make representations about or endorse such external websites or their contents as its own, as we are not responsible for the content and information of these external websites or for anything provided by them and do not guarantee that they will be continuously available. The fact that we include links to such external websites does not imply any endorsement of our association with their operators or promoters. The use of such external websites shall be at the sole risk of you as a user.

12. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU

Liability of defects for title or quality: Insofar as any information, software or documentation is made available at no cost, any liability for defects as to quality or title of the information, software and documentation especially in relation to the correctness or absence of defects or the absence of claims or third party rights or in relation to completeness and/or fitness for purpose are excluded except for cases involving willful misconduct or fraud.

The information on the Website may contain specifications or general descriptions related to the technical possibilities of individual products which may not be available in certain cases (e.g., due to product changes). The required performance of the product shall therefore be mutually agreed in each case at the time of purchase.

We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so: Nothing in these Terms of Use shall limit or exclude our liability to you:

• for death or personal injury caused by our acts or negligence or the acts or negligence of our employees;
• for grave negligence, willful intent, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation or misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter;
• for breach of any term implied by mandatory law and which, by law, may not be limited or excluded; or
• for any other liability that, by law, may not be limited or excluded.

We are not responsible for events outside of our control: We will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations that is caused by events outside our reasonable control. If our provision or support for the Website is delayed by an event outside of our control then we will contact you by email as soon as possible to let you know that we will take steps to minimize the effect of the delay. Provided we do this we will not be liable for delays caused by such event.

No agency: No agency, partnership, joint venture, employment relationship or franchise relationship is intended or create between you and use as a result of your use of the Services or by you entering into any agreement with us.

We are not responsible for business losses suffered: The Website is made available to you exclusively for the commercial and business purposes of your organisation. You agree not to use our Website or any documents available for download on the Website for any resale purposes and, where you do, we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption or loss of business opportunity.

13. GENERAL

How you should contact us: All notices given by you to us must be given in writing to the address of the RTR Coordinator set out at the end of these Terms of Use. We may give notice to you at either the email or postal address you provide to us.

Even if we delay in enforcing these Terms of Use, we can still enforce it later: If we fail to enforce any of our rights, that does not result in a waiver of that right. If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these Terms of Use, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of your breach of these Terms of Use, this will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking action against you at a later date.

If a court finds part of these Terms of Use illegal, the rest will continue in force: If any provision of these Terms of Use is found to be unenforceable, all other provisions shall remain unaffected.

You may not vary these Terms of Use: These Terms of Use may not be varied except with our express written consent.

This is the entire agreement between us: These Terms of Use and any document expressly referred to in them represent the entire agreement between you and us in relation to the subject matter of any agreement. Any supplementary agreement requires the written form.

We may transfer this agreement to someone else: We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms of Use to another organisation or to an association of part or all of the RTR Members. We will always tell you in writing by email if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer does not affect your rights under these Terms of Use.

You may not transfer your rights to someone else: We are giving you personally the right to use the Website and the Services as set out in these Terms of Use. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms of Use to another person without our prior written agreement.

Operation and administration of the Website: The individual pages of the Website are operated and administered by the RTR Members. The pages comply with the law applicable in the country where the responsible company has its business residence. The RTR Members make no representation that information, software and/or documentation on the Website are appropriate or available for viewing or downloading at locations outside such country. If you access the Website from outside such country, they are exclusively responsible for compliance with all applicable local laws. Access to Website’s information, software and/or documentation from countries where such content is unlawful is prohibited. In this case and where you seek to do business with one of the RTR Members, you should contact the responsible representative for the particular country for country specific business.

Which laws apply to this agreement and where you may bring legal proceedings: These Terms of Use shall be governed by German law, except that if you live in a jurisdiction which provides you with inalienable rights as a matter of mandatory local law, there may be certain mandatory applicable laws of your jurisdiction which apply for your benefit and protection in addition to or instead of certain provisions of German law.

You agree that any dispute between you and us relating to or regarding these Terms of Use or any agreement will only be dealt with by the German courts. The application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sales of Goods (CISG) of April 11th, 1980 is excluded.

14. COMPLIANCE WITH EXPORT CONTROL REGULATIONS

If you transfer information, software and documentation provided by one of the RTR Members to a third party, you shall comply with all applicable national and international (re-)export control regulations. In any event of such transfer you shall comply with the (re-)export control regulations of the Federal Republic of Germany, of the European Union and of the United States of America.

Prior to any such transfer to a third party you shall in particular check and guarantee by appropriate measures that:

• There will be no infringement of an embargo imposed by the European Union, by the United States of America and/ or by the United Nations by such transfer or by provision of other economic resources in connection with information, software and documentation provided by one of the RTR Members, also considering the limitations of domestic business and prohibitions of by-passing those embargos;

• Such information, software and documentation provided by one of the RTR Members are not intended for use in connection with armaments, nuclear technology or weapons, if and to the extent such use is subject to prohibition or authorization, unless required authorization is provided;

• The regulations of all applicable Sanctioned Party Lists of the European Union and the United States of America concerning the trading with entities, persons and organizations listed therein are considered.

If required to enable authorities or one of the RTR Members to conduct export control checks, you, upon request by one of the RTR Members, shall promptly provide the respective RTR Member with all information pertaining to the particular end-user, the particular destination and the particular intended use of information, software and documentation provided by one of the RTR Members, as well as any export control restrictions existing.

You shall indemnify and hold harmless the RTR Members from and against any claim, proceeding, action, fine, loss, cost and damages arising out of or relating to any noncompliance with export control regulations by you, and you shall compensate the RTR Members for all losses and expenses resulting thereof, unless such noncompliance was not caused by fault of you. This provision does not imply a change in burden of proof.

RTR Member’s obligation to fulfill an agreement is subject to the provison that the fulfillment is not prevented by any impediments arising out of national and international foreign trade and customs requirements or any embargos or other sanctions.

15. CONTACTING US

Please submit any questions you have about these Terms of Use, or any complaint or concern in relation to any Service to the RTR Coordinator by email to contact-rtr@horvath-partners.com.