1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 This legal notice ("Terms") is  issued by: 

The Abu Dhabi Government Media Office, established by Law 18 of 2018, whose principal address is P.O Box 19, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (the “Media Office”), and applies to those websites (“Websites”) found at the following domain names:

Mediaoffice.abudhabi

Websites shall mean the pages within such sites and their relevant URLs including without limitation all contents of the Website, plus any correspondence by e-mail between you and the Media Office or any person or company that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control by the Media Office, including any and all Media Office officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives sent through the Website and any information, forms or materials which you submit to Media Office through the Website.

1.2 Please read these Terms carefully before using the Website. By using the Website and/or by accepting the rights and benefits the Media Office confers upon you under these Terms you accept and acknowledge that you are legally bound by these Terms and the Privacy Policy. If you do not accept these Terms, please discontinue accessing, viewing or otherwise using the Website immediately. 

1.3 The Media Office reserves the right to change, add to and cancel any or any part of these Terms and the Privacy Policy without prior notice to you at any time, at its sole discretion, including by posting a copy of the amended Terms or Privacy Policy (or both) on the Website, and it is your sole responsibility to check the Terms or Privacy Policy (or both) as available on the Website from time to time for any amendments. If the modified Terms are not acceptable to you, your only recourse is to cease accessing, viewing or otherwise using the Website.

1.4 Certain provisions of these Terms may be superseded by expressly designated legal notices or terms located on particular pages at the Website.

1.5 In consideration of the opportunity to view and/or use the Website, you hereby agree to comply with the obligations set out in these Terms.

1.6 The Media Office reserves any rights not expressly granted to you in these Terms.

2. OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

2.1 Unless otherwise stated, all creative works, text, data, software links, audio content, audiovisual content, footage, graphics, images (photographs), illustrations, forms and look and feel attributes, The Media Office trade mark and logos, copyrighted material and other intellectual property rights in all information, documents or material on the Website and any technology or code making up any Media Office widget ("Content") are owned and/or controlled by The Media Office or its licensors.

2.2 Any downloading, reproduction, republication, extraction, modification, copying, distribution, transmission, display or sale of Content or any other part of the Website without the express written consent of The Media Office for any purpose is strictly prohibited.

2.3 If you breach any of the provisions in these Terms, in addition to all other legal remedies available, your permission to use the Website and your license to use the Content immediately and automatically terminates and you must immediately delete, return or destroy any downloaded or printed extracts of Content from the Website.

2.4 No content or any other part of the Website may be reproduced, republished, extracted, modified, copied, distributed, displayed, stored or otherwise included in any other website or any public or private electronic retrieval system or service without The Media Office's specific prior written permission.

2.5 The trade mark and trade name "Abu Dhabi Government Media Office" is owned or controlled by the Media Office or its affiliates. You shall not use or display publicly the "Media Office°" trade mark or the name “Media Office” without the prior written consent of Media Office.

2.6 The Website may contain or make reference to trademarks or other proprietary intellectual property rights of The Media Office, its partners or of other third parties. No license to or right in any of these trademarks or other proprietary intellectual property rights is granted to or conferred upon you by reason of such reference.

2.7 The Website and Content are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws of the United Arab Emirates and all other countries. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, The Media Office and its licensors (if specified by The Media Office) exclusively own all right, title and interest in and to the Website and Media Office Content, including all associated intellectual property rights. You will not remove, alter or obscure any copyright, trademark, service mark or other proprietary rights notices incorporated in or accompanying the Website or Media Office Content.

2.8 Subject to your compliance with these Terms, The Media Office grants to you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license, without the right to sublicense, to access, view, download and print, where applicable, any Media Office Content solely for your personal and non-commercial purposes, revocable upon notice by The Media Office without need to ascribe reasons for doing so. You will not use, copy, adapt, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast or otherwise exploit the Website or Media Office Content, except as expressly permitted in these Terms. No licenses or rights are granted to you by implication or otherwise under any intellectual property rights owned or controlled by The Media Office or its licensors, except for the licenses and rights expressly granted in these Terms.

3. WEBSITE ACCESS

3.1 While The Media Office endeavors to ensure that the Website is normally available 24 hours a day, you hereby acknowledge that The Media Office shall not be liable if for any reason the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period or if your access to the Website is suspended.

3.2 You are responsible for ensuring that your computer system, mobile telephone or other communication device meets all relevant technical specifications necessary to use the Website.

3.3 The Media Office reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, replace, refuse access to, suspend and/or discontinue all aspects and/or any part of the Website, including any portion thereof on a global or individual basis, and to block access from a particular Internet address, Internet protocol (IP) address or geographical territory to the Website, at any time, without ascribing any reasons whatsoever. Any and all changes shall take effect at the time they are posted on the Website and/or directly communicated to you unless otherwise specified.

4. PERMITTED USE OF WEBSITE

4.1 You agree and warrant that you will not:

4.1.1. Misuse the Website or any communication systems that the Website utilizes in any way whatsoever (including, without limitation, by hacking);

4.1.2. Use the Website for any purpose that is unlawful in any relevant jurisdiction or is otherwise prohibited by these Terms;

4.1.3 Access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Website, The Media Office’s computer systems, or the technical delivery systems of The Media Office’s providers;

4.1.4. Attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any The Media Office system or network or breach any security or authentication measures;

4.1.5. Avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair, descramble or otherwise circumvent any technological measure implemented by The Media Office or any of The Media Office’s providers or any other third party to protect the Website or Media Office Content;

4.1.6. Attempt to access or search the Website or Media Office Content or download Media Office Content from the Website through the use of any engine, software, tool, agent, device or mechanism (including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools or the like) other than the software and/or search agents provided by The Media Office or other generally available third party web browsers (such as but not limited to Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome or Opera);

4.1.7. Send any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, email, junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes or other form of solicitation;

4.1.8. Use any meta tags or other hidden text or metadata utilizing a Media Office trademark, copyright, logo URL or product name without The Media Office’s express written consent;

4.1.9. Use the Website or The Media Office Content for any commercial purpose for the benefit of you or any third party or in any manner not permitted by these Terms;

4.1.10. Forge any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any email or newsgroup posting, or in any way use the Website or The Media Office Content to send altered, deceptive or false source-identifying information;

4.1.11. Attempt to decipher, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer any of the software used to provide the Website or the Media Office Content;

4.1.12. Interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, the access of any user, host or network, including, without limitation, sending a virus, worm, Trojan horse, or overloading, flooding, spamming, or mail-bombing the Website;

4.1.13 Collect Content from the Website using automated means, such as “spiders,” “scrapers,” bots or robots, without prior express permission from the Media Office; or

4.1.14. Encourage or enable any other individual to do any of the foregoing.

4.2 The Media Office may fully co-operate with any law enforcement authorities of the United Arab Emirates or any court order issued by the courts of the United Arab Emirates or any order or direction issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of the United Arab Emirates requesting or directing the Media Office to disclose the identity or locate anyone posting any material in purported or suspected breach of any clauses of these Terms or any applicable laws.

4.3 Your use of the Website and Content and any other content made available through the Website is at your sole risk and discretion, and the Media Office hereby disclaims any and all liability to you or any third party relating thereto. 

5. LINKS TO AND FROM OTHER WEBSITES

5.1 The Website may include links to third party websites that are not owned or controlled by the Media Office and that are provided solely for your convenience. If you use these links, you will leave the Website. The Media Office has not reviewed and is not obliged to review all of these third party websites and is not responsible for these websites, including their content, privacy policies, practices or availability and the conduct of the proprietors of such websites. The inclusion of these links on the Website does not imply any endorsement or approval of the linked sites or the content, information or any linked addresses therein, or make any representations about them, or any material found there, or any results that may be obtained from using them. If you decide to access any of the third party websites linked to the Website, you do so entirely at your own risk.

5.2 You may be directed to a third party website (a payment gateway) to make online payments to the Media Office. This third party website is subject to its own terms and conditions and privacy policy. The Media Office is not responsible for such website, including its content, privacy policy, practices or availability, nor is the Media Office responsible for the proprietors of such website. If you decide to access such website, you do so entirely at your own risk. Please note that the Media Office does not collect or store any individual payment information (such as credit card or bank information) from you.

5.3 If you would like to link to the Website from another website, you may only do so on the basis that you link to, but do not replicate, the home page of the Website, and subject to the following conditions:

5.3.1. You do not remove, distort or otherwise alter the size or appearance of the "Media Office" trade mark or any other trade mark owned and/or controlled by the Media Office;

5.3.2. You do not create a frame or any other browser or border environment around the Website;

5.3.3. You do not in any way imply that the Media Office is endorsing any products or services other than its own;

5.3.4. You do not misrepresent your relationship with the Media Office nor present any other false information about the Media Office;

5.3.5 You do not otherwise use the "Media Office" trademark or any other trademarks displayed on the Website without express written permission from the Media Office;

5.3.6. You do not otherwise use the whole or any part of the Content without express permission from the Media Office;

5.3.7. You do not link from a website that is not owned or controlled by you;

5.3.8. The other website does not contain content that is distasteful, offensive or controversial or is in any way contrary to the political, cultural or social norms or sensitivities in the United Arab Emirates;

5.3.9 The other website does not infringe any intellectual property rights or other rights of any third party; and

5.3.10. The other website complies with all the laws and regulations of the Media Zone Authority – Abu Dhabi, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Federal laws of the United Arab Emirates as applicable therein.

5.4 The Media Office expressly reserves the right to revoke the rights granted above at any time and for any reason and to take any action it deems appropriate in relation to any Communication.

6. COMMUNICATION FROM YOU

6.1 With respect to all communications and submissions you make to the Media Office regarding the Website (or Content on the Website), including but not limited to questions, comments, suggestions and other feedback, ideas, concepts, know-how, techniques, text, photographs, graphics, video or audio in any format, (“Communication”), the Media Office will use all reasonable endeavors to act in good faith. 

6.2 You acknowledge and agree that in the absence of a written agreement by the Media Office to the contrary:

6.2.1. The Media Office shall have no obligation to protect your Communication from any disclosure;

6.2.2. The Media Office is or may be from time to time investigating other ideas, creations, concepts, businesses and other forms of submission and the Media Office may therefore be in discussions with third parties from which the Media Office may already have received or may from time to time receive proprietary information that is similar to your Communication, the subject matter of which is not related to or derived from your Communication;

6.2.3. The Media Office shall be free to use, disclose, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, distribute and/or create derivative works from your Communication for the purposes of assessment and evaluation provided that such right is exercised at all times in good faith within the Media Office and/or in respect of a restricted number of third parties;

6.2.4. The Media Office shall not be obliged to open, review or respond to any Communication;

6.2.5. You grant to the Media Office a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive sub licensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, make available to the public, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to your Communication worldwide and/or to incorporate your Communication in other works in any media now known or later developed to the full term of any rights that may exist in your Communication;

6.2.6. In the event that you do not wish to grant these rights please do not submit such Communication to the Media Office;

6.2.7. You warrant that you have all necessary intellectual property rights in any Communication make it available to the Media Office for all purposes and to grant the rights referred to throughout these Terms; and

6.2.8. Any personal information (PI) submitted by you in any Communication will be with the prior consent of any person that the PI may relate to and the retention and use of such PI will be subject to the prevailing privacy policy of the Media Office at any given time and the laws of the United Arab Emirates, as applicable.

7. DISCLAIMER

7.1 The Content, including any e-mail notifications, news updates, and/or notices of events, is intended for informational purposes only and does not in any case constitute a legally binding offer.

7.2 While the Media Office endeavors to ensure that the Content is correct and current, the Media Office makes no express or implied condition, warranty, representation or undertaking as to its accuracy, reliability or completeness. The Media Office may make changes to the Content and the products, services and programs described on the Website, at any time without notice. The Content may be out of date, and the Media Office makes no commitment to update such Content.

7.3 The Content is provided ‘as is’, without any conditions, warranties or other terms of any kind. Accordingly, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the Media Office provides you with the Content on the basis that the Media Office excludes all representations, warranties, conditions and other terms (including, without limitation, conditions of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose, the use of reasonable care and skill and any other conditions implied by law) which, but for this legal notice, might have effect in relation to the Website.

8. LIABILITY

8.1 The Media Office, and the officers, directors, employees, shareholders or agents of any of them (whether or not involved in creating, producing, maintaining or delivering the Website), exclude all liability and responsibility for any amount or kind of loss or damage that may result to you or a third party in connection with your access to, use of, inability to use or the results of use of the Website or your downloading or use of any Content, any websites linked to the Website or the material on such websites.

8.2 Without prejudice to the generality of clause 8.1, you agree that in no event shall the Media Office be liable for:

8.2.1. Any direct, indirect, punitive, exemplary or consequential loss or damages;

8.2.2. Any loss of reputation, income, profits, goodwill, data, contracts, use of money, or loss or damages arising from or connected in any way to business interruption; and

8.2.3. Any loss or damage due to viruses that may infect your computer equipment, software, data or other property in connection with your access to, use of, inability to use or the results of use of the Website or your downloading or use of any Content, any websites linked to the Website or the material on such websites.

8.3 You fully indemnify the Media Office for any loss or damage suffered by the Media Office for any breach by you of these Terms.

9. COOKIES

9.1 Our website may use cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

9.2 A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

9.3 We may use the following cookies:

9.3.1. Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.

9.3.2. Analytical or performance cookies. These allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

9.3.3. Functionality cookies. These are used to recognize you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).

9.3.4. Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. [We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.]

9.4 You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our website.

10. PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION

10.1 The Media Office respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you visit the Website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

10.2 This Website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

10.3 The Website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit. 

10.4 We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you if you disclose it to us including personal data relating to your identity, contact information, financial information, technical information, usage data, profile information and marketing and communications data. 

10.5 We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity.

10.6 We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through: Direct interactions. You may give us your identity, contact and financial data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise; or automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. 

10.7 We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation

10.8 We may use your identity, contact, technical, usage and profile data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).

10.9 You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us from us and you have agreed to, or not opted out of, receiving that marketing.

10.10 You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you.

10.11 We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

10.12 Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

10.13 We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

10.14 We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

10.15 To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

10.16 The Media Office will only collect, store, use and process your personal information in accordance with the relevant laws, regulations and policies of the Media Zone Authority – Abu Dhabi, and the Federal laws of the United Arab Emirates as applicable.

11. MISCELLANEOUS

11.1 These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Federal laws of the United Arab Emirates as applicable therein. Disputes arising in connection with these Terms or the Privacy Policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

11.2 These Terms represent the entire understanding and agreement between the Media Office and you concerning your use of the Website and the Content. Any and all previous courses of dealing, written or oral understandings, discussions, representations, correspondence and communications between the Media Office and you relating to the matters covered by these Terms are hereby superseded. You hereby agree that you have not relied upon, and will have no remedy in respect of, any warranty, statement, representation or understanding made by any party including the Media Office unless it is expressly set out in these Terms.

11.3 All notices shall be sent  to the Media Office via email at legal@mediaoffice.abudhabi

11.4 If any provision of these Terms is held by any competent authority to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the other provisions of these Terms and the remainder of the provisions in question shall not be affected.

11.5 The Media Office may assign, transfer, novate or subcontract any or all of its rights and obligations under these Terms at any time.

11.6 These Terms may be available in English and Arabic languages. For the avoidance of doubt the arabic -language version shall at all times take precedence in the event of any discrepancy or For legal purposes.