BDO Portal Terms & Conditions
GLOBAL PORTAL
Terms and Conditions
Last Update : 29/08/2019
By using this Global Portal, you (as the “Client User”) have the permission of your employer (the “Client”) to use the Global Portal in the course of your business with BDO Limited and/or its affiliated entities (“BDO” or “We”) for and on behalf of the Client, and you are agreeing to these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, then you are not allowed to use the Global Portal and should immediately terminate such usage.
The Global Portal may redirect you to various separate web sites and applications. These Terms apply solely to the content on the Global Portal, and not to each individual web site or application it redirects to. BDO does not bear any responsibility whatsoever for the content, accuracy or security of any web sites or applications that are linked (by way of hyperlink or otherwise) to the Global Portal.
We may revise these Terms at any time in our sole discretion by posting such revised Terms at the Terms of Use link (i.e. this page that you are currently viewing) or elsewhere on the Global Portal. Such revisions shall be effective as to you upon posting, unless explicitly stated by us. It is your responsibility to be aware of any such revised Terms by checking this page. Your continued use of the Global Portal following changes to these Terms constitutes your agreement to the revised Terms of Use.
You and the Client are wholly responsible for the use of the Global Portal, and for the user names and passwords allocated (if relevant). You shall make use of the Global Portal only with its own individually allocated user name and password or the user name and password granting access to the Global Portal. BDO and any third parties involved with BDO shall not be responsible, or be held responsible, for your use of the Global Portal, or for the use of the user names and passwords allocated (when relevant). You and the Client shall in no way violate third party intellectual property rights, and shall in no way interfere with or commercially exploit the system of which the Global Portal forms part except as specifically permitted herein.
BDO and any third parties engaged by BDO for the purposes of the Global Portal retain the usage and ownership rights to the Global Portal and the related technology. You access the Global Portal using Microsoft SharePoint technology and by using the Global Portal, you and the Client agree to be bound by these Terms of BDO and any third parties engaged by BDO as they may be amended from time to time.
You and the Client will maintain the confidentiality of the content and technology of the Global Portal using at least the same degree of care as you and the Client use in maintaining your/its own proprietary and/or confidential information, but in no event using less than a reasonable degree of care.
You and the Client will ensure that all and any copies of the Global Portal content (printed or electronic) retain and/or reflect any copyright, confidentiality, or other legal notice that appears on or with such material when accessed on the Global Portal. You and/or the Client will not copy, download, reproduce, modify or distribute the Global Portal technology in whole or in part, except as may be expressly permitted elsewhere in writing outside of these Terms.
Except as otherwise provided in an applicable Engagement Letter, you and the Client may not engage in any of the following relating to the Global Portal and/or its contents, nor may you and the Client authorise other parties to do so:
(a) make use of the service for any purpose other than that for which access has been provided,
(b) copy or distribute the Global Portal or any of its contents,
(c) amend or create an extract of the Global Portal,
(d) deduce, change or edit source codes relating to the Global Portal, or
(e) distribute, exploit, transfer or sub-license the Global Portal or any rights related to it.
You and the Client remain at all times responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the data contributed to the Global Portal and for the timely submission thereof.
If you and/or the Client save information from the Global Portal on your/its own computer, server or other storage medium, you and/or the Client are responsible and accountable for the security, storage and availability of this information.
Availability of the Global Portal
If, for whatever reason, the Global Portal is unavailable for more than one day, you and/or the Client shall contact your BDO contact person both by telephone and by email and, where necessary, alternative arrangements will be made for submission, preparation and/or approval of the documents so as not to prejudice any timely filing of documents or otherwise. If you and/or the Client do not make immediate contact with BDO, BDO shall not be responsible for the consequences of any late filing of documents or otherwise.
BDO is responsible for maintaining the technical and organisational environment necessary for the Global Portal and for endeavouring to ensure that the information therein is secure and accessible only to authorised persons.
BDO does not guarantee permanent availability of the Global Portal. BDO reserves the right, at its own discretion, to withdraw the Global Portal, either from you and/or the Client, in such instance as virus attacks, internet security breaches, problems caused by Client connection issues or in other situations where uninterrupted use of the Global Portal is or may be threatened. Where possible, BDO shall notify the Client in advance. If you and/or the Client become aware that security may be threatened, you shall notify BDO immediately by telephone and in writing (including by email).
BDO shall notify the Client in advance of any planned maintenance of the Global Portal.
Access to the Global Portal
The Client and your access to Global Portal is governed by BDO and these TERMS.
To access the Global Portal, you and/or the Client may have received from BDO a user name and a password. The user name and password must be treated confidentially, and they are not transferable.
You and the Client are responsible for the proper usage and security of the Client's hardware and software and of the user certificates giving access to the Global Portal. You and the Client are prohibited from allowing unauthorized parties access to the Global Portal. You and the Client are required to use reliable antivirus software before and during use of the Global Portal. Furthermore, you and/or the Client may not use the Global Portal in non-secure environments (such as internet cafes).
If you and/or the Client know or suspect that third parties are, or may become, privy to information concerning the user name or password or that these have been lost, stolen or are missing, you and/or the Client must notify BDO immediately.
If necessary for the proper running of the Global Portal, your password(s) may be reset from time to time.
If BDO grants the Client access to the Global Portal, the Client obtains a limited, non-exclusive and non-transferable right to use the Global Portal.
The Client's access to the Global Portal and hence the right to use the Global Portal apply for the term of the Engagement, except if the parties agree that BDO will make the Global Portal available for a longer period with or without changes to its form and content.
BDO has the right to prematurely terminate or defer for an indefinite period of time, at any time, with immediate effect and without having to give prior notice, the Client’s and your access to and hence its right to use all or parts of the Global Portal, for the purposes of maintenance, adjustments or improvements or in connection with events of threat to the security of the Global Portal.
Upon termination of the right to use the Global Portal, and upon request from the Client, BDO will return the information and data available to the Client on the Portal, except if and insofar as the information and data does not specifically apply to the Client or you.
Upon termination of the right to use the Global Portal, BDO will destroy the Client's information and data, except if BDO needs the information and data to perform the Engagement or to comply with its statutory or professional safekeeping duties or other duties.
Third Parties
BDO may engage third parties for the purpose of providing and maintaining the Global Portal. To the extent that contracted third parties may need to have access to the Global Portal and also possibly to Client or your information, you and the Client assent to the processing of your and its data for these purposes. You and the Client hereby authorise BDO and the afore-mentioned third parties contracted by BDO to process all the data provided. Should the Client need to obtain authorization from other parties for the processing of any data, the Client warrants that it has such authorization.
Liability and Indemnification
Although we take commercially reasonable steps to make the Global Portal useful and secure, the Global Portal (including all Global Portal technology, Global Portal content and other content) is provided as is, without warranty of any kind. Without limiting the foregoing, we do not warrant that the Global Portal will be secure, error-free, free from viruses or malicious code, or will meet any particular criteria of performance or quality, and we expressly disclaim all implied warranties, including warranties of merchantability, title, and fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security, and accuracy.
BDO is only responsible for damage or costs incurred due to wilful intent to cause damage, deception, fraud or wilful recklessness on the part of BDO or its personnel.
Your use and the Client’s use of the Global Portal is at your own risk and you assume full responsibility and risk of loss resulting from your usage, including with respect to loss of service or data. We will not be liable for any damage or costs incurred by you, the Client or by third parties as a result of your or the Client’s use of the Global Portal, regardless of the reason for such damage or costs, which may include without limitation damage due to: (i) inaccurate or incomplete Client information; (ii) malfunctions, errors, delays or any other deficiencies of the Global Portal and/or BDO’s means of communication, such as not being able to send, receive, store or change information; (iii) viruses, spyware and other harmful software; (iv) temporary or prolonged denial of access to or shutdown of the Global Portal for the purposes of maintenance, adjustments or improvements; (v) the alteration, extension or (partial) deletion of the Global Portal; (vi) any acts or omissions by you, the Client and/or other authorised users in breach of the obligations arising from or in connection with the Global Portal; or (vii) loss of electricity if you and/or the Client are logged in on the system.
BDO is not responsible or liable for the existence of an operational point-to-point connection between the systems and software owned or used by the Client and the Global Portal or the platform on which the Global Portal runs.
If the Client uses the Single-Sign-On functionality to connect to software applications owned by or licensed (paid or free licence) to the Client, BDO is in no way responsible and/or liable for the content and/or use of the software, software packages or data in question.
Except as stipulated above, BDO is not liable for any loss of turnover, profit or goodwill for any reason whatsoever, even if BDO has been informed of the likelihood of this loss. BDO will endeavour to repair malfunctions reported to BDO by you and/or the Client, except if the cause of the malfunction is attributable to you and/or the Client or to the system and/or software used by you and/or the Client. If you and/or the Client act in breach of the obligations arising from or in connection with the use of the Global Portal, you and/or the Client will be liable for all the resulting damage and costs incurred by BDO.
The Client indemnifies BDO against any and all third-party claims arising from or in connection with the Global Portal, including but not limited to third-party claims arising from non-fulfilment by the Client or persons working at or for the Client of any of the obligations applicable to them.
The above limitations of liability shall be applicable not only to us but also to each other entity within the BDO Network and to our and their respective personnel.
If any of the above limitations of liability is invalid or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, then (i) in that jurisdiction it shall be re-construed to the maximum effect permitted by law to effect its intent as nearly as possible and the remaining terms shall remain in full force and effect, and (ii) in every other jurisdiction all of these terms shall remain in full force and effect.
Intellectual Property
BDO or the third party from which BDO has obtained permits/licences will at all times remain the owner of all the intellectual and other property rights regarding the Global Portal.
You or the Client may not publish information relating to the Global Portal or operate or otherwise use the Global Portal with the aid of third parties or on its own in a manner (including but not limited to storing or reproducing all or part of the Global Portal on another internet page or inserting links, hyperlinks or deep links between the Global Portal and any other internet page) for which no prior written permission has been obtained from BDO.
Force Majeure
BDO is not obliged to meet any obligation it is unable to meet due to force majeure. Force majeure is understood to include shortcomings by third parties engaged by BDO as well as disruptions to or failures in the electricity supply and/or telecommunications systems.
Property Rights
You may link to the Global Portal provided that such link does not involve unauthorized use of the Global Portal, or of our logos; any false claims (actual or implied) of endorsement by, or other relationship with BDO; or any other infringement of our trademarks, copyright and/or other intellectual property rights.
The Global Portal contains material which is owned by or licensed to BDO. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics of the Global Portal. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these Terms. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other web site or other form of electronic retrieval system.
Evidence
Data extracts from BDO’s computer and other systems will provide sufficient evidence of any and all use of the Global Portal and any and all instructions, guidelines and other communications between BDO and you and/or the Client, as well as any and all transactions and activities carried out under the Engagement. Evidence to the contrary may be submitted only in the event of clear errors in the data extracts from BDO’s computer and other systems. The use of login data for the Global Portal provides sufficient proof of the identity of the authorised user.
Applicable Law
These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall have exclusive jurisdiction to resolve any disputes arising out of these Terms.