Terms of use

Bioversity International acts on behalf of ECPGR while the ECPGR Secretariat is hosted at Bioversity. This service is provided in collaboration with and on behalf of the National Focal Points for the National Inventories (NI).

These NI are implemented and maintained by National Focal Points (NFP) of individual European Countries as a contribution to the implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR) and other international mechanisms such as the FAO Global Plan of Action, the Clearing House Mechanism (CHM) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Global Biological Information Facility (GBIF).

EURISCO serves as an impartial platform for distribution of data maintained by the NI, and will not modify the original data. Bioversity will not claim ownership over any data provided by the NI, nor will Bioversity express any opinion on the data in making publicly available. EURISCO is managed based on the principle that it should only contain data, which, according to the EURISCO terms of use (included in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding collaboration on the development of EURISCO, signed between Bioversity on behalf of the ECPGR Secretariat and the National Focal Point (NFP) of the National Plant Genetic Resources Inventory), can be made publicly available and can be used without limitation or restraint.

The National Inventories (NI) should therefore not replicate confidential or otherwise restricted data into EURISCO. EURISCO defines the structure and quality requirements of the data to be replicated by the NI. If for whatever reason (part of) a data set is found to be incompliant with any of the requirements, EURISCO has the right to reject (part of) the data. Complementary, the NI has the right to withdraw data from EURISCO at any time.

Bioversity accepts the following responsibilities regarding the data provided by the NFP of the NI:

It will compile the data uploaded from the NI into one database. It will not modify data in any way but has the right to withhold data from EURISCO if quality standards are not met.
It will provide public access to the EURISCO database via a web site, and maintain this site and its user interfaces in consultation with and on behalf of the NFP of the NI.
It will, if appropriate, facilitate access to the NI being the source of the data via hyperlinks to the NI web site and providing contact details of the NFP of the NI.
It will manage the tools and means to facilitate data upload from NI to EURISCO and provide access to these tools and means to the NFP of the NI.
It will manage the legal basis for access to EURISCO and use of data (disclaimers, copyright notifications, terms of use etc.) and manage responses to any abuses of the collective information of EURISCO.
It will incorporate appropriate notices on the EURISCO web site concerning the terms of use of the data presented on the site.

The NFP of the NI accepts the following responsibilities regarding the data (to be) replicated in EURISCO:

It will acquire and manage the appropriate data of the National Ex situ Plant Genetic Resources Inventory (NI), inter alia for upload to EURISCO.
It will replicate the data in the EURISCO uploading format.
It will manage any authorizations or consents required in relation to replicating the data, and resolve any disputes, which might arise from these issues.
It will assist Bioversity in resolving any disputes or claims with respect to the collective data of EURISCO, where this concerns NI data. Bioversity on behalf of the ECPGR Secretariat and the NFP of the NI dedicate themselves to mutually beneficial collaboration.

They will inform each other of changes regarding this collaboration and look at options to expand the collaboration for mutual benefit. This agreement covers proposed activities for the period effective from the time of signature until 31 December of 2009. A follow-up agreement will be developed according to needs and opportunities and will be proposed.