Effective Date: 11 October 2023
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS MICROSITE AND THE TAX SUSTAINABILITY APPLICATION.
Who we are and how to contact us
https://tax-sustainability-index.com is a site and application operated by FTI Consulting LLP (“We” or “FTI”) in association with WTS Global (“WTS” or “WTS Global”). We are registered in England and Wales under registered number OC372614 and have our registered office at 200 Aldersgate, Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HD. WTS Global are registered with the Commercial Register of the Chamber of Commerce in Rotterdam, under file number 50381903 and have their office address at 18 Conradstraat, Unit 178 Rotterdam, South Holland, Zuid-Holland 3001, the Netherlands.
To contact us, please email tax.sustainabilityindex@wts.com
Access Conditions
This Tax Sustainability Application web portal (the “Web Portal”) is for use only by authorised users of the Web-Portal (“Users”). The Web-Portal is operated by FTI and WTS Global and both are authorised to grant access to Users.
All Users of the Web Portal shall be bound by these terms and conditions of use (the “Terms”). In order to gain access to the Web Portal, a User is required to confirm irrevocably and unconditionally their acceptance of these Terms by ticking the box confirming ‘I have read and agree to the Tax Sustainability Application Terms & Conditions’ prior to registration. If the User does not accept these Terms, they should navigate away from this web page and the User will not be granted access to the Web Portal. We recommend that you print a copy of the Terms for future reference.
The Web Portal privacy policy available at https://tax-sustainability-index.com/privacy-policy/ describes collection and use of personal data by WTS and FTI. Although it is not part of these Terms, we encourage you to read it to better understand how we use your personal data, and how you can manage your account.
Cancellation
If you would like to have your records removed from our databases or discontinue your Tax Sustainability Application registration, please email us at the aforementioned email address so we can fulfil your request accordingly.
Reliance on Information and Contractual Relationship
All information, content, data, documents, advice, guidance or other materials made available to a User on the Web Portal (the “Content”) is for a User’s informational purposes only and shall not be considered to be legal, tax, accounting or other advice. No Content should be relied upon by a User in any capacity or taken as a recommendation to a User or any third party to proceed with or to take or to refrain from taking any particular course of action. By accepting these Terms, a User warrants that it will not rely upon, or be induced to take or refrain from taking any action based on, the Content. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on the Web Portal.
Neither FTI, nor any of its parent or group undertakings, nor any member, director, officer, employee or advisor of any of them (an “FTI Person”), nor WTS, nor any of its parent or group undertakings, nor any member, director, officer, employee or advisor of any of them (a “WTS Person”), accepts any responsibility for the Content and do not accept liability or a duty of care to any User for the Content. No FTI Person nor WTS Person shall have any liability whatsoever for the direct or indirect consequences of any action or inaction by a User in connection with the Content. Nothing contained in these Terms shall limit or exclude liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
The content uploaded to the Web Portal may contain links to other websites. We accept no responsibility or liability for the content of other websites which are not under our strict control.
Where a User seeks to formally appoint FTI or WTS to provide services to that User, such engagement will be subject to that User signing a separate contract for services with FTI or WTS, as the case may be, using FTI’s or WTS’s letter of engagement and standard terms and conditions of business (amended as appropriate).
FTI shall be entitled, at its sole discretion, to amend, add to, remove, update or otherwise change the Content on the Web Portal at FTI’s sole discretion at any time and without notice to any User. Neither FTI nor WTS shall be under any obligation to update any Content.
The Content is based on information available to FTI and WTS at the time when the Content is published on the Web Portal and does not take into account any new data, advice or other information which becomes known to FTI or WTS after the Content is published. Neither FTI nor WTS accept responsibility for updating the Content or informing any User of any such new data, advice or other information.
Confidentiality
The Content, and any further information or opinions shared between a User and FTI or WTS relating to the Content shall be treated as confidential information (“Confidential Information”) and must be held in complete confidence by the User and documents containing any such Content, information or opinions may not be used, disclosed or copied other than with the prior written consent of FTI or WTS.
These obligations of confidentiality shall not apply to any information which (i) was known to a User prior to being disclosed by FTI or WTS through the Web Portal, or (ii) becomes publicly known through no wrongful act of a User, or (iii) is approved for release by written authorisation of FTI or WTS, or (iv) is rightfully received by the User from a third party which provided such information without breach of any separate confidentiality obligation and without restriction or subsequent disclosure, or (v) is independently developed without reference to the Confidential Information. In addition, Confidential Information may be disclosed to the extent required by court order or as otherwise required by law, provided that, to the extent legally permissible, the User notifies FTI or WTS promptly upon learning of the possibility of any such requirement and has given FTI or WTS a reasonable opportunity (and cooperated with FTI or WTS) to contest or limit the scope of such required disclosure.
Access and User Logins
Upon registering with the Web Portal via its own registration page, each User will be provided access to the Web Portal.
Each User must treat its own username and password as confidential information and must not share the username and/or password with any other User or third party. A User must maintain the confidentiality of its username and password in order to ensure no unauthorised access to the Web Portal. If a User suspects that anyone other than the relevant User knows its username and/or password, that User must promptly notify FTI and WTS by sending an email to: tax.sustainabilityindex@wts.com
No text or data mining, or web scraping
You shall not conduct, facilitate, authorise or permit any text or data mining or web scraping in relation to the Web Portal or any services provided via, or in relation to, the Web Portal. This includes using (or permitting, authorising or attempting the use of):
- Any robot, bot, spider, scraper or other automated device, program, tool, algorithm, code, process or methodology to access, obtain, copy, monitor or republish any portion of the site or any data, content, information or services accessed via the same.
- Any automated analytical technique aimed at analysing text and data in digital form to generate information which includes but is not limited to patterns, trends and correlations.
The provisions in this section should be treated as an express reservation of FTI’s rights in this regard, including for the purposes of Article 4(3) of Digital Copyright Directive ((EU) 2019/790).
This section shall not apply insofar as (but only to the extent that) FTI and WTS are unable to exclude or limit text or data mining or web scraping activity by contract under applicable laws.
Intellectual Property
As between the User and FTI, FTI retains all intellectual property rights (including, without limitation, patents, copyright, trademarks and related rights) and other proprietary rights associated with the Web Portal and Content, including all associated code, software, text, graphics, icons, images, audio-visual materials, trademarks, logos, trade dress, design, layout, and “look and feel,” and the selection, coordination, arrangement and presentation of the foregoing, and expressly reserves all rights in respect of such rights. FTI grants to Users a royalty-fee, non-exclusive, revocable license to access the Web Portal and Content for informational purposes only. The User has no right to, and is prohibited from, using the Web Portal and Content for any commercial purposes, including by selling or otherwise commercially exploiting the Web Portal or Content. Save as otherwise expressly set out herein, the User acknowledges and agrees that it does not acquire any other rights in the Web Portal or the Content as a result of its access to, use of, or downloading or copying from, the Web Portal.
You agree that any and all intellectual property rights (including, without limitation, patents, copyright and related rights) of all User input to, and all outputs of using the Web Portal (including, for the avoidance of doubt, information, data and responses entered into, and generated as a result of the Tax Sustainability Application) are owned by FTI and may be freely licensed, used, reproduced, distributed, combined with other information, and otherwise exploited by FTI and its licensees, including WTS, without restriction or liability and without notifying or compensating the User. You agree to promptly execute all documents and do all acts as may be necessary to give effect to this section.
Publicity
For the purposes of marketing FTI’s services and WTS’ services and the Web Portal, (unless the User has notified FTI and/or WTS (as the case may be) in writing in advance that it may not do so) the User authorises FTI and WTS to disclose to any third party the fact that the User is a user of Web Portal and to include the User’s name and logo (or their employer’s name and logo) on FTI’s or WTS’ relevant marketing materials, including on Web Portal or otherwise.
Liability
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits FTI’s liability, or WTS’ liability for death or personal injury arising from FTI’s or WTS’ negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.
To the extent permitted by law, FTI and WTS exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to the Web Portal or any Content, whether express or implied. Although reasonable efforts are made to update the Content on the Web Portal, FTI, and WTS, make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the Content on the Web Portal is accurate, complete or up to date.
Neither FTI nor WTS will be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect a User’s computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to the User’s use of the Web Portal or to the User downloading of any Content, or on any website linked to it.
FTI and WTS do not guarantee that the Web Portal or Content will be: (i) free from errors or omissions; or (ii) secure or free from bugs or viruses.
FTI and WTS do not guarantee that the Web Portal or Content will always be available or that access will be uninterrupted. Access to the Web Portal is permitted on a temporary basis and FTI may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of Web Portal or Content without notice. FTI will not be liable to any User if for any reason the Web Portal is unavailable at any time or for any period.
Termination
FTI and WTS shall be entitled to terminate a User’s use of the Web Portal on written notice to a User of not less than seven (7) days.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, FTI and WTS shall be entitled to jointly suspend or terminate a User’s use of the Web Portal on immediate written notice to User if they become aware that the User has breached, or reasonably suspects that a User may have breached these Terms.
Miscellaneous
On termination of the User’s access to the Web Portal for whatever reason, the User shall be required to immediately return to FTI and/or WTS (as the case may be) or destroy all documents, records and other copies of Content stored or otherwise in the possession of a User in any medium.
In no circumstances will FTI or WTS be responsible for any costs or expenses incurred by a User in accessing or use of the Web Portal and a User is responsible for making all arrangements necessary for the User to have access to the Web Portal.
FTI and WTS may transfer their rights and obligations under these Terms to another organisation upon prior discussion and mutual agreement with each other. Such desire to transfer, or agreement to this end, shall be communicated to the User and carried out in a manner that does not affect the User’s rights.
These Terms may be updated or varied from time to time by FTI or WTS without notice, so please re-visit this page frequently to ensure you understand the terms that apply. Changes to these Terms are effective as of the stated “Last Update” and your continued use of the Web Portal on or after the Last Update date will constitute acceptance of, and agreement to be bound by, those changes.
If you wish to complain about any Content on the Web Portal, please contact tax.sustainabilityindex@wts.com
Any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with a User’s use of this Web Portal or access to the Content or these Terms will be governed by English Law and the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
These Web Portal Terms and Conditions of Use have been updated as of 11 October 2023 (“Last Update”).