Terms of use (‘Terms’)

1. Service description

together.eu is a collaborative online platform (‘Service’) that aims to encourage citizens and organisations to participate in democracy. 

The platform is owned by the European Union, represented by the European Parliament, and has been developed in order to empower citizens and organisations to play an active role in creating a brighter future in the EU. It allows citizens and organisations to interact with the together.eu community and to share actions, activities and experiences through multimedia content such as audio clips, videos, images and text. Users can also share stories and personal testimonies, record actions and events, suggest and organise events for the rest of the community, and contribute promotional material to support Parliament´s communications.

2. Who may use the Service

Any person residing within or outside the EU that is at least 13 years old can use the Service. Minors (under the age of 18) must have their parent or legal guardian’s permission to use the Service. Parents or legal guardians of a minor are bound by these Terms and are responsible for their child’s use of the Service.

Persons using the Service on behalf of an organisation confirm that they have the legal authority to act on behalf of that organisation, and that that organisation accepts these Terms. Organisations are obligated to inform Parliament of any changes in the organisation and/or if their representative leaves the organisation.

3. Categories of users and Service functionalities

The together.eu platform has different categories of users (collectively called ‘Users’) who each enjoy different functionalities.

3.1. Unregistered Users

‘Unregistered Users’ are users who have not created a login account on together.eu. They can access or browse the information, events, download centre, training materials and testimonials displayed on together.eu. They can save events to their calendar and share them on social media. In the download centre, Unregistered Users can download and customise visual Content about Parliament’s campaigns. They are also allowed to download other Users’ campaign materials.

3.2. Registered Users

‘Registered Users’ are users who have created a login account on together.eu. They enjoy the same functionalities as Unregistered Users. However, in addition, they can edit information on their personal area, register for events, attend training courses and receive mail.

3.3. Contributing Users

‘Contributing Users’ are Registered Users who can provide Content for publication on together.eu in the form of events and testimonials. They enjoy the same functionalities as Registered Users. In addition, they can upload campaign materials that are downloadable by other Users. This Content is subject to validation by Parliament before publication on together.eu.

3.4. Registered Organisations

‘Registered Organisations’ are organisations that have a login account on the together.eu platform that was set up by a representative of the organisation. By registering on together.eu, they will receive communications from Parliament (newsletters, invitations to seminars, surveys, etc.). This is the first step that every organisation has to take before becoming a Contributing Organisation. 

3.5. Contributing Organisations

‘Contributing Organisations’ are Registered Organisations whose representatives can provide Content for publication on together.eu. Representatives of Contributing Organisations enjoy the same functionalities as Contributing Users. In addition, they can suggest a short text along with the organisation’s name and logo to be used as a public profile of the organisation. They may add a link to their website and social media accounts. They also have the option to add campaign information to the public profile. This content is subject to validation by Parliament before publication on together.eu

Furthermore, Contributing Organisations can participate in the forum dedicated specifically to Contributing Organisations.

4. Applicable Terms

By accessing and using the Service, all Users agree to be bound by these Terms and the following additional policies and notices: 

  1. The legal notice of Parliament’s websites, except where otherwise stated in these Terms;

  2. The privacy policy, which provides information on data subjects’ rights and how personal data is processed on the together.eu platform;

  3. The code of conduct, which defines the principles governing the use of the together.eu platform.

Specific terms apply to Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations (see section 7). 

Parliament may modify these Terms or the above policies in order to reflect changes to the Service functionalities, or for legal and security reasons. Parliament will inform Users of any substantial modifications to these Terms or any of the above policies.

5. Suspension and termination

Parliament reserves the right to terminate access to the Service for all Users who violate these Terms or any of the above policies applicable to them.  

Parliament reserves the right to suspend or terminate access to together.eu accounts owned by Registered Users, Contributing Users, Registered Organisations or Contributing Organisations if it considers that there are grounds for doing so, without creating any liability on its part towards the aforementioned users, and in particular in the event of repeated violations of any of the provisions of these Terms and policies. 

Parliament shall formally notify the Registered Users, Contributing Users, Registered Organisations or Contributing Organisations in advance of its intention to suspend or terminate access to together.eu accounts owned by them, specifying the reasons thereof, and inviting them to submit observations or take remedial actions within 15 calendar days from receipt of the notification.

If, after examination of the observations submitted or remedial actions taken by the Registered Users, Contributing Users, Registered Organisations or Contributing Organisations, the Parliament decides to stop the suspension or termination procedure, it shall formally notify the Registered Users, Contributing Users, Registered Organisations or Contributing Organisations thereof.

If no observations have been submitted or if, despite the observations submitted by the Registered Users, Contributing Users, Registered Organisations or Contributing Organisations or the remedial actions taken, the Parliament decides to pursue the suspension or termination procedure, it shall formally notify the Registered Users, Contributing Users, Registered Organisations or Contributing Organisations thereof within 15 calendar days from the receipt of the partner’s reply, specifying the reasons for the suspension or termination, the date on which it takes effect and the duration in case of suspension.

Registered Users, Contributing Users, Registered Organisations and Contributing Organisations are entitled to close their user accounts at any time and terminate their use of the Service. However, the termination of the Service cannot exempt users from any liability arising from previous uses of the Service and violations of these Terms.

6. General terms of use for all Users

6.1. Use of the Service

Subject to these Terms, Users are granted a non-exclusive, worldwide, non-transferable, non-sublicensable and revocable licence to use the software provided as part of the Service. This licence allows all Users to use the Service only in accordance with these Terms. 

Content published on together.eu can be used in accordance with these Terms (see section 6.6.).

6.2. Use of the European Parliament logo

Parliament’s logo may be used only in accordance with the terms of use of the European Parliament logo, notably in order to promote Users’ participation in together.eu.

6.3. Restrictions on use

Nothing in these Terms gives any User of the Service the right to:

  • claim ownership of any intellectual property rights in the Service or the Content published on it;

  • reproduce, distribute, sell, license or modify any part of the Service or any Content except as allowed by these Terms or as permitted by applicable law;

  • circumvent or disable security features of the Service, fraudulently engage in or otherwise disrupt the functioning of the Service;    

  • access the Service using automated means such as bots, etc.; 

  • collect or use personal data of other Users of the Service, unless permitted by the persons concerned;

  • use the Service to distribute spam;

  • use the Service to distribute commercial or political content; 

  • use the Service to sell any kind of goods or services.

6.4. Intellectual property infringements 

Parliament respects the intellectual property rights of third parties and expects all Users to do the same when interacting within the together.eu community. Parliament reserves the right to remove any Content that infringes on the intellectual property rights of third parties and to suspend/terminate accounts of Users of together.eu who repeatedly infringe copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights of others. 

Any right holder that believes in good faith that content made available on together.eu infringes on their copyrights or trademark rights may send a notice to the Service administrators at copyright@together.eu.

6.5. Disclaimer 

Parliament cannot be held liable for direct or indirect damage that may result from use of the Service. Parliament takes all possible steps to minimise disruption caused by technical errors. Some data or information on together.eu may have been created or structured in files or formats that are not error-free. Parliament cannot in such cases guarantee that the Service will not be interrupted or otherwise affected by problems. Parliament accepts no responsibility for the defective transmission of data that may occur as a result of the various networks of the internet or incompatibilities with the User's web browser.

Parliament cannot guarantee that information from external sources and Content provided by Users made available on together.eu is reliable or up to date. The information on the together.eu platform and activities may link to external sites or applications over which Parliament has no control and for which it can accept no responsibility. 

When Users of together.eu choose to follow a link to any external website that is not in the europa.eu domain, they leave Parliament’s official domain and are subject to the cookie, privacy and legal policies of the external website.

Compliance with applicable data protection and accessibility requirements of external websites linked to on together.eu falls outside the control of Parliament and is the explicit responsibility of the external website.

This disclaimer is not intended to limit the liability of Parliament arising from Article 340 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

6.6. Use of Content

For the sake of clarity, Content shall mean text, data (non-personal) and multimedia items such as texts, drawings, graphics, icons, images, photographs, audio and video material, made available on together.eu by Parliament, Contributing Users or Contributing Organisations. 

6.6.1. Content provided by Parliament

Content provided by Parliament is the exclusive property of the EU. Users undertake to respect the intellectual property rights held by the EU without prejudice to the rights and exceptions provided for by applicable law.

As a general rule, the reuse (reproduction or use) of textual data and multimedia items which are the property of the EU (identified by the words ‘© European Union, [year(s)] – Source: European Parliament’ or ‘© European Union, [year(s)] – EP’) or of third parties (© External source, [year(s)]), and for which the EU holds the rights of use, is authorised for personal use or for further non-commercial or commercial dissemination, provided that the entire item is reproduced and the source is acknowledged. However, the reuse of certain data may be subject to different conditions in some instances; in this case, the item concerned is accompanied by a mention of the specific conditions relating to it.

Any partial reproduction of data or multimedia items from this platform must also cite the URL link of the complete item or the web page from which it was sourced.

Users undertake not to delete or change the indications of the author or the source and not to seek to circumvent the technical measures put in place to protect documents and multimedia items, such as print or download restrictions and visible or invisible tagging. Any infringement may lead to civil and criminal proceedings.

Translations of texts or documents into languages other than the official language versions displayed on together.eu are authorised subject to the condition that due acknowledgement is given in a suitably prominent place, followed by an appropriate disclaimer, both translated into the relevant language:

‘Translated from the original [specify the language] version published by the European Union on together.eu [specify the URL]: © European Union, [year(s)] - Source: European Parliament’; or '© European Union, [year(s)] EP', [Name of intellectual property right holder of the translation] assumes full responsibility for the translation into [specify target language]'.

6.6.2. Content provided by Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations

Users may use Content submitted to together.eu by Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations only in accordance with the functionalities and uses described in these Terms. Such reuse is allowed only for the purposes of communication and engagement in the context of the objectives of together.eu, provided that the source of the Content (i.e. together.eu) is acknowledged and appropriate credit is given to the relevant Content owner(s).

Users may not reuse Content submitted by Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations to together.eu for commercial purposes or any other purpose not specifically allowed in these Terms (see also section 7.6). 

7. Specific terms of use for Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations

7.1. Content submission by Contributing Users

Contributing Users can submit Content to together.eu only when they have signed up to the together.eu platform and have created a user account by indicating their first name, name and email address, in accordance with these Terms and the privacy policy

7.2. Content submission by Contributing Organisations

Contributing Organisations can submit Content only when their representatives have signed up to the together.eu platform and have created a user account by indicating their first name, name, email address, name of the organisation and their position, in accordance with these Terms and the privacy policy.

The public profile and the featured campaigns of Contributing Organisations have to be drafted in an official language of the EU.

7.3. Content ownership

Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations are responsible for and retain all intellectual property rights to any Content submitted by them. 

7.4. Content review and code of conduct

Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations must guarantee that they will respect the code of conduct and will not distribute through the Service any Content that is in breach of these Terms and/or the code of conduct.

Content submitted to together.eu by Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations will be reviewed by Parliament. Parliament reserves the right to delete or refuse the publication of any Content that is not compliant with these Terms or the code of conduct, without creating any liability on its part towards the Contributor.

The review of Content by Parliament shall not limit the liability of Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations, who remain fully responsible for their Content and liable for any damages or other liability arising from unlawful use of the Service, including infringements of third parties’ intellectual property rights.

7.5. Licence to the EU

By submitting Content on or through together.eu, Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations grant the EU, represented by Parliament, a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, non-commercial, sub-licensable licence to use that Content, including the rights to reproduce, distribute, modify, translate, create derivative works, display and communicate it to the public in any and all media, for the purposes of operating, promoting or improving the together.eu platform or promoting Parliament’s activities, provided that the source and the Content owner are acknowledged.

Content may be disseminated on Parliament websites, social media, information and engagement events and all of its other communication channels. 

The licence is granted for the entire duration of the copyrights and, where applicable, related rights. If Content is removed, the licence will be terminated for future uses but not for uses permitted before its removal.

7.6. Licence to Users

Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations also grant Users of together.eu a worldwide, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free, non-commercial and non-sublicensable licence to access or use their Content through the Service, including the rights to reproduce, modify, translate, create derivative works, distribute, display and communicate that Content to the public in any and all media, as enabled by the Service functionalities and only for communication and engagement in the framework of the together.eu objectives, provided that the source of the Content (i.e. together.eu) is acknowledged and appropriate credit is given to the relevant Content owner(s).

The licence is granted for the entire duration of the copyrights and where applicable, related rights. If Content is removed, the licence will be terminated for future uses but not for uses permitted before its removal.

7.7. Warranties

Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations hereby warrant that:

  • they are the author and/or right holder of the uploaded Content and/or have obtained all necessary licences and consent from third parties that have rights over such Content;

  • they are entitled to grant Parliament and other Users a licence to use the Content in accordance with these Terms; 

  • no third party has any rights to the uploaded Content that could in any way limit the rights of Parliament or other Users resulting from these Terms;

  • submitted Content does not violate any laws or any third parties’ rights such as copyrights and related rights, trademarks, patents, image rights of depicted people and privacy rights.

7.8. Liability 

Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations are fully responsible for their Content and are expressly required not to make defamatory statements and not to infringe or authorise any infringement of copyright, trademark, data protection and privacy law, or any other legal right.

Parliament accepts no responsibility or liability in such cases and the Contributing User or Contributing Organisation responsible will be liable for any damages or other liability arising.

Contributing Users and Contributing Organisations shall be liable for any loss or damage caused to Parliament or third parties by their unlawful conduct in the course of their use of the Service. 

Contributors agree to defend, indemnify and hold Parliament harmless from and against any claims, lawsuits or proceedings arising from any breach of these Terms, including violations of third parties' copyrights and other intellectual property rights.

7.9. Personal data related to a contribution

Personal data is kept for as long as publication of the related contribution on the together.eu platform is considered relevant by the data controller, where the Content is made available to all citizens who use the platform. Contributors can also request the deletion of their own contributions.

No specific personal data will be displayed in the platform or any other website, except:

  • the first name of the Contributor (or full name if the Contributor wishes to be credited);

  • a picture of the Contributor; 

  • a picture that may include an identifiable person;

  • other contextual details that the Contributor may express in the specific piece of Content.

For personal data related to the together.eu account, please refer to the dedicated privacy policy page.