The www.csr-weltweit.de website, hereinafter referred to as the provider, is a project of Bertelsmann Stiftung.

1. Introduction
1.1 The provider maintains a website at www.csr-weltweit.de, hereinafter referred to as the website, for the purpose of encouraging social responsibility on the part of companies abroad and providing examples of relevant corporate efforts.

1.2 The website addresses socially engaged companies abroad and offers them the opportunity to highlight their relevant activities as case studies on the website. The website also provides German companies with information on how best to tailor their social engagement to the needs of foreign markets.

1.3 The website may be used free of charge; read access is available at any time and requires no prior notification.

1.4 Numerous articles by a variety of authors can be accessed via the website. Authors may be either employees of the provider or external users.

2. Use of the website
2.1 In order to use the website, the user must accept the terms of use and agree to abide by them.

2.2 The contents of the website are protected under copyright law.

2.3 The website is also intended to serve as a source of information for the general public. Its contents may be accessed for non-commercial purposes; their commercial use is prohibited.

3. Rights of use
3.1 When using the website, users must respect and refrain from violating copyrights or other rights held by the provider or other parties.

3.2 Individual articles on the website may be accessed for non-commercial purposes; no explicit consent is required from those holding the relevant rights.

3.3 The systematic acquisition of articles, photographs or corporate information from the website for use in other collections is not permitted.

4. Registration
4.1 Users who wish to contribute information about their companies’ social engagement abroad must first register. 

4.2 In order to register, the user must complete a questionnaire made available by the provider and include the article that is to be posted. Photographs may be uploaded as well.

4.3 During the registration process, the provider requests personal and material data which are then stored and processed. Required information is designated as such; all other information is optional. Users are asked to provide corporate data and a contract address, as well as information about the author of the article about the company.

4.4 Users agree to provide truthful and accurate information during the registration process. This applies to both required and optional information.

4.5 Information provided by the user about a company and the special contact address specified may be included by the provider on the website and used in conjunction with the operation of the website (in particular for contacting the user during the coordination process in relation with submitted articles), and for further information of the user concerning the portal. The provider is also entitled to use such contact information for the purpose of sending out specialized and general information (by regular mail or e-mail) about the provider’s corporate social responsibility project or similar projects undertaken by other partners (e.g. project-related events, newsletters and other information and reports on the topic of corporate social responsibility). Data published on the website may be passed on by the provider to the project’s editorial partners. Any communication of these data to third parties is subject to the provisions of the law on data protection.
Data collected on the author of the article may be stored by the provider for documentation purposes; such data will not be used in any other way, nor passed on to the editorial partners of the project. If, however, Bertelsmann Stiftung  should be required by law or by a court order to do so, it will provide this information to the party entitled to receive it.
The user has the right at any time to obtain information from the provider about the data that have been stored and, as applicable, to request that corrections be made. The user is also entitled at any time to object to the use of his data outside of the portal context. The provider may be contacted at kontakt (at) csr-weltweit (dot) de.

5. Compliance with legal requirements/Possession of required rights
5.1 The registered user is responsible for the articles, corporate information and photographs transmitted to the provider.

5.2 The registered user agrees to refrain from sending to the provider any texts that violate existing law or the rights of third parties (in particular copyrights and personal rights) or texts whose content glorifies violence or is of an offensive or pornographic nature. The relevant data protection provisions must be observed.

5.3 If photographs are uploaded, the registered user affirms that he has obtained the necessary declarations of consent from the persons shown in such photographs and that he is in possession of the required rights of use.

5.4 The provider expressly notes that texts licensed under GNU FDL (such as Wikipedia articles) may not be posted on the website, since the site does not fulfill the requirements of GNU FDL.

5.5 An article may be submitted to the provider only if its author is the registered user himself or if permission has been obtained from the party holding the rights to that article.

5.6 In addition to describing his social engagement, the registered user may also include up to five links related to the given project. However, the registered user agrees not to provide links that involve corporate advertising. The registered user is responsible for the content of pages to which a link is included; the provider bears no responsibility in this context.

6. Review by the provider and posting of articles
6.1 An article compiled by a registered user and transmitted to the provider along with the questionnaire is first reviewed by the provider – to the extent possible and reasonable – to determine whether it is in keeping with statutory provisions and whether it is in violation of other requirements. If the provider should identify relevant violations, it will inform the registered user immediately that the article will not be posted. In this case the questionnaire received by the provider, along with any article and/or photograph, will be deleted.

6.2 If the provider does not identify any violations, the provider is entitled to revise and optimize the article in terms of its language for use on the Internet. The article will then be submitted to the other partners in the project (editorial group) for their comments.

6.3 If the editorial group should have substantive objections, the provider will contact the registered user and request that the article be revised. If the registered user should refuse to do so, the article will not be released for posting. The provider is then required to delete the questionnaire, together with any article and/or photographs.

6.4 If the editorial group has no substantive objections, the article and any photographs and/or company information will be approved for posting on the portal. Upon publication of the material, the registered user will be provided with the corresponding Internet link.

7. Granting of rights
7.1 Upon submitting questionnaires, photographs and articles, the registered user grants to the provider a simple right of use without limitation in terms of time or geography.

7.2 In particular, the provider is entitled to publish on the website and disseminate submitted articles and photographs as well as the company and contact information contained in the questionnaire. Furthermore, the provider has the right to revise the language of the articles and submit them to the editorial group for evaluation and comments.

7.3 The provider is not obligated to publish submitted articles, photographs or company information on the website. The provider is entitled to refuse publication or to remove a published article, along with photographs and company information, at any time.

8. Responsibilities of the provider
8.1 All articles reflect the opinion of the respective author; the provider does not assume responsibility for the content of articles by others, but expressly dissociates itself from such content. The provider bears no responsibility whatsoever for content supplied by others.

8.2 The provider endeavors to ensure that articles supplied by registered users adhere to the terms of use and statutory requirements. However, it is neither possible nor reasonable for the provider to monitor such matters in their entirety, particularly with respect to violations of the rights of third parties.

9. The provider’s virtual property rights
9.1 The provider reserves the right at any time, also in the interest of reducing its liability risk, to remove articles, photographs or company information in whole or in part and/or to block users temporarily or permanently.

9.2 Users who have registered for the portal by filling out the questionnaire may be denied registration in particular if the articles they have submitted violate existing law or the rights of third parties, or if they fail to conform to the terms of use. A prior warning of such denial is not required, nor must an explanation be given.

9.3 In particular, articles may be removed if it is determined that they violate the rights of third parties, other legal provisions or these terms of use.

9.4 No one is entitled to be accepted as a registered user; similarly, no one can claim a right to have certain articles published. The provider may refuse registration or publication at any time and without providing an explanation, or subsequently revoke such registration or publication.

10. Advertising
10.1 The website is a non-commercial project of the provider and may not be used for commercial purposes.

10.2 Accordingly, advertising of any kind – whether direct or indirect – in articles, links etc. is prohibited.

11. Liability of the provider
11.1 The provider offers no guarantee whatsoever of the accuracy of articles or other materials.

11.2 The provider assumes no liability for direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of the data or information contained on the website. Insofar as liability cannot be generally excluded, the provider is in any case liable only for deliberate or grossly negligent actions or for complying with mandatory statutory regulations.

11.3 The registered user expressly releases the provider from any claims by third parties, insofar as they are related to the preparation of an article, photographs that have been uploaded or other information that has been submitted.

12. Data protection
12.1 Personal data are collected during the registration process; they will not be divulged by the provider without permission.

12.2 When articles are prepared or processed, further data are stored and made available to the public for reasons of transparency. This includes the time at which changes were made, the IP address, the user name and the changes themselves.

12.3 Even if no registration occurs, the IP address of individual users may be collected and used for purposes of analysis.

13. Choice of law and applicable law
13.1 The website is operated by the provider at the site of its headquarters. It is intended for an international audience, but is subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany to the extent legally feasible. Accordingly, it is amicably and uniformly agreed that the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany are to be applied.

13.2 The exclusive place of jurisdiction and performance is the domicile of the provider.

14. Amendments to the terms of use
14.1 The provider reserves the right to amend these terms of use at any time and, in particular, to adjust them in accordance with prevailing circumstances or general legal conditions.

14.2 The terms of use that can be accessed from the pages of the website at the time of use are authoritative.

14.3 The provider is not required to explicitly inform users of the portal about changes in the terms of use.

15. Changes in the range of services
15.1 The provider is not required to continue indefinitely to maintain the website in its existing scope or even to make it available for use at all. The provider has the right to cease website operations temporarily or permanently, as appropriate without prior notification.

15.2 The provider offers no pledges or assurances with respect to the scope of the website or its availability.

16. Severability clause
If individual provisions of the present terms of use should be or become invalid or impracticable, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these terms of use. Such invalid or impracticable provisions are to be replaced by provisions that as closely as possible approximate the purpose of the invalid or impracticable provisions. The same applies if it is subsequently discovered that the terms of use are incomplete.