BRICS+ Universities Association

Terms of Service Agreement

Thank you for choosing BRICS+ Universities Association!

BRICS+ Universities Association hereinafter referred to as BUA.

Our mission is to unite and support universities and other higher education institutions from around the globe in all aspects of internationalisation by sharing expertise and facilitating international academic cooperation, foreign student recruitment and networking.

To use BUA's Services, you need to read the Terms of Service Agreement and accept its terms. It describes all the rights and obligations of the Platform and the User. The document consists of the following sections:
  • Agreement;
  • Terms and Definitions;
  • Scope;
  • General Provisions;
  • Terms of Use;
  • Intellectual Property;
  • Services;
  • Unauthorized Actions;
  • Blocking and Removal;
  • Pricing;
  • Rights of Administration;
  • Personal Data;
  • Liability;
  • Term of the Agreement;
  • Dispute Settlement;
  • Force Majeure;
  • Final Provisions.

It is also necessary to read the Privacy Policy. This document explains what personal user data is collected and stored on the Platform, for what purposes it can be used, and in what cases it can be shared with third parties.

If you have any legal questions, email us at info@brics.world
For general and technical questions: info@brics.world

This User Agreement (hereinafter referred to as “Agreement") is an offer from the Administration, represented by the BUA Executive Board (hereinafter – the “Administration") and is addressed to any legally capable person (hereinafter – the “User") under the terms and conditions set forth below.

The Agreement is a binding and enforceable contract with Administration, represented by BUA Board, the United Arab Emirates.

The User should carefully read all the terms of the Agreement before using the Platform and its services.

Applicable Law

The law applicable to this Agreement is the law of the United Arab Emirates.

If the User's location is not the United Arab Emirates, the relations arising when such User makes payments under Section 9 of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates, without regard to conflict of laws rules.

Registration via a designated forms on https://brics.world is considered as the User's final and unqualified acceptance of the Agreement.

Terms and Definitions
"Platform" means the software package and services owned by the Administration and accessible at https://brics.world.
"Account" means the User's account on the Platform.
"Personal account" means the Platform interface allowing the User to use the services provided by the Platform.
"Website" means https://brics.world website.
"Microsite" or "Landing page" means a microsite or landing page created by the Administration for the User.
"Content" means information, documents, and other items posted a Microsite or Landing page or sent via Email.
"Fees" means the payments for the services provided to the User.

1. Scope
1.1. The Administration grants a non-exclusive license to use the Platform and provides related services by itself, as well as through affiliated and/or subsidiary companies.
1.2. The User shall use the Platform in accordance with terms and conditions of the Agreement and the selected Services, and pay the fees unless otherwise agreed additionally.

2. General Provisions
2.1. To be able to use the Platform, the User shall register on https://brics.world.
2.2. Upon registration the User shall receive a unique Account and get access to the Personal account (if applicable).
2.3. All actions performed in the Personal account shall be considered as actions performed by the User themselves.
2.4. The User shall be solely liable for:
a) keeping their login and password secure;
b) the consequences related to the loss of login or password and/or their disclosure to third parties;
c) collecting, processing and keeping the personal data of other Users.
2.5. The Administration advises the User against sharing their Account data with any third parties. In case of sharing the Account data, the User shall make third parties aware of this Agreement and undertake full responsibility for their actions.
2.6. The Platform is not intended for and may not be used by individuals under the age of 21. By using the Platform, the User confirms that he/she has reached the age of 21.

3. Terms of Use
3.1. The User has the right to use the Platform in accordance with the Agreement and current legislation of the the United Arab Emirates.
3.2. The Administration is under no obligation to provide consulting services and technical support to the User if the User has not registered for the Service and has not paid for it.
3.3. The Platform is integrated with different services including analytical services, payment services, distribution services, image stocks. The Platform only provides the possibility to access such services. All issues related to the use of any such service shall be regulated by its legal documents and settled independently by the service owner and the User.
3.4. The Platform and services are provided on an “as is" basis.
3.5. The User accepts all risks connected with the use of the Platform and the services.
3.6. The Administration does not provide the User with any explicit or implicit guarantee with respect to the Platform and the services, nor does it guarantee (included, but not limited to) fitness for purpose, security, safety, accuracy, completeness, performance, system integration, uninterrupted functioning, absence of errors, failure recovery, virus-free functioning, or legitimate use in any territory outside of the Republic of Armenia.
3.7. The Administration shall not be liable for:
a) unavailability of the Platform for the reasons beyond the Administration's control;
b) any actions and/or omissions on behalf of service providers or suppliers of services, networks, software, or equipment;
c) distortion, modification, or loss of the Content published by User;
d) User's login and password security;
e) unauthorized use and/or unlawful use of User's login and password by third parties;
f) damage to any of User's devices, data carriers, and/or software resulting from the use of the Platform and/or the services;
g) the consequences of publishing of User's Personal Data for other Users.

4. Intellectual Property
4.1. The Administration is the sole holder of rights to the Platform and its elements (code, design, databases, know-how, names and other information).
4.2. A non-exclusive license is limited by the "right to use", and none of the provisions of the Agreement provide the User an exclusive right to the Platform, names and other information.
4.3. A non-exclusive license is granted for the term of this Agreement without the right to sublicense and is valid worldwide.

Content
4.4. By providing the Content for the Platform, the User grants the Administration the right to store and process such Content for the purposes of fulfilling obligations under the Agreement.
4.5. The User guarantees that the Content does not violate any intellectual property rights of third parties or any equivalent means of identification, or rights to information qualified as commercially sensitive and that such Content does not discredit honor, damage business reputation and dignity of third parties, or violate national and international law. The User is solely responsible for the Content uploaded to the the Platform.

5. Services
5.1. The Administration shall provide the User with the Services, which are requested by the User during the registration process.
5.2. The Administration shall have the right to refuse the service of providing to the User without giving any explanation and reasoning.

6. Unauthorized Actions
The User has no right to:
6.1. Use the Platform in a manner not provided directly by the Agreement.
6.2. Modify, adjust, transfer or create derivative products based on the the Microsite or Landing page and Library elements, or integrate the the Microsite or Landing page and Library elements in other copyright products;
6.3. Attempt avoiding technical limits set by the Platform.
6.4. Decompile, disassemble, decipher, or perform any other actions involving the source code of the Platform.
6.5. Export the Website in violation of the provisions of the Agreement.
6.6. Use the Platform and the Website to publish, distribute, store, transfer the Content in any form that:
a) is unlawful, harmful, threatening, defamatory, inciting to violence against any person or group of persons, or to inhuman treatment of animals; calls for committing illegal actions, including an explanation of the procedure of the use of explosives and other weapons; violates the generally accepted ethical and moral standards; promotes hatred and/or discrimination, or contains negative and critical statements regarding religion, politics, as well as political and public figures, electoral associations (political parties, organizations, movements, etc.) and other individuals, race, ethnicity, gender, personal features, abilities, sexual orientation and appearance of third parties, contains insults addressed to specific individuals or organizations;
b) can be seen as promoting certain political and religious beliefs, violence, drug use, alcohol, and smoking;
c) may be perceived as propaganda of political views, the main purpose of which is to distribute ideas and information aimed at forming particular attitudes, perceptions, the attractiveness of such ideas, opinions about the superiority of such political views or such political direction over others, and at the same time it is not aimed exclusively at informing the population about an organization, union, their structure, functions, activities, program, etc.;
d) contains public appeals to mass disorder, participation in mass events violating the established order, to carry out terrorist activities or publicly justifying terrorism, other extremist materials, false socially significant information distributed under the guise of reliable messages, which puts the public order and (or) public safety under threat of mass disruption;
e) violates the rights of minors;
f) violates the rights of third parties to their intellectual property and equivalent means of individualization, or the right to information qualified as the commercial secret; discredits honor or damages business reputation and dignity of third parties, or violates national and international law;
g) contains information which may not be disclosed;
h) contains malicious software (viruses, worms, Trojans, or any other computer codes, files, or programs) designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer or telecommunications equipment (or parts thereof), in order to obtain unauthorized access, or to gain access to commercial software products, by providing serial numbers of logins, passwords, programs for their generation and other means to gain unauthorized access to the paid content, as well as for publishing links to the information above;
i) is qualified as spam, i.e. mailing without consent of the recipient of any messages, whether commercial or not, in a form of (including, but not limited to): advertising products whose turnover is prohibited or restricted in accordance with the legislation of the Republiс of Armenia; messages containing social and/or religious or mystical content with a call for further distribution of such messages ("chain emails"); lists of other people's email addresses; "pyramid schemes", multilevel marketing (MLM); referral links; online earnings systems and online businesses;
j) violates the laws of the United Arab Emirates, national law, and/or norms of international law;
k) may be used for illegal collection, storage, and processing of personal data of any third parties;
l) contains advertisement and/or offers of spa salons providing erotic services or any other services of a kind.
6.7. Use the Platform and (or) the Microsite or Landing page to:
a) disrupt the functioning of the Platform, including publishing elements that impede the exchange of information in real-time, open additional browser windows, substitute functional elements of the interface, etc.;
b) place links to resources if their content violates current the legislation of the United Arab Emirates and international laws;
c) disseminate false information regarding their involvement in the activities of the Administration and/or its partners;
d) contribute to any activities aimed at avoiding restrictions and bans imposed by the Agreement, or at violating current legislation;
е) create or publish sites of microfinance organizations or sites of any legal entities carrying out activities in the field of issuing credits and/or loans of any kind, entering into cash advance agreements, providing services equivalent to pawnshop activities, except for the credit institutions (banks) and pawnshops having all necessary licenses and/or other authorization documents. Any such documents must be published by the User on the the Microsite or Landing page and remain accessible to the public;
f) create pages used exclusively to redirect to third parties websites.
6.7. Change the domain name and/or copy and/or transfer to another account a website, the content and/or part of the content of which violates the provisions of the applicable law and/or the Agreement, and in relation to which a restriction and/or blocking is imposed, including for the purpose of bypassing the restriction and/or blocking of such website.
6.8. Publish a the Microsite or Landing page that has been banned on the territory of any state on the Platform.

7. Blocking and Removal
7.1. The Administration has the right to immediately block the User's Account in case of:
a) detected violation of the provisions of this Agreement by the User;
b) violation of current legislation by the User;
c) receiving claims from the third parties claiming violation of their rights by the User;
d) receipt of a relevant request from the state authorities.
7.2. Blocking means the impossibility of Internet users to have access to the content of the Platform.
7.3. The User undertakes to take all measures to remedy the violation.
7.4. If the Website is blocked on the basis of a claim from a third party indicating a breach of its rights by the User, the latter is entitled to continue using the Platform only upon condition that the Administration is notified in writing by the claimant that the dispute has been settled and there are no pending claims for an alleged breach of the third party's rights.
7.5. The Administration has the right to deny access to the User and to block the User's account if the latter contains hidden advertising of goods and/or services that are prohibited by the laws of the United Arab Emirates, national law, and/or norms of international law.
7.6. In case of failure to remedy the violation or the repeated blocking of the User's account, the Administration has the unilateral right to delete the Account including all connected data.

8. Pricing
8.1. The Pricing (a selection of Services with Fees) is available on https://brics.world.
8.2. The Pricing may be changed unilaterally by the Administration. In that case, the cost of the prepaid period shall not be changed.
8.3. The payment date is a date when funds are credited to the account of the Administration.
8.4. Where the funds are returned upon request of the payment organization, the payment shall not be considered as completed.
8.5. Failure to use the services does not release the User from their payment obligations.
8.6. Upon expiration of the Service period, the User's access ro the Service shall be automatically blocked. The User is entitled to ask the Administration for the Service prolongation

9. Rights of Administration
9.1. Adjusting, updating, and upgrading the Platform without the User's consent or their prior notification.
9.2. Setting up any restrictions on the use of the Platform.
9.3. Deleting the User's Account if at the time of its deletion such Account is not used by User, where it lasts for six or more calendar months.
9.4. Sending messages, notifications, requests, advertisements, and information to the User by itself, as well as through affiliated and/or subsidiary companies.
9.5. Sending information on webinars, videos, and other information about the Platform to the User.
9.6. Accessing the User's Personal account to monitor the functioning of the Platform
9.7. Carrying out maintenance works that may result in a temporary suspension of the Platform's functioning.
9.8. Restoring the User's access to the Account in case of its hacking, loss, or change of login/password, if the User has complied with all necessary conditions specified in the instruction for the access recovery (its copy can be provided at the User's request).

10. Personal Data
10.1. The Administration shall do its best to process personal data of the User for the purposes of execution of the Agreement in accordance with the requirements established by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679, but as the legal entity is registed in the United Arab Emirates, the legislation of the UAE will have a priority.
10.2. The procedure of processing and protection of personal data is established by the Privacy Policy available at https://brics.world/privacy-policy.

11. Liability
11.1. The Administration shall not be liable for direct or indirect loss of profits of the User due to the Platform using and other activities.
11.3. In case the Administration receives claims, demands, and/or claims of violation of third parties' rights related to the violation of guarantees provided by the User, the latter shall assume liability for their settlement and compensate the Administration against damages.

12. Term of the Agreement
12.1. The Agreement comes into force as of its acceptance and is valid until the User's Account is deleted.
12.2. The Account can be deleted:
a) upon User's request,
b) on the grounds specified in Section 7 hereof.
12.3. All service fees are non-refundable.
12.4. Upon deleting the Account, the User is not entitled in any way to use the Platform.

13. Dispute Settlement
13.1. All disputes or controversies arising between the parties in connection with this Agreement shall be settled through negotiations.
13.2. If no agreement is reached by the parties, the dispute shall be settled through the pre-court settlement procedure. Response to the claim must follow within 30 days.
13.3. Should the parties fail to reach an agreement, the dispute shall be settled by the court at the Administration's location.
13.4. Disputes related to payments under Section 8 of the Agreement made by Users shall be submitted for consideration and resolution to the competent court located in the Administration's location.

14. Force Majeure
14.1. The parties to this Agreement shall be exempt from liability for failure to perform or improper performance of obligations, if this is caused by force majeure, except for the User's obligations to pay for the services provided by the Administration, its affiliates and/or subsidiaries, at the moment of force majeure.
14.2. Force majeure means extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances under the given conditions, which prevent the parties to the Agreement from performing their obligations.
Such circumstances include, among others: natural phenomena (earthquakes, floods, etc.), mass diseases (epidemics, pandemics, etc.), armed conflicts (military operations of any kind, military actions, war (declared or undeclared), preparations for war, revolution, insurrection, civil unrest, blockade, seizure of power, mobilization, terrorist acts, etc.), labor conflicts (strike, lockout, etc.), actions of authorities, including foreign authorities (restrictive measures of state authorities, including the prohibition of trade transactions with certain countries due to international sanctions, prohibition of any currency transactions, including the prohibition of currency transfers; acts of state or local authorities, etc.).
14.3. During the period of force majeure, the parties have no mutual claims, except as specified in clause 14.1 of this Agreement, and each party assumes the risk of consequences of force majeure.
14.4. The Administration, its affiliates, and/or subsidiaries may suspend its obligations under this Agreement for the period of force majeure.
14.5. The User has no right to demand compensation and/or indemnification of damage caused to it as a result of the inability to perform obligations due to the force majeure.

15. Final Provisions
15.1. The Agreement may be amended or updated by the Administration at any time without notifying the User. The new version of the Agreement shall enter into force from the moment it is published on the Platform.
15.2. The continued use of the Platform after making amendments and/or additions to the Agreement shall be qualified as the User's acceptance of such amendments and/or additions.
15.3. The Agreement shall be regulated and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the United Arab Emirates. Issues not regulated by the Agreement shall be settled in accordance with the UAE laws.
15.4. If any of the provisions of the Agreement becomes null and void in accordance with the UAE laws, the remaining provisions will remain in force, and the Agreement will be performed by the Parties in full without taking into account such provision.

Contacts of the Administration
BUA Executive Board
Legal team: info@brics.world
General and technical questions: info@brics.world