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1. Introduction

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern access to and use of the @gora mobile application, websites, digital platforms, and related services (together, the “Services”) operated by Carbon Copy Association (“Carbon Copy”, “we”, “us”, “our”).

These Terms apply both to:

individuals using the Services directly for public or general participation purposes; and
individuals, organisers, institutions, public authorities, or project partners using the Services in connection with a specific organised project, event, panel, workshop, consultation, or deliberative process.

By creating an account, accessing, or using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Services.

If you use the Services on behalf of an organisation, public authority, institution, or project organiser, you represent that you are authorised to bind that entity to these Terms, and references to “you” include that entity where applicable.

2. Provider

The Services are provided by:

Carbon Copy Association
Oescherstrasse 26
CH-8702 Zollikon
Switzerland
Email: hi@carbon-copy.org

3. Relationship to the Privacy Policy

Our processing of personal data is described in the @gora Privacy Policy and, where relevant, in any project-specific or supplementary privacy notice made available for a particular event, citizens’ panel, workshop, or other organised format.

Nothing in these Terms limits any rights of data subjects under applicable data protection law.

4. Eligibility and Accounts

To use the Services, you must be legally capable of entering into a binding agreement, or have any consent or authorisation required by applicable law.

If you create an account, you agree to:

provide accurate, current, and complete information;
keep your login credentials secure and confidential;
update your information where necessary; and
notify us without undue delay if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

You are responsible for activities carried out through your account, except to the extent caused by our breach, security failure, or circumstances outside your reasonable control.

5. The Services

@gora is a digital platform for participation, dialogue, surveys, learning, deliberation, community interaction, and related civic or organisational processes.

We may add, modify, suspend, or discontinue features where reasonably necessary for operational, legal, security, technical, or product reasons. Where changes materially and adversely affect use of the Services, we will provide reasonable notice where practicable, unless immediate action is required for legal, security, or abuse-prevention reasons.

We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability of the Services.

6. Types of Use and Data Protection Roles

6.1 Direct Public Use

Where users engage directly with @gora as members of the public, Carbon Copy generally acts as the controller for the personal data processed in connection with operating and providing the Services, as further described in the Privacy Policy.

6.2 Organiser-Led or Institutional Projects

Where the Services are used in connection with a project, panel, consultation, deliberative event, citizens’ panel, workshop, or similar organised process run by an organiser, institution, client, partner, or public authority (“Project”), the data protection roles may differ depending on the specific setup.

In such cases:

the relevant organiser, institution, client, or public authority may act as the controller, or as a joint controller with Carbon Copy, for Project-specific processing;
Carbon Copy may act as a processor or service provider on documented instructions of that organiser or institution;
some processing may remain under Carbon Copy’s own responsibility where Carbon Copy independently determines the purposes and means, such as platform security, fraud prevention, service administration, legal compliance, or core technical logging, to the extent permitted by law.

Where a Project-specific privacy notice, data processing agreement, service agreement, or other written arrangement exists, that arrangement will determine the relevant roles for the Project.

6.3 Order of Precedence for Projects

If the Services are used for a specific Project and a separate written agreement, data processing agreement, order form, project terms, or project privacy notice applies, that document prevails over these Terms to the extent of any conflict, but only for that Project.

7. Project-Specific Rules for Organisers and Institutional Use

This Section applies where @gora is used for Projects, including citizens’ panels and similar participation processes.

7.1 Project Notices

Participants may be given additional information specific to the relevant Project, including the identity of the organiser or institutional sponsor, the purpose of the Project, whether participation is public, private, moderated, anonymised, or pseudonymised, the applicable privacy notice, retention rules, and any additional conduct or participation rules.

Where such Project-specific information is provided, participants must review it before taking part.

7.2 Instructions and Scope

Where Carbon Copy acts on behalf of an organiser, institution, or public authority, Carbon Copy will process Project personal data only for the agreed Project purposes, in accordance with applicable law and the relevant written arrangements, except where processing is required for legal compliance, security, abuse prevention, or protection of the Services.

7.3 Participants and Organisers

If you are an organiser or institutional client using the Services for a Project, you are responsible for ensuring that you have an appropriate legal basis for Project-related processing, participants receive any information required by law, your instructions to Carbon Copy are lawful, and you do not use the Services in a way that violates data protection, accessibility, procurement, public-law, or other applicable legal obligations.

7.4 Sensitive Contributions

Some Projects, especially civic, political, social, or deliberative formats, may involve contributions that reveal sensitive or special-category personal data, including political views, beliefs, or other protected information.

Participants should not submit more personal data than necessary. Organisers must ensure that any such processing is appropriately justified and safeguarded under applicable law.

Carbon Copy may apply technical and organisational safeguards, moderation measures, pseudonymisation, access controls, and retention limits appropriate to the Project.

7.5 Return, Deletion, and Retention

For Project data, Carbon Copy may return, delete, or retain data in accordance with the applicable Project agreement, privacy notice, legal obligations, security requirements, backup policies, and legitimate recordkeeping needs.

Where Carbon Copy acts as processor, deletion or return will be handled in accordance with the relevant written instructions and applicable law.

8. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

use the Services in violation of applicable law or regulation;
infringe the rights of others, including privacy, personality, intellectual-property, confidentiality, or data protection rights;
upload unlawful, threatening, abusive, hateful, discriminatory, defamatory, fraudulent, or misleading content;
harass, manipulate, intimidate, or impersonate others;
submit malicious code, malware, or harmful technical material;
interfere with or disrupt the Services or related infrastructure;
attempt unauthorised access to accounts, data, systems, or networks;
use the Services for spam, mass scraping, or unauthorised automated extraction;
misuse Project environments, deliberative spaces, surveys, or community tools.

You must also comply with any community standards, moderation policies, or Project-specific participation rules made available through the Services.

9. User-Generated Content

“User Content” means content that you submit, upload, post, transmit, or otherwise make available through the Services, including text, comments, dialogue contributions, survey responses, arguments, images, audio, and video.

You retain ownership of your User Content, subject to the rights granted in these Terms.

9.1 Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for your User Content and confirm that:

you have the necessary rights and permissions to provide it;
it does not violate applicable law or third-party rights; and
where it contains personal data relating to another person, you are authorised to share it or otherwise have a lawful basis.

9.2 Licence to Carbon Copy

You grant Carbon Copy a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable licence to host, store, reproduce, format, translate, adapt, display, communicate, and distribute your User Content only to the extent necessary to provide and operate the Services; make the relevant feature or Project function as intended; display the content in accordance with the visibility settings or Project design; moderate, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the Services; and comply with legal obligations or defend legal claims.

This licence ends when the content is deleted from the Services, except to the extent retention remains necessary for legal obligations, security, backup, dispute resolution, or technical limitations in already shared environments.

For Project use, Carbon Copy may also process or display User Content as required by the relevant organiser-led format, Project notice, or written arrangement.

9.3 Public and Project Visibility

Some content areas may be public or visible to other participants, moderators, organisers, or institutions. Where this is the case, this will be apparent from the relevant feature or Project notice.

Depending on the feature, your username or pseudonym may be displayed. Real names are not required unless explicitly stated.

10. Moderation and Safety

We may monitor, review, moderate, restrict, remove, or refuse content or access where reasonably necessary to enforce these Terms or Project rules; comply with law or lawful authority requests; protect participants, organisers, institutions, third parties, or the Services; investigate abuse, fraud, security incidents, or unlawful conduct; or preserve the integrity of deliberative, participatory, or educational processes.

Where appropriate and lawful, we may notify the relevant user or organiser of significant moderation or access actions.

11. Carbon Copy Content and Intellectual Property

The Services and all content, software, designs, databases, trademarks, logos, and materials provided by Carbon Copy or its licensors, excluding User Content, are protected by intellectual-property and related laws.

Subject to these Terms, Carbon Copy grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable right to access and use the Services for their intended purpose.

Except as permitted by law or with our prior written consent, you may not copy, reproduce, republish, distribute, sell, license, or commercially exploit the Services or Carbon Copy content; reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code, except where such restriction is not permitted by law; or remove proprietary notices.

12. AI-Supported and Third-Party Tools

The Services or related Projects may involve third-party tools or AI-supported functions, including moderation support, language translation, summarisation, pattern detection, or aggregated sense-making support.

Use of such tools is subject to the Privacy Policy and, where relevant, any Project-specific notice.

No automated decision-making producing legal or similarly significant effects is carried out through the Services unless expressly stated and lawfully implemented.

The Services may also contain links to or integrations with third-party services. Those third parties operate under their own terms and privacy notices.

13. Suspension and Termination

13.1 By You

You may stop using the Services at any time. You may also request account closure or deletion, subject to legal retention, security, backup, and Project-related requirements described in the Privacy Policy or applicable Project documentation.

13.2 By Carbon Copy

We may suspend or terminate access, in whole or in part, where reasonably necessary if you materially or repeatedly breach these Terms; you violate Project-specific rules; continued use creates legal, security, technical, or operational risk; fraud, abuse, or unlawful activity is suspected; or the Services or relevant Project are discontinued.

Where feasible and appropriate, we will provide notice and an opportunity to remedy the issue before termination. Immediate suspension may occur where required for legal, security, or safety reasons.

13.3 Effect on Project Participation

If a Project is run by an organiser, institution, or public authority, that organiser may also request suspension, removal, or closure of Project-specific access in accordance with the applicable Project rules and law.

14. Disclaimers

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

We do not warrant that:

the Services will always be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free;
every defect will be corrected;
user or third-party content will always be accurate, complete, or reliable; or
the Services will always meet every specific requirement of a user, organiser, or institution unless expressly agreed in writing.

Nothing in these Terms excludes rights that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Carbon Copy is liable only for damages caused by our breach of these Terms, unlawful conduct, or other liability established by applicable law.

Carbon Copy shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive, or special damages, or for loss of profits, goodwill, opportunity, or data, except where such exclusion is not permitted by law.

Where liability may lawfully be limited, Carbon Copy’s aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the Services shall be limited to the greater of the amount paid by you to Carbon Copy for the relevant Services in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or CHF 100.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for wilful misconduct, gross negligence, fraud, death or personal injury where non-excludable, or any liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

If Carbon Copy has entered into a separate written agreement with an organiser, institutional client, or public authority, the liability terms in that agreement prevail for that relationship.

16. Indemnity

If you breach these Terms or applicable law and this directly causes Carbon Copy to face a third-party claim, you agree to reimburse Carbon Copy for reasonably foreseeable losses and reasonable external costs directly resulting from that breach, to the extent permitted by law.

This does not apply to the extent the claim was caused by Carbon Copy’s own breach, negligence, or unlawful conduct. If you are a consumer, this clause shall be interpreted restrictively and in accordance with mandatory consumer law.

17. Changes to These Terms

We may amend these Terms from time to time.

If we make material changes, we will provide reasonable notice through the Services, by email, or by other appropriate means before the changes take effect, unless immediate changes are required for legal, regulatory, or security reasons.

If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the Services before the revised Terms take effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance to the extent permitted by law.

18. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of Switzerland, excluding conflict-of-laws rules.

If you are a consumer, nothing in these Terms deprives you of mandatory protections granted by the law of your country of habitual residence.

If you are not a consumer, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall be the competent courts of Zurich, Switzerland.

If Carbon Copy has entered into a separate written agreement with an organiser, institutional client, or public authority, the governing-law and dispute-resolution terms in that agreement prevail for that relationship.

19. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. The affected provision shall be interpreted or replaced to the extent possible in a way that most closely reflects its intended purpose and is legally valid.

20. No Waiver

A failure or delay by Carbon Copy to enforce any provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of that provision or of any other rights.

21. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any supplementary Project notice or specific written agreement expressly applicable to a Project or service, form the agreement governing use of the Services.

22. Contact

Questions regarding these Terms may be sent to:

Carbon Copy Association
Oescherstrasse 26
CH-8702 Zollikon
Switzerland
Email: hi@carbon-copy.org