Terms of Use

  1. Home

These Terms of use of apply to this website and associated sites, referred to collectively as the “Sites.”

The Sites Terms of Use – Acceptance of the Terms of Use

Welcome to this Site(s) maintained by the Global Shield Financing Facility (GSFF) (for purposes of these terms and conditions, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, also known as the World Bank, is acting for and on behalf of GSFF). The following terms and conditions, together with any documents they expressly incorporate by reference (collectively, “Terms of Use”), govern your access to and use of the Sites, including any content, functionality and services offered on or through the Sites, whether as a guest or a registered user.

We offer the Sites, including all information, tools, and services available from it, to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of all these Terms of Use. Please read the Terms of Use carefully before you start to use the Sites. By using the Sites, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy, incorporated herein by reference. If you do not want to agree to these Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy, you must not access or use the Sites.

Changes to the Terms of Use

We may revise and update these Terms of Use and the Sites from time to time in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them, and apply to all access to and use of the Sites thereafter. Your continued use of the Sites following the posting of revised Terms of Use means that you accept and agree to the changes. You are expected to check this page from time to time so you are aware of any changes, as they are binding on you. 

Accessing the Sites

We reserve the right to withdraw or amend the Sites, and any service or material we provide on the Sites, in our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Sites is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Site(s), to users, including registered users.

You are responsible for:

  • Affirming that you can form legally binding agreements under applicable law, and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in these Terms of Use, and to qualify under, abide by, and comply with these Terms of Use.
  • Making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Sites.
  • Ensuring that all persons who access the Sites through your internet connection are aware of these Terms of Use and comply with them.
  • To access the Sites and the resources offered by them, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of the Sites that all the information you provide is correct, current and complete. You agree that all information you provide to register with the Sites, including but not limited to through the use of any interactive features on them, is governed by our Privacy Policy and you consent to all actions we take with respect to your information consistent with our Privacy Policy.
  • We have the right to disable any user name, password or other identifier, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time in our sole discretion for any or no reason, including if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.

Intellectual Property Rights

  • Unless otherwise expressly indicated, the Site and related contents, features and functionality (including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, video and audio, and the design, selection and arrangement thereof), are owned by GSFF, its partner organizations, licensors or other providers of such material, and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.
  • These Terms of Use permit you to use the Sites for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, republish, download, store or transmit any of the material on the Site in accordance with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO License (CC BY 3.0 IGO) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/legalcode ).
  • Your computer may temporarily store copies of such materials in RAM incidental to your accessing and viewing those materials without violating any permission or license.
  • You may store files that are automatically cached by your Web browser for display enhancement purposes without violating any permission or license.
  • You may print or download content on the affected Site for non-commercial use only.
  • You must not delete or alter any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from the Site.
  • You must not access or use for any commercial purposes any part of the Site or any services or materials available through the Site.
  • Any use of the Site is not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms of Use and may violate copyright, trademark and other laws.

Trademarks

The names, logos, product and service names and designs of GSFF and its partner organizations are trademarks of their respective organizations. You must not use such marks without the prior written permission of such organizations. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans on the Site are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Prohibited Uses

You may use the Sites only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use. You agree not to use them:

  • In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the United States or other countries).
  • To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with these Terms of Use.
  • To transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material, including any “junk mail”, “chain letter” or “spam” or any other similar solicitation.
  • To impersonate or attempt to impersonate GSFF or its partner organizations, or any of them, or any employee of such organizations, another user or any other person or entity (including, without limitation, by using e-mail addresses or screen names associated with any of the foregoing).
  • To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the Sites, or which, as determined by us, may harm GSFF or its partner organizations, or users of the Sites, or expose any of them to liability.

Additionally, you agree not to:

  • Use the Sites in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the Sites or interfere with any other party’s use of the sites, including their ability to engage in real time activities through them.
  • Use any device, software or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Sites.
  • Introduce any viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage or disrupt any parts of the Sites, the server on which the Sites are stored, or any server, computer or database connected to them.
  • Attack the Sites via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
  • Otherwise attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Sites.

Monitoring and Enforcement; Termination

We have the right to:

Disclose your identity or other information about you to any third party who claims that material posted by you violates their rights, including their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy.

Take appropriate legal action, including without limitation, referral to law enforcement, for any illegal or unauthorized use of the Sites.

Terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Sites for any or no reason, including without limitation, any violation of these Terms of Use.

Without limiting the foregoing, we have the right to fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity or other information of anyone posting any materials on or through the Sites. YOU WAIVE AND HOLD HARMLESS GSFF AND ITS PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS, FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS RESULTING FROM ANY ACTION TAKEN BY ANY OF THE FOREGOING PARTIES DURING OR AS A RESULT OF ITS INVESTIGATIONS AND FROM ANY ACTIONS TAKEN AS A CONSEQUENCE OF INVESTIGATIONS BY EITHER SUCH PARTIES OR LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES.

We assume no responsibility for monitoring the Sites for inappropriate content or conduct. If at any time we choose, in our sole discretion to monitor the Sites, we nonetheless assume no responsibility for user content on the Sites, no obligation to modify or remove any inappropriate content, and no responsibility for the conduct of any user submitting any such content.

Reliance on Information Posted

The information presented on or through the Sites is made available solely for general information purposes. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of this information. Any of the material on the Sites may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material. The information and features on the Sites do not constitute binding offers to provide financing, legal or other services described on the Sites, or to make such services available in your area. In addition, nothing in the Sites shall be construed as containing any investment recommendations and nothing constitutes an offer of or an invitation by or on behalf of GSFF or its partner organizations to purchase or sell any shares or securities.

Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by you or any other visitor to the Sites, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

The Sites may include content provided by third parties, including materials provided by other users, bloggers and third-party licensors, syndicators, aggregators and/or reporting services. All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided by GSFF and its partner organizations, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials. These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of GSFF or any of its partner organizations.

We are not responsible, or liable to you or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.

Information About You and Your Visits to the Site

All information we collect on the Site is subject to our Privacy Policy. By using the Site, you consent to all actions taken by us with respect to your information in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

Linking to the Site and Social Media Features

You may link to the Sites, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part.

The Sites may provide certain social media features that enable you to:

  • Link from your own or certain third-party sites to certain content on them.
  • Send e-mails or other communications with certain content, or links to certain content, on them.
  • Cause limited portions of content on them to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party sites.
  • You may use these features solely as they are provided by us and solely with respect to the content they are displayed with and otherwise in accordance with any additional terms and conditions we provide with respect to such features.

Subject to the forgoing, You must not:

  • Establish a link from any site that is not owned by you.
  • Cause the Sites or portions of them to be displayed, or appear to be displayed by, for example, framing, deep linking or in-line linking, on any other site.
  • Otherwise take any action with respect to the materials on the Site that is inconsistent with any other provision of these Terms of Use.

In addition:

  • You agree to cooperate with us in causing any unauthorized framing or linking immediately to cease. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
  • We may disable all or any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our discretion.

Links from the Site

If the Sites contain links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your convenience only. This includes links contained in advertisements, including banner advertisements and sponsored links. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. If you decide to access any of the third-party sites linked to the Sites, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such sites.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the internet or the Sites will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to the Site for any reconstruction of any lost data. WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE SITES OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITES OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.

YOUR USE OF THE SITES, THEIR CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITES ARE AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE SITES, THEIR CONTENTS AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH ANY OF THEM ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. NEITHER THE WORLD BANK AND THE PARTNERS NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH ANY OF THEM MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY OR AVAILABILITY OF THE SITES. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER THE WORLD BANK THE PARTNERS NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH ANY OF THEM REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE SITES, THEIR CONTENTS OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THEM WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT THE SITES OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS OR THAT THE SITES OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THEM WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.

GSFF AND ITS PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Limitation on Liability

IN NO EVENT WILL GSFF OR ITS PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS, BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SITES, ANY CONTENT ON THEM OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THEM, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF DATA, AND WHETHER CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless GSFF and its partner organizations, and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors and assigns, from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of the Sites, including, but not limited to, your User Contributions, any use of the their content, services and products other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use or your use of any information obtained from them.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All matters relating to the Sites and these Terms of Use and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the District of Columbia, United States of America, without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the District of Columbia or any other jurisdiction).

Waiver and Severability

No waiver by GSFF of any term or condition set forth in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of GSFF to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

Preservation of Immunities

Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or a waiver of the privileges and immunities of the World Bank, which are specifically reserved.

Entire Agreement

The Terms of Use and, our Privacy Policy constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and GSFF with respect to the Sites and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Sites.

Your Comments and Concerns

The Sites are maintained by GSFF, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433.

All notices of copyright infringement claims should be sent to the copyright agent:  iburghardt@worldbank.org.

All other feedback, comments, requests for technical support and other communications relating to the Sites should be directed to: gsff@worldbank.org.

Thank you for visiting the Sites.