§ 1 - Provider, content of the offer

(1) Provider of the website adhocracy.plus (hereinafter referred to as "Platform") is Liquid Democracy e.V., Am Sudhaus 2, 12053 Berlin (hereinafter referred to as "Provider"). The following conditions regulate the rights and obligations between the provider and the respective user of the platform.

(2) The provider operates the platform in order to

(a) to enable organisations (e.g. associations, NGOs, municipalities or other public bodies) to publish certain procedures for citizen or member participation (hereinafter "procedures") online on the Platform; and

(b) to enable participants (e.g. citizens of a municipality or members of an association) to participate in such proceedings online.

§ 2 - Access requirements, registration

(1) Every visitor to the platform may view the status of a procedure and the associated discussion contributions without special prerequisites, provided that an organisation has made its procedure accessible to the general public. It is up to the respective organisation to decide whether it reserves the right to inspect and participate in one of its proceedings to certain participants, e.g. by making it dependent on membership.

(2) Any organisation registered in accordance with paragraph 4 may establish procedures on the platform and offer participation to participants (hereinafter "publish").

(3) Participation in a procedure may take the form, for example, of adding discussion contributions or comments (hereinafter "contributions") or participating in a survey or vote.

(4) The publication of and participation in procedures requires prior registration as an organisation or participant (collectively referred to as "User") on the Platform. There is no entitlement to registration against the provider.

(5) Each user can apply online for his registration on the platform by entering a user name (pseudonym) of his choice, his e-mail address and a password of his choice. Alternatively, registration can be applied for on the basis of an existing user account with Google, GitHub, Apple or Facebook. If the provider accepts the registration application, the user will receive a corresponding confirmation by e-mail.

(6) Only one registration is permitted for each user. A representative or fiduciary registration for third parties is inadmissible. The provider reserves the right to terminate user relationships without notice if they are based on multiple registration of the same person or on representation or trust for a third party.

(7) Visiting the platform, registering as a user, setting up procedures and participating in them are free of charge.

§ 3 - Participation, granting of rights

(1) Each participant undertakes to submit only those contributions which have been written by him personally and are based on his personal convictions and considerations.

(2) Unless otherwise indicated in a procedure, a participant's contribution will be published on the platform together with the participant's name, so that the contribution can become part of the public discussion of the procedure.

(3) The participant grants the provider and the organisation operating the respective procedure the right to publish, reproduce, make publicly accessible and otherwise distribute all components of the contribution (texts, images, audiovisual content and other data), including the participant's name, for example in printed form to document the procedure. The grant is made as a simple right without temporal or geographical restrictions.

(4) The participant guarantees the provider and the organisation that he has all necessary rights to all components of his contribution; this also applies to the personal rights of persons depicted or reproduced in any photos, video or audio files submitted. The participant exempts the provider and the organisation from all claims made by third parties due to possible infringements of rights by the contribution. The claim for indemnification also includes the costs of an appropriate examination and, if applicable, legal defence which become necessary in such a context, unless the participant is not responsible for the third party's complaint.

(5) The granting of rights is free of charge.

§ 4 - Quality assurance

(1) An organisation may refrain from publishing a contribution or remove a published contribution from the platform if, at its own discretion, it is convinced that the contribution is not conducive to the intended objective dispute in the respective procedure. This is in particular the case if a contribution
- is not related to the subject of the proceedings,
- is exhausted in the reproduction of opinions or other statements of third parties, without revealing any own opinion of the participant,
- is insulting in content or form, which cannot be tolerated even under consideration of freedom of opinion,
- contains or constitutes an infringement of any right, such as libel, slander, sedition, coercion, extortion, threat or infringement of copyright, trademark or publicity rights.

Please consider the Netiquette.

2. Where an organisation imposes its own conditions on participation, such conditions shall prevail over the provisions of paragraph 1.

§ 5 - Termination of the user relationship

(1) Each party may terminate a user relationship at any time by giving notice in text form. If the provider provides a technical function on the platform for termination by a user, this shall also preserve the form.

(2) The termination of a user relationship by a participant shall not affect the rights granted to the provider and the organisations to the participant's contributions up to that point; these shall continue to apply. The participant's legally indispensable rights remain unaffected, e.g. to recall his rights, to revoke or to terminate for good cause.

(3) Contributions of a participant remain publicly accessible on the platform even after termination of the user relationship, however, the participant name originally published with a contribution will be removed and replaced by a notice that the authoring participant is no longer active on the platform.

(4) The platform is operated for an indefinite period of time; the user is not entitled to an unlimited term or a certain availability ("up-time").

§ 6 - Liability

(1) The processes of the platform shall be automated, in particular the establishment of procedures and the publication of contributions. The provider does not check data submitted online by users for appropriateness of content, factual correctness or any legal infringements before publication. The provider will, however, within the scope of his legal obligations, immediately investigate concrete indications of problematic content.

(2) The liability of the provider for financial losses is excluded; this does not apply if a financial loss is based on intent or gross negligence of the provider, its legal representative or one of its vicarious agents. The liability of the provider for damages resulting from injury to life, body or health, which is based on a negligent breach of duty by the provider or an intentional or negligent breach of duty by a legal representative or vicarious agent of the provider, remains unaffected.

§ 7 - Changes to the Terms of Use

(1) From time to time it may be necessary to amend these Terms of Use. In such a case, the Provider shall notify the User of the intended change by e-mail at least six weeks before it comes into effect.

(2) If the user does not object in text form within four weeks of receipt of the announcement, his consent to the change shall be deemed to have been given. The provider will specifically draw the user's attention to this legal consequence of tacit consent in the announcement.

(3) If the user objects to the announced change in due time, the change shall not take effect with regard to this user.

§ 8 - Applicable law

The use of the platform is subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany to the exclusion of the conflict of laws rules of international private law. This choice of law does not apply if it would restrict the mandatory legal rights of a consumer with permanent residence abroad.

Status: 13. 11. 2019