Legal notice - Terms of use

The BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK social network was set up and is owned by the General Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country and run by the Office for the Basque Community Abroad, responsible to the Lehendakaritza or Presidency of the Basque Government, in accordance with the Conditions of Use set forth in this document.

Historically, the Basque community abroad has been organised around the diaspora and Basque Centres or Euskal Etxeak. The Basque Government now wishes to take a step forward and, using the technology of the information society, provide a forum for communication and relations for people who wish to take part in it, through the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK.

The BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK is a collaborative web space, a global network, the goal of which is to put all Basques living outside the Basque Country for different reasons in contact. A major part of this network will without a doubt consist of the people who make up the network of Euskal Etxeak that has been built up over the years, to reach over 180 officially registered centres, spread over 25 countries on 4 continents. Nevertheless, this network is also open to people who have an affinity with Basque culture and traditions, regardless of where they were born and where they live.

1.- Access and agreement to the conditions

Any adult who agrees to comply with the conditions of use of this network can be a member of the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK.

Use of its services implies full, unreserved agreement with each and every one of the provisions included in these Conditions of Use, in the version published by the Office for the Basque Community Abroad at such time as users access and register for the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK, for which reason users are recommended to read its contents carefully when they make use of the information and services offered by this website.

By applying to register for the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK, the user declares and guarantees the required legal capacity, exonerating the Administration that runs the network from any liability arising therefrom. In any case, the Office for the Basque Community Abroad reserves the exclusive right to immediately cancel the registration of anybody who, in its judgement, does not meet this condition.

Both access to this website and any use without consent that might be made of the information contained on it are the sole responsibility of the user. The Administration that runs the network accepts no liability for any consequences or damages that might arise from such access or use.

2.- Supervision and approval of individual users

Applications for registration as an individual user of the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK will be subject to supervision and final approval by the Office for the Basque Community Abroad, in accordance with the criteria set forth in these Conditions.

3.- Use and custody of individual users’ name and password

Once the admission process is complete, each person must log on to the network by means of a user name and a password. Users undertake to make proper use of their name and password and to keep both secret.

4.- Proper use of the network

Users undertake to make appropriate use of the network and not to use it to engage in activities that are illicit or contravene good faith and the law.

Users’ commitments include, but are not limited to, the following:

a) Not to supplant the identity of any other user of the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK or anybody else, or enter false or inaccurate data about their identity in the said network.

b) Not to take any actions that might be qualified as online bullying or harassment.

c) Not to use the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK for illicit purposes or any that might prejudice third parties’ rights and interests. Illicit purposes include, among others, use of the services by users for profit, commercial, promotional or publicity purposes.

d) Not to upload or disseminate content or propaganda of a racist, xenophobic, pornographic or paedophile nature or which goes infringes human rights.

e) Not to defame or infringe anybody’s personal or family privacy and image.

 f) Not to use the network for the purposes of political or religious proselytism.

g) Not to post publicity, advertising material, junk mail, chain letters, pyramid structures or any other form of solicitation, except via those services specially designed for this purpose.

h) Not to enter or disseminate any false, ambiguous or inaccurate information or content that might mislead the people receiving the information.

i) Not to disseminate, send or make available to third parties information or content of any kind that might represent an infringement of the confidentiality of communications and data protection legislation.

j) Not to publish or upload any file of any kind (video, audio, text, etc.) which is subject to third-party intellectual or industrial property rights, unless the legal holder of these rights has granted a license or formal authorisation in accordance with the licence governing this network.

5.- System for moderation and deletion of content or accounts on the network

BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK has a system of moderation in order to prevent publication of comments or content that might contravene these Conditions of Use.

In the event of infringement of any of the above prohibitions, the Office for the Basque Community Abroad may suspend, deactivate or delete either the user’s account or part thereof or of its contents.

6.- Liability for content to which the network contains links

Proper provision of the services of the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK and registered users’ activities may involve the inclusion in their user profiles of content such as images, text, video, etc., or the use of links to other internet sites and portals (hereinafter, “Linked Content”).

Should a user of the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK, consider that there is linked content that may be illicit or inappropriate, they are advised to report this to the Office for the Basque Community Abroad so that, if appropriate, this body can proceed to delete or remove the said content. The following email address is provided for this purpose: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Users are responsible for ensuring that they have the necessary permission to divulge any content of whatever kind that they might share on the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK, in particular authorisation by people about whom they give any personal details or who appear in images of photographs, in order to protect at all times individuals’ rights to privacy, honour and their own image, as well as the right to data protection.

7.- Truthfulness of content and identification with users’ opinions

In particular, the Office for the Basque Community Abroad:

- Does not guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, lawfulness and reliability of content and services on the network, especially those supplied or provided by third parties outside the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK.

- It neither shares nor identifies with network user’s opinions, comments or actions, or engages in any editing activity in this respect. Users bear sole responsibility for any opinions, comments or actions they post as part of their activity on the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK.

8.- Viruses and malicious software

The Office for the Basque Community Abroad neither monitors nor guarantees the absence of viruses or other elements in the content that could cause problems to user’s information systems (software and hardware) or to electronic documents and files stored on the said information systems.

9.- Modification of the Conditions of Use

The Office for the Basque Community Abroad reserves the right to unilaterally improve, alter or delete services or content on the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK in accordance with the criteria it considers appropriate at any given time.

Users are therefore recommended to regularly review the contents of these Conditions, as they may be altered for legal, technical or corporate reasons, or due to self-regulatory or internal processes.

10.- Cessation of provision of service

The Office for the Basque Community Abroad reserves the right to suspend or end provision of the service at any time.

It may also suspend the service temporarily for reasons of security or due to maintenance and updating work on the network itself and associated services.

INTELLECTUAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

Contents and information subject to intellectual property rights belonging to the General Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, to its users or to third parties, made available via the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK, may be reproduced, publicly divulged, transformed or extracted freely on a non-exclusive basis by anybody and in any format, with no time or territorial restrictions and for any legitimate subsequent use, subject to the following conditions: their authorship and the fact that they are subject to the Creative Commons licence that appears on the home page must always be specified. In the event that any content has specific features as regards intellectual property rights, the licence applicable, or if appropriate that all rights to it are reserved, will be stated clearly and explicitly.

Any industrial property rights that might apply are held by the Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country or their legitimate owners, as the case may be, and all rights thereto are reserved.

Any use of the information made available on this website that might contravene the stipulations of these Conditions of Use, likewise any infringement of the Administration of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country’s intellectual and industrial property rights, will give rise to the actions to which this Administration is legally entitled and, where appropriate, to the liabilities arising from such actions.

COOKIES

The Office for the Basque Community Abroad states that the BASQUE GLOBAL NETWORK uses cookies, these being information files saved on the user’s own terminal by the portal (e.g. so as not to have to ask again for the user name and/or password). Under no circumstances will these cookies collect or process personal data in any way. In any case, the user has the option of configuring their browser in such a way as to stop these files being installed, though if they do so they may not be able to use all the functions of this website.

PRIVACY POLICY

The Office for the Basque Community Abroad handles and protects personal data in accordance with the stipulations of the Spanish data protection act, organic Law 15/1999 of 13th December 1999, the regulations implementing it and the Basque data protection act.

The data supplied by users will be used solely for the purposes provided for on the said network, to which end there exists a file named “Red de personas vascas en el exterior” [“Network of Basque People Abroad”], registered with the Basque Data Protection Agency and owned by the Office for the Basque Community Abroad (https://www.euskadi.eus/y22-bopv/es/bopv2/datos/2016/03/1601099a.pdf, https://www.euskadi.eus/y22-bopv/eu/bopv2/datos/2016/03/1601099e.pdf).

In accordance with the stipulations of the Spanish data protection act, the owner of the data may at any time exercise their rights to access, rectification, cancellation and objection before the following Service, the holder of the file: Office for the Basque Community Abroad; c/ Navarra, 2; 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

To this end a link to the relevant forms on the website of the Basque Data Protection Agency is provided (Basque Data Protection Agency forms)

The Office for the Basque Community Abroad undertakes to adopt the necessary technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of personal data and prevent their modification, loss or unauthorised processing or access, bearing in mind the state of technology, the nature of the data stored and the risks to which they are exposed, whether these result from human action or the physical or natural environment, and in particular those stipulated in Royal Decree 1720/2007 of 21st December 2007, approving the regulations implementing the Spanish data protection act, Organic Law 15/1999 of 13th December 1999.

The Office for the Basque Community Abroad may store and make use of IP addresses in order to analyse traffic, administer its website and monitor the use of the portal as a whole. To this end it may use web analytical services (for example Google Analytics or similar tools), though under no circumstances will these be used for purposes other than those described.

 Specifically, this website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service provided by Google, Inc., a Delaware company whose head office is at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View (California), CA 94043, United States ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files stored on your computer, to help analyse the use made of the website by its users. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be sent directly to and stored by Google on its servers in the United States. Google will use this information on our behalf to track your use of the website, compiling reports on traffic on the website and providing other services connected with activity on the website and internet use. Google may pass this information on to third parties when legislation so requires, or when such third parties process information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other item of data it holds.