Our Terms of Use

1. WELCOME TO TREE-NATION

The owner of this website https://tree-nation.com and its subdomains (the "Platform") is TREE-NATION ASBL. (hereinafter, "Tree-Nation", "we" or "us"), a company with a registered office at Avenue Louise 367, 1050, Brussels (Belgium), with Tax Identification Number BE0727828810.

Tree-Nation is dedicated to supporting reforestation, afforestation, and agroforestry projects around the world with the aim of improving the planet’s environmental, social, and economic conditions. 

You can contact us through the following channels:

  • E-mail: contactus@tree-nation.com. 
  • Telephone: +34 933 883 113

2. WHAT CAN YOU DO ON OUR PLATFORM?

Tree-Nation allows citizens and businesses (hereinafter, “You” and collectively “Users”) to participate and help Tree-Nation to plant trees in a selected panel of reforestation, afforestation and agroforestry projects (hereinafter, "Projects").

The functionalities available on the Platform allow Users to visualise the positive effect of planting trees and further support Tree-Nation's mission by spreading the word to a wider audience.

3. ABOUT THE TERMS OF USE

Your use of the Platform is subject to these Terms of Use (the "Terms of Use") and all applicable laws. By using the Platform, you agree to these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

If you are a Project Owner or represent one, these Terms of Use additionally apply to the collaboration agreement you have signed with Tree-Nation. In this regard, you agree to comply with the rules set forth herein regarding the use of your Account and the rest of the Platform.

We reserve the right to change these Terms of Use at any time without notice. When we do so, we will notify you to the extent such changes materially affect you or by otherwise posting the updated version of the Terms of Use on the Platform. Any changes will be effective immediately upon posting the new version of the Terms of Use on the Platform on the date indicated. By continuing to use the Platform after the entry into force of such modifications, you agree to be bound by such modifications. We, therefore, recommend that you periodically review these Terms of Use to be aware of any changes.

You must be of legal age to use the Platform. Minors may only use the Platform with the express permission of their parents or legal guardians, who assume full legal responsibility for the minors’ use of the Platform.

The use of certain functionalities of the Platform may be subject to specific conditions ("Special Conditions") which, depending on the case, may replace, complete and/or modify these Terms of Use. In the event of contradiction between these Terms of Use and the Specific Conditions, the latter shall prevail with respect to those provisions that are incompatible, and only with respect to those services or functionalities subject to such specific regulation.

4. DEFINITIONS

All capitalised terms not expressly defined in these Terms of Use shall have their meanings provided in the General Terms and Conditions, available here .

5. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 

5.1 OF TREE-NATION

Tree-Nation expressly reserves all intellectual and industrial property rights over the Platform and its content (the "Tree-Nation Content"), which are protected by all relevant laws governing intellectual property. Such Tree-Nation Content shall include (but not be limited to) source code, graphic design(s), images, photographs, sounds, interfaces, scripts, animated material, software, text, domain names, trademarks, brands, logos, and any and all other information and content of any form or nature contained within and through the Platform, except to the extent specifically stated otherwise in these Terms of Use.

No Tree-Nation Content may be exploited, reproduced, distributed, modified, republished, transferred, or transformed without the express written approval of Tree-Nation. Access to the Platform does not grant the User any right or title to the intellectual property contained in the Platform or any of the Tree-Nation Content, except to the extent otherwise stated in these Terms of Use.

Tree-Nation will make its best effort to monitor the Platform and protect all of its intellectual property rights diligently and all appropriate resources available under applicable law and reserves the right to pursue any and all available legal options.

The content of the Platform may be modified at our sole discretion including its configuration and presentation, without notice. 

5.2 OF THE USER

By agreeing to these Terms of Use, you declare yourself to be the sole owner of all materials (including, without limitation, images, ideas, comments, questions, and data) that you submit or post to the Platform, or their respective owners have granted you the respective rights to use them for any purpose, including, without limitation, posting them on the Platform, and the respective owners are fully aware of and have agreed to these Terms of Use (the "User Content(s)"). Furthermore, you declare that User Content is free of viruses, spyware, and any other malicious software or computer threats of any kind.

In this regard, you shall be fully responsible for User Content you submit or post on the Platform and you accept all legal responsibilities for any consequences thereof. Tree-Nation makes no representations or warranties, either express or implied, of any kind in connection with User Content posted on the Platform. Any User Content that you or any other User posts on the Platform or transmits through the Platform for any reason (including the use of the Platform as a means of transmission) will be treated as non-confidential.

You also accept and agree that, as a condition of your registration and Platform usage, Tree-Nation and its affiliates may freely use (including but not limited to copying, displaying, distributing, transmitting and modifying) the User Content published on the Platform, on a non-exclusive basis, without compensation, for any purpose worldwide, including advertising and marketing purposes, that helps Tree-Nation to fulfill its mission. Accordingly, by this license, you hereby permit Tree-Nation to use, reproduce, make available to all other Users participating in the Tree-Nation community, and modify or create derivative works of any of the User Content, either alone or in combination with other User Content or materials. However, we assure you that you will retain ownership of all rights, including intellectual property rights in the User Content.

We reserve the right to remove any User Content deemed inappropriate or for any reason, without prior notice and at our sole discretion. Tree-Nation is not responsible for any loss of data as a result of this action.

5.3 How to report copyright infringements to us

If you believe that the copyright of your User Content has been infringed and you wish to have it removed from the Platform, you must notify us and provide Tree-Nation with the following by email: legal@tree-nation.com

  • Your physical or electronic signature or that of the person authorised to act on your behalf;
  • Description and location (on the Platform) of the copyrighted User Content that you believe has been infringed;
  • Your email address, telephone number and/or any other relevant contact information;
  • A statement that the information provided to Tree-Nation is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorised to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
  • A statement that the use of the User Content in question is not authorised by you and/or the copyright owner and/or its agent, as the case may be.

Once we have received the above information, we will review and investigate the complaint and respond as quickly as possible. We do not guarantee any specific, fixed timeframe for responding to complaints received. If you feel that an excessive period of time has elapsed, you should resubmit the above information. In the unfortunate and unlikely event that the complaint is lost, we may ask you to resubmit the information provided for the copyright infringement complaint.

Upon review of the complaint, we may request a physical copy of the above information, in addition to a physical letter signed by you or the person authorized to act on your behalf. A copy of the relevant electronic documents may be sent to the person that the User or Tree-Nation believes is infringing the copyright of the respective materials.

If we consider your complaint to be justified, we will remove access to the disputed User Content. However, the person at the origin of the alleged infringement will have the opportunity to respond to such notification in the event that he or she considers that the disputed User Content does not infringe any third-party rights. The final deletion and/or restitution of the disputed User Content will be decided by Tree-Nation on the basis of the elements provided by the parties involved.

6. THINGS NOT TO DO ON THE TREE-NATION PLATFORM

In connection with your use of the Platform, you are responsible for complying with the law when using the Platform and must always do so in good faith. The following is a non-exhaustive list of prohibited uses of the Platform:

  • Any use that may violate any law or that may infringe the rights of third parties and/or Tree-Nation, including intellectual property rights.
  • The posting or transmission of any content that is violent, obscene, abusive, illegal, racist, xenophobic, defamatory or otherwise objectionable in Tree-Nation's sole discretion.
  • The publication or transmission of any content which appears to incite or promote hatred against certain persons, peoples, religions or cultures.
  • The collection and/or use of any personal data of other users without their express consent or in contravention of the provisions of the applicable data protection regulations, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR").
  • The use of any user account or email account provided by Tree-Nation to distribute Spam, mail bombs, phishing, custodial fraud or any other activity that may result in sabotage, fraud or any other crime or misconduct.
  • Any abuse, harassment, threat, impersonation or intimidation of other Platform Users.
  • Any Platform modification, adaptation, or hacking, or any modification of any other Platform for the purpose of falsely implying any association with the Platform.
  • Furthermore, as the Platform is intended to be accessible to the whole family unit, Tree-Nation does not authorise the publication or transmission of any content that may be considered inappropriate for children.
  • Enter, modify, and view the configuration, structure or data contained within the Tree-Nation servers.
  • Any action that may slow down Tree-Nation's servers and thus impair the proper functioning of Tree-Nation.
  • Damage, disable, overburden, or interfere with the proper use of the Platform, including by transmitting viruses, worms, trojans, malicious code, malware, or other harmful or technologically harmful materials;
  • Actively market, advertise or communicate with other Tree-Nation users for commercial purposes, including through the private messaging tools available on the Platform, if any. You must not introduce or suggest commercial or non-profit products or services.
  • Use, exploit, reproduce, distribute or otherwise use the Platform or any Tree-Nation Content for commercial purposes. Only non-commercial use of the Platform is authorized unless Tree-Nation has expressly agreed otherwise in writing, or except as provided in Section 7.1. for Corporate Forests. Use of a Citizen profile for commercial purposes is prohibited.

You shall bear all legal responsibility for any damage or harm that may result to Tree-Nation's servers or security systems directly caused by your negligent intervention. In this regard, you must respect all the technical rules established by Tree-Nation in relation to the administration and development of the Platform and the services contracted therein.

In this regard, Tree-Nation reserves the right to, where appropriate, block, suspend or permanently terminate a User Account, if, in Tree-Nation's sole discretion, the User violates the conditions set forth in this Section or any other of these Terms of Use.

7. ABOUT YOUR USER ACCOUNT

In order to use some of the Platform functions, you will need to register and create a user account (the "Account") by providing your full name, email address and setting a password. All your personal data provided for the creation of the Account will be treated in accordance with our Privacy Policy .

Your Account is personal and non-transferable. You shall take all necessary steps to prevent knowledge, access, or use of your password by third parties, and you shall be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and all your Account activity. If you know or suspect that your password has been accessed or used by third parties, you must notify us as soon as possible and change your password. 

The information you provide in the registration process must be truthful and accurate, and it is your responsibility to keep it up to date. All transactions carried out prior to the updating of personal data will be based on the information provided up to that point. You shall be solely liable for any false or misleading information, as well as for any damages that may arise from your provision of false or misleading information.

Tree-Nation Users can register and create an Account as a company or as a citizen ("Business Account" or "Citizen Account", respectively). Citizen Accounts are strictly for private individuals and Business Accounts are strictly for legal entities and organisations. 

7.1 Corporate Forests

Companies (the "Company(ies)"), within their Business Account, have access to their Corporate Forest, where they can view and manage the Trees planted with their contributions, as well as Gift Trees and other Business Account specific functions. 

When registering on the Platform by creating a Business Account you must comply with the following, in addition to the other conditions set out in these Terms of Use:

  • Only publish content(s) created by and/or belonging to that Company; 
  • Do not advertise your own products or services through the Platform. Nevertheless, communicating the existence of a commercial relationship with Tree-Nation is permitted through the usual Company or entity (online or offline) channels.

7.2 Project Owners

In case you have signed a partnership agreement with Tree-Nation as a Project Owner, you will have access to a Project Owner account ("Project Owner Account") where you will be able to:

  • Create the information page of the Projects to be made available to the Users;
  • Answer our Users' questions about the Projects;
  • Receive feedback from our Users; 
  • Publish regular updates on the Project;
  • Other functionalities that are specific to the Project Owner Account.

Therefore, as Project Owner, you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described in these Terms of Use as applicable and, in addition, to the following:

  • You warrant that content published on the Projects' information page, including images, text and other materials included by the Project Owner in any format ("Project Content"): (i) is original or is properly licensed by its owners to be published on the Platform; (ii) is free of viruses, spyware, other malware or computer threats; and (iii) that Tree-Nation's use of the Project Content does not infringe on applicable law, intellectual property rights or other third party rights (including image rights or personal data protection rights); (iv) should not contain watermarks, logo or copyright information. Tree-Nation shall in no event be liable for any breach of these warranties, and you shall hold Tree-Nation harmless and indemnify Tree-Nation to the contrary.
  • You will respond in a respectful manner to Users in the "Questions" section or in any other section that allows your interaction with Users;
  • You will not include false, misleading or maliciously incomplete or incorrect information. As Project Owner, you will be responsible for your own acts and statements, holding Tree-Nation free of any consequences derived from them;
  • You will not make unfair or misleading representations with respect to Tree-Nation or on behalf of or in connection with Tree-Nation's role in the Projects and will, in any event, respect Tree-Nation's image and reputation;

Tree-Nation makes no representations about, does not share, and neither shall be held liable for any opinions, comments or other statements posted to your Project Owner Account by Users.

The Project Owner will defend, indemnify and hold Tree-Nation harmless from and against any claims, damages or costs resulting from any infringement of third party intellectual property rights by the Project Content uploaded or published by the Project Owner on Tree-Nation Platform.

The Project Owner agrees to let Tree-Nation and its sponsors of the Plantation Project make reasonable use of such materials (e.g. frequent updates on the Plantation Project on Tree-Nation’s Platform and social media) in order to communicate on their sponsoring commitments.

Deleting your Project Owner Account will not remove the Project or the Project Content from the Platform, as it will be considered public information and is linked to our commitment to our Users. In this regard, you agree to the use of your company name, logo, and the Project Content indefinitely, even after the termination of the collaboration agreement with Tree-Nation to be used by Tree-Nation on the Platform for the sole purpose of reporting on the Projects where the Users' Virtual Trees have been planted.

7.3 Deleting your Account

You can request deletion of your Account at any time via the "Settings" tab in your profile. 

In compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we will delete your personal information from your Account upon request, except for information that we may need to comply with our legal obligations, for as long there are any liabilities for us.

All provisions included in our Terms of Use shall continue without limitation after the termination of any Account, including our rights regarding User Content posted by you on the Platform.

Tree-Nation reserves the right to terminate the Account of any User (whether citizen or company) for any reason at its sole discretion, in particular, for breaching of these Terms of Use. We shall not be liable for any damages - including loss of data - resulting from the termination of the Account.

8. MATTERS WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR

Tree-Nation shall not be liable for any damages or losses that may arise from User Content provided by Users of this Platform. We assume no duty, obligation or liability with respect to the monitoring or verification of the information or User Content provided on the Platform by Users.

You are fully responsible for your use of the Platform. Tree-Nation, its affiliates and/or any other party involved in creating or operating the Platform shall have no liability for any direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, or punitive damages of any kind arising out of your use, access, ability or inability to use the Platform.

The information published on the Platform may not be complete and fully updated, so Tree-Nation assumes no liability for the lack of completeness, updating and accuracy of the data and information contained in the various pages that are part of the Platform, including content published by third parties outside Tree-Nation (including Users, Companies and Project Owners).

Tree-Nation does not guarantee that access to this Platform will be uninterrupted and error-free. Likewise, Tree-Nation does not guarantee that the content and software present on the Platform will not cause damage to the User's computer system (software and hardware). Tree-Nation shall not be liable for any loss, damage and harm of any kind arising from accessing, browsing, and using the Platform, including, but not limited to, those caused to computer systems and those caused by the introduction of viruses.

Tree-Nation reserves the right to shut down the Platform and access to any content on the Platform at any time for any reason, with or without notice. Tree-Nation shall not be liable for any damages and losses, including, but not limited to direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, and punitive damages and losses arising as a result of such action.

8.1 Links to third-party websites

Tree-Nation is not responsible for the content of any sites linked to or coming from the Platform. Tree-Nation cannot assume responsibility for content appearing on such third-party sites, and disclaims any warranties, whether express or implied, as to the legality and validity of the content of such third-party websites. We are not liable for any damage or loss (direct or indirect) arising as a result of accessing such third-party websites. If you consider such content to be inappropriate or contrary to the purposes of Tree-Nation, you may bring it to our attention by contacting us via the contact methods set out above, so that we can take the appropriate measures.

8.2 Disclaimer of warranty

THIS PLATFORM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES IN ANY COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE OR USAGE OF TRADE.

9. APPLICABLE LAW AND JURISDICTION

These Terms of Use shall be governed by Belgium law. 

If any dispute arises as to interpretation and application of these Terms of Use, the parties shall negotiate in good faith to resolve any such dispute or claim. However, if the dispute or claim is not resolved, the Parties shall submit to the courts and tribunals that may be applicable at law in the event that there is a mandatory jurisdiction. Failing this, the parties agree to submit to the courts and tribunals of the city of Brussels.

10. HOW YOU CAN CONTACT US AND INFORM US ABOUT INCIDENTS 

If you find defects or errors in the Platform, you can report them to us, or contact Tree-Nation for any other reason, by sending an email to the following address: contactus@tree-nation.com.  

In case of errors, you will need to attach graphic evidence, and Tree-Nation will inform you of the steps to be taken to solve the problem.