site.btaTerms and Conditions

GENERAL TERMS OF USE OF THE WEBSITES OF THE BULGARIAN NEWS AGENCY

 

CHAPTER ONE - SUBJECT-MATTER AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1. (1) These General Terms of Use of the Websites of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), hereinafter referred to as “General Terms”, shall regulate the relationships between BTA and the users of the websites thereof.

(2) These General Terms shall regulate the conditions whereunder BTA makes the websites available for use as provided for to users, and users shall undertake to use the said websites complying with the applicable legislation and the requirements specified in these General Terms.

Article 2. (1) The users of the websites shall accept and shall undertake to comply with these General Terms, which shall enter into effect immediately after the first use of the websites of BTA.

(2) By each use of services and resources on the websites of BTA, including by the opening of a website, as well as by actuating a hyperlink from a web homepage or any other web page whatsoever, users shall represent that they are aware of these General Terms, that they agree thereto, and that they undertake to comply therewith.

(3) When using the websites, users shall undertake not to infringe any rights and interests of third parties and not to perform any malicious acts.

(4) By using the websites of BTA, users shall be able to access the information published on the said websites, to obtain information about the news products or about activities and initiatives related to the operation of BTA and other options determined by BTA.

Article 3. (1) BTA shall publish these General Terms on the websites thereof.

(2) BTA shall have the right to amend and supplement these General Terms unilaterally, and should any such modifications be made, they shall likewise be published.

Article 4. Within the meaning of these General Terms:

1. “BTA” or “(the) Agency” shall be the Bulgarian News Agency, in its capacity as an independent national news organisation whereof the operation is governed by the Bulgarian News Agency Act. BTA has its registered office address at 49 Tsarigradsko Chaussee Blvd., City of Sofia, and it is entered in the BULSTAT Register under Uniform Identification Code (EIK) 000695071.

2. The “websites of BTA” shall be www.bta.bg, as well as all websites owned by BTA, including the sub-domains and/or directories thereof, which constitute a distinct location on the internet accessible through its Uniform Resource Locator (URL) using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPs) or another standardised protocol, such as, for example, pages in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, tiktok and other such, which contain news products of BTA.

3. “BTA new products” or “BTA items” or “BTA content” shall be texts, photographs, comments, information, current affairs, videos, graphic and photographic images, sound, music and any other data, resources or items whatsoever published on the websites of BTA.

4. “Users” shall be all persons who use the content on the websites of BTA for private purposes, as well as any natural and legal persons who bring BTA content and/or the content of third-party partners of BTA to the notice of readers, viewers or listeners, whether directly or through the agency of other persons (distributors).

5. “For editorial purposes only” shall be use which is factual, informational, topical and/or of public interest, such as, for example, articles in newspapers, magazines or electronic media newscasts, including in internet editions of electronic media, unlike use for a non-editorial purpose, which covers all other purposes of use, including the use of content for the purpose of selling a particular product, obtaining pecuniary profit and advertising products, services or companies.

6. “Content of third-party partners of BTA” shall be text, data, photographs, charts, metadata and other content in any form whatsoever and on any medium whatsoever, which has been produced and/or licensed by a third-party partner of BTA.

7. “Third-party partners of BTA” shall be mass communication media and news agency, including but not limited to: Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presses, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, TASS, Xinhua and other whose content BTA has the right to use by virtue of agreements concluded therewith under terms specified in the agreement concerned.

 

CHAPTER TWO - TERMS OF USE

Article 5. (1) The use of the websites of BTA and the content thereof by users shall be free of charge and shall be accessible 24 (twenty-four) hours a day, 7 (seven) days a week.

(2) Access for a consideration shall be admissible as an exception in respect of:

1. any products containing works that are subject-matter of protected rights held by third parties;

2. any archive materials;

3. any works of the publishing, printing and producer activities of BTA;

4. any specialised news products prepared on order.

Article 6. (1) No user registration shall be necessary in order to use the websites of BTA and the content thereof, with the exception of news products of BTA whereto the access requires mandatory registration.

(2) These General Terms shall apply to relations with users who have registered on the websites (registered users) and to relations with users who have not registered on the websites (non-registered users).

(3) When registering on the websites of BTA, users shall provide at least the following data: forename, surname, e-mail address, telephone number, user name and password. Users shall be liable for the trueness, completeness and accuracy of all data provided thereby upon registration and shall update the said data promptly in case of an intervening change.

(4) Users shall be liable for the trueness and confidentiality of user names, passwords and other data thereof which are provided in connection with the registration under Paragraph (3).

(5) Users shall be liable for making available and for the use of their user names and passwords in breach of these General Terms and the legislation in force.

Article 7. (1) Users shall be permitted to use of the content on the websites of BTA, with BTA reserving the copyright to the news products and the right of ownership shall not be transferred to users upon use of the content on the websites of BTA.

(2) Upon each use of the content on the websites of BTA, users shall undertake to credit BTA explicitly as the source of the said content.

(3) Reproduction by mass communication media of any articles on topical economic, political or religious topics which have already been made public by BTA shall not be expressly prohibited by BTA, and in such case crediting BTA as the source and citing the name of a particular author, if named by BTA, shall be mandatory.

(4) The use of the content on the websites of BTA shall be entirely for an editorial purpose only and must be in accordance with the applicable laws.

(5) BTA content may be used only in the form in which it is published on the websites. BTA content may be modified and altered insignificantly by users solely provided that the editorial meaning of the BTA content is not distorted or changed.

(6) In cases other than those referred to in the foregoing paragraphs, it shall be prohibited to reproduce, alter, delete, publish, distribute and make public, including to misrepresent, in any way whatsoever the materials as published or the form of the websites, unless private use is involved.

Article 8. (1) The content of the websites and of the news products shall be determined by BTA. The Agency shall have the right to change the content of the websites thereof and of the news products thereof at any time, exercising discretion in adding or removing streams and/or materials.

(2) BTA shall have the right to alter any parameters and characteristics of the websites thereof and of the news products thereof, to modify terms and options for the use thereof, to suspend or discontinue the use thereof, to launch new websites and news products or to close down existing websites and news products. These General Terms shall furthermore apply to relations between the parties in the cases referred to in this paragraph.

(3) BTA shall not be held liable to users for any actual losses or gains foregone sustained as a result of a discontinuation, suspension, restriction of the access or alteration of the websites of BTA or of the news products thereof, or as a result of an erasure, alteration, loss of items or information, untrueness, inaccuracy or incompleteness of any materials and/or information published by users and accessible on the websites of BTA.

 

Article 9. (1) Users shall have the right to request information from BTA regarding the terms of use of the websites.

(2) Users shall have the right to notify BTA of any problems encountered by users in connection with the use of the websites (including errors detected, technical difficulties experienced, rights of users or of third parties infringed, etc.) via e-mail or at the address of the registered office of BTA in the City of Sofia, as well as at the address of the official correspondent bureaus thereof in Bulgaria and abroad.

(3) All addresses shall be published on the websites of BTA.

Article 10. (1) BTA shall process the personal data and information of users according to the Privacy Policy, which shall be published on the websites of BTA.

 

CHAPTER THREE - USE OF MATERIALS OF THIRD-PARTY PARTNERS OF BTA

Article 11. (1) When using the websites, users shall undertake not to infringe any rights and interests of third-party partners of BTA.

(2) Each BTA customer and visitor shall agree that any content published by BTA but originating from a third-party partner of BTA may be used only under specified conditions.

(3) The user concerned shall accept, for his or her account, full civil, administrative or criminal responsibility for each violation of this article and the payment of compensations to the aggrieved parties as imposed by a competent authority.

Article 12. (1) Each use of content of a third-party partner of BTA must be effected only in accordance with the applicable Bulgarian and international legislation on the protection of copyright and related rights and these General Terms.

(2) Upon each use of content of a third-party partner of BTA, users shall undertake to credit explicitly, in addition to BTA, also that third party as the source of the content.

(3) Content of a third-party partner of BTA may be used only in the form in which the said content has been received and for editorial purposes only.

(4) The third-party partner of BTA shall reserve all rights to, ownership of, and interest in the content and the marks thereof.

(5) Users shall not have direct rights to the content of a third-party partner of BTA or to the agreement therebetween.

(6) Users shall not have the right to archive any content of third-party partners of BTA and shall be obliged to erase any such content within 168 hours after the publication thereof on any of the websites of BTA.

(7) Photographs of third-party partners of BTA shall be used after express permission by BTA and in some cases such use may be provided for a price depending on the terms of the partnership agreement between BTA and the third party.

(8) The right to use material from a third-party partner of BTA shall be limited to the purposes of new reporting.

(9) The content of a third-party partner of BTA may be adapted and modified by a user of the content if this is necessary in order to produce finished materials for the user concerned. Such adaptation and/or modification may include minor clipping or resizing of the text and/or the photographs or editing the video recordings in terms of length or combining with other content, provided that the editorial meaning of the third-party partner of BTA is not distorted or changed.

 

Transitional and Final Provisions

§ 1. These General Terms are issued pursuant to Item 6 of Article 15 of the Bulgarian News Agency Act.

§ 2. Any terms unregulated in these General Terms shall be governed by the provisions of the legislation in force of the Republic of Bulgaria.

§ 3. Any disputes between BTA and users in connection with the use of the news products of BTA shall be resolved by negotiations, by agreement between the parties, and should this prove impossible, each of the parties may refer the dispute for settlement to the competent court in the City of Sofia.

§ 4. In the event that any individual provisions of these General terms shall be held, in the appropriate manner, to be invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the rest of the provisions of the General Terms, which shall continue in effect and shall apply to relations between the parties.