Terms and conditions

1. Use of the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website

1.1 Use of this website www.ukbusinessinchina.com is subject to the following terms of use (together with the documents referred to in it).

Read these terms of use carefully before you start to use the www.ukbusinessinchina.com as these will apply to your use of the website.

The www.ukbusinessinchina.com website is managed by the Department for International Trade (DIT).

By entering and using www.ukbusinessinchina.com you as a user are confirming that you accept our terms of use (including our privacy and cookies policy) and you agree to comply with them. If you do not accept these terms of use you should navigate away from this website now.

On this website the terms ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to the DIT and the terms ‘you’ and ‘your’ refer to you the user.

1.2 All information we place on this website is, to the best of our knowledge, accurate and complete as at the date of publication. You are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of any information you place on the website or submit to us, in accordance with clause 6.2 of these terms of use.

1.3 These terms of use are for the use of this website only and do not cover the use of any other HM Government site. You should always be aware when you are moving to another site and read the privacy statements and terms of use of any site which collects personal information.

2. Hyperlinking policy

2.1 DIT encourages organisations wishing to refer people to its material to do so using a hyperlink rather than reproducing the text.

2.2 Subject to observing the rules on Crown Copyright and third party material outlined in clause 3 (below), you can link directly to pages hosted on this website in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage the reputation of DIT or take advantage of it. DIT reserves the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

In making such links, you must not imply endorsement of your site or your organisation by HM Government or DIT. DIT does not permit its pages to be loaded into frames on your site – the pages must load into the user’s entire window.

2.3 DIT is not responsible for the content or reliability of any websites that this website links to, nor should listing on www.ukbusinessinchina.com be taken as an endorsement of any kind. DIT cannot guarantee that these links will work at any time and DIT has no control over the availability of linked pages.

3. Intellectual property and Crown copyright

3.1 Content featured on www.ukbusinessinchina.com is subject to Crown copyright protection unless otherwise indicated. Crown copyright material usually carries this symbol: © Crown copyright.

3.2 Under the terms of the open government licence (and subject to clause 3.3, below) you may use and reuse the Crown copyright material included on www.ukbusinessinchina.com free of charge and in any format or medium. Excluded from this permission are the HM Government, Department for International Trade, DIT and Exporting is great, names, logos and “get-up” (including our coat of arms) and all images and case studies that appear on www.ukbusinessinchina.com. This means you must not reproduce them.

3.3 If you do re-use any Crown Copyright material from www.ukbusinessinchina.com you must acknowledge the source with the following attribution:

“This information is provided by the Department for International Trade and used as permitted by the Open Government Licence v3.0”

For more information, read the Open Government Licence. Enquiries about use and re-use of Crown copyright material should be sent to psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.

3.4 Neither the names HM Government, Department for International Trade (nor the acronym DIT), Exporting is great, nor any logo, get up and coat of arms used by DIT may be used by you or on your website without our prior written approval.

If you have a question about our intellectual property and Crown copyright, email the DIT brand team at brand@trade.gov.uk, with your contact details and detailing how and why you wish to use the name or logo(s).

4. Third-party material

4.1 The ability for you to reproduce Crown copyright material in accordance with the instructions in clause 3 (above) does not extend to any material on this website that is the copyright of a third party. Authorisation to reproduce such material has to be obtained by you from the copyright holder concerned.

5. Data Protection

5.1 By using this website, you acknowledge that we will collect your personal data in accordance with our privacy and cookies policy.

5.2 Information you provide whilst using the services provided by www.ukbusinessinchina.com, including personal information, may be published or disclosed in accordance with access to information regimes, primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and UK Data Protection legislation.

The Department for International Trade will process personal data supplied in its digital services in accordance with the Data Protection Act. The information you provide will be processed on a lawful basis to enable DIT to perform a task in the public interest or to fulfil an official function, where the task or function has a clear basis in law.

5.3 DIT uses leading technologies and encryption software to safeguard your data, and keeps strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access to it.

5.4 Our privacy policy applies only to www.ukbusinessinchina.com so you should always be aware when you are moving to another site and read the privacy statement of any site which collects personal information.

5.5 The www.ukbusinessinchina.com website uses ‘cookies’ to distinguish you from other users. This helps DIT to improve services for you. For more information on the cookies DIT uses and the purposes for which it uses them see our privacy and cookies policy.

5.6 Staff may contact you using the information that you provide in order request feedback on your use of the www.ukbusinessinchina.com services and input on how to improve them.

6. Accessing the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website

6.1 You can access services on www.ukbusinessinchina.com using the digital forms on the website.

6.2 You understand that you are solely responsible for any information submitted by you to the website (whether that information is submitted on behalf of yourself or a third party). You must ensure details supplied are true, accurate, up-to-date and not misleading or likely to mislead or deceive. In addition, you must not supply information that is discriminatory, obscene, offensive, defamatory or otherwise illegal, unlawful or in breach of any applicable legislation, regulations, guidelines or codes of practice or the copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights of any person in any jurisdiction. Failure to provide accurate or complete information shall constitute a breach of these terms of use.

6.3 You agree to inform DIT or its partners of any changes to your information, when such changes occur or when requested by DIT or its partners. You can inform DIT by emailing Chinacommercial.dit@fco.gov.uk

6.4 DIT has the right to refuse any and all current or future use of the service provided on www.ukbusinessinchina.com, if you provide, or if DIT has reasonable grounds to suspect that you have provided, any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete.

6.5 If you send the DIT information on a digital form, the details you provide may be further verified by DIT.

6.6 Your details, including your name and email address, will be stored securely by DIT in accordance with its privacy and cookies policy.

7. Website availability and virus protection

7.1 At any time, the DIT may, at its sole discretion, change or discontinue providing the services provided on any part of www.ukbusinessinchina.com without notice. DIT will not be liable to you or any third party if, for any reason, the website is unavailable or discontinued at any time or for any period.

7.2 DIT makes every effort to check and test material available for access at all stages of production. However, DIT does not guarantee that the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.

You should run antivirus software on all material downloaded from the internet, including from the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website. DIT cannot accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or your computer system which may occur whilst using material derived from the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website.

7.3 You must not misuse the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or similar material.

You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website, the server on which the website is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site.

You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service (DoS) attack or a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. By breaching this provision you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. DIT will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach your right to use this website will cease immediately.

8. Disclaimer

8.1 The website is provided as an information guide only and should not be relied on as a substitute for your own research or independent advice. DIT accepts no responsibility for any loss or damage caused to any person as result of any error, omission or misleading statement in the information on this website, or due to using this website or relying on that information.

8.2 The information on the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website will be kept as accurate as reasonably possible. However, accuracy, completeness or up-to-dateness of the content of the website is not guaranteed in any way, implied or explicit.

9. Requests to remove content

9.1 You can ask for content to be removed from www.ukbusinessinchina.com. We’ll only do this in certain cases, for example, if it breaches copyright laws, contains sensitive personal data or material that may be considered obscene or defamatory.

9.2 Contact us to ask for content to be removed. You’ll need to send us the web address (URL) of the content and explain why you think it should be removed. We’ll reply to let you know whether we’ll remove it. We remove content at our discretion in discussion with the department or agency responsible for it. You can still request information under the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act.

10. Limitation of liability

10.1 To the extent permitted by law, DIT excludes all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to the website or any content on it, whether expressed or implied.

10.2 The www.ukbusinessinchina.com website is targeted at UK and China based businesses. You agree to use the website and any services offered over the website for business or professional purposes only, and you understand that in so doing, you are operating in a business or professional context, and not as a consumer.

10.3 DIT will not be liable to any user for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:

use of, or inability to use, the website
use of or reliance on any content on the website
third parties’ use of our website and content on the website
In particular, DIT will not be liable for:
loss of profits, sales, business or revenue
business interruption
loss of anticipated savings
loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation
any indirect or consequential loss or damage

10.4 DIT assumes no responsibility for the content of websites linked on the www.ukbusinessinchina.com.

10.5 Through using the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website, you may find other businesses or individuals with whom you decide to enter into a commercial arrangement. For example, you may be an exporter who uses our website to find a buyer for your goods. You acknowledge and agree that we accept no liability for commercial arrangements entered into in connection with use of our services, and we assume no responsibility for the success or failure of any such arrangements.

10.6 Nothing in these terms of use excludes or limits liability of the DIT for death or personal injury arising from its negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.

11. Freedom of information

11.1 By using the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website you accept that any information held by DIT is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 which may require the release of such information.

12. User Account

12.1 In order to use some parts of www.ukbusinessinchina.com, you may need to register a company account (User Account).

12.2 You can create an Account on www.ukbusinessinchina.com by entering the name of your business, your business email address, business industry and other details.

12.3 www.ukbusinessinchina.com accounts are subject to approval by the Department of International Trade (DIT). This includes checking company information and content provided is correct.

12.4 By creating a www.ukbusinessinchina.com account, you agree that you will:

not share your username or password

not deliberately give incorrect information about yourself or a business you represent

12.5 We will take all reasonable precautions to ensure the secure storage of your account information, including your username and password.

12.6 You acknowledge that the security of your account also depends upon the design of your password, and that you should choose a password of sufficient length which cannot be easily guessed.

12.7 If we receive more than one request to register the same organisation we will notify the user responsible for originally registering the Business Profile (“First User”) and will ask them to verify that the subsequent user is authorised to join the business profile on behalf of the organisation. The First User can remove the subsequent user from the organisation at their discretion.

12.8 DIT may check that the information you’ve given is correct.

12.9 If a service you wish to subscribe to has additional terms and conditions, you will be asked to accept these separately.

12.10 We may close your www.ukbusinessinchina.com account if we believe you have not followed these terms and conditions.

12.11 To deactivate your account please contact us. We may ask for identification to ensure the account belongs to you.

13. General

13.1 You agree to use the www.ukbusinessinchina.com website only for lawful purposes. You also agree to use it in a way that does not restrict or inhibit the use and enjoyment of the website by any third party or infringe the rights of any third party. Such restriction or inhibition includes, without limitation, conduct which is unlawful, or which may harass or cause distress or inconvenience to any person, and the transmission of obscene or offensive content or disruption of normal flow of dialogue within the website. You must not use this website in a way that is reasonably seen to be offensive or damaging to any HM Government body or any third party contributor of material available on the website.

13.2 DIT reserves the right to modify, alter or otherwise update these terms of use at any time for any reason and at our sole discretion. Such changes will be made by amending this page. Please check this page occasionally to take notice of any changes DIT has made, as they are binding on you. By visiting or using the website after the posting of a modification, you are treated as having accepted the modification.

13.3 These terms of use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising under these terms of use shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

14. Contact the Department for International Trade

14.1 To submit an enquiry, use the contact form.