Online connection agreement

Before you can use our APIs, you need to understand and agree to the terms of use.

For some of our APIs, we require you to sign a legal document called a 'Connection Agreement'.

For some of our APIs, we require you to accept this page - our online connection agreement.

We ask you to accept this agreement when you onboard to the API. You must be an officer of the organisation with appropriate authority to accept the agreement on behalf of your organisation.

If you have any questions about this agreement, contact us.

This is version 2 of the online connection agreement.

See version history.

1.1    "NHS England" of 7 & 8 Wellington Place, Leeds LS1 4AJ, a non-departmental public body, provides an API platform enabling Connecting Parties to access and use various Services via API connections.  

1.2    To find out more about NHS England and the Services visit API platform.

2.1    The Connection Agreement shall govern the connection to, and use by the Connecting Party of, all Services accessed and identified in the onboarding process as subject to these terms. 

2.2    By completing the digital onboarding process and accessing any Services the Connecting Party agrees to be bound by this Connection Agreement.   

2.3    Clauses 1 to 24 apply to all Services.  Clause 25 details additional clauses which apply to specific Services.

2.4    In order to access Services the Connecting Party must complete a digital onboarding process, resulting in the completion of an Onboarding Form which will specify the details of the Connecting Party, the Service(s) connected to and the Connecting Party’s use case for the Services, and NHS England must approve this. 

2.5    If NHS England needs to contact the Connecting Party it will use the contact details provided as part of digital onboarding.  The Connecting Party must keep these contact details accurate, this can be done via any developer account associated with the Connecting Party.

3.1    In this Connection Agreement:

“Bespoke Special Terms” means any supplemental terms identified as Bespoke Special Terms in the Onboarding Form and which shall be incorporated into this Connection Agreement;

“Change” means any variation, replacement, addition to or deletion from any aspect of the:

(a)    the Services and their delivery;
(b)    the Requirements;
(c)    the manner of completion or content of the Onboarding Form; and
(d)    this Connection Agreement;

“Clinical Safety Incident” means any unintended or unexpected incident which could have led, or did lead, to harm for one or more patients receiving healthcare, where harm is: death, physical injury, psychological trauma and/or damage to the health or well-being of a patient;

"Connection Agreement" means all of the terms of this agreement and all documents referred to or linked to (by URL or otherwise) in: (i) the following terms and any Bespoke Special Terms; (ii) on the Services Web Pages and supporting repositories maintained by NHS England in relation to the onboarding process and Service(s); and (iii) in the Onboarding Form;

"Connecting Party" means the organisation providing a product or service that is interfacing with any Service(s);

"Connection Method" the technical method (for example an application program interface) of interfacing with the Service(s);

"Confidential Information" means all information which is disclosed by one party to the other however conveyed and which: (i) is marked confidential or which is accompanied by a written or oral statement saying that it is confidential or proprietary or (ii) ought reasonably to be considered confidential; and which relates to the business affairs of the party disclosing it (including, products, operations, processes, plans or intentions, developments, trade secrets, know-how, design rights, market opportunities, personnel, customers and suppliers of the party disclosing it (or other companies within a group of companies owned by or under common ownership of that party)), and all information derived from the above;

"Controller", "Processor", “Personal Data” and “Processing” shall have the meanings set out in the Data Protection Laws;

“Data Protection Laws” means applicable legislation protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals, in respect of their right to privacy and the processing of their personal data, as amended from time to time, including 'the UK General Data Protection Regulation' ("UK GDPR") and the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, together with decisions, guidelines, guidance notes and codes of practice issued from time to time by courts, Supervisory Authorities and other applicable government authorities;

"Direct Care" means a clinical, social or public health activity concerned with the prevention, investigation and treatment of illness and the alleviation of suffering of individuals and does not include activities that contribute to the overall provision of services to a population as a whole or a group of patients, as more particularly described in the most up-to-date published guidance of the National Data Guardian;

"Dispute" means any dispute, difference or question of interpretation arising out of or in connection with this Connection Agreement (including any dispute regarding pre- contractual negotiations, the existence, validity or termination of this Connection Agreement or the consequences of non-existence or invalidity of this Connection Agreement), whether contractual or non-contractual;

"End User Organisation AUP" means the End User Organisation acceptable use policy, being requirements and obligations relating to End User organisations use of the Service(s).  A copy is available on the NHS England website at End user organisation acceptable use policy.

"End User Organisation" means any recipient or commissioning body using or commissioning a Connecting Party’s products or services which interface with Service(s) (whether directly, or indirectly via an agent or other commissioning body);

"HSSI" (or High Severity Service(s) Incident) sometimes referred to as a 'major incident', is an Incident that causes a serious interruption of business activities.  NHS England assesses and defines the severity of an Incident in terms of the urgency and level of adverse impact(s), such as the number of users affected, ability to deliver patient care, data security and/or integrity, reputation and/or financial loss. Incidents with a severity level 1 or 2 are HSSIs;

"HSSI Manager" means an individual who shall be a single point of contact for HSSIs and who possesses the skills, knowledge and experience to resolve incidents in the shortest possible timeframe, and has the authority to convene the relevant experts to meet the objectives of a Multi-Party Intervention;

"Incident" or "Incidents" means an unplanned interruption to any of the Service(s) or a reduction in the quality of such Service(s);

"Individual End User" means an individual recipient accessing any of the Services using the Connecting Party’s products or services which interface with Service(s) as an individual not an organisation;

"Intellectual Property Rights" means: (a) patents, utility models, petty patents, rights in trade secrets and other confidential or undisclosed information (such as inventions (whether patentable or not or know-how), registered designs, database rights, design rights, rights in copyright (including moral rights), semiconductor topography rights, mask work rights, and trademarks: (b) all registrations or applications to register any of the rights referred to in paragraph (a); and (c) all rights in the nature of any of the rights referred to in paragraph (a) including continuations, continuations in part and divisional applications, rights in unfair competition and, without prejudice to anything else in this definition, rights to sue for passing-off and rights having the equivalent or similar effect to, and the right to apply for any of the rights listed in this definition, in any country or jurisdiction;

"Multi-Party Intervention" means a real-time/live collaborative sharing of information using telephone, screen sharing and any other appropriate collaboration technologies, where the objective is to resolve in the shortest possible timescale an Incident caused by or impacting multiple parties accessing the Service(s);

"NHS Code" means the NHS Code of Practice on confidential information, as amended from time to time;

"NHS Constitution" means the NHS Constitution for England as amended from time to time;

"Onboarding Form" means the form completed as part of the digital onboarding process setting out details of the Connecting Party, the Service(s) connected to, the Connecting Party’s use case for the Services and the Connecting Party’s products or services and all information and documents referred to within it;

"Purpose" means the interface of the Connecting Party's product or service with the Service(s) so that the Connecting Party may provide such product or service to the End User Organisation(s), subject to separate terms between such parties, and that is strictly and solely for:

(a)    the purposes of Direct Care; or
(b)    the benefit of the publicly funded health and social care system in England; 

"Requirements" means the requirements as set out in any specifications, policies, guidance and documents outlined on the Services Web Page;

"Service(s)" means each of the selected products and services on the Onboarding Form, which NHS England makes available and which the Connecting Party is interfacing with;

"Service Bridge" means the NHS England function / team providing support;

"Services Web Page" means NHS England's information repository for each of the Service(s) (as may be shown in the Onboarding Form) containing the Requirements, details of Changes and other information relevant to the connection to and receipt of each Service(s), in particular the API and integration catalogue;

"Working Day" means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or a public or statutory holiday in England and Wales.

3.2    In this Connection Agreement (unless the context requires otherwise):

(a)    the words "including", "include", "for example", "in particular" and words of similar effect shall not limit the general effect of the words which precede them;
(b)    reference to any agreement, contract, document or deed shall include that document as varied, supplemented or novated from time to time;
(c)    reference to a party shall, upon any assignment or other transfer that is permitted by this Connection Agreement, be construed to include those successors and permitted assigns or transferees;
(d)    words importing persons shall include natural persons, bodies corporate, unincorporated associations and partnerships (whether any of them have separate legal identity);
(e)    words importing the singular shall include the plural and vice versa;
(f)    words importing any one gender shall not exclude other genders;
(g)    the headings are for reference only and shall be ignored when construing this Connection Agreement;
(h)    reference to any legislative provision shall be deemed to include any statutory instrument, by- law, regulation, rule, subordinate or delegated legislation or order and any rules and regulations which are made under it, and any subsequent re- enactment or amendment of the same; and
(i)    references to a clause are references to the clauses in this Connection Agreement.

3.3    If there is any conflict between the terms of this Connection Agreement, the following order of precedence shall apply:

(a)    Bespoke Special Terms;
(b)    the clauses of this Connection Agreement;
(c)    all other information contained on the Services Web Pages; and
(d)    the Onboarding Form.

The Connection Agreement shall take effect on the earlier of approval of the completed Onboarding Form by NHS England or access to any Services by the Connecting Party and shall continue until terminated in accordance with its provisions.

5.1    In consideration of the provision of the Service(s) by NHS England, the Connecting Party shall comply with its obligations as described in this Connection Agreement.

5.2    It is a condition of this Connection Agreement that the Connecting Party shall (and shall procure that all of its contractors, subcontractors and agents shall):

(a)    use the Service(s) for the Purpose only;
(b)    not cause NHS England to be in breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, NHS Code, DHSC guidance, or other statutory duties governing how NHS England may disseminate information; 
(c)    develop and maintain a Connection Method in accordance with the Requirements relevant to the Service(s); and
(d)    ensure that all statements and representations made to NHS England in relation to this Connection Agreement and the Service(s) are true, accurate and complete, and remain so throughout the duration of this Connection Agreement.

5.3    The Connecting Party shall remain liable for the act and/or omissions of any third party engaged.

5.4    The Connecting Party shall comply at its own cost with the Requirements, information given in the Onboarding Form and any related requirements of this Connection Agreement. 

5.5    The Connecting Party shall inform NHS England of any changes required to the Onboarding Form as soon as it becomes aware (or ought reasonably to be aware) of the same, and shall on an annual basis on the anniversary of this Connection Agreement, confirm to NHS England that the Onboarding Form remains true, accurate and complete.

5.6    The Connecting Party accepts that NHS England may request evidence of continuing compliance with this Connection Agreement, and may request copies of documentation, design and relevant external certifications, and the Connecting Party shall co-operate, provide all relevant assistance and fulfil such requests within the timescales requested provided the requests and timescales are reasonable.

5.7    Each party shall perform its obligations in relation to this Connection Agreement in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations and official government guidance as may be published from time to time.

6.1    To protect the availability of the Service(s) as a shared resource for the delivery of health and social care services in England, where (in its sole discretion) NHS England has concerns in respect of the clinical risk, security, information assurance or information governance arrangements of an organisation applying for access or a connection to the Service(s), or NHS England’s vires, it reserves the right to:

(a)    modify a Service(s) or change, amend, update and/or remove any information accessed through a Service(s); 
(b)    refuse access to a Service(s);
(c)    restrict or modify access to a Service(s); and/or
(d)    suspend access to a Service(s),
    and where reasonably possible in the circumstances, NHS England shall endeavour to give prior notice to the Connecting Party of such action.

6.2    The Connecting Party shall not (and shall ensure that any third parties acting on its behalf shall not) use the Service(s) in a manner that (in NHS England's reasonable opinion) constitutes:

(a)    excessive use beyond fair usage volumes and/or a breach of usage policies published by NHS England from time to time or in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, impair or compromise NHS systems or security or interfere with other users; 
(b)    a failure to comply or is inconsistent with any reasonable instructions provided by NHS England from time to time; and/or 
(c)    a failure to comply with the standards expected of a Connecting Party of clinical IT services in relation to security and/or Clinical Safety Incidents, including but not limited to compliance with DCB0129 (as updated).

6.3    Any person who makes use of the Service(s) does so entirely at their own risk and NHS England assumes no duty of care or other legal liability or responsibility to any person who makes use of the Service(s) for any loss or damage suffered by them as a result of such use, nor shall NHS England be liable to contribute to or otherwise share in any liability to compensate any third party harmed as a result of the usage of the Service(s).

6.4    The Service(s) are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without (to the extent permitted by law) any warranty or representation of any kind either express or implied (including the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose).

6.5    To the extent permissible by law, NHS England shall not be liable for any direct, special, indirect or consequential losses and/or damages nor for any loss (whether direct or indirect) of use, data, business or profits arising out of or in connection with this Connection Agreement, whether such liability arises from any claim based upon contract, warranty, tort (including negligence), strict liability or otherwise, and whether or not NHS England has been advised of the possibility of such loss or damage.

6.6    The Connecting Party shall not make any press announcements or publicise this Connection Agreement or its contents in any way without the prior written consent of NHS England.

6.7    Each party acknowledges to the other that nothing in this Connection Agreement either expressly or by implication constitutes an endorsement of any products or services of the other party (including the Service(s) and the Connecting Party’s products and services) and each party agrees not to conduct itself in such a way as to imply or express any such approval or endorsement.

7.1    Clauses 7.2 to 7.5 do not apply if the Connecting Party has indicated in the Onboarding Form that all users of its products or services are Individual End Users.
7.2 The Connecting Party is fully accountable and responsible for the identification, onboarding and management of all End User Organisations (including for the service, management and delivery of its services), and shall:
(a)    upon request from NHS England, provide to NHS England the identity and details of all End User Organisations associated with any Service(s) within such reasonable timescales as NHS England may request; 
(b)    ensure that all End User Organisations are made aware of the End User Organisation AUP; 
(c)    ensure that all End User Organisations are provided (upon request) with the Requirements and information contained within the Onboarding Form; and
(d)    if applicable, prior to onboarding any End User Organisation, check that such End User Organisation is registered for the Data Security Protection Toolkit and has a current latest status rating of at least ‘standards met’. 
7.3    In some circumstances an End User Organisation may have a lead role and accordingly: i) be authorised to act for a number of End User Organisations and ii) take responsibility for disseminating the obligations set out in the AUP to the other End User Organisations.  Where this is the case the Connecting Party can meet its obligations pursuant to clauses 7.1(a) and 7.1(b) by meeting them in respect of any such lead End User Organisation.  The Connected Party must meet its obligations pursuant to clauses 7.1(c) and 7.1(d) in respect of each End User Organisation.
7.4    The Connecting Party shall not include any terms in its arrangements with End User Organisations which conflict with this Connection Agreement or the End User Organisation AUP.
7.5    If an End User Organisation does not comply with the End User Organisation AUP, NHS England may itself, or may require the Connecting Party to, disconnect the End User Organisation and/or suspend the End User Organisation's access to the Connecting Party’s products or services, or otherwise, to the extent necessary so that the End User Organisation cannot receive the benefit of the Service(s).
7.6    Where Individual End Users access the Connecting Party’s products and services directly the Connecting Party is fully accountable and responsible for delivery of its services to any such Individual End Users.

8.1    The Connecting Party shall reasonably collaborate with NHS England and third parties also connecting to the Service(s) to help investigate and resolve Incidents.

8.2    The Connecting Party shall provide a suitable service desk and support model during its documented support hours for the reporting, management, and communication related to Incidents.

8.3    The Connecting Party shall publish an appropriate escalation and complaints process for use by third parties connecting to the same Service(s).

8.4    The Connecting Party shall:

(a)    notify NHS England of HSSIs which it becomes aware of, which impact the Service(s), or the integration of those Service(s) and such notification shall include as a minimum the minimum data set as required by NHS England; and
(b)    provide NHS England with updates on the status of each reported HSSI and such update shall include as a minimum the minimum data set as required by NHS England until resolution.

8.5    If NHS England defines an Incident as a HSSI, the Connecting Party shall co-operate and engage as required irrespective of its own definition and assessment of the severity of the Incident.

8.6    The Connecting Party may request that NHS England convenes a Multi-Party Intervention where, acting reasonably, the Connecting Party determines that it cannot reasonably bring all relevant and necessary parties together to resolve an Incident.

8.7    The Connecting Party shall ensure that a HSSI Manager is available to cover its defined documented support hours. Upon request from the Service(s) Bridge, the Connecting Party's on duty HSSI Manager shall attend and contribute to a Multi-Party Intervention within 30 minutes of notification by the Service(s) Bridge.

8.8    The Connecting Party shall during its documented support hours report all Clinical Safety Incidents that are not defined as HSSI and are deemed to impact the Service(s) within 48 hours of becoming aware of the Clinical Safety Incident. NHS England will provide a recommendation to the Connecting Party if it deems that the reported Clinical Safety Incident is not a Clinical Safety Incident.

9.1    If the Connecting Party intends to or does make changes to its products and services and such changes could reasonably be expected to impact the Service(s), the Connecting Party’s use of the Services, any End User Organisations or the Onboarding Form the Connecting Party shall:

(a)    comply with the relevant NHS England service management processes and procedures regarding notification of such changes; and
(b)    update the Onboarding Form as necessary such that the same remain true, accurate and complete. 

9.2    NHS England is providing standard services to the Connecting Party and, subject to clauses 9.3 to 9.6, NHS England may, from time to time, make Changes.

9.3    In the event that a particular Service has a specific change management process to address Changes to the relevant Service, its delivery or to the relevant Requirements such change management process shall be detailed on the specific Services Web Page and shall be complied with by both NHS England and the Connecting Party. 

9.4    In the event that a particular Service does not have a specific change management process and in respect of any Changes to the manner of completion or content of the Onboarding Form or to this Connection Agreement NHS England will publish to the relevant Services Web Page:

(a)    full details of each Change; and
(b)    an effective date for each Change.

9.5    It is the Connecting Party’s responsibility to monitor the Services Web Pages for details of all Changes.

9.6    NHS England’s will follow any notice periods in any specific change management process for any Service and otherwise provide reasonable notice between publication of any Change and its effective date, provided that NHS England reserves the right to make urgent Changes in instances where genuine emergency conditions are considered to be appropriate, such as:

(a)    national information, data or cyber security incidents as classified by the appropriate body; and
(b)    inappropriate, incorrect or missing drug or patient safety guidelines/alerts and other clinical safety issues and incidents as determined by an appropriate body.

9.7    From the effective date applicable to any Change:

(a)    such Change shall be in full force and effect and supersede all previous versions; and
(b)    the Connecting Party shall comply with such Change, including making any necessary changes to its products and services and to the Onboarding Form.

9.8    In the period between a Change being published on the Services Web Page and the relevant effective date the Connecting Party may elect to comply with the Change.  

9.9    Any variation, replacement or deletion to: i) any information set out in the Onboarding Form (including Services interfaced with); or iii) any Bespoke Special Term; shall not be binding upon the parties unless it is in writing and agreed by both parties to this Connection Agreement.

10.1    NHS England hereby grants to the Connecting Party a non- exclusive, non-transferable, royalty free, revocable licence to connect, access and use the Service(s) and any related information, data or documentation provided by NHS England to the Connecting Party for the duration of the Connection Agreement, for the Purpose only. On termination or expiry of this licence, the Connecting Party shall comply with NHS England’s instructions in relation to the destruction or return of any such materials.

10.2    The Connecting Party hereby grants to NHS England a non-exclusive, transferable, royalty free, irrevocable, perpetual licence to use any information, data or documentation provided in relation to this Connection Agreement and/or the Service(s) by the Connecting Party to NHS England for any purpose associated with the management or provision of this Connection Agreement, the Service(s) and/or any other national IT services or infrastructure managed by NHS England.
 

11.1    All Intellectual Property Rights provided, created or developed by NHS England which subsist or are used in, or in connection with, the Service(s) and Services Web Page; i; will be the absolute property of and will vest and remain vested in NHS England; or ii) are licensed to NHS England on terms allowing their use by the Connecting Party in association with the Service(s). The Connecting Party acknowledges and accepts that NHS England publishes standard APIs for connecting to its Service(s) and that there are limited methods to meet the API requirements and as such, the intellectual property rights relating to such methods will not vest solely with the Connecting Party.

11.2    The Connecting Party shall not use NHS England’s name, logo or brand, or any other NHS names, logos or branding without the prior written consent of the relevant owner, and in each case, only as permitted by the NHS identity guidelines.
 

12.1    The Connecting Party shall, as applicable to the nature of its products or services:

(a)    comply with its obligations under the Data Protection Laws and with the terms of any agreement relating to its Processing of Personal Data that it has entered into with the relevant End User Organisation(s); and
(b)    register for the Data Security Protection Toolkit and maintain a current latest status rating of at least ‘standards met’. 

12.2    The Connecting Party must, when integrating with the Service(s), exercise security measures (including up-to-date anti-virus software) as would reasonably and ordinarily be expected from a skilled and experienced person or body engaged in a similar undertaking in the same or similar circumstances and exercising a degree of skill and care, diligence, prudence and foresight.

12.3    The Connecting Party must notify NHS England if it becomes aware of any actual or possible security issues associated with the Service(s).

12.4    The Connecting Party must not integrate with the Service(s):

(a)    in a way that could damage, disable, overburden, impair or compromise NHS England’s systems, Service(s), or security or interfere with other users; or
(b)    to knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.

13.1    This Connection Agreement is not confidential and does not contain any Confidential Information.   The fact that the Connecting Party has entered into this Connection Agreement and that it is using the Services is not Confidential Information, and accordingly NHS England may publish the names and a brief description of the Connecting Party and its products and services which are using the Services.

13.2    Subject to the provisions as set out in this paragraph 13, each party may however give Confidential Information to the other party and in such cases, subject to other provisions in this Connection Agreement, all Confidential Information given by one party to the other, or otherwise obtained or developed by one party relating to the other, shall be kept secret and confidential by the receiving party for the duration of this Connection Agreement plus 3 years following its termination or expiry and shall not be used or disclosed without the prior written consent of the other party other than for the purposes of the proper performance of this Connection Agreement.

13.3    The obligations of confidentiality in this clause 13 shall not extend to any matter which the receiving party can show:

(a)    is in, or has become part of, the public domain other than as a result of a breach of the obligations of confidentiality under this Connection Agreement;
(b)    was independently disclosed to it by a third party entitled to disclose the same; or
(c)    is required to be disclosed under any applicable law, or by order of a court or governmental body or authority of competent jurisdiction.

13.4    For the avoidance of doubt, NHS England may disclose the Connecting Party’s Confidential Information:

(a)    to the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, and to any other commissioners of Direct Care and/or any health or social care body or organisation whose remit relates to Direct Care;
(b)    to any central government body;
(c)    to the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament or Welsh or Northern Ireland Assemblies, including their committees;
(d)    if NHS England (acting reasonably) deems disclosure necessary or appropriate while carrying out its public functions;
(e)    on a confidential basis to exercise its rights or comply with its obligations under this Connection Agreement; and/or
(f)    on a confidential basis to a proposed transferee, assignee or novate of, or successor in title to, NHS England.

13.5    References to disclosure ‘on a confidential basis’ will mean disclosure subject to a confidentiality agreement or arrangement containing the same obligations as those placed on NHS England.

13.6    The reference in this clause 13 to central government bodies shall include the following sub-categories of the Central Government classification of the Public Sector Classification Guide, as published and amended from time to time by the Office for National Statistics:

(a)    Government Department;
(b)    Non-Departmental Public Body or Assembly Sponsored Public Body (advisory, executive, or tribunal);
(c)    Non-Ministerial Department; and
(d)    Executive Agency.

13.7    In relation to NHS England's obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or Central Government transparency requirements, the Connecting Party hereby gives its consent for NHS England to: (i) publish to the general public; and/or (ii) disclose to a specific requester or requesters, the Confidential Information. NHS England shall, prior to publication, take reasonable steps to consult with the Connecting Party on the manner and format of publication and to inform the Connecting Party of its decision regarding any redactions but NHS England shall have the final decision in its absolute discretion and the Connecting Party acknowledges that NHS England may be required to disclose Confidential Information without consulting the Connecting Party.

14.1    Where the Connecting Party fails to meet the Requirements and/or is otherwise in breach of its obligations under this Connection Agreement, then the Connecting Party shall agree a remediation plan with NHS England in reasonable timescales and will provide evidence of the actions taken as part of the remediation plan at specified points during the period agreed for implementation of the remediation plan.

14.2    Unless otherwise agreed, the period for implementation of the remediation plan shall be 30 days. 
 

15.1    If the Connecting Party is in breach of obligations under this Connection Agreement then NHS England shall be entitled to require a remediation plan as described in clause 14 and/or suspend the Connecting Party’s ability to on board new End User Organisations and/or suspend access to the Service(s) and/or terminate any or all of the Service(s) and/or terminate this Connection Agreement.

15.2    NHS England reserves the right to inform the Connecting Party's End User Organisations of the pending suspension and termination.

15.3    NHS England may, on 30 days written notice to the Connecting Party terminate this Connection Agreement and the Connecting Party’s access or integration with the Service(s).

15.4    Subject to complying with clause 15.5, the Connecting Party may terminate this Connection Agreement and its access or integration with the Service(s):

(a)    on written notice to NHS England with effect from the date any Change comes into full force and effect in accordance with clause 9; or
(b)    at any time on 30 days written notice to NHS England.

15.5    The Connecting Party shall comply with any exit or offboarding requirements as NHS England may reasonably specify.

15.6    The termination or expiry of this Connection Agreement shall not affect any provision of the Connection Agreement which is expressly or by implication intended to come into or remain in effect on or after termination or expiry. The suspension or termination of a Service(s) shall not affect the continuation of other Services to the Connecting Party if NHS England deems this to be appropriate.

All notices given by one party to the other under this Connection Agreement shall be in writing and sent to the following email addresses or such further email address as the relevant party shall nominate from time to time:

Connecting Party: the email address given on the Onboarding Form;

NHS England: [email protected].

17.1    If a Dispute arises out of or in connection with this Connection Agreement, then the matter shall be escalated to authorised senior officers. If the escalation to authorised senior officers does not resolve the Dispute within 5 Working Days, then either party shall give to the other written notice of the Dispute, setting out its nature, together with supporting documentation and shall attempt in good faith to resolve the Dispute.

17.2    Nothing shall prevent either party from seeking urgent injunctive relief from the courts nor from following alternative dispute resolution such as mediation or expert determination to resolve a Dispute if the parties agree and/or if it is prescribed in the Requirements as a process for Dispute resolution for the relevant Service(s).
 

18.1    Nothing in this Connection Agreement is intended to create a partnership, joint venture or legal relationship of any kind between the parties that would impose liability upon one party for the act or failure to act of the other party, or to authorise party to act as agent for the other.

19.1    No failure or delay by either party to exercise any right or remedy existing under, or in connection with, this Connection Agreement (collectively, any "action") will act as a waiver, or otherwise prejudice or restrict the rights of that party, in relation to that action or any other contemporaneous or future action.

19.2    The rights and remedies arising under, or in connection with, this Connection Agreement are cumulative and, except where otherwise expressly provided in this Connection Agreement, do not exclude rights and remedies provided by law or otherwise.
 

20.1    A person who is not NHS England or the Connecting Party shall have no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this Connection Agreement. This clause does not affect any right or remedy of any person which exists, or is available, other than pursuant to that Act.

20.2    The rights of the parties to rescind or vary this Connection Agreement are not subject to the consent of any other person or entity.
 

21.1    If any provision of this Connection Agreement is or becomes illegal, invalid or unenforceable in any respect, it shall not affect or impair the legality, validity or enforceability of any other provision of this Connection Agreement.

21.2    If any illegal, invalid or unenforceable provision would be legal, valid or enforceable if some part of it were deleted, such provision shall apply with the minimum modification(s) necessary to make it legal, valid or enforceable.
 

22.1   NHS England may at its discretion assign, novate or otherwise dispose of any or all of its rights, obligations and liabilities under this Connection Agreement to:

(a)    any central government or NHS body or other body established by the Crown or under statute in order substantially to perform any of the functions that had previously been performed by NHS England; or
(b)    any body which substantially performs the functions of NHS England;

and the Connecting Party shall, at NHS  England's request, enter into a novation agreement in such form as NHS England shall reasonably specify in order to enable NHS England to exercise its rights pursuant to this paragraph 22.

22.2   The Connecting Party may not, without the prior written consent of NHS England, sub-licence, transfer, assign, novate or otherwise deal with its rights or obligations under this Connection Agreement in whole or in part to any third party.
 

23.1    This Connection Agreement constitutes the entire understanding between the parties relating to the Service(s) and supersedes and cancels all prior written and oral agreements, connection agreements (including any previously agreed Bespoke Special Terms) and understandings with respect to the subject matter of this Connection Agreement.

23.2    Nothing in this Connection Agreement shall restrict or exclude any party's liability for (or remedy in respect of) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
 

This Connection Agreement and any Dispute or non- contractual obligation arising out of or in connection with it shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Subject to section 9 of the NHS Act 2006, each party hereby submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England over any Dispute arising out of or in connection with this Connection Agreement.

In addition to clauses 1- 24 above the following appendices of additional terms apply to the Service(s) set out below:

The terms of any Appendix shall take precedence over the terms in clauses 1-24.

1.1  In addition to the terms defined in clause 3.1 above the following terms shall have the following meanings:

"Affiliate" means any organisation that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with NHS England or the Connecting Party.

“Connections” means the application program interfaces (APIs) and widgets connected with the NHS Website, as detailed at https://developer.api.nhs.uk/nhs-api and https://developer.api.nhs.uk/widgets, which the Connecting Party subscribed to.

“NHS Brand” means: a) the Syndication Graphic; b) b) the NHS letters (UK registered trademarks UK2336307 and UK2353908);  c) the website address “www.nhs.uk” or top level domain “nhs.uk”; or d) any other trademarks, graphics or logos provided by NHS England to the Connecting Party, subject to any conditions applicable to such provision.

“NHS Website” means the website which includes all sections and pages starting with www.nhs.uk, https://api.nhs.uk  and https://developer.api.nhs.uk (but not any other prefixes using the nhs.uk domain). The NHS Website is owned by the Department of Health and Social Care and delivered by NHS England. 

“Service’’ means any internet enabled device(s) or environment(s) including but not limited to websites, smart devices, mobile websites, mobile applications, voice applications, GIS systems, digital signage etc.

“Syndicated Content” means such text, data, images,  video, audio, diagram, self-contained interactive application, animation asset or any other existing or future material supplied, including via XML, JSON, ASCII text based data feed, or other method, that NHS England may make available to the Connecting Party from time to time via the Connections. 

“Syndication Graphic” means the following graphic, a full resolution version of which can be obtained from https://developer.api.nhs.uk:

“Works” means material, products or services created by the Connecting Party using the Syndicated Content, which may be presented in any format, including a different one to the original Syndication Content (i.e. written, images, audio, voice).

2.1  By agreeing to this Connection Agreement the Connecting Party is also agreeing to comply with all the policies and terms detailed at https://www.nhs.uk/our-policies/  as may be updated from time to time. 

3.1  The Connecting Party acknowledges and accepts that NHS England has absolute editorial control over all Syndicated Content and is editorially independent, and that the editorial integrity of the Syndicated Content is NHS England’s sole responsibility

4.1  Notwithstanding the provisions of clauses 10.1 and 22.2, but subject to the Connecting Party otherwise complying with the terms of this Connection Agreement, NHS England grants the Connecting Party, for the period that the Connecting Party is a subscriber to any Connections, a non-transferrable, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, revocable licence (with rights to sub-license only as set out in paragraph 4.2 of this Appendix) to: 

1. use the Connections to design, develop, test and configure its Service as necessary to use Syndicated Content;
2. copy, back-up, cache, store and make archival copies of the Syndicated Content, solely to support exercise of its rights as set out elsewhere in this Connection Agreement;
3. use the Connections to access Syndicated Content;
4. provide unamended Syndicated Content on its Service;
5. create and distribute its own Works, which may be adapted for presentation in any format, including a different one to the original Syndication Content  (i.e. written, images, audio, voice) and integrated with its Service, provided that such Works:
6. 1. are entirely in English language;
   2. only represent adaptation of Syndicated Content to the extent necessary to present the Works in a different format;
   3. do not materially change the meaning of the underlying and associated Syndicated Content;
   4. are not misleading to Individual End Users and End User Organisations, including not excluding elements of the Syndicated Content returned by a single API node;
   5. include all applicable warnings or disclaimers, including, but not limited to, warning information in relation to medications; and
   6. do not include any contextualising or mixing of Syndicated Content with other information provided by the end user or any third party unless the different sources of information are clearly identified to the end user;
7. make available such Works on its Service; and
8. use the NHS Brand as set out in paragraph 6 of this Appendix;  

in all cases provided that any Syndicated Content, NHS Brand or Works are only made available to Individual End Users and End User Organisations who: a) have an actual or stated geographical location of the United Kingdom (excluding overseas territories and crown dependencies) or a United Kingdom based account for its Service; and b) are subject to terms of use governed by English law.

4.2  The Connecting Party may only sub-licence its rights granted in paragraph 4.1 of this appendix:

1. to the extent necessary to enable its staff, representatives, agents and contractors to undertake development and operation of its Service on its behalf and in its name;
2. to the extent necessary to enable its Service to be surfaced on any website or other online point of presence, mobile application, service or feature, whether owned or operated by the Connecting Party or any third party; and
3. to any Affiliate;

provided that in each case the Connecting Party remains responsible for ensuring that any such sub-licensee complies with this Connection Agreement

4.3  The Connecting Party must ensure that Individual End Users and End User Organisations:

1. cannot access or use the Connections;
2. are made aware of NHS England’s ownership and/or licence rights to the Syndicated Content and NHS Brand;
3. are not permitted to use the NHS Brand; and
4. are otherwise subject to terms of use that ensure that Syndicated Content cannot be used other than as set out in this Connection Agreement.

4.4  The Connecting Party must notify NHS England as soon as reasonably practicable of any claim or demand brought against it for breach or alleged breach of any third party’s rights resulting from the use by the Connecting Party of the Syndicated Content and NHS Brand.

4.5  The Connecting Party must not:

1. other than such sub-licensing as is permitted by this Connection Agreement, re-syndicate any Syndicated Content whatsoever;
2. use any Connection, Syndicated Content, NHS Brand and/or any Works:
   1. for, in association with or alongside, purposes that are illegal, fraudulent, malicious, defamatory, or that bring the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England or the wider NHS into disrepute;
3. disassemble, decompile, reverse-engineer or create derivative works based on the whole or any part of any Connection, Syndicated Content or NHS Brand other than as permitted by this Connection Agreement.

5.1  In this paragraph “Medical Device Legislation” means applicable legislation regulating medical devices, as amended from time to time, including in Great Britain, Medical Devices Regulations 2002 (SI 2002 No 618, as amended) and Medical Devices (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 together with decisions, guidelines, guidance notes and codes of practice issued from time to time by courts, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and other applicable Government authorities, including Regulating medical devices in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

5.2  The NHS Website includes certain medical devices (in the form of software applications), known as the “NHS Website Medical Devices”.  The NHS Website Medical Devices are registered and provided in accordance with the Medical Device Legislation for supply in Great Britain, with NHS England as the manufacturer, and are available as Syndicated Content in the form of widgets.  NHS Website Medical Devices are, in each case, identified as a registered medical device on the health assessment tool part of the NHS Website Health assessment tools - NHS (www.nhs.uk), the widget descriptor and by the label which is within the relevant Syndicated Content.

5.3  In the event that the Connecting Party syndicates and uses any NHS Website Medical Devices:

1. 5.3.1  the Connecting Party acknowledges that it may be acting as distributor under Medical Device Legislation;
2. 5.3.2  the Connecting Party acknowledges that the NHS Website Medical Devices are available as complete widgets and cannot be syndicated in part;
3. 5.3.3  the Connecting Party acknowledges that all data inputted into the NHS Medical Devices is solely processed by NHS England and it will have no access to any such data;
4. 5.3.5  the provisions of paragraph 4.1v do not apply to NHS Website Medical Devices and the Connecting Party may not create Works from the NHS Website Medical Devices

5.4  In the event that the Connecting Party syndicates and uses any NHS Website Medical Devices it is responsible for:

            5.4.1  complying with Medical Device Legislation is respect of its supply and use of the NHS Website Medical Devices and any supporting or ancillary content that it may provide alongside the NHS Website Medical Devices;

            5.4.2  ensuring, including via technical measures such as firewalls, the NHS Website Medical Devices are only made available to Individual End Users and End User Organisations who: a) are located in Great Britain (excluding overseas territories and crown dependencies); and b) are subject to terms of use governed by English law;

            5.4.3  ensuring Individual End Users are provided with information about how any data they input into the NHS Website Medical Devices is processed and by who, this is detailed in the privacy policy (Your privacy on the NHS website - NHS (www.nhs.uk)) which is accessible from within the NHS Website Medical Devices;

            5.4.4  ensuring Individual End Users and/or End User Organisations are clearly signposted to report to NHS England, using Contact us about the NHS website (www.nhs.uk), any adverse events, feedback, questions, complaints or other communication relating to the NHS Website Medical Devices;

            5.4.5  immediately notifying NHS England, by contacting [email protected], of any adverse events, feedback, questions, complaints or other communication it receives from Individual End Users and/or End User Organisations relating to the NHS Website Medical Devices:

            5.4.6  collecting and maintaining full, up-to-date and accurate records relating to the distribution and supply of the NHS Website Medical Devices and of any adverse events, investigations, feedback, questions, complaints or other communication relating to the NHS Website Medical Devices, keeping these for two years after the distribution of the NHS Website Medical Devices by it ceases and making these available to NHS England upon request;

            5.4.7  assisting NHS England as required with any recall or notification activity NHS England undertakes in respect of the NHS Website Medical Devices; and

            5.4.8  providing NHS England with a named point of contact in respect of the NHS Website Medical Devices.

6.1  Syndicated Content or Works must be attributed to the NHS Website as below, and the Connecting Party must make a clear distinction between Syndicated Content, or Works and its other content.  Subject to paragraph 6.3 of this Appendix each attribution should link to the page on the NHS Website that the relevant Syndicated Content has been supplied from. This URL will be supplied as part of the Connection data feed

6.2  Subject to paragraph 6.3 of this Appendix any visual display of Syndicated Content or Works must be accompanied by a clearly visible Syndication Graphic

6.3  If: i) the Connecting Party is displaying Syndicated Content or Works in a context where a functional link back to the article on the NHS Website is not possible; ii) multiple visual attributions are required per page / view; iii) or the presentation of Syndicated Content or Works is not visual (eg verbal) then a simple attribution referencing www.nhs.uk, nhs.uk or the NHS Website must be used for subsequent or non-visual attributions

6.4  The Connecting Party must use original artwork files for any graphic or logo elements of the NHS Brand and follow the NHS identity guidelines when preparing content. These guidelines include requirements for spacing around logos, background colours and size of the logos. The Connecting Party may only use graphic or logo elements of the NHS Brand in line with this guidance:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhsidentity/identity-guidelines/organisational-logos/

6.5  The Connecting Party must not in a Service use any logo or design that is, or appears to be, in any way similar to the NHS Brand

6.6  The Connecting Party must not use the NHS Brand to advertise, endorse, bring attention to or represent any of its products or services in any form whatsoever, provided that any description of its Service (which may be in advertising and promotional materials) may include and use in text or verbal format ‘NHS’, ‘nhs.uk’, ‘www.nhs.uk’ or ‘the NHS website’ in a way that is purely descriptive, (e.g. “Find NHS services”).  

6.7  The Connecting Party must not represent, imply or describe:

i.  itself as the Department of Health and Social Care, part of the NHS (unless the Connecting Party is an NHS body), or a partner of any of these; or

ii. its Service as being accredited or endorsed by, or an official channel of, the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England or any other part of the NHS (unless the Connecting Party is an NHS body).

6.8  The Connecting Party must not infringe any intellectual property rights belonging to the Crown, the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England or any third parties nor remove, obscure, or alter any copyright notice, trademarks, or other notices (including the terms of this Connection Agreement) included in the Syndicated Content. For the avoidance of doubt, any unauthorized use of any part of the NHS Brand amounts to such an infringement.

6.9  The Connecting Party accept that Syndicated Content may contain branding from third parties and the Connecting Party must implement any third party links and attributions that appear in any Syndicated Content.

7.1  When the Connecting Party is subject to a trial subscription the Connecting Party must not call on any Connection over 10 times per minute or more than 1,000 times in any one month

7.2  When the Connecting Party is subject to a live subscription the Connecting Party must not call on any Connection over 4000 times in any 1 hour unless the Connecting Party has requested NHS England’s permission in advance and NHS England has confirmed in writing that the Connecting Party may do so

8.1  The Connecting Party takes responsibility for and must pay all costs relating to its subscription to the Connections and the provision, maintenance, rental and use of all equipment required for the receipt of the Connections, Syndicated Content and NHS Brand

8.2  Where any element of its Service is a paid-for service no specific charge may be levied on any Individual End Users and End User Organisations by the Connecting Party for access to any Syndicated Content or Works.

9.1  When the Connecting Party subscribes the Connecting Party must indicate if it requires a trial or live subscription.  If the Connecting Party wishes to change this it must request this in its account.  The Connecting Party cannot access a live subscription (whether or not the Connecting Party has had a trial subscription) without submitting such information and/or providing such demonstration of its Service as NHS England may request about its intended usage and analytics and receiving NHS England’s approval.

9.2  A live subscription is required for use of any Connection, Syndicated Content, NHS Brand and/or Works in a manner visible to Individual End Users and End User Organisations, including any private or public beta

9.3  The Connecting Party must not use a trial subscription to deliver content to Individual End Users and End User Organisations.  Whilst subject to a trial subscription the Connecting Party is not required to comply with paragraphs 6.1 to 6.3 of this Appendix as NHS England recognise these areas may be under development

10.1  Unless otherwise notified to the Connecting Party by NHS England, the Connecting Party should refresh Syndicated Content:

1. at least every 7 days; and
2. at such other frequency as NHS England may specify, on the NHS Website, within Syndicated Content or in instructions to the Connecting Party, in relation to specified Syndicated Content.

10.2  The Connecting Party must, regularly and within 7 days of instruction from NHS England (unless NHS England notify the Connecting Party of a longer time frame) implement any changed functionality, structure, or features within the Syndicated Content which may impact its implementation of any Connection.  

11.1  The Connecting Party must supply NHS England with a monthly report on its usage of the Connections and Syndicated Content, which includes as a minimum the number of times Syndicated Content was accessed or Inbound Data supplied in the previous month.  All data must be aggregated and not contain any Personal Data

12.1  NHS England will make technical support available to the Connecting Party during normal business hours. NHS England will provide the Connecting Party with an email and phone number that may be used to contact NHS England to report technical or other issues, including without limitation issues relating to access, outages or slowness or the Syndicated Content or the Connections.

13.1  In paragraph 13 of this Appendix:

“Data Protection Laws” means applicable legislation protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals, in respect of their right to privacy and the processing of their personal data, as amended from time to time, including Regulation (EU) 2016/679, 'the General Data Protection Regulation' ("GDPR") and the Data Protection Act 2018) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, together with decisions, guidelines, guidance notes and codes of practice issued from time to time by courts, data protection authorities and other applicable Government authorities;

"Controller", "Processor", "Data Subject", “Personal Data”, "Personal Data Breach" and "Processing" shall have the same meanings as in the Data Protection Laws and "Processed" and "Process" shall be construed in accordance with the definition of "Processing"; 

"Syndicated Personal Data" means any Personal Data that NHS England supply within the Syndicated Content or that the Connecting Party supply within the Inbound Data;

13.2  Pursuant to this Connection Agreement no Personal Data shall be Processed by either party as a Processor for or on behalf of the other and NHS England agree that each party shall be a Controller in relation to Personal Data exchanged under this Connection Agreement, including Syndicated Personal Data. Neither party shall Process Syndicated Personal Data for any purposes other than those set out in this Connection Agreement

13.3  Each party shall comply at all times with the Data Protection Laws in relation to any Processing of any Personal Data that is undertaken in connection with its subscription or account, its use of Connections or Syndicated Content or its provision of Syndicated Content or Works to Individual End Users and End User Organisations (whether Syndicated Personal Data or Personal Data relating to Individual End Users and End User Organisations). 

If the Connecting Party Process any Personal Data relating to Individual End Users and End User Organisations in association with its use of Syndicated Content or Works (even if such Syndicated Content or Works does not itself include Personal Data) the Connecting Party must do so in compliance with all Data Protection Laws, including being responsible for managing the relationship with Individual End Users and End User Organisations and communicating to Individual End Users and End User Organisations the Processing the Connecting Party will undertake

13.4  How NHS England Process Personal Data that the Connecting Party provide to NHS England is also detailed in NHS England’s Privacy Policy (https://www.nhs.uk/our-policies/privacy-policy/).

13.5  Syndicated Personal Data may be in the form of information, images, audio or video from which individuals are identifiable.  Details of how each party may Process Syndicated Personal Data shall be recorded in the data sharing section of its account, and NHS England shall each only Process Syndicated Personal Data in accordance with this description

13.6  NHS England shall each ensure that:

1. the Syndicated Personal Data that NHS England provide to the other has been collected in accordance with the Data Protection Laws, and can be lawfully disclosed to the other party; and
2. the fair processing notice given to the relevant Data Subject contains sufficient detail to enable the other party to Process Syndicated Personal Data for the purposes set out in the data sharing section of its account.

13.7  Where either party is relying on the consent of the Data Subject to meet obligations under paragraph 13.4 of this Appendix, NHS England will each ensure that, in relation to Syndicated Personal Data that NHS England provide to the other:

1. the consent permits the other party to process Syndicated Personal Data for the purposes set out in the data sharing section of its account; and

the consent has been collected in accordance with the Data Protection Laws

13.8  Neither party give any assurance to the other regarding the lawfulness of the Processing of any Syndicated Personal Data by the other

13.9  Without limitation to paragraph 13.8 of this Appendix, NHS England shall each:

1. implement and maintain appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect Syndicated Personal Data against unauthorised or unlawful Processing and against accidental loss or destruction or damage;
2. ensure that employees who have access to Syndicated Personal Data have undergone training in the Data Protection Laws and in the care and handling of Syndicated Personal Data;
3. only disclose Syndicated Personal Data to any third party in compliance with their obligation in respect of Processing Syndicated Personal Data under the Data Protection Laws; and

notify the other party promptly, without undue delay, of any known breach of technical and organisational security measures where the breach has affected or could have affected Syndicated Personal Data

13.10  In the event of a request relating to Syndicated Personal Data from a Data Subject for the rectification or erasure of Syndicated Personal Data or restriction of Processing, the party who has received the request shall determine whether such request is valid under the Data Protection Laws. In the event that party which has received the request determines that the relevant Syndicated Personal Data should be rectified or erased or that any Processing shall be restricted, it shall notify the other party promptly. The party receiving the notification shall rectify or erase the Syndicated Personal Data or restrict Processing (as applicable) promptly

13.11  NHS England and the Connecting Party shall provide all reasonable assistance requested by the other in respect of any complaint, allegation or request (including by a regulator) in respect of any Syndicated Personal Data, or any request from a Data Subject to exercise any right under the Data Protection Laws in respect of any Syndicated Personal Data

13.12  Each party shall each bear its own costs incurred in providing the assistance described in paragraphs 13.10 and 13.11 of this Appendix

13.13  If either NHS England or the Connecting Party become aware of an actual or suspected Personal Data Breach involving any Syndicated Personal Data NHS England or the Connecting Party (as applicable) shall notify the other without undue delay, and shall provide all reasonable assistance requested by the other to identify, investigate and remediate the breach and to establish all information required by any supervisory authority in relation to the Personal Data Breach

13.14  Each party must ensure  their Service is secured to industry standard safety standards and complies with all applicable laws, and will be liable for any claims, prosecutions, or investigations, arising from interception of Personal Data or confidential data if this is not implemented

13.15  The Connecting Party must ensure that any Connection keys or login usernames and passwords are kept secure. Usernames and passwords may only be given to those that require access to the Connections and Syndicated Content pursuant to this exercise of rights granted under this Connection Agreement. The Connecting Party must promptly notify NHS England if usernames or passwords are lost or supplied to any third party, or if the Connecting Party know or suspect there has been any breach of security in relation to its Service that may impact on any Connections or Syndicated Content

13.16  NHS England reserve the right to request written evidence from the Connecting Party that the requirements of this paragraph 3 of this Appendix are being met

14.1  If the Connecting Party or NHS England terminate any of the Connecting Party’s subscriptions or its account the Connecting Party must promptly delete or remove all Syndicated Content, Works and NHS Brand accessed under the relevant subscription from its Service and all hard drives, networks, storage media or other IT equipment

15.1  The Connecting Party understands that it must evaluate, and bear all risks and responsibility associated with:

1. its use and publication of any Syndicated Content and the creation, use and publication of any Works; and
2. any and all complaints, claims for costs, expenses, damages and losses of any type or legal proceedings raised or pursued by any Individual End Users and End User Organisations.