Terms and conditions for on-demand learning courses

This page, together with the documents hyperlinked from it, set out the Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) for visitors to the website https://learn.barcouncil.org.uk and includes users of the On Demand Learning Platform (the “Platform”) and those accessing Bar Council On Demand Training Courses ( the “Courses”).
Users of the Platform (“Users”, “You”, “Your”) include barristers and their employees, and other chambers and legal professionals who are paying, or through their organisation have paid, to access and complete one or more of the Courses provided by the Bar Council.
The act of using the Platform to access one or more of the Courses contained within it will be known as the “Approved Purposes”.
The Platform is owned and operated by the Bar Council of England and Wales® (“Bar Council”, “us”, “we” and “our”) and is subject to the Notice of Copyright. Our principal offices are at 289-293 High Holborn, London WC1V 7HZ and our VAT Number is 404524779.
By using the Platform, Users accept these terms and agree to abide by them. You must read these Terms carefully before you start to use the Platform. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Platform.
From time to time, we may update these Terms. Every time you wish to use the Platform, please check these Terms to ensure you understand them as they apply at that time.

Purchasing a Course on the Platform
Payment will normally be taken through MyBar at the time of booking. In respect of group bookings, or bookings purchased over email or phone, an invoice will be issued to you within two working days and payment must be received by us within 28 days of receipt. Immediate payment can be made over the phone.
All payments must be received by us before you can have access to the Platform and the Course(s) that you, or your organisation, have sought to purchase.
Where you fail to access either the Platform or the Course(s) that you or your organisation have purchased during the period your booking is active for (12 months), the Bar Council reserves the right not to refund you for the cost of your purchase.
Should you experience any difficulty in accessing the training course, please contact the Bar Council Training and Events Team during working hours on [email protected].

Cancellation
Where you wish to cancel your purchase, you must do so by sending an email to the Bar Council’s Training and Events Team at [email protected].
Except for the circumstances set out under clause 14 below, you will only be entitled to a refund if you have not accessed the Course(s) that you have paid for.
We reserve the right to amend or remove any of the Courses on the Platform at any time. This includes, but is not limited to, changes to the content of the Courses.
If we intend to remove a Course from the Platform, we will provide you with three months’ notice to enable you to complete it. We will not issue a refund to anyone who has been sent a notice of removal and has not started the Course during the relevant period.

Accessing the Platform
Access to the Platform is permitted for a period of 12 months following the purchase of a Course and a further 12 months following the expiry of their Course access. We reserve the right to withdraw or suspend or restrict the availability of all or any part of it for business or operational reasons without notice. User accounts will be deleted after 12 months of inactivity.
We do not guarantee that the Platform will always be available or be uninterrupted. We will not be liable if for any reason the Platform, or any part of it, is unavailable at any time for any period.
If you are provided with an enrolment key, username, user identification code, password, or any other piece of information as part of our security and access procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.
We have the right to disable any user enrolment key, identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms.
You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Platform.

User eligbility
Users may only use the Platform once they have paid the appropriate fee to access one or more of the Courses contained within it.
Users can pay to access the Courses on the Platform on an individual basis using their MyBar account, or on a group basis when the Bar Council has received payment of the group invoice that it issues, on request, to the organisation to which the User belongs.

Prohibited Use
You may not:
1. use the Platform for any purposes other than the Approved Purposes;
2. modify, create derivative works from, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any technology used to provide the services;
3. upload, transmit or post any computer viruses, worms or Trojan horses, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful files, programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware;
4. do anything to disrupt, damage, impair, interrupt, slow down or effect the functionality of the Platform;
5. do anything that would interfere with another User’s ability to use the Platform or any related services or that would discourage a User from using the Platform or engaging with our services.
Failure to comply with clause 22 above constitutes a material breach of these Terms and may result in our taking all or any of the following actions (at our sole discretion):
1. immediate, temporary, or permanent withdrawal of your right to use the Platform; and/or
2. issue of a warning to you; and/or
3. legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis resulting from the breach (including, but not limited to, all legal costs); and/or
4. further legal or disciplinary action against you; and/or
5. disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities or regulators as is reasonably necessary or as required by law.
We exclude liability for actions taken in response to breaches of clause 22 above. The actions described above are not limited and we may take any other action we reasonably deem to be appropriate.

Our data protection obligations towards Users of the Platform
We will process your Personal Data in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation. For the purposes of these Terms:
1. “Personal Data” shall have the meaning set out in the applicable Data Protection Legislation.
2. “UK GDPR” has the meaning given to it in section 3(10) (as supplemented by section 205(4)) of the DPA 2018.
By using the Platform, Users acknowledge that:
1. in respect of the Courses contained within it, we will be processing their Personal Data on the lawful basis that it is necessary for the Bar Council to meet contractual obligations entered into by individual Users when they paid to access the Platform and one or more of the Courses contained within it using their MyBar account, or by group Users when the Bar Council received payment of the group invoice that their organisation paid for on their behalf, with the intention that they then be given access to the Platform and one or more of the Courses contained within it (Article 6(1)(e) UK GDPR).
We will retain, on the Platform, the Personal Data of Users that use the Platform to access and complete one or more of the Courses contained within it for up to two years to allow them a reasonable period in which to purchase and begin a new course, without having to set up a new account on the Platform, after their initial access period of one year has expired. After this period, the Personal Data of Users will be securely destroyed. The Bar Council will only differentiate from this policy where a User’s right to use the Platform has been withdrawn in accordance with clause 23 above and clauses 54 and 55 below.
From time to time, we may update our Privacy Statement. When we do, we will publish the changes on the Platform (together with a prominent notice drawing your attention to the changes) and/or notify you by email.

Copyright
All rights, including copyright and database rights, in the Platform (and its contents), are owned by or licensed to us, or otherwise used by us as permitted by applicable law or the copyright holder. To the extent that any such rights are our property, such rights shall be retained by us.
You may not remove any copyright, trademark or intellectual property notices contained in the original material from any material downloaded or copied from the Platform.
We grant you a limited revocable license to access and use the Platform for the Approved Purposes only, subject to your compliance with these Terms. This license does not include the right to collect or use information contained on the Platform for the following or any analogous purposes:
1. to create derivative works based on the content of the Platform or the Courses;
2. to download or copy the Platform, the Courses, or any part of them (other than page caching); or
3. to sub-licence, retrieve, display, modify, copy, print, sell, distribute, download, hire, reverse engineer or create extracts of, or derivative works from the Platform or the Courses.
If you use the Platform in a manner that exceeds the scope of this license or you breach these Terms, we may revoke the license granted to you and take further action to recover losses and/or to prevent your future use of the Platform.

Trademarks
All names, images, and logos identifying us, or our services, are our proprietary marks. All third-party names, logos, images, or branding relating to a company, product or service contained on the Platform are the trademarks, service marks and trade names of their respective holders. Unless you have obtained the holders’ explicit written consent (either from us or the appropriate third party), we do not give permission for any use of any such trademark, service mark or trade name by any person other than the holders. Any such use may constitute an infringement of the relevant holder’s rights.

Viruses, hacking and other offences
We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.
You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.
You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Platform, the server on which the Platform is stored, or any server, computer or database connected to the Platform. You must not attack the Platform via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities, and we will cooperate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use the Platform will cease immediately.

External links
The Platform may contain links to other websites. Such links are provided solely for information purposes.
You hereby acknowledge that such third-party websites are independent from the Platform, that we have no control over the content of linked third party websites and that you visit such third-party websites entirely at your own risk. We accept no responsibility for the content of such websites, nor do we accept responsibility or liability for any losses or penalties whatsoever that may be incurred because of your use of any links to any other websites or reliance on the content of any website to which the Platform is linked or to which you are directed.

Framing, linking and deep-linking
You may not frame, link or deep-link the Platform to any other website without our prior written consent.
You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.
We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

Complaints
If you have any complaints about the Platform, please follow the process contained within the Bar Council’s Complaints Policy.

Our rights
Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved to the Bar Council
The Bar Council will always seek criminal prosecution of any individual who, or organisation which, seeks to use the Bar Council’s name, material, logos, or trademarks for unlawful purposes and, where appropriate, will take action in the civil courts of any applicable jurisdiction against any individual or organisation discovered to be using the Bar Council’s name, logos, trademarks or the Platform for unauthorised or unlawful purposes.
Any delay or failure by the Bar Council to exercise any right or remedy under these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that right or remedy.

Disclaimer and warranties
We are not able to warrant or guarantee the quality, accuracy, timeliness, completeness, or fitness for purpose of the information provided on the Platform. No responsibility is accepted by or on behalf of us for any errors, omissions, or inaccurate information on the Platform, nor are we responsible for how you use or interpret the information, or what reliance you place on it.
The information and content of the Platform is not intended to, nor does it, constitute legal or other professional advice or services or a recommendation to purchase any product or service.
We do not accept any responsibility for the results of any action taken on the basis of the information provided on the Platform and all warranties, including implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose, non-infringement and accuracy are excluded to the fullest extent that they may be excluded under applicable law. To the fullest extent permitted by law the Bar Council will not be liable for any claims, costs, penalties, loss (whether direct, indirect, or consequential and whether economic or special loss), damages or expenses arising from the use or from the inability to use the Learning Platform or from reliance on information or on advice contained on the Learning Platform or from any unauthorised access or alteration to it by a third party.
We do not guarantee that the Platform (or any part of it) or any content is compatible with your computer equipment nor that the Platform (or any part of it), or its server, is free of errors or viruses, worms, bugs or Trojan horses, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful.
We will try to make the Platform available but cannot guarantee that it will operate continuously or without interruptions, or be error-free, and can accept no liability for its unavailability. We will provide the service using reasonable skill and care and we make no warranties other than those made expressly in these Terms. We hereby disclaim to the extent permitted by law all other express or implied warranties (including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose and merchantability) other than those which cannot be excluded by law.

Limitation of liability
Except for liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or in relation to death and personal injury arising from negligence, neither you nor we shall be liable to each other for any indirect, incidental, punitive or consequential damages arising from the use of the Platform, any information contained on the Platform or any related services, including, without limitation use or loss of use, loss of data, profits, revenue, business or anticipated savings, whether in action of contract, negligence or other tortious action arising out of or in connection with the use of the Platform.
Except for liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or in relation to death and personal injury arising from our negligence, we will not be responsible or liable to you or any third party for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, even foreseeable, arising or in connection with:
1. the content of websites to which the Platform provides links (and we do not accept responsibility or liability for any losses or penalties whatsoever that may be incurred as a result of your use of any links to any other websites or reliance on the content of any website to which the Platform is linked or to which you are directed);
2. use of or reliance on any content displayed on the Platform;
3. disruption, damage of your data or computer system which you may suffer as a result of the transmission of any errors or viruses, worms, bugs or Trojan horses, any distributed denial-of-service attack or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of the Platform, or to your downloading of any material posted on them, or any website linked to them or other such destructive feature via the Platform
4. use of, or inability to use the Platform; and/or
5. deletion of any materials relating to your use of the service on our servers or otherwise in our possession following termination of your use of the Platform.
Our liability to you or any third person for any or all damage or loss that may arise from the use of the Platform, any information contained on the Platform shall not exceed £100 (one hundred pounds sterling).

Termination
If you are in material breach of these Terms we may (in our sole discretion) suspend or terminate your access to the Platform with immediate effect.
If we terminate your use of the Platform, we may delete from our servers (and from the Platform) any information or materials relating to you (and/or your use of the Platform) subject to our requirements under the Data Protection Legislation and any retention requirements as set out in clauses 25 to 28 of these Terms.

Severability
If any of these Terms should be determined to be illegal, invalid, or otherwise unenforceable, it/they shall be severed and deleted from these Terms and all other terms and/or conditions shall remain in full force and continue to be binding and enforceable.

Entire agreement
Without prejudice to your or our rights in respect of fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, these Terms constitute the entire understanding and agreement between you and us regarding the subject matter of these Terms and supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings between you and us regarding the subject matter of these Terms.

Rights of third parties
Notwithstanding anything else in these Terms, the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 shall not apply to any contract between you and us and no contractual rights are conferred on any third parties.

General
These Terms and Conditions form part of an e-commerce transaction and the parties agree that these Terms and Conditions shall be accepted electronically and the agreement to these Terms and Conditions is formed and validly entered into electronically.
These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England. The courts of England shall, subject to clause 61 below, have exclusive jurisdiction over any claims, dispute or matter arising under or in connection with these Terms.
We shall retain the right to bring proceedings in the courts of the country of residence of any user of the Platform.