Your use of the Site is subject to the following terms and conditions of use ("Website Terms and Conditions"). Use of the Site includes accessing, browsing and registering to use the Site and/or to receive information from the ICR. These Website Terms and Conditions also refer to the following sets of terms, which apply to your use of the Site:

• The ICR's Privacy Statement, which sets out the terms on which the ICR processes any personal data it collects from you, or that you provide to the ICR via the Site. By using the Site, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.
• The ICR's Cookies Statement, which explains what 'cookies' are and how they are used on the Site.
• The ICR's "House Rules" (set out in the appendix below), which also apply to your use of the Site. The House Rules set out, in particular, the ICR's expectations of how you should use any blog, forum or other comment section on the Site.

Please note that these Website Terms and Conditions may be revised at any time in accordance with section 21 below.

Ownership and availability of the Site

1. All content and materials on the Site, including documents, files, text and graphics ("Site Content") are protected by copyright laws, trade mark laws and treaties around the world, and all intellectual property rights in the Site Content are owned by the ICR or a third party associated with the ICR. You may use all Site Content for your own personal, non-commercial purposes (as a personal information resource) only. Any other type of use requires the prior written agreement of the ICR.

2. The Site is intended to be accessed by users in the UK. If you are a non-UK user, by using the Site you acknowledge and agree that the information contained on the Site (or in any Site Content) may not be relevant to you and that your access to the Site may be restricted or regulated by local laws.

3. The Site Content is made available free of charge. As such, the ICR does not guarantee that your use of the Site will be free from error and/or uninterrupted or that any page(s) of the Site or any Site Content will always be available. Access to the Site and to any Site Content is permitted on a temporary basis only and is made available on an "as is" basis; the ICR may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of the Site (or the Site Content) without notice.

The ICR's liability for your use of the Site

4. The information provided on the Site (or in any Site Content) is intended for informational, non-commercial purposes only. While every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information provided by the ICR, its employees and agents, the Site Content is subject to change from time to time and the ICR, its employees and agents make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the Site Content is accurate, complete or up-to-date. In particular, any medical or legal information featured on the Site should only be used to support – not replace – the advice of your own doctor, solicitor or other advisor.

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CHECKING THE ACCURACY OF RELEVANT STATEMENTS AND/OR OPINIONS FEATURED ON THE SITE BEFORE MAKING ANY DECISION IN RELIANCE ON THOSE STATEMENTS AND/OR OPINIONS.

5. The ICR excludes (and its directors, trustees, employees and agents exclude) all liability for any loss or damage (other than liability for matters which cannot be excluded by law) including, but not limited to, indirect or consequential damages, damages for loss of opportunity or chance, or any loss or damage arising in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, arising out of or in connection with your use of (or inability to use) the Site or any Site Content.

6. Where information (including sensitive financial or personal information) is provided to the ICR directly through the Site or by email, you accept that these methods of communication cannot be completely secure. Where sensitive financial information is provided to the ICR, it uses encryption software to attempt to prevent unauthorised access to this information. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although the ICR will do its best to protect your personal information, it cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to the Site; any such transmission is at your own risk.

User registration and user-generated content

7. If you are provided with a username and/or password or any other piece of information as part of the Site's registration procedures (which may incorporate and/or refer to the registration procedures of a third party provider of a platform which enables you to access and/or post to any blog, forum or other comment section on any page of the Site ("Third Party Platform Provider")), you must treat such information as confidential and in particular must not disclose it to any third party. The ICR has the right to disable any username or password (whether chosen by you or allocated by the ICR) at any time if, in the ICR's reasonable opinion, you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Website Terms and Conditions (including the House Rules). If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your password, you must promptly notify the ICR by emailing [email protected].

8. Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to upload content to the Site, or to make contact with other users of the Site, you must comply with the content standards set out in the House Rules. These features of the Site are provided for your private and non-commercial use and for the exchange of lawful, relevant, fair and appropriate information, opinions and comment. Use of the Site in a manner which is inconsistent with those stated purposes is strictly prohibited. The ICR reserves the right (at its sole discretion) to issue you a ban (either temporary or permanent) from using the features which allow you to upload content to the Site, including where it becomes evident that you have repeatedly breached the House Rules.

9. Any content you upload to the Site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary, and by uploading the content you grant the ICR the right and licence to use, copy, distribute and disclose it to third parties for any purpose. The ICR also has the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to the Site is defamatory, abusive, obscene, constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights or of their right to privacy, or is otherwise unlawful. You agree that you will not use the Site to post any copyright material or other materials featuring intellectual property rights that are not your own without the express permission of the copyright holder or the owner of other relevant intellectual property rights.

10. The ICR will not be responsible or liable to any third party for the content or accuracy of any content posted by you or any other user of the Site. The ICR has the right to remove any posting you make on the Site if, in the ICR's opinion, your post does not comply with the content standards set out in the House Rules. The views expressed by other users on the Site do not necessarily represent the ICR's views or values.

11. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the ICR and its staff from and against any claim, liability, cost, damage or loss the ICR may incur (including, without limitation, legal costs) as a result of any material you upload to the Site or any violation by you of your obligations under these Website Terms and Conditions.

12. With the exception of the first post made by each new user of the Site (which may be moderated by the ICR to verify the authenticity/identity of the new user and/or the content posted), it is the ICR's policy not to view, edit or pre-screen any contribution that you or anyone else make to any blog, forum, or other comment section or other part of the Site where users may post content before that content is published on the Site. Therefore, unless the ICR is specifically notified of the nature of any item of content, you cannot assume that the ICR is responsible for having made it available on the Site.

13. The ICR shall have the right (but not the obligation) at its sole discretion to edit, relocate or remove any content that is posted to, or available on, the Site without the need to give any reasons for doing so.

14. If you wish to make a complaint regarding a comment or post on the Site (i.e. that it is objectionable or in breach of these Website Terms and Conditions, including the House Rules), you may contact the ICR by sending an email to [email protected]. This inbox is monitored frequently during UK working hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday). The ICR will aim to respond to or act on a complaint received via this email address within three (3) business days of its receipt. If a complaint is made against you, or any content that you have posted to the Site, the ICR reserves the right to archive your comments (including your original post(s)) until the complaint is resolved.

Malicious code, unauthorised access and links to external websites

15. While effort has been taken to ensure that the Site is free from viruses, the ICR gives no warranties that the Site will always be free from viruses and you are responsible for ensuring that you have installed adequate and up-to-date virus-checking software before you access or otherwise use the Site. The ICR excludes, in so far as it is legally possible, all liability (other than liability which cannot be excluded by law) for any viruses or any other malicious computer code, files or programs originating from or contracted from the Site.

16. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Site, the server on which the Site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Site. In the event of such a breach, your right to use the Site will cease immediately.

17. Some of the pages on the Site include links to external websites. These links are included to give you the opportunity to access other pages that it is felt may be of interest or assistance to you. the ICR is not responsible for the content of these third party websites, save for any content the ICR may upload to or transmit through a third party website for use by users of the Site (for example, content which is uploaded to social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook, but which may be appear on the Site as embedded content). Your use of social media sites (including those which may be embedded in or otherwise displayed through the Site) remains subject to those sites' terms and conditions of use. In addition, your use of any platform which enables you to access and/or post to any blog, forum or other comment section on any page of the Site remains subject to the terms and conditions of any Third Party Platform Provider, where relevant.

18. On some of the pages of the Site you may be informed of the opportunity of entering into agreements with third parties. The ICR is not liable in relation to, and takes no responsibility for, any contract entered into by you with any third party.

General provisions

19. The ICR may, from time to time, have competitions, prize draws or other promotions and offers on the Site. These will be subject to additional terms and conditions.

20. The names, images and logos identifying the ICR or third parties and their products and services, are the proprietary marks of the ICR, and/or may be the proprietary marks of third parties. Any use made of these marks may be an infringement of rights in those marks and the ICR reserves all rights to enforce such rights that it might have.

21. These terms may be varied from time to time. Please ensure that you review these terms and conditions regularly as you will be deemed to have accepted a variation if you continue to use the Site after any variation has been posted.

22. If any of these terms and conditions should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable, it shall be severed and deleted from the terms and conditions and the remaining terms and conditions shall remain valid and enforceable.

23. These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising from matters relating to the Site shall be exclusively subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

24. To learn more about the ICR's policies and procedures regarding requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act and/or the Environmental Information Regulations, please see the Freedom of Information webpage.

25. To contact the ICR about the Site or any Site Content, please email [email protected]. 

House Rules

These House Rules set out the ICR's expectations for how users should use the Site and in particular the behaviour the ICR expects within any blog, forum, or other comment section or any other part of the Site in which users post their own content.

By posting content to the Site, you agree that:

• you are solely responsible for the content of any material posted, uploaded or otherwise transmitted by you;
• the content of material posted, uploaded or otherwise transmitted by you is factually accurate (to the best of your knowledge) and, where applicable, is relevant to the subject matter of the discussion or post on which you are commenting; and
• messages posted to the Site will not be regarded as formal communications with the ICR(which should instead be conducted with the relevant departments of the ICR, usually by email or by post).

You will not use the Site:

• for the posting, uploading, emailing or other transmission of any material, the publication, dissemination, use or possession of which infringes the rights of any person or which is unlawful in any other respect;
• for the posting, uploading, emailing or other transmission of any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation or commercial exploitation;
• for the posting, uploading, emailing or other transmission of any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, damage, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software, hardware or telecommunications equipment;
• for the posting, uploading, emailing or other transmission of sensitive personal information about yourself or any other person, or any information of a confidential nature (in breach of a duty of confidence owed to the ICR or a third party);
• for the posting, uploading, emailing or other transmission of any material which may be discriminatory or cause offence on the grounds of an individual's sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or working status;
• for the posting, uploading, emailing or other transmission any medical advice, or for seeking to procure any medical advice from other users of the Site;
• in any way which is abusive, vulgar, defamatory, hateful, fraudulent, threatening or obscene or which will harass, distress or inconvenience any person or which might restrict or inhibit the use and enjoyment of the Site by any person;
• to impersonate anyone else, including, but not limited to, any employee of the ICR, or falsely state or suggest that you have an affiliation with any person or organisation;
• to create a database (electronic or otherwise) that includes material downloaded or otherwise obtained from the Site;
• to transmit or re-circulate any material obtained from the Site to any third party;
• in such a way so as to remove the copyright or trade mark notice(s) from any copies of any Site Content;
• in any way that might bring the ICR into disrepute; or
• to post link(s) that take users to material that contravenes any of the above restrictions.

To report a breach of these House Rules, please contact the ICR by email at [email protected].