General terms and conditions of business (GTBC) for the use of the Nect wallet
Nect GmbH (hereinafter “Nect”) offers digital proof of identity; acts as an identity service provider and offers digital signatures for natural persons by means of using the app “Nect Wallet” (hereinafter “App”).
Nect Ident is a procedure which can be used within the App for identity verification (hereinafter “Identification Services”) using a mobile device with integrated video, photo and audio features and, where applicable, an NFC interface (hereinafter “User”) .
Nect Sign is a procedure for electronic signatures as defined by the eIDAS Regulation. These GTCB thus also apply to proof of identity for the purpose of issuing ad hoc certificates. Further information on the fulfilment of certification requirements is provided in the “Trust Service Practices Statement” document.
The GTCB apply for the relationship between Nect and Users of the above-mentioned offerings.
The Nect Ident procedure serves to facilitate the issuing of a digital means of identity for management and use in the App vis-à-vis Nect (see also Sect. 6 below) and third parties.
Users can confirm their identity to third parties, such as banks, insurance companies, providers of competitions and lotteries or signature service providers (hereinafter “Partners”), using said means of identity, for example if they wish to enter into a business relationship with the third party or already have a business relationship with them.
Under the terms of statutory regulations (e.g. Sect. 203 German Tax Code (StGB), German Money Laundering Act, German De-Mail Act, German Youth Media Protection Treaty, German Trust Services Act) Partners are often obliged to verify a User’s identity before they are permitted to enter into a business relationship with them. Nect functions as an independent service provider of Identification Services. Nect does not process transactions or payments between the User and the Partner. Nect does not function as a representative or messenger of the Partner. Services provided by the Partner are exclusively governed by the contractual terms and conditions agreed between the User and the Partner.
Within the scope of the Nect Ident procedure Nect will archive the outcome of identity verification for the term of the usage contract for documentation and verification purposes; for renewed use and for identification of any subsequent identity theft.
Following completion of the verification procedure Nect informs the Partner of the outcome insofar as the User has consented to this.
Users can access the outcome of the Identification Services via the App.
The usage contract between Nect and the User will be deemed to have been concluded upon acceptance of the terms and conditions of use published in the App, independent of the outcome of the initial Nect Ident procedure.
Nect is primarily aimed at German-speaking Users who are over 16 years of age; Users must confirm this when registering to use the App.
Nect does not archive any other contractual texts in addition to these GTCB and does not make them available to view on its website. The content of these GTCB can, however, be viewed in the App at any time.
In order to carry out the procedure, image and audio recordings of the identity document which is being used are first made.
Further authentication steps are carried out and depend on the type of document being used (identity card, passport, eID) and the type of procedure (such as identity verification, driving test).
In most cases the User takes a “selfie”. When doing so, the User will be asked to say two words. The recording is compared with the official photograph on the identity document.
Where the User is using an eID function, authentication can be carried out using the NFC chip. To do so, the User will be asked to enter their PIN.
The authentication is carried out using the video, photo, voice recording and/or NFC features of the User’s end device (“self-service procedure”).
The data which is collected is forwarded to our infrastructure, where it is analysed (“verification procedure”).
The outcome of the verification procedure is sent to the User and archived as a means of identification for future renewed use via the Nect Wallet.
Using the means of identification in a subsequent Nect Ident procedure can shorten the steps described above. For example, only a “selfie” will be required to legitimise use (authentication) of the means of identification.
Should verification of identity be carried out at the instigation of a Partner (e.g. an insurance company or bank), then, following the User's prior consent, the Partner will also be electronically notified regarding the outcome.
An identification outcome from a Nect Ident procedure is required to carry out the Nect Sign procedure in order to create a qualified electronic signature.
Following successful completion of the Nect Ident procedure the User will be presented with the document to be signed (e.g. a contract).
In this context Nect refers to the additional contractual terms and conditions of business of its Partners (e.g. providers of trust services).
Qualified electronic signing of the document takes place following confirmation by the User.
Nect will automatically create a user account upon acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Use and assign a unique identification number.
The user account (and thus protocols documenting successful identity verification procedures) can be accessed and used either by carrying out the Nect Ident procedure or by using comparably strong security parameters.
The user account may only be used for the purposes described here, in particular to prove the User’s identity and/or individual attributes (e.g. age) to third parties.
Nect is entitled to block the user profile if the User commits culpable, serious breaches of these GTCB or of statutory regulations. In such cases Nect will also have an extraordinary right of termination. Nect reserves the right to report criminal offences committed by a User to the authorities.
In accordance with Art. 17 GDPR Users may demand at any time that Nect erases their archived personal data. Should a User assert this right against Nect, then Nect will – insofar as there are no statutory archiving obligations – erase the entire user account and notify the User accordingly. It is not possible to retrieve user accounts once they have been erased.
Identification Services cannot be performed unless the User cooperates. The User is thus obliged to provide appropriate cooperation, for example by following the instructions given in the App when carrying out a procedure.
Users will, in particular, provide Nect with all the information, data, papers and documents required to perform Identification Services and for registration and will provide the complete, truthful, unadulterated data which is required.
In addition to this, use of Nect’s Identification Services is dependent on the technical performance of Users’ end devices. Users are responsible for ensuring the performance and compatibility of the relevant end device.
Users are also responsible for taking all required and appropriate safety measures, such as protecting their mobile device against malware or not forwarding the TANs which they receive to third parties.
Nect makes every effort to provide uninterrupted services. In view of the technical infrastructure’s complexity it is, however, only possible to guarantee maximum average annual availability of 98%.
In particular, Nect reserves the right to temporarily restrict availability if this is required or advisable with regard to capacity limits, security or server integrity or is necessary or advisable to carry out technical servicing or maintenance measures and this facilitates performance of services in an orderly or improved manner. In such cases Nect will take Users’ legitimate interests into consideration and will, in the case of longer-term maintenance windows, in particular provide Users with written information insofar as Users have provided email addresses.
Nect makes services and the App available continuously. In general, our Customer Service department is available on working days (excluding Saturdays) from 09.00 to 17.00 CET. As a matter of principle, Nect will carry out maintenance work in the time from 18.00 to 07.00 as well as, in exceptional cases, when maintenance work is required to maintain operations.
The outcome of the Nect Ident and/or Sign procedures is generally used by Partners who require reliable legal verification of their customers’ or potential customers’ identities or electronic signatures. Users are therefore not required to pay to use the procedure.
Nect however reserves the right to introduce a charge for Users to use the procedures at a later date if Partners are not integrated into them. Any such amendment of the contract will, however, be communicated to Users in good time as per statutory regulations and they will be given a right to object to the amendment.
The User indemnifies Nect against any and all third-party claims which are asserted against Nect on the grounds of unauthorised use of the User’s access data or identification number, unless the User is not responsible for unauthorised third-party use.
Claims for damage by the User, for whatever legal reason, are excluded.
This does not apply to claims for damages by the customer resulting from injury to life, limb or health; breach of material contractual obligations (cardinal obligations) or liability for other damages resulting from intentional or grossly negligent breaches of obligation by Nect, its legal representatives or its vicarious agents.
Material contractual obligations are those whose fulfilment is required to perform services.
In the event of breaches of material contractual obligations Nect will only be liable for foreseeable damages typical for this type of contract if the breach was due to simple negligence, unless the end user’s claim for damages results from damages to life, limb or health.
These restrictions will also apply to the benefit of Nect’s legal representatives and vicarious agents if claims are asserted directly against them.
The restrictions to liability will not apply insofar as Nect has provided a guarantee.
Statutory liability under the provisions of the German Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz) will remain unaffected.
Irrespective of the above-mentioned provisions, any contributory negligence on the part of the User - in particular insufficient fulfilment of obligations to cooperate, insufficient data security or breach of any other contractual obligations – will reduce the amount of damages which can be claimed.
Users are obliged to notify Nect in writing regarding any damages as defined in the above-mentioned liability provisions or to have them recorded by Nect so that Nect is informed of the damages as soon as possible and may, in cooperation with the User, be able to prevent further damage.
Nect will only be liable for the retrieval of data insofar as the User has taken all necessary, appropriate data security precautions, in particular regarding secure storage and confidentiality, and has ensured that the effort required to retrieve data originating from data material which is stored in a machine-readable form is reasonable.
Right of withdrawal
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days and without giving reasons. The deadline for withdrawals is fourteen days from the date of concluding the contract.
To exercise your right of withdrawal you must inform us,
Nect GmbH
Grosser Burstah 21
20457 Hamburg, Germany
privacy@nect.com
by means of a clear declaration (e.g. a letter sent by post or a telefax) regarding your decision to withdraw from this contract. You may use the attached template for this purpose but are not obliged to use it. To comply with the period of notice for withdrawal it is sufficient to dispatch notification that you are exercising your right of withdrawal before the deadline ends.
Consequences of withdrawal
Should you withdraw from this contract, then we must repay all payments which we have received from you without delay and, at the latest, within 14 days of the date on which we received your notification that you were withdrawing from the contract. Unless specifically agreed otherwise with you, we will use the same means of payment to make this repayment as you used to make the original transaction. On no account will you be charged a fee for this repayment.
Should you have demanded that services commence during the period of notice for withdrawal, then you must pay us a reasonable amount which represents the proportion of services already performed at the time you notified us that you were exercising your right of withdrawal from this contract in relation to the total scope of services foreseen in the contract. End of the information on withdrawal
Template for withdrawal notification
(If you wish to withdraw from the contract, please complete this template and return it to us.) To:
Nect GmbH
Grosser Burstah 21
20457 Hamburg, Germany
privacy@nect.com
I/We (*) herewith withdraw from the contract which I/we (*) concluded concerning performance of the following service
Ordered on (*)/ received on (*)
Name of the consumer(s)
Address of the consumer(s)
Signature(s) of the consumer(s) (only for notifications made on paper)
Date
(Delete as applicable.) End of the template for withdrawal notification
Data protection/ Privacy
Processing of your personal data will be carried out in compliance with our data protection/ privacy declaration.
Duration and resolutory condition
The usage contract will run for an indefinite period and may be terminated at any time with a period of notice of one month to the end of the month. Since the Nect Ident procedure employs sensitive data as defined by Art. 9 GDPR, which foresees the User’s specific consent, this usage contract is subject to the resolutory condition of the User’s withdrawal of consent. The Ident procedure and its outcome are the basis for the service provided by the Nect Wallet. Nect is thus no longer obliged to perform the contract following (also only partial) exercising of the right of withdrawal.
Concluding provisions
These GTCB and all contracts concluded between Nect and the User are subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany and exclude the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
Nect is entitled to transfer its rights and obligations arising from the contract concerning use of the Nect Ident procedure and the App to one or more third parties (contract transfer). Nect will notify the User without delay regarding any planned contract transfer and the identity of the party taking over the contract after it becomes aware of this transfer. In such cases the User is entitled to terminate the contract immediately.
Nect reserves the right to amend these GTCB at any time and without giving reasons. The amended contractual terms and conditions will be provided to the User at the latest four (4) weeks after they come into force. Nect will also publicise amendment of these GTCB on its website. Should the User fail to object to the validity of the amended GTCB with four (4) weeks of receiving Nect’s notification regarding amendment of the GTCB, then the User will be deemed to have accepted the amended GTCB. Nect undertakes that the notification of amendment of the GTCB will include specific information for the User regarding the legal consequences of their remaining silent.
Should individual provisions of this contract be or become fully or partially ineffective or void, then this will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of the contract. In such cases Nect and the User undertake to arrive as soon as possible at an agreement which replaces the invalid or void provision with a valid provision coming as close as possible to the desired purpose. The same will apply in the event of a loophole in these GTCB.
Should Users have a complaint, then they can contact the European online dispute resolution platform at any time. The platform can be accessed at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. Nect does not, however, participate in any dispute resolution processes offered by a consumer arbitration body and is not obliged to do so.
Current as of: 24 March 2022