1.1 The Waimakariri District Council (us, we) operates the following websites (the Websites):

(a) waimakariri.govt.nz;

(b) online.waimakariri.govt.nz;

(c) eservices.waimakariri.govt.nz; and

(d) libraries.waimakariri.govt.nz.

1.2 These Terms apply to your use of the Websites.  By accessing and registering with the Websites, the person or organisation entering into these Terms as a user of the Websites, and all individuals authorised to access the Websites on that person's behalf (together, you) accept and agree to be bound by these Terms.

1.3 Our Privacy Policy applies to the handling, storage, and use of any personal information you submit to us and forms part of these Terms.  You should read our Privacy Policy carefully.

1.4 Additional terms may apply to specific goods or services or online tools or functions provided through or on the Websites.  Where we indicate on the Websites that additional terms apply, you must read these Terms in conjunction with those additional terms.  If there is any inconsistency between these Terms and those additional terms, the additional terms will prevail (unless we expressly tell you otherwise).

2.1 We can amend these Terms at any time.  Amendments will be effective immediately when posted on the Websites.  You are responsible for ensuring you are familiar with the latest Terms.  By continuing to use the Websites, you agree to be bound by the Terms as amended (whether or not you have received any amendments).  You can always find the current version of the Terms here.

3.1 You agree to use the Websites only in a way that complies with all applicable laws and regulations, that does not infringe our rights or other users' rights, and that does not inhibit or restrict other users' enjoyment of the Websites.

3.2 Without limiting clause 3.1, in particular, you agree not to:

(a) damage or harm the Websites, or any underlying or connected network or system;

(b) use a harvesting bot, robot, spider, scraper, or other unauthorised automated means to access the Websites or content featured on them for any purpose; introduce any viruses, content or code to the Websites that is technologically harmful; or do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working of the Websites, such as a denial of service attack;

(c) use the Websites to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory; or

(d) facilitate or encourage any violations of these Terms.

3.3 You are responsible for all activity resulting from your use of the Websites.  You indemnify us, and will keep us indemnified, against all forms of liability, action, proceeding, demand, cost, charge and expense which we may incur, be subject to or suffer as a result of your use of the Websites.

3.4 Without limiting any other rights and remedies available to us, and subject to our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020, if we reasonably believe you have breached or are in breach of these Terms, we may:

(a) limit your activities on the Websites;

(b) warn other users of your actions;

(c) issue a warning to you;

(d) suspend or cancel your access to the Websites;

(e) co-operate fully with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity of or to locate anyone posting any content in breach of these Terms; and/or

(f) disclose your identity and any other information we hold about you to any law enforcement authority if we believe this would assist to prevent the commission of any crime against a person or persons.

4.1 By using the Website and any online services you agree to provide information and documents by electronic means and to the standards required for the relevant transaction.  It also means you agree and understand that the information will be retained in electronic form.

5.1 By using the online services you agree to receive information by electronic means. Where information is requested by another person (on your behalf), the requesting party is deemed to be the recipient's agent and is presumed to have obtained the consent of the recipient to receive the information in electronic format.

6.1 You may access and browse our main website at waimakariri.govt.nz without creating an account. However, if you wish to use certain features at online.waimakariri.govt.nz or eservices.waimakariri.govt.nz then you must create an account.

6.2 Registering an account is free.

6.3 You may only register for an account if you are resident in New Zealand. By registering for and using an account, you warrant that you are at least 18 years old and that you can form a legally binding contract.

7.1 You warrant that you have provided complete, accurate and current personal information such as your full legal name and email address when registering for an account and you agree to maintain and promptly update your Account Information to ensure it is kept current at all times.

7.2 You must not register as a member under multiple identities or personas (whether false or not). However, at our discretion, you may create a business membership in addition to your personal membership.

7.3 We will take reasonable precautions to keep your profile secure and protect it from unauthorised access.  However, you agree that we are entitled to rely on the authenticity and authority of your username, password and session-specific codes generated by your hardware device to process actions or requests you submit to the Websites and that we may do so without further enquiry.

7.4 You agree to keep your log in details and password secure and agree not to share your password with anyone else.  We will not be liable for any loss or damage if you fail to comply with this security obligation (to the extent we are not responsible).

7.5 You acknowledge that the internet is inherently insecure.  You accept the risk that any information stored or transmitted on the internet or through email may be intercepted or subject to unauthorised access or fraudulent behaviour.  If you think someone is accessing your account without your consent or if you would like to report disclosure of your Account Information, please contact us at office@wmk.govt.nz.

8.1 You can cancel your account at any time by emailing us at office@wmk.govt.nz.

8.2 We reserve the right to decline to register, suspend, or cancel your account and your use of the Websites if we reasonably consider that you have breached any of these Terms.  If you have registered under multiple aliases, all of these aliases will be disabled. If we suspend or cancel your account, you must not create another one without our prior written approval.

8.3 All of your data and content may be deleted from our systems immediately on cancellation of your account under clause 8.2.  This content cannot be recovered once your account is cancelled.  We are not liable for any loss or damage caused by the cancellation of your account under clause 8.2, and it is your responsibility to ensure that any content or data which you require is backed-up or replicated before cancellation.

8.4 You agree that you cannot transfer, sell, lease, lend or trade your account without our prior written consent.

9.1 We (and our licensors or suppliers, as the case may be) own all intellectual property rights existing in the Websites, including all of the content of the Websites (such as text, graphics, logos, icons and sound recordings), all software code underlying and forming part of the Websites and any improvements, enhancements, modifications or adaptions to the Websites.

9.2 Unless you have received our prior written permission, you agree not to, and will not permit or encourage any third party to:

(a) adapt, reproduce, modify, reverse-engineer, decompile, distribute, print, display, perform, publish or create adaptations from any part of the Websites; or

(b) commercialise, copy or on-sell any information or materials obtained from any part of the Websites.

9.3 You may view, save, copy and print any part of the Websites (including the content of the Websites) for your personal use only.  You must obtain written permission from us to otherwise use, copy, modify, or distribute any part of the Websites (including their content) in any way for any other purpose by contacting us at webmaster@wmk.govt.nz.  If you wish to use any third party material identified as such on the Websites you must obtain the prior consent of the relevant owner.  This includes the content of websites you access via links from the Websites.

9.4 You may not publish or use the brand, branding or logos on the Websites without our prior written permission.

10.1 We welcome your feedback and ideas on how to improve the Websites.  If you choose to submit your ideas, you agree that we are free to use them and that you will not have rights to any intellectual property that may be generated as a result.

11.1 We will make reasonable endeavours to ensure that the descriptions and prices for the services shown on the Websites are accurate and up-to-date.  However, we reserve the right to adjust the actual price charged if the prices shown are incorrect, and to vary our prices and services descriptions at any time and without notice, effective immediately when posted on the Websites.

11.2 Payment options may vary between online services and all charges are in New Zealand Dollars and inclusive of GST (if any). Payment for online services and charges can be made via:

(a) debit card, Account 2 Account or Real Time Debit (which deducts the payment via your bank account with no fees or charges); or

(b) Visa or Mastercard credit cards; or

(c) Part payment (only available for selected online services offered through our eServices Portal).

11.3 All payments (other than Part Payment) must be made in full and by no later than the final date for payment set out in the invoice/notice issued to you.  Once a payment has been made it cannot be cancelled.

11.4 All credit/debit card payments are processed through a secure third party online payment system.  We will only receive transaction data that enables payment to be made to your account.  If your payment is not successfully processed due to credit/debit card or other issues your payment liability to us will remain outstanding.  If your payment liability remains outstanding you may be subject to penalties, interest and other charges in accordance with any relevant terms and conditions.  Fulfilment of your rates, payment and regulatory obligations are your sole responsibility.

11.5 We accept no responsibility for refusal or reversal of payments by your bank/card issuer, which shall be a matter between you and your bank/card issuer.  Likewise, if you select an amount to be paid to us and this payment is accepted but it is later found that the amount paid is insufficient you remain liable to us for the balance owing.

11.6 You warrant that:

(a) if you are using a credit card to process a transaction, the credit card is issued in your name and that you shall pay to the issuer all charges incurred while using online transactions;

(b) if you are using a debit card, Real Time Debit or Account 2 Account, the associated account is in your name and that you shall pay to the issuer all charges incurred while using online transactions; and

(c) the information supplied by you in all transactions is true and correct.

11.7 You agree that, where you acquire products or services from us for the purposes of a business, any provisions of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 which would otherwise apply to the supply by us of those products or services do not apply.

12.1 You will be charged a fee of 2.3% (GST inclusive) plus 10 cents per online transaction.  We do not retain any part of these fees.  They are processing fees paid to ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited and Datacom Group Limited except the GST element, which is paid by us to Inland Revenue.

12.2 These fees appear separately on your receipt.

12.3 Other fees or charges may be charged by your bank/card issuer. It is your responsibility to ascertain what if any fees may apply.

12.4 If payment is made using a credit/debit card issued outside of New Zealand, any currency conversion will be done according to the terms and conditions of the card and there may be additional fees charged by your card issuer.

13.1 It is your responsibility to verify that all transaction information and other details are correct before making payment or confirming the transaction.  On completion of an online service transaction, you will be presented with a confirmation screen verifying the transaction. The transaction shall be binding at the time the confirmation screen is displayed.

You should print the transaction confirmation for future reference and your files.  We shall have no liability for transactions which are incorrect as a result of inaccurate data entry by you in the course of providing online services or for loss of data or information caused by factors outside our reasonable control.

14.1 Refunds may be granted at our discretion in circumstances determined by us.  Where applicable, the refund amount will not include any transaction fees incurred as part of the online transaction.

14.2 The majority of refunds will be made by direct credit to a nominated bank account.  If possible, electronic refunds will only be made to the debit/credit card or bank account from which the payment originated.

Contact office@wmk.govt.nz if you think you are entitled to a refund.

15.1 The information and tools/functions/calculators provided on the Websites should not be your only source of information when you are making resource management and building compliance decisions.  They should be treated as a guide only.  Use the Websites as a starting point and then seek independent professional advice.

16.1 The Websites may enable you to access other applications and websites.  Even though these applications and websites are accessible through the Websites, they are not owned and controlled by us.  Any links to third party websites are provided for convenience only, and the inclusion of any link does not imply that we endorse or verify such websites.  Articles or reports by named authors express their own views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Waimakariri District Council.  Accordingly, we are not responsible or liable for any loss or damage incurred by you as a result of your access to those applications and websites.

16.2 Your use of and access to third party applications and websites will be governed by their terms and conditions and privacy policies.  When accessing a third party website or application, we recommend that you read their terms and conditions and privacy policy.

17.1 The Websites are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis and use of them is at your sole risk.  We will try to promptly address (during normal business hours) all technical issues that arise in connection with the Websites, however there may be times when the Websites are inaccessible.

17.2 From time to time, we may issue an update to the Websites which may add, modify and/or remove features.  We will endeavour to let you know about these changes in advance, but these updates may be pushed out automatically with little or no notice.

17.3 To the maximum extent permitted by law we disclaim and exclude all implied conditions and warranties. To avoid doubt, we do not warrant that:

(a) the Websites will meet your specific requirements;

(b) the Websites will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error free;

(c) the results that may be obtained from the use of the Websites will be accurate or reliable;

(d) the quality of any products, services, information or other material purchased or obtained by you through the Websites will meet your expectations; or

(e) any errors in the Websites will be corrected.

17.4 Subject to our obligations under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, we will not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from the use of, or the inability to use, the Websites.

17.5 We may use third party suppliers to provide necessary hardware, software, networking, connectivity, storage and related technology required to provide the Websites. The acts and omissions of those third party suppliers may be outside of our control, and to the extent permitted by law we do not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any act or omission of any third party supplier.

Subject to our obligations under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, you agree that in all circumstances

18.1 These Terms are governed by New Zealand law, and you submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts for any matter or dispute arising in relation to these Terms.

18.2 These Terms, our Privacy Policy and any additional terms referenced on the Websites constitute our entire agreement and supersede all prior agreements, arrangements, understandings and representations (whether oral or written) given by or made between us and you, in relation to these Terms or use of the Websites.

18.3 If any provision of these Terms is found by a court or other competent authority to be invalid, unenforceable or in conflict with the law, that provision is limited or eliminated to the minimum extent so that these Terms otherwise remain in full effect.

18.4 If we do not exercise or enforce any right available to us under these Terms, it does not constitute a waiver of those rights.

18.5 The headings used throughout these Terms are provided for your convenience and do not affect the meaning of these Terms.