General conditions of use (GCU) of the REFMAR® production system

The objective of the REFMAR® production system is to promote real time broadcasting in favor of the operational systems and to coordinate time-delayed broadcasting of the observations, ensuring accessibility and reuse conditions in compliance with the provisions in force relating to public information. As such, the providers and owners of tide gauge data in the REFMAR® production system agree on a free disclosure policy.

 

1- Commitments of the re-user

The re-user of the tide gauge data communicated in REFMAR® commits to:

• registering as a REFMAR® re-user;

• briefly describing the purpose of his studies and their background (organization, financing, program, project manager, development period);

• communicating the final and/or partial results of his studies (reports, articles etc.) within a period of two months as from the achievement of these projects;

• stating the source of the datum (© name of the body owning the data) and the access there to (REFMAR®) as follows: The observations of … tide gauges name of the observatory … and … name of the observatory … are the property… name of the owner of the datum … and are available on the REFMAR website (refmar.shom.fr);

• reporting any problems relating to the quality or the integrity of the data; providing systematic feedback to REFMAR® (refmar@shom.fr) on the observations which may seem questionable in order to allow the REFMAR® application system management team to improve the measurement records available to the re-users;

• not disclosing the data proceeding from the REFMAR® application system to third parties.

 

2- Responsability of the owners of the data disclosed in the REFMAR® production system

Via the REFMAR® system, the data owners provide the re-users with current information, i.e. data that they hold or exploit as part of their missions, without any expressed or implied guarantee. The re-user acknowledges exploiting the data under his sole responsibility and at his own risk. Any damage to the re-user or a third party resulting in the reuse of the data subject of these GCU is the sole responsibility of the re-user. The data owners can not be held responsible for any temporary unavailability of the data subject of these GCU in the REFMAR® application system due to Force Majeure or a third party. The data owners accept no responsibility for damage suffered by a third party due to products or services provided by the re-user and containing the data subject of these GCU. The re-user commits to acting as a guarantor for any appeal against REFMAR® and the data owners due to products or services provided by the re-user and containing the data subject to these GCU and to bear alone the legal and financial consequences of such an appeal.

 

3- Responsability of the REFMAR® production system broadcaster

The SHOM as a broadcaster of the REFMAR® production system, relating to the commitments in these GCU, is bound only to a best effort obligation concerning the access to the REFMAR® broadcasting system which depends on the Internet. The SHOM can not be held liable for the guarantee of the rate of availability of the services provided (data and metadata proceeding from the sea-level observatories) on the REFMAR® production system. The SHOM reserves the right to interrupt the service allowing no recourse for the re-users against it on these grounds. Wherever possible the SHOM commits to informing the users of service interruptions in advance.

 

4- Conditions for reuse

The data disclosure is free for:

• Government services;

• The universities and research laboratories, for use applied to research and excluding commercial purposes;

• The industrial and commercial organizations, including private ones involved in research projects limited exclusively to internal use for research projects in public services or public service delegation, excluding commercial activities. The retransmission of this data is also prohibited;

• A private individual for personal use.

Outside the afore mentioned scope, the disclosure of the data to the applicant is subject to analysis of the SHOM and if applicable the applicant is referred to the data owners.