TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

These Terms and Conditions of Use (referred to as "Terms of Use") apply to the MyGateway portal (referred to as the “Portal”). The Portal is the centralized secure way to request and pay for government services. The Portal is used by clients of the Government of The Bahamas, which includes its ministries, departments, and agencies (referred to as the “GoBh”) to deliver its services. The Portal is owned by the GoBh and is managed, controlled and/or operated by the GoBh and/or its authorized contractors. Data and information exchanged and/or stored on the Portal resides within the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. You must be at least 18 years old to use the Portal.
BY USING THE PORTAL, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE.
The GoBh reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of these Terms of Use, at any time. It is your responsibility to check these Terms of Use periodically for changes. As a participant you must read the information below and agree to the terms and conditions. Should you choose to use the Portal after a change is made this signifies to the GoBh that you agree the changes and indemnify the GoBh against any cause of action that may arise. GoBh may modify the services on the Portal from time to time, including by adding or deleting features and functions, as we continually improve our services, the Portal, and the experience we offer You.

1. DEFINITIONS“Terms of Use”means these Terms and Conditions.
   “Confidential Information”means any information obtained from you, the disclosing party, which ought reasonably to be considered as confidential and cannot be divulged to a third party without your consent provided that this clause shall not extend to information (a) which is disclosed or obtained lawfully for the purposes of obtaining a service and/or completing the necessary process to receive a service provided by the GoBh, (b) which is already public knowledge or becomes so at a future date (otherwise than as a result of a breach of this clause) (c) which is expressly marked as confidential or which is manifestly of a confidential nature or which is confirmed in writing to be confidential within 7 days of its disclosure.
   “Data”means any data inputted by You into the Portal and the processed data that is made available to You as a direct result of Your use of the Portal.
   “Disclosing Party”means You, the participant.
   “Government Service”means (and/or includes) the execution of mandatory and procedural activities by internal human or system resources which provide valuable output requested or required by an individual whether personally or on behalf of another person and may also include circumstances where the output requested or required is relevant to an entity recognized by law.
   “Intellectual Property Right”means any patent, trademark, service mark, copyright, moral right, right in a design, know-how and any other intellectual or industrial property rights, anywhere in the world whether or not registered.
   “Loss”means all liabilities, expenses, losses, damages, and costs (including legal costs) and expenses, however arising.
   “Participant”means You.
   “Portal”means the Internet Portal at the domain https://mygateway.gov.bs.
2. RIGHT OF ACCESSYou have the right to access and use the Portal for the intended purpose of requesting Government Services and to conduct any matters, functions, or processes related thereto. This right is exclusive only to you and does not allow for you to appoint an individual to act on your behalf as a user under your profile.
3. USE OF THE PORTAL
   1. You may use the portal to request and/or apply for a Government Service virtually.
   2. You may not use any automatic device, program, algorithm, or methodology, or any similar or equivalent manual process, to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of the Portal or any content or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Portal or any content, to obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not purposely made available through the Portal. GoBh reserves the right to prohibit any such activity.
   3. You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion or feature of the Portal, or any other system(s) or network(s) connected to the Portal or to any server, or to any of the services offered on or through the Portal, by hacking, password "mining" or any other illegitimate means.
   4. You may not probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Portal or any network connected to the Portal, nor breach the security or authentication measures on the Portal or any network connected to the Portal.
   5. You may not exploit the Portal, or any service or information made available or offered by or through the Portal, including but not limited to personal identification or information, other than your own information.
   6. You may not use the Portal or any related content for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms of Use, or to solicit the performance of any illegal activity or other activity.
4. ACCOUNTS, PASSWORDS AND SECURITY
   1. Certain features or services offered on or through the Portal will require you to set up an account (including the use of a valid, secured email address) and provide your mobile phone number for the purpose of authenticating your identity by using a one-time password (“OTP”). The OTP will be transmitted through the short message service (“SMS”) by the GoBh to your mobile number and to your email address. You will be required to input the OTP (wherever and whenever applicable that you are prompted and requested to do so) when you use the Portal to access any service.
   2. You must ensure that your mobile phone number is able to receive text messages and you will be responsible for any fee(s) imposed by your mobile phone service provider.
   3. You must not disclose to a third party the OTP that is transmitted to your mobile phone number, and you must ensure that your mobile phone number is protected from unauthorized use by any third parties.
   4. You must ensure that your username and passwords required to access the Portal are kept secure and confidential. Your username and password issued to you must not be shared. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the information you hold for your account, including your password.
   5. You accept liability for any and all activity that occurs under your account as a result of your failing to keep this information secure and confidential. You agree to notify GoBh immediately where you suspect any unauthorized use of your account or password, or any other breach of security.
   6. You must not attempt to undermine the security or integrity of the Portal; use, or misuse, the Portal in any way which may impair the Portal or impair the ability of any other user to use the Portal, including using the Portal in a malicious, fraudulent or unlawful manner; attempt to gain unauthorized access; attempt to modify, copy, adapt, reproduce, disassemble, decompile or reverse engineer any aspect of the Portal.
5. YOUR OBLIGATIONS
   1. You should only access the Portal for your own lawful purposes connected with requesting and/or receiving Government Services or utilizing any of the functions provided by the Portal and intended for your use.
   2. You are required to take all necessary actions to protect the confidentiality of your login information.
   3. You agree that GoBh may review Your use of the Portal at any time, and You will provide any reasonable assistance to verify Your compliance with this Agreement.
   4. If You use any communication tools available through the Portal (such as a message board), You agree only to use such communication tools for lawful and legitimate purposes. You must not use any such communication tool for posting or disseminating any material unrelated to the use of the Portal, and in particular to use non-verbal language that may be seen as pervasive intimidating, hostile or offensive and/or unsolicited commercial e-mail, or files.
   5. You agree and acknowledge that You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of Data inputted into the Portal by You (including but not limited to your mobile phone number). GoBh is under no obligation to ensure that Your Data in the Portal is accurate.
   6. You agree and acknowledge that You are responsible for updating your information in the Portal where changes may occur. For example, name change, change of mobile phone number, changes in address. GoBh may not be under an obligation to ensure that Your Data is updated when changes occur. Your failure to provide any required information may result in your inability to access any service on the Portal.
6. CONFIDENTIALITY AND PRIVACY
   1. Unless the relevant party has the prior written consent of the other or unless required to do so by law each party will preserve the confidentiality of all Confidential Information obtained in connection with these Terms. Neither party will, without the prior written consent of the other, disclose or make any Confidential Information available to any person, or use the same for its own benefit, other than as expressly contemplated by these Terms and/or to provide the requested Government Service.
   2. GoBh will maintain a privacy policy that sets out what information will be collected and why, what GoBh does with that information, and how the information is handled. You should read the Privacy Policy posted on the Portal.
   3. For the purposes of abiding by the Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Information) Act, 2003 you agree that this Terms of Use and the accompanying Privacy Policy is understood as a determination between you and the GoBh for the manner in which any personal data will be processed.
   4. The GoBh, however, is authorized by you to use the data you provide for any additional Government Service. You grant GoBh the permission to use, copy, transmit, store, and back-up Your Data for the purposes of enabling You to access and use Government Services and for any other purpose related to the provision of Government Services to You, and matters ancillary thereto by prescribed technologies.
7. DUTY TO DISCLOSEGoBh may disclose any information we have about you (including your identity) if we determine that such disclosure is necessary in connection with any investigation or complaint regarding your use of the Portal, or to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) the rights or property of the GoBh. GoBh is under a statutory duty to disclose any information deemed necessary in order to comply with any applicable law, regulation, or court process.
8. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
   1. All text, graphics, user interfaces, visual interfaces, photographs, trademarks, logos, sounds, music, artwork and computer code (collectively referred to as "Content"), including but not limited to the design, structure, selection, coordination, expression, "look and feel" and arrangement of such Content, contained on the Portal is owned and/or controlled by the GoBh, and is protected by intellectual property rights and laws.
   2. Except where expressly provided in these Terms of Use, no part of the Portal and no Content may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted or distributed in any way (including "mirroring") to any other computer, server, Portal or other medium for publication or distribution without the express permission of the GoBh.
9. DELETION OF DATAShould you choose to discontinue using the Portal or GoBh otherwise suspends and/or terminate Your access to the Portal, GoBh in its discretion reserves the right, to either (a) delete Your data or (b) archive Your data for a period of time as designated by the Public Records Act, 1971 or such legislation that may seek to repeal, amend or replace same.
10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DISCLAIMERS
    1. You acknowledge and agree that GoBh gives no warranty about the Portal and, without limiting the foregoing, GoBh does not warrant that the use of the Portal will be uninterrupted or error free. Among other things, the operation and availability of the systems used for accessing the Portal, including telephone services, computer networks and the Internet, can be unpredictable and may from time to time interfere with or prevent access to the Portal. GoBh is not in any way responsible for any such interference or prevention of Your access or use of the Portal.
    2. All information provided on the portal is subject to change without notice.
    3. GoBh disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the Portal, including any loss, damages or expenses of any kind incurred or suffered by you arising from or in connection with any failure, delay or interruption in transmission, including the transmission of OTPs and SMS messaging or any suspension or unavailability of the same due to any failure of your mobile service network or any other force majeure events such as matters which are beyond our reasonable control.
    4. GoBh is not liable for any indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive or exemplary loss or damages, including loss of profits, loss of business, loss due to business interruption or loss of any software programme or hardware equipment or data in your mobile device or computer equipment and their systems.
    5. GoBh reserves the right to do any of the following, at any time: without notice to You, modify, suspend or terminate operation of or access to the Portal, or any portion of the Portal, for any reason and to interrupt the operation of the Portal, or any portion of the Portal, as necessary to perform routine or non-routine maintenance, error correction, or other changes.
11. LIMITATION OF LIABILITYYou agree to indemnify GoBh against all losses (direct or consequential) that may incur arising out of or in connection with Your breach of any of these Terms.
12. GENERAL DATA PROTECTION RULES (GDPR) UNDERTAKINGThe Government of The Bahamas is currently upgrading its laws to ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Rules (GDPR). Individuals who are subject to the GDPR mandate should review and fully understand the Terms of Use and Privacy Statement and are encouraged to consult with the applicable laws of their respective member country before proceeding.
13. GENERALThese Terms, together with the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between You and GoBh relating to the use of the Web Portal and the other matters dealt with in these Terms.
14. HELP DESKYou are entitled to technical support. GoBh will endeavour to address all queries and requests for assistance received via email at mygateway@bahamas.gov.bs but does not warrant that support will be immediately available.
15. GOVERNING LAWYou agree that all matters relating to your access to or use of the Portal, including all disputes, will be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.