Terms and Conditions of Use

1. Introduction

These Terms and Conditions govern the access and use of the website www.portoenergyhub.pt (“Website”) by its visitors or users (hereinafter, “User” or “Users”). 

The Website is property of the partners of the consortium created in the context of the Porto Energy Hub project, constituted by the following entities: 

  • Agência de Energia do Porto, entity with the legal number 507 886 550, with registered office at Rua de Gonçalo Cristóvão, nº 347, Fr.B Est. 2, 4000-270 Porto;
  • S317 Consulting, Lda., entity with the legal number 513560491, with registered office at Avenida Elias Garcia, Número 79, R/C 1050-097 Lisboa; 
  • RdA – Climate Solutions Unipessoal, Lda., entity with the legal number 513084274, with registered office at Rua Antero de Quental, Nº 10, 3880-148 Ovar; and
  • Telles de Abreu e Associados – Sociedade De Advogados, SP., RL., entity with the legal number 502790652, with registered office at Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa, 1131, 4150-360 Porto.

The User by visiting or using the Website or any of the information, data files, written text, graphics, links, audio files or other sounds, photographs, videos or other images (collectively, “Content”), resources and services, including newsletter subscriptions, as well as services provided within the scope of the implementation of energy efficiency projects (collectively, including Content, the “Services”), accepts (i) these Terms and Conditions of Use (“Terms and Conditions”) and confirms the reading and understanding of the (ii)  Privacy Policy made available on the Website.

2. Services

The Porto Energy Hub aims to support energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to mitigate energy poverty and improve living conditions (comfort and salubrity) in the North region.

Having its initial focus on the Metropolitan Area of Porto North of the Douro River (AMP-ND), the Porto Energy Hub intends to extend its support to the entire North Region and to other territories that wish to benefit from this approach.

The Porto Energy Hub will function as a one-stop-shop providing integrated services to support the implementation of energy efficiency measures, through support in identifying business models, financing to be used and contractual models.

Through the Website, the Partners enable the User to access the Services in the context of the PEH, in particular:

  • Performing a prior diagnosis;
  • Advice on the most energy efficient measures, existing financing programmes and applicable legislation; 
  • Assessment of the housing energy performance, if necessary, with expert expertise on site;
  • Identification of priority areas of intervention, of opportunities for improvement and support in their implementation, facilitating contact with specialised teams;
  • Identification of funding opportunities appropriate to the case in question and support in completing applications for incentives; and
  • Monitoring of implementation work. 

The provision of these Services requires the provision and collection of information through the website forms, as well as throughout the entire process, namely, on-site, it may be necessary to collect additional information, for example, about the work, measures actually implemented and project indicators.

3. Responsibility of Users

The Partners reserve the right to change these Terms and Conditions at any time, limiting itself to placing change online on the Website, being the User’s exclusive responsibility the verification and compliance with said terms at the time of each use. The use of the Website after the changes are published implies the acceptance of the updated wording of the Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with the changes made or, in general, with the Terms and Conditions updated, you must immediately stop using the Website and the Services. 

By accessing, using, and downloading materials from the Website, the User agrees, on their behalf and/or on behalf of the entity on behalf of those acting, complying promptly with the provisions of these Terms and Conditions, ensuring that they have the capacity to act on behalf of the third party they represent, if necessary. 

Access to the Services is expressly prohibited by any means other than through the interface provided by the Partners, as well as access (or attempt to access) to the Website and/or to the Services through automated means (including the use of scripts or web crawlers).

Use of Website for purposes other than those for which the Website is intended, including illegal purposes or any other that may be considered harmful of the image of the Partners, is expressly prohibited. Usurpation, counterfeiting, use of usurped or counterfeited content, illegitimate identification and unfair competition entail criminal and/or contravention responsibility. 

The User is also prohibited to create or enter on this Website any types of viruses or programs that damage or contaminate it or advise third parties to do so.

3. Partners Rights and Obligations

The Partners reserve the right to:

  1. modify, add or remove parts of the Terms and Conditions at all time;
  2. modify or terminate the Services for any reason and without prior notice at all times; and
  3. modify, replace, refuse access to the Website and to the Services, suspend or discontinue them, in whole or in full. 

These changes will take Effect from their placement on the Website or on the date of submission of any communications.

4. Intellectual Property 

All information contained on the Website and the Services, and all data and information compiled by the Partners associated to it (such as data files, written text, Software, music, audio files or other sounds, photographs, videos, or other images) to which you may have access as part of the Services or through their use are considered content of the Partners. The User is not allowed to modify, allocate, lend, borrow, sell, distribute, or create a derivative work based on such content (partially or totally) unless they have been expressly authorized in writing for this purpose by the Partners or by third party who holds their intellectual property and personality rights.

The User acknowledges and agrees that Partners retains all intellectual property rights (whether such rights are registered or unregistered and wherever in the world such rights may exist) in relation to the Services. The Partners retain all rights not expressly granted to the User in these Terms and Conditions.

The User further agrees not to remove, obscure, or alter any intellectual property rights notices (including copyright and trademark notices) that may be affixed to or contained within the Services.

Trademarks and related 

Unless you have been expressly authorised by Partners to do so, nothing in these Terms and Conditions gives the User the right to use any of Partners’ registered trademarks, commercial marks, service marks, logos, domain names and other distinctive brand features.

5. Disclaimer of Warranty

To the extent permitted by applicable legislation, services are provided “as they are” and “as available” and the Partners do not provide any kind of guarantee in relation to them. In particular, the Partners do not guarantee the User that (i) the use of the Services meets their needs or expectations; (ii) the use of the Services is not interrupted, or that is punctual, secure or error-free; (iii) any information obtained, resulting from the use of the Services is accurate or reliable; and (iv) defects, if any, in the operation or functionality of any software provided as part of the services will be corrected. 

No conditions, guarantees or other terms (including any implied terms as to satisfactory quality, fitness for a purpose or conformity with description) apply to the services except to the extent expressly set out in these Terms and Conditions.

The use, by the User, of the Website, Services, as well as of any materials downloaded or otherwise obtained using the Services is made at the User’s sole cost and risk and is solely responsible for any damages and lost profits caused to the equipment on which it makes use or visualization of the Website, Services, and materials available there.

No recommendation or information, oral or written, of the Partners shall be construed as constituting a guarantee of any kind, unless expressly provided for in these Terms and Conditions.

To facilitate User accessibility, Partner may include links to websites on the Internet that are owned or operated by third parties. When using links to such third-party websites, the User must review and accept the rules of that website before using it. The user must also accept that Partners do not control the content of that website and cannot assume any responsibility for material created or published on the websites, or services provided by third parties. In addition, a link to a non-Partners website does not mean that it endorses the website, or the products and services referenced therein.

6. Limitation of Responsibility

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Partners assume no responsibility for any damages resulting from: 

  1. any changes Partners ay make to the Services or any permanent or temporary termination of the provision of the services (or any features of the services);
  2. deletion, corruption or storage error of any content or any communications data maintained or transmitted by or using the Services; and
  3. direct or indirect violation of these Terms and Conditions. 

The Partners liability as indemnification for any emerging damages related to the Website and the Services, caused by Partners, their representatives or assistant is limited to cases where it acts with criminal intent or gross negligence, and any liability for lost profits is excluded. If you disagree, in part or in full, with the Website or the Services, or these Terms and Conditions, you only have the possibility to stop using the Website or the Services, as applicable.

7. Privacy Policy

The Privacy Policy is available on this document. The document contains an explanation of the procedures adopted by the Partners and third-parties entities providing services through the Website, as part of the processing of personal data of their Users and the protection of their privacy, when using the Website and the Services. 

8. Generic Concepts

Prevalence

In the event of conflict between the Terms and Conditions and other specific provisions or specific terms and conditions existing on the Website relating to certain materials, the latter should prevail.

Exercise of Rights 

The non-exercise or non-immediate application of rights or provisions by the Partners, provided for in the Terms and Conditions, shall not be construed as a waiver thereof.

Completeness

The Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between the User and Partners regarding the use and consultation, by the User, of the Website and the Services, and regulate their use (excluding any Services that may be provided by the Partners under a separate written agreement), fully replacing any previous agreements established between the User and the Partners in relation to the Website and the Services.

Reduction

The invalidity, declared by a court or arbitral award passed on trial, of any provision of the Terms and Conditions does not determine the invalidity of the others, reserving Partners the right, where appropriate, to modify the Terms and Conditions accordingly in order to rectify the invalidity. 

Notifications/Communications/Complaints

Any notifications and communications from the Partners to the User under the Terms and Conditions shall preferably be made to the email address or address made available by the User in their User Account, without prejudice to Partners being able to use other elements and forms of contact. 

Any notifications, communications and complaints from the User should preferably be made to the email: geral@portoenergyhub.pt.

9. Applicable Law and Forum 

The Terms and Conditions, as well as the User relationship with the Partners in accordance with them, are governed by applicable Portuguese law. The User and the Partners agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of justice of Oporto district to resolve any legal matters resulting from the Terms and Conditions, without prejudice to the applicable mandatory legal rules. Notwithstanding the above-mentioned, the Partners may apply precautionary measures (or equivalent type of urgent legal compensation) in any jurisdiction.