General terms and conditions of business (GTBC) for the use of the Nect wallet
Nect GmbH (hereinafter referred to as "Nect") offers digital proof of identity, acts as an identity provider and offers digital signatures for the user (natural persons pursuant to § 13 of the German Civil Code or companies pursuant to § 14 of the German Civil Code) 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”). The procedure is divided into the following types:
Automated Video Ident - capture of the user and the identification documents by video, photo and audio function.
eID - capture of identification documents by video, photo and NFC function.
ePass - capture of the identity documents by video, photo and NFC function and capture of the user by the video, photo and audio functions.
Re-Ident - capture of the user through the video, photo and audio functions and reusing the data of the ID documents (see 4.e and 4.f).
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 exclusively in the relationship between Nect and the user with regard to the use of the Nect Wallet and the services of Nect. Any transactions conducted between the user and the Nect partners or other third parties shall be subject exclusively to the provisions agreed upon between the user and the respective Nect partners or other third parties.
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.
Nect enables you to digitally sign documents with an advanced (AES) or qualified electronic signature (QES). Likewise, partner companies use the Nect Ident procedure as part of the electronic signature on their sites.
Nect uses approved trust service providers to create the necessary signature certificates. Explicit reference is made to the separate terms and conditions of the trust service providers prior to the signature.
An identification result from a Nect-Ident procedure is required to perform the Nect-Sign procedure as part of the QES.
After successful execution of the Nect-Ident procedure, the document to be signed (e.g., contract) is presented to the user.
The AES or QES of the document takes place after confirmation by the user.
If the user is a company in the sense of § 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB), the user can regularly first enter the data of the applying company on the partner homepage on his own responsibility before the user enters the scope of Nect.
The details of the company are checked and / or expanded via public and / or proprietary company registers. If necessary, the user may be asked to manually enter additional information about the company, especially if the partner company has not already entered this information. As a rule, however, this check is carried out completely and automatically in the background.
In the case of an electronic signature (FES or QES), the authorization check is also performed by Nect using digital and automated register checks. If the authorization check is not successful, the user is entitled to authorize a third party authorized to sign on his behalf. However, this shall in no way result in an obligation for Nect to investigate and/or inquire at the competent public and/or proprietary commercial registers. In the Nect Sign procedure, Nect optionally only provides the user with the technical option of uploading the data of a third party authorized to sign on its own responsibility. If the User wishes to use the optional authorization of a third party authorized to sign in the Nect Sign procedure, the User alone as the grantor of the authorization is responsible for the legally binding granting of the authorization. Nect and its employees as well as other employees or subcontractors used by Nect shall not check the declaration of authorization. In particular, Nect is not responsible for the correctness of the data provided by the third party authorized to sign, nor for the legal scope and / or effectiveness of the authorization.
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 without giving any reason. The withdrawal period begins after receipt of this instruction in text form, but not before the conclusion of the contract and also not before we have fulfilled our information obligations pursuant to Article 246 § 2 in conjunction with § 1 paragraph 1 and 2 EGBGB as well as our obligations pursuant to § 312g paragraph 1 sentence 1 BGB in conjunction with Article 246 § 3 EGBGB.
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 e-mail) about your decision to withdraw from this contract. You can use the attached model withdrawal form for this purpose, but it is not mandatory. To comply with the withdrawal period, it is sufficient that you send the notification of the exercise of the right of withdrawal before the expiry of the withdrawal period in time.
Consequences of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, all mutually received payments that we have received from you, concurrently with the services and / or benefits (such as benefits of use) received by you, are to be repaid immediately, but no later than 14 days from the day on which the notification of withdrawal from this contract is received by us. For this repayment, we will use the same means of payment that you used in the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with you. In no case will you be charged any fees because of this repayment.
If you have requested that the services begin during the withdrawal period, you shall pay us a reasonable amount corresponding to the proportion of the services already provided up to the point in time at which you notify us of the exercise of the right of withdrawal with regard to this contract compared to the total scope of the services provided for in the contract.
Exclusion of the right of withdrawal The right of withdrawal does not apply if you are acting in a predominantly commercial or self-employed professional capacity when concluding the legal transaction and you are therefore to be regarded as an entrepreneur (§ 14 BGB).
Further important notice You expressly agree that we may commence performance of the service before the end of the withdrawal period.
End of the withdrawal policy
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: September 2023