Terms of use

By accessing and browsing this website, our social media channels and/or subsidiary websites, you accept, without limitation or qualification, the terms outlined below.

Last updated 6 December 2023.

1. Application of these terms

  1. Christchurch City Council (Council, we, us, our) owns and operates:
    1. the Council Website; and
    2. the My Christchurch account system (My Christchurch) is included as part of the Council Website through which you may create a user account (User Account) that can be used to login, interact with and manage your preferences on the Council Website.
  2. These Terms comprise three parts, as follows:
    1. Section 2, which outlines the terms and conditions that you must accept in order to use the Council Website generally (General Terms);
    2. Section 3, which outlines additional terms and conditions that you must accept in order to use My Christchurch (My Christchurch Terms); and
    3. Section 4, which provides information about the terms and conditions that will apply when you use other Council services that feature an account system that is separate and distinct from My Christchurch (Other Council Service Terms).
      (together the Terms)
  3. Unless otherwise expressly agreed, these Terms supersede any prior agreements or arrangements in place with you prior to the last date of amendment of these Terms.
  4. Once accepted by you, these Terms shall apply until terminated pursuant to clause 11.
  5. Capitalised words not otherwise defined within these Terms have the meanings given in clause 6.

2. General Terms

  1. Scope of General Terms: The General Terms include:
    1. These Terms, which:
      1. if you do use My Christchurch, shall include the My Christchurch Terms contained in clause 3; or
      2. if you do not use My Christchurch, shall not include the My Christchurch Terms contained in clause 3;
    2. the Privacy Policy; and
    3. any Ancillary Terms that apply (as outlined in clause 2).
  2. Ancillary Terms:
    1. Other Council services or websites to which these Terms apply may have specific additional terms and conditions or privacy matters that apply in addition to, or instead of, the terms set out in these Terms and our Privacy Policy (Ancillary Terms).
    2. Any Ancillary Terms:
      1. must be read in addition to these General Terms; and
      2. shall form a part of these Terms (and the legally binding contract between you and us) for the purposes of that Council Website.
    3. Where there is a conflict between these General Terms and any Ancillary Terms, the Ancillary Terms will prevail.
  3. Application of General Terms:
    1. We obtain your acceptance of the General Terms as follows:
      1. when you are accessing the Council Website in your individual capacity, your access and use of the Council Website constitutes an agreement to be bound by the General Terms;
      2. when you are accessing the Council Website on behalf of a third party, by accessing and using the Council Website you warrant that you are authorised to bind that third party to the General Terms and that you in fact agree to the General Terms on the third party's behalf.
    2. If you do not agree to the General Terms, we do not authorise you to access and use the Council Website.
  4. Permitted methods of accessing the Council Website:
    1. When using the Council Website, you must:
      1. access it using standard web browsers only and not by any other method; and
      2. ensure that your device and the network through which you are accessing the Council Website is secure and will not cause harm to the Council Website or Underlying Systems.
    2. When using the Council Website, you must not:
      1. act in a way, or use or introduce anything (including any virus, worm, Trojan horse, timebomb, keystroke logger, spyware or other similar feature) that in any way compromises, or may compromise, the Council Website or any Underlying System, or otherwise attempt to damage or interfere with the Council Website or any Underlying System;
      2. appropriate our data including by scraping, deep-linking, harvesting, data mining, reverse-engineering, use of a robot or spider, automation, or any similar data gathering, extraction or monitoring method without prior agreement from us;
      3. manipulate the content on the Council Website via the alteration of the underlying HTML, CSS, or any other code or through the use of image editing tools and subsequently purport that the modified appearance or content of the Council Website was published or approved by us;
      4. attempt to gain unauthorised access to or impair any aspect of the Council Website or services.
  5. Content of Council Website:
    1. The preparation and provision of information on the Council Website has been made in good faith from a number of sources that are believed to be reliable. All due care has been taken to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date.
    2. We shall not be liable for any errors and omissions, nor for any direct or indirect, incidental, or consequential loss or damage arising out of or in connection with the use of the Council Website, or the information contained on it, or from using the transaction processing services on them.
    3. We do not guarantee or represent that the content and/or facilities (including, but not limited to, transaction processing services) available or accessible via the Council Website and subsidiary websites will always be accurate, complete or current, and free of errors, defects, viruses or other harmful components.
  6. Third-party links:
    1. Any links or references to other websites are provided as a convenience only. Such links do not imply control, endorsement, affiliation or approval of or responsibility for those sites and their contents, operations, products or operators. Such links are for your convenience only. We will not be liable for any direct or indirect loss or damage suffered by you when accessing and interacting with any linked websites.
    2. If you wish to provide a link to our site from your website, you must do so in such a way that it is clear to users that the pages are part of the Council Website. You must not represent any page or part of the Council Website. You must not do anything which alters the Council Website or interferes with its operation.
  7. User-provided content:
    1. Where the Council Website allows you to upload, submit or publish content that is made available to us, other users, or the public, you must comply with this clause 7.
    2. By submitting content to the Council Website, you warrant that:
      1. you are the sole and exclusive owner of the content and you have all rights, licences, consents and releases necessary to grant us and our affiliates a licence to use and reproduce the content.
      2. the content is not defamatory, libellous, hateful, violent, obscene, pornographic, unlawful, or otherwise offensive or prohibited by law.
    3. We may review and monitor user content that is submitted to our site and we reserve the right to remove any content that is inappropriate or unlawful. Where required, we may refer such content to any relevant authorities.
    4. You agree that, where you submit content to us:
      1. we will own the intellectual property in that content pursuant to clause 10(e); and
      2. we may use your content as we see appropriate; and
    5. Where your content contains Personal Information, our use of that content will be subject to our Privacy Policy.
  8. Changes to the Terms:
    1. We may change any of these Terms from time to time by uploading an updated version of Terms that are accessible at [link]. We will indicate the date of the last update of the Terms within those Terms.
    2. Where we update the General Terms, to the extent that the changes do not apply to My Christchurch, you will be deemed to accept the updated terms in the same manner described in clause 3(a).
  9. Updates to the Council Website:
    1. We may from time to time update or further develop the Council Website, including to provide bug fixes and/or adding new, replacement or improved features or functionality.
    2. Where we release an update to the Council Website, it will be available to you when you next use the Council Website.
    3. We may also, at our sole discretion, choose to cease making any part of the Council Website (or means of accessing it) available at any time.
  10. Intellectual property:
    1. Unless otherwise indicated, we or our licensors hold the copyright and other intellectual property rights in all material that comprise the Council Website (Materials).
    2. The Materials can be accessed and used by you free of charge on any device that you own or control.
    3. Notwithstanding this:
      1. you do not acquire any ownership rights in the Materials by using the Council Website or any of the Materials; and
      2. Subject to clause 10(d), we do not authorise you to copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute, or use in any other way any of the Materials unless we have specifically authorised you to do so in writing.
    4. We authorise you to use the Materials for personal and non-commercial purposes free of charge, provided that:
      1. your use of the Materials removes any trademarks and logos of ours, as well as any Materials that are subject to third-party copyright;
      2. you disclose the source and copyright status of the Materials;
      3. the Materials are reproduced accurately; and
      4. the Materials are not used in a derogatory or misleading way.
    5. Anything you provide to us, including feedback, ideas or suggestions that you give us, shall become our intellectual property and may be used by us free of any obligations to you (including payment) other than any obligations owed to you under our Privacy Policy.
  11. Suspension and termination:
    1. Without prejudice to any other right or remedy available to us, we may suspend and/or terminate your right to access and use the Council Website with immediate effect at any time, including where you have not complied with these Terms. We will use all reasonable endeavours to notify you if we do so, except where we are prohibited from doing so under any applicable law.
    2. On suspension or termination, you must immediately cease using the Council Website and must not attempt to gain further access until we authorise you to do so.
  12. Assignment:
    1. Your rights and obligations under these Terms are personal to you and you may not assign or otherwise transfer any of your rights or obligations under these Terms to any other person without our prior written consent.
    2. We may assign or transfer any or all of our rights or obligations under these Terms at our sole discretion.
  13. Limitation of liability and indemnification:
    1. To the extent permitted by law, we, our licensors and providers of any Underlying Systems have no liability to you or any other person for any Loss in connection with:
      1. The Council Website being unavailable, performing poorly or behaving in a manner that is not expected nor intended;
      2. The restriction of your access to any or all of the Council Website;
      3. The discontinuation of any or all of the Council Website;
      4. Any errors in the content of, or omission of content, from the Council Website;
      5. Any exposure to viruses or other forms of interference which may damage your computer system, mobile device or any other device you are accessing the Council Website from or exposes you to fraud when accessing the Council Website;
      6. Any other website that is linked from the Council Website.
      7. Any dealings that you have with any third party who advertises on the Council Website.
    2. To the maximum extent permitted by law and to the extent that clause 13 does not apply, our total liability to you shall not exceed $250.00.
    3. You indemnify us and our employees and agents for all Loss we suffer or incur as a direct or indirect result of your failure to comply with these Terms, including, where the My Christchurch Terms apply, any failure of a person who accesses and uses the Council Website with your User Account regardless of whether that person was authorised to do so by you.
    4. Nothing in these Terms negates or constrains any rights you may have under the law that cannot be excluded.
  14. General:
    1. These Terms, and any dispute relating to these Terms, are governed by and must be interpreted in accordance with the laws of New Zealand. Each party submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of New Zealand in relation to any dispute connected with these Terms or the Council Website.
    2. Neither you nor us will be liable for any breach of these Terms, if and for so long as this breach is a direct result of circumstances beyond the breaching party’s reasonable control.
    3. No waiver by you or us of your or our (as applicable) rights under these Terms will be effective unless it is in writing.
    4. Clauses which, by their nature, are intended to survive termination of these Terms shall continue in effect beyond termination.
    5. If any part or provision of these Terms is or becomes illegal, unenforceable, or invalid, that part or provision is deemed to be modified to the extent required to remedy the illegality, unenforceability or invalidity. If a modification is not possible, the part or provision must be treated for all purposes as severed from these Terms. The remainder of these Terms will be binding on you.
    6. Unless otherwise expressly stated in these Terms, these Terms set out everything agreed by the parties relating to your use of the Service and supersede and cancel anything discussed, exchanged or agreed prior to you agreeing to these Terms. The parties have not relied on any representation, warranty or agreement relating to My Christchurch that is not expressly set out in the Terms, and no such representation, warranty or agreement has any effect from the date you agreed to these Terms. 

3. My Christchurch Terms

  1. Application of My Christchurch Terms:
    1. The My Christchurch Terms apply when you create your User Account and use it on the Council Website.
    2. We obtain your acceptance of the My Christchurch Terms as follows:
      1. when you create a User Account in your individual capacity, your creation of that User Account constitutes agreement to be bound by the My Christchurch Terms;
      2. when you create a User Account on behalf of a third party individual, by accessing and using that User Account you warrant that you are authorised to bind that third party to our Terms and that you in fact agree to the Terms on that third party's behalf; or
      3. when you create a User Account on behalf of an entity (such as a business, company, trust, charity, or other organization (Entity)) (Entity User Account) by accessing and using that User Account you warrant that you are authorized to bind that Entity to our Terms and that you in fact agree to the Terms on that business or organisation's behalf.
    3. Your acceptance of the My Christchurch Terms imports the terms of this clause 3 into the legally binding contract between you and us formed by these Terms generally.
  2. Changes to the My Christchurch Terms: when we update the My Christchurch Terms:
    1. if we make a material change to the My Christchurch Terms:
      1. you will be asked to accept the updated My Christchurch Terms before they apply to you; and
      2. you will not be permitted to use your User Account unless you accept them; however,
    2. if we make a minor administrative or technical change, you will not be notified of the change, and you will be deemed to have accepted the updated My Christchurch Terms through your continued use of your User Account.
  3. Account creation:
    1. To be eligible to make a User Account in your individual capacity, you must be:
      1. an individual over 16 years of age

        and not otherwise prohibited from making an account with us under these Terms of by law.
    2. To be eligible to make a User Account on behalf of a third party individual, you must be:
      1. an individual over 16 years of age; and
      2. authorised by that third party individual to create the User Account (and be able to produce evidence of this authorisation upon request),

        and not otherwise prohibited from making an account with us under these Terms of by law.
    3. To be eligible to make a User Account on behalf of an Entity, you must be:
      1. an individual over 16 years of age; and
      2. authorised by that Entity to create the User Account (and be able to produce evidence of this authorisation upon request),

        and not otherwise prohibited from making an account with us under these Terms of by law.
    4. For the avoidance of doubt, you must not create a duplicate User Account for an individual or Entity that already has an existing User Account.
  4. Account Relationships:
    1. A User Account may be linked with another User Account to create an account relationship (Account Relationship).
    2. Account Relationships may be created as follows:
      1. where a Minor User Account is created, an Account Relationship will be created automatically with the legal guardian who authorised the creation of the Minor User Account (as further detailed in clause 5(c));
      2. an Account Relationship may be created by the Administrator of an Entity User Account where the Administrator requests the Account Relationship to be created and you accept this request; or
      3. an authorised person or Entity (for example, someone acting as a power of attorney, executor, or agent) requests access to a User Account and produces evidence satisfactory to us that that person or Entity does in fact hold the authority to consent to the Account Relationship being created).
    3. the both User Account holders consent to an Account Relationship being created;
      1. Where an Account Relationship is created, the extent of access that each User Account will have to the information of the other User Account will be determined on a case-by-case basis (for example, whether access is one-way, mutual, read-only, allows edits, is service specific, or is otherwise limited). No linked User Account will be entitled to take any actions in respect of your User Account unless you have explicitly consented to that access.
  5. Entity User Accounts:
    1. Where you create an Entity User Account, the User Account of the person that created the Entity User Account will be linked to and set as the administrator of that Entity User Account (Administrator).
    2. The Administrator will have the authority to:
      1. Create and remove Account Relationships between other User Accounts to and from the Entity User Account; and
      2. control the level of access and control that each linked User Account has over the information and data of the Entity.
    3. Where an Administrator is to cease employment or association with the Entity (or otherwise wishes to cease being the Administrator, it is the responsibility of that Administrator to assign the rights of administration to another User Account linked to the Entity.
  6. Personal Information:
    1. The creation and holding of a User Account by you requires you to provide us with some Personal Information about you and to consent to our collection, processing, and use of this Personal Information. By making an account with us, you warrant that:
      1. you have read, understand and accept our Privacy Policy;
      2. you are providing true, current and complete Personal Information; and
      3. when the Personal Information you have provided us with changes, you will promptly update that information where possible or will otherwise notify us of the change.
    2. Failure to comply with clause 7(a) may result in you being unable to use My Christchurch.
    3. The Personal Information you provide may, with your consent, be used to:
      1. link information and data about you already held by the Council that you have provided when interacting with Council services (such as your library member number, dogs registered in your name etc.); and
      2. match you with any associated entities, such as companies and trusts, which also use Council services.
  7. Account security:
    1. Where you hold a User Account, or you hold an Account Relationship with another User Account, you are responsible for:
      1. keeping the details of that User Account secure; and
      2. immediately notifying us if you become aware of any unauthorized disclosure or use of that User Account.
  8. Assignment: You may not assign your User Account to any other person. If you would like another person to have access to or control over your User Account, please set up an Account Relationship pursuant to clause 1(a).
  9. Account deletion: You may submit a request to us for your User Account be deleted, which will prevent your User Account from being used unless re-activated again in the future. Please note, however, that deletion of your User Account will not result in the deletion of your information (whether or not that is Personal Information) that we are required to hold by law.
  10. Inactive accounts: Where your User Account has not been active for a significant period of time, we may disable that User Account, which will result in it being unable to be used unless re-activated by us. Where we deactivate your User Account, we will notify you via email of this fact.

4. Terms to apply to other Council-owned websites

  1. Where you interact with any Council websites or web services that are not included within the definition of "Council Website", those services will each have their own respective terms of use and may also have additional privacy considerations beyond those set out in our Privacy Policy. These websites or web services and are not covered by these Terms (unless otherwise specified).
  2. Please consult the relevant terms of use and privacy policies of each other website or web service prior to using it.

5. Contact

  • If you have any queries or requests or complaints concerning the Council Website or My Christchurch, or you would otherwise like to reach out to us, please contact us online(external link), or call us on 03 941 8999.
  • If we need to contact you, we may do so by email (or other means provided by you) or, if you have a User Account, by presenting a notice shown specifically to you when you log into your User Account. You agree that this satisfies all legal requirements in relation to written communications.

6. Definitions

  1. In these Terms:
    1. Council Website means www.ccc.govt.nz.
    2. Loss includes loss of profits, savings, revenue or data, and any other claim, damage, loss, liability and cost, including legal costs on a solicitor and own client basis.
    3. Personal Information means any information about an identifiable individual in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.
    4. Privacy Policy means the policy that can be accessed at www.ccc.govt.nz/privacy(external link)
    5. Terms means the most current version of these terms and conditions that can be accessed at www.ccc.govt.nz/terms-of-use(external link)
    6. Underlying System means any network, system, software, data or material that underlies or is connected to the Service.
    7. You means you, or, if acting on behalf of a third party, you and that third party on whose behalf you are acting.

 

Ancillary terms of use

Where you interact with any Council websites or web services that are not included within the definition of Council website, those services will each have their own respective terms of use and may also have additional privacy considerations beyond those set out in our Privacy Policy. These websites or web services are not covered by these terms (unless otherwise specified).

Please consult the relevant terms of use and privacy policies of each other website or web service prior to using it.