Terms of use for Online Services (Department of Environment, Science and Innovation)

These terms of use are applicable to the Online Services platform. You can also view the general legal statements applicable to the department.

Your access to, and use of the Online Services platform is subject to these terms of use (terms) and our privacy policy. By accessing and using the Online Services platform, you acknowledge that you have read and understood, and agree to be bound by these terms.

1. Terms

We may vary these terms or other conditions for using the Online Services platform at any time by publishing the new terms on our website. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of any changes to these terms each time you access or use the Online Services platform. Should you object to any of the terms, or other notices on the Online Services platform you should immediately cease your use, and exit the Online Services platform.

We do not warrant or make any representation:

  • that content, links, or forms contained on, or associated with the Online Services platform will be available and accessible to you at all times
  • that your use of this system will be uninterrupted
  • that your system will meet the minimum requirements (as apply from time to time) to enable your use of this system
  • in relation to the speed of transmission of data.

We may change or discontinue the Online Services platform or any part thereof at any time without prior notice to you. Accordingly, any links that you save or forward may not remain current.

You agree that our electronic record of your use of the Online Services platform is a true and correct record and will be relied on as such.

Information on the Online Services platform and in any of our publications should not be regarded as a substitute for professional legal, financial or expert advice.

2. Minimum system requirements

View the minimum system requirements for the Online Services platform.

When you access the Online Services platform cookies are placed on your computer automatically. If you wish to use this system you will need to accept cookies. To enable cookies, you may need to change your internet browser configuration.

3. Restrictions on use of the Online Services platform

In accessing or using the Online Services platform you agree that you will not:

  • use any automated device, software, process or means to access, retrieve, scrape, or index the system or any content on the system
  • use any device, software, process or means to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the system
  • undertake any action that will impose a burden or make excessive traffic demands on our infrastructure that we deem, in our sole discretion, to be unreasonable or disproportionate site usage
  • transmit spam, chain letters, contests, junk email, surveys, or other mass messaging, whether commercial in nature or not
  • transmit any unlawful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic, profane or offensive material, or otherwise use the system in any manner which is, in our sole discretion, offensive, inappropriate or improper
  • use the system or any content from the system in any manner which is, in our sole discretion, not reasonable or not for the purpose for which it is made available
  • violate the rights of any person, including copyright, trade secret, privacy right, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right
  • pose as any person or attempt to solicit money, passwords or personal information from any person
  • access any information that you know, believe or suspect to be outside the terms of your authorised access
  • use or attempt to use someone else's password to gain access to this system or to any areas in this system to which you do not ordinarily have access
  • breach a Term or any relevant law
  • reproduce, republish, retransmit, modify, adapt, distribute, translate, create derivative works or adaptations of, publicly display, sell, trade, or in any way exploit the system or any content on the system, except as expressly authorised by us
  • transmit or attempt to transmit any computer viruses, worms, defects, Trojan horses or other items of a destructive nature.

We reserve the right to exercise whatever means we consider necessary, in our sole discretion, to prevent unauthorised access to or use of the Online Services platform, or breach of the terms including instituting technological barriers, or reporting the conduct to any person.

We may at any time, in our sole discretion, and without liability to you, remove, alter or disable your access to the Online Services platform, without prior notice to you.

4. Registration for use of the Online Services platform

When you register to be a Online Services platform user:

  • you will be automatically assigned a role within the system (the Online Services platform recognises 2 types of users: 'administrative users' and 'general users')
  • and
  • you will be asked to create a new customer account or link to an existing customer account.

Use of Online Services platform on behalf of a customer

The Online Services platform allows a duly authorised user to act on behalf of an individual or entity (customer) as an agent.

It is the customer's responsibility to be informed of any actions undertaken by its user(s). The customer may be liable in respect of the use of the Online Services platform by its user(s), including for the provision of false, misleading, or incomplete information under the environmental legislation.

Administrative users

As the authorised representative for a customer's Online Services platform account, the administrative user has the role of approving or rejecting all general user registrations in the relevant customer's account and is directly responsible for cancelling access for other users registered in the customer's account where necessary. The administrative user is also responsible for maintaining accurate contact information about the customer account.

We accept no liability for unauthorised access to a customer account.

5. Electronic correspondence

By registering to use the Online Services platform and by providing a nominated email address, you consent to the use of that information for the purpose of us sending electronic correspondence to that email address. If you wish to opt out of receiving electronic correspondence, contact our customer support team by phone 1300 130 372 (Option 6) or email digital@des.qld.gov.au.

6. Receipt of applications and business hours

  1. Applications, responses and requests ('lodgements') can be made through the Online Services platform at any time. However, our acceptance and receipt of a lodgement will only occur between the hours of 8.30am to 4.30pm (AEST) on a business day and subject to clauses 6(b) and 7(b).
  2. Where:
    1. information which is required to be lodged in connection with a lodgement
    2. and/or

    3. any associated fees prescribed under the environmental legislation,
  3. is received outside of the times referred to in clause 6(a), the lodgement will be considered to have been received by us at 8.30am on the next business day.

7. Fees

  1. You must pay all fees applicable to your lodgement (including, without limitation, fees prescribed under the environmental legislation plus GST) at the time you submit a lodgement through the Online Services platform. You will be prompted to pay the applicable fees at the completion of the process of submitting your lodgement.
  2. Where, for any reason, we do not receive full payment of all applicable fees that you are liable to pay in relation to a lodgement, the lodgement will be considered not to have been received by us.
  3. In relation to this clause 7 and clause 6, we do not accept any liability for platform faults, failures or delays that occur during the electronic transfer process.

8. GST

  1. Words defined in the GST law have the same meaning in this clause 8.
  2. If a party is required to reimburse or pay to another party an amount calculated by reference to a cost, expense, or an amount paid or incurred by that party, the amount of the reimbursement or payment will be reduced by the amount of any input tax credits to which that party (or an entity on whose behalf the party is acting) is entitled in respect of any acquisition relating to that cost, expense or other amount.
  3. If GST is payable by an entity (supplier) in relation to any supply that it makes under or in connection with this deed, the parties agree that:
    1. any consideration (including the value of any non-monetary consideration) provided for that supply under or in connection with this deed other than under this clause 8(c) (agreed amount) is exclusive of GST
    2. an additional amount will be payable by the party providing consideration for that supply equal to the amount of GST payable by the supplier on that supply
    3. the additional amount is payable at the same time as any part of the agreed amount is to be first provided for that supply and the supplier will provide a tax invoice to the receiver in respect of that supply, no later than that time
    4. and
    5. to the extent, if any, that any consideration (or part thereof) is specified to be inclusive of GST, that consideration (or the relevant part) will be excluded from the agreed amount for the purposes of calculating the additional amount under clause 8(c)(ii).

9. Customer data

You represent and warrant that you will not provide any data that:

  1. infringes the intellectual property rights of any third party
  2. is misleading or deceptive
  3. is materially incorrect
  4. in our sole opinion, is threatening, defamatory, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic, profane or offensive, or is likely to cause offence
  5. is unlawful or may encourage unlawful conduct
  6. or
  7. is otherwise inappropriate having regard to the purpose of the Online Services platform.

We may at any time, at our sole discretion and without liability to you, remove, alter or disable access to any or all of your data, without prior notice to you, including if we consider that:

  1. the data is in breach of these terms or any law
  2. we are required to do so by a regulatory body or any authority pursuant to relevant legislation
  3. or
  4. the data is corrupted, due to the presence of a virus or other disabling code.

10. Penalties for providing false or misleading information

The provision of false, misleading, or incomplete information may lead to penalties or prosecution under the environmental legislation.

11. Platform providers

The Online Services platform is provided subject to the platform or software provider's terms.

Appian

By accessing the Online Services platform you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions that govern the use of Appian Corporations' software. View the Appian Corporations end user license agreement (PDF, 48KB).

BPOINT

Online payment through the Online Services platform is via the BPOINT portal supported by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. To make a payment you will leave the Online Services platform and be redirected to the Queensland Government payment gateway operated by BPOINT to complete the transaction.

View the BPOINT terms and conditions and the CommBank Group privacy policy.

12. Liability and indemnity

Release

You release to the full extent permitted by law, us and our representatives from all actions, claims, proceedings or demands and in respect of any loss, death, injury, illness or damage (whether personal or property, and whether special, direct, indirect or consequential, including consequential financial loss) that you have, or may have in the future, against us or our representatives in respect of or in any way arising out of the use of the Online Services platform, except to the extent that the loss, injury or damage was caused by the negligence of us or our officers, employees or agents.

No liability for consequential or indirect loss

Neither we nor our representatives will, in any circumstances (including for negligence), be liable to you for any loss of revenue, loss of profit, loss of anticipated savings or business, loss of opportunity (including opportunity to enter into or complete arrangements with third parties), loss of data or goodwill, loss of reputation or any indirect or consequential loss, whether arising in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, in connection with your use of the Online Services platform (including through any person using the system on your behalf or purportedly on your behalf).

Indemnity

You indemnify us and our representatives against all liability, loss, costs and expenses (including any actions, claims, proceedings or demand brought by any third party, and any legal fees, costs and disbursements on a solicitor and own client basis) arising from or incurred in connection with:

  • any use of the data by us or our representatives
  • any default by you or your representatives of the terms
  • any unlawful, wilful or negligent act or omission of you, your representatives or any person for whose conduct you are liable
  • personal injury (including sickness and death) or property damage or loss in connection with the use (or attempted or purported use) of the Online Services platform
  • any infringement or alleged infringement of any intellectual property rights or moral rights of any person, which infringement or alleged infringement occurred in respect of any data provided, or any use of the Online Services platform.

Your liability to indemnify us and our representatives under these terms will be reduced proportionally to the extent that any negligent act or omission by us caused the loss or liability.

The indemnity granted in these terms is in addition to and not exclusive of any other remedies we may have against you at law. It is not necessary for us to incur expense or to make a payment before enforcing a right of indemnity conferred by these terms.

13. Intellectual property and disclosure of information

Nothing in these terms authorises the transfer or use of any intellectual property rights including copyright, unless explicitly granted by a licence or permitted exceptions under the Copyright Act 1968. You acknowledge and agree that the Right to Information Act 2009 may apply to data provided by you through the Online Services platform.

The Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI Act) provides members of the public with a legally enforceable right to access documents held by Queensland Government agencies. The RTI Act requires that documents be disclosed upon request, unless the documents are exempt or on balance, disclosure is contrary to the public interest. You acknowledge and agree that data provided by you and other information in the Online Services platform is potentially subject to disclosure to third parties pursuant to the RTI Act.

14. Jurisdiction

Your use of the Online Services platform, these terms, our privacy policy and all other relevant terms and notices will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Queensland, and you irrevocably and unconditionally submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of that State.

15. Definitions

Administrative user means a user described as such in the Online Services platform.

Business day means a day that is not:

  1. a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday
  2. or
  3. in relation to any applications, responses, requests or other information submitted under the Environmental Protection Act1994 – a day that occurs during the period starting on 20 December in a year and ending on 5 January in the following year.

Online Services platform means the online digital platform named as such, used for business process management within the Queensland Government's Department of Environment, Science and Innovation.

Data means information including text, video, still images, audio or other material that is shared, published, posted, stored or uploaded on the Online Services platform.

Environmental legislation means the Environmental Protection Act 1994, the Nature Conservation Act 1992, the Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995 and any regulation made under these Acts

General user means a user described as such in the Online Services platform.

GST means a goods and services tax or any similar tax, levy or impost imposed by the Commonwealth of Australia.

GST law means A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999.

Intellectual property rights means all intellectual property rights including:

  1. patents, copyright, rights in circuit layouts, trade marks, registered designs and any right to have confidential information kept confidential
  2. any application or right to apply for registration of any of the rights referred to in paragraph (a)
  3. and
  4. all rights of a similar nature to any of the rights in paragraphs (a) or (b) that may subsist in Australia or elsewhere, whether or not such rights are registered or capable of being registered.

Lodgement means those processes that can be submitted through the Online Services platform, which includes but is not limited to: applications, annual returns, responses and requests.

Representative means an employee, agent, officer, director, contractor, subcontractor or other authorised representative of a party.

Terms means these terms of use for the Online Services platform, as varied, updated or amended from time to time.

Us means the State of Queensland acting through the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation and where the context allows, includes our representatives.

You means the user of the Online Services platform and where the context allows, includes your representatives.

16. Interpretation

In these terms:

  1. headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation; and unless the context indicates a contrary intention
  2. if 'you' are constituted by more than one person, then that expression refers to them, and your obligations under these terms bind them, jointly and severally
  3. person includes an individual, the estate of an individual, a corporation, an authority, an association or a joint venture (where incorporated), a partnership and a trust
  4. a reference to a party includes that party's executors, administrators, successors and permitted assigns, including persons taking by way of novation and, in the case of a trustee, includes a substituted or an additional trustee
  5. a reference to a document (including these terms) is to that document as varied, novated, ratified or replaced from time to time
  6. a reference to a statute includes its delegated legislation and a reference to a statute or delegated legislation or a provision of either includes consolidations, amendments, re-enactments and replacements
  7. a word importing the singular includes the plural (and vice versa), and a word indicating a gender includes every other gender
  8. if a word or phrase is given a defined meaning, any other part of speech or grammatical form of that word or phrase has a corresponding meaning
  9. includes in any form is not a word of limitation.

No rule of construction will apply to a provision of this agreement to the disadvantage of a party merely because that party drafted the provision or would otherwise benefit from it.