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Terms of Use

What you need to know to access our services and operate an account with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

On this page

Using our online services

These terms and conditions set out what is required when you use our online services. They help to ensure the information you provide to us is kept secure, and that the information that is required to be made available to the public is accurate and as up to date as possible.

You're being asked to agree to these terms and conditions for the use of our services, so please read them carefully and ensure you understand them. If you choose to accept them and continue on to create an account, these terms and conditions will form an agreement between you and MBIE..

Access to our services

You're responsible for keeping your personal logon details confidential. Any actions on our sites from your user name and password will be considered by us to have been made and authorised by you. This logon account allows you to establish usernames and passwords for as many of your staff as you determine who require access.

Your user account provides us with information, including:

details about you — example, your email address
details you're authorised to edit on the site — for example, applying for a radio spectrum licence on behalf of any other users(s)
whether you've been delegated the authority to act on behalf of any other user(s).

Passwords:

must consist of 7 alphanumeric characters including at least 1 alphabetic and 1 numeric (no spaces or punctuation can be used)
are case sensitive
can be set to:
- expire anytime between 1 and 99 days, or
- never expire.

Our commitment to you

If you agree to our terms of use, we'll use all reasonable care and skill to:

provide online services that are easy to use, with online help and tutorial facilities
make these services available to you as close to 24/7 as we can
provide you with voice and email support from our Business Service Centre during normal business hours (except for public holidays)
keep secure from unauthorised access all non-public information stored on our services
only allow authorised users access to amend information you have provided to us
ensure that information we provide about our services is kept up to date.

MBIE doesn't accept any responsibility or liability for any loss, including any costs and expenses, you incur in connection with your use of these services.

Email address

We won't disclose your email address to third parties. The email address you supply, however, may be used to update you with information regarding our services.

Your commitments to us

The purpose of your commitments to us (set out below) is to protect the integrity and security of our services, as well as the integrity and security of the information provided by you and other people who use our services. Please appreciate that if you don't honour your commitments, third parties may be able to undertake actions apparently on your behalf that may cause loss to you or other people, and for which those other people may try to hold you responsible.

You agree that you will:

Not knowingly or recklessly use, or attempt to use, any of our services for a purpose for which it was not intended, including any unlawful purpose.
Notify our Business Service Centre immediately if you know, or have reason to believe, that there has been, or is about to be, fraudulent or other unlawful use of any of our services.

If you establish user names and passwords for your staff to allow them to access our services on your behalf, you agree to:

Acknowledge that you're granting that user the right to make use of our services on your behalf.
Accept that any action performed by that user that you have given access to, is in effect acting on your behalf and that in doing so you're responsible for any actions they make on your behalf.

If you accept access to make use of our services on behalf of another user, you agree to:

Acknowledge that you're accepting the right to make use of our services on their behalf.
Acknowledge that any action performed by you in relation to any access you have been given, is made by you knowing that you're acting on behalf of the user who has given you that access.

Fees and charges

You're responsible for the payment of services we provide for you under your account, no matter who uses it.

See Annual licence fees for more details.

Direct debit payment option

MBIE offers a direct debit payment option which allows customers to make use of our services, charge them to an account, receive an invoice at the end of each month and pay by direct debit on the 20th of the following month.

The direct debit payment option can be adopted by an organisation or individual user to pay fees.

If you select the direct debit payment option we'll email you a Direct Debit Authority Form. Please complete the form and return the original to us by post to activate the direct debit payment option on your account.

We may perform a credit check on your organisation (or yourself, if you're applying for the direct debit payment option for your own user account) through a credit reference agency.

We reserve the right to decline any direct debit payment option request, based on the results of any credit reference check or on your past history of fees payment with MBIE.

At the beginning of each month, we'll email you an invoice detailing all fee-bearing services used during the previous month. The invoices and other notices will be sent to the email address you have given us. We, and anyone to whom we have assigned the amounts you owe us, can assume any invoice or notice sent electronically has been delivered on sending, unless we receive a "Failed to Deliver" message.

If you don't receive an invoice via email, a copy of your invoice will be available online. In addition, you'll have access to your transactions through our online fees search facility, or you can download a data file containing the list of transactions.

Please call the contact number or email the address displayed on your invoice if you think there's a mistake with your invoice. Any incorrect fees will be credited to your account. If the query has been received and processed prior to the 20th of the month, this will reduce the amount to be direct debited. Queries received or processed after the 20th will be credited to your next month’s invoice.

Non-payment

If the direct debit payment is not successful against your bank account, the following will occur:

First month of dishonour
We'll contact you to determine what went wrong and work with you to resolve the problem, ready for the direct debit run the following month.
Second month of dishonour
Your account will be restricted to the credit card payment option only, and we'll contact you to arrange for the payment of the due amount.
If payment is still not received
In the first instance, we'll look to revoke the service that we have provided to you (eg, cancel your licence). If this isn't possible, we may refer the matter to a debt collection agency. You may be required to pay any costs that are incurred in recovering the money you owe.

Note: We may vary one or more of the steps in this process, depending on individual circumstances.

Suspension of account

For the protection of users, other people or MBIE itself, we may suspend or disable your account without notice to you if we consider that:

disabling your account is necessary to maintain the integrity or security of our services or any organisation or person
the account is being misused or has otherwise been compromised
you breach these terms of use.

Where appropriate, we will notify you of any suspension or disabling of your account as soon as practicable after doing so.

Unlawful access or use

If you knowingly access or use, or attempt to access or use, any of our services for an unlawful purpose (including but not limited to fraud or attempted fraud or hacking or attempted hacking), you will be liable to pay any party (or MBIE on its behalf) the amount of the loss suffered by them caused directly or indirectly by your unlawful actions.

For the avoidance of doubt, this clause is not intended to confer benefits enforceable by third parties under the Contracts (Privity) Act 1982(external link).

Privacy

The privacy statement for our services applies to your personal information collected by MBIE. By registering for an account and agreeing to these terms of use, you will be taken to have read and agreed to the terms of that privacy statement. As such, please ensure you have read and are comfortable with it before agreeing to these terms of use.

Privacy

Public information

MBIE is required to make some information supplied by you available to the public. This includes determining the identity of the owner of a management right, a rightholder, or the holder of a radio licence. This information may appear when searched on the internet.

Disputes

If you have a dispute with MBIE in connection with these terms of use, or any of our services, you must first call our Business Service Centre.

Both you and our Business Service Centre will use all reasonable efforts in good faith to resolve the dispute. If you and our Business Service Centre are unable to resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you may ask them to escalate the dispute to the appropriate MBIE representative.

We will then promptly contact you, and will endeavour to resolve the dispute with you. If, following such escalation, the dispute is still not resolved to your satisfaction you may take such action as you consider appropriate, such as making a complaint to the Ombudsman or commencing legal proceedings.

Office of the Ombudsman(external link)

Invalidity or unenforceability

If any of these terms of use or their application to any person or circumstances is, to any extent, held to be invalid or unenforceable:

The remainder of these terms of use or the application of such terms of use to any other person or circumstances shall not be affected.
Each term shall be valid and enforceable to the extent permitted by law.
The invalid or unenforceable term will be deemed to be amended to reflect, as nearly as possible, the original intention (as determined from this website).

Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988

Under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988 a court can appoint an administrator, welfare guardian or manager in respect of certain persons, their property or affairs. Where the Act or an order made under it permits use of an account contrary to these terms of use, the administrator, guardian or manager must use the account only to the extent permitted under that Act or order.

Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988(external link)

Minors' Contracts Act 1969

If, under the Minors' Contracts Act 1969, any of these terms of use is held not to be fair and reasonable, then that term or condition will be deemed to be amended in relation to the relevant user to reflect the original intention (as determined from this website) as nearly as possible, but so as to be fair and reasonable.

Minors' Contracts Act 1969(external link)

Amendments to terms of use and privacy statement

We can revise these terms of use and the privacy statement from time to time. We'll advise you of any changes by a notice on this website. Your continued use of our services through the act of making use of your account with us indicates your acceptance of those changes.

Ending the agreement

Either party may end the agreement by notifying the other party. Please note that ending the agreement will not result in the removal of information that you have supplied that MBIE is required to make available to the public.

If you want to end the agreement you have with us, please call our Business Service Centre or write to us.