D. Liability

D.1 General

gif always has the right to withdraw or to stop developing the guideline, XML schemas, converter, and other tools for the guideline for good cause. An example of good cause includes technical progress in hardware and software development.

This gif guideline on the exchange of real estate data (gif-IDA) and/or the gif CORE catalog do not represent legal advice or other advisory services.

D.2 Data protection

gif expressly points out that personal data will be assured special protection in accordance with the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (German Data Protection Act). Senders and recipients of data within the meaning of this guideline must therefore comply with the provisions of the German Data Protection Act, and take the necessary precautions when exchanging data under their own responsibility (e.g., by applying state-of-the-art encryption), to ensure that the legal requirements are met.

Recipients shall ensure that the personal data they receive within the scope of the data exchange process is exclusively used to safeguard legitimate interests in connection with exchanging real estate data.

In particular, appropriate measures pursuant to Section 9 of the German Data Protection Act shall be taken in line with the nature of the personal data to be protected:

  1. Preventing unauthorized persons from entering the data processing facilities in which personal data is processed or used (admission control),
  2. Preventing the data processing systems from being used by unauthorized persons (access control),
  3. Ensuring that the persons authorized to use a data processing system are only able to access the data they are allowed to access, and that the personal data cannot be read, copied, changed, or removed without authorization when the data is processed and used, and after it has been saved (data access control),
  4. Ensuring that personal data cannot be read, copied, changed, or removed without authorization when it is being electronically transmitted, or when it is being transferred or saved on data media, and that it is possible to check and ascertain where personal data is to be transmitted by data transmission equipment (data transmission control),
  5. Ensuring that it is possible to subsequently check and ascertain whether personal data has been input, changed, or removed, and if so, by whom (input control),
  6. Ensuring that personal data processed in the order can only be processed in accordance with the Customer's instructions (order control),
  7. Ensuring that personal data is protected from accidental destruction or loss (availability control),
  8. Ensuring that data collected for different purposes can be processed separately.

D.3 Liability

The publisher accepts no liability for the content, completeness, or correctness of the information transmitted by the users within the scope of data exchange. The user alone is responsible for checking the information transmitted in this respect, and for the further processing thereof. In addition, gif does not accept any liability for damage that may arise from the transmission of incorrect or incomplete data.

As a precaution it is pointed out that no guarantee will be accepted for ensuring that the transmitted data is free of third party rights.
No liability shall be accepted in this respect, irrespective of the legal grounds.

The publisher's liability for the payment of damages, irrespective of the legal grounds, in particular due to impossibility, default, defective or incorrect delivery, breach of contract, and unauthorized use, to the extent that this involves culpability, shall be restricted in accordance with the following paragraph:

The publisher shall not be liable in the event of simple negligence on the part of its bodies, legal representatives, employees, or other vicarious agents, except in cases involving a breach of material contractual duties. The following are considered to be material contractual duties: Obligation for the delivery item to be free of defects that may affect the item's functionality or suitability for use more than insignificantly, and obligations to provide advice, protection, and due care so that the user can use the delivered item in accordance with the contract or for the purposes of protecting the life and limb of the user's personnel, or protecting their property from significant damage. In so far as the publisher is liable for the payment of damages in accordance with and on the grounds of the above paragraph, this liability shall be limited to damage that the publisher has foreseen when concluding the contract as a possible consequence of a contractual infringement, or that it should have foreseen by applying care and attention. Indirect loss and consequential damage resulting from defects in the item delivered are only subject to compensation, in so far as such damage is typically to be expected when using the delivered item as stipulated. In the event of liability for simple negligence, the publisher's obligation to pay compensation for damage to property and further financial loss resulting therefrom shall be limited to an amount of EUR 300,000 per claim, even if the claim is for an infringement of material contractual duties.

If the publisher provides technical information or acts as an adviser, and this information or advice is not part of the contractually agreed scope of services owed by the publisher, this will be done free of charge and with the exclusion of any liability. The limitations set out in this paragraph shall not apply for the publisher's liability on account of willful misconduct, guaranteed characteristics, injury to life, limb, or health, or in accordance with the Produkthaftungsgesetz (German Product Liability Act).

The publisher does not accept any liability, in particular with respect to the results, function, success, completeness, and correctness of the guideline, XML schemas, the converter, and other tools. It is the sole responsibility of users to assess the qualitative - and in particular legal and commercial - aspects of the content.