Terms of engagement
These terms govern an assessment carried out by Digital Trust Audit Ltd. Registered office 20 Old Bailey, London, United Kingdom, EC4M 7AN. Company number 17547803.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.
Scope of an assessment, and its limits
An assessment examines what is publicly published about a business from outside, against the published standard. It does not examine trading conduct, financial standing, complaint history or the quality of the work a business does, and it makes no statement about any of them.
An assessment is a statement about what was verifiable on a stated date. It is not a guarantee of any outcome, and it is not a prediction of how a business will behave.
Fees and VAT
Fees are those published on the pricing page at the date of engagement. An assessment is paid for before work starts, and costs the same whatever it finds.
We charge VAT only once we are registered for it. When we are, UK business customers are charged VAT at the prevailing rate, and services supplied to a business customer outside the United Kingdom are outside the scope of UK VAT, with the customer accounting for VAT under the reverse charge. Invoices state which position applies.
Certification
An assessment that meets the requirements for a level does not by itself certify a business. A business is certified when it takes up Digital Trust Certification, which is offered only after an assessment has met a level, and runs for twelve months from take-up. A certification is live only while both its paid term and the assessment behind it are current.
A certification is stepped down or withdrawn where a later assessment shows the level is no longer met, and immediately where a hard-floor item is breached. Proven and Exemplary require active monitoring: if monitoring is cancelled, quarterly re-runs stop and the certification steps down to the level its assessment still supports. The levels, the hard floor and the mechanics are set out on the certification page.
Badge rules of use
The rules governing display of the badge are those set out on the certification page, and form part of these terms. The badge is served from this body’s own origin and may not be edited, recoloured or self-hosted.
Reports requested by a partner
Where a partner requests an assessment, the partner is our customer for it and pays our partner fee, whatever the result and whether or not the business claims the report.
The report is a statement about what could be verified from outside on the date shown. The partner may show it or give it to the business it is about, and to no one else. It may not alter the report, publish it, or present it or any part of it as its own work.
The business can claim its own copy free of charge. Claiming it creates no obligation to buy anything from us or from the partner.
The partner may offer the business work after the report. We take no commission on that work or on any work anyone else does, and we do not recommend anyone to do it.
Appeals
A finding, a score, a level, a withdrawal or a register entry may be disputed through the published route on the complaints and appeals page, including by a business whose assessment a partner requested. There is no fee for raising a dispute at any stage.
Limitation of liability
Liability is limited to the fee paid for the assessment giving rise to the claim. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.
No remediation is offered or brokered
This body does not carry out remediation, does not recommend a supplier to carry it out, and takes no commission from any firm that does. Where a connection exists between this body and an assessed business, a partner, or the supplier who built or maintains what was assessed, it is stated on the report and on the verification page.
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