1.1 pbsa sa (pty) limited (pbsa), a privately held company incorporated in and subject to the laws of south africa; and

1.2 you, the visitor to the pbsa website

2.1 the headings to the clauses of this agreement are for reference purposes only.

2.2 unless the context requires otherwise, the words and expressions will be interpreted as set out below and related words and expressions will be interpreted with corresponding meanings:                              

2.2.1 “afsa” means the arbitration foundation of southern africa;

2.2.2“acceptance date” means the date on which you visit pbsa websites and agree to these terms and conditions of use and service either by clicking on "i acknowledge that i have read and understand the terms and conditions of this website" or, by continuing to browse the websites;

 2.2.3 “agreement” means this website terms and conditions of use and service agreement;

2.2.4 “cpa” means the consumer protection act, 68 of 2008;

2.2.5“cpa regulations” means the regulations made under section 120(1) of the cpa, vol. 550 no 34180;

2.2.6 “consent” means any voluntary, specific and informed expression of will in terms of which permission is given for the processing of personal information and credit related information;

2.2.7 "data message" means information in an electronic format generated, sent, received or stored by electronic means and electronic communications and transactions;

2.2.8 “direct marketing” means an approach to a person by electronic communication for the purpose of promoting or offering in the ordinary course of business to supply goods or services;

2.2.9 “do not contact” or “dnc registry” means the registry contemplated in section 11 of cpa and section 4 of the cpa regulations;

2.2.10 “ect” means the electronic communications and transactions act 25, of 2002;

2.2.11 “ect required information” means the information required to be made available in terms of section 43 of ect;

2.2.12 “electronic communication” means a data message via electronic transmission including via websites, wap sites, email and similar technology;

2.2.13 “electronic transaction” means business of either a commercial or non-commercial nature

2.2.14 “gsm” means the global system for mobile communications;

2.2.15 “information” means facts or details about something or somebody, and includes the facts and details on, personal information, credit, trace and deeds searches for persons (natural and juristic), third party service providers and the legal notices published on the pbsa websites. “data” shall have the same meaning as information;

2.2.16 “intellectual property” means the rights to copyright in any work in terms of the copyright act, 98 of 1978, to trade mark in terms of the trade marks act, 194 of 1993, to design in terms of the design act 195 of 1993, to patents in terms of the patents act, 57 of 1978, including any applications for any of these and any names, licenses, know-how, trade secrets and data associated with these and, rights to domain names;

2.2.17“legal notices” means this agreement together with any other notices published on the pbsa website from time to time including, but not limited to the pbsa privacy policy, consumer protection rights notice, email legal notice and blog terms and conditions of use;

2.2.18 “non-consumer” means juristic persons (bodies corporate, partnerships, associations or trusts) with an asset value or annual turnover at the time of the transaction equal to or more than two million (r2m) south african rand (the current threshold).

2.2.19 “parties” means pbsa sa (pty) limited and you and “party” means either one of these as the context requires;

2.2.20 “person” means a natural or juristic person;

2.2.21 “personal information” means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person, including, but not limited to race, gender, sex, marital status, age, financial, criminal or employment history of the person, identifying number, symbol, email address, physical address, telephone number, location information, online identifier, biometric information of the person; and the name of the person if it appears with other personal information relating to the person or if the disclosure of the name itself would reveal information about the person;

2.2.22 "processing" means any operation or activity or any set of operations, whether or not by automatic means, concerning personal information, including but not limited to collection, receipt, recording, organisation, collation, storage, updating or modification, retrieval, alteration, consultation or use, dissemination, merging, linking, and restriction, degradation, erasure or destruction of information;

2.2.23 “record” means information required to be retained in compliance with south african law, pbsa business or information that may be required as evidence;

2.2.24 “service” means the things defined in cpa

2.2.25 “pbsa” means the party mentioned in clause 1.1 above and any company owned or controlled by pbsa;

2.2.26 "pbsa business affiliate” means any natural or juristic person that is connected with pbsa and which includes but is not limited to an association, partnership or other commercial relationship that exists or may exist between pbsa and third parties but excludes pbsa ownership or control;

2.2.27 “pbsa business names” means but are not limited to, brand and trade names, logos of pbsa;

2.2.28 “pbsa marks” means any trade marks, service marks, logos, domain names or other marks of pbsa, whether registered or not;

2.2.29 “rica” means the regulation of interception of communications and provision of communication-related information act, 70 of 2002, and the rica amendment act, 48 of 2008;

2.2.30 “third party service providers” means but is not limited to the companies who owns and provides software, hardware and services which forms part of any and all pbsa services;

2.2.31 “uncontrollable event” means fire, flood, earthquake, acts of nature or of god, riots, civil disorder, rebellions or revolutions in any country or any other cause beyond the control of pbsa including the disruption, suspension or termination of services provided by a third party to pbsa that may result in the websites and/or service not being available;

2.2.32 “user” means a person who has agreed to these terms and conditions of use;

2.2.33 “visitor” means a person accessing, viewing or browsing the pbsa websites;

2.2.34 “writing” means a written document executed by hand on paper and that excludes either wholly or partly any part of a data message as defined in ect; and

2.2.35 “you” means visitor or user and the party mentioned in 1.2 above.

2.3 any reference in this agreement to:

2.3.1 a “clause” will, subject to any contradiction, be interpreted to mean a clause in this agreement; and

2.3.2 a “law” will be interpreted to include the common law, statute law, the 1996 constitution of south africa, decrees, judgements, treaties, regulations, directives, by-laws, orders or any other legislative measure.

2.4 unless inconsistent with the context, an expression which denotes:

2.4.1 any one gender includes the other genders; and

2.4.2 the singular includes the plural and vice versa.

2.5 any reference to an enactment in this agreement is to that enactment as at the acceptance date and as amended or re-enacted from time to time.

2.6 the rule of construction that, in the event of ambiguity, the agreement shall be interpreted against the party responsible for the drafting or preparation of the
agreement, shall not apply.

3.1 if you do not agree to this website and service terms and conditions of use agreement you should leave the website and not use the websites or service. please note that continued use constitutes agreement.

3.2 please note that your legal rights and remedies will differ depending upon whether you are a consumer or a non-consumer as defined in the cpa.

4.1 this agreement will commence on the acceptance date and continue indefinitely until amended or terminated by pbsa or, you stop using the service and/or products.

4.2 pbsa reserves the right to correct, amend and revise this agreement and the services as and when necessary in the sole and absolute discretion of pbsa. each time an amendment is made, pbsa will place a prominent notice on the pbsa websites bringing the amendment to your attention. where material amendments affect you, pbsa will always give you 14 days notice prior to the changes taking effect. it is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of and understand all the prevailing terms and conditions.

4.3 each amended version of this agreement current when you visit the website and/or use the service/products will be the version of the agreement applicable between pbsa and you

5.1 you have no cooling off rights in terms of ect

5.2 you may have rights under the cpa, depending upon your status as a consumer. if you are uncertain as to your rights, please contact us via the process outlined in section 21 below and pbsa will assess each enquiry on a case-by-case basis.

6.1 all confidential and personal information obtained from or about you will be maintained and secured in accordance with the pbsa privacy policy, this agreement and the other legal notices.

7.1 pbsa services are currently conducted only in english.

7.2 it is your responsibility to ensure that you properly understand this agreement and the legal notices.

7.3 neither pbsa nor its personnel, consultants, advisers, partners or affiliates shall be liable for losses or claims arising from your inability to understand english.

8.1 the websites, service and the information provided to you, comprise intellectual property protected under south african law and international treaties. unless otherwise indicated, pbsa reserves all rights in and to the intellectual property owned by or licensed to pbsa and that of its service providers and/or product owners.

8.2 you may make a temporary copy of part or all, of the website on your computer or mobile device for the purpose of viewing it. you may print limited hard copy versions for personal use provided that any copyright, trade mark or other intellectual property notices are not removed and the material is appropriately attributed to pbsa. subject to the limited license granted to you by pbsa, you may not in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of pbsa:

8.2.1 commercially exploit reproduce, distribute, display, transmit, publish or broadcast any website content or information;

8.2.2 claim ownership of all or any part of the website content or information;

8.2.3 modify or repost the website content or information;

8.3 pbsa business names and marks referenced on the pbsa websites are the registered or unregistered intellectual property of pbsa. any unauthorised use of these assets is strictly forbidden.

8.4 third party intellectual property assets, including but not limited to patents, designs, names, goods and services referenced on the pbsa websites are the intellectual property of various third parties. any unauthorised use of these assets is strictly forbidden.

9.1 all confidential and personal information obtained from or about you will be maintained and secured in accordance with the pbverify privacy policy, this agreement and the other legal notices.

11.1 to comply with law and in line with international standards and best practice relating to the use of information technology in its business, pbsa monitors and intercepts live communications such website activity, email and electronic communications in compliance with rica.

11.2 subject to the provisions of ect, south african and international privacy principles, pbsa will where necessary and if required by law, access static information created, received, communicated and stored by pbsa as part of its business.

11.3 subject to the provisions of rica and ect, you agree to monitoring, interception and access to information relating to the use of the pbsa websites, blog sites and related electronic communications.

12.1 this agreement shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the republic of south africa.

13.1 you agree that pbsa may from time to time send you communications regarding, but not limited to pbsa products and services.

13.2 you will always have the choice to:

 13.2.1 inform pbsa that you do not wish to continue receiving communications;

13.2.2 opt –out of receiving communications by using the functionality provided; or

13.2.3 block any communications by registering on the dnc registry as contemplated in cpa.

14.1 you agree to submit all complaints relating to this agreement to pbsa first, in order to afford us an opportunity to resolve the complaint before you proceed to any relevant authority.

14.2 in this regard, please direct all complaints to support@pbsa.co.za

15.1 all enquiries must be made by contacting our call centre on +27 (0) 11 516 9400, or by email to support@pbsa.co.za

15.2 depending on the nature of the enquiry pbsa will endeavour to deal with enquiries within forty-eight (48) hours of receiving them. pbsa does not, however, warrant that enquiries will be responded to within this timeframe

16.1 without restriction on any of your rights to approach a competent court or forum of your choice, relating to a dispute arising from this agreement, you agree to confidential arbitration prior to proceeding to court or other forum.

16.2 you agree that any dispute arising from or in connection with this agreement shall be finally resolved in accordance with the rules of the afsa by an arbitrator or arbitrators appointed by the foundation and that such proceedings shall be held in johannesburg in english.

16.3 you expressly acknowledge that the arbitration proceeding agreed to in .1 above prevents you from entering into a class action lawsuit against pbsa in relation to any dispute arising from this agreement.

16.4 nothing herein shall preclude either party from approaching a court of competent jurisdiction for an interdict or for relief on an urgent basis.

i, the user, warrant that i am liable in my personal capacity and fully authorised to act on behalf of the organisation in seeking access to credit bureau and related information and to bind the organisation to form valid legal relationships;

17.1 this agreement constitutes the entire agreement between pbsa and you in regard to the subject matter thereof and no addition to, variation, modification or consensual cancellation of this agreement shall be of any force or effect unless recorded in a written document and signed by or on behalf of the duly authorised representatives of the parties (excluding any written agreements that may be otherwise concluded between the parties).

17.2 any data message as defined in ect, or a copy, printout or extract of such a message signed by an authorised pbsa officer will be absolute proof of the contents of the copy, printout or extract of such a message.

17.3 no failure or delay on the part of either party in exercising any right in terms of this agreement shall operate as a waiver nor, shall any single or partial exercise of any right prevent any other or further exercise thereof, or the exercise of any other right.

17.4 should any clause or term of this agreement be invalid, unenforceable or illegal, the remaining terms and provisions of the agreement shall be deemed to be severable therefrom and shall continue in full force and effect unless such invalidity, unenforceability or illegality goes to the root of this agreement.

18.1 to the fullest extent permitted in law, you understand, acknowledge and agree that your use of the pbsa websites and service are at your sole discretion and risk. pbsa shall not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damages suffered by you, whether arising from a visit to the website, this agreement, the pbsa products and services.

19.1 this website has not been customised for any specific industry or individual need and is provided to the public as a whole with the result that the information is provided without warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including but not limited to warranties of reliability, fitness for purpose, timeliness, accuracy, completeness or non-infringement of third party rights. pbsa will endeavour to take all reasonable care to ensure the accuracy of information and the availability of the website, but makes no representations, warranties or guarantees. as such, the website is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

20.1 to the fullest extent permissible in law, you hereby unconditionally and unreservedly indemnify and hold pbsa, its affiliates, public officers, directors, employees, consultants, agents, licensors and service providers, harmless against all loss, damages, claims, liability and / or costs, of whatsoever nature, howsoever and whensoever arising, as a result of and without limitation, the following:

20.1.1 visiting or using the website, pbsa service and electronic commumications;

20.1.2 downloading search content and information;

20.1.3 reliance on the website, search content and/or information;

20.1.4 links to other pbsa or third party websites or external links;

20.1.5 hardware, software, system or network malfunction; or

20.1.6 any other cause whatsoever arising from or relating to visiting or using the pbsa services/website