Terms of Use

These terms of use applies to the Europeana website https://www.europeana.eu, to https://pro.europeana.eu and to the content displayed on these URLs. Please note that only the English version of these terms should be considered legally valid. We take no legal responsibility for any differences or discrepancies created in the translations of these terms.

Europeana empowers the cultural heritage sector in its digital transformation. We develop expertise, tools and policies to embrace digital change and encourage partnerships that foster innovation. We make it easier for people to use cultural heritage for education, research, creation and recreation. Our work contributes to an open, knowledgeable and creative society.

Europeana is made possible by the collaboration of three interlinked expert organisations who share the vision of a cultural heritage sector transformed by digital, and a Europe transformed by culture. Together, we call this ecosystem the Europeana Initiative.

These terms apply to the Europeana.eu and pro.europeana.eu websites, both run by the Europeana Foundation.

Europeana.eu gives access to a wide range of digitised cultural heritage from across Europe and beyond. This material is provided to Europeana by a large number of contributing institutions. Europeana strives to make as many resources as possible on Europeana.eu available for re-use.

In Pro.europeana.eu you will find out about Europeana's technical infrastructure, and how Europeana empowers the cultural heritage sector in its digital transformation.

Definitions

In these Terms of Use, the following terms have an initial capital letter. These terms are defined as follows:

  • API-key: a unique and confidential code allowing access to the Europeana API.
  • Content: all material made available and accessible by a User to Visitors through the service, including but not limited to video, photo, image and/or audio material, as well as texts, and excluding transcriptions, translations and metadata enrichments.
  • Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication: The Creative Commons Universal Public Domain Dedication as published at: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
  • Digital object: A digital representation of an object that is part of Europe's cultural and/or scientific heritage. The Digital Object can also be the original object when born digital.
  • Email Address: the Email Address provided by the User upon registration for an API-key, the User Galleries or the Email Address provided by the User to replace this Email Address.
  • EUPL v1.2. License: The European Union Public Licence as published at https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/eupl/eupl-text-eupl-12
  • Europeana: the Europeana Foundation established in The Hague, The Netherlands, and operating, among others, the website Europeana.eu and providing the Europeana API.
  • Europeana.eu: The Europeana website, its data and its machine interfaces, all without necessarily being disclosed under URL europeana.eu
  • Europeana API: an application programming interface for the purpose, among others, of searching and retrieving the Metadata made available by Europeana on Europeana.eu.
  • Metadata: the textual information and hyperlinks that serve to identify, discover, interpret and/or manage Content.
  • Password: the Password entered by the User.
  • Software Solution: an application, service or software code developed by the User, using the Europeana API.
  • Public Domain: Content, Metadata or other subject matter not protected by Intellectual Property Rights and/or subject to a waiver of Intellectual Property Rights
  • Public Galleries: galleries created by Users that can be visible to any Europeana User.
  • Private Galleries: galleries created by Users that can be visible only by the User who created it.
  • Rights Statement: A statement that describes the conditions for Access and Re-use of Digital Objects and their Previews. Rights statements are communicated via the ‘edm:rights' Metadata Field as defined by the Europeana Data Model.
  • Thumbnail: A visual representation of Content, in the form of an image.
  • Third Party: any natural or legal person who is not party to this agreement.
  • Terms of Use: this document.
  • User: A person or entity making use of the services offered by Europeana through the Europeana Portal, Europeana API, third party services or social networks.
  • Username: the name or alias entered by the User during a registration procedure.
  • Visitor: a natural or legal person who visits the Website, including Users when they are not using the services provided by Europeana.
  • Website: any Website and associated databases operated by the Europeana Foundation (including but not limited to Europeana.eu, and all sub-domains).

Metadata, Digital Objects and Texts

  1. All Metadata available on europeana.eu are published free of restrictions, under the terms of the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. If you re-use data published by Europeana, we encourage you to follow the Usage Guidelines for Metadata and to provide attribution to the data sources whenever possible. Europeana uses additional data sources to enrich the Metadata provided by our data providers.
  2. The Digital Objects that are shown on Europeana.eu can only be used in accordance with the rights information displayed alongside them (the badges underneath the Digital Objects). They may also be used to the extent permitted by applicable copyright laws. If there is no rights information displayed alongside a Digital Object, please refer to the website of the data provider to find out about the types of uses allowed. If you use Digital Objects that are in the Public Domain, please follow the Public Domain Usage Guidelines.
  3. All texts in our blogs and exhibitions are licensed as CC BY-SA, unless stated otherwise, with images and media being marked individually.

Europeana Media Player

  1. The Europeana Media Player allows Europeana Users and Visitors to view some audiovisual Content available on Europeana.eu. The Europeana Media Player is licensed under an EUPL v1.2.
  2. The User is bound by these terms and accepts not to make any unlawful use of the embedded Content or of the Europeana Media Player, including but not limited to any acts that can lead to a copyright infringement by the sharing of audiovisual Content outside of Europeana.eu, for instance if it is subject to a restrictive license or Rights Statement.

Notice and takedown

  1. Europeana is not the owner of the copyright to the Metadata, the Digital Objects or the digitised cultural heritage objects to which these Metadata or digital reproductions refer. This information has been provided to Europeana by a large number of contributing institutions and organisations. These data providers have ensured that Europeana does not commit any unlawful act by publishing their works under the applicable conditions as referred to above. However, Europeana cannot guarantee that this is always correct.
  2. If you think that anything published on Europeana.eu infringes your rights, you may report this to Europeana by emailing notice@europeana.eu.

Europeana API

  1. By accessing the Europeana API, the User accepts and agrees to be bound by these Terms of Use and by the Europeana Privacy and Cookies Policy. In addition thereto, the User must, before using the Europeana API, accept these Terms of Use where this option is made available in the sign-up form for the API.
  2. API-keys are confidential and are for use by the User only and may not be shared with third parties unless with express agreement from Europeana. An API-key applies to a single Software Solution. The User needs to create a separate API-key for every new Software Solution.
  3. Europeana reserves the right to terminate individual Europeana API-keys that are used to display data obtained via the Europeana API in contexts that are illegal, pornographic, defamatory or can be detrimental to the reputation of Europeana in any other way.
  4. Europeana will provide the User with public technical documentation of the Europeana API, but will not provide technical support for Users unless explicitly agreed otherwise.
  5. Europeana will log all uses of the Europeana API by the User for the purpose of monitoring the service load and for the purpose of improving the Europeana API. The information collected will be maintained for a limited period of time.
  6. Europeana may limit the number of requests the User may send and receive through the Europeana API. Such a limit shall be reasonable and may be set by Europeana at any time to ensure even performance of the Europeana API to all Users.
  7. Europeana will continually upgrade the Europeana API by adding new features. Europeana will give notice of updates to the User on a timely basis and will attempt to keep new versions of the Europeana API backwards-compatible. However, Europeana does not guarantee that the Software Solution of the User will continue to function after an upgrade.
  8. The Europeana API also provides URLs pointing to Thumbnails hosted on Europeana.eu (edm:preview) and to Content hosted by Europeana's data providers (europeana:object, enclosure, edm:object and edm:isShownBy). The files identified by these URLs may only be used in accordance with the Rights Statements contained in the europeana:rights/edm:rights record associated with the Digital Object. If there is no Rights Statement contained in the europeana:rights/edm:rights field or if the europeana:rights/edm:rights field is missing, the User shall assume that these Thumbnails and Content may only be used in accordance with the applicable copyright laws, unless the website of the data provider gives different permissions relating to the Thumbnails and/or Content, or uses such as embedding or linking are permitted.
  9. The User is encouraged to follow the Europeana Usage Guidelines for Metadata and to provide attribution to the data sources including, where possible, links to the Content on the original data providers' websites.
  10. In the event that Europeana is under the impression that it is publishing Metadata or Thumbnails to which it is not entitled, it will remove these Metadata or Thumbnails from the Europeana API. The User must cease use of such Metadata and Thumbnails upon first request thereto from Europeana.

Europeana User Galleries

  1. Creating an account on Europeana.eu allows the User to save favourite items and to create Public and Private Galleries. By doing so, the User accepts and agrees to be bound by these Terms of Use and by the Privacy Policy. In addition, the User must, before using the Europeana user galleries features, accept these Terms of Use where this option is made available in the sign-up form for the creation of an account.
  2. The User agrees to allow Europeana, other Europeana Users and Visitors to make Public Galleries visible to Third Parties and to share them online, including on social media platforms, as long as the sharing is lawful.
  3. It is the responsibility of the User to keep the Username/Password combination confidential. The User is responsible for all use that is made of the Service through the Username and the Password. Europeana may assume that the User is in fact the person who is seeking access with the Username and the Password that belong to him/her. As soon as the User is aware or as soon as he/she may have reason to suspect that a Username and/or Password has become known to unauthorised persons, the User must notify Europeana immediately. This does not affect his/her own obligation to take effective measures immediately, such as changing the Password.
  4. Europeana reserves the right to alter the login procedure, the Password and/or the Username, if it considers this necessary in any way, for instance if this is in the interests of the operation of the Service. In that event, the User will be notified of this by email using the Email Address.
  5. Europeana reserves the right to terminate individual accounts that are used to display data in contexts that are illegal, pornographic, defamatory or can be detrimental to the reputation of Europeana in any other way.

User contributions

  1. Users who contribute Content and Metadata to Europeana.eu should be aware that Europeana strives to make all Content and Metadata available for re-use with a minimum of restrictions. The Terms for User Contributions govern the conditions under which Users contribute data to Europeana.

Privacy and cookies

  1. The Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy outline how we treat personal information that we collect from Users and Visitors through our events, services and other activities, including how we process and use navigation data.

Liability disclaimer

  1. Europeana does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the Website and its Content.
  2. Except to the extent required by applicable law, in no event will Europeana be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages arising out of the use of the Website or its Content. In particular, it will not be liable for the following:
  • Accuracy and completeness of the Website, its Content or its services;
  • Any infringement of privacy, publicity or other rights, including infringement of copyrights to Metadata, Thumbnails or other Content made available on Europeana.eu under conditions that were not approved by the rights holder;
  • Any use by third parties that goes beyond the rights expressed in these Terms of Use.

These Terms of Use

  1. By exercising any rights to the Website or its Content on grounds of these Terms of Use, you accept and agree to be bound to these Terms of Use. Europeana reserves the right to amend these Terms of Use.
  2. These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of The Netherlands.

Last updated on 17/04/2024