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Terms and conditions

(hereinafter also referred to as ‘regulations’) of the reference-global.com service, available at https://reference-global.com/terms-of-service,
(hereinafter referred to as the ‘website’, ‘portal’, or ‘service’).

§ 1
Glossary of terms

To ensure that these regulations are clear and understandable, the terms listed below have the meanings described herein.

  1. ‘Supplier’ or ‘company’: The entity providing and responsible for the service, i.e., De Gruyter Brill Sp. z o. o. with its registered office in Warsaw (ul. Nowogrodzka 4/3, 00-513 Warsaw, Poland), entered into the Register of Entrepreneurs of the National Court Register by the District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw in Warsaw, XII Commercial Division of the National Court Register under number 0000055478, NIP: 9521878738, REGON: 017359274, share capital of PLN 1,905,000.00.
  2. ‘User’: A natural person who each time operates or uses the service, whether within the framework of an ‘open access’ type or within the agreement concluded by such person or by an institutional client providing the service to the user. Regardless of the legal relationship and status, the user is obliged to comply with the rules expressly addressed to the user, in particular § 4 of these regulations.
  3. ‘Client’ or ‘customer’: A natural person, legal person, or organizational unit without legal personality but with legal capacity, who, by performing the activities and meeting the conditions described below, made upon the company a declaration of accepting these regulations and thus concluded a general agreement or a special agreement.
  4. ‘Individual client’: A natural person who became a client.
  5. ‘Institutional client’: A client who is a legal person or an organizational unit without legal personality but with the capacity to perform legal acts.
    Note: In the case of institutional clients, the user acting on behalf of such client, by accepting these regulations, confirms that he or she is empowered to act, e.g., by power of attorney, proxy, or authorization. In the event of acting without the required title or outside the authorization, the given user may be liable for damages resulting from such action.
  6. ‘Agreement’: An agreement for the services performed by electronic means concluded between the user and the company by making a declaration of accepting these regulations. In each case, when the term agreement is not specified in the text as a general or specific agreement, such a provision applies to both types of agreements, regardless of the type of client or user.
  7. ‘General agreement’: An agreement for access to the service itself, including the possibility of using the website, which does not cover the order, delivery, or access to particular content.
  8. ‘Specific agreement’: An agreement for access to specific and particular content, such as an article, scientific paper, book, or electronic publication.
  9. ‘Separate agreement’: An agreement that a given client enters into directly with the company in a manner other than by accepting these regulations or registering an account within the website or service, i.e., after contacting a representative or consultant of the supplier. In the case of clients who have entered into this type of agreement, these regulations apply to the extent not regulated by a separate agreement, and in the event of a conflict of regulations, the provisions of the separate agreement shall prevail.
  10. ‘Consumer’: A user who is a natural person using the services of the company without connection with the business or professional activity conducted by such person, the definition of which is specified in Article 22(1)of the Polish Civil Code. If a natural person is concluding a contract directly related to its business activity, given that this agreement does not hold the status of a professional in the scope of such person’s professional activity, then such person’s rights shall be covered by the rules stipulated in Article 385(1) to 385(3)of the Polish Civil Code.

§ 2
Contract: Types, method, and moment of conclusion

  1. The client may be any natural person who is at least 18 years of age, as well as a legal person or an entity without legal personality with legal capacity.
  2. In order to become a client, it is sufficient to lawfully declare upon the company an acceptance of these regulations, whereas to place an order via the website, it is necessary to perform the following steps according to the information and functionality of the application. This finally leads to the conclusion of a special agreement.
  3. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the separation of the role of user from client results from the fact that the agreement referred to below is concluded between the client and the provider, and the user is any person using the website. 
  4. The moment of conclusion of the contract between the company and the client is as follows: 
    1. A general agreement (for the provision of services by electronic means) is concluded between the company and the client at the moment of submitting a declaration of acceptance of these regulations (it is not necessary to order specific content or products at the same time). Most often, this will take place at the time of creating a user account or registration. Such an agreement concerns the access to the service itself and the possibilities that the service offers at the time of using it: primarily, the possibility of browsing resources and publications and purchasing access to individual items. 
      The purpose of this agreement is to lay down the rules for obtaining access to and using the service at the moment preceding the placing of an order (the conclusion of a special agreement). However, it does not impose any kind of obligation to place an order that would burden the customer or user. 
    2. A specific contract (for the provision of services by electronic means), the subject of which is a specific order or access to specific content, is concluded when, through the functionalities of the website, the client or the user acting on his behalf: 
      1. selects the content (e.g., the publication) to which he or she wants to gain access; 
      2. submits declarations necessary to place an order according to the functionality of the website. The scope and number of declarations may change depending on the type of customer and the regulations in force on the date of placing the order (e.g., for an individual customer, an additional declaration of the desire to purchase electronic content despite the loss of the right to withdraw from the contract according to the exception of Article 38(1)(13) of the Act on Consumer Rights of 30 May 2014); and  
      3. (applies to content, access to which requires payment for a given user) selects the payment method and confirms the obligation to pay the remuneration by pressing a button with an inscription clearly indicating the placement of an order, e.g., ‘I am ordering’, ‘I am ordering with an obligation to pay’, ‘Confirm’, ‘Accept’, or another equivalent formulation. 
    3. The website will always enable obtaining confirmation of the order or conclusion of the contract, either through the functionality available to the user or by sending a confirmation in the form of an email. 
    4. In the event of final confirmation of the order and the obligation to pay the fee, the service may, depending on the functionalities presented, enable such actions as generating a sales document, generating or sending an order summary, or checking the order status. 

      Note: Please remember that in the case of purchasing content in digital form (e.g., an e-book, PDF, or others), the customer or user loses the right to withdraw from the contract at the time of placing the order. Such loss results from Article 38(1)(13) of the Act on Consumer Rights of 30 May 2014. 

      The aforementioned loss of the right to withdraw from the contract is related to the fact that at the time of payment of the agreed price, you receive the ordered content (access) with the possibility of multiplying such content, and so the service is performed in an irreversible way. At the same time, the loss of the above right does not reduce your rights in respect of a complaint or warranty regarding the conformity of the goods with the order. The complaint procedure is described later in these regulations. 
  5. Term and termination of contracts. 
    1. The general agreement referred to above is concluded for an indefinite period, and each party may terminate it by giving one month’s notice, whereby the termination requires a documentary form for its validity (according to Article 77(2) of the Polish Civil Code). This means that the termination may be submitted using, for example, an email or via the service itself, if the appropriate functionality is available. In the event that a given user has the option to delete an account, such action is equivalent to submitting a termination. Due to the allocation of access rights to the service, its functionalities will be limited or blocked immediately in the event of account deletion. 
    2. A special agreement (concerning access to specific content) is concluded for the time necessary to perform the services of the parties and expires at the moment of fulfillment of these services. In other words, it is not necessary to terminate it or have it terminated by the client, user, or supplier, because it is of a one-off nature in relation to a given content or order. When the client makes a payment and receives the content to which they purchased access, the basic part of the concluded agreement is performed and expires, without any warranty or guarantee rights expiring. Termination of this agreement before the obligations of the parties are fulfilled is possible only under specific circumstances and conditions, which are referred to later in these regulations. 

§ 3
Payment and scope of services

  1. The provider offers the service to the customer or user in the form in which it is available at the time of use. The number of functionalities may change or some of them may be combined or available in a different place or in a different form; however, the provider is obliged to maintain the service in such a state that the scope of possible actions is not smaller than at the time of conclusion of the general agreement.
  2. The scope of services offered via the website, i.e., content, materials, or publications available or available for ordering or purchase, is determined by the available functionalities and options visible on the website at the time of accessing or ordering a given item or publication.
    In the event that the content visible as available according to the information displayed by the website is actually unavailable, the provider will immediately contact the user (this may be done via the website itself), offering another possible service or a refund (if the funds have already been transferred to the company) at the user’s discretion.
  3.  Content and materials are available either for a fee, free of charge due to an open access regime, or free of charge for the purposes of promoting the service, where the mutual benefit on the part of the client or user is to increase traffic on the service pages. In the case of those using the service through access granted by a given client, who has concluded a separate agreement, the fact that there is no need to pay may result from the principles of payment agreed individually with that client (e.g., a flat-rate payment for an institutional license).
  4.  For payable services, the order will be fulfilled only after the full remuneration has been paid (including the cost of electronic payment services) for a given service or product. In the case of individual payments, this should be understood as the moment when the supplier receives confirmation of payment from an external payment or settlement service provider.
  5. Payments can be made via the website using settlement methods according to the information currently displayed by the website. Such settlements are carried out outside the company by external suppliers, i.e.,:
    1. Stripe: The provider is Stripe Payments Europe, Limited (SPEL)
      1 Grand Canal Street Lower
      Grand Canal Dock
      Dublin
      D02 H210
      Ireland
    2. PayPal: The provider is PayPal (Europe) S.à rl. et Cie, SCA
      22-24 Boulevard Royal
      L-2449 Luxembourg
      Commercial Register Number: RCS Luxembourg B 118 349
      VAT number: LU22046007
  6. Before using the services of payment providers or other external services, please read the terms and conditions of this service, in particular the regulations or agreement and privacy policy. These services are provided independently of the company, and the source of the user’s rights and obligations in this respect is exclusively agreements concluded between the user and the payment service provider.
  7. In the event of a dispute concerning the correctness of the provision of payment services referred to in paragraphs 5 and 6 above, the company undertakes to take actions aimed at supporting the user or customer in clarifying such doubts.

§ 4 
User’s general obligations 

  1. Every user, i.e., a person using the service in any way, regardless of the type of contract, title, or account, is obliged to: 
    1. use only true information and data that he/she is authorized to use; 
    2. use the service only in the manner and to the extent that he/she is authorized to do so. When the user has been granted the possibility of using the service by another person or entity that is the client, the user is obliged to act only to the extent that the given client authorized the user. The client granting access to the user is responsible for the user’s actions and omissions, as well as for his/her own actions; 
    3. use the service in accordance with its intended purpose, which is to browse and access the content, publications, and materials available through the website; 
    4. immediately report any irregularities in the operation of the supplier’s service via the provided communication channels; and 
    5. use devices, software, and methods of obtaining access that ensure safe connection and protection against cyberattacks that are possible for a given type of user (consumer or professional), in particular against malware and interception of access data due to the common nature of dangers for both the user and other users using the service. 
  1. The user is obliged not to interfere in any way with the programming, functional, or technical layer of the service, or to make any changes, the introduction of which is not directly permitted by the functionalities provided. In particular, it is forbidden to make any changes that could cause disruption to the operation of the service in whole or in any part thereof. 
  1. The user shall abstain from providing, entering, sending, or making available in any way any content (including statements) that is unlawful, is offensive, violates any personal rights of other people, or harms certain views or religious feelings or beliefs. 
  1. In the event of a breach of the above provisions by the user, the provider is entitled to take actions necessary to secure the proper operation of the service and to protect the rights of other users and the essential interests of the provider, including: 
    1. blocking access to the service; 
    2. blocking access to specific content, parts of the service, or its individual functionalities; and 
    3. terminating the agreement concluded with a given customer without notice in cases where the customer, having been notified by the supplier about the observed irregularities, does not make changes or improvements that would eliminate such irregularities. 

§ 5 
Client obligations 

  1. If a given customer makes the service available to users other than themselves under the agreement he/she has concluded (if the purchased access option allows it), then: 
    1. The customer is responsible for the actions and omissions of users as for his own actions. 
    2. The client is obliged to provide the service using security rules that can be implemented and are aimed at preventing the use of the service for purposes other than its intended purpose (in particular, for the purpose of violating the property, honor, or interests of third parties), such as: 
      1. granting access only to employees and collaborators who, to the best of the customer’s knowledge, guarantee the use of the service in accordance with its intended purpose; and 
      2. granting access in a limited version by using appropriate programming, technological, or technical solutions in the case of enabling access by users who are not subject to individual verification (this applies, for example, to ‘walk-in’ users, when access to the service is possible for an unlimited number of people staying in a given property or using a device provided by the client or appropriate encryption of the connection in the case of sharing via a wireless network). 
  2. The client is obliged to collect and immediately provide information on the incorrect operation of the website, noticed errors in the content displayed on the website (in particular, incorrect descriptions of given content materials), noticed suspicious redirections outside the website, or references to external websites. 
  3. The customer confirms that he/she is aware that the obligation of paragraph 2 above and its performance are extremely important to ensure that the supplier is able to properly maintain the service and are of key importance from the perspective of the cybersecurity of the customer and all users using the service, because any anomalies and disruptions in operation may be a manifestation of the intentional action of third parties. In addition, collecting information on the correct operation of the service is of significant importance for the customer’s rights in the scope of complaints and warranty. 
  4. The customer is obliged to use or ensure that users use devices and applications that meet the technical requirements indicated below and ensure, taking into account the type of customer and the specifics of its activity, secure connections and use of the service, in particular by using appropriate anti-virus software, firewall solutions, verification of granted authorizations, an appropriate procedure for managing IT systems, and a data security policy, including personal data. 

§ 6
License

  1. In order to use the service, the customer obtains a license from the provider (the fee may be regulated differently in a separate agreement), under which: 
    1. the customer is entitled to use the service and the functionalities provided within it in the fields of exploitation necessary for this purpose, including such fields as displaying, reproducing, saving in the device’s memory, copying, and multiplying without the possibility of distribution for purposes other than making the content of the service or parts thereof available to users in accordance with paragraph 1b); 
    2. the customer is entitled to grant access to users, if the agreement concluded with the provider so provides, and in this respect, is entitled to sublicense such users of the service only to the extent necessary to grant access to such users; and 
    3. the service license is territorially unlimited, non-exclusive, and time-limited to the duration of the contract concluded with a given customer. 
  2. Note: The above license provisions refer to the service itself. The license provisions concerning the given content or work should be sought in its content or in the attachments. In the absence of such information, the provider should be contacted in order to determine the licensing principles of the given material or product. In the event that the above cannot be determined and in the absence of a response from the provider, it should always be assumed that the given content is licensed on principles analogous to paragraph 1. 
  3. The transfer of any rights or granting of a license to the content contained in or available through the service can never be implied and cannot be made by the mere disclosure or making available of the given content by the provider. It always requires an express provision or agreement of the parties. 

§ 7 
Technical requirements 

In order to ensure proper use of the service, it is necessary to use a device that meets the following requirements. 

  1. Requirements for desktop or laptop computers, or workstations with similar properties:  
    1. Operating system: 
      • Windows 10 or later. 
      • macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later. 
      • Linux (Ubuntu 18.04+ or equivalent distributions). 
    2. Hardware: 
      • Processor: Modern multi-core CPU (Intel i5/AMD Ryzen 5 or equivalent). 
      • Memory: Minimum 8GB RAM (16GB recommended for optimal performance). 
      • Storage: At least 2GB of available disk space for the application and dependencies. 
      • Network: Stable internet connection for downloading dependencies and accessing external services. 
    3. Browser: 
      • Chrome: Version 88 or later. 
      • Firefox: Version 85 or later. 
      • Safari: Version 14 or later. 
      • Edge: Version 88 or later. 
  2. Requirements for mobile devices: 
    1. Operating system: 
      • Android: Version 8.0 (API level 26) or later. 
      • iOS: Version 14.0 or later (iPhone 6s and newer). 
      • iPadOS: Version 14.0 or later. 
    2. Hardware: 
      • Processor: 64-bit ARM processor or equivalent. 
      • Memory: Minimum 3GB RAM (4GB RAM+ recommended for smooth performance). 
      • Storage: At least 100MB of available space for cached content. 
      • Display: Minimum resolution 375×667 pixels (iPhone SE size) 
      • Network: 4G LTE or Wi-Fi connection required. 
    3. Browser: 
      • Safari (iOS): Version 14 or later. 
      • Chrome (Android/iOS): Version 88 or later. 
      • Firefox (Android/iOS): Version 85 or later. 
      • Samsung Internet: Version 12 or later. 
      • Edge Mobile: Version 88 or later. 

§ 8 
External services, websites, and opinions 

  1. The website may contain redirections to other websites or services owned or provided by other entities, e.g., Facebook, Google Scholar, or LinkedIn. 
  2. External services and providers have their own privacy and cookie policies, and before using these, users are required to familiarize themselves with the regulations and data-processing principles in force. 
  3. In the event that the service enables the viewing of opinions concerning a given material, publication, or content, the provider: 
    1. will make every effort to verify the authenticity of such an opinion before presenting it on the website by allowing only users who actually access the content to add an opinion; and 
    2. will enable the presentation of opinions solely according to the criteria of authenticity, regardless of their critical or approving nature (regardless of the rating given by the user who is the author of the opinion). 

§ 9 
Termination of the contract and the right of withdrawal 

  1. In the event of breaching provisions of § 4 above by the client or the user the client has made the service available to, the company is entitled to terminate each of the agreements covered by these regulations without notice, and in the case of breaches committed by a user who is not the client, the supplier will notify the client in advance of the breach and request the necessary changes or modifications in the operation, organization, or structure. 
  2. The customer and the supplier may terminate the general agreement by observing a one-month notice period, unless otherwise stated in a separate agreement; the termination requires, for its validity, at least the documentary form referred to in Article 77(2) of the Polish Civil Code (e.g., email or functionality within the website, if such is made available). 
  3. Loss of the right to withdraw from the contract. 
    Please note that in the case of digital content available in the model offered by the service under special agreements, by obtaining access to such content as soon as possible, you lose the right to withdraw from the agreement, which results from the wording of the provisions of Article 38(1)(13) of the Act on Consumer Rights of 30 May 2014. 

    The aforementioned loss of the right to withdraw from the contract is related to the fact that at the time of payment of the agreed price, you receive the ordered content (access) with the possibility of multiplying such content, and so the service is performed in an irreversible way. As a consequence, withdrawal from the contract, which shall lead to returning acquired services by both parties (they return to each other what they have provided), becomes impossible. 

    At the same time, the loss of the above right does not reduce your rights in respect of a complaint or warranty regarding the conformity of the goods with the order. The complaint procedure is described later in the regulations. 

§ 10 
Complaints 

  1. Every customer is entitled to file a complaint regarding both the service (which is the subject of general agreements) and the content purchased using it. 
  2. Such complaints should be emailed to contact@pps.pub, sent using the appropriate functionality of the website (if made available), or sent by post to the address indicated above in these regulations. 
  3. The complaint should include the data of the person submitting the complaint, such as name and surname, user and customer ID, and email address for correspondence, along with a concise description of the reservations and comments submitted. 
  4. The company will inform the person submitting the complaint about the result of its consideration via email to the address provided in the complaint or, if the person submitting the complaint has not provided an email address, to another address indicated by him/her, within 14 days from the date of its delivery to the company. 
  5. If the complaint cannot be considered within 14 days, the company will inform the complainant of this fact, indicating the reasons for the delay and the expected date of consideration. 
  6. In the case of customers who are not consumers and are not subject to other special protection, the application of the provisions of Article 556 et seq. of the Polish Civil Code (warranty for defects) is excluded. 

§ 11 
Data, personal data, and cookies 

  1. In connection with the services, the provider processes personal data to the extent necessary to perform the services for the user or client, whereby in the scope of data entered by a user who is also a client, the provider becomes the controller of such data, while in the case of data of a user who uses access through another client, the provider acts as the data processor within the meaning of Article 28(4) of the GDPR. 
  2. Detailed information on the processing of personal data is included in the privacy policy document. 
  3. Regardless of personal data, the company also collects and processes data collected in cookie files. This type of data in itself does not have the attribute of personal data, but it is data about the user’s behavior or visits to the website. More information and the ability to modify the way this data is processed can be obtained through the card displayed to the user regarding cookies. 

§ 12 
Final provisions 

  1. These regulations may be changed by the supplier, but the most recently accepted version is binding for the customer and the user. 
  2. In the event of acceptance of the new version of the regulations by a user or customer who has already submitted a declaration of acceptance of the previous version of the regulations, the version at the time of the last declaration of acceptance of this document shall become binding. 
  3. The current version of the regulations was developed on September 10, 2025. 
  4. Changes to the new regulations will be delivered to the user and customer by posting them on the website, and in the case of users and customers who have an account, by means of a notification visible in the user’s account or by email. 
  5. In relation to users and customers who have an account, the change to the regulations in the wording delivered in the manner referred to above comes into effect upon acceptance of the new version of the regulations, but no later than within one month from the date of delivery of the regulations to the email address or user account. 
  6. If the new version of the regulations is not accepted within one month from the date of delivery to the email address or user account, the general contract (for the provision of services by electronic means) shall be terminated upon the expiry of this period. 
  7. Both the materials and content made available or posted on the website and delivered via it are subject to copyright protection in accordance with the Act on Copyright and Related Rights of 4 February 1994 (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1191). 
  8. To the extent that it is not limited or excluded by law, the jurisdiction of Polish courts is assumed and Polish law shall apply hereto. The court locally competent to hear disputes arising therefrom shall be the one at the supplier’s registered office, if no such solution is limited by law due to the client’s specific status. If anything said before shall be statutorily void or forbidden by a provision of applicable law, such provision shall replace the void part of said regulation. 
  9. The supplier expresses its willingness to use alternative dispute resolution, for example, by submitting the dispute (which requires the consent of both parties) to the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Commerce (ul. Trębacka 4, 00-074 Warsaw). 
  10. In all matters not covered by these regulations, the generally applicable provisions of Polish law shall apply.