Terms of use, contribution and re-use

 

Introduction

About Open Food Facts

Open Food Facts gathers information and data on food products from around the world.

Food product information (photos, ingredients, nutrition facts etc.) is collected in a collaborative way and made available to everyone and for all uses in a free and open database.

This database can be viewed on the Open Food Facts website (openfoodfacts.org) which also enables the users to add, complete or correct the products data.

The Open Food Facts database is available under the Open Database License.
Individual contents of the database are available under the Database Contents License.
Products images are available under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike licence. They may contain graphical elements subject to copyright or other rights, that may in some cases be reproduced (quotation rights or fair use).

Editor of Open Food Facts

The Open Food Facts database and service is published by the non-profit organization Open Food Facts (French "Loi 1901" Association).
Address: 21 rue des Iles, 94100 Saint-Maur des Fossés, France
e-mail: legal@openfoodfacts.org
Hereinafter the editor will be referred to with the name Open Food Facts.

Users, contributors and re-users

These terms and conditions constitute a contract between Open Food Facts and the users, contributors and re-users.

For clarity purposes, the terms and conditions are divided in several sections:

"Users" are individuals who visit the Open Food Facts website or use the Open Food Facts applications and access its content and/or the tools and services that they provide.
specific terms and conditions for users

"Contributors" are individuals or entities who add content to the site and/or database, and/or edit this content.
specific terms and conditions for contributors

"Re-users" are individuals or entities who re-use and/or republish a part of or the whole content of the site and/or of the database.
specific terms and conditions for re-users

On top of the specific terms and conditions, the general terms and conditions apply to all.

 

Terms and conditions for users

Protection of personal information

To benefit from certain features, it is possible to create a personal account on the site. Users agree to enter true information when they register and to update it if it changes. The personal information is collected to enable the service and it will not be sold or transmitted to third parties.

This site is declared to the French commission "Computers and Freedom" (CNIL) under the number 1528436. Conforming to the French "Computers and Freedom" law (« informatique et libertés ») of January 6th 1978 and changed in 2004, you have the right to access and correct the data that pertains to you. To exercise this right, please email privacy@openfoodfacts.org

Accuracy of the information and data provided

Open Food Facts does not guarantee the accuracy of the information and data present on the site and in the database (included, but not limited to, the product data: photos, barcode, name, generic name, quantity, packaging, brands, categories, origins, labels, certifications, awards, packaging codes, ingredients, additives, allergens, traces, nutrition facts, ecological data etc.).

The information and data is entered by contributors to the site. It can contain errors due for instance to inaccurate information on labels and packaging, manual input of data, or processing of data.

In order to allow the data to be verified by users, contributors are invited to upload photos of labels and packaging displaying the data.

Users who find errors are invited to correct them by becoming contributors. It only takes a couple of minutes to register as a contributor and to correct a product page.

Completeness and comprehensiveness of the information and data

Open Food Facts does not guarantee the completeness and comprehensiveness of the information and data present on the site and in the database.

The fact that a product is present on the site or in the database does not guarantee that all the data pertaining to the product is present. Users who find missing information or data are invited to edit and add to the product page.

Furthermore, all the food products are not present on Open Food Facts, given the number of food products existing in the world, and the number of the new products created every day.

The averages and other statistical information are computed on the basis of products and data present in the Open Food Facts database, and not on all the existing products on the market. Similarly, the comparisons to averages, and product comparisons, are established on the basis of products and data present in the Open Food Facts database.

Warning

The information and data is provided only for indicative information. It can contain errors and must not be used for medical purposes.

Disclaimer

The service is provided as-is. Open Food Facts does not guarantee its conformity to any particular use, and does not guarantee its compatibility with any third-party services.

Similarly, the information and data is provided as-is. Open Food Facts does not guarantee its accuracy, completeness, comprehensiveness and conformity to any particular use.

The service can be stopped temporarily for maintenance, or for reasons outside the control of Open Food Facts, such as technical problems (hardware or software).

The publisher of Open Food Facts cannot be held responsible for any possible damage, direct or indirect, or any loss of data, due to the use or the impossibility to use its services, or to the access or impossibility to access the content of the services, or to the possible fact that the information and data is not accurate, complete or comprehensive.

 

Terms and conditions for contributors

Registering as a contributor

To add and/or edit information and data, especially product data, contributors need to register on the site.

Contributors agree to enter true information when they register and to update it if it changes.

Contributions are public

All contributions are archived and the edit history of the product pages is public. Furthermore, the lists of products added or edited by a specific user are public.

In order to ensure the integrity and traceability of information and data, the public character of contributions cannot be revoked.

Licences of contributions

By adding information, data and/or photos, contributors agree to place irrevocably their contributions under the Database Contents Licence 1.0 for information and data, and under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike licence for photos.

Attribution of the contributions

Contributors agree to be credited by re-user by a link to the product to which they contribute.

Sources of contributions

Contributors agree to contribute only with information, data and photos for which they possess the reproduction rights.

Contributors agree not to add on Open Food Facts information, data and photos from other websites (including other products databases, e-commerce websites, producers sites etc.).

Information and data added by contributors must come directly from the label and packaging of the product.

Photos added by contributors must have been taken by the contributors themselves.

Photos of the information and data

In order to enable the verification of the information and data and the correction of possible errors, contributors should try to upload on Open Food Facts photos of the label and packaging showing the information and data.

Verification of contributions

Open Food Facts has no obligation to verify the accuracy and completeness of the information and data.

Editions of contributions

Contributions can be edited, corrected or completed by other contributors.

Removal of contributions

Contributions can be removed if they are not conform to the service or do not comply to these terms and conditions (for instance non-food products, inaccurate or incomplete contributions, non-personal contributions etc.).

In case of repeat infringement, all the contributions of a contributor may be removed, and her/his access to the site may be revoked.

Vandalism and publication of false or inaccurate data

Contributors who voluntarily delete information or data and/or who add incorrect information of data will see their access to the site revoked, and legal action against them may be taken.

 

Terms and conditions for re-use

Accuracy, completeness and comprehensiveness of the information and data

All the terms and conditions for use, warnings and limitations of responsibility that they contain, also apply to re-users.

Licences

Three licences apply to the different parts ot the products database of Open Food Facts. The licences are free licences that authorize the use and reproduction of the content for all purposes, including commercial use, under certain conditions, especially the attribution and the sharing under the same condition of derivative works.

The Open Food Facts database is available under the Open Database License.

Individual contents of the database are available under the Database Contents License.

Products images are available under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike licence. They may contain graphical elements subject to copyright or other rights, that may in some cases be reproduced (quotation rights or fair use). See below for some limits of the licences.

Licence restriction

The licences mentioned in the above paragraph cover only the rights that belong to Open Food Facts and its contributors. Other rights of third parties may apply.

For instance, the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike licence for images only covers the photo itself and the rights of the contributors who took the picture. Other rights of third parties may apply, such as: copyright for the product design and graphical elements it contains (illustrations, pictures etc.), image rights of people (e.g. celebrities) featured on the packaging, trademark rights etc.

Depending on the use and on the jurisdictions, exemptions to those third party rights may exist and may apply. For instance "Fair use" in the United States and "quoting right" in Europe.

It is the responsibility of individuals and entities who wish to re-use the information, data and/or photos to verify by themselves the rights that may apply as well as exemptions to those rights depending on the planned use and the jurisdictions they submit to.

Authorship and attribution

The individuals and entities who reproduce or re-use information, data and/or photos from the Open Food Facts site or database have to mention the licence and to attribute the authorship to Open Food Facts with a link to https://openfoodfacts.org, the appropriate local version (e.g. https://en.openfoodfacts.org) or the product page, when the information and data reproduced or re-used pertain to a specific product. Such attribution is also necessary for derivative works.

Share Alike

Derivative works must be shared under the same conditions. The text of each licence specifies the exact conditions for sharing derivative works.

Disclaimer

The responsibility of Open Food Facts, its publisher and its contributors, cannot be engaged if a specific re-use does not conform to law. The re-user needs to take all the appropriate precations and counsel that he/she deems necessary.

 

General terms and conditions

The general terms and conditions apply to all: users, contributors and re-users.

Translations of the terms and conditions for use, contribution and re-use

These conditions have been translated in English to ease the use of the site for users from around the world for information purposes only. In case of discrepancies, the original terms and conditions in French prevail.

Changes to the terms and conditions for use, contribution and re-use

The terms and conditions for use, contribution and re-use can be changed at any time. Changes go into effect as they are published on the page https://fr.openfoodfacts.org/conditions-d-utilisation. Users, contributors and re-users are invited to consult it regularly.

Acceptation without reserve

Using, contributing or reusing the site and/or information, data or photos from Open Food Facts implies full acceptance of these terms and conditions of use, contribution and re-use.

Applicable law

The applicable law is French law.