Data Search Terms & Conditions

Data supplied by HERC as the results of a data search (the Data) are supplied under license and are subject to the following conditions. Please read them carefully; by accepting a HERC quote or a cross-boundary quote from one of our neighbouring local environmental records centres, you indicate that you have read and understand these terms and agree to adhere to them.

Data are supplied on condition that they are only for the use of the enquirer and their client (if commissioned) and only for the purpose specified at the time of the enquiry. Data will not be stored beyond the life of the project for which they were acquired.
Data may be used as required in support of the planning process, but will not be made public in any documents or in any other media without written permission from HERC. If items of a sensitive nature are indicated by HERC, published grid references will not locate them with accuracy greater than 1km without written permission from HERC.
Detailed Bat and/or Badger searches provided as a Bats-only or Add-on service are carried out on behalf of the Herts and Middlesex Bat Group and/or the Herts and Middlesex Badger Group. These services fall outside of current cross-boundary data search agreements with neighbouring records centres, except for when Bat data is ordered as part of a cross-boundary data search from either Bedfordshire & Luton Biodiversity Recording & Monitoring Centre, or Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Environmental Records Centre, as they provide the same service on behalf of their respective county Bat Groups. The enquirer accepts that, if they require detailed Bat and/or Badger data for any part of a cross-boundary search overlapping the Hertfordshire county boundary (excluding the above exceptions), they will have to make a separate request to HERC.
Data will be stored in a manner that prevents their use and distribution beyond those permitted by conditions 1 and 2 above.
The enquirer agrees not to modify the factual content of the material supplied and not to copy directly any parts of the material that have been identified by HERC as not to be copied (e.g. Ordnance Survey based maps, where licensing restrictions apply, or material of a sensitive nature). This applies regardless of the medium of the supplied material, be it paper or electronic.
Data used in any form of document will have their source acknowledged as indicated by HERC.
All rights in the data are reserved. Ownership of data is not transferred by this agreement.
The enquirer will indemnify HERC against any claims made against HERC or any of its employees for any loss or damage arising from the supply of data to the enquirer pursuant to this agreement.
Data held by HERC, although verified as far as may be possible, are not definitive.
There may be data concerning items in the ecological environment that are as yet unknown to HERC and which were not recorded in HERC at the time of this enquiry and for which HERC cannot be held liable.
Some data may be withheld because of their sensitive nature, the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation, and/or conditions imposed by their owner.
Where there is a fee associated with data provision, as specified in a HERC quote, the enquirer agrees to 30-day payment terms.