Terms of use for the emergency call app nora

In accordance with the rules set out in these terms of use, any natural person who downloads the emergency call app "nora" (hereinafter referred to as the "App") and accepts these terms of use during registration enters into a contractual relationship with the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, represented by the Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (hereinafter referred to as the "Provider") regarding the use of the App.

These terms of use should be read carefully by the user of the App. They can be accessed at any time in the App and under the menu item Settings/Legal Topics/Terms of use. The separate data protection declaration is not part of these terms of use. The data protection declaration can also be found in the App under the menu item Settings/Legal Topics and should also be read carefully.

For Apple devices, the App can be downloaded from the Apple App Store. For use on Android devices, the App is available from the Google Play Store. The App is available free of charge. General terms of use of Apple or Google must be accepted by the user as part of the use of the stores. However, such terms of use of an App store operator do not apply in the legal relationship between you as a user and the Provider.

The App is intended for persons who are at least 16 years old. Use of the App requires registration in accordance with § 5 of these terms of use.

For questions regarding the terms of use, users can use the reporting form in the App or contact the following email address by email: contact[at]nora-notruf.de

The App is provided free of charge.

The Provider is entitled to change, discontinue or expand individual functions of the App at any time.

Overview

§ 1 Subject matter / functions of the app

  1. The aim of this App is to provide the general public with access to emergency call services. In particular, the App is intended to provide people with for example hearing or speech impairments, with equal access to emergency services.
  2. In the event of an emergency, the App offers the possibility of receiving help from the rescue service, fire brigade and/or police (hereinafter also referred to collectively as "emergency services"). The App is thus intended to be a technical alternative to the use of the emergency numbers 112 and 110.
  3. The main functions of the App are described below:
    1. After the user has successfully registered with his/her name and mobile phone number, he/she can select various personal details in his/her user account - for example, regarding his/her state of health - and store them there. In the event that an emergency call is sent via the App, this information can - depending on the selected emergency call - be forwarded to the control centre and the emergency services.
    2. In order to locate the user in an emergency and to be able to provide assistance as quickly and effectively as possible, an attempt is made to transmit the user's location to the locally responsible control centre via a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as GPS. This functionality is influenced by the quality of the GNSS module (e.g. GPS module) on the end device used, the weather and the geographical conditions and can therefore not be guaranteed by the Provider. The user shall ensure that functions of the operating system that suppress accurate positioning are switched off for the App. Otherwise, an exact location cannot be ensured. The determined location is displayed to the user on a map. If the location is not correct, the user can change it or enter an address in the App.
    1. Before sending the emergency call, the user must answer a few structured and short questions to enable the control centre to classify the emergency call and select the required rescue measures.
    2. Before the emergency call is sent, the information that is transmitted to the control centre is displayed. The user can cancel the emergency call or change the data at any time up to this point.
    3. After the user has sent an emergency call, a dialogue box opens, giving the opportunity to exchange messages with the respective control centre. Here, the locally responsible control centre is also displayed in the first message.
  2. The App is generally only offered for Germany and is only functional within the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. Outside the German border, emergency calls may only reach the nearest German control centre, when the user is within a radius of up to two kilometres from the German border. The latter function does only serve in order to be able to address map localisation inaccuracies and cross-border cooperation between control centres. On foreign territory, however, the foreign emergency services are to be contacted via the respective emergency numbers. Outside the mentioned radius, it is not possible to make an emergency call with the App.

§ 2 Business and Coordination Office Emergency App System at the State of NRW

  1. The 16 federal states have decided to jointly set up the App as an official emergency call option and make it available to citizens nationwide. The states are thus the joint publishers of the App. They are also jointly responsible under data protection law for the processing of personal data in the App.
  2. However, only the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as the Provider of the App is a contractual partner under these terms of use
  1. For better organisation, the federal states have decided to set up a business and coordination office for the emergency call App system at the state of NRW. Users can also contact this office with questions, suggestions or complaints:

    The Land of North Rhine-Westphalia 
    represented by the 
    Ministry of the Interior of the State of NRW
    Business and Coordination Office Emergency App System
    Friedrichstr. 62 - 80
    40217 Duesseldorf

    In addition, users can use the reporting form in the App or at this link https://www.nora-notruf.de/en-en/questions/support.

§ 3 Duties of the user

  1. When using the services of the Provider, the user must comply with the Applicable laws of the Federal Republic of Germany and these terms of use. In particular, the user is obliged to:
    1. Provide truthful information as part of the registration process.
    2. Only send an emergency call via the App when there is actually an emergency or dangerous situation and help is needed from emergency services.
    3. Before sending an emergency call, check the data to be transmitted for accuracy.
  2. The user is hereby informed that the following actions constitute a criminal offence under Section 145 of the German Criminal Code (StGB):
    1. Intentionally or knowingly misuse emergency calls or emergency signals.
    2. Intentionally or knowingly pretending that the help of others is required because of a misfortune or because of common danger or need.
  1. In the event of a breach of § 3 (2) of these terms of use, the Provider is entitled to forward the relevant information to the relevant government agencies. Misuse of emergency call functions may also give rise to claims for damages by the state agencies involved or lead to the App being blocked in accordance with § 5.
  2. The chat function provided may not be used by the user for the following purposes:
    1. send illegal, offensive, threatening, violent, racist or untruthful content and messages; and/or
    2. infringe the rights of the Provider or third parties (in particular data protection rights and intellectual property rights); and/or
    3. send or forward illegal or unauthorised mass messages (chain letters).
  3. The user is informed that data from third parties concerning their state of health may only be sent via the App if the third party has consented. The App does not provide a function for saving this consent separately. Consent does not have to be obtained if there is a risk to the life or body of the third party and the third party cannot give consent for physical or legal reasons (e.g. loss of consciousness, serious illness, etc.).

§ 4 Minimum requirements for the use of the App

The following technical requirements are needed to use the App:

  1. Data connection to the Internet.
  2. Current version of iOS or Android.
  3. Current version of the App: If updates to the App are made available, the user must install them to ensure trouble-free use of the App.
  4. GNSS module on the terminal (e.g. GPS module).

§ 5 Registration and blocking of the account in case of violation of the terms of use

  1. For the proper use of the App, the user is obliged to register. When registering for the App, the user must enter the correct and complete information about his/her identity and update it in the event of changes. A breach of this obligation entitles the Provider to exclude the user from using the App and to terminate this contract without notice.
  2. The Provider reserves the right to block a user account if there are justified indications that
    1. the user account has been used in an unauthorised manner and/or
    2. it is undertaken or attempted to gain unauthorized access to the App or the underlying systems of the servers (backend) from the user account, for example by using own software ("hacking") and/or
    3. significant violations of the terms of use emanate from a user account.
  1. A significant violation pursuant to Section 5 (2) (c) exists in particular if the App is used to make an emergency call even though there is actually no emergency for the user or a third party. The assessment of when an emergency call has been sent in violation of the terms of use is the responsibility of the employees of the respective control centre.
  2. If several emergency calls made by a user are determined to be a violation of the terms of use, the user will receive a message via the App with a corresponding notice. If the user has not made an emergency call in this case, or if he/she considers an emergency call to be justified, he/she can contact support. The user can reach the support here.
  3. In cases of § 5 para. 2, the Provider shall immediately notify the user concerned via the App if the user's account is blocked.

§ 6 Rights of use

  1. The user is granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to use the App for personal, non-commercial purposes. These rights do not apply to the source code of the App.
  2. Insofar as the App contains third-party components, the license terms for these can be found in the "Legal Topics" in the settings of the App. No rights are granted to the user with regard to any third-party components.
  3. Characters, images, symbols, documents and other files that can be downloaded as part of the use of the App are protected trademarks and content of the Provider. The content may only be reproduced for the purposes of using the App and for the sole use of the user. Any other use is not permitted. The user is prohibited from modifying the App.
  4. The user is not granted any further rights to the App. No ownership of the App is transferred to the user.

§ 7 Changes and availability

  1. The App is made available to the user as it is currently published. A quality agreement for certain functions is not agreed. The Provider may change the App at any time and remove functions in whole or in part or extend the App with additional functions. The user has no claim to the retention of certain functions or other properties of the App.
  2. The Provider reserves the right to change the terms of use at any time. If the user does not agree to the amended terms of use, the user can no longer use the App and must delete the App from the end device. The user will be informed about a change 4 weeks in advance by a message in the App.
  3. No promise is made as to availability or performance. If there are disruptions, the App may be temporarily unavailable. In this case, the user will be informed in the App that it is currently not possible to make an emergency call.

§ 8 Warranty

  1. The App is provided in the manner in which it is made available for download (“as is”). The Provider does not give warranty for the availability of individual functions of the App. In particular, no warranty is given with regard to use free of interruptions or errors.
  2. Furthermore, no guarantee is given for the availability of or access to the Internet or the location function to the extent such functions depend on the user’s device. Likewise, no responsibility is assumed with regard to data backup on the user's device.

§ 9 Liability

  1. The Provider is not liable if the position of the user could not be determined or could not be determined correctly because the end device of the user has no connection to the Internet or because a concrete location is not possible due to other external circumstances for which the provider is not responsible.
  2. The Provider is also not liable for the permanent and stable availability of an internet connection to the end devices of the users.
  3. The Provider is liable without limitation for damages caused intentionally or through gross negligence by the Provider. In the case of slight negligence, the Provider is only liable in the event of a breach of essential contractual obligations (so-called “cardinal obligations”). These are those obligations which are a prerequisite for proper execution of the contract and those obligations which the user may rely on being duly fulfilled. The same applies to breaches of duty by legal representatives or vicarious agents.
  1. There is no exclusion of liability for damages caused intentionally or negligently from injury to life, body or health by the Provider, his legal representatives or vicarious agents.
  2. The regulations of the product liability law remain unaffected.
  3. By way of clarification, it should be noted that the Provider is not liable for the content of the chat entries written by the control centre and for the measures taken in the context of mission planning and execution, but rather the responsible bodies in each case.

§ 10 Term/Cancellation

The contract for the use of the App can be terminated at any time and without notice. For this purpose, the user can use the menu item "Revocation" in the App under "Legal topics". In this case, the registration data will be deleted immediately from the servers.

§ 11 Final provisions

  1. German law shall apply to the exclusion of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (UN Sales Convention).
  2. Should one or more of the aforementioned clauses be ineffective, become ineffective or contain a loophole, the remaining clauses shall remain unaffected. An invalid provision or a loophole shall be replaced by the statutory provisions.