Terms of service

1. Definitions

• TransferGuard, we: PVG Technologies B.V., trading as TransferGuard.
• User, you: the business or professional with a TransferGuard account. For a company account, that is the company.
• Personal account: an account on transferguard.eu.
• Company account: an environment for a company on its own address, such as jansen.transferguard.eu, for one or more staff members.
• Staff member: a person with their own account within a company account.
• Recipient: the person to whom you send files through TransferGuard, or from whom you request files.
• Transfer: a delivery of one or more files through TransferGuard, or a request for files.
• Identity check: a check of a recipient by our verification partner, using the identity document, a liveness check and a comparison of the face with the photo on the identity document.
• Report: the overview of a transfer, also as PDF, with the events, timestamps and any outcome of an identity check.
• Service: the TransferGuard platform, with the website, the accounts, the recipient pages and related functions.

2. Scope

• These terms apply to all use of the service by a user and its staff members.
• TransferGuard is only for businesses and professionals, including the free account. When creating an account you confirm that you act for your business or profession. Consumers cannot create an account. Whoever creates a company account declares to be authorised to bind the company.
• Only businesses and professionals established in the European Union can create an account. Recipients can be anywhere in the world.
• The user's own general terms do not apply.
• If a written arrangement with a user deviates from these terms, that arrangement prevails.

3. Account and access

• You provide correct and up to date details when creating an account and in your billing details.
• Before you can send files, you confirm your email address.
• Every staff member of a company account has their own account. Two-step verification (authenticator app or passkey) is mandatory for every staff member of a company account.
• The owner of a company account decides who has access and with which role. You are responsible for actions taken through your account and the accounts of your staff members. Sign-in details are personal and confidential.
• If you suspect misuse of an account, report it immediately to info@transferguard.eu.

4. The service

TransferGuard provides:

• sending files encrypted. Files and file names are encrypted in your browser before they reach our server;
• access for the recipient in the way you choose per transfer: anyone with the link, a code by email, Email and text message (link by email, code by text message), or an identity check (the last two only with Certified Delivery);
• two ways of delivery. By default we email the recipient a link without the key and keep the key of the transfer encrypted until the recipient confirms with the email code or the identity check. If you choose to share the link yourself, the key is only in your link and never reaches our server. Only that way is end-to-end encrypted;
• per transfer, an overview of who came forward, which files were downloaded, when, from which IP address and with which device, and a PDF report with timestamps from an independent timestamp service (RFC 3161);
• with Certified Delivery: requesting files from a recipient, on a page with your logo and brand colour;
• badges. A recipient who completed an identity check for a transfer gets the Verified badge. Other senders only see that badge if the recipient allows it. As a sender, you can have your own identity checked for free for the Verified sender badge. It is valid for 1 year, or shorter if your identity document expires sooner.

An identity check is an automated assessment by our verification partner. It is an aid and not a guarantee that a document is genuine or that someone is who they claim to be. The check does not replace any legal obligation to identify someone, such as under the Dutch Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act (Wwft). A badge says nothing about someone's authority to act on behalf of a company.

The report shows which files were downloaded and that the recipient's browser decrypted and checked them. It does not prove that anyone read or understood the files. A timestamp proves that a recorded event existed at that moment, not that its content is correct. The data in the report are ordinary electronic data. TransferGuard does not provide qualified trust services, such as a qualified electronic signature.

We may change and improve the service. If an essential function of Certified Delivery is discontinued, we inform the owners of company accounts with that subscription by email at least 30 days in advance. They can then cancel the subscription free of charge before the function ends.

5. Plans and limits

There are two plans. The free plan applies to every account. Certified Delivery is available for a company account.

• GB is decimal: 1 GB is 1,000,000,000 bytes. A calendar month follows Dutch time (Europe/Amsterdam).
• If you reach a limit, you cannot do anything new that month to which that limit applies. There are no extra charges. What you do not use in a month lapses at the end of that month and does not carry over.
• A transfer counts as soon as you create it. A draft you do not send counts for 24 hours. A started upload counts towards the monthly volume, even if it is aborted.
• Active storage is the total of files that are still available. After the expiry date we erase the files and that space no longer counts.
• An identity check counts as soon as the recipient starts the first check for a transfer, in the month in which that happens, even if the check fails. Per transfer the recipient has at most 3 attempts. A new attempt within the same transfer does not count again. If a recipient opens a transfer with a passkey created earlier, that does not count as a check.
• If the month's identity checks have been used, a recipient can only start a new check once there is allowance again, so from the next calendar month.
• With Email and text message, every text message sent with a code counts, in the month in which it is sent. A text message that could not be sent does not count. If the month's text message codes have been used, you can no longer choose Email and text message and a recipient of a running transfer gets no new code by text message until the next calendar month. To prevent misuse there is also a limit per transfer, per company account and per hour. We only send text message codes to mobile numbers in the European Union.
• We may agree different terms with a company or give a company a free period. These then only apply to that company.
• We may change prices. We announce a change by email at least 30 days in advance. If you do not agree, you can cancel the subscription free of charge before the change takes effect. A month already paid keeps the old price.

Current prices are on the pricing page.

6. Your responsibilities

• Content and recipient. You are responsible for the files you send or request, for the choice of recipient and for the type of access. We cannot see the content of the files and do not check it.
• Recipients' data. For the personal data of recipients that you have processed through TransferGuard, you are the controller and we are your processor. You ensure a valid legal basis and inform the recipient. If you choose an identity check, biometric data is processed (Article 9 GDPR). For this we ask the recipient on your behalf for explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a) GDPR), in a consent step before the check. You carry out a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) where required. For the reusable identity, the passkey and the Verified badge, which a recipient can use with several senders, we are the controller ourselves; see the privacy statement.
• Own legal obligations. TransferGuard does not replace any legal obligation to identify someone or to keep data. You remain responsible for that yourself.
• Sharing yourself. If you share the link yourself, you ensure a secure way of sharing. With access for anyone with the link, anyone who has that link can open the files. We then do not have the key and cannot recover it.
• Permitted use. You only use the service for lawful purposes. It is not permitted to send malicious software or unlawful content, send unsolicited messages, track persons, build lists of persons or badges, circumvent limits, or test or circumvent security without our written permission.
• Not an archive. TransferGuard only keeps files until the expiry date. Keep your own copy of anything you must or want to keep.

7. Paying for Certified Delivery

• An owner of the company account takes out the subscription and gives explicit consent when doing so.
• For the subscription, the company links a payment method with a mandate for recurring payments through our payment service provider: a credit card (also through Apple Pay or Google Pay), PayPal, or a mandate for automatic direct debit (SEPA) that the company gives with an iDEAL payment. You only see the methods our payment service provider allows for recurring payments at that time. Outside a free period the company pays the first month straight away, with iDEAL, a card (also through Apple Pay or Google Pay) or PayPal; that payment also gives the mandate for the following months. During a free period, or when replacing a payment method, the company only links: with a card or PayPal € 0.00 is charged, with iDEAL the company pays € 0.01 once to confirm the account, which we refund straight away. The company can have a direct debit reversed by its bank within 8 weeks; the paid month then ends, as with any other chargeback. The company also enters its billing details: name, address and country.
• We charge the subscription monthly in advance through the mandate. A paid month starts as soon as we have received the payment and runs until the same date in the next month. After that, the subscription renews automatically for one month, until an owner cancels.
• VAT: a company in the Netherlands pays 21% VAT. A company in another EU member state with a VAT number that is valid according to VIES pays no VAT; the VAT is reverse charged (Article 196 VAT Directive 2006/112/EC). Without a valid VAT number we charge 21% Dutch VAT. If VIES is unavailable at the time of charging, 21% applies to that payment. If a VAT number later turns out to be invalid, we may charge the VAT afterwards.
• Cancelling: an owner can cancel the subscription at any time in the portal. The subscription then continues until the end of the paid month and is not renewed afterwards. We do not refund part of a month.
• If the payment for a following month fails, the owners get an email straight away. The company then has 14 days in which the company account keeps working and an owner can link another payment method. If payment has still not been made after those 14 days, the company account returns to the free plan (see section 8). If the first payment fails, the subscription does not start. If the company pays by direct debit, a new month starts as soon as we have submitted the direct debit. If that direct debit fails, the month lapses and the grace period above applies.
• The company receives an invoice by email for every payment.
• The company reports any objection to a charge or invoice within 30 days.

7a. Launch offer

• The first 20 companies that create a company account use TransferGuard Certified Delivery for free for 3 months, from the moment the account is created. Which companies belong to the first 20 is determined by the time of creation in our records. Test accounts do not count.
• The offer includes the same as the Certified Delivery subscription in section 5, including 10 identity checks per calendar month for the whole company account. No payment details are needed for the offer, and we charge nothing during the free period.
• The offer does not renew automatically. We send a reminder by email 14 and 3 days before the end. Afterwards, the company account returns to the free plan (see section 8), unless an owner has taken out Certified Delivery. If an owner does so during the free period, the first charge only follows after the free period has ended.
• The offer applies once per company. It cannot be transferred or exchanged for money.
• The offer is meant for normal business use. In case of misuse, for example several company accounts for the same company to get the offer again, we may end the offer for that company. We tell the owners by email, with the reason. The offer then ends 14 days after that email.
• We may end the offer for new sign-ups at any time. Companies that already have the offer keep their free period.

8. Back to free

If Certified Delivery ends, for example after cancellation, after a failed payment and the 14 day period, or at the end of a free period, the company account returns to the free plan. The following applies:

• Files already sent stay available until their own expiry date.
• You have 30 more days to download the reports of transfers made under Certified Delivery. After that we erase those reports (see section 11).
• From that moment the limits of the free plan apply, also to new transfers by staff members.
• A recipient who has not yet completed the identity check for a transfer with an identity check cannot start it while Certified Delivery is not active.
• Drafts created under Certified Delivery can no longer be sent.

9. Availability and support

• We aim for 99.5% availability per calendar month, but do not guarantee uninterrupted operation. No service level agreement applies unless agreed in writing.
• The service partly depends on third parties, such as our verification partner, hosting, storage, email, the timestamp service and our payment service provider. We are not responsible for outages at those parties, but we work to limit the consequences.
• We announce planned maintenance in advance where possible and carry it out as much as possible at times of low usage.
• Support is available through info@transferguard.eu. Our admin screen shows no recipient data and no files.

10. Personal data and security

• For the personal data of recipients of a transfer, TransferGuard is a processor. The data processing agreement governs this and forms part of the agreement.
• For the reusable identity, the passkey and the Verified badge of recipients, and for the Verified sender badge, TransferGuard is the controller itself; see the privacy statement.
• For the data of users and staff members, TransferGuard is the controller; see the privacy statement.
• We take appropriate technical and organisational measures, described in the data processing agreement. Files and the database are stored in the EU. We do not promise processing exclusively within the EU; the privacy statement describes which parties may process outside it.

11. Retention and erasure

• Files are available until the expiry date of the transfer. After that date, or after you revoke the transfer, nobody has access any more and we erase the files.
• Free transfers. You can view the download status in your dashboard while the files are available: 5 days. Free transfers do not include a PDF report. After this period we erase the recipient data together with the files. PDF reports are only included with Certified Delivery.
• Certified Delivery. The report of a transfer stays available for 1 year after sending, or 1 year after the first complete receipt if that is later. The report of a file request stays available for 1 year after it was created. After a transfer has been revoked or has expired, you can erase the report earlier.
• End of Certified Delivery. If the subscription ends, after cancellation or after a failed payment and the 14 day period, you can still download the reports for 30 days. After that we erase the reports and the related recipient data.
• Getting your data back. You get your data back by downloading the files per transfer while they are available, and the report as a PDF. We do not offer a separate export of all data at once.
• Technical log entries without names or email addresses remain after a report has been erased. They then no longer form a report and can no longer be linked to a recipient.
• End of the agreement. If you delete your account or the agreement ends in another way, we erase the account data and recipients' data within 30 days. We keep invoices and payment records for 7 years, as the tax retention obligation requires. Erased data remains in our encrypted backups for at most 90 days.

12. Intellectual property

• All rights to the service, software, texts and design remain with TransferGuard or its licensors. You receive a non-exclusive, non-transferable right of use for the duration of the agreement.
• You retain the rights to your own files, data, logo and branding, and permit us to use them to provide the service.
• It is not permitted to copy, decompile or resell the service without written permission.

13. Liability

• Our liability is limited to compensation of direct damage, up to at most the amount you paid for the service for the period in which the damage arose. For the monthly Certified Delivery subscription that is one monthly amount, currently € 15 excluding VAT.
• If you paid nothing for that period, such as with a free account or during a free period, we are not liable, to the extent permitted by law.
• We are not liable for indirect damage, such as consequential loss, lost profit, missed savings, fines from supervisory authorities or business interruption.
• We are not liable for decisions you take based on the outcome of an identity check or a badge, for an incorrect outcome resulting from our verification partner's assessment or from incorrect data, for a link with key that you share yourself, or for files erased after the expiry date.
• These limitations do not apply in case of intent or wilful recklessness (gross negligence) of our management.
• Report damage in writing as soon as possible. Any right to compensation lapses 12 months after you knew or should reasonably have known of the damage.

14. Term, suspension and termination

• The agreement applies for an indefinite period from the creation of an account.
• An owner cancels Certified Delivery as described in section 7.
• You can terminate the agreement at any time by deleting your account: sign in, click your name at the bottom left, choose Your account and then Delete account. For a company account, an owner does this. You can also email info@transferguard.eu from the email address of the account.
• We can terminate the agreement by email with a notice period of at least 2 months.
• We can suspend access or terminate the agreement immediately in case of misuse or suspected misuse, acting contrary to these terms or the law, or if a verification partner or supervisory authority requires it. Where reasonable, we warn first.

15. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. We announce material changes at least 30 days in advance by email. If you do not agree, you can terminate the agreement free of charge before the effective date.

16. Governing law and disputes

These terms and the agreement are governed by Dutch law. Disputes are submitted to the District Court of Midden-Nederland, Utrecht location.

In case of differences between the Dutch and English text, the Dutch text prevails.