Legal Terms and Conditions

Welcome to Small Business BC's Business Plan Contest Web Site ("BPC Site"). These terms of use ("Terms of Use") apply to your access to, and use of, the Site so please read them carefully.

We reserve the right to change or modify any of the terms and conditions contained in the Terms of Use or any policy or guideline of the BPC Site, at any time and in its sole discretion. Any changes or modification will be effective upon posting of the revisions and notice of such changes to the BPC Site. Your continued use of this BPC Site following the posting of its changes or modifications will constitute your acceptance of such changes or modifications. Therefore, you should frequently review the Terms of Use and applicable policies from time-to-time to understand the terms and conditions that apply to your use of the BPC Site. If you have any questions or comments regarding the use of the BPC Site, please direct these to contest@smallbusinessbc.ca.

BY ACCESSING, BROWSING, AND USING THIS SITE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS DESCRIBED BELOW, ALL POLICIES AND GUIDELINES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE, AND ANY SUBSEQUENT CHANGES TO THE FOREGOING. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR ANY SUBSEQUENT MODIFICATION, DO NOT ACCESS, BROWSE OR OTHERWISE USE THIS SITE.

Legal Copyright/Permission to Reproduce
Materials on this BPC Site were produced and/or compiled by Small Business BC (SBBC) for the purpose of providing British Columbians with direct access to information about the Business Plan Contest and business planning resources.

The material on this site is covered by the provisions of the Copyright Act, by Canadian laws, policies, regulations and international agreements. Such provisions serve to identify the information source and, in specific instances, to prohibit reproduction of materials without written permission.

SBBC encourages linking to our BPC site (www.bizplancontest.ca). We ask only that:                     

Third-Party Materials
Some of the materials and graphical elements found on the BPC Site are subject to copyrights held by other organizations. This is particularly true of sites that are jointly operated by BPC Site and its partners, as part of a collaborative agreement. In such cases, some restrictions on the reproduction of materials or graphical elements may apply; it may be necessary to seek permission from the author or copyright holder prior to reproduction.

To obtain information concerning copyright ownership and restrictions on reproduction on this site, please contact the:

Small Business BC
82-601 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC
Fax: (604) 775-5520
E-Mail: contest@smallbusinessbc.ca

Small Business BC Privacy Statement
We are committed to providing our visitors with a Site that respects their privacy. This page summarizes the privacy policy and practices of the BPC Site.

• The BPC Site does not automatically gather any personal information from you, such as your name, phone number, E-mail or street address during your visit to its Web sites. This information is only obtained if you supply it voluntarily, usually through contacting us via phone, e-mail or feedback forms.
• All personal information you do provide is protected under the federal Privacy Act.
• Visitor information is not disclosed to anyone except SBBC personnel who need the information to respond to a request.
• BPC Site uses cookies to store a randomly generated identifier for the visit. The cookies do not collect or contain personal information about you. Here is the list of information that BPC Site is collecting by using cookies:
  • your IP address - the BPC Site make no attempt to link this address with the identity of individuals visiting BPC Site;
    the length of each visit;
  • the number of requests per visit;
  • your type of operating system (Windows, MacIntosh, Unix, etc.);
  • your browser type (Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc.).
• By keeping this data, the BPC Site administrators can fine-tune the sites based on user-activity trends.
• Any personal information you do provide is protected under the federal Privacy Act. This means that you have a right to know when information is being collected, the purpose for which it is being collected and that you have a right to access the information.
• For questions or comments regarding this policy or for additional information about the administration of the Privacy Act at BPC Site, by E-mail - contest@smallbusinessbc.ca

For more information about privacy on the Internet, visit the privacy pages.

Disclaimer
Information on this site comes from many different government departments and agencies, as well as external sources and other private companies. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy, currency and reliability of the content. Portions of the database are updated daily; however, at any time, some details may not yet reflect recent changes. If this occurs, please contact the BPC Site at contest@smallbusinessbc.ca for assistance.

Link Policy 
Links from the BPC Site are related to the mandate and objectives of the BPC Site as a source of business information for Canadians or businesses operating in Canada. In general, the BPC Site may provide links to the following:

• Canadian government sites providing business-related information, programs and services;
• foreign government sites providing information to Canadian companies doing business abroad (i.e. customs, import procedures, tariffs, patents, copyright, trademark, industrial design);
• commercial business databases, including company directories, available free of charge;
• sites maintained by the BPC partners;
• Internet/Web search engines and directories.

Links to Commercial Organizations
We generally do not provide links to commercial sites. Under some circumstances, the BPC Site will provide links to a commercial organization to provide clients with free information or services useful to a business, where such information is not available from non-commercial sites. The decision will be at the discretion of the BPC Webmaster.

Request for a Link to the BPC Site 
To request a link to be placed on the BPC Site, please contact the Webmaster by E-mail: contest@smallbusinessbc.ca

In your contact message, please explain how the proposed link relates to this policy and contributes to the objective and enhancement of the BPC Site. Ensure that a return contact name and E-mail address are included. If a proposed link meets the criteria stated in this policy, it may still be declined at the discretion of the BPC Webmaster. If a link is approved, the administrators of the target site will be informed and the link established.

A reciprocal link back to the BPC Site is encouraged.

Guidelines when Linking to the BPC Site
Webmasters are recommended to follow these steps when establishing external links from your Web site to the SBBC Web site:

• in addition to linking to specific pages within the BPC site, also provide a link to the BPC homepage (http://www.bizplancontest.ca);
• periodically check the integrity of the links to the BPC documents;
• BPC discourages the use of frames;
• BPC content may be used in a framed environment if the third party frame does not exceed 20% of the viewing area.