Nexus Standards · Legal

Terms of Use

These Terms of Use govern access to and use of nexustandards.com and the programme sites published under it. The content is openly licensed (CC BY 4.0 for text, registries, schemas and data; Apache-2.0 for reference code); names and marks are not licensed. The Terms are governed by the laws of Ontario and of Canada and preserve the sovereignty, privileges and immunities of states and international organisations.

Licensing and IPR Privacy Policy

01Overview

Summary

Terms of UseLegal

PublisherThe Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI Canada)
Applies tonexustandards.com and its programme sites
Content licencesCC BY 4.0 · Apache-2.0
Governing lawOntario and federal law of Canada
Version1.0
Effective date20 October 2026
Last updated20 October 2026
Contactcontact@therisk.global

GCRI Canada · Secretariat of the Nexus Standards

02Section 1

Scope and acceptance

1.1 These Terms of Use govern access to and use of nexustandards.com and the programme sites published at addresses beginning with nexustandards.com/, such as nexustandards.com/climate/ (together, the Sites). The Sites are published by The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI Canada), Toronto, Canada, as Secretariat of the Nexus Standards.
1.2 By using the Sites, a user accepts these Terms. A user who does not accept them should not use the Sites.
1.3 Reuse of the content of the Sites is governed by the licences set out in Section 3. Contributions to the Nexus Standards are governed by the Contribution Terms; personal information is handled as set out in the Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy; use of names and marks is governed by the Trademark and Name Use Policy.
1.4 Where a separately executed agreement between GCRI Canada and a user governs a matter, that agreement prevails over these Terms for that matter.

03Section 2

Definitions

Term	Meaning
Sites	nexustandards.com and the programme sites published at addresses beginning with nexustandards.com/.
Content	The text, tables, registries, schemas, data, figures, code and other material published on the Sites.
Nexus Standards	The proposed standards, registries, schemas and related documents developed through the open process of the Nexus Standards and published on the Sites.
Secretariat	GCRI Canada, acting as Secretariat and publisher of record of the Nexus Standards.
External standard	A standard, framework or specification published by another body and named on the Sites by identifier and link.
User	Any person or organisation that accesses or uses the Sites.

04Section 3

Licences for reuse of the content

3.1 Unless a page or file states otherwise, the text of the Nexus Standards, the registries, the schemas, the data and the other written content of the Sites are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0), and reference code, validators and test suites are licensed under the Apache License 2.0. The terms and the attribution format are set out on the Licensing and IPR page.
3.2 The licences are granted from the date on which the material concerned is publicly released on the Sites. A licence granted for a released version is not withdrawn by a later change to these Terms or to the material.
3.3 The licences do not extend to names and marks, to external standards named on the Sites, or to third-party material identified as such; each of these remains under its own terms.
3.4 Attribution under a licence does not imply that GCRI Canada, the Global Standards Council or any contributor endorses the user or the use made of the material.

05Section 4

Names and marks

4.1 No right to use the names Nexus Standards, NXS or the names of the programmes and their bodies as trademarks is granted by these Terms or by the content licences. Referential use and the uses that require permission are set out in the Trademark and Name Use Policy.
4.2 Names of other standards bodies, governments and organisations appear on the Sites only to identify them and their documents.

06Section 5

Nature of the Nexus Standards

5.1 The Nexus Standards are published for information and voluntary use. They are provided as is, without warranty of any kind, to the extent permitted by law.
5.2 They are not legal, regulatory, engineering, financial, medical or safety advice. No one should rely on them as a substitute for the advice of a competent professional or the decision of a competent authority.
5.3 A statement on the Sites that a standard is proposed, in development or adopted describes its stage in the development process; it is not a representation that the standard is fit for a particular purpose.

07Section 6

National decision and sovereignty

6.1 National adoption, adaptation or reference of a Nexus Standard is a decision of the competent national institution under the law of its jurisdiction. A national profile, adaptation or adoption is the responsibility of the National Standards Council that issues it; GCRI Canada does not control, approve or warrant national decisions.
6.2 Nothing on the Sites or in these Terms confers governmental or intergovernmental status, regulatory authority, privileges or immunities, or waives any state's immunities, powers or laws. Participation does not represent a country or its public powers unless lawfully conferred.
6.3 Nothing in these Terms waives the privileges and immunities of any state, intergovernmental organisation or international organisation that uses the Sites.

08Section 7

Safety-critical use

7.1 The Sites and the Nexus Standards do not issue warnings, alerts, orders or emergency instructions and are not an emergency service. Only the competent public authority may warn, alert or command.
7.2 No content of the Sites should be used as the sole basis of a safety-critical decision. Maps, imagery and data shown on the Sites are displayed for context; the issuing provider's own service is the authoritative source.

09Section 8

External standards, third-party content and links

8.1 External standards are named by identifier, body and link for identification and reference only. Their text is not reproduced, and each remains with its steward and under its own licence.
8.2 Some pages display material from third parties, such as satellite imagery, bibliographic records and code libraries, with attribution. That material is provided under its provider's terms, which prevail for it.
8.3 Links to other sites are provided for convenience. GCRI Canada does not control those sites and is not responsible for their content, availability or privacy practices.

10Section 9

Acceptable use

9.1 Users shall not interfere with the operation or security of the Sites, attempt to gain unauthorised access to any system, introduce malicious code, or make automated requests at a volume that impairs availability for others.
9.2 Users shall not misrepresent the status of a Nexus Standard, present content of the Sites as issued, adopted or approved by a body that has not done so, or impersonate the Secretariat, a council, a working group or any person.
9.3 Good-faith security research that follows the coordinated vulnerability disclosure policy of the Nexus Standards is welcome. Reports should be sent privately to the Secretariat, marked Security, and not disclosed publicly before a fix or an agreed date.

11Section 10

Availability and changes to the Sites

10.1 The Sites are provided on an as-available basis. GCRI Canada may change, suspend or withdraw any page, feature or Site, in whole or in part, without notice, in particular for maintenance, security or editorial reasons.
10.2 Released versions of the Nexus Standards remain available in open formats from their published sources, so that the open licences can be exercised independently of the Sites.

12Section 11

Disclaimer of warranties

11.1 To the extent permitted by law, the Sites and their content are provided as is and as available, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.
11.2 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits a warranty or a right that cannot be excluded or limited under the law that applies to the user, including the rights of consumers.

13Section 12

Limitation of liability

12.1 To the extent permitted by law, GCRI Canada, the stewards of the Nexus Standards, their bodies, the contributors and the technology-support parties are not liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of, or reliance on, the Sites, the Nexus Standards or the tools published on the Sites, including indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages and loss of data, revenue or profit.
12.2 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for gross negligence or wilful misconduct where the applicable law does not permit its exclusion, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law.

14Section 13

Governing law and disputes

13.1 These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules that would apply another law.
13.2 The courts of the Province of Ontario sitting in Toronto have jurisdiction over disputes arising from these Terms, without excluding any forum that mandatory consumer-protection law, or the constituent instruments of a public body or international organisation, require.
13.3 Before any proceeding, the parties are invited to raise the matter with the Secretariat, which will seek to resolve it by dialogue. Nothing in this Section submits a state, an intergovernmental organisation or an international organisation to the jurisdiction of any court, or waives any immunity.

15Section 14

Language

14.1 These Terms are drawn up in English. Where a translation is published, the English text prevails to the extent permitted by law, except where the law of the user's jurisdiction requires the text in its language to prevail.

16Section 15

Changes to these Terms

15.1 GCRI Canada may amend these Terms. The amended Terms are published on this page with a new effective date, and apply to use of the Sites from that date. Earlier versions are available from the Secretariat on request.
15.2 A change to these Terms does not withdraw rights already granted under the content licences.

17Section 16

General provisions

16.1 If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect, and the provision concerned is applied to the fullest extent permitted.
16.2 A failure or delay in enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it.
16.3 Notices under these Terms may be sent to the Secretariat at contact@therisk.global.

18Questions

Questions and answers.

May the text of a Nexus Standard be copied, translated or adapted?

Yes. The text is licensed under CC BY 4.0, which permits copying, translation and adaptation, including for commercial use, provided that attribution is given and changes are indicated. National councils may issue national editions and derivatives under their own names, crediting the source.

Do these Terms apply to a ministry or an international organisation that reads the Sites?

They apply to use of the Sites, but they waive no privilege or immunity and submit no state or international organisation to any court. Matters can be raised with the Secretariat directly.

NRNexus Reports gateway · GW-STD

Contribute to Nexus Reports from this page.

Nexus Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Nexus Standards

Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.

Around the Nexus Standards.

Nexus Standards

Questions about these Terms

Questions and notices concerning these Terms may be sent to the Secretariat, GCRI Canada, at contact@therisk.global.

Write to the Secretariat Legal Notice

Status and use. The Nexus Standards are proposed standards developed through an open process under NS-13 and published for voluntary use; they do not constitute certification, accreditation or regulatory approval, and adoption remains a decision of the Global Standards Council and, in each country, of its National Standards Council. A UNI (Unique Nexus Identifier) identifies an artifact; it does not certify it. Names of standards bodies and their standards belong to their stewards and are used only to identify the documents; no text of an external standard is reproduced here. Nexus Standards is not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by any standards body named here.

Licences: CC BY 4.0 for standards text, registries, schemas and data; Apache-2.0 for reference code. External standards are cited by name, number and link under their own licences. Third-party data, libraries and fonts keep their own licences: see Third-party notices.