Terms & Conditions

Users of NBIS data are bound by the following terms and conditions:

The user agrees
1) To use and make copies of the data only for the purpose(s) stated on your submitted enquiry form.
2) To not pass any data received on to any third parties, unless agreed with NBIS.
3) To not publish raw NBIS data anywhere – this is in line with the British Standard BS42020:2013, which states that consultants are not expected to include long, uninterpreted species lists from LERCs in their reports, only summarised data, main findings and conclusions. Publishing maps is allowed, but only when acknowledging NBIS and including the relevant OS and other licence statements.
4) To not release confidential records provided by County Recorders/data owners or sensitive records provided by NBIS within search results. These are for use by the data requestee only and not to be shared with clients or the public. When required as part of the planning process these should both be provided as an addendum only.
5) To understand that some data may be withheld because of their sensitive nature, the requirements of data protection law and/or conditions imposed by their owner.
6) If GIS datasets are required, you must be aware these may be based on OS MasterMap and you must have a valid licence to use it. OS licence numbers must be provided as part of the data request, in the notes field.
7) To archive the data after 12 months or completion of project, whichever is sooner and to be destroyed after 10 years. It is recommended that a new search, if required, is requested after 12 months since the original request. Please note all emapper links and therefore access to data search request results, will expire after 12 months. Consultants should follow CIEEM guidelines on when data searches should be requested, especially if work is actively being carried out on site.
8) Customers should therefore satisfy themselves by comprehensive, competent, expert and appropriate field surveys, especially for protected and rare species, of what is present before development or any other work begins.
9) To accept that NBIS bears no legal responsibility for the accuracy or comprehensiveness of the records, and accepts no liability for indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or losses arising from use of the records. The use of data search services does not in any way replace the need for adequate field survey.
10) To notify NBIS of any errors discovered in the records.
11) If possible, to supply NBIS any environmental survey records. BS42020:2013 encourages survey data to be made available to LERCs at the time that the ecological report enters the public realm unless there is an explicit contractual restriction on such data release (6.4.7).
12) To pay the fee as quoted, after acceptance of quote and when invoiced.
13) Cancellation policy – acceptance of a quote for work is instruction to proceed with that work. NBIS will not cancel or provide refunds after a quote is accepted.
14) To ensure the information provided as part of a data request is true and accurate as far as is known. Failure to provide accurate information may cause delays in receiving quotes or results and may incur extra charges when requoted.
15) To accept that NBIS will collect information on record and dataset usage for its own use and to provide as anonymised information to dataset owners on request.

NBIS data provision
16) Users must acknowledge in any publication, whether printed, electronic, internet-based or broadcast, based wholly or in part on NBIS biological records: “these data are provided with permission of Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service acting on behalf of the contributing biological recorders”. Plus other dataset acknowledgments noted on the output.
17) Individual biological records cannot be copyrighted, given ownership or intellectual property. However where these data have been collated in a way that creates or implies ownership: All data remains the intellectual property and in the ownership and copyright of the original recorder(s). NBIS follows best practice in treating all records in accordance with the original recorder(s)'(or their subsequent custodian - such as the County Recorder) wishes, including recognising the rights of recorder(s) to control their records. NBIS will seek permissions where necessary and acknowledge the recorder(s) where appropriate and feasible. For further details of legal rights and best practice, please see the following links: IPR of the data recorder; NBN data ownership 2019; Archive discussion on permission to share and use existing data.
18) Ownership of data is not transferred by this agreement. Duplication or sale of all or parts of these data provided by NBIS is not permitted.
19) Data request results will not include any personal data. If you require a recorder’s name for records verification or further information, permissions will need to be given by the relevant County Recorder.
20) The completeness, currency and resolution of the NBIS database is dependent on the verified biological records received or on the latest spatial datasets available. Please see our annual metadata summary of currency and resolution by taxon group (Metadata_Taxon_Groups PDF) and a more detailed metadata statement for all the species and spatial datasets that NBIS provides as part of its data enquiries service (NBIS_Metadata PDF). Our metadata statement includes details of specific known data gaps, with which you should be familiar with before using or interpreting our data.
a) The results of any search will reflect only those data currently contained within the database, which in no way purports to be a complete reflection of everything which may occur, nor does recorded presence imply current, continuing or breeding presence.
b) Similarly any gaps in the data (species, habitats, protected sites or other) or the lack of records for a specific taxon or location does not infer absence.
c) Boundaries of sites should be considered as indicative and not definitive.
d) Please be aware that for some species groups or locations you may need to contact other organisations to obtain data which we may not hold.
e) Marine searches – We can provide data for the marine environment, but this is limited. NBIS recommends using our data to supplement information obtained by using MarLIN as a starting point.
21) NBIS makes every effort to collate as many records as possible but if you know of any datasets we are lacking OR have records we have not been sent then please do point this out to us.

NBIS enquiry service
22) Data enquiries must be made using the NBIS MyLERC online form.
23) All enquiries must meet NBIS Data request ecological conditions for NBIS commercial searches (Best practice, data and ecological standards). If a request does not meet these conditions but can be justified as ecologically appropriate NBIS will carry out the search. This will be at the discretion of NBIS staff and follow appropriate consultation.
24) The provision of data as part of custom searches is at the discretion of NBIS staff, and data will not be provided where it is not appropriate or proportional to the stated use.
25) We do carry out searches for FEPs, but data should always be sought from other organisations who hold more relevant data for this type of request and be supported by sufficient survey.
26) If you are a householder we do not accept data requests from householders for planning purposes (as per professional guidance) - we request that you direct data requests via a professional (e.g. an ecological/environmental consultant, land agent or solicitor) instead – this is so that we can provide the best possible data as a commercial request.
27) The data request form allows users to submit multiple searches in one request. These would typically be for separate sites for separate planning applications or projects. These searches will be costed individually but charged as one total payment.
28) Where there are multiple sites in close proximity, for the same planning application or project, it is acceptable to include these as one data search. My LERC does not allow multiple sites to be drawn using the drawing tool, so users will need to submit a GIS shapefile with a single multi--part polygon, line or point feature. The charge is based on the cost of the cumulative area of this feature. It is up to the user to upload the correct GIS shapefiles, but NBIS is happy to advise or explain how to do this. When GIS shapefiles are submitted to NBIS which are broken lines or made up of multiple parts NBIS will buffer all digitised features and charge based on the cost of the cumulative area unless otherwise specified.
29) Our service aligns with the East of England Region Standard Service, including the cross-boundary search agreement with other East of England Local Environmental Records Centres. Some larger cross-boundary searches may involve charges by the relevant adjacent records centre(s). The adjacent records centre(s) will return results for their area to their timescales but always to maximum of 10 days.
30) All charges will be reviewed periodically. Inflation increases will be made every 5 years.
31) All charges are subject to VAT.
32) Commercial data enquiries will continue to be dealt with on a ‘first come – first served’ basis.
33) Where charges are made, they are for the time taken to collate, manage, process and analyse data and for the IT systems that create the results provided, rather than for the information itself.
34) Payments will be requested by invoice from Norfolk County Council; if you have a purchase order, please provide this number when completing the online form.

My LERC/eMapper System Requirements
Online data requests will be through My LERC and data will be received using eMapper. The minimum system requirements needed to request and receive searches using this software are:
• Internet access, via a modern browser which supports HTML5 (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Internet Explorer 10 or higher).
• A minimum connection speed of 1 Mbit is recommended for eMapper.
• Adobe Reader or another PDF viewer, as reports are provided in PDF format.
• Microsoft Excel 2003 or later as reports are in Excel ‘XLSX’. Earlier versions can download an add-on that enables viewing of the newer format. There are also free office packages such as LibreOffice which can open XLSX files.