Terms of Use · Sci High

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern the relationship between Sci-High Foundation (“the Foundation”, “we”) and users (“you”) of the public website sci-high.org and the festival management platform accessible at the same domain (“the Platform”). Both surfaces are covered by a single contractual regime.

By registering an account, sending an inquiry, voting, or otherwise using our services, you accept these Terms in their current version.

The Bulgarian-language version of these Terms is the authoritative legal text. This English version is provided for reference. In case of discrepancy, the Bulgarian text prevails.

1. Provider

The services are provided by:

Sci-High Foundation 70-72 Cherni Vrah Blvd., Sofia, Bulgaria Email: [email protected]

2. Definitions

Festival — an event organised by the Foundation or by a partner organisation through the Platform.
Team — a group of students with a mentor, registered to take part in a specific Festival.
Student — a minor participant whose data is entered by the team moderator or the school.
Team moderator — an adult coordinator from the school responsible for registering the team and its roster.
Team representative — an adult student or mentor authorised to represent the team before the Foundation.
Organizer — the person responsible for a specific Festival.
Jury — persons authorised to evaluate teams.
Volunteer — a person registered to assist with the operation of a Festival.
Visitor — a registered person who attends the Festival and is entitled to vote.
Mentor — an adult who supports a specific team.

3. Access and registration

Eligibility

Adult natural persons (aged 18 or above) and legal representatives acting on behalf of a school or organisation may create an account. Minor students do not create their own accounts — their participation is administered by the team moderator (see Section 5).

One user — one account

The same person should not maintain more than one active account. If duplicate accounts are identified, the Foundation reserves the right to merge or deactivate the redundant ones.

Accuracy of data

You undertake to provide true, accurate, and up-to-date information at registration and to update this information when it changes.

Account security

You are responsible for the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all actions taken through your account. If you suspect unauthorised access — notify us immediately at [email protected].

4. Roles and responsibilities

The Platform supports multiple roles, each with different rights and obligations:

Administrator — Foundation staff with full access to the Platform.

Organizer — manages a specific Festival (categories, schedule, teams, juries). Required to:

Operate within the scope of configurations approved by the Foundation,
Not disclose sensitive information to third parties,
Maintain accuracy of published data.

Jury — evaluates teams. Required to:

Vote impartially and according to the published criteria,
Not disclose votes before results are finalised,
Declare any conflict of interest.

Volunteer — assists operations during the Festival. Required to follow the organizer’s instructions.

Visitor — entitled to vote in public categories. Must not abuse the system through fake or duplicate accounts.

Team moderator — see Section 5.

Team representative — authorised to view and edit the team’s profile within limits set by the team moderator.

Mentor — supports the team’s work. Does not manage the roster.

5. Team registration and student data

By registering a team and entering a roster of students into the Platform, the team moderator and/or school, acting on behalf of the student, represents and warrants that:

They have obtained valid consent from the parents or legal guardians of each student for processing of their personal data by the Foundation for the purposes of participation in the Festival, in accordance with Art. 8 GDPR and Art. 26a of the PDPA;
They have informed parents and students about the scope of data to be processed (name, gender, optional short bio), the recipients (the Foundation and its technical providers), and retention periods;
They have informed parents and students about their rights as data subjects (see the Privacy Policy, Section 7);
They bear responsibility for the accuracy of these representations until the data reaches the Foundation.

The Foundation processes student data on the basis of this warranty, without individually verifying parental consent for each student. Upon withdrawal of consent, a request for erasure, or any other right exercised by a parent, the team moderator is obliged to notify the Foundation immediately at [email protected] and to assist in applying corrections in the Platform.

If these warranties are breached, liability under Art. 82 GDPR rests with the team moderator and the school.

6. Voting

Each registered visitor is entitled to a limited number of votes per Festival, configured by the organizer.
A visitor may vote once for one team in a given category.
Attempts at multiple voting, bots, vote-buying arrangements, or other forms of manipulation constitute a material breach of these Terms. Votes may be voided, accounts deactivated, and data passed to the competent authorities if required.
Voting results are binding within the rules of the specific Festival.

7. Uploaded content

When uploading content to the Platform (profile picture, short bio, video link, team description) you:

Retain intellectual property rights in the content;
Grant the Foundation a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to store, display, and distribute the content within the Platform, the public website sci-high.org, and communications materials related to the relevant Festival;
Represent that you have the necessary rights to upload the content and that you do not infringe the copyright, personality, or other rights of third parties;
Represent that you have obtained consent for publication of any personal data of third parties included in the content (in particular images and names of students).

The Foundation reserves the right to remove content that breaches these Terms or applicable law.

8. Acceptable use

The following is not permitted:

Use of the Platform for unlawful purposes;
Sending spam, phishing, or malicious code;
Attempts to breach security, scrape large volumes of data, or circumvent access controls;
Impersonation of other users, misrepresentation of identity;
Uploading content that infringes third-party rights, discriminates, demeans, or constitutes harassment;
Use of the Platform for political campaigning, advertising, or commercial purposes unrelated to the Festivals.

In case of breach, the Foundation reserves the right to suspend or delete the account without notice.

9. Donations

The Platform allows donations in support of the Foundation’s work. By making a donation:

You confirm that the funds being donated are lawfully yours;
You acknowledge that the donation is gratuitous — the Foundation does not provide goods or services in return;
You are entitled to request a donation receipt under the Accountancy Act and the Corporate Income Tax Act.

Donations by bank transfer (IBAN), Stripe (when active), GlobalGiving, and Benevity are processed according to the terms of the respective providers.

10. Termination

By you

You may request deletion of your account at any time by emailing [email protected]. Termination does not affect:

Data you have left in concluded Festivals (results, votes, awards);
Data we are obliged to retain by law (accounting records, audit log).

By us

We may suspend or terminate your access in case of:

Material breach of these Terms;
Suspicion of fraud or abuse;
A legal requirement;
Discontinuation of the service overall, with reasonable notice.

11. Disclaimer and limitations

The Platform is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the maximum extent permitted by law:

We do not warrant uninterrupted, error-free operation or alignment with specific expectations;
We are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages;
We are not liable for content uploaded by users;
We are not liable for the services of third parties (Supabase, Cloudflare, Resend, Google, Stripe, etc.).

These limitations do not affect your rights as a consumer under the Bulgarian Consumer Protection Act and other mandatory rules of Bulgarian law.

12. Changes to the Terms

We reserve the right to update these Terms. The current version and the effective date are published at the top of this page. For material changes affecting your rights, we will notify you by email or via a Platform notification with reasonable advance notice. Continued use of the Platform after that date constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.

13. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Bulgaria. All disputes that cannot be resolved amicably shall be referred to the competent Bulgarian court at the seat of the Foundation, subject to your rights as a consumer under Art. 18 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012.

In a dispute as a consumer, you also have the right to refer to the Consumer Conciliation Commission within the Consumer Protection Commission: https://kzp.bg.

14. Contact

Sci-High Foundation 70-72 Cherni Vrah Blvd., Sofia [email protected]