These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and [Operating Entity Legal Name — insert] ("DrugCheck Africa", "we", "us"), governing your use of the DrugCheck Africa website, mobile web app, SMS/USSD service, admin dashboard, and manufacturer portal (together, the "Service"). By creating an account, or by using the Service without an account (for example, verifying a code anonymously or texting our SMS line), you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
You must be at least 16 (or the minimum age of digital consent in your country, if higher) to create an account. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide, for keeping your password confidential, and for all activity that happens under your account. Tell us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access — we can revoke all active sessions on your account on request.
DrugCheck Africa helps you check a drug's scratch code, barcode, or packaging against registered and reported data, and helps communities report suspected counterfeit or substandard medicine to each other and to national regulators.
The Service is a screening aid, not a certification. It is not a pharmacy, not a regulator, not a medical device, and does not practice medicine or pharmacy. It does not replace purchasing medicine from a licensed pharmacy, nor the judgment of a qualified pharmacist or physician.
Nothing on the Service is medical advice, and nothing on the Service should be used to diagnose, treat, or make a decision about a medical condition. If you have taken, or suspect you have taken, a counterfeit or substandard medicine, or are experiencing an adverse reaction, seek immediate care from a qualified health professional or emergency service — do not rely on this Service for that decision.
A "Verified" result means the code you entered matches an entry in our database as registered by a manufacturer, regulator, or administrator at the time it was entered. It is a strong signal, not a certificate of authenticity: it cannot detect every form of counterfeiting (for example, a genuine code copied onto counterfeit packaging), and it reflects only the data available to us, which may be incomplete, outdated, or itself submitted in error or bad faith by a third party.
AI-based photo analysis gives a preliminary visual read on packaging for common signs of counterfeiting. It is generated by an automated system, can be wrong in either direction (missing a genuine fake, or flagging genuine product), and sophisticated counterfeits are specifically designed to defeat visual inspection. Treat every AI result as a starting point for caution, never as a final answer — when in doubt, verify using the code method and consult a licensed pharmacist before use.
Reports are submitted by members of the public and reviewed by moderators before appearing in the public feed, but that review checks plausibility and completeness, not independent laboratory confirmation. We do not guarantee the accuracy of any report, and an approved report is not a legal finding that a specific product is counterfeit.
Drug registry data comes from a mix of official regulator sources, manufacturer self-registration, and — where noted by its source badge — data with no independent verification. We forward approved reports to national regulators as a public-health service; we do not control, and are not responsible for, what any regulator or manufacturer does with that information, or how quickly they act on it.
You agree not to: submit a report or dispute you know to be false or misleading; impersonate another person, pharmacy, or manufacturer; attempt to access another user's account; interfere with, overload, or reverse-engineer the Service in a way likely to disrupt it for others; use the Service for any unlawful purpose, including to harass a real business or individual under the pretext of a report; or circumvent rate limits, CAPTCHA, or moderation controls. We may suspend or terminate access for violating this section, and, where a false report causes harm to a third party, you remain personally responsible for that report — the reputation-score consequence described in §7 is a moderation signal on this platform, separate from, and not a substitute for, that responsibility.
You retain ownership of the reports, photos, and other content you submit. By submitting it, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free license to host, display, reproduce, and forward that content as needed to operate the Service — including showing an approved report to other users, and forwarding its content (excluding your personal contact details) to a relevant regulator. You confirm you have the right to submit what you upload, and that a photo you submit does not itself contain someone else's private information without their consent.
We may moderate, decline to publish, or remove any content at our discretion, including in response to a successful dispute (see the in-app dispute process), and we are not obligated to publish everything submitted.
Badges such as "Official Registry", "Manufacturer-Registered", "Pharmacist-Confirmed", and "Community-Reported" describe the source of a listing or report, not an independent guarantee of accuracy by us. A manufacturer or pharmacist account being verified confirms that we checked the credentials/documents they submitted at the time of review; it is not our ongoing endorsement of everything that account subsequently posts.
Reputation scores reflect community moderation outcomes on this platform only and are not a formal credential. Submitting a report that a moderator approves increases your score; submitting one that is rejected, or that a dispute upholds against you, decreases it — each report's outcome is reflected in your score once, the first time it is decided, not repeatedly for the same report. This is a moderation signal, not a punishment mechanism, and is separate from — and does not replace — your personal responsibility described in §5 for a report you knew or should have known was false.
The Service's software, design, and branding are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by applicable intellectual property law. You may not copy, modify, or redistribute the Service itself, as distinct from the content you're permitted to view and share through it (such as sharing a verification result).
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain implied warranties or consumer guarantees; where that is the case, the above exclusion applies only to the extent permitted, and your applicable statutory rights are unaffected.
Nothing in this section limits liability for: death or personal injury caused by our negligence or that of our staff; fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; gross negligence or willful misconduct; or any other liability which cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under the mandatory law of your country of residence. This section applies only to the extent your local law permits.
Subject to the paragraph above, and to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law:
You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims, damages, and reasonable expenses (including legal fees) arising from your breach of these Terms, your violation of any law, or content you submit that infringes a third party's rights or that you knew or should have known was false — except to the extent the claim arises from our own breach of these Terms or violation of law.
You may stop using the Service and request deletion of your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms, if required by law, or to protect the Service or its users, and will where practicable give you notice and a reason. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including §4, §9, §10, and §11) continue to apply after your account ends.
These Terms are governed by the laws of [jurisdiction of incorporation — insert], without regard to conflict-of-laws principles, except that nothing in this section deprives you of any mandatory consumer-protection or data-protection right available to you under the law of your own country of residence, which continues to apply where applicable law requires it. [Insert dispute-resolution mechanism appropriate to your actual jurisdiction and user base — e.g. courts of a named city, or a named arbitration body — once confirmed with local counsel.]
Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remain in effect, and the unenforceable provision will be read to give effect to its intent to the extent permitted by law.
Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service, and replace any earlier agreement on the same subject.
Changes. We may update these Terms as the Service evolves; where a change is material, we will make reasonable efforts to notify active users in-app before it takes effect, and continued use after that point means you accept the update.
Force majeure. We are not liable for any failure or delay in the Service caused by something reasonably beyond our control — for example, a power, network, or connectivity outage, a failure of a third-party provider we depend on (including our AI, SMS/USSD, or push-notification providers), or a government act.
No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision of these Terms on one occasion is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later.
Assignment. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to anyone else. We may assign these Terms as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets — see the "Business transfers" item in §4 of the Privacy Policy.
No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms are between you and us only; they do not give any other person or company a right to enforce them.
Questions about these Terms: [insert legal/support contact email].