DRAFT Version
Work In Progress

Version1.0 -Date:21/11/2000
Author: S.J. McWiliam
Change Ver.:0.0Change Date: 21/11



POLICY ON CHARGING

1.Policy Statement:

rECOrd, within the terms of its Service Level Agreements with sponsoring bodies and in its dealings with
organisational and commercial bodies, wil apply charges for the supply and formating of data, information or advice,
andalso for the managementofsaid data.Nochargeswilbemadefor thedata itself.


The charges levied wil be commensurate with the running costs of rECOrd and wil be applied in order to recover
costs applicable to the time spent compiling and supplying requested information, to cover any necesary expenses
applicable to the supply of the information, and to recover a portion of the costs of the management of both the data
holdingsand of the centre, basedupon an hourlyrate calculated against annual costs.


Charges wil generaly only be levied from persons or organisations whose use of rECOrd has not been agreed to be
financed by its sponsoring authorities, or where the type, or extent, of an enquiry lies outside the scope of its Service
Level Agrements.


TheCharging Policy of rECOrd wil be determined byits ManagementBoard in the light of relevant legislation on the
freedom of acces to information, and in the light of the Acces principles of the National Biodiversity Network, and
wilbereviewedregularly,at least everythre years.


rECOrd reserves the right to recoup a proportion of the costs of acquiring and managing its data holdings from its
users, within the scope of maintaining charges at a reasonable level, and in the spirit of the Environmental Information
RegulationsandtheNBN Aces Principles.



2.Background to the Policy:

2.1rECOrd's policy with regard to the charge for the provision of data is based around the central tenet that
biological data shouldnothave any monetaryvalueatached.


2.2Any charging policy aplied neds to be clear and made available to both potential and actual users, to ensure
transparency of contractual agrements.


2.3rECOrd's charging policy needs to relate not only to national legislation, the NBN's principles, standards and
procedures, but also to the requirements and legitimate neds of its governing body and to the establishment of
rECOrd's longevity and ability to operate efectively.

2.4rECOrd needs to respect, as far as is practicable, the rights and wishes of its data suppliers in formulating a
charging policy,especialy in relation toanylimitations suchapolicy may make upon theusage of theacquireddataby
the public, naturalists or other potential users, or where rECOrd may be perceived as exploiting data which has ben
freely providedby others.


2.5Informationto non-commercial,bonafideinquirersisnormaly suppliedfree. In these instances charges are
onlymade,andtheseare kept to a minimum, whensignificant amounts of staftimearerequired.


2.6Sponsors, who supportrECOrd withmonies up front, wilbe supplied with information fromenquiries athalf
the standard rateup to a totalamount equalto their commitedand paid upsupport.Data provisionbeyond the value of
the support moniesprovided to rECOrd wil be charged at thre-quarters the standard rate up to the value of twice the
sponsorshipmonies beyond which fulandstandard charges wil be made.




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