Terms & Conditions | Marine Inspect

These Terms apply to both the Marine Inspect web portal and mobile application. A single account operates across both.

These Terms & Conditions ("Terms") govern your use of Marine Inspect — including the web portal at marine-inspect.co.uk and the Marine Inspect mobile application (collectively, the "Service"). They also cover all subscription plans, credit purchases, and any optional paid features.

Please read these Terms carefully before creating an account. By registering, using the Service, or making a purchase, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy (available at marine-inspect.co.uk/privacy). If you do not agree, you must not use the Service.

These Terms apply to both the web portal and mobile application. A single account operates across both.

1. Who We Are

Marine Inspect is a trading name of Near Max Ltd, a company incorporated in England and Wales (Company No. 09222812). References to "Marine Inspect", "we", "us", and "our" in these Terms refer to Near Max Ltd. The Service is purpose-built for professional marine surveyors and is offered exclusively on a business-to-business basis.

Contact: support@marine-inspect.co.uk

2. Definitions

Term	Meaning
Account	A registered user account giving access to the Service
Subscription	A recurring paid plan (monthly or annual) giving a monthly report allowance
Credit	A single-use report generation token, purchased as a pack or included in a Subscription
Report	An AI-assisted survey report generated within the Service
Content	Data, text, images, or files you upload, input, or create using the Service
Free Credits	Complimentary credits granted at account creation, subject to change
Promotional Membership	A complimentary or discounted Subscription granted at our discretion as part of a time-limited promotional programme

3. Eligibility & Account Registration

3.1 Professional use. The Service is intended for professional and business use by marine surveyors, surveying firms, and related maritime professionals. By registering, you confirm that you are acting in your professional or business capacity, not as a private consumer. This means the Consumer Rights Act 2015 cooling-off provisions for digital content do not apply to your use of the Service. The Service is not available to private individuals acting outside of a trade, business, or profession.

3.2 Age. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account.

3.3 Accuracy. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to keep it updated.

3.4 Account security. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorised access.

3.5 One account per person. Each account is for an individual user. You may not share credentials or allow third parties to access the Service using your account, except where we offer explicit team or organisation features.

3.6 Acceptance records. When you accept these Terms, we record the version number accepted, the date and time of acceptance, and associated account identifiers. This record is retained for the life of your account and for a minimum of 6 years thereafter, and may be used as evidence in the event of a dispute. Previous versions of these Terms are archived and available on request.

4. The Service

4.1 Scope. We provide software tools including: mobile field data collection, inspection checklists, photo capture, voice dictation, report drafting (assisted by large language models), statutory form population, and cloud data storage.

4.2 Beta / evolving product. Some features may be in beta or early access. We do not guarantee that any particular feature will remain available permanently.

4.3 No professional advice. Reports and outputs generated by the Service are drafts to assist your professional judgement. They do not constitute professional engineering, legal, or insurance advice. You remain solely responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and fitness for purpose of any survey or report you issue to clients.

4.4 AI-generated content. Report drafts are generated by third-party large language model services. AI outputs may contain errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. You must review and edit all AI-generated content before issuing it.

5. Subscriptions & Payment

5.1 Plans. We offer free credits on registration, credit packs (one-off purchases), and recurring Subscription plans. Current pricing and plan details are displayed on the Service at the time of purchase and are incorporated into these Terms by reference.

5.2 Payment processing. All payments are processed by Stripe, Inc., a third-party payment processor. By making a purchase you also agree to Stripe's terms of service and acknowledge that your payment data will be handled by Stripe in accordance with their privacy policy. We do not store your full card details.

5.3 Subscription billing. Subscriptions are billed in advance on a monthly or annual cycle from the date of first payment. Your Subscription renews automatically unless cancelled before the renewal date.

5.4 Credit priority. Subscription allowances are consumed first. Purchased credit packs and free credits are used only when your monthly Subscription allowance is exhausted.

5.5 Price changes. We reserve the right to change Subscription prices or credit pack prices. We will give at least 30 days' written notice (by email to your registered address) before any price increase takes effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the new price.

5.6 Failed payments. If a payment fails, access to paid features may be suspended until payment is resolved. We will attempt to notify you by email.

5.7 Taxes. Prices shown are exclusive of VAT unless stated otherwise. You are responsible for any applicable taxes in your jurisdiction.

5.8 Promotional offers. We may from time to time offer Promotional Memberships to selected users. Unless we state otherwise at the time of the offer: (a) Promotional Memberships run for the stated period and grant the stated Subscription plan at no charge; (b) at the end of the promotional period, your Subscription will not renew automatically unless you separately choose a paid plan — we will send a reminder by email at least 30 days before your promotional period ends; (c) we reserve the right to modify, suspend, or end any promotional programme at any time for some or all users, without affecting Subscriptions already activated and running; (d) promotional offers may not be combined with other discounts or offers unless explicitly stated; (e) Promotional Memberships are personal to the account holder and are non-transferable; (f) we may require participants in a promotional programme to provide candid feedback and to permit us to publish a testimonial — any testimonial will be shared with you for approval before publication.

6. Refunds & Cancellation

6.1a Monthly plan — cancellation by you. You may cancel your monthly Subscription at any time via the Settings page or by contacting us in writing. There is no cancellation deadline; you may cancel on any day, including weekends and public holidays. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current monthly billing period, after which your subscription will not renew. You are not entitled to a refund for any unused portion of your current billing month upon voluntary cancellation, and no proration credit is issued by our payment processor. Your subscription remains active and usable until the billing period ends. If you change your mind before the period ends, you may reactivate via Settings → Manage subscription.

6.1b Annual plan — cancellation by you. You may cancel your annual Subscription at any time ("Cancel anytime") — there is no minimum term or lock-in. After requesting cancellation, your subscription remains fully active until the end of your annual billing period. You have two options:

Keep access until period end (no refund). Your subscription continues running as normal. If you change your mind before the period ends, you may reactivate via Settings → Manage subscription — no refund will be due as no money has been returned.
Early exit with pro-rated refund. If you do not wish to retain access for the remaining period, email us at support@marine-inspect.co.uk within 30 days of your cancellation request to claim a refund. The refund amount is calculated as: (annual price ÷ 12) × number of unused complete months remaining, where the calendar month in which you submit the refund request counts as a used month. On receiving your refund request we will: (i) immediately terminate your subscription in full — ending your monthly report allowance — and (ii) process your refund within 14 working days to your original payment method. Your account and any purchased credit packs remain intact after the refund. Once a refund has been issued, reactivation is not possible; a new subscription requires a fresh purchase.

No refund is payable after the 30-day window has elapsed. Our payment processor does not issue proration credits automatically; all annual-plan refunds are handled manually on request.

Credit packs and storage packs, once purchased, are non-refundable regardless of subscription status or whether you close your account.

Note for UK customers: Because you confirmed at registration that you are acting in a professional/business capacity (see clause 3.1), the 14-day cooling-off right under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 does not apply. If you believe this classification is incorrect, please contact us before making a purchase.

6.2 Termination by us — with refund. We may terminate your access to the Service at any time for operational or business reasons (for example, discontinuation of the Service) by giving you at least 30 days' written notice. In that event, we will issue a pro-rated refund for any unused paid Subscription period remaining beyond the notice date. Credit pack balances will be refunded in full if termination is initiated solely by us for operational reasons.

6.3 Termination by us — without refund. We may suspend or terminate your account immediately, without notice and without any obligation to provide a refund, if you:

breach these Terms in a material or repeated way;
use the Service for any unlawful purpose;
engage in abuse, fraud, or manipulation of the Service, our payment systems, or our staff;
engage in excessive or automated usage that unreasonably burdens our infrastructure;
attempt to circumvent security controls, access other users' data, or reverse-engineer the Service;
submit false, misleading, or harmful content.

6.4 Chargebacks. Initiating a chargeback or payment dispute with your card issuer in circumstances where you have already received the service you paid for constitutes a breach of these Terms. It may result in immediate account termination, referral to debt collection services, and recovery proceedings for our costs under clause 13.4.

6.5 Surviving credits. If Near Max Ltd terminates your account for operational or business reasons under clause 6.2 (and not for gross misconduct under clause 6.3), any unused purchased report credits will be refunded at their original per-credit rate within 14 days. Storage packs are not refundable on termination, as storage capacity is made available immediately upon purchase.

7. Acceptable Use

7.1 You agree to use the Service only for lawful purposes and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including but not limited to:

data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018);
laws relating to professional practice and liability as a marine surveyor;
intellectual property law.

7.2 You must not:

upload, store, or process personal data of third parties (e.g. vessel owners) without a lawful basis under UK GDPR;
use the Service to generate, distribute, or promote content that is defamatory, fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful;
attempt to gain unauthorised access to our systems or other users' accounts;
use automated tools, scrapers, or bots to access the Service in a manner inconsistent with normal professional use;
resell, sublicense, or otherwise commercialise the Service without our prior written consent;
upload content that infringes any third party's intellectual property rights.

7.3 We reserve the right (but not the obligation) to review, remove, or restrict access to any Content that we reasonably believe violates these Terms.

7.4 Monitoring & enforcement. We actively monitor usage patterns for signs of abuse, fraud, and policy violations. All access to the Service is logged, including IP addresses, session metadata, and usage events. These logs are retained and may be used in legal proceedings, regulatory disclosures, or referred to law enforcement where applicable. You should have no expectation that abusive use will go undetected.

7.5 Security testing. You must not probe, scan, or test the security of the Service or its infrastructure without our prior express written authorisation. Unauthorised security testing constitutes a breach of these Terms and may constitute a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

7.6 Automated access. Automated, scripted, or programmatic access to the Service beyond normal application usage is prohibited without prior written consent. We may rate-limit, block, or take legal action in response to automated access that burdens our infrastructure or violates these Terms.

8. Indemnification

8.1 Your indemnity. You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Marine Inspect and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and subcontractors from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with:

your use of the Service in violation of these Terms or any applicable law;
Content you upload, process, or transmit using the Service;
any survey, report, or professional output you produce using the Service;
any claim by a third party (including your clients) arising from the accuracy or adequacy of any report or survey you issue;
your infringement of any intellectual property or data protection rights of any third party;
any claim arising from your status as data controller for personal data you process using the Service.

8.2 Vexatious claims. If you bring a claim against us that a court of competent jurisdiction finds to be unfounded, vexatious, or brought in bad faith, you agree to reimburse our reasonable legal costs incurred in defending that claim.

9. Intellectual Property

9.1 Our IP. The Service, its underlying software, design, trademarks, and all content we create are owned by or licensed to us. You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Service for its intended purpose during the term of your account. You may not sublicence, copy, reverse-engineer, decompile, or create derivative works from any part of the Service.

9.2 Your Content. You retain ownership of all Content you upload or create using the Service. You grant us a limited licence to store, process, and display your Content solely to the extent necessary to provide the Service to you.

9.3 Feedback. Any suggestions, feedback, or ideas you provide regarding the Service may be used by us freely and without obligation to you.

9.4 No IP warranty. We do not warrant that the Service or its outputs are free from third-party IP claims. You are solely responsible for ensuring that your use of AI-generated content does not infringe any intellectual property rights. Your indemnity obligations in clause 8.1 apply in full to such claims.

10. Limitation of Liability

10.1 Service provided "as is". To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement.

10.2 Cap on liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability to you under or in connection with these Terms — whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise — shall not exceed the total fees paid by you to us in the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, subject to a maximum of £100.

10.3 Excluded losses. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we shall not be liable for any:

loss of profits, revenue, or business;
loss of data or corruption of data;
loss of goodwill or reputation;
financial or economic loss of any kind;
professional indemnity or insurance claims arising from your survey work or reports;
any claim by a third party (including your clients) in respect of the accuracy or adequacy of any report or survey output;
consequential, indirect, or special loss of any nature.

10.4 Inaccuracy of AI outputs. We specifically exclude all liability for errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in AI-generated report content. The professional surveyor signing the report is solely responsible for its contents.

10.5 Exceptions. Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under English law.

11. Support & Service Levels

11.1 Support channel. We provide support by email at support@marine-inspect.co.uk and via the in-app support form. We do not offer phone support, live chat with guaranteed response times, or dedicated account management unless separately contracted in writing.

11.2 Response times. We aim to respond to support requests within 5 business days. This is a target, not a guarantee. We are under no obligation to meet any specific response time unless agreed in a separate written support agreement.

11.3 No SLA. We do not offer any service level agreement (SLA), uptime guarantee, or guaranteed minimum availability unless explicitly set out in a separate written contract signed by us.

11.4 No bespoke development. We are under no obligation to develop custom features, integrations, or report templates for any individual user, unless agreed in a separate paid agreement.

11.5 Support scope. Support covers the core functionality of the Service as documented. We do not provide support for third-party tools, integrations, or your own devices and networks.

11.6 Abuse of support. Abusive, threatening, or harassing communications directed at our team will result in withdrawal of support and immediate account termination. We reserve the right to report such conduct to the relevant authorities and to seek recovery of costs and damages.

11.7 Good faith requirement. Support requests and dispute communications must be made in good faith. We reserve the right to disregard or decline to respond to communications we reasonably determine to be vexatious, repetitive, or made for the purpose of harassment.

12. Service Modifications & Discontinuation

12.1 Right to modify. We reserve the right to add, modify, suspend, or remove any feature of the Service at any time, without notice, at our sole discretion.

12.2 Discontinuation. If we choose to discontinue the Service entirely, we will give you at least 30 days' written notice and a pro-rated refund for any paid period remaining (see clause 6.2). We are not liable for any losses arising from discontinuation beyond this refund.

12.3 Third-party dependencies. The Service relies on third-party providers for functions including authentication, payment processing, cloud infrastructure, and AI model generation. Changes to those providers — including price increases, capability changes, or discontinuation — may affect the Service. We will endeavour to give reasonable notice of material changes but are not liable for disruption caused by third-party actions outside our control.

12.4 Service shutdown — data handling. In the event of planned discontinuation of the Service:

(a) We will give you at least 90 days' written notice by email to your registered address. During this period the data export function (Settings → "Download my data") will remain fully available so that you can retrieve your survey records and other data before service termination.

(b) Following expiry of the notice period, we will delete all personal account data (profile, credentials, billing records, and support correspondence) in accordance with our standard deletion procedure.

(c) Survey and inspection records will be retained in anonymised form for up to 7 years from the date of each survey, as described in our Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement, for professional liability and legal compliance purposes. This anonymised data cannot be linked back to you or any identifiable individual.

(d) You are solely responsible for maintaining your own professional records. The Service is a tool to assist your work; it is not a substitute for independent record-keeping. We strongly recommend that you maintain copies of all survey reports and records outside of the Service, regardless of whether we have given notice of discontinuation. We accept no liability for any loss arising from your failure to export or independently retain your own professional records before service termination.

(e) Nothing in this clause affects your right to a pro-rated refund as set out in clause 6.2.

13. Data & Privacy

13.1 Privacy Policy. Our collection and use of personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy, available at marine-inspect.co.uk/privacy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. The Privacy Policy sets out in full: the personal data we collect, the lawful bases for processing, our third-party sub-processors, data retention periods, and your rights as a data subject. In the event of any conflict between these Terms and the Privacy Policy on a data protection matter, the Privacy Policy prevails.

13.2 Your account data. Near Max Ltd is the data controller for the personal data you provide when creating and using your account (such as your name and email address). We process this data to provide the Service, manage your account, and communicate with you. Further details are set out in our Privacy Policy.

13.3 Your clients' data. Where you upload, store, or process personal data of third parties (such as vessel owners) using the Service, you are the data controller for that data under UK GDPR. We act as your data processor. You are solely responsible for ensuring you have a lawful basis for processing that data, providing any required notices to data subjects, and responding to data subject requests relating to it.

13.4 Data Processing Agreement. A Data Processing Agreement ("DPA") governing our role as your data processor (as required by UK GDPR Art. 28) is available at marine-inspect.co.uk/dpa and is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By accepting these Terms, you also accept the DPA. When we make material changes to the DPA, we will bump the Terms version, which triggers the in-app re-acceptance flow.

13.5 Sub-processors. We use third-party sub-processors to operate the Service. A current list of sub-processors is maintained in our Privacy Policy. We will notify you of material changes to sub-processors in accordance with the DPA.

13.6 Your data subject rights. As a data subject, you have the following rights under UK GDPR in respect of your own account data:

Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
Rectification — request correction of inaccurate data;
Erasure — request deletion of your data (subject to legal retention obligations);
Portability — request your data in a structured, machine-readable format;
Restriction — request that we restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances;
Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@marine-inspect.co.uk. We will respond within one calendar month as required by UK GDPR.

13.7 Right to complain. If you believe we have not handled your personal data in accordance with UK GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk, or by calling 0303 123 1113.

13.8 Data storage. All data is stored within the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, specifically in the eu-west-2 (London) region.

13.9 Data retention. We retain your account data and Content for as long as your account is active. On account closure, personal account data (profile, credentials, billing, and support records) is deleted promptly. Survey and inspection records are retained in anonymised form for up to 7 years from the date of each survey for professional liability and legal compliance purposes (in accordance with the UK Limitation Act 1980, IIMS professional guidelines recommending a minimum of 6 years' retention of survey records, and UK GDPR Art. 17(3)(b)); anonymised records cannot be linked back to you or any identifiable individual and cannot be deleted on request. Statutory records (including financial records under the Companies Act 2006) are subject to their own retention periods. Full details are set out in our Privacy Policy.

When you approve a report generated through the Service, the platform creates a verification record associated with your professional name, email address, and the report's cryptographic audit trail. This record persists for 7 years from the date of report approval and cannot be deleted on request, including after account closure. It exists to preserve the integrity of the tamper-evident audit trail for reports that may already have been relied upon by clients, brokers, or insurers. Your email address is retained within this record solely as an identity second-factor for the public verification system and is not disclosed to third parties. Full details are set out in our Privacy Policy §7 and Data Processing Agreement §8.7.

13.10 Audit logs. We retain access and event logs independently of your account data. These logs are not subject to user-initiated deletion requests and may be retained for as long as necessary for security, fraud prevention, or legal compliance purposes.

13.11 Marketing communications. By creating an account you agree to receive marketing updates, product announcements, and marine surveying guides from Marine Inspect (Near Max Ltd) by email. You may opt out at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link included in every marketing email. Unsubscribing affects marketing communications only; transactional emails (billing confirmations, security alerts) are not affected. On account deletion, your email address is automatically removed from our marketing list.

14. Enforcement & Legal Action

14.1 Right to pursue. We reserve the right to pursue civil and criminal remedies for any breach of these Terms, including but not limited to claims for damages, injunctive relief, account of profits, and recovery of legal costs.

14.2 Law enforcement cooperation. We will fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities in any investigation relating to misuse of the Service, including disclosure of user data, access logs, and communications as permitted or required by law.

14.3 Fraud and financial crime. Any use of the Service in connection with fraud, money laundering, or other financial crime will be reported to the relevant authorities. We will seek full recovery of any losses, costs, and expenses incurred.

14.4 Costs recovery. Where we incur costs (including legal costs) as a result of your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Service, or a chargeback or payment dispute that we successfully defend, you agree to reimburse those costs in full.

15. Dispute Resolution

15.1 Initial contact. Before commencing any formal proceedings, you agree to contact us in writing at support@marine-inspect.co.uk describing the dispute and giving us a reasonable opportunity (at least 14 days) to resolve it.

15.2 Preferred channel. All formal dispute communications must be made in writing by email to the address above, or by recorded post. We are not obliged to participate in real-time dispute resolution processes (e.g. live mediation sessions) unless we agree in writing.

15.3 Governing law. These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.

15.4 Jurisdiction. Subject to clause 15.1, each party irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

16. General

16.1 Entire agreement. These Terms (together with any documents referenced herein) constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to the Service and supersede all prior agreements.

16.2 Changes to Terms. We may update these Terms at any time. We will notify you of material changes by email at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date of any change constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to changes, you must stop using the Service before they take effect.

16.3 Assignment. You may not assign or transfer any rights under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign our rights and obligations to a successor business without notice.

16.4 Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

16.5 No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce it in the future.

16.6 Force majeure. We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events outside our reasonable control, including natural disasters, internet outages, third-party service failures, or regulatory changes.

16.7 Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect the interpretation of these Terms.