Terms of Service

1. This agreement

In short:A business agreement between Papertrail and a customer organisation.

These Terms of Service govern access to and use of the Papertrail platform, APIs and website operated by Papertrail Services Private Limited (CIN U74999UP2019PTC113147) ("Papertrail").

These terms govern the business relationship between Papertrail and a customer organisation. They apply when a Customer creates an account, accesses or uses the platform, executes an Order Form that references them, or otherwise expressly accepts them. Electronic and click-through acceptance has the same effect as signature, to the extent applicable law allows.

Only a legal entity, or an individual authorised to bind one, may accept these terms. An individual accepting them confirms they have that authority.

Website visitors are not bound by these terms merely by browsing; their relationship with us is governed by the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Candidates do not become party to these terms because an employer commissioned a check on them — their relationship with us is governed by the Privacy Policy and the consent and notice given at the time of the check.

"Order Form" means any proposal, order form, statement of work, commercial quote or similar document accepted by the Customer that identifies the services, pricing or scope. "Customer Data" means the information, documents and personal data submitted to or generated in the platform by or for the Customer, excluding our software, systems and aggregated statistics.

Order of precedence. Where documents conflict, the one higher in this list prevails to the extent of the conflict: a signed master services agreement; a data processing addendum; an Order Form or statement of work; these terms; the Privacy Policy; product documentation.

2. What we provide

In short:Background verification against primary sources, with the evidence attached.

Papertrail provides background verification services: initiating checks, collecting candidate consent and inputs, querying or contacting the relevant sources, and delivering a report with the evidence supporting each finding.

The specific checks available to a Customer are those set out in their order form or selected in the platform.

Scope, methodology, turnaround, sources and deliverables vary by check type, by what the Customer has asked for, by applicable law and by whether the relevant source is reachable. Not every check is performed the same way.

We provide the service with reasonable skill and care. Where a service level is committed, it is stated in the Order Form; the absence of a stated service level means none is committed.

We may engage affiliates, subcontractors and sub-processors to deliver parts of the service, subject to the contractual and data-protection requirements described in the Privacy Policy.

3. What a verification does and does not establish

In short:A check reports what a source said. It is not a guarantee about a person.

This clause is important and is not boilerplate. A verification reports what a specific source stated at a specific time in response to a specific query. It is evidence, not a guarantee.

Sources have limits, and we report them as limits rather than as findings. Records may be incomplete, not digitised, or wrongly recorded at the source. An employment absent from a provident fund record is not proof of no employment. A court-record search covers the jurisdictions searched and no others. A search that returns nothing is reported as nothing found, not as an assurance that nothing exists.

We do not guarantee that a verification will identify every record relating to a candidate. A result described as clear, verified or no record found means only that no adverse discrepancy was identified through the checks performed, in the sources searched, using the identifiers available. It is not a statement that no such record exists anywhere.

Where a check cannot be completed, we report it as an insufficiency and say why. We do not record an unresolved check as a clear.

We are not responsible for inaccuracies, omissions, delays, unavailability or changes in information held by third-party sources, or for failures of third-party systems and infrastructure outside our reasonable control.

The hiring decision is the Customer's. Papertrail does not decide whether to employ anyone, and a report is not a recommendation. The Customer is responsible for how it uses a report, including compliance with any law governing employment decisions.

4. Customer responsibilities

In short:Lawful purpose, valid consent, accurate instructions, and keeping credentials safe.

The Customer must have a lawful basis and a legitimate employment-related purpose for every check it initiates, and must not initiate a check on anyone for any other reason.

Where we process candidate personal data on the Customer's behalf for verification, the Customer generally acts as the Data Fiduciary and Papertrail as the Data Processor, subject to the parties' actual roles under applicable law. Where consent is captured through our platform, the Customer remains responsible for the lawfulness of the purpose it selected and for giving candidates the notice the law requires.

The Customer is responsible for the accuracy of the instructions and candidate information it gives us, and warrants that it has the rights and authority necessary to provide that information and to instruct us to process it.

The Customer must not use the service to discriminate unlawfully, or to make decisions based on characteristics protected under applicable law. Employment, engagement, promotion and termination decisions are the Customer's alone; we neither make them nor advise on them.

The Customer must keep account credentials secure, ensure only authorised users have access, and tell us promptly if it suspects unauthorised access. Activity under a Customer's credentials is treated as the Customer's.

The Customer must not use the platform to build a database of individuals, to screen anyone outside a genuine employment or engagement process, or to re-sell verification results to third parties without written agreement.

5. Acceptable use

In short:No misuse, no reverse engineering, no scraping.

The Customer must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the platform or any other customer's data; probe or test its security except under our Responsible Disclosure Policy; reverse engineer, decompile or copy any part of it; share credentials or circumvent usage limits; upload malicious code; use it to send unlawful content; use it for surveillance or for any purpose outside a genuine employment or engagement process; or use automated means to extract data beyond the documented API.

We may suspend access immediately where continued use presents a security risk, where an account appears compromised, where activity appears fraudulent or unlawful, where a law or regulator requires it, where it threatens another customer's data, or where an invoice is overdue. Where practical we will give notice first, and we will restore access once the issue is resolved.

6. Fees and payment

In short:Per check, billed as agreed, taxes on top.

Fees are as set out in the applicable order form or on the pricing page at the time of purchase. Unless stated otherwise, checks are billed on the checks actually run.

Fees are exclusive of GST and any other applicable taxes, which are charged in addition at the prevailing rate.

Invoices are payable within the period stated on them. Where an invoice remains unpaid beyond that period, we may suspend service on written notice until it is settled.

Overdue amounts may accrue interest at the rate stated in the applicable Order Form or, where none is stated, at the maximum rate applicable law permits.

A Customer disputing an invoice in good faith must tell us within 15 days of its date, identifying the amount and the reason. Undisputed amounts remain payable.

Pricing may change for future purchases. A price already agreed in an executed Order Form applies for that Order Form unless the parties agree otherwise.

A check that cannot be completed through no fault of the Customer is handled as set out on the pricing page rather than billed as a second check.

7. Intellectual property and data ownership

In short:We own the platform. The Customer owns its data.

Papertrail retains all intellectual property rights in the platform, its software, interfaces and documentation. Nothing in these terms transfers those rights.

The Customer retains all rights in Customer Data. Subject to payment of the applicable fees, we grant the Customer a non-exclusive right to use the reports produced for it for its own lawful internal business purposes. We retain all rights in the platform, our software, methodologies, templates, tooling, know-how and documentation, including anything of ours embedded in a report.

We may generate and use aggregated, statistical or de-identified information derived from use of the service — turnaround benchmarks, service performance, product analytics — provided it does not identify the Customer or any individual and is not reasonably capable of re-identification.

The Customer grants us the limited licence necessary to process its data to deliver the service. That licence ends when the data is deleted.

8. Confidentiality

In short:Each side protects the other's confidential information.

Each party will keep the other's confidential information confidential, use it only for the purposes of this agreement, and protect it with at least the care it applies to its own confidential information.

Confidential information includes candidate data, reports, credentials, pricing, security information, documentation and each party's business and technical information.

This does not apply to information that is public through no breach, was already lawfully known, was lawfully received from another source, is independently developed, must be disclosed by law, or is disclosed with the other party's consent.

Either party may share confidential information with its employees, affiliates, contractors, sub-processors and professional advisers who need it, provided they are bound by confidentiality obligations no less protective than these. These obligations survive termination for three years, and for as long as the law protects them in the case of trade secrets.

9. AI and automated technologies

In short:Automation assists the work. It does not decide whether anyone gets hired.

We use artificial intelligence, machine learning, optical character recognition, data matching and other automated technologies to support the service — extracting information from documents, matching names across transliteration and spelling variants, classifying records, identifying possible matches and flagging potential discrepancies.

Automated and AI-assisted outputs may contain errors, and are not by themselves a determination of anyone's suitability for a role. Where a result may materially affect a candidate, a person reviews it before an adverse finding is treated as final.

The Customer remains responsible for evaluating reports and for every employment decision it takes, in accordance with applicable law.

10. Data protection

In short:We process candidate data on the Customer's instructions, under the Privacy Policy and any DPA.

Both parties will comply with applicable data protection and privacy law in connection with personal data processed under this agreement.

Where we process personal data on the Customer's behalf, the Customer authorises us to process it solely to provide the service, in accordance with its documented instructions, these terms, the Privacy Policy and any data processing addendum agreed between the parties.

Where a Customer requires a data processing addendum — as enterprise and regulated buyers generally do — we will enter into one, and it prevails over these terms on data-protection matters to the extent of any conflict.

Our security commitments, retention periods, sub-processor arrangements and breach-response process are described in the Privacy Policy.

11. Warranties and disclaimers

In short:We commit to skill and care. We cannot warrant that a third-party source is correct.

We warrant that we will provide the service with reasonable skill and care and in accordance with applicable law.

We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that any third-party source will be accurate, complete, available or timely. We report what a source returns; we do not control what a source holds.

Except as expressly stated, all other warranties, whether express or implied, are excluded to the extent permitted by law.

12. Limitation of liability

In short:Capped at the fee for the check the claim is about, with the usual carve-outs.

Neither party excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Neither party is liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of business or loss of anticipated savings.

Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or relating to a verification is limited to the fees paid for the check that the claim relates to. Liability is assessed case by case: a claim about one candidate's report is capped at what was charged for that report, not at the value of the account.

This reflects what the service is. A check is priced as a search of a source, not as insurance against the consequences of a hiring decision — which is the Customer's to make, on evidence we supply but do not control.

Where a signed agreement between the parties states a different limit, that limit applies instead.

The limit does not apply to the Customer's obligation to pay fees, or to anything excluded by the first paragraph of this clause. Whether breaches of confidentiality, data protection or intellectual property sit inside, above or outside the limit is a matter for the signed agreement; where none states otherwise, they sit inside it.

13. Term, suspension and termination

In short:Either side can end it; data is returned or deleted afterwards.

This agreement runs from account creation until terminated. Either party may terminate for convenience on the written notice period stated in the signed agreement between the parties, or immediately for material breach that is not remedied within 30 days of notice.

Termination does not automatically cancel checks already initiated. The parties will agree whether those checks are completed or stopped, and fees remain payable for work already performed.

On termination we stop processing, make Customer Data available for export for the period stated in the signed agreement, and then return or delete it in accordance with any data processing addendum, the retention periods in the Privacy Policy, and any legal obligation to retain.

14. Governing law and disputes

In short:Indian law, and a named court.

These terms are governed by the laws of India. The courts at Noida and Delhi have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to the arbitration provision below and to any arbitration provision in a signed agreement between the parties.

Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms shall be referred to arbitration by a sole arbitrator under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The seat and venue of arbitration is Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and the proceedings shall be conducted in English.

15. General provisions

In short:Force majeure, notices, assignment, and the usual machinery.

Force majeure. Neither party is liable for a failure or delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control — natural disaster, war or civil disturbance, government action, strikes, telecommunications or internet failure, or failure of third-party infrastructure. This does not excuse a failure to apply the security measures we have committed to, and it does not excuse payment.

Notices. Formal notices to Papertrail go to [email protected] and to the address on this site; notices to the Customer go to the email and address on its account or Order Form. Operational notices may be given in the product.

Assignment. Neither party may assign this agreement without the other's written consent, except that either may assign it to an affiliate or to a successor in a merger, acquisition or sale of substantially all assets, on written notice.

Entire agreement. These terms, together with any Order Form, master services agreement and data processing addendum, are the whole agreement about the service and replace any earlier understanding.

Severability and waiver. If a provision is held invalid, the rest continues in force. Not enforcing a provision on one occasion does not waive the right to enforce it later.

16. Changes

In short:Material changes come with notice.

We may update these terms. The date at the top of this page reflects the current version. Where a change materially reduces an existing Customer's rights or increases its obligations, we will give reasonable advance notice where practicable, and the Customer may terminate before it takes effect. A change does not retroactively alter an executed Order Form unless the parties agree.