Terms of Service

Version: 1.0
Effective Date: September 1, 2026
Last Updated: September 16, 2026

Parties to these Terms:

Paper Operations (Pty) Ltd (“PaperOp”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), a company incorporated under the laws of the Republic of South Africa.
The Customer (“Customer”, “Subscriber”, “you”, or “your”), the juristic person, legal entity, or authorized individual subscribing to or accessing the Platform.

1. Acceptance of Terms, Website Use & AI Disclaimer

1.1 Binding Agreement

These Terms of Service (“Terms”), together with the Privacy Policy, Data Processing Agreement, and any applicable Service Orders or Quotations, constitute a legally binding agreement between PaperOp and Customer governing access to and use of the PaperOp cloud platform, desktop worker applications, scanning synchronization daemons, API endpoints, and physical vault services (collectively, the “Services” or “Platform”).

1.2 Website Terms of Use & Acceptance

The use of our website indicates acceptance of our terms of use of the site. By accessing, browsing, reading, or otherwise using this website, web portals, documentation, or associated digital services, you acknowledge and agree that your use constitutes full, unconditional acceptance of these Terms. If you do not accept these terms of use, you must immediately discontinue your use of the website.

1.3 Errors on Site & Reader Validation Responsibility

While we endeavor to provide accurate, reliable, and up-to-date content, there could be errors, inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, or omissions on our site. The reader expressly accepts this and will take sole responsibility for their use of the website and for independently validating, cross-checking, and verifying any statements, figures, specifications, pricing, or representations before placing any reliance upon them.

1.4 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage & Error Disclaimer

The reader expressly accepts and acknowledges that Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and automated generative tools have been used across this website, documentation, platform features, and related materials. Consequently, the information provided on the site may contain errors, inaccuracies, or hallucinations. The reader accepts that AI has been used on the site and that the information may contain errors, and the reader accepts full responsibility for independently verifying and validating any AI-assisted statements or outputs.

1.5 Legal Capacity & Authority

If you access or subscribe to the Services on behalf of a company, partnership, trust, or other legal entity, you represent and warrant that you are duly authorized to bind that entity to these Terms. If you do not have such authority, or if you do not agree with any part of these Terms, you may not access or use the Services.

1.6 Statutory Framework

These Terms are concluded in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa, including the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, No. 25 of 2002 (“ECTA”), the Protection of Personal Information Act, No. 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”), and the Companies Act, No. 71 of 2008.

2. Platform Services & User Account Management

2.1 Scope of Services

PaperOp provides an enterprise document vault management platform, including:

Digital Document Management: High-speed document indexing, metadata tagging, full-text retrieval, and WORM-enforced compliance archival.
Ingestion & OCR Pipelines: Cyclops document classification, hybrid vector OCR extraction, scanner hardware integration, and desktop folder watchers.
Physical Vault Logistics: Barcode-tracked box warehousing, physical move orders, chain-of-custody tracking, and DIN 66399 certified destruction workflows.
Multi-Tenant Administration: Role-based access control (RBAC), tenant workspace isolation, audit telemetry, and developer REST APIs.

2.2 Account Registration & Security

Authentication: Access to the Platform requires authenticated credentials managed through our identity verification provider (Clerk) or authorized single sign-on (SSO).
Credential Protection: You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials, pairing tokens, API keys, and session cookies.
Unauthorized Access: You must notify PaperOp immediately at security@paperop.co.za upon discovering any breach of security, stolen credentials, or unauthorized access to your account.

2.3 Acceptable Use & Operational Restrictions

Customer agrees not to:

Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the Platform software, worker daemons, or OCR classification engines.
Circumvent, disable, or tamper with security boundaries, multi-tenant isolation filters, rate limits, or license enforcement mechanisms.
Upload, transmit, or vault any content containing malware, ransomware, destructive code, or illicit materials.
Use the Services in violation of applicable laws, regulations, export controls, or statutory confidentiality obligations.

3. Customer Data Ownership & Zero Secondary AI Training

3.1 Customer Data Ownership

Customer retains exclusive ownership of, and all intellectual property rights in and to, all documents, scanned page images, extracted text tokens, metadata fields, box records, and audit annotations submitted to or processed by the Platform (“Customer Data”). PaperOp acquires no right, title, or interest in Customer Data except the limited license necessary to deliver the Services.

3.2 Zero Secondary AI Training Warranty (Customer Protection)

PaperOp explicitly warrants and guarantees that:

No Foundational Model Training: Customer Data, scanned documents, OCR output, and user interactions are NEVER used to train, retrain, fine-tune, or improve public foundational machine learning models, LLMs, or third-party AI systems.
Strict Boundary Isolation: Document classification and Cyclops profiling run locally or in dedicated zero-retention private cloud inference environments scoped strictly to Customer’s account.
Confidentiality: Customer Data remains strictly confidential and inaccessible to other tenants or unauthorized personnel.

3.3 PaperOp Intellectual Property (PaperOp Protection)

PaperOp retains all rights, title, and interest in and to:

The Platform, web portal, desktop worker agents, and mobile signing interfaces.
The Cyclops classification algorithms, OCR normalization heuristics, and document profiling schemas.
All software code, user interface designs, logos, trademarks, system documentation, and architectural specifications.

4. Physical Vaulting, Custody & Destruction Services

4.1 Chain of Custody & Move Orders

Tracking & Barcodes: Physical boxes and batches transferred to PaperOp offsite storage must be identified by standardized 2D QR / Code 128 barcodes adhering to PaperOp location hierarchy specifications.
Move Orders: Physical relocation of boxes between Customer premises and PaperOp vault facilities requires an authorized digital Move Order with origin, destination, barcode scans, and dual signatory sign-off.
Discrepancy Reporting: Any variance between scanned barcodes and physical inventory must be logged within two (2) business days of physical handover.

4.2 Storage Conditions & Exclusions (PaperOp Protection)

Warehouse Conditions: PaperOp maintains secure, access-controlled, climate-moderated vault facilities equipped with clean agent fire suppression and 24/7 CCTV monitoring.
Prohibited Items: Customer warrants that physical boxes contain strictly paper files, agreed digital magnetic media, or standard office records. Under no circumstances may Customer store perishable items, hazardous chemicals, biological materials, explosives, firearms, or illegal contraband. PaperOp reserves the right to reject or quarantine non-compliant consignments.

4.3 End-of-Life Certified Destruction

Written Authorization: Physical destruction of vaulted records will be executed only upon explicit, dual-authorized digital work orders specifying box identifiers, destruction date, and disposal rationale.
Destruction Standard: Destruction is performed in compliance with DIN 66399 Level P-4 cross-cut shredding or equivalent industrial recycling standards.
Certificate of Destruction: Upon completion, PaperOp issues an immutable Certificate of Destruction cryptographically recorded in the tenant audit trail.

5. Security Safeguards, POPIA & DPA Incorporation

5.1 POPIA Operator Commitments

Where PaperOp processes Personal Information on behalf of Customer as an Operator in terms of Section 21 of POPIA:

PaperOp processes Personal Information strictly on documented instructions from Customer (the Responsible Party).
The terms of the PaperOp Data Processing Agreement (DPA) are incorporated into these Terms by reference.

5.2 Technical & Organizational Measures (POPIA Condition 7)

PaperOp maintains enterprise-grade security controls:

Encryption: AES-256 encryption at rest for all database shards and object storage; TLS 1.3 encryption for all data in transit.
Tamper-Proof Archival: Write-Once-Read-Many (Azure WORM) immutable storage for legal hold and audit records.
Tenant Isolation Standard: Mandatory PostgreSQL tenant isolation enforced by schema constraints and query boundary filters.
Incident Notification: In the event of a verified data breach affecting Customer Data, PaperOp will notify Customer without undue delay pursuant to POPIA Section 22.

6. Subscriptions, Fees & Payment Terms

6.1 Fee Schedules

Subscription Tiers: Fees for digital vault platform access, active worker licenses, and storage quotas are billed in accordance with Customer’s selected plan or executed Quotation.
Physical Logistics & Scanning: Physical box storage (per box/month), collection/retrieval transport, offsite high-speed scanning, and certified destruction are billed based on recorded billable units.
Value Added Tax (VAT): All prices are quoted in South African Rand (ZAR) exclusive of VAT, which will be charged at the prevailing statutory rate (currently 15%).

6.2 Invoicing & Payment Terms

Payment Due Date: Invoices are due strictly within thirty (30) calendar days of the invoice date unless otherwise specified in an approved commercial contract.
Late Payment: Undisputed overdue amounts may accrue interest at the prime overdraft rate charged by Standard Bank of South Africa plus two percent (2%) per annum, calculated from the due date until paid in full.
Suspension for Non-Payment: If an account remains unpaid fifteen (15) days after written overdue notice, PaperOp reserves the right to suspend digital platform access until the outstanding balance is settled.

7. Service Availability, Backups & Maintenance

7.1 Service Level Agreement (SLA)

PaperOp targets 99.9% monthly service availability for the cloud platform, excluding scheduled maintenance windows.

7.2 Scheduled Maintenance

We schedule routine platform maintenance during low-traffic windows (typically Sundays 00:00–04:00 SAST). Advance notice of scheduled maintenance will be posted via the platform status bar or email at least forty-eight (48) hours in advance.

7.3 Disaster Recovery & Redundancy

Customer Data is replicated across geographically redundant availability zones within Microsoft Azure South Africa North (Johannesburg) with daily automated backups.

8. Limitation of Liability & Mutual Indemnification

8.1 Mutual Limitation of Direct Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, neither party’s aggregate cumulative liability arising out of or related to these Terms, whether in contract, delict (including negligence), or otherwise, shall exceed the total amount paid by Customer to PaperOp under the applicable Service Agreement in the twelve (12) months preceding the incident giving rise to liability.

8.2 Exclusion of Consequential Damages

Neither party shall be liable to the other for any indirect, special, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages, including loss of profits, loss of revenue, loss of business opportunities, or loss of anticipated savings, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

8.3 Uncapped Liabilities

The limitations in Section 8.1 and 8.2 shall not apply to:

Either party’s breach of its confidentiality obligations under Section 3 or Section 5.
Customer’s indemnification obligations under Section 8.4.
Death, personal injury, gross negligence, or willful misconduct.

8.4 Customer Indemnity (PaperOp Protection)

Customer shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless PaperOp, its officers, employees, and contractors from and against any third-party claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:

Customer’s breach of applicable laws (including POPIA, ECTA, or copyright law) relating to documents uploaded or stored.
Unlawful, infringing, or defamatory content contained within Customer Data.
Storage of prohibited or hazardous materials in violation of Section 4.2.

8.5 PaperOp IP Indemnity (Customer Protection)

PaperOp shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Customer from and against any third-party claims alleging that the Platform software or Services directly infringe any valid South African patent, copyright, or trademark, provided Customer promptly notifies PaperOp in writing and grants PaperOp sole defense control.

8.6 Website Content, AI Notice & Error Disclaimer

All website content, marketing materials, and product descriptions are provided strictly on an “as-is” and “as-available” basis for general informational purposes. As stipulated in Section 1, there could be errors on our site and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been utilized across the site and documentation. The reader accepts this condition, acknowledges that information may contain errors, and assumes sole responsibility for validating all statements and representations. PaperOp expressly disclaims all warranties, express or implied, regarding website content accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any specific legal, financial, or technical purpose.

9. Term, Termination & Orderly Handover

9.1 Term & Renewal

These Terms commence upon Customer’s initial registration, account creation, or signature of a Service Agreement, and remain in effect until terminated in accordance with this Section.

9.2 Termination for Convenience

Either party may terminate an ongoing subscription for convenience by providing at least thirty (30) days’ written notice prior to the start of the next billing cycle.

9.3 Termination for Cause

Either party may terminate these Terms immediately upon written notice if the other party:

Materially breaches these Terms and fails to cure such breach within fourteen (14) calendar days of receiving written notice.
Becomes insolvent, files for business rescue, makes an assignment for the benefit of creditors, or enters liquidation.

9.4 Orderly Handover & Post-Termination Data Retention (Customer Protection)

Upon termination of Services:

Digital Export: Customer shall have thirty (30) calendar days from the effective date of termination to export all vaulted digital documents, OCR text, and metadata via platform export tools or API endpoints.
Physical Records Retrieval: Customer must arrange collection or return delivery of all physical boxes held in offsite vault storage, subject to settlement of outstanding storage and transit fees.
Certified Decommissioning: Following the 30-day handover period, PaperOp will securely purge Customer’s digital storage shards and issue a final decommissioning certificate.

10. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

10.1 Governing Law

These Terms, and any dispute or controversy arising out of or in connection with them, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

10.2 Informal Dispute Resolution

Before initiating formal legal proceedings, the parties agree to make a good-faith attempt to resolve any dispute through executive escalation within twenty (20) business days of written notification.

10.3 Binding AFSA Arbitration

If the dispute remains unresolved following executive negotiation, it shall be referred to and finally resolved by expedited commercial arbitration in Johannesburg in accordance with the Commercial Rules of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (“AFSA”). The arbitral award shall be final, binding, and enforceable in any court of competent jurisdiction.

11. Amendments, Severability & Notices

11.1 Updates to Terms

PaperOp may update these Terms from time to time to reflect regulatory changes or new service features. In the event of material modifications, PaperOp will provide at least thirty (30) days’ notice via email or platform notification. Continued use of the Services after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

11.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by an arbitrator or court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

11.3 Contact & Legal Notices

All formal legal notices to PaperOp must be delivered in writing to:

Entity: Paper Operations (Pty) Ltd
Attention: Legal & Governance Officer
Email: legal@paperop.co.za
General Inquiries: support@paperop.co.za
Website: https://paperop.com