Terms & Conditions
Introduction
These terms & conditions govern your use of this website; by using this website, you accept these terms & conditions in full. If you disagree with these terms & conditions or any part of these terms and conditions, you must not use this website.
You must be at least 18 years of age to use this website. By using this website, and by agreeing to these terms & conditions, you warrant and represent that you are at least 18 years of age.
This website uses cookies. By using this website and agreeing to these terms & conditions, you consent to DNAQ’s use of cookies in accordance with the terms of DNAQ’s privacy policy / cookies policy.
License to use website
Unless otherwise stated, DNAQ and/or its licensors own the intellectual property rights in the website and material on the website. Subject to the license below, all these intellectual property rights are reserved.
You may view, download for caching purposes only, and print pages from the website for your own personal use, subject to the restrictions set out below and elsewhere in these terms & conditions.
You must not:
- republish material from this website (including republication on another website);
- sell, rent or sub-license material from the website;
- show any material from the website in public;
- reproduce, duplicate, copy or otherwise exploit material on this website for a commercial purpose;
- edit or otherwise modify any material on the website; or
- redistribute material from this website, except for content specifically and expressly made available for redistribution.
Where content is specifically made available for redistribution, it may only be redistributed within your organisation.
Acceptable use
You must not use this website in any way that causes, or may cause, damage to the website or impairment of the availability or accessibility of the website; or in any way which is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity.
You must not use this website to copy, store, host, transmit, send, use, publish or distribute any material which consists of (or is linked to) any spyware, computer virus, Trojan horse, worm, keystroke logger, rootkit or other malicious computer software.
You must not conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to this website without DNAQ’s express written consent.
You must not use this website to transmit or send unsolicited commercial communications.
You must not use this website for any purposes related to marketing without DNAQ’s express written consent.
Restricted access
Access to certain areas of this website is restricted. DNAQ reserves the right to restrict access to areas of this website, or indeed this entire website, at DNAQ’s discretion.
If DNAQ provides you with a user ID and password to enable you to access restricted areas of this website or other content or services, you must ensure that the user ID and password are kept confidential.
DNAQ may disable your user ID and password in DNAQ’s sole discretion without notice or explanation.
User content
In these terms & conditions, “your user content” means material (including without limitation text, images, audio material, video material and audio-visual material) that you submit to this website, for whatever purpose.
Your user content must not be illegal or unlawful, must not infringe any third party’s legal rights, and must not be capable of giving rise to legal action whether against you or DNAQ or a third party (in each case under any applicable law).
You must not submit any user content to the website that is or has ever been the subject of any threatened or actual legal proceedings or other similar complaint.
DNAQ reserves the right to edit or remove any material submitted to this website, or stored on DNAQ servers, or hosted or published upon this website.
Notwithstanding DNAQ rights under these terms & conditions in relation to user content, DNAQ does not undertake to monitor the submission of such content to, or the publication of such content on, this website.
No warranties
This website is provided “as is” without any representations or warranties, express or implied. DNAQ makes no representations or warranties in relation to this website or the information and materials provided on this website.
Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, DNAQ does not warrant that:
- this website will be constantly available, or available at all; or
- the information on this website is complete, true, accurate or non-misleading.
Nothing on this website constitutes, or is meant to constitute, advice of any kind.
Limitations of liability
DNAQ will not be liable to you (whether under the law of contact, the law of torts or otherwise) in relation to the contents of, or use of, or otherwise in connection with, this website:
- to the extent that the website is provided free-of-charge, for any direct loss;
- for any indirect, special or consequential loss; or
- for any business losses, loss of revenue, income, profits or anticipated savings, loss of contracts or business relationships, loss of reputation or goodwill, or loss or corruption of information or data.
These limitations of liability apply even if DNAQ has been expressly advised of the potential loss.
Exceptions
Nothing in this website disclaimer will exclude or limit any warranty implied by law that it would be unlawful to exclude or limit; and nothing in this website disclaimer will exclude or limit DNAQ liability in respect of any:
- death or personal injury caused by DNAQ negligence;
- fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation on the part of DNAQ; or
- matter which it would be illegal or unlawful for DNAQ to exclude or limit, or to attempt or purport to exclude or limit, its liability.
Reasonableness
By using this website, you agree that the exclusions and limitations of liability set out in this website disclaimer are reasonable.
If you do not think they are reasonable, you must not use this website.
Other parties
You accept that, as a limited liability entity, DNAQ has an interest in limiting the personal liability of its officers and employees. You agree that you will not bring any claim personally against DNAQ officers or employees in respect of any losses you suffer in connection with the website.
Without prejudice to the foregoing paragraph, you agree that the limitations of warranties and liability set out in this website disclaimer will protect DNAQ officers, employees, agents, subsidiaries, successors, assigns and sub-contractors as well as DNAQ.
Unenforceable provisions
If any provision of this website disclaimer is, or is found to be, unenforceable under applicable law, that will not affect the enforceability of the other provisions of this website disclaimer.
Indemnity
You hereby indemnify DNAQ and undertake to keep DNAQ indemnified against any losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including without limitation legal expenses and any amounts paid by DNAQ to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute on the advice of DNAQ legal advisers) incurred or suffered by DNAQ arising out of any breach by you of any provision of these terms and conditions[, or arising out of any claim that you have breached any provision of these terms & conditions].
Breaches of these terms and conditions
Without prejudice to DNAQ other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach these terms & conditions in any way, DNAQ may take such action as DNAQ deems appropriate to deal with the breach, including suspending your access to the website, prohibiting you from accessing the website, blocking computers using your IP address from accessing the website, contacting your internet service provider to request that they block your access to the website and/or bringing court proceedings against you.
Variation
DNAQ may revise these terms & conditions from time-to-time. Revised terms & conditions will apply to the use of this website from the date of the publication of the revised terms & conditions on this website. Please check this page regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version.
Assignment
DNAQ may transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with DNAQ rights and/or obligations under these terms & conditions without notifying you or obtaining your consent.
You may not transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with your rights and/or obligations under these terms & conditions.
Severability
If a provision of these terms & conditions is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect. If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted, and the rest of the provision will continue in effect.
Entire agreement
These terms & conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and DNAQ in relation to your use of this website, and supersede all previous agreements in respect of your use of this website.
Law and jurisdiction
These terms & conditions will be governed by and construed in accordance with Australian Law, and any disputes relating to these terms & conditions will be subject to the [non-]exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Australia.
Credit
This document was created using a Contractology template available at http://www.freenetlaw.com.
Refund Policy
Please select carefully when choosing your test, as we do not offer refunds simply for change of mind. DNAQ reserves the right to withhold up to 50% percent of the purchase cost for any cancelled test, cancelled within three months of the purchase date. Refunds will not be processed for testing kits that have been sent out. If testing has commenced no refund will be issued. If the test is cancelled for any reason after 3 months no refunds will be processed.
All parties should agree to testing prior to applying for Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity testing (NIPPT) as our refund policy applies. Cancelled tests prior to testing kits being issued will incur a $100 admin fee. When testing kits are issued, DNAQ reserves the right to withhold 50% of the purchase cost.
DNAQ reserves the right to cancel testing where it is suspected that fraudulent paperwork or samples has been provided. In the cases of suspected fraudulent behaviour, testing will be cancelled and no refund will be provided.
Accuracy of Results
I understand that for legal paternity tests, results are usually above 99.9999% when the mother, alleged father and child are tested. Results may be lower if the mother is not tested. For extended relationship testing, results may be weak or inconclusive. This is not due to laboratory error but in difficulty in comparing individuals in extended relationships. This can occur in approximately one in five cases. No refund will be given for inconclusive results.
Turn Around Times
Results will be available in 3 – 5 working days for most tests, calculated from the day after all samples reach the laboratory for testing. Some forms of Extended Relationship testing, such as Y-STR, will be available in 10 – 15 working days. Working days include Monday through Friday, and do not include public holidays, bank holidays and weekends.
While DNAQ endeavours to have results out within the above turnaround times, these turnaround times are a guideline only, and may be subject to change depending on the circumstances of the test and the samples received. We are not obliged to provide results within the turnaround time and will not compromise the quality of the results to deliver a faster result.
Turnaround times are estimated provided that all paperwork is completed correctly by the client at time of collection, the sample was taken properly by the collector and/or client, and no events outside DNAQ’s control, such as shipping delays, power failure, equipment failure or natural disaster, interfere with sample processing. In a small amount of cases, repeat sequencing or additional analysis may be required to due biological variations in the DNA of the persons tested.
If it is anticipated that your results will not be out within the suggested turnaround time, DNAQ will endeavour to advise you as soon as possible. Please note that no refunds will be provided in the event of delayed testing.
In some cases where the forms have not been completed correctly or the sample has not been collected properly, the sample will need to be recollected at an additional cost to the client. If a recollection is required, DNAQ will endeavour to advise clients as soon as possible. No refund will be provided to clients who do not wish to recollect their samples.
Online Applications
All personal and financial information provided is true to the best of my knowledge. I have consent from all persons over 18, or from parent/guardian of all persons under 18 involved, in testing. I have contact or means of contacting (through solicitor or legal aid) other parties involved in testing, and understand that DNAQ will not seek out other parties on my behalf.
Conduct Towards DNAQ
DNAQ reserves the right to refuse testing to customers who are verbally or physically abusive or threatening towards DNAQ staff, whether via telephone, email, social media or other communication methods. Customers who engage in any behaviour that is seen to harass, abuse, insult, harm, defame, slander, disparage, intimidate, or discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, race, age, national origin, or disability, any member of DNAQ staff, DNAQ will immediately stop testing and no refund will be provided.
Retention of Data
I acknowledge that my DNA sample may be securely disposed of after 1 year of report release by DNAQ. DNA profiles and reports will be stored indefinitely by DNAQ.
Results policy
For legal tests a copy of the results will be posted to both the mother and the alleged father, and any nominated legal representative as required. Results may be emailed to the mother and father if nominated on the authority form in the testing kit. No results will be given over the phone. For immigration cases, results will also be emailed to the Department of Immigration that requested the testing. For testing arranged by the department of Child Safety, no results will be released to the families, instead the results will go back directly to Child Safety who will distribute the results at their discretion. For non-legal cases results will be emailed or posted to the nominated persons, however any person whose DNA is tested is entitled to a copy of their results, and may request a copy of their results even if they are not nominated.
Use of results
I understand that any non-legal reports produced by DNAQ cannot be used for any legal purpose, such as changes to birth certificates, child support, estates and wills or any other matter relating to the family law court of Australia. I understand that under current Australian law, testing results from sibling or extended relationship tests are not accepted as proof of a relationship for the Family Law Court of Australia, for changes to a birth certificate or for wills.
Disclaimers on legal reports
Any inconsistencies between Form 2, Form 4 and sample label will be noted in part 8 of the report. This includes not providing full name on all forms, inconsistent spelling of name, errors in transcription, missing signatures, incorrect sample collection and other minor inconsistencies that do not warrant a full re-collection. These comments cannot be changed unless a re-collection is performed at the cost of the client.
Legal Reports
The information provided to DNAQ on Form 2 and Form 4 is the information that will be entered into the final report. If a middle name is excluded from the forms it will not be entered into the final report. DNAQ cannot change surnames on a report if a name change has occurred as the sample must be trackable throughout the laboratory with the identifiers it was originally given. Where a new report with a new name is required a recollection of that sample with the new name will be required at a cost to the client.
Re-collections
In a rare few cases, insufficient DNA is obtained from a sample and the sample must therefore be re-collected to obtain a result. DNAQ will try multiple methods to obtain a profile from a weak sample, however if unsuccessful, re-collections will be at the expense of the client. If a client or collector is unsure of how to collect the sample to ensure sufficient DNA is collected they should contact DNAQ. For legal cases, where Forms 2 and 4 have been incorrectly completed, the tamper proof bag is unsealed or damaged or for any other reason where the integrity of the sample cannot be established a re-collection will be required at the expense of the client.
