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Disclaimer (English)
Disclaimer content:
Intellectual Property Rights
The copyright, database right and other intellectual rights of property relating to all information offered by other Ministries on this website, or which can be accessed via this website, (including all text, graphical material and logos) as well as the visuals, styling, domain names and the software on this website, are held and reserved by the State of the Netherlands, to be precise: by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (hereinafter: Rijkswaterstaat) or any other Dutch Ministry, as the case may be.
The information provided on or accessed via this website may be printed and/or downloaded free of charge, if and insofar as the information offered via this website is information provided by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, or a different Dutch Ministry.
Re-use, as defined in the Government Information (Public Access) Act (In Dutch: Wet openbaarheid van bestuur) of parts of the information offered on or via this website may be subject to terms and conditions (license) .
This may mean that certain content may not be printed or downloaded until after acceptance of the relevant terms and conditions (license); this is indicated where applicable.
Warning
This website, which is specifically intended for use by commercial waterway users (skippers) may contain elements (pages and forms) whose accessibility is not ideally suitable for users suffering from a visual handicap.
This website makes use of functional cookies; small text files containing information that is temporarily stored on your computer. The website uses these cookies to remember specific session settings and offer specific functionality (e.g. forms). The following cookies are involved: "Drupal.toolbar.collapsed" and "has_js", which make it possible to link the actions of a user (who otherwise remains anonymous) to a specific visitor's session on the website. This information is never recorded and/or used for commercial purposes under any circumstances.
Obviously the information on this website has been compiled and presented with the greatest possible care. However, the information offered on or accessed via this website may be partially outdated, incomplete and/or (partially) incorrect. The information offered on or accessed via this website may be changed regularly, with immediate effect and without any further prior notification, in terms of content and presentation.
It is therefore recommended that users periodically ascertain whether changes have been made to the information offered on or accessed via this website, including the wording of this page. The information offered on or accessed via this website may consist partially of information that Rijkswaterstaat uses for the purpose of fulfilling its own tasks and which may therefore be less suitable for other purposes.
Liability
By visiting this website and/or using the information offered on or accessed via this website, you state your acceptance of the applicability of the provisions below. Rijkswaterstaat does not accept any liability regarding direct and/or indirect, immaterial or consequential damage (including but not limited to lost profit, operational stoppages, damage to reputation and lost orders) that in any way result from but are not limited to:
- defects, viruses, or other faults in equipment and other software in connection with access to or use of this website,
- use of the information that is offered on or accessed via this website,
- the operation or non-availability of this website,
- abuse of this website,
- loss of data,
- downloading or using software that is made available via this website, or
- claims lodged by third parties in connection with the use of this website, except insofar as the damage results from malicious intent or deliberate recklessness on the part of Rijkswaterstaat or its managers.
Privacy Statement
The following applies in relation to the use of personal data: only data may be used that you have actively chosen to leave behind and this data will only be used for the purpose of registering an account in order to allow use of the BICS application (see Privacy Statement).
The privacy regulations in the Netherlands that apply to the information submitted via BICS are specified in the "Privacy Regulations for traffic registration systems (Rijkswaterstaat)" (see Dutch version on wetten.nl).
Accessibility
When designing the website, Rijkswaterstaat has given careful consideration to user-friendliness, accessibility, the quality of the website structure and the ease of finding information. The objective is to offer all information in a form that can be easily found, used and viewed by all users. The Web Guidelines Application Framework (Toepassingskader Webrichtlijnen) is one of the instruments used to achieve accessibility and good build quality. These guidelines are based on internationally recognised conventions on accessibility, build quality and ensuring that websites are future-proof.
General
Specification:
In general, www.bics.nl globally complies with the Web Guidelines version 2 (Webrichtlijnen versie 2/WRv2), particularly in terms of the usability and structured presentation of information to users. However, due to the Content Management System (CMS) that is used, the website cannot comply fully with the web guidelines in the area of satisfying specific W3C standards and syntax guidelines. In certain less important sections, the colour contrasts are mediocre and W3C validation of specific pages results in a number of (syntax) comments/errors.
Cause:
The BICS website has been set up in a 7.x version of Drupal, which does not fully comply with the web guidelines because it automatically generates certain code and does not offer a complete range of options (subject to technical limitations) for modifying the html code via the content manager applications.
Result:
Therefore, on the odd occasion, users may experience reduced accessibility or feel that the layout is not as intended when using certain (less common) browsers.
Alternatives:
The BICS website offers no alternatives for this situation. One possible solution is to display the page as a PDF. In view of the target group (commercial waterway users), the requirement for providing support for/accessibility via less common browsers for the visually impaired and other users is also less critical than in the case of other public websites. In any event the website is fully accessible via the following browsers: Internet Explorer 8 or higher, Firefox 10 or higher, Chrome 19 or higher.
Measures:
An upgrade to a more recent version of the Content Management System (Drupal 7) has now eliminated almost all of the former limitations (e.g. outdated html syntax, audio support for entering a Captcha).
PDFs
Specification:
PDF documents must be stored in an accessible format; i.e. a format that can be read by software.
Cause:
The guideline sets extremely high requirements for PDF files. Specific expertise and/or tools are needed to create PDFs that satisfy the requirements. However, many of the PDF documents are delivered from external sources, which makes it impossible to comply with this guideline in all instances.
Result:
The BICS website administrator feels that adequate action has been taken to rectify non-compliance with the norm.
Alternatives:
As a solution for this problem, the BICS website applies a set of minimum requirements for PDFs:
1. The format is PDF/A-1a or PDF/UA-1.
2. The text must be selectable and copyable.
3. The PDF does not contain scanned documents.
4. The PDF does not contain personal data.
Exceptions: documents delivered from external sources.
Measures:
In order to limit the number of less than ideally accessible documents, the BICS website applies specific requirements for new PDFs. As a minimum, the PDFs must comply with the criteria listed under 'Alternatives'.
Old content
Specification:
Relates to all types of documents that are out of date, such as old news items and/or documents. Different guidelines may apply to these documents.
Cause:
The BICS website does not retrospectively modify the archives and older documents. The cost and time involved would be disproportionate.
Result:
The results of this decision are limited because all current information is accessible.
Alternatives:
The BICS website presents the current version of files and documents on the website (which comply as far as possible with the valid guidelines) as and when these become available.
Measures:
In order to limit the amount of less ideally accessible documents, the BICS website requires new documents to comply with strict requirements.
Accessibility Notification Form
Please inform us if you feel that this website does not comply with the standards in spite of our assessment, or if, for any reason whatsoever, you have been unable to access the information you are looking for. This will help us to improve the website so that you and other visitors in the future will have optimum access to the information provided. Please use the contact form on this website to submit your feedback.