BottleChallenge Terms of Service

1.1 Terms used in this document

• “Bottle” means a reusable bottle that you fill with water.
• “Place with water” means a place shown on the map in the Service where, according to the information in the Service, you can fill a bottle free of charge, for example a tap, a drinking fountain, a water dispenser, a café or a restaurant.
• “NFC sticker” means a sticker with an NFC chip at a place with water, which you hold your phone to in order to record a filled bottle.
• “Filled bottle” means a bottle filled at a place with water and recorded by the app when you hold your phone to the NFC sticker there.
• “EcoDrops” means the Service’s internal loyalty units, described in section 8 and in the EcoDrops Terms.
• “BottleChallenge Partner” means a venue or other body that lets people fill a bottle with water at its premises free of charge.
• “Reward partner” means a body that offers rewards in the Service in exchange for EcoDrops.
• “Team” means a group of users in BottleChallenge League (section 2.1).
• “EcoDrops Terms” and “Acceptable Use Policy” mean the documents published at bottlechallenge.org/ecodrops-terms and bottlechallenge.org/acceptable-use.

2.1 BottleChallenge League

BottleChallenge League is the part of the Service in which users form teams and compare the number of bottles they have filled. Any user with an account can set up a team, for example for a company, a school, a non-governmental organisation, a sports club, a city, a public institution or a group of friends. You belong to one team at a time, and joining another team means leaving the previous one. You can leave a team at any time. The person who set up a team can leave it once they have handed the running of the team to someone else or closed the team.

Teams can play duels against each other and take part in tournaments. The people who run a team can also set rewards for the people in it, for example for a number of bottles filled in a season or for a place in the team’s ranking.

Rewards in BottleChallenge League are set and handed over by teams and by tournament organisers, not by the Foundation. If the teams in a duel agreed a prize, the losing team hands it over. The Foundation records in the Service who is entitled to a prize, and the winner receives a code that is used to confirm the hand-over. If a prize does not arrive, you can report it in the app and the report goes to the Foundation’s moderators.

BottleChallenge League does not award EcoDrops. A result in a team, a duel or a tournament does not change your EcoDrops balance. Your results are shown in your team’s ranking, and the Privacy Policy explains how that data is handled.

2.2 Technical requirements

To use the website you need a device with internet access and an up-to-date web browser. The mobile app can be installed on Android or iOS phones running the versions stated in the app store. To record a filled bottle you need a phone with working NFC (section 10.4).

2.3 Changes to the Service

The Foundation may change, suspend or discontinue part of the Service. If a change would materially reduce what the Service offers you, the Foundation will give you reasonable notice, unless a legal duty, a security threat or a supplier failure makes that impossible. This reflects Article 19 of Directive (EU) 2019/770 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services.

4.1 Creating an account

Some features of the Service require an account. You create one with an email address and a password, or by signing in with Google or Apple. When you create an account, you agree to:

• give accurate, current and complete information;
• keep your account details up to date;
• keep your password secure;
• take responsibility for everything done through your account;
• tell the Foundation without delay about any unauthorised access to your account.

4.2 Account security

You are responsible for keeping your login details confidential. The Foundation is not liable for loss or damage that results from your failure to protect your account properly.

4.3 One account

Each user may hold only one personal account. Creating several accounts to abuse EcoDrops or to get round restrictions is prohibited.

6.1 What User Content is

You can add to the Service the details of a new place with water, photographs of places with water, and suggested corrections to places already listed, including a corrected position on the map (“User Content”). You keep the rights in your User Content and grant the Foundation the licence described in section 6.2.

6.2 Licence

When you add User Content, you grant the Foundation a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence, without territorial limits, to use it for the purpose of running and promoting the Service, in the following ways: storing it on servers, reproducing it digitally, resizing it, translating it, making it available to the public in the Service, distributing it and displaying it. The Foundation may sublicense it to the providers who host and deliver the Service on its behalf.

The licence lasts while the content is published. Once you delete the content or your account, the Foundation stops using it, except for copies already included in printed or archived material and for backups, which remain until they are overwritten in the ordinary course. The Foundation does not sell User Content or license it to others for their own advertising.

6.3 Content standards

User Content must not:

• be false or misleading;
• infringe the intellectual property rights of others;
• contain defamatory, obscene or offensive material;
• contain other people’s personal data without their consent;
• encourage unlawful activity or harmful behaviour.

6.4 Moderation and reports

The Foundation reviews User Content before it changes the public listing of a place with water, and it may remove content that breaks these Terms, the Acceptable Use Policy or the law. The Foundation does not monitor everything that is added as it happens, and it is not responsible for content added by other users.

If the Foundation removes your content or restricts your account, it will give you a statement of reasons and you can appeal. The duty to give reasons comes from Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the Digital Services Act) and binds the Foundation. The six-month appeal period comes from Article 20 of that Regulation. Article 19 exempts the Foundation from that duty as a micro or small enterprise, but the Foundation offers the appeal anyway. How to appeal is set out in section 10.2 of the Acceptable Use Policy.

You can report content that you believe is illegal or breaks the rules of the Service to [email protected]. That address is also the point of contact for users, for the authorities of the Member States and for the European Commission referred to in Articles 11 and 12 of the Digital Services Act. Correspondence is accepted there in Polish and in English.

So that a report can be acted on, it should contain the elements listed in Article 16(2) of the Digital Services Act: an explanation of why the content is illegal or breaks the rules of the Service, a precise indication of where it is, the name and email address of the person reporting it, and a statement that the report is accurate to the best of that person’s knowledge. What happens next is described in section 9 of the Acceptable Use Policy.

If the Foundation becomes aware of information giving rise to a suspicion that a criminal offence involving a threat to the life or safety of a person has taken place, is taking place or is likely to take place, it informs the law enforcement or judicial authorities concerned, as Article 18 of the Digital Services Act requires.

7.1 The Foundation’s rights

The Service, including its design, features, content, names, logos and software, belongs to the Foundation and is protected by intellectual property law. This does not cover content supplied by others, such as map data and User Content. You may not copy, modify or distribute the Service, or create works based on it, without the Foundation’s written permission.

7.2 Names and logos

The names “BottleChallenge” and “EcoDrops” and the logos connected with them are the Foundation’s marks. You may not use them without the Foundation’s prior written permission.

7.3 Ideas and suggestions

If you send the Foundation an idea or a suggestion about the Service, the Foundation may use it to improve the Service without paying you for it. You keep any rights you have in what you sent and do not transfer them to the Foundation.

8.1 What EcoDrops are

EcoDrops are the Service’s internal loyalty units. They can be exchanged for rewards from reward partners under section 12. The detailed rules of the programme, including how many EcoDrops each activity earns and how returns work, are set out in the EcoDrops Terms.

8.2 How to receive EcoDrops

EcoDrops are awarded only in the ways described in the EcoDrops Terms, which contain the complete list. On the date these Terms were last updated, they are:

• a filled bottle recorded at the NFC sticker of a participating place with water;
• a one-off welcome bonus awarded after your first filled bottle;
• an extra amount at some NFC stickers, awarded together with the filled bottle;
• adding a new place with water that the Foundation’s moderators approve;
• inviting someone who creates an account and records their first filled bottle.

The number of EcoDrops for each of these, the daily limits and the expiry rules are set out in the EcoDrops Terms. Taking part in BottleChallenge League does not earn EcoDrops.

8.3 Programme rules

• EcoDrops have no cash value and cannot be sold or transferred to another person.
• EcoDrops expire in batches, 6 months after you receive them. When you exchange EcoDrops for a reward, the batch closest to expiry is used first.
• The Foundation may change the number of EcoDrops for each activity, the rewards and the programme rules.
• The Foundation may limit the number of EcoDrops that can be received per day or per activity.
• Fraud leads to the loss of EcoDrops and the closure of the account.

9.1 Places run by others

The Service shows places with water run by others, for example venues, municipalities and institutions. The Foundation does not own, run or control them and is not responsible for:

• the availability or quality of the water there;
• the accuracy of information supplied by partners;
• the conduct of the people who work there;
• dealings between users and partners.

9.2 No recommendation

Showing a place in the Service does not mean that the Foundation endorses or recommends it. When you visit a place with water, use your own judgement.

9.3 Partner terms

Partners accept separate terms, depending on their role:

• BottleChallenge Partners accept the Terms for BottleChallenge Partners;
• reward partners accept the Reward Partner Terms;
• municipalities and other public bodies accept the Terms for Municipalities and Water Utilities.

Those terms bind the partners, not other users.

10.1 How it works

Participating places with water have NFC stickers. After filling your bottle, you hold your phone with the BottleChallenge app to the NFC sticker of that place, and the app records the filled bottle and adds EcoDrops under the EcoDrops Terms. This is the only way to record a filled bottle. The Foundation does not use printed codes for this.

Each time a phone is held to it, the sticker produces a new, single-use encrypted code. This is how the Foundation tells a real tap apart from a copied or repeated one.

10.2 Data collected

When you hold your phone to an NFC sticker, the Foundation records:

• the encrypted code produced by the sticker, from which it identifies the sticker;
• the time;
• the approximate location of your phone, if you have given the app access to your location;
• your device type and its NFC support.

This data is used to confirm the filled bottle, to prevent abuse and to award the right number of EcoDrops. Details are in the Privacy Policy.

10.3 Rules for using the stickers

• To record a filled bottle, you must be at the place with water.
• Some stickers require access to your phone’s location. At such a sticker the app will not record a filled bottle without the location, or if your phone is too far from the place with water.
• A waiting time may apply between two taps of the same sticker. The app then tells you how long to wait.
• Faking your location, copying stickers and tapping stickers automatically are prohibited.
• Moving, damaging or otherwise interfering with stickers is prohibited.

10.4 Phone requirements

To record a filled bottle you need the BottleChallenge mobile app on a phone with working NFC. A device without NFC cannot record filled bottles. The Foundation does not guarantee that recording will work on every device or with every NFC configuration. The full rules for using NFC stickers are in the Acceptable Use Policy.

11.1 How donations are processed

Donations to the Foundation are processed by Stripe. You are taken to a payment page run by Stripe and returned to the Service after paying. The Foundation receives the donation and holds the Stripe account. Your card details never reach the Foundation’s systems. A donation can be one-off or monthly.

11.2 Use of donations

The Foundation uses donations to run and develop the project, including servers and hosting, producing NFC stickers, software development, communication and running costs.

11.3 Refunds

A donation is voluntary and is not normally refunded. The exceptions, such as a duplicate charge or a different amount from the one you intended, and how to apply are set out in the Donation Terms. A request must be made within 30 days of the donation.

11.4 Tax information

The Foundation is a Polish foundation entered in the National Court Register under number 0000964547. Whether a donation is tax-deductible depends on the law of the donor’s country. The Foundation issues a donation confirmation on request. The full rules, including monthly donations and how to cancel them, are in the Donation Terms.

12.1 The Rewards section

In the Rewards section, available in the app and at bottlechallenge.org/shop, you exchange EcoDrops for rewards from reward partners. Rewards are tickets, passes, vouchers and discounts, for example for cinemas, theatres and museums, concerts, workshops and sports activities.

12.2 Exchanging EcoDrops for a reward

• Rewards are exchanged for EcoDrops only. You do not pay any money for them.
• Availability depends on how many rewards are left and on the reward partner’s participation.
• After the exchange you receive a unique reward code (voucher) in your Wallet. Depending on the reward, you show it to the reward partner on site or enter it on the partner’s website following the instructions given with the reward.
• A voucher is personal, cannot be transferred to anyone else and is valid for the period stated with the reward.

12.3 The reward partner’s role

Rewards are provided by independent reward partners. The Foundation is not responsible for the quality or availability of rewards or for how the partner delivers them. You can take up a problem with a reward directly with the reward partner, or report it to the Foundation as described in section 12.4.

12.4 Reporting a problem and getting EcoDrops back

EcoDrops exchanged for a reward are not normally returned. The exceptions and the reporting procedure are set out in section 8 of the EcoDrops Terms. You report a problem with a reward in your Wallet, with the “Report a problem” button, within 90 days of receiving the reward. The reward partner has five calendar days to respond. If it does not, your EcoDrops are returned to your balance and the voucher is cancelled automatically.

16.1 Ending by you

You can stop using the Service and delete your account at any time: in the app settings, as described on the Delete account page, or by writing to [email protected].

16.2 Ending by the Foundation

The Foundation may suspend or end your access to the Service only where:

• you break these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy;
• you act fraudulently or unlawfully, including by recording bottles you did not fill;
• the law, a court or a competent authority requires the Foundation to act;
• the Foundation discontinues the Service.

The Foundation will tell you the reason, and you can appeal within at least six months, as described in section 10.2 of the Acceptable Use Policy. Except where it must act immediately, the Foundation will warn you first and give you a chance to put things right. If the Foundation discontinues the Service, it will give at least 30 days’ notice.

The Foundation does not close an account merely because it has not been used for a while. If the Foundation ever needs to change that, it will tell you first and give you a chance to keep the account.

16.3 What happens when the agreement ends

When your account is closed, your right to use the Service ends. EcoDrops have no cash value, so nothing is owed for them, but they are not lost in every case:

• if you delete your account, unspent EcoDrops are lost when the account is deleted, and you can spend them first;
• if the Foundation discontinues the Service, you will have at least 90 days from the notice to spend your balance, as the EcoDrops Terms provide;
• if the Foundation closes your account for a reason other than fraud, it will tell you first and give you a reasonable chance to spend your balance;
• the balance is lost immediately only if the account is closed for fraud.

Before the Foundation closes an account for a reason other than fraud, it gives you a reasonable opportunity to ask for a copy of your data. You can ask for that copy at any time under the Privacy Policy. Provisions that by their nature should survive the end of the agreement remain in force.

17.1 Resolving a dispute informally

If a dispute arises, you can first write to the Foundation at [email protected] to try to resolve it directly. The Foundation aims to reply within 30 days. You may go to court, or to a consumer protection body, at any time without contacting the Foundation first.

17.2 Governing law

These Terms are governed by Polish law, without regard to its conflict of law rules. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

17.3 Jurisdiction

A consumer domiciled in the European Union may, under Articles 17 to 19 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, bring proceedings against the Foundation either in the courts of Poland or in the courts of the country where the consumer is domiciled, as the consumer chooses. The Foundation may bring proceedings against such a consumer only in the courts of the country where the consumer is domiciled. The choice of Polish law does not deprive the consumer of the protection of the mandatory rules of the country of their habitual residence (Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 593/2008, Rome I).

A consumer domiciled outside the European Union remains protected by the mandatory consumer protection rules of the country where they live.

Disputes with a user who uses the Service for business purposes are decided by the court with jurisdiction for the Foundation’s registered office in Warsaw.

17.4 Out-of-court dispute resolution

The European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform was closed on 20 July 2025 under Regulation (EU) 2024/3228. Links to it found elsewhere are out of date.

A consumer in the European Union can still use an alternative dispute resolution body operating under Directive 2013/11/EU. In Poland these include the permanent consumer arbitration courts and the mediation run by the regional inspectors of the Trade Inspection. Municipal and district consumer ombudsmen also give free help. For a cross-border dispute, the European Consumer Centres Network helps free of charge.

The Foundation is not obliged to use, and has not committed to using, any particular out-of-court dispute resolution body. It will nonetheless consider in good faith any proposal to resolve a dispute that way.

17.5 Collective proceedings

These Terms do not limit your right to take part in collective proceedings. For consumers in the European Union, Directive (EU) 2020/1828 allows qualified entities to bring representative actions on behalf of consumers, and nothing in these Terms affects that.

19.1 Documents and which one prevails

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, the Cookie Policy, the Acceptable Use Policy and the EcoDrops Terms, are the whole of what has been agreed between you and the Foundation about the use of the Service.

If you also act as a partner or a public body, the following are the only rules on which document prevails:

1. For anything done in that role, the terms for that role prevail: the Terms for BottleChallenge Partners, the Reward Partner Terms or the Terms for Municipalities and Water Utilities, including their liability provisions.
2. For anything done as an ordinary user, such as finding a place with water or recording your own filled bottle, these Terms prevail.
3. The Privacy Policy prevails over all of these documents on the handling of personal data.
4. Where one document is silent, the others fill the gap. Nothing in these rules takes away a right that cannot be excluded by agreement.

19.2 Invalid provisions

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in force.

19.3 No waiver

If the Foundation does not exercise a right, that does not mean it has waived the right.

19.4 Transfer of rights

You may not transfer your rights under these Terms to anyone else. The Foundation may transfer its rights to a body that takes over the Service, provided this does not reduce your rights. If a transfer would reduce them, the Foundation will tell you first and you may delete your account.

19.5 Force majeure

The Foundation is not liable for failing to perform because of causes beyond its reasonable control, such as natural disasters, war, terrorism, strikes or government action.

19.6 Third parties

These Terms do not give rights to third parties unless they expressly say otherwise.

19.7 Language and availability

These Terms are published in Polish and in English. For a consumer habitually resident in Poland, the Polish version is binding. For everyone else the English version prevails if the two differ. Both versions are available free of charge at all times, and a link to the other version is at the top of the page.