Application Terms & Conditions

2. Important Notice

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The Program is entirely voluntary and discretionary onthe part of Silal. By submitting an application, you acknowledge and agree that Silal is under no obligation whatsoever to:

•        select you or any otherapplicant;

•        award any funding or support;

•        proceed with the Program in whole or in part;

•        continue the Program once commenced;

•        provide any technical support, resources, or facilities;

•        give reasons for any decision made in connection with the Program; or

•        respond to, acknowledge, or return your submission.

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Submission of an application does not create any binding obligation on Silal, does not entitle you to selection, funding, orparticipation, and does not give rise to any contractual, pre-contractual, or other obligation on Silal’s part, except as expressly set out in these Terms.

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All decisions regarding the Program including selection, rejection, shortlisting, disqualification, and cancellation are made at Silal’s sole and absolute discretion and are final and not subject to internal reviewor challenge within the Program. Silal reserves the right to accept or reject any application at any time, for any reason or no reason, and to select any number of applicants, without being required to provide reasons. Any communication from Silal in connection with the Program does not constitute selection or acceptance and creates no obligation on Silal. Silal may, without notice, modify, suspend, or cancel the Program at any time and for any reason.

3. Definitions

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•        “Applicant / You”: the individual or legal entity submitting an application to the Program.

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•        “Application”: the completed submission form and all supporting materials submitted through the Silal Program Application Site.

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•        “Application Privacy Notice”: means the Farm Innovation Fund Application Privacy Notice made available by Silal for the relevant application cycle.

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•        “Applicant Submission”: all information, materials, ideas, concepts, innovations, business plans, data, know-how, trade secrets, and any other content submitted as part of or in connection with your Application.

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•        “Intellectual Property Rights”: means patents, utility models, rights ininventions, copyright and related rights, database rights, design rights, trademarks, service marks, trade names, domain names, rights in confidential information and know-how, and all similar proprietary rights, whether registered or unregistered, including applications for any of the foregoing.

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•        “Personal Data”: personal data as defined under Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data (PDPL).

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•        “Program”: the Farm Innovation Fund operated by Silal.

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•        “Silal” means Silal Food And Technology L.L.C. and, where the context permits, any of its affiliates and subsidiaries.

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•        “Silal Program ApplicationSite”: the online portal through which applications to the Program are submitted, accessible at Submission page

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•        “Silal ConfidentialInformation”: any information designated asconfidential by Silal and communicated to you in connection with the Program. Your Applicant Submission is not Silal Confidential Information.

4. Eligibility

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By submitting an application, you represent and warrant that:

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•        you are a UAE national or a UAE-registered legal entity majority-owned by UAE nationals;

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•        you are a UAE-based farmer withan active, operational farm in the UAE;

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•        you hold a valid farming licence from the relevant Emirate authority, where applicable;

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•        you have full legal capacity to enter binding agreements under UAE law;

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•        you are not subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, or liquidation proceedings;

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•        you are not debarred, suspended, or excluded from any government programs;

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•        all information provided in your Application is accurate, complete, and not misleading; and

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•        to the best of your knowledge, your Applicant Submission does not infringe the intellectual property rights, confidentiality obligations, or other rights of any third party, and you have the authority to submit it.

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If any of the above representations are or becomeuntrue, Silal may disqualify your application at any time without notice and without liability, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable UAE law.

5. Applicant Submission; No Confidentiality; Licence to Silal

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5.1 By submitting an Application, you acknowledge and agree that Silal is under no obligation to treat any Applicant Submission as confidential unless Silal expressly agrees otherwise in a separate written agreement signed by an authorised signatory of Silal.

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5.2 Marking any Applicant Submission as “confidential”, “proprietary”, “restricted”, or similar does not, by itself, create any confidentiality obligation on Silal.

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5.3 You should not include in your Applicant Submissionany material that you are not prepared for Silal to receive, review, retain,internally circulate, and use as permitted by these Terms.

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5.4 To the extent that you own or control the relevant rights, you grant to Silal, its affiliates, subsidiaries, and its and their directors, officers, employees, contractors, advisers, evaluators, service providers, and professional advisers a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free,transferable and sublicensable licence for the duration of the relevant rights,and for use in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere as reasonably required for the Program, to receive, host, copy, store, reproduce, back up, translate,format, adapt for evaluation format, analyse, review, compare, internally circulate, share on a need-to-know basis, and otherwise use the Applicant Submission for purposes connected with or arising out of the Program,including:

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a.      application intake, administration, eligibility review, and evaluation;

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b.      benchmarking, technical review, diligence, interviews, presentations, demonstrations, site visits, and internal decision-making;

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c.       internal governance, audit, compliance, legal review, fraud prevention, recordkeeping, and reporting;

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d.      communications with you and with third parties engaged by Silal in connection with the Program; and

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e.      establishing, exercising, or defending legal rights and responding to judicial, regulatory, or governmental requirements.

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5.5 Except for the licence granted in clause 5.4, and except as otherwise agreed in writing, ownership of the Applicant’s Intellectual Property Rights remains with the Applicant or its licensors.

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5.6 Nothing in these Terms obliges Silal to commercialise, procure, pilot, adopt, or pay for any idea, proposal, concept, technology, content, or submission.

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5.7 Silal may already be considering, receiving, evaluating, or developing materials, products, services, technologies,concepts, ideas, features, methods, or proposals that are similar to all or part of an Applicant Submission. Similarity alone does not create any obligation or liability on Silal.

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5.8 You waive, and agree not to assert, any claim against Silal based solely on:

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a.      Silal’s review or non-review of any Applicant Submission;

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b.      Silal’s rejection, non-selection, or non-progression of any Application; or

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c.       Silal’s independent receipt, development, consideration, evaluation, adoption, or use of concepts, themes,methods, know-how, workflows, or ideas similar to those described in an Applicant Submission, unless such claim arises from Silal’s use of protected material in breach of an express written agreement or applicable law.

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5.9 You represent and warrant that:

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a.      you have the right to submitthe Applicant Submission;

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b.      you have obtained all permissions, consents, and authorisations required for the Applicant Submission and for the grant of the licence in clause 5.4; and

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c.       the Applicant Submission does not include third-party confidential information that you are not entitled to disclose for the purposes of the Program.

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5.10 Silal may retain Applicant Submissions in accordance with its legal, compliance, audit, and record keeping requirements and internal retention practices.

6. Personal Data

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6.1 Silal processes Personal Data in connection with the Program in accordance with applicable UAE personal data protection law and the Application Privacy Notice in force at the time of submission.

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6.2 You must not provide Personal Data about any other individual unless you are legally permitted to do so and have provided any notice and obtained any consent required by applicable law.

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6.3 Where permitted by applicable law, Silal may process Personal Data in connection with the Program where necessary to:

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a.      receive, review, administer, assess, verify, and process your Application;

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b.      take steps at your request with a view to concluding, amending, or terminating a contract or arrangement;

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c.       perform a contract or legal arrangement to which you are a party;

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d.      comply with legal or regulatory obligations;

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e.      establish, exercise, or defend legal rights or claims, or respond to judicial, regulatory, or governmental requests; or

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f.        process the data on the basis of consent where consent is required or separately obtained.

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6.4 Full details of the categories of Personal Data processed, the purposes of processing, recipients, transfer arrangements,retention periods, and data subject rights are set out in the Application Privacy Notice.

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6.5 If Silal wishes to use your name, image, likeness,farm details, project details, or related content for publicity, media,marketing, or promotional use beyond ordinary Program administration, Silal may request a separate consent or release. Unless and until such separate consent or release is given, no such publicity or promotional right is granted under these Terms.

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6.6 If you have a complaint about Silal’s processing of Personal Data in connection with the Program, you may contact Silal’s Data Protection Officer at compliance@silal.ae.

7. Silal’s Liability

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7.1 To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Silal shall not be liable for:

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a.      any failure to review or consider an Application;

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b.      any rejection, shortlisting, non-selection, disqualification, withdrawal, suspension, postponement, 0modification, or cancellation of the Program;

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c.       any loss of opportunity, expected funding, expected profit, expected savings, goodwill, reputation, data, use, business, or anticipated commercial relationship;

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d.      any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, exemplary, or consequential loss; or

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e.      any cost or expense incurred by you in preparing or submitting an Application or participating in any discussion, meeting, diligence process, interview, presentation, site visit,demonstration, or verification step.

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7.2 Subject to clause 7.3, Silal’s total aggregate liability to you for direct loss finally awarded by a court of competent jurisdiction arising solely from Silal’s proven breach of an express provision of these Terms shall not exceed AED 1,000.

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7.3 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability to the extent such exclusion or limitation is prohibited by applicable law.

8. Your Indemnity to Silal

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8.1 To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you shall indemnify and hold harmless Silal, its affiliates, subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, agents, advisers, contractors, evaluators, service providers, and professional advisers together, (the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against all claims, losses, damages, liabilities, costs,and expenses including reasonable legal fees and expenses arising from or inconnection with:

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a.      any breach of these Terms by you;

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b.      any false, inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information provided in or in connection with your Application;

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c.       any claim that the Applicant Submission, or Silal’s permitted use of it under these Terms, infringes the Intellectual Property Rights, confidentiality obligations, privacy rights, or other rights of any third party;

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d.      any claim arising from the Applicant Submission, including any information or materials it contains;

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e.      your lack of authority to submit the Application or to enter into these Terms; or

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f.        your failure to obtain any permission, consent, notice, or authorisation required for the Application, the Applicant Submission, or any publicity materials or third-party content supplied by or on behalf of you.

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8.2 This indemnity survives the rejection of your Application, the cancellation of the Program, and the expiry or termination of these Terms.

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8.3 Silal may, at its option, assume exclusive control of the defence of any claim covered by this indemnity. You shall not settle any such claim without Silal’s prior written consent and shall cooperate fully with Silal in the defence of any such claim.

9. Silal Confidential Information

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9.1 If Silal shares any information with you that is designated as confidential in connection with the Program, you must keep it strictly confidential, use it only for the purpose of preparing and submitting your Application, take reasonable steps to protect it from disclosure, and return or destroy it on Silal’s request.

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9.2 The obligations in this section do not apply to information that:

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a. is or becomes publicly available other than through your breach;

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b. you can demonstrate was lawfully known to you before disclosure by Silal;

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c. you independently developed without use of Silal Confidential Information; or

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d. you are required to disclose by law, provided you give Silal prior written notice where legally permissible.

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9.3 Your confidentiality obligations under this section survive for five years after the submission of your Application.

10. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

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10.1 These Terms and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with them shall be governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates as applicable in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

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10.2 The courts of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or in connection with these Terms, the Application, or the Program.

11. General Provisions

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These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Silal in relation to your Application and supersede all prior discussions, representations, and understandings. They do not govern your participation as a selected participant, which is subject to a separate Participant Agreement.

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No waiver of any right under these Terms is effective unless made in writing. If any provision is found to be unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force. You may not assign your rights or obligations under these Terms. Silal may assign its rights and obligations to any affiliate or successor. These Terms do not create any partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship. Except for the Indemnified Parties, who may enforce section 7, 8, and 9 to the extent expressly stated for their benefit, no person other than Silal and the Applicant has any right to enforce these Terms.

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All formal notices under these Terms must be sent by email. A notice is effective at the time of sending provided no delivery failure notification is received.

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The following sections survive the rejection of your Application, the cancellation of the Program, and the expiry or termination of these Terms: Section 5, Section 6, Section 7, Section 8, and Section 9.

CONTACT INFORMATION

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Program Administrator: iOFarm Innovation Fund

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Email: IO-FIF@silal.ae

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Data Protection Officer: compliance@silal.ae

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Phone: 026144444

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Application Privacy Notice: silal.ae/resource-center/application-privacy-notice