Terms & Conditions
(including Acceptable Use) for the Crown Court Digital Case System (DCS)


This service is provided by HMCTS. Disconnect NOW if you have not been expressly authorised to use this system. Unauthorised use is a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and may result in criminal proceedings. Communications on or through HMCTS computer systems may be monitored or recorded to secure effective system operation and for other lawful purposes.

The CROWN COURT DCS is supplied to the user in accordance with the following Terms & Conditions. Users understand that continued use of the Service will be taken as their acceptance of these Terms & Conditions and that they are fully aware of their responsibilities in relation to the use of the service as set out below.

  1. I have a legitimate need to use Crown Court DCS and will only access case material where I have a business need to do so.
  2. I will comply with UK Data Protection Act 2018, relevant privacy regulations and all professional codes of conduct by which I am bound (including Civil Service IT and Electronic Communication Policies for Government Department staff) and all information transmitted through Crown Court DCS is treated accordingly. I acknowledge that any breach of these provisions may result in my access to Crown Court DCS being suspended or terminated.
  3. I will seek to prevent inadvertent disclosure of information by avoiding being overlooked when working and by taking care when printing information received via the Crown Court DCS (e.g. by collecting printouts immediately they are printed, checking that there is no interleaving of printouts, etc.).
  4. I agree to be responsible for any use of the Crown Court DCS using my unique user credentials (user ID and password) and e-mail address. As such, I understand that:
    • I must protect and not share my Crown Court DCS credentials (username, password etc.) for access to the service
    • I must report actual or suspected disclosure of this information to the Crown Court DCS Help Desk
    • I will not use another person’s credentials to access the Crown Court DCS.
  5. I will ensure that computing devices connected to the Crown Court DCS will not be left unattended unless they are physically secure and require a password for access.
  6. I will take precautions to protect all computer media and portable computers/mobile devices supplied to me to access the Crown Court DCS at all times (e.g. by not leaving a device unattended or on display in a car such that it would encourage an opportunist thief).
  7. I will not make false claims or denials relating to my use of the Crown Court DCS (e.g. falsely denying any access, editing, reproduction or viewing of digital case material).
  8. I will always check that the recipients with which I share digital case material are correct so that information is not accidentally released to any third party.
  9. I will not access the service from public shared devices (e.g. those in internet cafes).
  10. I will only access the service from devices which have appropriate enabled security controls installed and which are maintained to be up to date (including, as appropriate, firewalls, anti-virus & spyware software and operating system security patches).
  11. I will not attempt to bypass or subvert system security controls.
  12. When using Wi-Fi, I will only access the service using secure internet connection or using secure Internet access. I will not ‘trust’ or ‘accept’ invalid security for web site certificates.
  13. I confirm that I will only connect to Crown Court DCS from within the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) and will not attempt to access the Crown Court DCS service from a location that is outside the UK or EEA.
  14. I understand that the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) reserves the right to investigate security incidents and confirm that, should such an investigation be necessary, I will provide any necessary support to the best of my ability.
  15. I agree to report any data losses, breaches or security incidents by contacting the Crown Court DCS Helpdesk immediately.
  16. I will inform the Crown Court DCS Helpdesk prior to leaving my role in order that my account may be deleted.


Declaration:

I declare that I am fully aware of my responsibilities in relation to the use of the Service as set out in the above Terms & Conditions.


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