DMCA & Copyright Policy

Last updated: 15 October 2026

NGO Training respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects everyone who uses our website to do the same. This copyright policy explains how we handle copyright and other intellectual property issues on ngotraining.org, how rights holders can ask us to remove content they believe infringes their rights, and how people whose content has been removed can respond.

The website is operated by One for All Services SPRL, trading as NGO Training, Brussels, Belgium. Registered office: [registered office address]. Company number: [company number]. Both are available on request at [email protected].

1. Our approach to intellectual property

As a training company, we create original content (course descriptions, articles, Training Materials and templates) and we care about how creative and intellectual work is used and credited. We apply the following principles:

• we create our own text and Training Materials, or use third-party content only where we have a licence or another legal basis to do so, such as the quotation exception under copyright law;
• when we refer to well-known frameworks, standards and methodologies, we describe them in our own words and acknowledge their owners, as explained in our Disclaimer;
• we use images that we have created, licensed or obtained under open licences such as Creative Commons, and we credit them as required;
• we act promptly when we are told that content on our website may infringe someone’s rights.

2. Legal framework

We are a Belgian company, and copyright on our website is primarily governed by Belgian and European Union law, including Book XI of the Belgian Code of Economic Law and the EU copyright directives. In addition:

• Under Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, the Digital Services Act (DSA), providers of hosting services must have mechanisms in place that allow anyone to notify them of allegedly illegal content, including content that infringes copyright. To the extent that our website hosts content provided by users, such as blog comments, we apply the DSA notice-and-action rules. We apply the same approach to all content on our website on a voluntary basis.
• Because our website is accessible worldwide, we also accept notices that follow the format of the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. §512. We do this voluntarily, as a convenient and widely understood standard; it does not mean that we submit to US jurisdiction beyond what applicable law requires.

You may use either the DMCA format or the DSA format described below. A notice that contains the elements of both will always be accepted.

3. How to submit a copyright takedown notice

If you believe that content on our website infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, please send a written notice by email to [email protected] with the subject line “Copyright notice”. Using this subject line helps us identify and prioritise your message.

Please send one notice per website or rights holder where possible, and write in English, French or Dutch.

3.1 Required elements under the DMCA (17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3))

To be effective under the DMCA, your notice must include substantially the following:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorised to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. A typed full name at the end of an email is generally accepted as an electronic signature.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed or, if multiple works on a single website are covered by one notice, a representative list of such works.
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, together with information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate it. Please provide the exact URL of each page and, for images, a description or file name.
4. Information reasonably sufficient to contact you, such as your name, postal address, telephone number and email address.
5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
6. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorised to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

3.2 Required elements under the Digital Services Act (Article 16)

Under Article 16(2) of the DSA, a notice should be sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated, and should contain:

1. a sufficiently substantiated explanation of the reasons why you consider the content to be illegal, for example why it infringes your copyright and what rights you hold;
2. a clear indication of the exact electronic location of the content, such as the exact URL or URLs, and, where necessary, additional information enabling the content to be identified;
3. your name and email address, or those of the entity you represent;
4. a statement confirming your bona fide belief that the information and allegations contained in the notice are accurate and complete.

3.3 Helpful additional information

To help us deal with your notice quickly, you may also include:

• a link to, or copy of, the original work, or evidence of your ownership, such as the original publication or a licence;
• whether you have contacted the person who posted the content, where it was posted by a user;
• the outcome you would like, for example removal, correction of an attribution or replacement of an image;
• if you are an agent, evidence of your authority to act on behalf of the rights holder.

4. What happens after you submit a notice

When we receive a notice, we will:

1. Acknowledge receipt by email, usually within five working days.
2. Review the notice in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner. If information is missing, we may ask you to complete it; an incomplete notice may delay our response.
3. Take action where the notice is valid and the claim appears well founded. This may include removing the content, disabling access to it, replacing an image, or correcting an attribution.
4. Inform the person who provided the content, where the content was provided by a user and we have their contact details, with a statement of reasons explaining our decision, as required by Article 17 of the DSA. This includes information about the possibility of submitting a counter-notice.
5. Inform you of our decision, and of the possibilities for redress available to you.

Where content was created or published by us and we agree that it infringes your rights, we will remove or replace it promptly and, where appropriate, discuss with you how to resolve the matter amicably.

We do not use automated means to decide on notices. Every notice is reviewed by a person.

5. Counter-notice

If content you provided has been removed or disabled following a notice, and you believe that this was the result of a mistake or misidentification, or that you have the right to use the content, you may send us a counter-notice by email to [email protected] with the subject line “Copyright counter-notice”.

5.1 Elements of a counter-notice under the DMCA (17 U.S.C. §512(g)(3))

A counter-notice should include:

1. your physical or electronic signature;
2. identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled, and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or disabled;
3. a statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material;
4. your name, address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located or, if your address is outside the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notice or an agent of that person.

5.2 Counter-notices under EU law

Under EU law, you may simply explain in writing why you believe our decision was wrong and provide any supporting evidence, such as a licence or proof that the work is your own. We will review your counter-notice, and the original notice, objectively and inform both parties of the outcome.

5.3 What happens next

If we receive a valid counter-notice, we will forward a copy to the person who submitted the original notice. Where the DMCA procedure applies, we may restore the removed material within 10 to 14 business days after receiving the counter-notice, unless the original complainant informs us that they have filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the alleged infringement. In all cases, we may decide not to restore content if we consider, after review, that it is likely to infringe third-party rights.

Both parties remain free at any time to bring the matter before the competent courts or, where available, an out-of-court dispute settlement body.

6. Repeat infringers

Where users can contribute content to our website, such as blog comments, we may, in appropriate circumstances and at our discretion, suspend or terminate the ability of users who repeatedly infringe the intellectual property rights of others to post content. In line with Article 23 of the DSA, where applicable, we will issue a prior warning, assess each case individually and act for a reasonable period. We may also stop processing notices from persons who frequently submit manifestly unfounded notices.

7. Creative Commons images and attribution

Some photographs and illustrations on our website are used under Creative Commons licences or similar open licences. These licences allow the use of a work provided that certain conditions are met, which commonly include:

• Attribution (BY): crediting the author, providing the title where available, linking to the source and to the licence, and indicating whether changes were made;
• ShareAlike (SA): distributing adaptations under the same licence;
• NonCommercial (NC): not using the work primarily for commercial purposes;
• NoDerivatives (ND): not distributing adapted versions of the work.

Because our website promotes paid training services, we take care to use only images whose licence terms are compatible with that use, and we avoid NonCommercial-licensed works for promotional purposes. Where an image has been cropped, resized or otherwise adapted, we indicate this where the licence requires it.

The authors, sources, licences and any modifications for these images are listed on our Image Credits page. If you are the author of an image used on our website and believe the credit is missing, incomplete or incorrect, or that the licence terms are not being respected, please contact us. We will correct the credit or remove the image promptly.

8. Our own content

The text, course descriptions, Training Materials, templates and other original content on our website are protected by copyright and belong to One for All Services SPRL or its licensors. You are welcome to link to our pages and to quote short extracts with a clear acknowledgement of the source, such as “Source: NGO Training”, and a link to the relevant page.

Any other reproduction, distribution or adaptation of our content, including the republication of whole articles or the use of our Training Materials to deliver training to others, requires our prior written permission. Rules on the use of the course binder and other Training Materials by participants are set out in our Terms and Conditions. If you would like to reuse our content, for example in an internal newsletter or a partner publication, please ask; we are often happy to agree.

If you believe that our content is being used elsewhere without permission, you can also let us know.

9. Misrepresentation warning

Please make sure that your notice or counter-notice is accurate and made in good faith before you send it. Submitting a notice or counter-notice involves legal statements and can have legal consequences:

• Under 17 U.S.C. §512(f), any person who knowingly and materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that material was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, may be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, incurred by the alleged infringer, the copyright owner or the service provider.
• Under Belgian law, a manifestly unfounded or abusive notice may give rise to liability for the damage caused, and false statements may have other legal consequences.

If you are unsure whether content infringes your rights, for example because the use may fall under an exception such as quotation, criticism or review, we recommend that you seek legal advice before submitting a notice.

10. Personal data in notices

We process the personal data contained in notices and counter-notices only to handle them, to comply with our legal obligations and to defend legal claims. As explained above, we may forward a copy of a notice, including the name and contact details of the person who sent it, to the person who provided the content concerned, and vice versa. More information about how we handle personal data is available in our Privacy Policy.

11. Changes to this copyright policy

We may update this copyright policy from time to time, for example to reflect changes in the law or in the way our website works. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised.

12. Contact

All copyright notices, counter-notices and questions about this policy should be sent to:

• One for All Services SPRL (NGO Training), Brussels, Belgium
• Email: [email protected], subject line “Copyright notice”
• Telephone: +32 2 403 49 83 (for general enquiries; notices must be submitted in writing)

Our registered office address, [registered office address], and company number, [company number], are available on request at [email protected].