Legal
Terms of Service
Last updated: 25 September 2026
1. About these terms
These terms govern your use of The Vanilla Index, a business-to-business directory connecting corporate buyers with exporters of cured vanilla and related commodities. The service is intended solely for businesses; it is not offered to consumers. By registering or using the site you accept these terms on behalf of your organisation.
2. Eligibility and accounts
- You must be acting for a genuine trading business and be authorised to bind it.
- Information you submit must be accurate, current and complete.
- You are responsible for keeping your login details secure and for activity under your account.
- We may approve, reject, suspend or remove any registration or listing at our discretion.
3. Exporter listings and documents
Exporters warrant that commodity specifications, stock, pricing and uploaded documents (including phytosanitary certificates and export licences) are genuine and lawfully held. You grant us a non-exclusive licence to display your anonymised specifications publicly and to disclose your contact details and documents to approved buyers.
4. Buyer access and confidentiality
Approved buyers may use supplier contact details only to evaluate and pursue genuine sourcing enquiries. You must not resell, scrape, bulk-export or publish directory data, or use it for unsolicited marketing.
5. Our role
We provide a directory and verification service only. We are not a party to any contract between buyers and exporters and do not act as broker, agent or guarantor. Verification is based on documents provided to us and does not guarantee quality, quantity, legality or delivery of any goods. Parties should carry out their own due diligence, inspections and laboratory testing.
6. Acceptable use
You must not misuse the service, attempt to access data you are not authorised to see, upload malicious files, or impersonate another organisation.
7. Intellectual property
The site design, software and compiled directory content belong to us or our licensors. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership to you.
8. Liability
Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot be limited under English law. Subject to that, we are not liable for loss of profits, business, or indirect or consequential loss, and our total liability in any 12-month period is limited to the fees you paid us in that period, or £100 if no fees were paid.
9. Privacy
Our use of personal data is described in our Privacy Policy.
10. Changes and termination
We may update these terms or the service from time to time. You may close your account at any time by contacting us, and we may suspend access for breach of these terms.
11. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.
12. Algorithmic Data Curation & AI Disclaimer
At The Vanilla Index we strive to use artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic curation responsibly. AI and automated technologies help us structure directory data and automate aspects of data curation, programmatic mapping and application workflows.
This B2B directory platform and its directory routes may contain data structures, technical specifications and content managed by AI or other automated technologies. Such information is provided for informational and benchmarking purposes only and should not be relied upon for any specific transactional purpose without independent verification of its accuracy or completeness. We use AI for various structural operations on this platform, including but not limited to technical crop parameter parsing, programmatic search filters, automated indexing schemas and interface code generation.
All official verification, however, relies strictly on original regulatory documentation uploaded by suppliers. Verified status is granted on the basis of human review of supplier-submitted phytosanitary certificates, export licences and comparable regulatory paperwork — never on automated output alone.
AI output and algorithmic processing are not always perfect. Technical variances or errors may occur due to the complexity of the systems or the underlying data. We take all reasonable measures to ensure that structures produced by AI technology are of the highest possible institutional quality, but we cannot guarantee the absolute accuracy of automated data points. We therefore disclaim any and all liability for errors or omissions in data structures produced by our AI technology, and advise institutional procurement users to exercise standard commercial caution when evaluating such content.
AI-managed fields may contain technical discrepancies, omissions, inaccuracies or outdated metrics that affect your use of the directory, and automated data may lack the qualitative context of direct human inspection. We are not responsible for any commercial consequences resulting from your reliance upon such automated data. You should always exercise appropriate professional caution, inspect uploaded supplier certificates, and consult independent trade experts before making final purchasing decisions based on algorithmically curated specifications.
We reserve the right to modify, adjust or remove any automated content or directory fields at any time without notice. If you have questions or concerns about data accuracy, please contact our legal desk at legal@thevanillaindex.com. By using this platform you expressly agree to these terms regarding AI-generated content and algorithmic architecture. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this platform.
13. Accessibility
Our commitment to web accessibility standards is set out in our Accessibility Statement.