BitStage Terms of Service

1.1 Agreement by Use

By accessing, registering for, or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not access or use the Service. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent and warrant that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms, and references to “you” include that organization.

1.2 Acceptance, Consent Capture, and Records

By creating an account, you accept these Terms and confirm that you have read the Privacy Policy. Acceptance is captured through an active opt-in (a required, unticked checkbox); Candidates and Clients each provide separate, affirmative acceptance. BitStage records the time, IP address, and version identifiers of these Terms and the Privacy Policy then in effect.

Before each rehearsal, Candidates must actively select a Consent Tier-being one of Tier A, Tier B, or Tier C as defined in Section 2-(“Consent Tier”); no default selection is pre-populated. Each selection is recorded with a timestamp, IP address, and version identifiers of the consent prompt and Privacy Policy then in effect. See Section 6.2 and Privacy Policy Section 5 for the full consent framework.

Candidates may withdraw consent at any time through the in-app controls or by emailing info@bitstage.ai. Withdrawal ends active session processing and triggers deletion of associated session data within thirty (30) days, subject to legal retention obligations. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of prior processing. See Privacy Policy Section 5.6.

3.1 Age Requirement

You must be at least eighteen (18) years of age to create an account and use the Service. The Service is not intended for or directed to minors. If we become aware that an account has been created by a person under 18, we will close the account and delete the associated Personal Data.

3.2 Authority

If you are creating an account on behalf of an organization, you represent and warrant that (a) you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms, and (b) the organization has authorized you to submit any Personal Data of others and has obtained any required consents under applicable law.

Account Ownership: Accounts created on behalf of an organization are owned by that organization. The organization may designate account administrators with authority to manage users, modify settings, and transfer administrative rights. To transfer ownership or change the designated administrator, the current administrator or an authorized officer must submit a written request to support@bitstage.ai with verification documentation.

3.3 Account Information and Security

You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to keep that information updated. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. Account credentials are personal to you and may not be shared with other individuals; instead, organizations should provision separate user accounts for each team member. Accounts may not be transferred or assigned to third parties without BitPlan's prior written consent. Notify BitPlan immediately at info@bitstage.ai of any unauthorized access or suspected compromise.

4.1 The BitStage Service Model

The Service supports two principal use cases:

(a) Practice / Profile use (Tier B and Tier C): A Candidate uses the Service for personal skill development and to build a portable BitScore credential. With respect to Personal Data collected in this use case, BitPlan acts as the controller / business.

(b) Employer-application use (Tier A): A Candidate submits a rehearsal as part of an application to a specific Client. With respect to that Tier A application data, BitPlan acts as a service provider / processor on behalf of the Client, who is the controller / business of the resulting hiring file.

For all use cases, BitPlan retains a limited controller role for security, fraud-prevention, audit, fairness assessment, and product-integrity purposes, in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

4.2 Candidate Acknowledgments

As a Candidate, you acknowledge and agree that:

• The Service is a platform for skill rehearsal, practice, and evidence-gathering. Completion of a rehearsal does not guarantee an interview, an offer of employment, or any specific outcome.
• Your rehearsal sessions will be recorded, transcribed, and analyzed as described in Section 6 and the Privacy Policy.
• Your BitScore is a Recommendation Signal - informational and developmental. It is not a guarantee or warranty of your skill level, employability, or job performance, and is not intended to be the sole basis for any employment decision.
• You retain the right to withdraw from the Service and request deletion of your Personal Data, as further described in these Terms.
• BitPlan is not your employer and is not a party to any employment relationship between you and any Client. BitPlan does not guarantee that any Client will respond to any application.

4.3 Client Acknowledgments and Compliance Responsibility

As a Client, you acknowledge and agree that:

• You are the sole decision-maker in your hiring process. The Service provides decision-support tools; the final decision to hire, not hire, retain, or terminate any individual remains entirely your responsibility.
• You will not use the Service or its outputs (including BitScore) as the sole or primary basis for any employment-related decision, and you will conduct meaningful human review of timestamped, machine-extracted evidence before any disposition is finalized or synchronized to your downstream systems.
• You will comply with all applicable employment, anti-discrimination, equal-opportunity, AI-in-hiring, consumer-reporting, and biometric-privacy laws in the jurisdictions where you operate (including those described in Section 20).
• You are responsible for obtaining any consents from Candidates, providing any candidate-facing notices, and conducting any impact assessments or bias audits required by your local laws, in addition to those obtained or performed by BitPlan as part of the Service.
• You will not use the Service to assess or screen Candidates based on protected characteristics in any unlawful manner.
• You will not use the Service or BitScore outputs as a “consumer report” within the meaning of the U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. s. 1681 et seq. ("FCRA"), unless you have separately and lawfully arranged for such use; BitPlan does not operate as a “consumer reporting agency” for purposes of the Service.
• Where a Candidate has opted in to be considered for other roles with your organisation after a job closes, you may use that contact information only to invite them to a specific, relevant role through BitStage. You may not use retained Candidate contact details for marketing, promotions, newsletters, founder updates, or any non-role communication.

4.4 Future-Roles Contact (Opted-In Candidates)

When a Candidate opts in to be considered for other roles with a Client, BitStage may continue to show that Candidate's email to that Client after the related job closes, and may allow the Client to invite the Candidate to a new role through the Service. Opt-in to BitStage for other roles is separate and does not by itself keep contact visible to a Client.

Relevant roles only. The Service is limited so that platform-originated messages to an opted-in past Candidate are specific role invitations only. Clients remain responsible for any use of Candidate contact details outside BitStage and agree that such use is limited to inviting the Candidate to a specific, relevant job opportunity - not marketing or general correspondence.

4.5 Compliance Statements Made on the Public Website

Where BitStage publishes statements about its compliance posture (for example, fairness-audit summaries, the Subprocessor list, or security summaries), those statements are directional and informational and do not modify these Terms or establish any legal obligation beyond what these Terms expressly require. Any public statement regarding the explainability of BitScore is subject to the limitations set out in these Terms with respect to explainability. A consolidated trust center is available at bitstage.ai/trust-center.

4.6 BitPlan Responsibilities

BitPlan will provide the Service in substantial conformity with its documentation, maintain reasonable security measures, and process Personal Data in accordance with our Privacy Policy. BitPlan does not act as an employer of Candidates, does not make hiring decisions, and is not a party to any employment relationship between Clients and Candidates.

You agree not to, and not to permit any third party to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law, regulation, or third-party right.
• Impersonate another person, create a profile using false information, or have another person complete a rehearsal on your behalf.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or attempt to derive the source code of any portion of the Service, except to the extent such restriction is prohibited by applicable law.
• Scrape, extract, or harvest data from the Service except through interfaces and credentials we have expressly authorized.
• Interfere with, disrupt, or impose unreasonable load on the Service or its infrastructure, or bypass any access controls, rate limits, or security measures.
• Use the Service to discriminate unlawfully against any individual on the basis of a protected characteristic, or to evade obligations under any AI-in-hiring law.
• Submit any Content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, or that infringes the intellectual property or privacy rights of any third party.
• Use the Service or its outputs to train any third-party artificial-intelligence model without our prior written consent.
• Resell, sublicense, or redistribute the Service or its outputs except as expressly permitted under your subscription.
• Use the Service in any manner that would cause BitPlan to be a “consumer reporting agency” or to issue a “consumer report” under the FCRA, unless we have agreed to this in writing.
• Use Candidate contact details retained after a job closes (including where the Candidate opted in for future roles) for marketing, promotions, newsletters, or any purpose other than inviting that Candidate to a specific, relevant role through BitStage.

6.1 What We Capture

When you complete a rehearsal, the Service may capture: audio recordings of your voice; video recordings of your face and surroundings (where you have enabled camera access); real-time transcriptions of your speech; voice-characteristic and emotional-tone analysis outputs; and behavioural and timing data.

The consent framework governing the collection of this data, including the consent prompt mechanics and recording obligations, is set out in Section 6.2.

6.2 Express, Informed, Opt-In Consent

Consent is captured by an active opt-in (a checkbox or equivalent affirmative action) and recorded with a timestamp, the version of the consent prompt presented, the version of the Privacy Policy then in effect, and the IP address from which it was given. Bundled or implied consent is not relied upon for the data described in this Section. For the full consent prompt framework, including itemized data categories, purposes, risk disclosures, and retention periods, see Privacy Policy Section 5.5.

6.3 Right to Withdraw Consent

You may withdraw consent at any time by emailing info@bitstage.ai or using the in-app controls. Withdrawing consent will end your active rehearsal session and trigger deletion of associated Biometric Data within thirty (30) days, subject to legal retention obligations. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

7.1 Nature of the BitScore - Recommendation Signal

BitScore is a deterministic, version-locked algorithmic output produced by BitPlan's proprietary scoring runtime. It is expressly designed as a Recommendation Signal for human review and is not an automated employment decision.

7.2 Reproducibility and Audit

Each BitScore is produced by a deterministic, version-locked scoring configuration with replay controls. The scoring configuration is frozen at the time of each rehearsal run; the same configuration can be reloaded to reproduce the score from the same inputs. On replay or audit, the system validates that the reloaded configuration matches the stored scoring configuration. Any deviation from the expected configuration or output can trigger an integrity review. Scoring and partner-synchronization actions are recorded in platform audit logs for security and compliance review.

7.3 No Guarantee

We make no guarantee, representation, or warranty that any BitScore is an accurate, complete, or reliable measure of any individual's skill, character, suitability for employment, or future performance. AI systems carry an inherent risk of bias and error, and BitScore must be considered alongside other information.

7.4 Non-Reliance and Human-in-the-Loop

BitScore is a decision-support tool, not a decision-maker. You agree that you will not rely solely on a BitScore for any decision that materially affects another person, including hiring, promotion, compensation, or termination. Clients agree to use BitScore as one of multiple sources of information, and acknowledge that BitStage's Human-in-the-Loop Audit Dashboard requires human verification of timestamped, machine-extracted evidence before any final disposition is recorded or synchronized to a hiring partner.

7.5 BitScore Validity

Each BitScore is valid for twelve (12) months from the date of generation for purposes of Client evaluation. After twelve (12) months, Clients should treat the score as historical reference only; Candidates may rehearse again to refresh their score.

7.6 Bias Mitigation and Fairness

BitPlan is developing a BiasAuditor module (the "BiasAuditor"), a fairness-auditing component intended to run adversarial test suites across accents, lighting conditions, audio-noise levels, and speaking rates; to perform counterfactual replay; and to monitor disparity across groups where legally permissible. These fairness-auditing capabilities are on BitPlan's product roadmap and may not yet be fully implemented.

The scoring runtime enforces Signal Quality Normalization, which deterministically selects a scoring mode (FULL, DEGRADED, or INVALID) based on objective input-quality metrics; in INVALID mode the rehearsal is aborted without penalty to the Candidate.

Emotion and tone signals are structurally constrained from influencing any other scoring dimension; unauthorized cross-routing is blocked at runtime and any attempt is logged.

As these fairness-auditing capabilities are rolled out, BitPlan intends to publish fairness audit summaries and Signal Quality Policy (the "Signal Quality Policy", being the technical policy that sets thresholds for the scoring modes selected by Signal Quality Normalization) thresholds at bitstage.ai/fairness. No AI system is free of bias; Users must apply human judgment. See Privacy Policy Section 13 for our full bias mitigation and AI ethics commitments.

7.7 Right to Explanation and Dispute

Candidates have the right to request a plain-language explanation of how their BitScore was generated, including the timestamped evidence spans that triggered each scored item, and to dispute a score they believe to be inaccurate, by emailing info@bitstage.ai. We will respond within thirty (30) days. Explainability is provided on a best-efforts basis and is limited by model architecture, input quality, and applicable confidentiality and intellectual property protections covering the rubric, gating logic, and scoring runtime.

8.1 Privacy Policy

Our collection, use, disclosure, and retention of Personal Data is governed by our Privacy Policy at bitstage.ai/privacy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

8.2 Data Subject Rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the data subject rights described in our Privacy Policy (Section 12), including access, correction, deletion, portability, and explanation of automated decisions. To exercise any right, email info@bitstage.ai; we will respond within thirty (30) days.

8.3 Data Processing for Clients

For Personal Data that BitPlan processes on behalf of a Client (principally, Tier A application data), BitPlan acts as the Client's service provider / processor on the terms set out in this Section and in the Data Processing Addendum at Schedule B (the "DPA Schedule"). BitPlan will provide reasonable assistance to Clients in responding to data subject requests related to Personal Data processed by BitPlan on the Client's behalf, taking into account the nature of the processing and the information available to BitPlan. Clients must submit assistance requests to info@bitstage.ai; BitPlan will respond within ten (10) business days. A Client requiring a separate, individually negotiated Data Processing Addendum (“DPA”) may request one from info@bitstage.ai; where executed, the DPA governs the processor / service-provider relationship and prevails over any conflicting term of these Terms (including the DPA Schedule) with respect to that processing. Absent an executed DPA, BitPlan processes Tier A data only as described in these Terms (including the DPA Schedule) and the Privacy Policy.

BitPlan does not use Candidate Content (including audio, video, transcripts, or BitScore outputs) to train our AI models, and does not provide it to third parties for AI training, except where the Candidate has separately and explicitly opted in. Where a Candidate has opted in, training data is anonymized before use, and the opt-in may be withdrawn at any time by emailing info@bitstage.ai; withdrawal does not require retraining of already-trained models.

Anonymized aggregate measurements may be retained for fairness auditing and platform-integrity monitoring but are not used to train AI models affecting future scoring outcomes without separate opt-in consent. See Privacy Policy Sections 4 and 17.

BitPlan engages third-party Subprocessors to provide elements of the Service. A current list, including the categories of data each Subprocessor processes, is maintained at bitstage.ai/subprocessors and in Privacy Policy Section 8.

We provide at least thirty (30) days' advance notice of material changes to our Subprocessor list to Clients with active subscriptions. Clients may object to a new Subprocessor on reasonable grounds; the parties will discuss in good faith, and the Client may terminate the affected Service for convenience if no resolution is reached within thirty (30) days.

11.1 BitPlan IP

All content, features, functionality, software, code, scenario scripts, training datasets, AI models, BitScore methodology, trademarks, logos, and other materials forming part of the Service are and remain the exclusive property of BitPlan, its licensors, and its Subprocessors (each as applicable). Subject to your compliance with these Terms, BitPlan grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the Service solely for your internal business operations during the term of your subscription or account. You may not use the Service for any purpose that competes with BitPlan or to provide services to third parties. You shall not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or attempt to derive the source code, algorithms, or underlying technology of the Service or any component thereof.

11.2 User Content

You retain ownership of any Content you submit and are solely responsible for ensuring the accuracy, quality, and legality of all data and Content you provide to the Service, including compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. You also retain all ownership rights, title, and interest in any customizations, configurations, workflows, templates, or other derivative materials you create within the Service. You grant BitPlan a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, host, process, transmit, display, and create derivative works of your Content solely as necessary to provide the Service to you and as described in our Privacy Policy. This licence terminates when your Content is deleted in accordance with our retention schedule, except (a) for backup copies retained for the duration of the backup-retention cycle, and (b) for anonymized, aggregate measurements derived from Content for fairness auditing and platform-integrity monitoring, which may be retained beyond Content deletion in non-identifiable form.

11.3 Confidentiality of Customer Data

All Personal Data, Content, and other information provided by customers or collected through the Service ("Customer Data") is treated as confidential. BitPlan will maintain the confidentiality of Customer Data using reasonable security measures; not disclose it to third parties except as necessary to provide the Service, as required by law, or with prior written consent; limit access to authorized personnel and Subprocessors with a need to know; and not use it for any purpose other than providing the Service. These obligations survive termination for five (5) years.

11.4 Feedback

If you provide BitPlan with any feedback, suggestions, enhancement requests, ideas, or recommendations regarding the Service ("Feedback"), you assign to BitPlan all right, title, and interest in such Feedback. BitPlan may use, implement, modify, and commercialize Feedback without any obligation to you. You represent that any Feedback does not violate third-party rights.

11.5 Trademarks

BitStage™, BitScore™, BitPlan™, and the BitStage logo are trademarks of BitPlan Loyalty Inc. (Canadian Intellectual Property Office and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office applications pending). You may not use these marks without our prior written consent, except as fair use to refer accurately to the Service.

12.1 Tier Structure

Client offerings comprise: (a) a Free Trial (Stage Door only); (b) one Stage Door subscription plan; (c) Centre Stage per-role full-service hiring; and (d) Enterprise under a separately negotiated written order form. Current scope and pricing are in Schedule A below and at bitstage.ai/pricing. Unless an order form states otherwise, all prices are in Canadian dollars (CAD). Candidates are always free.

12.2 Stage Door Subscription

• Billing. Stage Door is billed through Stripe Checkout on a monthly or yearly interval of the same plan, as shown at checkout. Plans renew each billing period until cancelled.
• Role credits (wallet). Each paid Stage Door purchase grants role credits as shown at checkout (two-for-one), tracked in a role-credit ledger. Credits may be used to post roles as shown in-product, remain available for twelve (12) months from the grant date while your Stage Door subscription is active (or as otherwise shown in-product), and are not tied to a fixed per-billing-period tier ladder. Centre Stage engagements are purchased separately under Section 12.3 and do not consume Stage Door role credits unless expressly stated in-product at the time of purchase.
• Included features. Role rehearsals with evidence-backed scoring, recruiter review of ranked candidates (shortlist of five recommended plus five alternates), and the campaign capacity described in Schedule A and in-product for roles posted under the plan.
• Cancellation. Stage Door plans may be cancelled anytime; access continues through the end of the paid billing period. Unused, unexpired role credits remain available while the subscription is active, as shown in-product.
• Add-ons. Interview packs are currently suspended and not sold separately. Additional Stage Door role credits may be purchased one-time while a Stage Door subscription is active, as shown in-product (pricing and credit grants as shown in-product).

12.3 Centre Stage (Per-Role)

Centre Stage is priced per role (currently $3,995 per role plus applicable tax, as set out in Schedule A), paid upfront when the engagement begins. There is no free trial for Centre Stage. Scope includes recruiter-led search, a signed scored shortlist, and shortlist interviews, as described in Schedule A and product documentation. If the hire is not right, BitPlan may re-run the search for the same role at no extra fee as shown in-product; that remedy is not a cash refund.

12.4 Enterprise

Enterprise is offered under an individually negotiated written order form. Contact bitstage.ai/contact for sales inquiries. Order-form terms prevail over conflicting Terms with respect to the Enterprise relationship.

12.5 Free Trial

• Available for the Stage Door model only. Centre Stage is not available on a free trial.
• Covers the first full month of Stage Door at no charge, with one (1) active role and the full Stage Door experience as shown in-product.
• No Stage Door subscription charge is required during the trial; you may cancel anytime.
• Upon subscribing to a paid Stage Door or Centre Stage plan, standard plan terms in this Section and Schedule A apply.

12.6 Auto-Renewal and Cancellation

• Stage Door. Renews automatically each billing period until you cancel through the dashboard or by emailing support@bitstage.ai. Clear renewal and cancellation terms are shown at checkout and in billing communications.
• Centre Stage. A one-time per-role engagement; it does not auto-renew.
• Enterprise. May auto-renew only as expressly stated on the order form.

12.7 Taxes

Fees are exclusive of all taxes, levies, or duties imposed by taxing authorities (including HST, GST, PST/QST, and applicable U.S. state and local sales/use taxes). You are responsible for all such amounts, except for taxes imposed on BitPlan's net income.

12.8 Promotional Pricing

Where BitPlan offers a promotional rate (including any pilot-program rate offered under separate written understanding), refunds reflect the amount actually paid, not the standard rate. Promotional rates lock in for the duration stated at the time of issue; after the promotional period ends, pricing reverts to the then-current standard rate set out in Schedule A unless the Client has cancelled in accordance with these Terms.

13.1 Non-Refundable Fees

Fees for the current Stage Door billing period and Centre Stage engagements paid upfront are generally non-refundable once the billing period or engagement has begun, except as required by applicable law (Section 13.2) or as expressly stated at checkout. Cancelling a Stage Door plan stops future renewals; it does not entitle you to a refund for the current period unless required by law. For Centre Stage, if the hire is not right BitPlan may re-run the search for the same role at no extra fee as shown in-product; that remedy is not a cash refund. This Section 13.1 is subject to the statutory consumer carve-out in Section 13.2.

13.2 Statutory Consumer Rights

Nothing in this Section 13 limits any non-waivable right under applicable consumer-protection law. For example:

• Ontario consumers retain rights under Ontario consumer-protection legislation as in force from time to time, including the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 and the Consumer Protection Act, 2023.
• Quebec consumers retain rights under the Consumer Protection Act (CQLR c. P-40.1), including any cooling-off rights applicable to a distance contract. For Quebec consumers domiciled in Quebec, the French version of these Terms controls.
• Where any U.S. state or other applicable law grants a Client or Candidate a non-waivable refund or cancellation right, that right applies in addition to anything in this Section.

Where a non-waivable consumer right is more favourable than what this Section provides, that right prevails for the affected consumer.

13.3 Refund Process and Timeline

For refund requests arising from statutory consumer rights, or for any other refund issued by BitPlan in its discretion:

• Request. Email support@bitstage.ai from the email address associated with the account, including the engagement identifier or invoice number and (optionally) the reason for the request.
• Acknowledgement. Within two (2) business days.
• Decision. BitPlan will approve or decline (with reason) within five (5) business days for standard requests; complex requests may take longer and BitPlan will keep the Client informed.
• Processing. Approved refunds are issued to the original payment method within five (5) to ten (10) business days. Bank or card-network processing time may add additional days.
• Currency. Refunds are issued in the original currency of the charge. Foreign-exchange differences between the charge and the refund are not within BitPlan's control.

13.4 Chargebacks and Disputes

BitPlan honours the Client's right to dispute a charge with its payment provider, but strongly encourages contacting support@bitstage.ai first, as most concerns can be resolved faster and without affecting account standing. Abusive or fraudulent chargebacks may result in account suspension or termination.

This Section sets out our commitments to Clients on the availability and support of the Service. It applies to paid Client subscriptions only. Candidate accounts and free-trial accounts are not entitled to service-level commitments, but BitPlan will use commercially reasonable efforts to make the Service available to all Users.

14.1 Definitions

• “Uptime” means the percentage of total minutes in a calendar month during which the Service is Available (meaning Clients are able to log in to the Service and access core functionality as described in the definition of Downtime), calculated as ((Total Minutes - Downtime) / Total Minutes) x 100.
• “Downtime” means a continuous period of three (3) or more minutes during which Clients are unable to log in to the Service or access core functionality (running rehearsals, viewing BitScore outputs, or managing job postings) due to a failure of components controlled by BitPlan. Downtime excludes Scheduled Maintenance and Excluded Events.
• “Scheduled Maintenance” means planned maintenance announced at least seventy-two (72) hours in advance via email and in-app notice.
• “Service Credit” means a percentage credit applied to the next month's subscription fee, calculated under Section 14.4.

14.2 Uptime Commitment

We commit to maintaining a monthly Uptime of 99.5% for the Service. At 99.5% Uptime, the maximum cumulative Downtime in a 30-day month is approximately 3 hours and 39 minutes. We publish operational metrics at bitstage.ai/status.

14.3 Measurement

Uptime is measured by an external monitoring service running synthetic checks every sixty (60) seconds from at least three (3) geographic locations. A failure is recorded only if checks fail from all monitoring locations simultaneously, to avoid false positives caused by regional internet-routing problems. Monthly Uptime reports are available to Clients on request via support@bitstage.ai.

14.4 Service Credits

If monthly Uptime falls below 99.5%, the Client is eligible for a Service Credit on the following schedule:

Service Credits in any month are capped at fifty percent (50%) of the Client's monthly subscription fee for that month. Service Credits are the Client's sole and exclusive financial remedy for any failure to meet the Uptime commitment, except as provided in the persistent failure termination provisions below, and nothing in this Section limits any remedy that cannot be excluded under applicable law. Approved Service Credits are applied to the Client's next monthly invoice and cannot be exchanged for cash except where required by applicable law.

14.5 Excluded Events

Downtime caused by any of the following is excluded from Uptime calculation: Scheduled Maintenance, including emergency maintenance announced as soon as reasonably practicable; force-majeure events; ISP, public-network, or DNS outages outside BitPlan's reasonable control; failures of third-party Subprocessors engaged in good faith with reasonable security and availability commitments; issues caused by the Client's own equipment, network, or browser, misuse of the Service, or unauthorized modifications; suspension or termination of the Client's account in accordance with these Terms; and beta or pre-release features, which will be clearly labelled in-product as “BETA - not covered by SLA” wherever exposed.

14.6 Support and Response Times

We provide support via email and, for Enterprise tier, priority channels. Priority levels: P1 (Critical) - the Service is unavailable or a core function is broken for a Client population, with no workaround; P2 (High) - a major feature is degraded but the Service is otherwise usable and a workaround is available; P3 (Normal) - a feature defect, question, or non-blocking issue.

Business hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding Canadian and U.S. statutory holidays. Enterprise-tier P1 support is 24/7. Response times target our first substantive reply, not the time to resolve a problem.

14.7 Scheduled Maintenance

Routine maintenance occurs during a standard window of Sundays, 02:00 to 06:00 Eastern Time. Non-emergency maintenance is announced at least seventy-two (72) hours in advance. Emergency maintenance may be performed without advance notice when required to protect the security or integrity of the Service, with notice sent as soon as reasonably practicable.

14.8 Claiming a Service Credit; Persistent Failure

To claim a Service Credit, the Client must submit a request to support@bitstage.ai within thirty (30) days of the end of the month claimed, including the dates and approximate times of the unavailability and any affected account or job-posting identifiers. We will verify against our internal monitoring data and respond within ten (10) business days.

If monthly Uptime falls below 95.0% for two (2) consecutive months, the Client may terminate the affected Service for convenience on thirty (30) days' written notice to info@bitstage.ai (copy to support@bitstage.ai). On such termination, BitPlan will refund any prepaid fees attributable to the unused portion of the subscription term following the effective date of termination, in addition to any Service Credits owed.

15.1 Posture

BitStage is built with Candidate privacy and Client data protection as core design principles. Our security architecture is designed to align with SOC 2 (Trust Services Criteria) and ISO 27001 control principles, including logging, access control, encryption, retention, and incident response; formal attestation is planned. We follow OWASP best practices and conduct regular vulnerability assessments.

15.2 Encryption

All data is encrypted at rest using AES-256 and in transit using TLS 1.3. Encryption keys are managed by our cloud providers' key-management services with rotation schedules, separation of key custodians, and audit logging on key access.

15.3 Data Backup and Retention

BitStage maintains automated daily backups with incremental backups performed every six (6) hours. Backup data is encrypted using AES-256 and stored in geographically separate AWS regions from primary data. Retention periods are set out in Section 15.10. Clients may request data restoration by contacting support@bitstage.ai; standard restoration requests are processed within two (2) business days.

15.4 Infrastructure and Hosting

Production hosting, storage, and infrastructure are provided by Amazon Web Services. Authentication and application access controls are managed by the BitStage application layer and associated identity and OAuth integrations. Transactional email delivery is provided by Amazon Web Services SES. Real-time audio and video streaming uses LiveKit during active rehearsals. Physical security for these facilities is maintained by our cloud infrastructure providers, who implement industry-standard physical controls including 24/7 surveillance, biometric access controls, environmental monitoring, and secure visitor management in accordance with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 standards.

Cross-border note. Although ca-central-1 is in Canada, certain Personal Data and processing flows traverse our us-east-1 region or U.S.-based Subprocessors. When this occurs, the Personal Data is subject to U.S. legal process, including possible disclosure under the U.S. CLOUD Act, FISA s. 702, or U.S. national-security letters. This cross-border processing is disclosed in the Privacy Policy.

All language-model and analytics calls are routed through an internal AI gateway that enforces schema-validated outputs, applies rate limits, supports retries and fallbacks, and implements a “no external retrieval” rule for scoring runs (no RAG, no dynamic web or knowledge calls), reducing hallucination pathways.

15.5 Access Controls

Access controls include: role-based access control with least-privilege defaults; multi-factor authentication for all human operator access to production environments; audit logging for production changes and data access; time-limited credentials for human operators and short-lived service-to-service tokens; operational guardrails (rate limits, circuit breakers, and per-feature kill switches) on AI calls and partner synchronization; and an annual access-posture review with immediate revocation on personnel or contractor departure.

15.6 Client Security Responsibilities

While BitPlan maintains the security controls described in this Section, Clients are responsible for: maintaining the confidentiality and security of their account credentials and API keys; implementing strong password policies and multi-factor authentication for their users where available; controlling and monitoring access granted to their personnel and ensuring timely revocation of access when personnel leave or change roles; securing their own systems and networks from which they access the Service; promptly notifying BitPlan of any suspected unauthorized access to their account or security incident involving their use of the Service; and configuring privacy and consent settings appropriately for their use case and applicable law.

This Section states BitPlan's security commitments. Upon request to info@bitstage.ai and subject to execution of a mutual non-disclosure agreement, BitPlan will make available to current Clients any third-party security audit reports, penetration test summaries (redacted for specific vulnerabilities), security policy documentation, or compliance certifications that are then-currently available.

15.7 Data Architecture - Design Principle

As a design principle, BitStage maintains a database-level separation between identity data and behavioural scoring data. The two stores are linked exclusively by a unique session-binding token; neither store holds a direct copy of the other's contents. Model auditing, fairness analysis, and downstream analytics operate against the behavioural scoring store without requiring access to the identity store. Candidates' profile rehearsals are stored in a logically isolated environment that is not accessible to Clients, advertisers, or other Candidates.

15.8 Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

BitStage maintains a documented business continuity plan and disaster recovery capabilities. Our recovery time objective ("RTO") is 24 hours and recovery point objective ("RPO") is 4 hours for production systems; disaster recovery procedures are tested annually. In the event of a significant service disruption, BitStage will notify affected Clients within four (4) business hours and provide regular status updates until service is restored.

15.9 Scoring Integrity and Tamper Detection

Each scoring run uses a deterministic, version-locked scoring configuration with replay controls, as described in Section 7.2. The configuration records the rubric template, ordered patch sets, behaviour profile, objective set, critical gate set, signal-quality policy, runtime version, and AI Gateway routing profile used, and is permanently associated with the scoring result. Scoring, binding, and partner-synchronization actions are recorded in platform audit logs for security and compliance review. Public Resume Analyzer and guest practice fair-use controls may use a hashed browser identifier solely for abuse prevention; they are not a login and do not prove identity.

15.10 Backups and Resilience

Daily backups are retained for thirty (30) days and weekly snapshots for twelve (12) months; tax and financial records are retained for seven (7) years. Backups support point-in-time recovery. We maintain automated DDoS protection at the edge and rate limits on API endpoints, and disaster-recovery procedures are tested at least annually.

15.11 Data Retention

Retention periods for all data categories are set out in Privacy Policy Section 11. Key retention rules of legal significance in these Terms: (a) Illinois BIPA consent records are retained for the same period as the underlying data plus three (3) years; (b) Tier A application data is purged from BitStage systems within ninety (90) days after the related job posting closes; and (c) backup retention periods are as set out in Section 15.10.

Upon termination of your account or the Service agreement, customer data will be retained for a maximum of thirty (30) days to allow for service reinstatement or data retrieval requests, then permanently deleted in accordance with our retention schedule, except where retention is required by law or for backup copies and anonymized aggregate data as described in these Terms.

15.12 No Data Sales

BitPlan does not sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from Candidate data, recordings, or scores. See Privacy Policy Section 17 for our full data commitment statements.

15.13 Incident Response and Breach Notification

BitPlan maintains a documented incident-response process covering detection, triage, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident review. Critical incidents are escalated within four (4) business hours of detection during business hours, and as soon as reasonably practicable when detected outside business hours.

In the event of a personal-data breach: (a) we will notify the relevant data-protection authority within the time required by law (within 72 hours in jurisdictions where that timeline applies; under PIPEDA, as soon as feasible); (b) we will notify affected individuals without undue delay where the breach is likely to result in a high risk to them; and (c) for Tier A application data processed on a Client's behalf, we will notify the relevant Client within seventy-two (72) hours. See Privacy Policy Section 16 for our full breach-notification commitments and jurisdiction-specific detail.

15.14 Secure Development and Responsible Disclosure

Our development practices include pre-production code review, automated dependency vulnerability scanning, static analysis in CI/CD, secrets scanning, and reviewed infrastructure-as-code deployments with audit trails. We welcome reports of suspected vulnerabilities at info@bitstage.ai; we acknowledge receipt within two (2) business days and aim to remediate confirmed issues based on severity.

16.1 Term

These Terms commence on your first use of the Service and continue until terminated in accordance with this Section.

16.2 Termination by You

You may terminate your account at any time by following the account-closure process in your dashboard or by emailing support@bitstage.ai. Termination does not entitle you to a refund except as otherwise set out in these Terms.

Upon termination of your account, BitPlan will delete or return your Personal Data within thirty (30) days, except (a) for data we are required to retain by law, (b) for backup copies retained for the duration of the backup-retention cycle (not to exceed ninety (90) days), and (c) for anonymized, aggregate measurements derived from your data in non-identifiable form. At your request submitted to info@bitstage.ai prior to termination, we will provide you with an export of your data in a commonly used, machine-readable format (JSON or CSV).

16.3 Termination by BitPlan

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, in whole or in part, with reasonable notice (or, where reasonably required to protect the integrity of the Service or comply with law, without notice), if: (a) you materially breach these Terms and fail to cure such breach within fifteen (15) days after written notice (or immediately if the breach is not capable of cure); (b) you engage in abusive, harassing, or unlawful conduct toward our staff, the AI, other Users, or third parties; (c) you attempt to circumvent our security measures, access controls, or fee structures; (d) your continued use exposes BitPlan to legal, regulatory, or reputational risk that cannot be mitigated by less restrictive means; or (e) required by law, regulation, or government order.

16.4 Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your right to access the Service ceases. We will delete your Personal Data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and retention schedule, except where retention is required by law. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 24) survive termination.

17.1 Exclusions

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will BitPlan, its officers, directors, employees, agents, affiliates, or Subprocessors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, business opportunity, employment opportunity, goodwill, or anticipated savings, arising out of or related to these Terms or your use of the Service, even if BitPlan has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

17.2 Cap (Clients)

Without limiting the foregoing, BitPlan's total aggregate liability to a Client under or in connection with these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the amounts the Client actually paid to BitPlan for the Service in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one thousand Canadian dollars (CAD $1,000). Nothing in this Section limits any remedy that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

17.3 Cap (Candidates)

For Candidates, BitPlan's liability is limited to remedies available under applicable consumer-protection and privacy laws, including statutory minimums where applicable. The fixed cap set out above does not apply to Candidate-side claims arising from BitPlan's breach of the Privacy Policy, the security commitments set out in these Terms, or any law that prohibits such limitations against consumers (including Ontario consumer-protection legislation, the Quebec Consumer Protection Act, and applicable U.S. state consumer-protection laws).

17.4 Specific Exclusions

BitPlan is not liable for: (a) employment outcomes, including loss of job opportunities, failure to be hired, or termination of employment; (b) inaccuracies, errors, or biases in BitScore or other AI outputs, except as expressly provided in the dispute and explanation commitments in these Terms; (c) the conduct of any User or third party; (d) Service interruptions, transcription errors, or platform downtime, except as provided in the service level commitments in these Terms; or (e) decisions made by Clients in their hiring processes.

17.5 Basis of the Bargain

You acknowledge that the limitations in this Section reflect a reasonable allocation of risk corresponding to the price of the Service and are an essential element of the basis of the bargain between the parties.

BitPlan does not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that any AI output will be accurate or reliable. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain implied warranties; in those jurisdictions, the exclusions in this Section apply only to the extent permitted.

19.1 By You

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless BitPlan, its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any third-party claims, demands, losses, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your breach of these Terms; (b) your violation of any applicable law or third-party right; (c) any Content you submit; or (d) for Clients, your hiring decisions or use of BitScore outputs in evaluating individuals. BitPlan will provide prompt written notice of any claim subject to indemnification and will reasonably cooperate with your defence at your expense.

19.2 By BitPlan

BitPlan will defend you against any third-party claim that the Service, when used in accordance with these Terms, infringes a third party's registered intellectual-property right in Canada or the United States, and will indemnify you for damages and costs finally awarded by a court of competent jurisdiction or paid in settlement approved by BitPlan, subject to the liability limitations set out in these Terms. This obligation does not apply to claims arising from: (i) your modification of the Service; (ii) your combination of the Service with non-BitPlan products, data, or services where the claim would not arise from the Service alone; (iii) your use of the Service in breach of these Terms; or (iv) Content you submitted. This is BitPlan's sole obligation, and your sole remedy, with respect to any infringement claim.

This Section supplements the general provisions in these Terms with jurisdiction-specific detail. The descriptions below are informational; the specific obligations that apply depend on how a Client uses the Service and where it operates.

20.1 Recommendation Signal, Not Automated Decision

The Service is structurally designed to output a Recommendation Signal for human review; it is not an automated employment-decision tool that issues binding hiring decisions. The BitStage Human-in-the-Loop Audit Dashboard requires human verification of timestamped evidence before any candidate disposition is finalized. See Section 7.4.

20.2 Canada - PIPEDA, Provincial Privacy Acts, and Ontario AI Disclosure

Personal Data of Canadian residents is processed in accordance with the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy legislation, including BC PIPA and Alberta PIPA. As Ontario employers, Clients are also subject to the AI-disclosure requirements of the Working for Workers Four Act, 2024, and are responsible for including required notice that AI is used in candidate screening for publicly advertised job postings to which those requirements apply.

20.3 Quebec - Law 25

For Quebec residents' rights and BitStage's Law 25 compliance obligations, including automated decision communication (s. 12.1), privacy impact assessments, and breach-incident register requirements, see Privacy Policy Section 14.3. For Quebec consumers, the French version of these Terms controls once published.

20.4 United States - General

Clients in the United States are responsible for compliance with applicable federal employment, civil-rights, and consumer-reporting laws when using the Service. See Privacy Policy Section 14 for jurisdiction-specific detail.

20.5 California - CCPA / CPRA and ADS Regulations

California residents have rights under CCPA/CPRA as set out in Privacy Policy Section 14.4. Clients evaluating California Candidates should assess their obligations under the California Civil Rights Council's automated-decision-system regulations under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, effective October 1, 2025.

20.6 Colorado - Automated Decision Technology Framework

Colorado's automated decision technology framework (SB 26-189) is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2027. Clients deploying the Service for Colorado residents are responsible for compliance; a deployer-facing information package is available from info@bitstage.ai. See Privacy Policy Section 14.5.

20.7 New York City - Local Law 144

Clients using the Service to evaluate Candidates for employment in New York City are responsible for compliance with NYC Administrative Code 20-870 to 20-874 ("Local Law 144"), including providing required notices to Candidates and obtaining annual independent bias audits from a qualified independent auditor. The bias audit obligation under Local Law 144 attaches to the employer or employment agency deploying the AEDT, not to BitPlan as developer.

20.8 Illinois - AI Video Interview Act and HRA Amendments (HB 3773)

Where the Service is used to record and analyze video interviews of Candidates in Illinois, Clients must comply with the Illinois Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (820 ILCS 42), including providing notice, explaining how the AI works, and obtaining consent before any video interview. Effective January 1, 2026, the Illinois Human Rights Act, as amended by HB 3773, prohibits employer use of AI in hiring or other employment decisions in a manner that has a discriminatory effect on the basis of a protected class; Clients are responsible for compliance when using the Service in Illinois.

20.9 Maryland - Pre-Employment Facial Recognition (HB 1202)

Where the Service is used in Maryland, Clients must comply with Md. Code Ann., Labor and Employment s. 3-717 (use of facial-recognition services during pre-employment job interviews). The Service does not perform facial recognition or biometric identification: no faceprints, voiceprints, or matching against any reference database is performed at any stage. Voice tone is used solely for the emotional-regulation rubric category and is structurally constrained from influencing any other scoring dimension.

20.10 Texas, Washington, and Other U.S. State Biometric Laws

The disclosures and consents in Section 6 are designed to support compliance with the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act and the Washington Biometric Privacy Act. See Privacy Policy Section 14.7.

20.11 Geographic Scope

The Service is primarily offered to Users in Canada and the United States; Users outside North America should not access or use the Service. BitPlan does not represent that any technical access restriction prevents access from outside North America. See Privacy Policy Sections 10 and 14.10.

21.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles, except that the consumer-protection statutes of the Candidate's own province or state apply to the extent they are non-waivable.

21.2 Informal Resolution First

Before commencing any proceeding, the parties agree to attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute through negotiation for at least thirty (30) days following written notice of the dispute. If negotiation does not resolve the dispute, the parties may agree to non-binding mediation in Toronto, Ontario before resorting to the courts.

21.3 Jurisdiction and Venue

Subject to the informal resolution and class action waiver provisions of this Section, the parties attorn to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Province of Ontario, with venue in Toronto, for any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms. Proceedings will be conducted in English, except that a consumer domiciled in Quebec may require proceedings and documents to be in French where applicable law so provides.

21.4 Class Action Waiver - B2B Clients Only

To the extent permitted by applicable law, disputes between BitPlan and a Client will be resolved on an individual basis and not as part of any class, consolidated, or representative action. This waiver does not apply to Candidates. If any part of this Section is unenforceable under applicable law, that part is severed and the remainder of these Terms continues in effect. Nothing in these Terms requires any consumer to arbitrate or limits a consumer's right to access the courts or any applicable tribunal.

We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect new features, business practices, or legal requirements. "Material changes" include changes that reduce core features or functionality, materially increase fees, reduce substantive entitlements (such as refund rights, service-level commitments, or data-protection obligations), or impose new material restrictions on use. Routine updates such as bug fixes, minor UI improvements, feature enhancements that do not remove existing functionality, and clarifying edits are not material changes. We will notify Users of material changes by email or in-app notice at least thirty (30) days before they take effect. Material changes that reduce a Client's substantive entitlements will not apply during a current paid term. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree, stop using the Service before that date. The current version is always at bitstage.ai/terms.

23.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms (including the Schedules to these Terms), together with the Privacy Policy, any separately executed Data Processing Addendum ("DPA") as described in Section 8.3, and any order form executed between the parties, constitute the entire agreement and supersede all prior agreements regarding the Service.

23.2 Severability

If any provision is held unenforceable, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to be enforceable, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force.

23.3 No Waiver

Failure or delay by BitPlan in enforcing any right does not constitute a waiver.

23.4 Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your account without our prior written consent. BitPlan may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, corporate reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets or the assets relating to the Service, without your consent.

23.5 Force Majeure

Neither party is liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, civil unrest, labour disputes, internet outages, third-party service-provider failures, pandemics, or government action. For clarity, any such event is excluded from Downtime calculations under the service level commitments in these Terms.

23.6 No Agency

Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, employment, or fiduciary relationship between you and BitPlan.

23.7 Notices

Notices to BitPlan must be sent to info@bitstage.ai with a copy by mail to BitPlan Loyalty Inc., 11 Stalker Street, Collingwood, Ontario L9Y 0X2, Canada. Notices to you may be sent to the email address associated with your account or via in-app notification.

23.8 Language

These Terms are currently available in English only, published at bitstage.ai/terms. BitPlan is committed to commissioning a French-language translation of these Terms before conducting any active marketing to, or entering into any Client engagement with, persons domiciled in Quebec. Upon publication of the French version, it will be made available at bitstage.ai/conditions and will, as a matter of compliance with the Charter of the French Language (Quebec), be the controlling version for Users domiciled in Quebec. For all other Canadian and U.S. Users, the English version controls. Any translations provided in the interim are for convenience only and do not form part of these Terms.

BitPlan Loyalty Inc., Collingwood, Ontario, Canada.

All prices below are in Canadian dollars (CAD). Candidates are always free. Pricing in effect at signup governs that engagement for its duration. Current pricing is also published at bitstage.ai/pricing. BitPlan may update this Schedule from time to time on notice in accordance with the change notification provisions of these Terms.

This Schedule B (the "DPA Schedule") forms part of these Terms and governs BitPlan's processing of Personal Data on behalf of a Client in those circumstances where BitPlan acts as a processor or service provider for the Client, principally with respect to Tier A application data as described in Sections 4.1 and 8.3. References in this Schedule to "Tier A Personal Data" mean the Personal Data comprised in such Tier A application data. This DPA Schedule supplements, and does not limit, Section 8.3. Where a Client and BitPlan have executed a separate Data Processing Addendum under Section 8.3, that executed addendum prevails over this Schedule to the extent of any conflict with respect to the processing it covers. Capitalized terms used but not otherwise defined in this Schedule have the meanings given to them in these Terms or the Privacy Policy.

B.1 Controller / Processor Allocation

For Tier A application data submitted by a Candidate as part of an application to a Client, the Client is the controller (or "business" or equivalent term under the applicable statute) of that data with respect to the Client's hiring file, and BitPlan acts as a processor (or "service provider") on behalf of the Client for the processing activities described in these Terms and this DPA Schedule. BitPlan retains a limited, independent controller role with respect to the same data solely for security, fraud-prevention, audit, AI-fairness assessment, and product-integrity purposes, in accordance with the Privacy Policy. For all other data described in the Privacy Policy (including Tier B profile data and Tier C audio-only data), BitPlan acts in its own controller capacity.

B.2 Details of Processing

The subject matter, nature, and purpose of the processing, the categories of Personal Data, and the categories of data subjects are as follows:

• (a) Subject matter and duration: BitPlan's provision of the Service to the Client, for the duration of the Client's engagement or subscription together with the applicable retention periods set out in these Terms and the Privacy Policy.
• (b) Nature and purpose of processing: hosting, recording, transcription, analysis, generation of BitScore outputs, secure storage, and delivery of Tier A application data to the Client for candidate evaluation and hiring, together with related security, audit, and platform-integrity processing.
• (c) Categories of Personal Data: Candidate identity and contact information; resume and application content; audio and video rehearsal recordings; transcripts; BitScore outputs and associated behavioural and timing data; and consent and audit records. Biometric Data or other special-category data may be processed to the extent described in Section 6 and the Privacy Policy.
• (d) Categories of data subjects: Candidates who submit a Tier A rehearsal or application to the Client through the Service.

B.3 Client Retention Obligation for Tier A Data

With respect to Tier A application data delivered to the Client by the Service, the Client agrees that it will: (a) apply to its own copy of the data a retention period not exceeding ninety (90) days following the close of the related job posting, except where applicable employment record-keeping law of the Client's jurisdiction (for example, for Ontario Clients, the record-keeping and retention requirements of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (Ontario), S.O. 2000, c. 41), or another binding legal obligation applicable to the Client, requires a longer retention period; (b) where a longer retention period is required, document the statutory or other legal basis for the longer period in its internal retention records and restrict access to the retained data to personnel with a documented need to access it for the purpose for which it is retained; (c) destroy or irreversibly anonymise the data on expiry of the retention period determined under (a) or (b); and (d) maintain reasonable records sufficient to demonstrate compliance with this Section on BitPlan's reasonable request. For clarity, BitPlan's separate retention commitment in the Privacy Policy binds only BitPlan's own copy of Tier A data and does not relieve the Client of its independent obligations under this Section.

B.4 Processing Instructions and Compliance

BitPlan will process Tier A Personal Data only on documented instructions from the Client, including the instructions set out in these Terms, this DPA Schedule, and any executed order form, unless required to process such data by applicable law, in which case BitPlan will, to the extent legally permitted, inform the Client of that requirement before processing. BitPlan will promptly inform the Client if, in BitPlan's opinion, an instruction infringes applicable data-protection law. Each party will comply with its respective obligations under applicable data-protection laws in respect of the processing described in this Schedule.

B.5 Confidentiality of Personnel

BitPlan will ensure that personnel and Subprocessors authorized to process Tier A Personal Data are bound by appropriate obligations of confidentiality, whether contractual or statutory, and are granted access only on a need-to-know basis consistent with the access controls described in Section 15.5.

B.6 Security Measures

BitPlan will implement and maintain the technical and organizational security measures described in Section 15 (Security Commitments), which are incorporated into this DPA Schedule by reference and which the parties agree are appropriate to the risks presented by the processing of Tier A Personal Data.

B.7 Data Subject Rights Pass-Through and Assistance

BitPlan will, without undue delay, forward to the Client any data subject request received by BitPlan that relates to Tier A data already delivered to the Client, including any Candidate-initiated application withdrawal effected through BitPlan's in-app controls. The Client will respond to each forwarded request within thirty (30) days of receipt, or within the shorter period required by the applicable statute, and will: (a) honour the Candidate's deletion, withdrawal, correction, or access request with respect to the Client's own copy of the Tier A data, except where the Client documents in writing that a statutory exception applies; (b) where the request is a Candidate-initiated application withdrawal, treat the affected application as withdrawn and discontinue the hiring process for that application, subject only to read-only retention of audit-trail records as required by applicable law; (c) inform BitPlan of the disposition of the request in summary form sufficient for BitPlan to update its own records; and (d) cooperate with BitPlan in resolving any escalation. Taking into account the nature of the processing, BitPlan will provide the Client with reasonable assistance, through appropriate technical and organizational measures and insofar as possible, in fulfilling the Client's obligations to respond to data subject requests. For clarity, BitPlan retains an independent obligation to honour the same request with respect to BitPlan's own copy of the Tier A data and will do so in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

B.8 Subprocessors

The Client provides general authorization for BitPlan to engage Subprocessors to process Tier A Personal Data, subject to this Section. A current list of Subprocessors is maintained at bitstage.ai/subprocessors and in Privacy Policy Section 8. BitPlan will impose data-protection obligations on each Subprocessor that are substantially equivalent to those set out in this DPA Schedule and will remain liable to the Client for each Subprocessor's performance of those obligations. BitPlan will provide the Client with at least thirty (30) days' prior notice of any material change to its Subprocessors. The Client may object to a proposed change on reasonable grounds within fifteen (15) days of receipt of notice. If the Client objects, BitPlan will use commercially reasonable efforts to identify a substitute Subprocessor or alternative arrangement that does not compromise the Service. If the parties cannot agree on a substitute within thirty (30) days of the objection, either party may terminate the affected portion of the Service on thirty (30) days' written notice, and BitPlan will refund the unused portion of any prepaid fees attributable to the terminated portion.

B.9 International Transfers

Tier A Personal Data may be processed in Canada and the United States as described in Section 15.4 (Cross-border note). Where BitPlan transfers Tier A Personal Data across borders on the Client's behalf, it will do so in accordance with applicable data-protection law and will implement appropriate safeguards where required. The Client acknowledges the cross-border processing and U.S.-legal-process disclosures set out in Section 15.4 and the Privacy Policy.

B.10 Personal Data Breach

In the event of a personal-data breach affecting Tier A Personal Data processed on the Client's behalf, BitPlan will notify the affected Client in accordance with Section 15.13 and Privacy Policy Section 16, including notification within seventy-two (72) hours as provided in Section 15.13, and will provide reasonable assistance and information to enable the Client to meet its own breach-notification obligations.

B.11 Audit and Compliance Verification

On the Client's reasonable written request, and no more than once in any twelve (12) month period (except where required by a supervisory authority or following a confirmed material breach affecting the Client's data), BitPlan will make available the then-current SOC 2 and/or ISO 27001 summary reports or comparable third-party audit summaries described in Section 15, and will respond within a reasonable time to a reasonable written security questionnaire, to enable the Client to verify BitPlan's compliance with this DPA Schedule. Direct, on-site, or hands-on audit access is reserved for circumstances involving a confirmed material breach of BitPlan's obligations under this DPA Schedule or where required by applicable law or a supervisory authority, and any such audit is subject to reasonable confidentiality undertakings, scheduling on reasonable advance notice during business hours, and measures to minimize operational disruption and protect the security and confidentiality of other customers' data. The Client bears its own costs of any audit and BitPlan's reasonable costs of supporting an audit beyond the provision of its standard reports.

B.12 Return and Deletion of Tier A Data

On termination or expiry of the Client's engagement, or on the Client's earlier written request, BitPlan will delete or return Tier A Personal Data processed on the Client's behalf in accordance with Sections 15.11, 16.2, and 16.4 and the Privacy Policy retention schedule, except for copies required to be retained by applicable law and for backup copies and anonymized aggregate data as described in these Terms.

B.13 Liability and Precedence

The liability of each party under this DPA Schedule is subject to the limitations and exclusions set out in Section 17. In the event of a conflict between this DPA Schedule and the body of these Terms with respect to the processing of Tier A Personal Data, this DPA Schedule prevails; in the event of a conflict between this DPA Schedule and a Data Processing Addendum executed under Section 8.3, the executed Data Processing Addendum prevails.