Preamble and identification
RackList is an independent hosting-provider comparison service available at https://racklist.eu. The service is free for visitors and registered users. It enables browsing provider profiles, publishing user reviews (UGC), comparing providers and accessing community features.
These Terms are drafted in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on digital services (DSA), French law 2004-575 of 21 June 2004 for confidence in the digital economy (LCEN), the French Consumer Code (notably articles L. 111-7-2 and L. 612-1), the French Intellectual Property Code, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and French law 78-17 as amended on informatics and freedoms.
Definitions
In these Terms, the following terms have the meaning indicated below. DSA-specific concepts retain their official terminology; RackList-specific terms are re-defined in accessible language.
- User
- Any natural person of legal age registered on RackList with an active account (a 'recipient of the service' within the meaning of Article 3(b) of the DSA).
- Visitor
- Any natural or legal person browsing the service without being registered. Visitors may read profiles and reviews but cannot publish or interact.
- Listed host
- A company or organisation carrying on a hosting business whose profile has been created by the publisher or by a User, without having claimed control of it.
- Claimant host
- A business user (within the meaning of the P2B regulation) that has claimed ownership of its profile through the verification process set out in the Sales Terms.
- Review
- Textual content and rating published by a User describing their personal experience with a Listed host. Reviews are user-generated content (UGC) and works of the mind protected by intellectual property law.
- Score
- Global rating calculated by RackList from several public criteria (see section 9); it is not an arithmetic average of reviews nor an editorial recommendation.
- Platform
- All technical and editorial features offered by the publisher at https://racklist.eu, including the website, APIs, content and related services.
- Content
- Any data published on the Platform: reviews, host responses, notices, messages, profiles, media.
- Moderation
- All human and automated actions aimed at verifying the compliance of Content with these Terms and the law.
- Notice & action
- Procedure by which a User, Visitor or third party notifies the publisher of Content they consider illegal, within the meaning of Article 16 DSA.
- Illegal content
- Any Content that does not comply with Union law or applicable national law, whatever the form or subject matter (Article 3(h) DSA).
- Sub-user
- Natural person invited by a Claimant host to act on the profile within the scope of the permissions granted (commercial, support, technical).
- Trusted flagger
- Entity awarded by the national Digital Services Coordinator the status set out in Article 22 DSA; its notices are processed with priority.
Purpose and scope
These Terms set out the conditions under which the publisher makes the Platform available to Users and Visitors, and the rights and obligations of the parties. They apply to any access to and use of the service.
The Terms apply cumulatively with the Privacy Policy, the Legal notice, the AI Charter and, for Claimant hosts, the Sales Terms. In case of contradiction between these Terms and the Sales Terms, the Sales Terms prevail within their own scope (claim process and paid offerings). The Privacy Policy prevails on data-protection matters.
The Terms do not govern relations between Users and Listed hosts (hosting purchases, service contracts, host SLAs): those relations are subject to each host's own conditions.
Acceptance of the Terms
Mere navigation on the Platform constitutes acceptance of the provisions applying to Visitors, notably the fair-use rules and security measures. Visitors are not subject to sections requiring an account.
Registration requires explicit acceptance of the Terms and the Privacy Policy (unchecked checkbox by default). Such acceptance is time-stamped and preserved as evidence of consent pursuant to Article 1366 of the French Civil Code.
The User accepts that the version in force at the time of their action (publication, notice, purchase) is the one binding upon them.
Eligibility
Registration is reserved for natural persons aged at least 18. This requirement reflects the service's nature (assessment of hosting purchases, paid subscriptions by Claimant hosts) and simplifies the processing of personal data under Article 8 GDPR and Article 45 of the French data-protection law.
The User declares they have legal capacity to enter into contracts and, where acting on behalf of a company, hold the necessary authority to bind it.
Registration is denied to persons banned from the Platform, holders of dormant accounts suspended for fraud, and entities subject to restrictive measures applicable within the European Union.
A User may only hold a single primary account. Creating multiple accounts for the purpose of abuse, moderation circumvention or scoring manipulation is prohibited and justifies immediate termination.
Account creation and management
An account can be created with email and password, or via a third-party identity provider (Google, Discord, GitHub, ClientXCMS) subject to those providers' own conditions. The email address must be valid, unique and controlled by the User.
The User undertakes to provide accurate information and to keep it up to date. A significant inaccuracy (identity, email) may justify suspension pending verification.
The User is responsible for the confidentiality of their credentials. They undertake to use a strong password, not to share it and to report without delay any suspected compromise to contact@racklist.eu. The publisher implements proportionate technical measures (password hashing, anomaly detection, session pseudonymisation) to protect accounts.
The User may close their account at any time from their personal space. Closure triggers anonymisation of the account and deindexing of related data within a maximum period of 30 days, in accordance with the Privacy Policy. Already-published reviews may remain online in anonymised form, unless a reasoned erasure request is submitted.
User obligations
The User undertakes to use the Platform in compliance with the law, these Terms and third-party rights. They acknowledge in particular the following undertakings.
- Not to publish any Illegal Content, content contrary to public order or morality, and in particular no defamatory content (French press act of 29 July 1881), hateful, discriminatory, pornographic, child-sexual-abuse, terrorist content, incitement to violence, or content infringing third-party rights.
- Not to use the Platform for purposes contrary to its object: fake or paid reviews, scoring manipulation, mass scraping, moderation circumvention, fake-account creation, impersonation.
- Not to jeopardise the security or availability of the service: no injection, unauthorised automation, exploitation of vulnerabilities or denial-of-service. Security testing is only permitted under a publisher-announced responsible-disclosure programme.
- Not to publish personal data of third parties (name, contact details, identity documents, identifying screenshots) without a legal basis. Screenshots containing identifying elements must be redacted.
- To publish only Content for which the User holds the necessary rights or has obtained authorisation; third-party excerpts must comply with the exceptions of Article L. 122-5 of the French Intellectual Property Code (brief quotation, press review).
Review publication rules
Publishing reviews on RackList is governed by Article L. 111-7-2 of the French Consumer Code and decree 2017-1436 of 29 September 2017. The review-handling method is described below in a fair, clear and transparent manner.
- Genuine experience
- Every review must be based on a real personal experience with the Listed host. The User must indicate the date or period of the experience. The publisher recommends at least 30 days of use before publishing, except for incidents warranting immediate feedback.
- No consideration
- Reviews give rise to no consideration. The User undertakes to report any commercial solicitation intended to influence their review. The publisher does not offer sponsored ranking or pay-to-rank.
- Conflicts of interest
- A User operating or employed by a competing host shall refrain from reviewing that host, or shall explicitly disclose the connection in the body of the review.
- Review controls
- Reviews are subject to systematic control combining email verification, automated fraud analysis (see section 14) and ex-post human moderation upon notice or sampling.
- Display
- Each published review shows the publication date, the author-indicated experience date, whether the review is controlled (yes/no) and, where applicable, the external source (Trustpilot, Google) via an explicit visual cue.
- Retention
- Reviews are retained as long as they are published on the Platform, then stored in an encrypted archive for five (5) years for evidentiary purposes (civil limitation period, Article 2224 of the French Civil Code), before definitive purge.
- Grounds for refusal
- A review may be refused or withdrawn if it breaches these rules, is illegal or is flagged by fraud detection. The precise grounds are notified to the author (see section 12).
- Modification by the author
- The author may modify their review at any time; the publication date is updated and history is preserved to safeguard integrity.
Ranking and scoring transparency
Hosting provider ranking on the Platform relies on public parameters, in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 (P2B) and Article 14 DSA.
The Score combines five families of criteria, weighted in decreasing order of importance. Precise parameters may evolve; any substantial change is notified to Claimant hosts with a thirty (30) day notice.
(1) Host seniority and traceability; (2) volume, recency and quality of published reviews; (3) compliance and verified badges; (4) responsiveness to reviews and notices; (5) declared price-quality ratio. Bonuses and maluses may apply (public security updates, noted incidents, reported breaches).
A Claimant host can improve its visibility by verifying its badge, replying to reviews, documenting security measures and keeping its profile up to date. No ranking outcome is guaranteed.
As at the effective date of these Terms, RackList does not offer sponsored ranking, pay-to-rank or paid differentiated treatment. Any change of the business model will be signposted clearly.
Content moderation
For UGC, the publisher acts as a hosting service provider within the meaning of Article 6 LCEN and Article 3(g)(iii) DSA. No general monitoring is carried out, in accordance with Article 8 DSA.
Moderation combines automated tools (fraud detection, notice filters) and human review. Human intervention remains the basis for high-impact decisions (removal, suspension, ban).
Possible decisions are: publication, conditional maintenance, pre-publication refusal, post-publication removal, holding, temporary account suspension, permanent ban.
Content reported by Trusted flaggers (Article 22 DSA) is processed with priority, without prejudice to the substantive assessment. Abuse of notices may trigger corrective measures against notifiers (Article 23.2 DSA).
Content notice and action
Any person, registered or not, may report Content they consider illegal through the dedicated form available on the Platform. The mechanism complies with Article 16 DSA.
The form collects: (a) a precise explanation of the reasons why the Content is considered illegal; (b) the exact URL of the reported Content; (c) the notifier's name and email, except for child-sexual-abuse offences for which anonymity is preserved; (d) a good-faith statement.
An acknowledgement is sent to the notifier without undue delay. A reasoned decision is communicated within a reasonable period, in principle under fifteen (15) working days, extendable for complex cases.
A notice that is sufficiently precise and duly substantiated is deemed to give the publisher actual knowledge of the reported Content, within the meaning of Article 16.3 DSA and Article 6 I-2 LCEN. Manifestly abusive false notices expose their authors to disciplinary and, where applicable, judicial measures.
Statement of reasons for moderation decisions
Any moderation decision affecting Content or an account is notified in writing to the User concerned, in accordance with Article 17 DSA.
The notice includes: the nature of the decision (removal, refusal, suspension, etc.), the facts and circumstances relied upon, the legal basis or clause of the Terms applied, an indication of any use of automated means, and the available redress avenues (internal complaint and out-of-court settlement).
Reasons are stated with sufficient precision to allow the User to effectively exercise their right of redress. Decisions are transmitted to the Commission's public transparency database where required.
Internal complaint-handling system
Any User receiving a moderation decision has an electronic, free-of-charge right of complaint, open for six (6) months from the decision, in accordance with Article 20 DSA.
Complaints are submitted through the dedicated form available from the personal space and from the decision notice. They must set out the reasons for contesting the decision.
Complaints are reviewed by a qualified natural person, separate from the initial automated processing. A reasoned final decision is communicated within a reasonable period, in principle under thirty (30) working days. Where the complaint is well-founded, the initial decision is reversed without undue delay.
Fraud detection and technical data
To preserve the integrity of reviews and the Score, the publisher operates a fraud-detection mechanism described under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR on the basis of legitimate interests.
The mechanism analyses the connection IP address, the browser technical fingerprint (user-agent and characteristics), session signals and publication history. These elements are treated as personal data, consistent with CJEU judgment C-582/14 Breyer.
The balancing test is documented in a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) and favours transparency via this clause, minimisation of collected data, and short retention periods specified in the Privacy Policy.
The User enjoys the right to object under Article 21 GDPR. Its exercise may, however, be incompatible with publishing a review insofar as it would deprive the publisher of the means to verify the absence of fraud, as permitted by Article 21.1 GDPR.
Host response right
Any Listed host, whether claimed or not, enjoys a right of reply to reviews concerning its services.
The reply is published immediately next to the original review, after moderation. It is subject to the same rules (fairness, no insults, no personal data of the review author). This right does not prevent the publication of the original review; it is a right of reply, not a veto right.
Exercise of this right requires, for Claimant hosts, completion of the claim procedure set out in the Sales Terms. Non-claimant hosts may request access through the support channel upon proof of status.
Sub-users and teams
A Claimant host may invite collaborators (commercial, support, technical) to manage its profile within the scope of permissions granted individually.
The Claimant host remains solely liable for the acts of its sub-users. Sub-users are personally bound to comply with these Terms, with confidentiality and with their company's instructions.
Available permissions cover notably statistics access, review reading, review responses, profile editing, analytics access and team management. The Claimant host may revoke access at any time.
Intellectual property and review licence
The User retains intellectual property rights over the Content they publish, including their reviews. Publication grants the publisher the licence described below, drafted in accordance with Article L. 131-3 of the French Intellectual Property Code.
The User warrants to the publisher that they hold the rights necessary for the Content published and that it infringes no third-party right. Upon any claim, the User undertakes to provide all information useful to the publisher's defence.
Platform intellectual property
The Platform, its code, databases, trademarks, logos, graphic elements, scoring methodology and documentation are the exclusive property of the publisher or its partners, protected by intellectual property law and the sui generis right over databases (Articles L. 341-1 et seq. of the French Intellectual Property Code). Any unauthorised reproduction, substantial extraction or reuse is prohibited.
Third-party links and content
The Platform may contain links to third-party websites or services. The publisher has no control over such sites and cannot be held liable for their content, terms of use or data-protection practices. Host trademarks and logos displayed on profiles are reproduced for information and identification purposes, under the exceptions of Article L. 713-6 of the French Intellectual Property Code; rights-holders retain all their rights.
Suspension, termination and ban
The publisher may suspend or terminate an account, as a precautionary or definitive measure, on the following grounds, listed as illustrative and non-exhaustive.
(a) repeated publication of illegal or Terms-breaching Content; (b) proven fraud (fake reviews, multiple accounts, scoring manipulation); (c) interference with service security or availability; (d) abuse of the notice mechanism; (e) breach of an essential obligation placed on the User.
Save for urgency tied to the severity of the Content or an imminent risk to the Platform, suspension or ban is preceded by a reasoned warning allowing the User to rectify the situation. Decisions are notified as per section 12 and open the complaint right of section 13.
Suspension restricts access during the procedure; termination triggers account anonymisation. Already-published reviews may remain online in anonymised form, under the licence granted in section 17. The User may request full deletion on the basis of the right to erasure.
Liability
For UGC, the publisher acts as a hosting service provider within the meaning of Article 6 LCEN and the DSA. Its liability for such Content can only be engaged within the limits set by those texts.
Reviews express the personal and subjective opinion of their author. They do not constitute an editorial recommendation of the publisher nor advice to choose any host.
The publisher undertakes to deploy reasonably available means to ensure the availability, security and quality of the service. This is a best-efforts obligation, not a result obligation. No contractual availability guarantee or SLA is offered to Visitors or consumer Users.
No clause of these Terms shall operate to exclude or limit the publisher's liability for wilful misconduct, gross negligence, personal injury, nor any mandatory provisions protecting consumers under the French Consumer Code, the Civil Code or Union law.
Personal data protection
The processing of personal data of Users and Visitors is described in the Privacy Policy, which prevails over these Terms on data-protection matters. The main purposes cover account management, review publishing, fraud detection, transactional communication and compliance. Rights of access, rectification, erasure, objection, restriction and portability are exercised at the dedicated data-protection contact (contact@racklist.eu). Given the nature of the processing, the appointment of a Data Protection Officer is not mandatory under Article 37 of the GDPR; requests are handled directly by the publisher within thirty (30) days. Users may at any time lodge a complaint with the French DPA (CNIL).
Read the Privacy PolicyChanges to the Terms
The publisher may modify the Terms for legal, technical or editorial reasons. Any substantial modification is subject to individual email notification to registered Users and a banner on the Platform, with a notice period of at least thirty (30) days before entry into force.
During the notice period, the User may accept the new version, stop using the service or terminate their account. Continued use beyond entry into force constitutes acceptance of the new version.
Previous versions are archived and remain accessible upon written request to contact@racklist.eu, for evidentiary and transparency purposes.
Mediation and alternative dispute resolution
In accordance with Articles L. 612-1 et seq. of the French Consumer Code, the publisher invites consumer Users to favour an amicable solution before any judicial action, via prior contact at contact@racklist.eu.
A consumer mediator approved by the French Consumer Mediation Evaluation and Control Commission (CECMC) is being appointed. Full contact details will be communicated upon effective subscription and will update these Terms accordingly.
Under Article 21 DSA, the User also has the right to refer a moderation decision to an approved out-of-court dispute settlement body, without prejudice to their right to court action.
Governing law and jurisdiction
These Terms are governed by French law.
Consumer users residing in the European Union may bring proceedings in their domicile courts and benefit from the mandatory provisions of their habitual residence law, in accordance with Articles 17 to 19 of Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 (Brussels I bis) and Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 593/2008 (Rome I).
For disputes with non-consumer users, traders or legal entities, exclusive jurisdiction is granted to the courts of Lyon (France), including in cases of multiple defendants or third-party proceedings.
These Terms are drawn up in French. An English translation is provided as a courtesy; in case of discrepancy, the French version prevails.
Contact
For any question regarding these Terms, a moderation decision or a notice, Users may address the following contact points.
Version history
Previous versions are archived and available upon written request at contact@racklist.eu.