Terms of Service

1. Who we are

These Terms of Service govern your use of this website and any services you purchase from us through it.

“We”, “us”, “our” and “FirstLayer” mean First Layer Technology CO. L.L.C S.O.C, a company licensed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates under Trade Licence No. 1624077 issued by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, with its office at Office 2105-D-075, The Citadel Tower, Business Bay, Dubai, UAE. “You” and “the Client” mean the person or company using this website or purchasing our services.

2. These terms and your Service Agreement

Where you have signed a Service Agreement with us, that agreement prevails over these terms in the event of any conflict. These terms apply to the extent the Service Agreement is silent, and to anyone who transacts with us without a signed agreement.

By making a payment through our payment page, or by continuing to use our services, you confirm that you have read and accept these terms and our Privacy Policy.

We may update these terms from time to time. The version in force is the one published on this page on the date of your transaction. Material changes will be notified to active clients in writing at least thirty (30) days before they take effect.

3. Our services

We design, develop, launch, host and maintain websites, and provide the ongoing services described in the tier you select. Services are delivered remotely. Support is available during UAE business hours, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday to Friday, excluding official public holidays. We acknowledge support requests within one business day.

Anything not expressly included in your selected tier is out of scope. Additional work is quoted and agreed in writing before it begins.

No guarantee of results. We commit to the services, standards and deliverables we agree with you. We do not guarantee any specific commercial outcome, including search engine rankings, traffic volumes, number of enquiries, conversion rates, sales or revenue. Search engines, social platforms and advertising networks are operated by third parties whose algorithms, policies and pricing lie outside our control.

4. Quotes and pricing

All prices are quoted in United Arab Emirates Dirhams (AED). Prices shown on this website or in a proposal are indicative and are not binding until set out in a signed Service Agreement.

Where a promotional or limited-availability rate is offered, the conditions and the number of places available are stated at the time of the offer. Such rates apply only for the initial term stated in your Service Agreement and do not carry over into any renewal period.

5. Fees, payment and card on file

Our services are sold as a monthly subscription, with a setup fee where applicable. The setup fee and the first monthly fee are invoiced on signature and are payable in full before work begins.

Thereafter the monthly fee is charged in advance on the billing date stated in your Service Agreement, by card on file or by bank transfer to our UAE business account. Invoices are payable within fourteen (14) days of the invoice date.

By providing a card, you authorise us to charge that card automatically on each due date until your agreement ends. Card details are collected and stored by our payment processor, Stripe. We never see, handle or store your full card number.

Where an amount remains unpaid for more than fourteen (14) days after its due date, we may — after giving seven (7) days’ written notice — suspend the services, including hosting of your website, until the account is brought current. Suspension does not reduce or pause the monthly fee and does not extend the initial term.

Third-party costs are not included in our fees unless expressly stated. These include domain registration and renewal, business email subscriptions, paid advertising spend, premium plugin or software licences purchased at your request, and stock photography or video licences.

6. Term, renewal and cancellation

Your initial term is stated in your Service Agreement. The monthly fee is fixed for the initial term and will not be increased during it.

At the end of the initial term, your agreement continues on a rolling monthly basis at our then-current standard monthly rate for your tier, unless we agree a new fixed term in writing before expiry. We will notify you in writing of the applicable renewal rate not less than thirty (30) days before the initial term expires.

Once running on a rolling monthly basis, either party may terminate by giving thirty (30) days’ written notice.

Termination during an initial term requires thirty (30) days’ written notice and payment of the early termination amount stated in your Service Agreement, in addition to all sums already accrued.

Ending the agreement early does not cost you the website. Once all sums accrued to the date of termination, together with any early termination amount, have been paid in full, ownership of the website transfers to you under clause 9. Until they are paid, it does not.

7. Design approval and refunds

If the design is not right, you do not pay. You see the completed design of the entire website before development begins. If you do not approve the design — for any reason, including simply not liking it — and notify us in writing before development begins, we will refund the setup fee and the first monthly fee in full, and the agreement ends with nothing further owed by either party.

To exercise this right you must notify us in writing within ten (10) business days of the design being presented. We will issue the refund within fifteen (15) business days of that notice, to the original payment method.

On a refund under this clause, all rights in the designs and any work produced remain with us, and you may not use, reproduce or adapt them. Your own materials are returned to you.

Other than under this clause, or where you terminate for our material breach, fees already paid are non-refundable.

8. Value Added Tax

We are not currently registered for Value Added Tax in the United Arab Emirates, and accordingly no VAT is charged and no Tax Registration Number appears on our invoices.

Should we become VAT-registered, VAT will be added to invoices at the prevailing statutory rate from the effective date of registration, and we will notify you in writing before the first such invoice.

9. Ownership of your website

Your own materials — your domain name, trade marks, logo, brand assets, photographs, videos, text and all data collected through your website — remain your exclusive property at all times. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership of any of them to us.

The website itself — including its code, design, page templates and build — remains our property until all sums due to us under your agreement have been paid in full. In the ordinary course that means completing your initial term and paying every monthly fee. Where the agreement ends early, it means paying all sums accrued to the date of termination together with any early termination amount payable.

Once we have been paid in full, full ownership of the website transfers to you automatically. On written request we will then deliver the website files and provide reasonable assistance with migration.

What this means in practice. Throughout your initial term you have full use of your website — we host it, maintain it, secure it and keep it running, and everything on it that is yours stays yours. You do not own the underlying code until we have been paid in full. Ending the agreement early does not cost you the website: settle the account, including any early termination amount, and it becomes yours. It is only where sums remain outstanding that the website, its code and its build stay ours.

We retain ownership of our own tools, frameworks, libraries, code components and methodologies that are of general application and were not created exclusively for you. Nothing here prevents us from reusing such general-purpose components on other projects.

Third-party software incorporated into your website — including the content management system, themes, plugins and extensions — remains subject to its own licence terms, which pass to you when ownership of the website transfers.

10. Your responsibilities

To deliver on time we need you to: attend the discovery session; supply your logo, brand assets, photographs and any content you wish to appear on the website; provide access to your domain registrar, your Google Business Profile and any other account required to deliver the services — including your existing hosting, where we are working on a website you already have rather than building a new one; and nominate a single point of contact authorised to give approvals on your behalf.

You warrant that all materials you supply are owned by or properly licensed to you, do not infringe the rights of any third party, and comply with the applicable laws of the United Arab Emirates, including laws relating to advertising, consumer protection, and the activities permitted under your trade licence.

We are not liable for delay or non-performance to the extent caused by your failure to meet these obligations. Where an approval or item of information is returned late, the launch date moves by the same period.

11. Hosting, availability and security

For the duration of your agreement we host your website on infrastructure of our selection, and provide SSL certification, routine backups, security updates and uptime monitoring. Backups are taken not less frequently than once a day and retained for not less than four (4) weeks.

We do not warrant uninterrupted availability. Downtime caused by third-party infrastructure providers, network failures, denial-of-service attacks, or scheduled maintenance notified in advance does not constitute a breach.

On termination or expiry, we will on written request provide you with an export of your website data and any enquiry records held, within ten (10) business days. That data is yours in every case, whether or not ownership of the website has transferred.

Where ownership of the website has transferred to you under clause 9, we will also deliver the website files and assist with migration. Where it has not, you receive your data and your own materials, and the website files remain ours.

Our obligation to host and maintain the website ends thirty (30) days after termination.

12. Confidentiality and publicity

Each party keeps confidential all non-public information disclosed by the other, including commercial figures, pricing, client lists, business plans and technical information, and uses it solely for the purpose of performing the agreement. This obligation continues for three (3) years after termination.

We may identify you as a client and display your website and logo in our portfolio and marketing materials. We will not publish any case study, testimonial, performance figure, screenshot, or before-and-after comparison relating to you without your prior written approval of the specific content, and we will never publish your commercial figures or customer details. You may withdraw approval for any published item at any time in writing, and we will remove it within five (5) business days.

We may place a discreet credit and link in your website footer. You may request its removal at any time in writing, at no charge.

13. Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded under the laws of the United Arab Emirates.

Subject to the above, our total aggregate liability under or in connection with your agreement shall not exceed the total amount of fees actually paid by you to us in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

Neither party is liable to the other for loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of anticipated savings, loss of business opportunity, loss of goodwill, or any indirect or consequential loss.

You indemnify us against any third-party claim arising from materials you supply, including any claim that they infringe intellectual property rights or breach applicable law.

Neither party is liable for failure or delay caused by an event beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, war, civil unrest, government action, changes in law, failure of telecommunications or internet infrastructure, or failure of a third-party service provider.

14. Personal data

We comply with Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data and any other applicable UAE data protection legislation. Where we process personal data collected through your website, we do so on your instructions and solely for the purpose of delivering the services.

How we handle personal data is set out in full in our Privacy Policy.

15. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the federal laws of the United Arab Emirates and the laws of the Emirate of Dubai.

The parties shall first attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute by negotiation within thirty (30) days of written notice of the dispute. Any dispute not resolved that way is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

These terms are published in English and Arabic. In the event of any conflict or discrepancy between the two texts, the Arabic text shall prevail before the Courts of Dubai in accordance with the applicable laws of the United Arab Emirates.