Terms of Service

"Gateway" / "Platform" — the Pakistan Biotechnology Gateway, the B2B marketplace operated by Syntax of Life (Pvt) Ltd ("Syntax", "we", "us").

"Customer" — a researcher, university, institute, hospital, company or other organisation that posts requests for quotation ("RFQs") and purchases services.

"Provider" — a verified laboratory or bioinformatics facility that receives routed RFQs, submits quotes and performs awarded work.

"Supplier" — a verified vendor of reagents, kits, consumables and related products listed on the Gateway.

"Project" — a unit of awarded work progressing through tracked work stages from sample intake to released results, including its QC records, milestones, invoices, files and communications.

"Sealed bid" — a quote visible in substance only to its author and the awarding customer; competing providers see only that a sealed quote exists, never its price or content.

The Gateway is a business-to-business marketplace and workflow platform. Syntax connects Customers with verified Providers and Suppliers, routes RFQs, administers blind quoting, tracks project stages and records marketplace transactions. Syntax is a commercial intermediary. We are not a laboratory, we do not perform or interpret scientific work, and we are not a party to the service or supply agreements formed between Customers and Providers or Suppliers through the platform.

A quote, award, milestone or invoice exchanged on the Gateway forms a contract solely between the Customer and the Provider or Supplier involved. Syntax's role is limited to operating the platform, verification, moderation and settlement workflows described in these Terms.

The Gateway is intended for professional and institutional use. You must be at least 18 years old and authorised to bind the organisation you register. Registration information must be accurate and kept current. Credentials are personal and may not be shared outside your organisation.

Organisations are responsible for the conduct of the users they authorise, including portal access, quoting authority and payment reporting. We may suspend or terminate accounts that breach these Terms, provide false or misleading verification material, or misuse the platform — with notice except where immediate suspension is required to protect the marketplace or its users.

Verified status on the Gateway means the organisation cleared Syntax's verification criteria — credential checks, capability and equipment review, track-record assessment and moderation. The badge is issued by Syntax of Life, a private company; it is not a government accreditationand does not replace a Customer's own due diligence, institutional approvals or regulatory requirements.

Verification criteria, declared accreditations (for example ISO 15189 or ISO/IEC 17025 status where applicable) and capability profiles are shown on provider registry entries. Providers must keep profile information accurate; material misrepresentation is grounds for removal.

Partner plans are billed in advance on a monthly cycle at the published rate. Each billing period generates an invoice in your portal. Subscriptions activate only after payment is confirmed — automatically by our payment partner or manually by Syntax after verifying a bank or wallet transfer. A platform service fee may apply to marketplace transactions as disclosed at the time of award.

Grace period: if a renewal payment is not confirmed by the expiry date, paid features remain available for a short grace period, after which the subscription lapses to read-only access until payment is received. We will notify you in advance and during the period.

Refunds: subscription fees are non-refundable except where required by applicable law or where a billing error occurred on our side. Marketplace project payments and milestone invoices are governed by the contract between Customer and Provider or Supplier.

Taxes: prices are exclusive of applicable sales tax/GST and withholding obligations. Where required, tax invoices will state the applicable levy.

Milestone invoices, recorded payments and payout events are statements of fact recorded on the project ledger. Customers pay the performing Provider or Supplier per the agreed schedule; Syntax may facilitate payment verification, escrow-style holds or settlement where offered, as described at the time.

Disputes over deliverables, quality, turnaround or payment are resolved first between the parties using the in-project record (stages, QC verdicts, files and messages are the authoritative log). The Gateway complaints process is available as a first escalation step; Syntax may mediate but does not adjudicate the underlying contract. Persistently abusive or fraudulent conduct leads to removal.

Project attachments are limited to documents and reports (current cap 25 MB per file). The Gateway does not host raw genomic data — FASTQ/BAM/CRAM and equivalent raw read files are transferred directly between Customer and Provider under their own agreement.

You must not:

• upload unlawful, infringing, unsafe or malicious material;
• upload identifiable personal or patient data except as permitted by the Data & Research Ethics Policy;
• misrepresent capabilities, accreditation or verification status;
• attempt to circumvent sealed-bid confidentiality, role isolation or access controls;
• scrape, probe or disrupt the platform or its security;
• use the platform for work prohibited by applicable biosafety, export-control or sanctions law.

We may remove content and suspend accounts that breach these rules. You retain ownership of content you upload; you grant us the limited licence needed to store, transmit and display it in operating the platform.

Quote contents, RFQ details, project records and business information exchanged on the Gateway are confidential to the parties involved and to Syntax as platform operator. Syntax does not disclose a provider's quotes to competitors, a customer's identity before award, or project contents to third parties — except as required by law, by a competent authority, or with the party's consent.

Each party is responsible for its own regulatory position. Customers are responsible for the ethics approvals, informed consent, import/export permits and intended-use legality of the work they request. Providers and Suppliers are responsible for holding the licences, accreditations and biosafety authorisations their work requires, and for performing services to the professional standard they represent. The Data & Research Ethics Policy forms part of these Terms and is binding on all parties.

The Gateway software, design, text and marks are the property of Syntax of Life or its licensors. Customer data, RFQs, results and reports belong to the Customer; provider-developed methods and general know-how remain the Provider's unless the project contract states otherwise. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of pre-existing intellectual property between the parties.

The platform is provided "as is" and "as available". Syntax does not warrant the scientific validity, fitness for purpose, safety or regulatory compliance of work performed by Providers or goods supplied by Suppliers, nor continuous error-free availability of the platform. Registry information is provider-supplied and verified to the standard described in Section 4.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Syntax is not liable for indirect, consequential or exemplary damages, lost profit, lost data or lost research opportunity arising from use of the platform or from marketplace transactions between other parties. Our aggregate liability for claims arising from platform operation is limited to the fees you paid Syntax in the twelve months preceding the claim. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law, including liability for fraud or wilful misconduct.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Syntax of Life, its officers and staff against claims, losses and expenses arising from your breach of these Terms, your uploaded content, your regulatory or ethical non-compliance, or your infringement of third-party rights.

You may close your account at any time; project and financial records are retained as required by law and the Data & Research Ethics Policy. We may suspend or terminate access for breach, fraud, extended non-payment or conduct harmful to the marketplace, with notice where practicable. Provisions that by nature survive — confidentiality, IP, liability, disputes — survive termination.

These Terms are governed by the laws of Pakistan. Disputes arising from platform operation will be submitted first to good-faith negotiation, then to the courts of competent jurisdiction in Karachi, Pakistan, unless applicable law requires otherwise. Contracts between Customers and Providers or Suppliers are governed by the law those parties agree.

We may update these Terms; material changes are posted here with a new effective date and, for registered accounts, notified in-app or by email before taking effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. Legal notices: contact the platform team.