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CONTENT BOUNDARIES • ANTI-ABUSE CONTROLS

Acceptable Use Policy

Doccu Statutory Policy • Last Updated: September 2026 • Jurisdiction: Republic of South Africa

Table of Contents

1. Purpose & Guiding Principles 2. ECT Act Excluded Wet-Ink Documents 3. Anti-Spam & Transactional Email Throttling 4. System Integrity & Security Prohibitions 5. Remediation, Suspension & Account Termination

1. Purpose & Guiding Principles

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") defines prohibited activities and usage restrictions on the Doccu platform. Our goal is to ensure the integrity, security, and statutory legal validity of all agreements executed through our infrastructure.

2. Statutory Excluded Wet-Ink Documents (ECT Act)

Under Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act No. 25 of 2002 ("ECT Act"), South African law explicitly requires physical "wet-ink" execution for certain categories of legal instruments.

You are STRICTLY PROHIBITED from using Doccu to execute any of the following:

  • Alienation of Land: Agreements for the sale, transfer, or alienation of immovable property (Alienation of Land Act No. 68 of 1981).
  • Long-Term Leases: Agreements for a lease of immovable property for a period exceeding ten (10) years.
  • Wills and Codicils: The execution, retention, and presentation of a will, testamentary trust, or codicil (Wills Act No. 7 of 1953).
  • Bills of Exchange: The execution or negotiation of a bill of exchange, including promissory notes and cheques (Bills of Exchange Act No. 34 of 1964).

Attempting to execute any statutory excluded instrument on Doccu renders the signature legally void under South African law and constitutes grounds for immediate account suspension.

3. Anti-Spam & Free-Tier Email Throttling

Doccu provides transactional email dispatches for document invitations. To protect deliverability and comply with South African anti-spam legislation (Section 45 of the ECT Act and Section 69 of POPIA):

  • Users may not send unsolicited signing invitations or use Doccu to harvest email addresses.
  • Free-tier accounts are subject to automated rate limits and email throttling to prevent spam abuse.
  • All signing invitations must have an identifiable corporate sender and a direct connection to a legitimate business or learnership agreement.

4. System Integrity & Security Prohibitions

Users must not:

  • Upload documents containing malicious code, trojans, ransomware, or executable scripts.
  • Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any Doccu system or network without prior written authorization from our Information Officer.
  • Engage in automated scraping, data harvesting, or denial-of-service activities against Doccu endpoints.
  • Attempt to bypass account resource quotas or decrypt cryptographic audit trails.

5. Remediation, Suspension & Account Termination

Doccu reserves the right to immediately suspend or terminate any account found to be in violation of this AUP, without refund, and to report illegal activities to the South African Police Service (SAPS) or relevant regulatory authorities.