Terms & Conditions

A. Usage Policy

User is required to register in UMF online booking system and have budget allocated in order to be able to reserve UMF's equipment / services.
All equipment in UMF is primarily used by their registered users and their associated researchers including graduate students and assistants. Undergraduates may not use the equipment except in very special cases.
The "Budget allocation" is to provide principal investigator / chief supervisor (PI / supervisor) a way to input information such as research account code and maximum chargeable amount for their research team member(s) service(s) usage charges. NO actual budget were transferred nor committed prior to service(s) provide. Charges occur only after service(s) provide.
User must use his/her own staff / student PolyU ID card to get access to UMF and present their card at the start and end of session of the reserved equipment. External user shall seek for our laboratory-in-charge for room access and equipment activation.
Booking session can only be activated and operated by the reserved user. Users are not allowed to make a booking for another person. Transfer of bookings is also prohibited.
If logbook is assigned with the booking equipment, user must complete the log upon session finish.
User is assumed to use the equipment on time and is expected to fully utilize the reserved time period.
User who works in non-office hour (office hour: 0900am - 1800pm, Mon-Fri), must have at least one companion.
User who needs to stay after 11:00 pm in UMF laboratories, is required to obtain your supervisor approval, by sending the below information and request of stay to your supervisor via Email (one day in advance). After obtaining your supervisor approval, user must forward the information and approval simultaneously to the laboratory persons-in-charge.
1. Your full name
2. Your contact telephone number
3. Laboratory of stay
4. Duration of stay
All usage records can be browsed and exported by user and PI / Supervisor from our online booking system.
User must not alter any equipment’s default setting unless prior approval is obtained from the laboratory-in-charge, e.g. cables, hardware configuration, control software setting etc.
User should reset the equipment to its original configuration and tidy up the working area after use. The user who books the equipment will be responsible for any damages incurred during its use. The repair cost will be charged to the user.
Users shall be considerate and not to leave behind any used materials or personal belongings such as gloves, waste paper, chemicals, etc.
Laboratory-in-charge reserves the right to cancel or suspend any equipment booking for maintenance, servicing, special events or safety reasons at any time without prior notice.
UMF reserves the right to cancel or suspend user’s account / using our facilities for any violation of safety rules, general laboratory rules or booking procedure.
UMF shall have the right to maintain fair use of equipment and ensure equipment’s unitization. User will be alerted and restricted on further booking when their usage reaches certain level of the fair usage threshold according to system record.
External users require payment in advance. Please consult corresponding laboratory-in-charge for equipment / service quotation or account budget deposition procedures.
This registration form should be completed with signatures and sent to UMF for on-line account activation. Inform UMF immediately if there is any change in the above personal information.

B. Equipment charge Policy

User and PI / Supervisor are obligated to ensure the allocated budget account have sufficient funds before equipment reservation.
UMF reserves the right to suspend / stop provide service when allocated budget account does not have sufficient funds or user account deficits exist.
Service charges will be reserved from the allocated budget account upon booking creation and will be deducted when the booking is completed.
Session will be fully charged for “NO SHOW” and “LATE” incidents.
Penalty will be enforced for cancellation booking within 24 hours (i.e. min-charge of the equipment).
For over-time usage (without booking), penalty charge will be enforced (i.e. x 1.5 rate of the equipment).
The equipment / service hourly rate is subject to change from time to time without prior notice. We shall provide the equipment/services according to the latest listed charge rate upon reservation.

C. Privacy Policy Statement

You are required to provide the personal data other than those items indicated as optional. Failure to provide such data may lead to UMF not being able to process and administer the registration process.
Purpose of collection: The personal data provided by you to UMF will be collected, retained, processed, used for the following purposes:
1. Facilitating communications between PolyU / UMF and you;
2. Conducting statistical analysis, research, surveys, quality assurance and review;
3. Enabling PolyU / UMF to obtain and maintain any business licence, permit or authorization;
4. Enabling PolyU / UMF to comply with any applicable procedures, laws, regulations or court orders (in each case whether in Hong Kong or overseas), to comply with any requests by any governments, statutory, regulatory or law enforcement authorities, and to comply with valid legal processes and ordinances obligations; and
5. Other purposes directly relating to any of the above.
Disclosure and Transfer of Personal Data
1. UMF may transfer your personal data to other department of PolyU in connection with any of the purposes set out in paragraph C-2.
2. Your personal data may be retained in an electronic database in order to facilitate the purposes set out in paragraph C-2.
Access and Correction of Personal Data
1. You have the right to request access to and correction of your personal data held by UMF. Any data access and correction requests should be made in writing to the Director of UMF.
Data retention policy
1. User data will be erased after one year of inactivity.
You may refer to https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/en/privacy_policy_statement/ for the Privacy Policy Statement of PolyU.