Request for the Provision of Publishing Support for the Production and Promotion of the Asia-Pac ...

ESCAP is seeking to partner with a publisher in order to jointly produce and publish the Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal (hereafter, APSDJ), an existing ESCAP journal currently undergoing a transition with the aim of increasing its visibility and academic impact. As publishing with the United Nations is subject to extensive internal regulation, prior to commencing a procurement process, ESCAP seeks to understand - through this Request for Information - the extent to which potential publishing partners would be able to comply with relevant UN rules, as detailed below. Respondents are requested to indicate in their submissions, point by point, which conditions that would be acceptable within an agreement to co-publish the APSDJ. The main reference document is the United Nations Policy Manual for Publications; a document that was drafted primarily for an internal audience, hence the bracketed insertions of (United Nations) for clarity. 1. Chapter 5, Licensing of publications and other content: (a) When a publication is co-published between the UN Secretariat and one or more external partners (trade publishers, international organizations and/or research institutes with a relevant publishing programme), the United Nations holds the copyright. (5.13.b) (b) Only the trade publisher’s logo can appear on the publisher’s edition, i.e. the United Nations emblem cannot appear anywhere in the book. The following should however be printed on the front cover: In collaboration with the United Nations. (5.19b) (c) Licensing Office (i) Licensing requests, contracts, and copyright and policy queries are handled as follows: • The Secretariat of the (United Nations) Publications Board is responsible for copyright and policy queries. • The Secretariat of the (United Nations) Publications Board drafts co-edition contracts and contracts for the external publication of original UN content. • The (United Nations) Licensing office in New York handles subsidiary rights, i.e. requests to re-use and/or translate (United Nations) Secretariat content in whole or in part in any medium and format. • The (United Nations) Licensing office in New York is tasked to actively seek third parties for further dissemination of (United Nations) Secretariat publications via subsidiary rights. (5.22) d) Contracts for Subsidiary Rights (5.28 to 5.30) 2. Chapter 7, Cover, spine, title page, back cover a) 7.4, 7.6 and 7.8 3. Chapter 8, Attribution of authorship (a) When the Secretariat and one or more external entities (trade publishers, international organizations and/or research institutes with a relevant publishing programme) co-publish a publication, their names may appear on the cover and title page as authors. Their emblems will identify them as co-publishers as per 7.8, provided that the United Nations holds the copyright and a co-edition contract was signed. (8.10) In addition, the following provisions are usually included in United Nations contracts. Respondents are asked to indicate their willingness to accept these provisions in their submissions as well. • Amicable settlement: The Parties shall use their best efforts to settle amicably any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of this Contract or the breach, termination or invalidity thereof. Where the Parties wish to seek such an amicable settlement through conciliation, the conciliation shall take place in accordance with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Conciliation Rules then obtaining, or according to such other procedure as may be agreed between the Parties. • Arbitration: Any dispute, controversy or claim between the Parties arising out of this Contract or the breach, termination or invalidity thereof shall, unless settled amicably under the preceding paragraph of this Article within sixty (60) days after receipt by one Party of the other Party’s request for such amicable settlement, shall be referred by either Party to arbitration in accordance with the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules then obtaining. Such arbitration shall be conducted in New York, U.S.A. The arbitration tribunal shall have no authority to award punitive damages. The Parties agree to be bound by any arbitration award rendered as a result of such arbitration as the final adjudication of any such controversy, claim or dispute. • Privileges and immunities: Nothing in or relating to this Contract shall be deemed a waiver, express or implied, of any of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations. • The Contractor shall indemnify, defend, and hold and save harmless, the United Nations, and its officials, agents and employees, from and against all suits, proceedings, claims, demands, losses and liability of any kind or nature brought by any third party against the United Nations, including, but not limited to, all litigation costs and expenses, attorney’s fees, settlement payments and damages, based on, arising from, or relating to: • allegations or claims that the possession of or use by the United Nations of any patented device, any copyrighted material, or any other goods, property or services provided or licensed to the United Nations under the terms of the Contract, in whole or in part, separately or in a combination contemplated by the Contractor’s published specifications therefor, or otherwise specifically approved by the Contractor, constitutes an infringement of any patent, copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property right of any third party; or, • any acts or omissions of the Contractor, or of any subcontractor or anyone directly or indirectly employed by them in the performance of the Contract, which give rise to legal liability to anyone not a party to the Contract, including, without limitation, claims and liability in the nature of a claim for workers’ compensation.