GC Design System: Terms of Use (1.0)

This document defines the terms and responsibilities that you agree to by using GC Design System.

GC Design System is a service that is owned and operated by the Canadian Digital Service (CDS) at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). For CDS’s responsibilities, see GC Design System’s service level agreement.

GC Design System is for the sole use of Canadian federal departments, agencies, and other portions of the federal public administration.

You are responsible for:

Accepting all conditions and risks

You agree to GC Design System’s privacy notice and service level agreement.

By using GC Design System, you acknowledge that some components contain the Government of Canada’s official symbols, which are trademarked and may only be used for communications, operations and activities of the Government of Canada.

• You accept responsibility for ensuring that the Government of Canada’s official symbols are only used where legally authorized.

CDS may:

• Share general information about GC Design System and its use by Government of Canada departments and agencies in public forums, such as blog posts, presentations, and conferences.
• Ask for service standard metrics to assess the efficacy of the GC Design System and identify opportunities to improve it.

Contributing to a trustworthy, consistent, and compliant GC digital experience

GC Design System was created to enable Government of Canada departments and agencies to efficiently provide Canadians with a trustworthy, accessible and consistent digital experience.

• For information about the ownership and usage of content provided on Canada.ca, see the Canada.ca terms and conditions.

You are responsible for ensuring your website meets requirements applicable to all Canadian federal government websites and your department or agency, such as the Design Standard for the Federal Identity Program, Canada.ca Specifications, Canada.ca Content Style Guide, Policy on Official Languages, and accessibility standards.

• GC Design System tokens, components, templates, and patterns incorporate mandatory elements of the Canada.ca Specifications by default and are iteratively designed with ongoing user research.
• Deviations from GC Design System guidance and intended use cases should be avoided whenever possible, and supported by user research and strong rationale if necessary.
• If you are unsure about what Federal Identity Program requirements apply to your department or agency, contact your Federal Identity Program coordinator.

You are responsible for monitoring and maintaining the security of your websites.

Staying informed

CDS shares updates about GC Design System through the website and mailing list.

Alerts about important issues such as planned downtime, unexpected outages, and issues with third party infrastructure providers will be shared on both GC Design System’s website and mailing list.

You are responsible for signing up for the mailing list and/or checking the website regularly, to ensure you receive timely information.

For questions related to these terms of use, contact us.