Record Retention Policy

Describes BlueSleuth's internal operational practices for retaining, storing, archiving, and deleting Platform data and records.

This Record Retention Policy describes BlueSleuth's internal operational practices regarding the retention, storage, archival, and deletion of Platform data, content, and related records. This Policy is provided solely to explain BlueSleuth's business practices and does not create any contractual obligation to retain records for the benefit of any user, establish BlueSleuth as any user's official recordkeeping system, or replace any user's independent statutory, contractual, regulatory, tax, escrow, insurance, licensing, litigation-hold, or other legal record-retention obligations. Nothing in this Policy requires BlueSleuth to preserve any record beyond its ordinary retention practices except as required by applicable law, a valid court order, or another legally binding preservation obligation.

1. Broker's Independent Obligation

Broker shall obtain, create, maintain, preserve, and retain all listing agreements, agency agreements, owner authorizations, agency disclosures, written consents, offers, purchase and sale agreements, amendments, correspondence, communications, advertising materials, photographs, marketing records, escrow records, trust-account records, deposit records, invoices, settlement statements, title documents, registration records, vessel documentation records, complaints, closing documents, licensing records, and all other records required by applicable law for the applicable retention period.

Broker is solely responsible for downloading, exporting, backing up, and preserving its own records. BlueSleuth is not Broker's official system of record and makes no representation or warranty that Platform records are complete, permanent, accurate, admissible, recoverable, or sufficient to satisfy any legal, regulatory, licensing, tax, insurance, accounting, escrow, litigation, audit, or evidentiary requirement. Platform records may be modified, overwritten, archived, deleted, corrupted, delayed, unavailable, inaccessible, or lost due to routine maintenance, user actions, synchronization activities, security events, system upgrades, software defects, data-retention practices, third-party service interruptions, hardware failures, or other operational reasons. Broker shall not rely upon BlueSleuth as its sole or primary repository for business or legal records and shall maintain independent copies of all records required by applicable law or reasonably necessary for its business operations.

2. Platform Data Retention

The following retention periods reflect BlueSleuth's ordinary operational retention targets and internal business practices. Actual retention periods may vary where reasonably necessary for legal, security, operational, technical, or business reasons. Nothing in this Section creates a contractual obligation to retain any particular record for a specified period except where required by applicable law.

• Active listing, profile, account, and related Platform data is retained while it remains active and for a limited post-removal period reasonably necessary for restoration, synchronization, customer support, abuse detection, fraud prevention, security review, and ordinary business operations.
• When a listing is sold, withdrawn, expired, or otherwise removed from the Platform, BlueSleuth may retain a limited transaction-reference record—including vessel identifiers, make, model, year, listing dates, status history, responsible account, internal audit trails, moderation history, complaint records, enforcement flags, and related system metadata—for seven (7) years after the listing is removed from public display. Public display of the listing shall cease promptly. Full listing media, photographs, videos, documents, and descriptive content will ordinarily be deleted, anonymized, or de-identified after [CLIENT TO CONFIRM: ninety (90) days], unless retention is reasonably necessary for an active dispute, legal hold, governmental inquiry, safety investigation, fraud or security review, insurance requirement, enforcement of these Terms, or other lawful business or legal purpose.
• Account identity and contract records will ordinarily be retained while active and for seven (7) years after closure; billing and tax records for the legally required accounting period; support records for three (3) years; and routine security logs for two (2) years, unless a longer period is reasonably necessary. Backup copies will ordinarily expire pursuant to a documented rolling retention schedule targeted at ninety (90) days. BlueSleuth may retain records for longer periods where reasonably necessary to protect the Platform, enforce these Terms, resolve disputes, collect unpaid amounts, prevent fraud, satisfy insurance requirements, or comply with applicable law.
• BlueSleuth will suspend ordinary deletion or modification of relevant data when it reasonably anticipates litigation, receives a preservation demand, subpoena, court order, governmental inquiry, or other legal preservation obligation, investigates suspected fraud, security incidents, or abuse of the Platform, or otherwise determines that preservation is reasonably necessary to protect its legal rights or comply with applicable law. Legal holds will be appropriately documented, limited in scope to the extent reasonably practicable, periodically reviewed, and released when no longer reasonably necessary.
• Retention periods begin on the later of the applicable event giving rise to retention, account closure, removal of the relevant listing, completion of the applicable transaction, or the final resolution of any related dispute, investigation, litigation, legal hold, or regulatory proceeding. Where permitted by applicable law, BlueSleuth may aggregate, anonymize, pseudonymize, or de-identify data instead of permanently deleting it. Any retained or de-identified data may be used, maintained, or disclosed only as permitted by these Terms, BlueSleuth's Privacy Policy, and applicable law.
• Users are solely responsible for exporting and maintaining independent copies of all business records before closing an account or removing listings. BlueSleuth does not guarantee that deleted data can be recovered or restored after expiration of the applicable retention period and assumes no obligation to reconstruct, recover, or recreate deleted data. Users are encouraged to export and maintain their own copies of all business records before closing an account or removing listings. BlueSleuth does not guarantee that deleted data can be recovered or restored after expiration of the applicable retention period.

Nothing in this Policy shall be construed as limiting BlueSleuth's right to delete data sooner where authorized by these Terms, requested by the user, required by applicable law, or reasonably necessary to protect the security, integrity, or operation of the Platform.

3. Federal Vessel Documentation

Federal vessel documentation, endorsement, mortgage, lien, citizenship, tonnage, ownership, filing, and registration requirements vary depending upon the vessel, its ownership, and its intended use. Certain vessels measuring at least five (5) net tons may be eligible for federal documentation, and documentation may be required or advantageous for certain coastwise, fisheries, registry, financing, or other federally regulated activities. Recreational vessels may be subject to different requirements. Users are solely responsible for determining whether federal documentation, state registration, titling, tax, licensing, or other governmental filings or approvals are required for any particular vessel or transaction and for complying with all applicable legal requirements.

A Platform listing does not establish or verify a vessel's net tonnage, ownership, title, documentation status, lien priority, citizenship qualification, endorsement eligibility, registration status, compliance with applicable law, or the validity of any filing or record. BlueSleuth does not prepare, review, file, record, or verify documentation with the United States Coast Guard National Vessel Documentation Center, any state titling or registration authority, or any other governmental agency, and does not provide documentation, title, escrow, settlement, closing, legal, brokerage, or other professional services. Any information displayed on the Platform regarding documentation, registration, title, ownership, liens, or governmental filings is provided solely for informational purposes, may originate from third-party sources or user submissions, and is not guaranteed to be complete, current, or accurate.

Users are responsible for obtaining advice, where appropriate, from qualified legal counsel, vessel documentation professionals, title professionals, lenders, surveyors, accountants, or other qualified advisors before relying upon any documentation, registration, ownership, lien, financing, or compliance information relating to a vessel or transaction.

4. Data Access, Export, and Deletion Requests

A verified user may, to the extent provided by applicable law, request access to, correction of, export of, or deletion of eligible account data through BlueSleuth's designated privacy-request process. BlueSleuth may require reasonable verification of the requestor's identity and authority before processing any request and may request additional information reasonably necessary to authenticate the request or protect the security and privacy of other users.

BlueSleuth may deny, limit, condition, or defer any request to the extent retention, restriction, or continued processing of the requested information is reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law; satisfy tax, accounting, licensing, insurance, security, fraud-prevention, or record-retention obligations; complete requested or ongoing services; preserve transaction-reference records; investigate suspected misconduct; exercise or defend legal claims; protect the rights, property, or safety of BlueSleuth or others; honor a legal hold, court order, subpoena, governmental request, or other legal obligation; or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.

Where applicable, BlueSleuth will direct its service providers and subprocessors to act upon validated requests to the extent required by applicable law and consistent with BlueSleuth's contractual obligations. BlueSleuth cannot guarantee the timing or completion of actions performed by independent third-party service providers or subprocessors. BlueSleuth is not responsible for deleting or modifying information independently retained by other users, governmental agencies, third-party service providers, search engines, or other third parties not under BlueSleuth's control.

BlueSleuth will provide information regarding available appeal rights, complaint procedures, or other remedies where required by applicable law.

Nothing in this Section limits BlueSleuth's rights or obligations under its Privacy Policy, applicable law, or any valid legal preservation obligation.