Service Level Agreement

1. Purpose and Scope

This Service Level Agreement defines the commitments of North Hosting Canada Inc. to its clients regarding the availability, performance, security and technical support of the following services:

• Shared Web Hosting (Go, Pro, Enterprise, Premium)
• Managed WordPress Hosting
• Virtual Private Servers (VPS) Linux SSD, VPS Storage, VPS Seedbox
• Dedicated Servers
• Colocation Services
• IP Transit and Network Connectivity
• Domain Name and SSL Certificate Services
• Managed Services

This SLA applies to all services provided by North Hosting Canada from its datacenters located in Canada. It does not cover third-party services, software installed by the Client, or custom configurations made by the Client.

2. Definitions

3. Uptime Guarantee

North Hosting Canada commits to maintaining a minimum availability of 99.9% across all its hosting services, calculated on a calendar monthly basis. This percentage corresponds to a maximum authorized downtime of 43 minutes and 28 seconds per month.

Availability is calculated using the following formula:

4. Service Levels — Web Hosting

Shared Web Hosting, Managed WordPress and Premium hosting services include the following guarantees:

The demarcation point for Web Hosting is the network port of the server on which the Client's account is hosted. NHC is responsible for the server infrastructure, network and power supply up to this point.

5. Service Levels — VPS and Dedicated Servers

VPS and dedicated servers benefit from the same network and power availability guarantees as shared hosting services. The following additional guarantees apply:

6. Service Levels — Colocation

Colocation services include physical space, power supply, cooling, network connectivity and remote assistance (Remote Hands). The following guarantees apply:

6.1 Space and Environment

NHC commits to maintaining the following environmental conditions in cold aisles:

• Temperature: 18°C to 27°C (compliant with ASHRAE A1 recommendations)
• Relative humidity: 20% to 80% without condensation

6.2 Power Supply

Each cabinet has a primary (A) and redundant (B) power feed of equal capacity, protected by UPS systems and backup generators. An SLA credit is only applicable if both circuits are simultaneously unavailable.

6.3 Remote Hands

7. Service Levels — Network and Connectivity

Network connectivity is provided via redundant Internet connections with multiple transit carriers. The demarcation point is the network interface on NHC's edge router.

L3/L4 Anti-DDoS protection is included across the entire network. Volumetric attacks are automatically filtered before reaching the Client's infrastructure.

8. Service Levels — Power Supply

Cabinet power supply is protected by UPS systems and diesel backup generators providing a minimum autonomy of 48 hours at full load. Power SLA credits only apply if both circuits (A and B) are simultaneously unavailable.

9. Security and Data Protection

North Hosting Canada implements the following security measures across its entire infrastructure:

• Imunify360: Proactive protection against malware, brute-force attacks and SQL injections
• Web Application Firewall (WAF): ModSecurity with updated OWASP rules
• Anti-DDoS: L3/L4 filtering across the entire network, L7 filtering via Imunify360
• SSL Certificates: Free Let's Encrypt on all hosting accounts
• Backups: Daily JetBackup to external server, 30-day retention
• Physical Access: Biometric access control, 24/7 video surveillance, access logging
• SOC 2 Certification: Independent audit of security, availability and confidentiality controls

10. SLA Credit Calculation and Attribution

10.1 Incident Reporting

The Client must report any incident via a support ticket in the client area within a maximum of 1 hour following the observation of the service interruption. The incident duration is calculated from the ticket opening until confirmed resolution.

10.2 Credit Request

The Client has 30 calendar days following the incident to submit an SLA credit request in writing via the client area.

10.3 Credit Application

SLA credits are applied as a credit to the Client's account for the following month. Credits constitute the sole and exclusive remedy of the Client in the event of non-compliance with service levels. The maximum monthly credit is capped at 50% of the MRC of the affected service.

11. Scheduled and Emergency Maintenance

11.1 Scheduled Maintenance

NHC notifies the Client at least 72 hours before any scheduled maintenance. Maintenance is performed outside peak hours when possible (between 2:00 AM and 6:00 AM ET). Downtime related to scheduled maintenance is excluded from the availability calculation.

11.2 Emergency Maintenance

In the event of emergency maintenance required to prevent or correct a critical issue, NHC notifies the Client at least 15 minutes before the intervention. Downtime related to emergency maintenance is excluded from the availability calculation.

12. Technical Support and Response Times

Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in French and English, via support ticket, phone and live chat.

13. Exclusions and Limitations

The commitments of this SLA and associated credits do not apply to service interruptions caused by:

1. Scheduled, emergency or Client-requested maintenance
2. Acts or omissions of the Client, its employees, subcontractors or agents
3. Force majeure events (natural disasters, wars, pandemics, public power grid failures, government actions)
4. Denial of service attacks (DDoS), viruses or hacking for which no commercially reasonable solution exists
5. Non-compliance by the Client with NHC's instructions, recommendations or technical requirements
6. Performance, penetration or vulnerability assessment tests conducted without NHC's prior written consent
7. Failures of third-party services, including Internet transit providers, domain registrars and certificate authorities
8. Software, scripts or configurations installed or modified by the Client
9. The Client exceeding the resource limits allocated to their plan
10. Any period during which the Client's account is in payment default

14. Compliance — Quebec Law 25

North Hosting Canada commits to complying with the obligations imposed by Quebec's Law 25, including:

• Section 3.1 (P-39.1) — Privacy Officer: NHC has designated a person responsible for the protection of personal information whose contact details are published on its website
• Section 3.5 (P-39.1) — Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA): A PIA is conducted before any project involving the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, as well as before any data transfer outside Quebec
• Section 3.6 (P-39.1) — Incident Notification: NHC notifies the Commission d'accès à l'information (CAI) and affected individuals of any confidentiality incident presenting a serious risk of harm, within the prescribed timeframes
• Section 8 (P-39.1) — Consent: Consent is obtained in a manifest, free and informed manner for the collection and use of personal information
• Section 17 (P-39.1) — Transfer Outside Quebec: All NHC client data is hosted in Canada. No transfer of personal information is made outside Canadian territory without a prior PIA and adequate contractual safeguards
• Section 27 (P-39.1) — Right to Portability: NHC allows the Client to obtain a copy of their data in a structured and commonly used technological format
• Penalties: Fines for non-compliance can reach $25,000,000 or 4% of worldwide turnover (s. 90.1 P-39.1)

15. Compliance — PIPEDA

As a Canadian federal enterprise, North Hosting Canada complies with the 10 principles of PIPEDA (Schedule 1 of the Act):

1. Accountability (Principle 4.1): NHC is responsible for personal information under its control
2. Identifying Purposes (Principle 4.2): The purposes for collection are identified before or at the time of collection
3. Consent (Principle 4.3): Consent is obtained for the collection, use and disclosure
4. Limiting Collection (Principle 4.4): Only necessary information is collected
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention (Principle 4.5): Information is used only for the stated purposes
6. Accuracy (Principle 4.6): Information is kept as accurate and up-to-date as necessary
7. Safeguards (Principle 4.7): Security measures proportional to the sensitivity of the information are in place
8. Openness (Principle 4.8): Policies and practices are readily available
9. Individual Access (Principle 4.9): Individuals can access their information and challenge its accuracy
10. Challenging Compliance (Principle 4.10): A complaint process is in place

Mandatory Breach Reporting (s. 10.1): NHC reports to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada any breach of security safeguards that creates a real risk of significant harm, and notifies affected individuals.

16. Legal Framework — Civil Code of Quebec

This SLA is governed by Quebec law. The following provisions of the Civil Code of Quebec apply:

• Articles 35 to 41 (Respect of reputation and privacy): NHC respects the right to privacy of its clients and implements the necessary measures to protect personal information
• Article 1434 (Implicit content of contract): A contract binds the parties not only as to what is expressed in it but also as to what is incident to it according to its nature and in conformity with usage, equity or law
• Articles 1457-1458 (Civil liability): NHC is bound to make reparation for injury caused by its fault in the performance of its contractual obligations
• Article 1474 (Limitation of liability): NHC's liability is limited to the SLA credits provided in this agreement, except in cases of gross or intentional fault
• Article 1604 (Resolution of contract): In the event of serious and repeated failure to meet SLA obligations, the Client may request the resolution of the contract
• Article 2098 (Contract of service): This SLA constitutes a contract of service within the meaning of the Civil Code, by which NHC undertakes to provide a service for a price

Jurisdiction: Any dispute arising from this SLA shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the judicial district of Longueuil, Province of Quebec, Canada.

17. Consumer Protection Act

When the Client is a consumer within the meaning of Quebec's Consumer Protection Act, the following provisions apply in addition to this SLA:

• Section 38: No clause of the contract may have the effect of exempting NHC from its legal obligations to the consumer
• Section 40: The service provided must conform to the description given in the contract and advertising materials
• Section 228: No penal clause may be imposed on the consumer in the event of contract cancellation, except within the limits provided by law
• Section 272: The consumer may request the resolution of the contract if the merchant fails to fulfill an obligation imposed by law

Money-back guarantee: NHC offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all Web Hosting services, in keeping with the spirit of the Consumer Protection Act.

18. Amendments and Termination

NHC reserves the right to amend this SLA at any time. Amendments take effect 30 days after their publication on the NHC website. The Client will be notified by email of any material amendment. Continued use of the services after the effective date of the amendments constitutes acceptance of the amended SLA.

In the event of an amendment that significantly reduces the guaranteed service levels, the Client may terminate their contract without penalty within 30 days of notification, in accordance with Article 1604 of the Civil Code of Quebec.