» B U S I N E S S   T E R M S

Basis of contract:

The following General Terms and Conditions of Business apply to all contracts with us. When you place an order, you simultaneously consent to all our terms and conditions. We shall not accept any contrary Terms and Conditions. Differing agreements or amendments to our Terms and Conditions are only valid if agreed to in writing.

The client should – to our mutual interest – provide any supplementary information and documents necessary for the translation. This should facilitate the research work, and help avoid unclear points, keep prices low and delivery periods short. We do not accept liability either for delays in delivery or faulty translations resulting from the incorrect or incomplete transfer, or from misleading or false phrasing of the original text by the client.

We will treat all the texts and the information included in them as strictly confidential. No information will be passed on to third parties without prior consent. Consequently, we will send both the translation and the original documents only to the client personally, unless he/she names a different person or company as addressee when placing the order. Therefore, the client has to make sure he/she is at any time contactable should questions connected with the assignment arise.

Placing an order:

Orders should be placed in writing (per fax, e-mail or post). An order is only valid when we have accepted it in writing. The client should also confirm the receipt of the translation, the original text/document and the invoice. Of course, we also accept orders that are placed over the phone or in less formal ways. However, we cannot be held liable for any inconvenience arising from this.

Fees and Quotations:

The fee to be charged shall be determined based on the quotation provided at the time of acceptance of order (as per price list or specially agreed fee). Special prices for individual orders are subject to prior agreement in writing.

With extensive orders, we are entitled to demand payment in instalments in accordance with the quantity of the already completed and delivered translation. From private persons and foreign clients (outside Germany) we can ask payment in advance. Depending on the language combinations and the complexity of the text to be translated, our fees may in individual cases vary from the basic fees/prices listed.

Translation fees are based on the number of lines contained in the translation (one line consists of 55 keystrokes including spaces). The number of lines shall be determined using a count programme based on the source language (insofar as the source text is available in an electronic form, else on the target text).

Any special requests related to the translation – such as the exact rendition of the layout in the original text - must be expressly mentioned when placing the order as these can imply additional costs.
If the client cancels an order, we shall charge the costs incurred up to the date of cancellation.

Charges for interpreting services are based on the price list/quotation provided at the time of acceptance of order. For this service, we charge the time spent by the interpreter from the moment of his arrival at the place of the assignment until the completion of the job.

Payment can be made: in cash or by bank transfer. The amount due must be paid within 14 days from the date of the invoice. All costs for transferring payments from abroad are borne by the customer.
In the event of the client not complying with his obligation to pay within this period of time, we shall first send him a reminder with a new term of maximum 3 additional days, after which we have the right to charge 1 per cent interest for each fortnight for which the payment is delayed.

Classification of texts, terms of delivery:

We charge a basic fee for general technical texts. These are texts with only few technical, legal or other specialized terms. In addition to the basic fee, an adequate surcharge shall be charged for difficult technical texts – i.e. texts that contain a high number of technical terms. The complexity of a text and the delivery deadlines shall be determined following our checking of the text submitted.

Terms of delivery are only binding with our written confirmation. In the event of inability to comply with an agreed term of delivery due to force majeure, the customer shall be notified and we shall be entitled either to cancel the contract or to be granted a reasonable extension. If we cannot fulfil our obligation under the extended deadline, the customer is entitled to cancel the order. Any further rights, particularly claims for compensation, are excluded in these cases.

Liability:

We shall not be held liable for any faulty translations caused by the customer through incorrect or incomplete information or faulty original texts. In addition, we shall accept no responsibility for:

• damage caused by computer viruses (our software is regularly checked for viruses);
• the accessing of electronically transmitted documents by unauthorized third parties;
• delay of delivery dates (see Terms of Delivery);
• the loss/damage of data/documents during their dispatch, respectively electronic transmission;
• being an accessory to breaking the laws of copyright if the client commissions us to translate a text protected by copyright;
• complaints regarding the quality of a translation if they are made after more than 10 days from our delivering the completed translation. We then are to be granted a chance to correct the translation. This refers particularly to rush orders. If the correction is also proven to be unsatisfactory, the customer has a right to ask for reduced payment. In any case, our financial liability is limited to the fee agreed on the service provided.

We shall not be held liable unless proven to have been wilfully or grossly negligent.

Final provisions:

Until complete payment both the translation and its copyright remain our exclusive property.

We will not translate any texts with either racist or anti-constitutional character, and/or whose contents are intended as a violation of fundamental human rights.

Should individual provisions of these General Terms and Conditions of business become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. Any amendments must be agreed to in writing.

Place of business and jurisdiction:

Both our clients and we irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the District Court in Frankenthal/Pfalz, Germany. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany, alone, shall apply in the case of all disputes.

Bobenheim-Roxheim, April 2002.