General Terms and Conditions

Stand: 01.04.2010

§1
Area of applicability

Our General Terms and Conditions (T&C) apply to all business transactions with our customers, hereinafter described as 'Clients'. The Terms and Conditions are accepted automatically by the Client through issuing an order for work. They remain in force throughout the length of the business relationship.

 

§2
Ordering work and service

2.1
The basis of the business relationship is the respective consultancy agreement or, as applicable, the Client's written instruction to us, in which the extent of the service provided and the remuneration are established.

2.2
The Client can commission work by telephone, post, fax or e-mail. Likewise we accept orders without forms. After the order has been received, the Client will receive by post or e-mail a confirmation of the order, which validates the order as accepted and the consultancy agreement as effected. This confirmation of the order prevails with regard to the delivery deadline.

2.3
In the event of a particular need arising, we use external consultants known to us through many years of joint work. In these cases the business relationship continues to exist between us and the Client, in so far as nothing else is agreed.

2.4
Updates and alterations to offers and orders will be established in writing by both parties and accepted as a supplementary agreement comprising part of the contractual relationship between us and the Client.

 

§3
Prices

Our prices for services do not include value added tax (VAT), which is currently at the rate of 19%. VAT will be stated separately.

 

§4
Payment and due date

4.1
Our claim for payment of the price arises for each service as soon as we have provided it. All services that are not expressly stated as agreed in the price are supplementary services and are payable separately.

4.2
Payment is due as soon as the bill reaches the Client.

4.3
The Client goes into arrears, even without a warning on our part, if he does not undertake payment within 30 days of the due date and receipt of the bill. In this case we are entitled to charge interest at the legally prevailing interest rate.

4.4
The Client is entitled to set-off and refraining from payment of demands of this kind only if such set-off and refraining from payment are legally established and undisputed. For demands not of a similar kind a right to refrain from payment on demand is restricted on the same basis of the contractual relationship.

 

§5
Supply periods and deadlines

5.1
Supply periods and deadlines are given to the best of our knowledge and belief but can be only approximate and foreseeable.

5.2
The missing of a deadline does not entitle the Client to enforce a claim of his legal rights until he has given us an appropriate extension of the deadline.

 

§6
The Client's responsibility to co-operate

The Client will make available to us all the necessary documents, information and materials for the order to be carried out.

 

§7
Confidentiality Clause

We are under an obligation to maintain confidentiality of all operational, commercial and private information that becomes known to us in the course of the consultancy work. This obligation applies equally to our subcontractors. It also applies beyond the end of the contract and can be lifted only by the Client himself in writing. Furthermore, we are obliged to keep the documents supplied to us for the purpose of consultancy work in safe custody and protect them against examination by third parties. No files, documents, and the like supplied to us by the Client will be sent back.

 

§8
Liability

8.1
The consultancy firm is liable in cases in which damage is caused by intent or gross negligence in accordance with the legal provisions. Liability for guarantees exists independently of the issue of negligence. In cases of minor negligence the consultancy firm is liable exclusively in accordance with the provisions of the law on product liability, on account of damage to life, personal injury, damage to health or essential contractual obligations. The claim to compensation for injury caused by minor negligence of essential contractual obligations is, however, restricted to contractually typical, foreseeable damage in so far as there is no liability for damage to life, personal injury, or damage to health. The consultancy firm is liable for the negligence of subcontractors and representatives to the same extent.

8.2
The ruling of the previous clause (8.1) extends to compensation in addition to the service, compensation instead of the service, and the claim for compensation on account of futile expenditure, likewise on whatever legal grounds, including liability on account of defects, delay or impossibility of fulfilment.

 

§9
Complaint about defects

9.1
Unless the Client reports possible, objectively present, serious, defects to us within 30 days after the completion of the commission, the commission is deemed to have been conclusively completed.

9.2
If the Client intends to call the performance of service completely into question, this calling into question must be substantiated by a reputable expert opinion drawn up by a third party.

9.3
If a complaint about defects occurs, we must be given the opportunity to remedy the defect. If this remedying is demonstrably unsuccessful, the Client has the right to a reduction or to revocation. In all cases, however, liability is limited to the price of the commissioned work concerned. We do not accept liability for a breach of copyright law or for the claims of third parties.

9.4
If the delivery deadline has been exceeded by an inappropriate length - the individually agreed delivery deadline applies here as the benchmark - and we could not comply with an appropriate deadline communicated by the Client in writing, the Client is entitled to withdraw from the contract.

 

§10
Saving Clause

If one or more provisions of these General Terms and Conditions should be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions will not be affected by this. The invalid provision will be replaced by one that corresponds most closely to the will and interest of both parties within the framework of what is legally authorised.

 

§11
Applicable law

German law is to be applied exclusively in the legal relations between the Client and ourselves.

 

§12
Place of performance and place of jurisdiction

12.1
The place of performance is the headquarters of our consultancy firm in Berlin.

12.2
The place of jurisdiction for any disputes arising directly or indirectly between us and the Client is agreed as being the court responsible for the locality of our headquarters in Berlin.



Stand: 01.04.2010