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General terms and conditions of Ace! Management Partners, hereinafter to
be referred to as: user
Article 1 Definitions
1. In the present general terms and conditions, the following terms
are used in the sense given below, unless explicitly indicated otherwise.
- User: the user of the general terms and conditions.
- Client: user's opposite party.
- Agreement: the agreement concerning the provision of services.
Article 2 General
1. The present terms and conditions shall apply to each and every
offer, tender and agreement between user and a client, to which user has
declared the present terms and conditions applicable, insofar as parties
have not explicitly deviated from the present terms and conditions in
writing.
2. The present terms and conditions shall also apply to all
agreements with user, the execution of which calls for the services of
third parties.
3. Possible deviations from the present general terms and conditions
shall only be valid provided they have been explicitly agreed upon in
writing.
4. The applicability of client's possible purchase or other
conditions is explicitly rejected.
5. If one or more stipulations in the present general terms and
conditions should be null and void or declared null and void, then the
other stipulations of the present general terms and conditions shall
remain fully applicable. The case ensuing, user and client shall enter
into negotiations to agree upon new stipulations replacing the null and
void conditions, or, as the case may be, the conditions declared null
and void, whereby the purpose and the meaning of the original conditions
shall be heeded as far as possible.
Article 3 Offers and Tenders
1. All offers shall be free of obligation unless the offer contains
an acceptance term.
2. The offers made by user shall be free of obligation; they shall be
valid for a period of 30 days, unless indicated otherwise. User shall
only be bound by the offers if the acceptance thereof is confirmed in
writing by the opposite party within 30 days, unless indicated otherwise.
3. The prices given in above-mentioned offers and tenders shall be
exclusive of VAT and other government levies, as well as of the other
expenses to be possibly made within the scope of the agreement,
including shipment and administration costs, unless user indicates
otherwise.
4. If the acceptance deviates (on secondary items) from the offer
given, user shall not be bound by it. The agreement shall in such event
not be concluded in accordance with said deviating acceptance, unless
user indicates otherwise.
5. A compound quotation shall not oblige user to execute part of the
assignment against a corresponding part of the given quotation.
6. Offers and tenders shall not apply automatically to future
assignments.
Article 4 Execution of the Agreement
1. User shall execute the agreement to the best of his knowledge and
ability and in compliance with the demands of proper craftsmanship, all
this on the basis of the state of science as known then.
2. If and in so far required for the proper execution of the
agreement, user shall have the right to have certain work done by third
parties.
3. The client shall see to it that user shall be provided in due time
with all data which user has said to be necessary or which the client
must in all reasonableness understand to be necessary to the execution
of the agreement. If user has not been provided in due time with the
data necessary to the execution of the agreement, user shall have the
right to suspend the execution of the agreement and / or to charge the
client for the additional costs resulting from the delay at the
generally accepted rates.
4. User shall not be liable for damage of whatever nature caused by
the fact that user worked on the basis of incorrect and / or incomplete
data provided by the client, unless user should have been aware of said
incorrectness or incompleteness.
5. If parties have agreed that the agreement will be executed in
stages, user can suspend the execution of the parts belonging to a
following stage until the client has approved in writing the results of
the stage prior to it.
6. If user or third parties engaged by user within the scope of the
assignment do work at client's site or at a site designated by client,
client shall provide the employees having to work there free of charge
with all facilities desired in all reasonableness by said employees.
7. Client shall safeguard user against possible claims filed by third
parties who may sustain damage attributable to client in connection with
the execution of the agreement.
Article 5 Changes to the agreement
1. If it is shown during the execution of the agreement that the work
to be done needs to be changed and supplemented in order to ensure its
proper execution, parties shall adapt the agreement accordingly in due
time and in mutual consultations.
2. If parties agree that the agreement needs to be changed or
supplemented, this decision may influence the time of completion of the
execution. User shall inform the client thereof as soon as possible.
3. Should the change or supplement to the agreement have any
financial and / or qualitative consequences, user shall inform client
thereof in advance.
4. If a fixed fee has been agreed upon then user shall indicate the
degree to which the change or supplement to the agreement will result in
an increase of said fee.
5. Contrary to the conditions of paragraph 3, user shall not be able
to charge additional costs if the change or supplement is the result of
circumstances attributable to user.
Article 6 Duration of the Contract; Term of Execution
1. The agreement between user and a client shall be entered into for
an indefinite period of time, unless the nature of the agreement
dictates otherwise or if parties have explicitly agreed otherwise in
writing.
2. If a term has been agreed to complete certain work within the term
of the agreement, then this term shall never be a term to be observed on
penalty of forfeiture of rights. If the term of execution is exceeded,
the client must consequently declare user in default in writing.
Article 7 Fee
1. The paragraphs 2., 5. and 6. through 11. shall apply to those
offers and agreements in which a fixed fee is offered or agreed upon. If
no fixed fee has been agreed upon, the paragraphs 3. through 11. of the
present article shall apply.
2. Parties can agree upon a fixed fee the moment the agreement is
concluded.
3. If no fixed fee has been agreed upon, the fee shall be determined
on the basis of the number of hours actually spent on the work. The fee
shall be calculated in accordance with user's usual hourly rates, valid
for the period in which the work is being done, unless a deviating
hourly rate has been agreed upon.
4. The fee and a possible cost estimate shall be exclusive of VAT.
5. With respect to assignments with a duration of more than 1 months,
the costs owed shall be charged periodically.
6. If user and the client agree upon a fixed fee or an hourly rate,
user shall nevertheless be entitled to increase this fee or rate.
7. User shall be allowed to charge on price increases, if user can
demonstrate that significant changes in price have occurred between the
time of offer and the time of delivery with respect to, e.g., salaries
and wages.
8. User shall furthermore be able to increase the fee when it is
shown during the execution of the work that the volume of work initially
agreed upon or expected when the contract was concluded, was
underestimated to such a degree, and this through no fault of the user,
that user cannot be expected in reasonableness to do the work agreed
upon for the fee initially agreed upon.
9. Client will be authorised to annul the agreement, if the fee or
tariff is increased within three months after entering the agreement.
After expiration of said period, the principal will be authorised to
annul the agreement, if the increase exceeds 10%. Client will not be
entitled to annulment if the increase of the fee or rate results from a
competence by virtue of the law.
10. User shall notify the client in writing of his intention to
increase the fee or the hourly rate, whereby user shall communicate the
volume of said increase and the date on which it shall take effect.
11. If client does not wish to accept the increase in fee or hourly
rate communicated by user, client shall be entitled to terminate the
agreement in writing within seven working days following the
above-mentioned notification, or to cancel the assignment by the date
given in user's notification on which the change in fee or hourly rate
would take effect.
Article 8 Payment
1. Payment must be made within 7 days from the date of invoice, in a
way to be indicated by user and in the currency in which the statement
of expenses was drawn up. Contestation of the amount of the statements
of expenses shall not suspend the fulfilment of the payment obligation
2. If client fails to fulfil his payment obligation within the term
of 7 days, then client shall be in default by operation of law. In that
event, client shall owe an interest of 1% per month, unless the
statutory interest rate is higher, in which case the statutory interest
rate shall apply. The interest on the amount due and payable shall be
calculated as from the day the client is in default until the moment he
has paid the amount in full.
3. User's claims against client shall become due on demand in the
event that client's company is wound up, attached, declared bankrupt, or
if a suspension of payment is granted.
4. User shall be entitled to have the payments made by the client go
first of all to reduce the costs, subsequently to reduce the interest
still due and finally to reduce the principal sum and the current
interest. User shall have the right, without this leading user to be in
default, to refuse an offer for payment, if the client designates a
different sequence of attribution. User shall be entitled to refuse full
payment of the principal sum, if said payment does not include the
interest still due, the current interest and the costs.
5. If payment is made within 7 days from the date of invoice, user
shall not add a surcharge.
6. If payment is made after more than 7 days, client shall owe user a
surcharge of 2%, unless parties agree otherwise in writing.
Article 9 Retention of Title
1. All goods delivered by user, possibly also including designs,
sketches, drawings, films, software, (electronic) files, etc., shall
remain user's property until client has fulfilled all of his obligations
under all agreements concluded with user.
2. Client shall not be authorised to pledge or encumber in any way
the goods falling under the retention of title.
3. If third parties seize goods delivered subject to retention of
title or wish to establish or assert a right to them, client shall be
held to inform user thereof as soon as can reasonably expected.
4. The client shall undertake to insure the goods delivered subject
to retention of title and to keep them insured against damage caused by
fire, explosion and water as well as against theft and make this
insurance policy available for inspection on first demand.
5. Goods delivered by user falling under the retention of title by
virtue of the stipulations under 1. of the present article, may only be
sold on within the framework of normal business activities and must
never be used as instrument of payment.
6. In the event that user wishes to exercise his ownership rights
mentioned in the present article, client shall give user or third
parties to be appointed by user, now for then, unconditional and
irrevocable permission to access all sites and locations where user's
property might be found and to take these goods back.
Article 10 Collection Charges
1. If the client fails to fulfil his obligations (in due time) or
defaults on them, then all reasonable costs incurred to have all
extrajudicial costs and debts paid shall be borne by the client. The
client shall in any case owe the collection charges in the event of a
monetary claim. The collection charges shall be calculated in accordance
with the collection rates advised by the Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten
(Netherlands Bar) for collection procedures.
2. If user demonstrates that he has incurred higher expenses, which
were necessary in reason, said expenses shall also qualify for
reimbursement.
3. The reasonable judicial and execution costs possibly incurred
shall equally be borne by client.
Article 11 Inspection & Complaints
1. The client must notify user in writing of complaints about the
work done within 8 days following their detection, but no later than
within 14 days following completion of the work concerned. The notice of
default must give as detailed a description as possible of the
shortcoming, so that user is in a position to respond adequately.
2. If a complaint proves to be well-founded, user shall yet do the
work as agreed upon, unless such has become demonstrably useless in the
meantime to the client. The client must notify user in writing if the
latter is the case.
3. If it is no longer possible or useful to still do the work with
respect to the provision of services agreed upon, user shall only be
liable within the limits of article 15.
Article 12 Cancellation
1. Both parties shall be entitled to cancel the agreement at all
times.
2. If the agreement is terminated prematurely by client, user shall
be entitled to compensation of the loss of capacity utilisation to be
demonstrated caused by said premature termination, unless the
termination is based on facts and circumstances which can be attributed
to user. Client shall furthermore be held in that event to pay the
statement of expenses for the work done up till that moment. The
preliminary results of the work done up till that moment shall therefore
be put at client's disposal subject to approval.
3. If the agreement is terminated prematurely by user, user shall see
to it in conjunction with client that the work still to be done be
transferred to third parties, unless the termination is based on facts
and circumstances which can be attributed to client.
4. If the transfer of the work still to be done entails extra costs
for user, said costs shall be charged to client.
Article 13 Suspension and Dissolution
1. User shall be authorised to suspend the fulfilment of the
obligations under the agreement, in the event that:
- client does not fulfil or does not fully fulfil his obligations
resulting from the agreement
- after the agreement has been concluded, user learns of
circumstances giving good ground to fear that the client will not fulfil
his obligations. If good ground exists to fear that the client will only
partially or improperly fulfil his obligations, suspension shall only be
allowed in so far the shortcoming justifies such action.
- client was asked to furnish security to guarantee the fulfilment of
his obligations resulting from the agreement when the contract was
concluded and that this security is not provided or insufficient.
2. User shall furthermore be authorised to dissolve the agreement
(have the agreement dissolved) if circumstances arise of such a nature
that fulfilment of the obligations becomes impossible or can no longer
be demanded in accordance with the requirements of reasonableness and
fairness, or if other circumstances arise of such a nature that the
unaltered maintenance of the agreement can no longer be demanded in all
reasonableness.
3. If the agreement is dissolved, the user's claims against the
client shall be forthwith due and payable. If user suspends fulfilment
of his obligations, he shall retain his rights under the law and the
agreement.
4. User shall always retain the right to claim damages.
Article 14 Return of Goods Put at Client's Disposal
1. If user has put goods at client's disposal during and in
connection with the execution of the agreement, client shall be held to
return the delivered goods within 14 days in their original state, free
of defects and in their entirety. If client fails to fulfil this
obligation, all resulting costs shall be at client 's expense.
2. If, for any reason whatsoever, client still remains in default to
fulfil the obligation mentioned under 1. after being warned to do so,
user shall be entitled to recover the resulting damage and costs,
including replacement costs, from client.
Article 15 Liability
1. Should user be liable, then said liability shall be limited to the
stipulations of the present condition.
2. If user is liable for direct damage, then said liability shall be
limited to a maximum equalling the amount of the payment to be made by
user's insurer, at any rate up to a maximum of twice the amount of the
statement of expenses, at any rate that part of the assignment to which
the liability relates.
3. In the event of an assignment with a duration of more than 6
months, the liability shall, contrary to the stipulations under 2. of
the present article, furthermore be limited to the part of the fee still
due for the last six months.
4. Direct damage shall be understood to be exclusively:
- the reasonable costs incurred to establish the cause and the volume
of the damage, in so far said establishment relates to damage in the
sense of the present terms and conditions
- the reasonable costs possibly incurred to have user's faulty
performance meet the conditions of the agreement, unless such faulty
performance cannot be attributed to user;
- the reasonable costs incurred to prevent or limit the damage, in so
far client demonstrates that said costs have led to the limitation of
direct damage as meant in the present general terms and conditions.
5. User shall never be liable for indirect damage, including
consequential damage, loss of profit, lost savings and damage due to
business stagnation.
6. The limitations of liability for direct damage contained in the
present terms and conditions shall not apply if the damage is due to
intentional act or omission or gross negligence on the part of user or
his subordinates
Article 16 Safeguarding
1. The client shall safeguard user against claims filed by third
parties concerning intellectual property rights on material or data
provided by the client, which shall be used for and during the execution
of the agreement.
2. If the client provides user with information carriers, electronic
files or software etc., the former shall guarantee that said information
carriers, electronic files or software are free of viruses and defects.
Article 17 Transfer of Risk
1. The risk of loss of, or damage to the goods being the subject of
the agreement, shall be transferred to client the moment said goods are
judicially and/or actually delivered to client and therefore fall into
the power of client or of third parties to be appointed by client
Article 18 Force Majeure
1. Parties shall not be held to fulfil any of their obligations if
they are hindered to do so due to a circumstance through no fault of
their own and which cannot be attributed to them by virtue of law, a
legal action or generally accepted practice.
2. In addition to the provisions of the law and the judge-made law in
this respect, force majeure shall in the present general terms and
conditions furthermore be understood to be any external circumstance, be
it envisaged or not, on which user cannot have any influence but which
prevents user from fulfilling his obligations. Industrial action at
user's company shall also be understood to be a circumstance of force
majeure.
3. User shall also be entitled to invoke force majeure if the
circumstance rendering (further) fulfilment of the obligation(s)
impossible, commences after the point in time on which user should have
fulfilled his obligation.
4. Throughout the duration of the circumstances of force majeure,
parties shall be entitled to suspend the fulfilment of their
obligations. If this period lasts for more than two months, either of
the parties shall be entitled to dissolve the agreement without any
obligation to pay the opposite party damages.
5. Insofar user has already partially fulfilled his obligations
resulting from the agreement at the moment the circumstance of force
majeure commenced or shall be able to fulfil them and insofar separate
value can be attributed to the part already fulfilled or still to be
fulfilled respectively, user shall be entitled to submit a separate
statement of expenses of the part already fulfilled or still to be
fulfilled respectively. The client shall be held to pay this statement
of expenses as if it were a separate agreement.
Article 19 Secrecy
1. Both parties shall be bound to secrecy of all confidential
information they have received within the scope of their agreement from
each other or from another source. Information shall be considered to be
confidential if the other party has indicated so or if the confidential
character results from the nature of the information.
2. If a statutory provision or a judicial decision compels user to
convey confidential information to third parties designated by law or by
the court and user cannot for that purpose invoke a legal right to
refuse to give evidence or such a right acknowledged or allowed by the
competent court, user shall not be held to pay damages or compensation
and the opposite party shall not be entitled to demand the dissolution
of the agreement on the ground of any damage resulting from said
circumstance.
Article 20 Intellectual Property and Copyrights
1. Without prejudice to the other stipulations of the present general
terms and conditions, user shall reserve the rights and authorities to
which user is entitled under the Copyright Act.
2. All documents, such as reports, advice, agreements, designs,
sketches, drawings, software, etc., provided by user, shall be destined
to be used by client exclusively and must not be reproduced, made public
or brought to the notice of third parties by client without prior
consent from user, unless the nature of the documents provided dictates
otherwise.
3. User shall reserve the right to use the knowledge gained due to
the execution of the work for other purposes, in so far no confidential
information shall be brought to the notice of third parties when doing
so.
Article 21 Samples and Models
1. If a sample or model has been given to client, then the assumption
is that such has been given by way of indication only, unless parties
agree explicitly that the product to be delivered shall correspond with
it.
2. In the event of an assignment concerning immovable property, the
surface area or other measurements and indications given shall also be
assumed to be merely indicative without any obligation to have the
product to be delivered correspond with it.
Article 22 Non-employment of the opposite party's personnel
1. Throughout the duration of the agreement and for one year
following termination thereof, client shall not in any way, hire or
employ in any other way, be it directly or indirectly, staff of user or
of enterprises whom user has engaged to execute the present agreement
and who are (were) involved in the execution of the agreement, without
prior proper businesslike consultation on this matter, all this in
accordance with the requirements of reasonableness and fairness.
Article 23 Disputes
1. The Court in user's place of business shall have exclusive
jurisdiction to hear actions, unless the District Court is the competent
Court. User shall nevertheless be entitled to submit the dispute to the
Court deemed competent by the law.
2. Parties shall only refer the matter to the court if they have done
their utmost to solve the dispute in mutual consultations.
Article 24 Applicable Law
1. Dutch law shall apply to each and every agreement between user and
the client.
Article 25 Changes to the Terms and Conditions and their Location
1. The present terms and conditions have been filed at the office of
the Chamber of Commerce in Breda.
The most recently filed version shall always apply, or, as the case
may be, the version valid at the time the agreement was concluded. |