General Terms & Conditions ("TERMS")

Definitions
Translation shall mean the preparation of a translation task or any other translation-related task such as revising, editing, etc., which calls upon the translation skills of a translator.

Translator shall refer to premier translations (hereafter also "we" or "us"), the party rendering a translation in the normal course of business, irrespective of whether the translation task is performed by the Translator, or indirectly through one or more of its subcontractors.

Client shall mean the party commissioning a translation in the normal course of business (hereafter also "you"), and may be a natural or legal person, including, as an example only, a private individual, an association, partnership, economic interest group, or corporate entity.

Source material or document shall be understood to mean any text or medium containing a communication which has to be translated, and may comprise text, sound or images in paper or electronic form.

Copyright in Source Material, Translation Rights

  • We accept an order from you on the understanding that performance of the translation task will not infringe any third party rights. You shall hold us harmless from any claim for infringement of copyright and/or other IP rights, which may arise from or in connection with the content of the original source material or its translation.

Fees
  • Any estimate we give is for guidance or information purposes only. We will send you a free fixed-price quotation only after we have seen and/or heard all the source material and have received binding instructions from you. Our fees are subject to the statutory VAT, as applicable.
  • We reserve the right to renegotiate any fee agreed upon for a translation, which is subsequently found to present latent difficulties that neither party could have been reasonably aware of at the time of our quote and acceptance. These could arise from but not be limited to discontinuous text, complicated layout or other forms of layout requiring additional time or resources, illegible text or poorly audible sound media, or excessive terminology research. We always try to assess such difficulties and include them in our fixed price quote.
  • If you make any changes in the text or alter your requirements at any time while the task is in progress, we reserve the right to renegotiate our fee, any applicable supplementary charges, and the terms of delivery to reflect the additional work.

Delivery
  • Our delivery date or dates and time/times for an order are binding only if we confirm these via email, fax, or in writing.
  • Unless otherwise agreed, we deem to have fulfilled your delivery requirements when we dispatch the translation per post or email on the date of delivery. Normally, we bear the costs of delivery of the translation by regular mail or email. We reserve the right to bill you for any expenditure greater than the standard cost incurred for delivery, based on your special requirements.
  • We accept no responsibility whatsoever for any delay, damage, or loss that may occur during or as a consequence of electronic or non-electronic transmission or shipment of the translation work to you, including any virus-related problems.

Payment
  • Our terms of payment are net fourteen (14) days from the date of invoice by the method of payment specified. For long assignments or texts, we may request an initial payment and periodic partial payments on terms that we will agree upon with you in advance.
  • You shall settle our invoice, partial invoice, or other bill by the due date agreed upon with you or, in the absence of such an agreement, within the period stipulated in paragraph 8. We reserve the right to charge interest at the rate of 5% per annum over the prevailing base rate set by the German Federal Bank to all overdue amounts from the date on which they first become due until they are paid in full. Where our delivery is in installments and notice has been given that an interim payment is overdue, we may stop work on outstanding tasks in hand until the outstanding amount is paid or other terms are agreed upon. We shall take such action without prejudice to any amounts due and without any liability whatsoever to you or any third party.

Responsibility and Liability of Translator
  • We always use our best effort to render translations to the best of our ability, knowledge, and belief, while consulting such authorities as are reasonably available to us at the time. Unless otherwise specified and agreed upon, a translation shall be fit for its stated purpose, target readership, and the standard of quality deemed appropriate for "information purposes only." Our liability, on any grounds whatsoever, shall be limited to the invoiced value of the work.

Complaints
  • If we fail to meet the agreed upon order requirements or to provide a translation fit for its stated purpose, you may:
    • Reduce, with our consent, the fee payable for work done by an amount equal to the reasonable cost necessary to remedy the deficiencies, and/or
    • Cancel any further installments of translation work being undertaken by us.
  • Such entitlement shall only apply after you have notified us in writing of all alleged deficiencies within five (5) working days following delivery of the translation and have given us one opportunity to bring the work up to the required standard within seven (7) working days of such notification.

Copyright in Translations
  • Unless agreed upon otherwise in writing, we shall retain the copyright in our translation until you have paid for the translation task in full in accordance with the terms of paragraphs 8 and 9.
  • If a translation is in any way amended or altered without our written permission, we shall not be held liable for the amendments made or any consequences thereof.

Confidentiality of Client's Documents
  • At all times, we shall exercise due discretion in respect of disclosure to any third party of information contained in your documents or their translations without your express authorization.
  • Nonetheless, in view of the necessity for electronic and non-electronic transmission or shipment of the source and translated material, we shall not be held responsible for any unauthorized and illegal access to the transmitted documents or for any consequential damages that may arise from such unauthorized access.

Force Majeure, Business Shutdown, Cutback, Withdrawal, Cancellation
  • We shall not be liable to you or any third party for delays, failures, or their consequences, which arise from circumstances beyond our control. Such causes may include, but are not restricted to, fires, floods, electrical outages, computer, server, or telecommunication breakdowns, and acts of omission by subcontractors or third parties. The same applies if we are forced to shut down or scale back our operation over a certain period of time, especially the online business, for reasons beyond our control.
  • Under such circumstances, we shall have the right to partially or wholly withdraw from the translation obligation. We will notify you as soon as is reasonably practical of any circumstances likely to prejudice our ability to comply with the terms of your order, and assist you as far as reasonably practical to identify an alternative solution.
  • If a translation task is commissioned and subsequently cancelled, reduced in scope, or frustrated by an act or omission on your part or by a third party, you shall, except in the circumstances described in paragraph 17, pay us the full contract sum unless otherwise agreed upon in advance. We shall make available to you any of the work already completed.

Non-solicitation of Employees and/or Subcontractors
  • Where in the course of business we introduce or refer to you an employee or a third party working as a subcontractor for us, you shall not knowingly, for a period of twelve (12) months from your last order, approach the employee or third party for the purpose of directly hiring the employee or third party for rendering translation work, nor hire these parties in any capacity involving a translation, without our express written consent.

Disputes, Governing Law, Severability
  • The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with this business relationship shall be Munich, Germany, the place of business of premier translations. These TERMS shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the Laws of Germany.
  • If any part of these Terms is declared void or becomes unenforceable, in part or in whole, the remaining provisions or parts thereof shall continue in full force and effect.

Munich, Germany: October 2011

back

 
German-English translations