General Terms and Conditions
1. Scope
(1) These General Terms and Conditions apply to contracts between Vyacheslav Sklyarenko (the translator) and his customer (the client) as long as no other agreements have been made and no other laws apply. These General Terms and Conditions are accepted when an order is placed and are valid for the entire duration of the contractual relationship between the parties.
(2) The client’s General Terms and Conditions shall only apply to the translator if the translator explicitly accepts and approves them in writing.
(3) Further deviations, verbal agreements, differing or supplementary agreements are only binding subject to written confirmation.
2. Placement of Order
(1) An order is placed when the client sends a written order and the translator sends a written confirmation of this order. If any part of the source text is not to be translated or should not appear in the translated document, the translator must be informed of this when the order is placed.
(2) In the interests of smooth cooperation the client can place a translation order via e-mail or over the telephone. The translator shall not be responsible for any problems possibly arising out of this way of order placement. The client informs the translator of the target language as well as of possible specific requirements for the terminology. The translator should also be informed about the purpose of use and about the requested delivery date.
(3) An order is considered to be placed, only if it has been confirmed by the translator in written. The translator is not liable for delays or defects in the execution caused by inexplicit, incorrect or incomplete placement of order or errors or rather misleading or even wrong wordings in the source text.
3. Client’s obligations
(1) The client is obliged to inform the translator in a timely manner of particular forms which the translation is to take (shipment of translation on data carriers, number of copies, formatting requirements etc.).
(2) The client shall provide the translator automatically and upon placement of order or immediately thereafter with any information and documentation that the translator may require in order to execute the translation (client’s glossary, graphics, drawings, tables, explanations of abbreviations etc.). The translator shall not be responsible for any errors in the translation that results from a failure on the client’s part to provide any or all of the aforementioned documentation. If such documentation is not provided, technical terminology shall be translated in a conventional and generally understandable fashion.
(3) Where the translation is to be printed out, the client shall advise the translator of this fact in advance and shall provide the translator with a proof copy of the translation prior to printing. Where the client fails to provide the proof copy, the translator shall not be responsible for any deficiency in the translated text.
4. Scope of work and correction of defects
(1) The translator reserves the right to correct mistakes.
(2) The translation will be completed in accordance with the principles of good professional translation practice.
(3) Translator shall not be liable for defects in the translation if they can be put down to hardly readable, erroneous and incomplete texts or to erroneous or incorrect client’s terminology.
(4) The client is entitled to demand the correction of any defects the translation may contain. The client must lodge all complaints about the translation immediately, at the latest within 14 days after the translation has been delivered, with a precise written description of the defects.
(5) The translator is to be given reasonable time for the correction of defects. If no notice of defects has reached the translator within 14 days after the translation has been delivered, the work is considered to have been accepted. If the translator fails to deliver a correction or replacement translation, legal guarantee rights come into power if no other agreement is made.
5. Delivery, Force Majeure
(1) Delivery dates are agreed upon placement of order in writing and are binding. Deadlines can be modified upon written agreement between the two parties. The translator is in delay only after a period of extension has expired. Where the subject of order is changed, delivery dates and payment are to be renegotiated.
(2) The translator is not in delay if the services cannot be rendered as a result of circumstances beyond his control. If the failure to deliver on time is due to force majeure, the translator shall be entitled to withdraw from the contract or to require from the client a reasonable period of extension. As an event of force majeure shall be considered, but not limited to, strikes, civil riots, natural disasters, epidemics, wars, regional power outages, network failures and other hindering situations, which do not result from deliberate or careless behaviour of the translator. All claims for damage are excluded in these cases.
(3) Posting or delivery of the translation to a carrier (including post, fax, e-mail) for the purpose of transmission shall constitute delivery. Risk in the service (loss or damage) shall pass to client on delivery.
6. Liability
(1) The translator is liable in the case of gross negligence and intent. In the case of ordinary negligence, liability only arises if substantial contractual obligations are violated.
(2) The translator is not liable for possible unfavourable interpretation of ambiguous text passages already existing in the source text. Furthermore, translator cannot be hold liable for errors, omissions, wrong use of idiomatic expressions or other errors in written translations, which he made not deliberately or negligently.
(3) Any liability, resulting out of the translation work of the translator, is limited to the amount of the order value agreed upon.
(4) The translator is not liable for any damage to or loss of the materials provided by the client. The client is required to take appropriate steps to preserve the integrity of his data.
7. Confidentiality
(1) The nature of the work performed and any information transmitted to translator by client shall be treated confidentially. Confidential information shall be disclosed by either of the two parties only if so required by law.
(2) The client grants to the translator the right to mention his company’s name or logo in reference to the work carried out.
(3) In view of electronic transmission of texts and data between the client and the translator, the latter cannot guarantee an absolute protection of company and information secrets and other confidential data and information, since it cannot be excluded that an authorized third party can have access to documents or data during the electronic transmission.
8. Remuneration
(1) A standard line consists of 55 keystrokes including spaces. The volume of the translation is calculated on the basis of the number of standard lines of the target text. The calculation of characters is carried out using Microsoft Word and is binding.
(2) Remuneration is payable within 14 days after delivery of the translation.
(3) In addition to the agreed remuneration, the translator may claim reimbursement of the expenditure actually incurred and prior agreed between the parties. In the event of substantial translations, the translator can demand an advance payment. The translator can make delivery of the translation subject to payment of the full fee in advance.
(4) If the amount of the fee is not agreed in advance, the client shall pay the translator an appropriate remuneration corresponding to the nature and difficulty of the services rendered. In this case the rates specified in the menu item “Prices” on the web site of the translator shall be considered adequate and usual.
(5) Services for private clients are paid exclusively in advance.
9. Reservation of proprietary rights and copyright
(1) Until full payment has been made, the translation remains the property of the translator. Until then the client does not have any right to use the translation.
(2) The translator reserves his copyright.
(3) If translation is to be printed, the name of the translator with its function is to be included in a suitable place. If translation is to be published on the Internet, the client has to mention the translator by name, whereas a noticeably visible link with the text “Translated by Vyacheslav Sklyarenko” or a link to the web site of the translator should be created.
10. Termination of the Contract and lost profit
(1) If the client cancels a contract without being entitled to do so legally or contractually, the translation work which has been completed up to the time of cancellation must be paid on the basis of the agreed remuneration. For the not translated part Compensation for loss suffered amounting to 20 % of the full price.
(2) If a justifiable reason is cited, the client may cancel the contract at any time before the completion of the translation. Termination notice has to be given in writing.
11. Applicable Law
(1) This Agreement shall be governed by, enforced and construed in accordance with the laws of Germany. For all disputes arising from this agreement, the court of jurisdiction is the residence of the translator.
(2) The validity of these General Terms and Conditions shall remain unaffected if individual provisions are rendered void or invalid.
