General Terms and Conditions

All work ordered from Simon Thomas (hereinafter referred to as: "the operator") requires that these general conditions between the operator and the customer are accepted and excludes the customer's general or special conditions, unless a prior written agreement to the contrary is accepted by the operator.

§1 Proposals, completion of the contract
a) To firmly establish prices and delivery times, the entire text must be made available to the operator. General proposals, priced quotations and delivery times agreed upon before complete delivery of the text to the operator are non-binding and subject to confirmation. Upon receiving the complete text, the operator reserves the right to change any proposals, priced quotations and delivery times.
b) The contract comes into operation from the time when the customer accepts the operator's proposal in writing or per email, or in cases where no proposal has been made, when the operator confirms acceptance of a translation order either in writing or per email.
c) Any commitments made only commit the operator after explicit, written, or electronic confirmation on the part of the operator.
d) When the operator has any reason to think that the customer may not be able to fulfil their payment obligations, the operator is authorised at any time to require the customer to set up satisfactory financial guarantees.

§2 Modification/cancellation of translation orders
a) In the event that significant modifications to the translation order are made by the customer after conclusion of the contract, the operator is authorised to change the delivery time and/or the fees required or to refuse the order. In the latter case, the customer is required to pay for the work already done.
b) In the event of the customer cancelling a translation order, the costs of cancellation will be for an amount equal to the cost of that part of the translation which was completed up to the time of cancellation. In such cases, the operator cannot guarantee the quality of the work delivered.

§3 Execution of translation orders, professional secrecy
a) The operator undertakes to keep all documents supplied by the customer strictly confidential and to take action to ensure that this obligation is respected by his freelance associates in all circumstances. Nevertheless, the operator cannot be held liable for violation of professional secrecy by his freelance associates if it can be proved that the operator was not able to prevent such violation.
b) Upon electronic transfer of texts, data or any other electronic communication of information between the customer, the operator and any associates, the operator cannot guarantee absolute protection of secret business information as it cannot be ruled out that unauthorised third parties may be able to gain access to transmitted texts and data electronically.
c) Whenever possible, the customer will supply the operator with reference documents showing the terminology to be used in the translation.
d) Personal data is only stored if volunteered by the customer, for example in the context of a registration or an enquiry. The operator will not provide third parties with any personal data collected from the customer without the customer's express written permission.

§4 Delivery time and date of delivery
a) The operator strives to satisfy all orders within the agreed time span. The operator cannot however accept liability for deliveries which, due to technical difficulties, fail to occur within this time span. Minimal delays in delivery are neither grounds for non-acceptance, nor for compensation for damages. The operator assumes no liability for delays in delivery caused in the delivery channels.
b)The customer has the right to cancel the agreement in the event of late delivery or impossibility of delivery for which the operator is responsible, only if the delivery date agreed upon has been unreasonably exceeded and the customer has given the operator notice in writing or per email, stating a reasonable grace period.

§5 Fees and payment
a) All amounts exclude VAT.
b) Invoices must be paid in the currency shown on the invoice within 30 calendar days of the date of invoice.
c) The operator reserves the right to charge a minimum fee of CHF 30 for small orders.
d) Unless explicitly arranged otherwise, fees are based on the volume of the source text.

§6 Reservation of ownership
The delivered translation and the copyright thereto shall remain the property of the operator until all relevant receivables have been fully paid to the operator.

§7 Disagreement and disputes
All disputes concerning the quality or the delivery time of the work ordered can only be accepted within a period of 30 days from the date of delivery. After that 30 day period, no claims whatsoever will be accepted by the operator. Claims do not under any circumstances exempt the customer from their obligation to pay for the translation supplied.

§8 Liability, guarantee
a) The operator can only be held liable for damages which are the direct and manifest consequence of negligence which can be imputed to the operator. The operator's liability can under no circumstances exceed the amount of the invoice, not including VAT, for the respective translation order.
b) The operator accepts no liability in the event of damage to files or loss of files kept on storage devices belonging to either the operator or the customer, or which are in the process of being transferred electronically. No liability will be assumed by the operator for damage to, or loss of, any kind of materials which have been provided by the customer. In each case the liability is limited to the material value of the originals or provided materials.
c) If the translation proves to be unsuitable for the utilisation thereof as planned by the customer (publication, advertising, etc.), the operator retains the right to rectify the translation's shortcomings. This under no circumstances constitutes grounds for damages claims against the operator, even if a publication or advertisement needs to be repeated due to the flawed translation, or if this translation harms the reputation or image of the company in question. If the customer fails to disclose that a translation is intended for printing, fails to send the operator a proof print before going to press, and prints without the consent of the operator, then the customer is to accept all liability for any shortcomings.

§9 Copyright
The customer is responsible for the content of data sent by the customer to the operator. The operator assumes that the rights for all work sent to the operator are at the customer's disposal. Only the customer is liable for the results of any breaches of copyright.

§10 Responsibility for content
The operator accepts no responsibility for the content of any translated document. Views, opinions and content are exclusively the responsibility of the originator and do not in any way represent the opinion of the operator. The operator retains the right to refuse to translate documents.

§11 Responsibility of the customer
The customer is responsible for the delivery of documents in a clearly legible format with legible content. During the translation process, the customer is obliged to inform the operator immediately of any changes which could in any way influence the content or format of the final product. Any alteration can be grounds for a price adjustment upon mutual agreement.

§12 Modifications
The operator can at any time change these general terms and conditions. The operator is to inform customers either by means of an official notification on the operator's website, or via email sent directly to the customers. If the customer orders a service from the operator after notification of an alteration, the customer accepts this alteration.

§13 Responsibility of freelance staff
Upon offering their services to the operator, freelance associates of the operator are obliged to handle any kind of documents and information made available to them under strict confidentiality, not to pass such documents or information on to third parties, and only to use such documents and information for translation or modification as stipulated by the operator. If this condition is not met, the freelancer is liable for all consequences of any breaches of copyright.

§14 Applicable law and jurisdiction
The contractual relationship and any other business relations between the customer and the operator are subject exclusively to French law. The UN Sales Convention is expressly excluded. Insofar as it is legally admissible, the sole place of jurisdiction for any and all disputes for both parties is Lyon.

§15 Effectiveness of the terms and conditions
Should one or more of the above provisions be legally invalid, the validity of the other provisions shall not be affected. If new terms and conditions are published, previous versions lose their validity. In any case of doubt, only the German version of these terms and conditions shall apply.