Terms and conditions

1. APPLICATION OF THE GENERAL CONDITIONS – ENFORCEABILITY

Any order placed implies the Customer’s full and unreserved acceptance of these general conditions to the exclusion of any other document. No special condition may, except in the case of a formal and written exception appearing on the order form which has become firm and definitive, prevail over the general conditions of sale. The performance of any service by the Service Provider implies the acceptance by the Client of these general terms and conditions, and the waiver of its own general terms and conditions of purchase. Any condition to the contrary shall therefore, in the absence of express acceptance, be unenforceable against the Service Provider, regardless of when it may have been brought to its attention. The fact that the Service Provider does not at any time invoke any of these terms and conditions of sale shall not be construed as a waiver of the right to invoke any of these terms and conditions at a later date.

2. PLACING OF ORDERS

Each order from the Client is preceded by a free quote, drawn up by the Service Provider on the basis of the documents to be translated or the information provided by the Client. The quotation sent by the Service Provider to the Client, by post, fax or e-mail, specifies in particular

The number of pages or words to be translated; The language of the translation; The method of determining the price of the translation service. The latter is invoiced either on a flat-rate basis, or on the basis of the time spent, or on the basis of the service provider’s price list in force on the day the quote is drawn up, in particular per source word (i.e. per word contained in the text to be translated) or per target word (i.e. per word contained in the translated text) according to the breakdown proposed by Microsoft’s Word software (Tools, Statistics) per line, per page or per hour; The delivery deadline for the translation service; The format of the documents to be translated in the event of a request for a specific layout of the document delivered; Any price increases applied in particular due to urgency, specific terminological research or any other request outside the usual services provided by the service provider.

To confirm the order, the Client must return the quotation to the Service Provider without any modification, either by mail or fax signed with the mention “good for agreement” when the quotation was sent by fax or by mail, or by return mail with the expression of his consent when the quotation was sent by e-mail. In the absence of receipt of the acceptance of the quotation, the Service Provider reserves the right not to commence the service. In the absence of confirmation of the order in accordance with the terms and conditions defined above within three (3) months from the date of dispatch of the quotation, the latter shall be deemed to have lapsed. The Service Provider reserves the right, after informing the Client, to increase the rates for services and/or not to respect the delivery date indicated on the Client’s initial order confirmation, in particular in the following cases

The modification or addition of additional documents by the Client after the quotation has been drawn up by the Service Provider, in which case the Service Provider reserves the right to adjust the price according to the volume of additional text found or requested; The absence of documents when the quotation is drawn up. If the quotation had to be made on the basis of the approximate word count, an extract of the content and/or a description of the project. In the absence of the Client’s express agreement to this new delivery and/or invoicing conditions, the Service Provider reserves the right not to commence its services.

Unless otherwise agreed in the quotation, the costs incurred for the performance of the service (travel, express mail, etc.) shall be borne by the client. Any decision to grant a discount, reduction or application of degressive rates, according to a percentage or a fixed price, remains at the sole discretion of the Service Provider and only for the service which is the subject of it. Any discounts or rebates granted to the Client shall in no case create an acquired right for subsequent services.

In the event that no prior quotation has been sent to the Customer by the Service Provider, any order shall be accompanied by an order form sent to the Service Provider by e-mail and the services shall be invoiced in accordance with the basic rate usually applied by the Service Provider or agreed between the parties and appearing on the said order form. The Service Provider reserves the right not to start the service before receipt of the order form.

3. EVIDENCE

For the purposes of proving the existence of this acceptance of the quotation, the Client agrees to consider as equivalent to the original and as perfect proof, the fax, the electronic mail, the copy as well as the reproduction on any computer support.

4. DEPOSIT

Any first order sent by the Client and any order for an amount exceeding 1,000 euros excluding tax may be subject to a deposit request, the percentage of which will be specified on the quotation. In this case, the execution of the services will only start after the deposit has been received.

5. DELIVERY TIME

Subject to the Service Provider’s receipt of all the documents to be translated, the delivery period mentioned in the quotation shall only apply if the Client confirms the order in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in Article 2 above within 1 (one) working day of receiving the quotation. After this period, the delivery date may be revised according to the Provider’s availability.

6. OBLIGATIONS OF THE PROVIDER

The Service Provider shall endeavour to perform the service as faithfully as possible in relation to the original and in accordance with the practices of the profession. It shall do its utmost to take into account and integrate into the translation the information provided by the Client (glossaries, plans, drawings, abbreviations, etc.). The Service Provider shall not be liable for any inconsistencies, errors or ambiguities in the original text, and the Client shall be solely responsible for verifying the technical consistency of the final text.

7. OBLIGATIONS OF THE CLIENT

The Client undertakes to provide the Service Provider with all the texts to be translated and any technical information required for the understanding of the text and, where applicable, the specific terminology required. If the Client fails to inform the Service Provider, the Service Provider shall not be liable for any non-compliance or for exceeding the deadline. The Client shall have a period of 10 working days from receipt of the translated or proofread documents to express any disagreement with the quality of the service in writing. After this period, the service will be considered to have been duly performed and no dispute will be accepted. For this purpose, the customer agrees to consider as proof of delivery any acknowledgement of receipt by post, fax or e-mail.

8. PRIVACY

The Service Provider undertakes to respect the confidentiality of information brought to its knowledge before, during or after the performance of its services. The originals are returned to the Client or destroyed on request. The Service Provider shall not be liable for any interception or misappropriation of information during the transfer of data, particularly by electronic means. Consequently, it is the Client’s responsibility to inform the Service Provider, prior to or at the time of the order, of the means of transfer that it wishes to see implemented in order to guarantee the confidentiality of any information of a sensitive nature.

9. FORMAT

The translation shall be delivered by e-mail or by a suitable electronic transfer system in a format identical to the original or, failing that, in Word format. On request, it can be delivered by post, courier or any other means of transfer expressly agreed between the parties and may be subject to an additional charge.

10. RESPONSIBILITY

In any event, the Service Provider’s liability shall be limited solely to the amount of the invoice concerned. The services are performed by the Service Provider under an obligation of means. The Service Provider shall not be liable for any claims based on stylistic nuances or vocabulary preferences. It is specified that the delivery times are only given as an indication, their non-observance cannot lead to penalties for delay. In any event, the service provider shall not be held liable for any direct or indirect damage caused to the Client or to third parties as a result of a delay in delivery due in particular to cases of force majeure, nor for any delays in delivery by fax, modem, e-mail or other postal means.

11. CORRECTIONS AND PROOFREADING

In the event of disagreement on certain points of the service, the Service Provider undertakes to find the solution best suited to the Client’s requirements and reserves the right to correct this in cooperation with the Client, it being understood that this may in no case be invoked to call into question the service as a whole. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, any correction or proofreading may be subject to a new quotation and additional billing.

12. PAYMENT TERMS

Unless special conditions are specified on the quotation, invoices are net, without discount and payable within 30 days of the date of issue of the invoice. In the event of payment by cheque or bank transfer from abroad, all exchange or bank charges will give rise either to a flat-rate surcharge specified on the quotation, or to a full rebilling to the Client. In the event of late payment, without the need for a prior formal notice: any other order in progress may be automatically suspended until full payment has been made and the Customer shall be liable, in accordance with Article L.441-6 of the French Commercial Code, for late payment penalties calculated according to the legal interest rate in force applied to the amount of the invoice in question plus 10 (ten) percentage points, as well as a fixed indemnity of €40 (inclusive of tax) for collection costs. If the collection costs actually incurred are higher than this fixed compensation, additional compensation may be requested on justification. Late payment penalties and liquidated damages are due from the day after the due date of the invoice and are not subject to VAT. These penalties and indemnities are due in full even in the event of partial payment of the invoice on the due date, regardless of the duration of the delay. The translation remains the property of the translator until full payment of the invoice.

13. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Before submitting a document for translation to the Service Provider, the Client must ensure that it has the right to do so. The translator must therefore be the author of the original document or have obtained prior written permission for translation from the copyright holder of the document. Otherwise, the Service Provider shall not be held liable in any way if all or part of the documents entrusted by the Client infringe the intellectual property rights or any other rights of a third party or any applicable regulations. In this case, the customer shall be solely responsible for any damage and financial consequences resulting from his or her own negligence. Furthermore, the Client acknowledges that the translation obtained by the Service Provider constitutes a new document, the copyright to which is held jointly by the author of the original document and the Service Provider. Consequently, in the case of services of a literary or artistic nature, and without prejudice to its economic rights over its work, the Service Provider reserves the right to require that its name be mentioned on any copy or publication of its service, in accordance with the Intellectual Property Code, paragraph L.132-11.

14. CANCELLATION

In the event of cancellation of an order, whether or not the service has already begun, any costs (travel tickets, accommodation, visas, etc.) already incurred for the proper execution of the service remain fully due to the Service Provider. In the event of cancellation of an order in progress, for whatever reason, notified in writing to the Service Provider, the work already carried out will be invoiced to the Client at 100% (one hundred percent) and the work remaining to be carried out at 50% (fifty percent), for a total amount of not less than €40 excluding VAT, which corresponds to the Service Provider’s minimum fee.

15. LANGUAGES

In case of interpretation or uncertainty, the French version of these general conditions is considered as the original version and shall prevail over any other version in different languages. The translation is only provided for your understanding.

16. AMICABLE SETTLEMENT AND JURISDICTION

The parties undertake, in the event of a dispute of any nature whatsoever, to attempt to settle the dispute amicably. The parties undertake to do their utmost to ensure that this conciliation has every chance of success. They undertake to act in good faith. In the event of a dispute concerning the application of these general terms and conditions or in the event of a dispute relating to the service provided by the Service Provider and which cannot be settled amicably, only the Versailles Commercial Court (Yvelines) shall have jurisdiction.

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The present general conditions are adapted from the recommendations of the French Translators’ Society.