§1 Component of contract
The General Terms of Contract (GTC) apply for legal relations between Client and Contractor. The contractor is defined to be WaterCraftExpert a company of Kapt. Strohmann. Any deviating conditions of business of the Client shall only become a constituent of the contract if the Contractor expressly acknowledges these in writing.
§2 Issue of order
The order will be issued orally or, at the request of one of the contracting parties, in writing.
§3 Execution of the order
The contractor offers solely consultant services made under terms of a service contract (german translation "Dienstvertrag"). Stowage and securing certifications are not part of a survey unless stated contrary in our survey confirmation:" Including stowage and securing certification". The order, such as issue of an expertise or making up an appraisement of damage or value, shall be executed with the due care of a diligent expert. The Contractor shall be entitled to carry out the necessary and customary examinations, to gather information, to make enquiries and conduct investigations, to travel and conduct surveys and to take/make and have photos taken/made and other vouchers at the cost of the Client without any separate consent of the Client being required for this, provided that these are not unusually high costs or unusual measures. The contractor may cancel a survey at any time prior to excecution. The client is not entitled to obtain any kind of compensation upon a cancellation of the contractor.
§4 Obligations of the Client
The Client shall provide the Contractor with all information necessary to execute the order, hand out the necessary documents to him and grant him any necessary support. If the order is extended to the Contractor representing the Client vis-à-vis third parties, the Contractor shall be empowered to do so in writing on request.
§5 Remuneration
The Contractor has a claim to remuneration for his services in accordance with the rates customarily billed by freelance shipping and cargo experts. If a cost estimate or agreement on remuneration exists, the Client must be notified if it becomes evident during execution of the order that the work cannot be continued for the estimated or agreed remuneration due to unforeseen expansion. If the Client then decides to retract the order, he shall pay remuneration in accordance with the extent of the work performed. The Contractor's invoices are payable by the Client directly on receipt; this applies irrespective of whether the content of a survey report conducted by the Contractor leads to compensation of third parties or not.
§6 Use of the services
The Contractor's services may only be used in connection with the specific item for which the order was issued. The consent of the contracting party is required for use elsewhere. The Contractor retains the copyright of the services he has performed in as far as these are eligible for copyright.
§7 Cancellation of services by the client
A cancellation fee of 25% will be charged in case the client will cancel the order before 48 hours, a 50% cancellation fee will be charged in case the client will cancel the order between 24 and 48 hours and a 100% cancellation fee will be charged if the survey is cancelled within 24 hours or less before the survey was planned to take place.
§8 Business and operating secrets
The Contractor is obliged not to publicize, pass on or exploit business and operating secrets that are entrusted or made accessible to him on the occasion of the order without being authorized to do so, even beyond the duration of the order relationship. Business secrets, if applicable, must be defined in writing between the parties at the time of the survey order.
§9 Guarantee
Initially the Client can only require remedying of a defect free of charge. If a defect is not remedied within a reasonable period or if the remedy fails, the statutory provisions shall apply. Defects must be reported in writing to the Contractor directly on their discovery; otherwise the guarantee claim shall expire. In the event of assured properties a claim for compensation shall remain unaffected.
§10 Liability of the Contractor
If the Client is a full merchant and if the order belongs to the operation of his trade, or if the Client is a juristic person under public law or a special fund under public law, the contractual and non-contractual liability of the Contractor shall be excluded, except for gross negligence or wilful intent. This shall not affect the Client's rights under the guarantee.
§11 Joint venture
The contractor has the right to subcontract parts- or full tasks of the survey at any time. Survey relevant details will be passed on to the subcontractor as far as deemed necessary.
§12 Period of limitation
In as far as shorter periods of limitation do not apply by law, claims for compensation shall become statute-barred after three years and all other contractual and non-contractual claims after one year. The period shall start with the end of the year in which the final invoice is issued.
§13 Place of fulfillment and jurisdiction
The place of fulfillment is the location of the professional branch of the Contractor. If the Client is a full merchant, juristic person under public law or special fund under public law, the professional branch of the Contractor shall be the exclusive place of jurisdiction. If the Client does not have any general place of jurisdiction within the country, transfers his place of residence or habitual place of residence outside the country, or if his residence or habitual abode at the time of filing an action is not known, the place of business of the branch of the Contractor shall be the exclusive place of jurisdiction.
§14 Law applicable
German law applies for the legal relations between the contracting parties.
§15 Deviation of agreement
Due to the ongoing Corona infection, we may need to deviate from our long term agreements with some of the clients by offering emergency stand-by, remote and/or random attendance instead of permanent attendance. We give our best to uphold the same standard as usual.
Revision 1.2 dated 01st January 2021