General Terms and Conditions

I. General

1. the following terms and conditions apply to all our offers and contracts concluded with the customer, including in current or future business relationships, unless the customer is a consumer within the meaning of Section 13 of the German Civil Code (BGB). They are recognized at the latest upon acceptance of the delivery and service by the customer and do not have to be expressly agreed again.

2. if, in individual cases, contractual or quasi-contractual relationships are established between us and a person other than the customer, the following terms and conditions shall also apply in this relationship.

3. deviating agreements, such as amendments, collateral agreements and supplements as well as deviating general terms and conditions or terms and conditions of purchase of our customer are hereby expressly and finally rejected.

4. agreements and collateral agreements deviating from our General Terms and Conditions shall only be effective if they are confirmed by us in text form.

5. individual agreements made with the customer shall take precedence over these General Terms and Conditions of Business within their scope of application.

II Conclusion of the contract

1. the order is a binding offer. We may accept this offer within three weeks of receipt by sending an order confirmation or by delivery and performance to the customer.

2. any special agreements with our representatives or employees as well as verbal or telegraphic orders require our confirmation in text form to be effective.

III Scope of delivery and service

The subject of the order is the agreed delivery and service, whereby the scope is determined exclusively by the customer's written order and/or our written order confirmation.

We also reserve the right to make technical changes after conclusion of the contract, insofar as they are insignificant and do not impair the functionality of our delivery and service.

IV. Execution of the delivery and service

1. the client is obliged to provide us with all documents required for the execution of the order prior to the execution of the order and to inform us of all additional information which could be of significance for the execution of the order. This shall also apply to such documents/information which only come to the client's knowledge after the order has been placed and which are of importance for the execution of the order. These must be forwarded to us immediately after the client becomes aware of them.

2. we shall provide the commissioned service on the basis of the documents/information provided, whereby we assume that the documents/information provided to us are complete and correct. We shall not be obliged to obtain any further documents/information independently or otherwise.

The client shall provide us, at our discretion and free of charge, with the working environment required to fulfill the order, such as employees, work rooms, hardware and software, data and telecommunication equipment, etc. The client shall grant us access via remote data transmission. He shall grant us access to his hardware and software via remote data transmission. Otherwise, the additional costs incurred by us as a result shall be reimbursed by the client.

3. if obvious discrepancies arise in the documents/information supplied during the execution of the order, we are obliged to notify the client of these immediately. The client is obliged to clarify these discrepancies immediately within the scope of reasonableness.

4. if a time-limited order cannot be executed on time due to the new facts mentioned in Clause 1) or the obvious discrepancies arising in Clause 3), we must inform the client of this. In this case, the contracting parties shall set a new date for the completion of the order.

5. if, due to the nature of the order, it is not possible to determine a new completion date or if the client is no longer interested in completing the order due to the new facts, we shall be entitled to remuneration for the service already partially provided by us.

6. if a flat-rate fee has been agreed for the execution of the order, additional remuneration shall be due for the additional work performed due to the new facts on the basis of the time spent multiplied by our usual hourly rates.

7. if the actual content of the order is substantially changed by the new facts mentioned under item 1), the original order shall be deemed terminated. In this case, we shall also be entitled to reimbursement of remuneration for the service already partially rendered in accordance with our representations under Section IV. 5). At the same time, a new order shall be deemed to have been agreed between the parties unless the client objects in writing within a reasonable period of time after we have informed our contractual partner of the consequences of his silence.

8. if we have to present the result of our activities in writing, only the written presentation shall be authoritative. Verbal statements and information provided by our employees outside of the order placed are always non-binding.

9. we are not obliged to provide our services in person. We may use employees or freelancers as vicarious agents to carry out the order. With the consent of the client, we are entitled to entrust the order to a competent third party. In this case, we are only obliged to name the third party carrying out the work to the client.

V. Transfer of risk

In the case of deliveries of goods, the risk shall pass to the customer as soon as the goods leave us, in the case of collection by the customer upon notification of readiness for collection. If the goods are delivered directly to the customer by our supplier on our behalf, the transfer of risk takes place when the goods leave the supplier.

Shipment shall always be at the customer's expense and risk. We determine the type of shipment.

If the delivery is made under a contract for work and services with us, the risk shall only pass upon acceptance of the work.

VI Acceptance

In the event that we have been commissioned with the creation or adaptation of programs, a formal acceptance of the service is agreed.

Acceptance shall be carried out within 10 days of notification of completion.

Acceptance shall take place on the basis of test cases defined with the customer or under real conditions. An acceptance report shall be drawn up on the result.

Ein die Abnahme hindernder Fehler liegt nur dann vor, wenn unser Programm die in der Programmdokumentation angegebenen Funktionen nicht erfüllt, falsche Ergebnisse liefert, ihren Lauf unkontrolliert abbricht oder sich in anderer Weise nicht funktionsgerecht verhält, so dass die Nutzung des Programms verhindert oder nicht unerheblich beeinträchtigt wird.

Soweit die beabsichtigte Funktion auch auf andere Weise erreicht wird, gilt dies nicht als Fehler.

Wir können die Abnahme in Teilen verlangen.

VII. Gewährleistung, Rügepflicht

1. Wir leisten Gewähr für etwaige Mängel.

Die Gewährleistung erstreckt sich nur auf solche Fehler, die bereits bei Ablieferung oder Abnahme des Programms vorhanden waren. Die Gewährleistung entfällt, soweit der Kunde ohne Zustimmung von uns Änderungen an dem Programm vornimmt oder durch Dritte vornehmen lässt oder das Programm nicht in Übereinstimmung mit der jeweiligen Programmbeschreibung nutzt oder mit einem anderen System (Hard- und Software) einsetzt als demjenigen, für welches das Programm konfiguriert wurde.

2. Das Mängelbeseitigungsrecht des Kunden beschränkt sich nach unserer Wahl auf Nacherfüllung durch Beseitigung bzw. Nachbesserung eines bestehenden Mangels oder Ersatzlieferung. Schlägt die Nacherfüllung fehl, hat der Kunde das Recht, die Rückgängigmachung bzw. die Herabsetzung der Vergütung zu verlangen. Bei nur geringfügigen Mängeln steht dem Kunden jedoch kein Rücktrittsrecht zu.

3. Der Kunde hat uns offensichtliche Mängel innerhalb zwei Wochen ab Abnahme/Übergabe schriftlich anzuzeigen, andernfalls ist die Geltendmachung des Mängelbeseitigungsanspruchs ausgeschlossen. Zur Fristwahrung genügt die rechtzeitige Absendung. Den Kunden trifft die volle Beweislast für sämtliche Anspruchsvoraussetzungen, insbesondere für den Mangel selbst, für den Zeitpunkt der Feststellung des Mangels und für die Rechtzeitigkeit der Mängelrüge.

Die Ansprüche nach Ziff. 2) verjähren hierbei mit Ablauf von einem Jahr ab dem gesetzlichen Verjährungsbeginn, soweit uns nicht grobes Verschulden vorwerfbar ist sowie im Fall von uns zurechenbaren Körper- und Gesundheitsschäden oder bei Verlust des Lebens des Kunden.

4. Wählt der Kunde wegen eines Rechts- oder Sachmangels nach gescheiterter Nacherfüllung den Rücktritt vom Vertrag, steht ihm daneben kein Schadensersatzanspruch wegen des Mangels zu.

5. Offenbare Unrichtigkeiten, wie beispielsweise Schreibfehler, Rechenfehler und formelle Mängel, die in unseren Berichten, Gutachten etc. enthalten sind, können von uns jederzeit berichtigt werden, auch gegenüber Dritten. Grundsätzlich gilt nur unsere Produktbeschreibung als vereinbart. Öffentliche Äußerungen, Anpreisungen oder Werbung stellen daneben keine ordnungsgemäße Beschaffenheitsangabe dar.

6. Für von Dritten über uns bezogene Lieferungen und Leistungen leisten wir nur insoweit und nur dann Gewähr, als der Kunde ansonsten keine Gewährleistungsansprüche gegenüber dem Dritten hat und dann nur in dem Umfang, in dem wir selbst Gewährleistungsansprüche gegenüber dem Dritten haben.

7. Bei Warenlieferung hat der Kunde den Liefergegenstand unverzüglich nach Empfang sorgfältig zu prüfen und eventuelle Mängelrügen spätestens sieben Werktage nach Empfang, bei versteckten Mängeln sieben Werktage nach Erkennbarkeit, schriftlich bei uns geltend zu machen.

An error preventing acceptance shall only exist if our program does not fulfil the functions specified in the program documentation, delivers incorrect results, aborts its run in an uncontrolled manner or does not behave in a functional manner in any other way so that the use of the program is prevented or significantly impaired.

If the intended function is also achieved by other means, this shall not be deemed a defect.

We may demand acceptance in parts.

VII Warranty, obligation to give notice of defects

1. we provide a warranty for any defects.

The warranty shall only cover such defects that were already present at the time of delivery or acceptance of the program. The warranty shall not apply if the customer makes changes to the program or has them made by third parties without our consent or does not use the program in accordance with the respective program description or uses it with a system (hardware and software) other than the one for which the program was configured.

2. the customer's right to rectification of defects is limited, at our discretion, to subsequent performance through elimination or rectification of an existing defect or replacement delivery. If the subsequent performance fails, the customer shall have the right to demand rescission or reduction of the remuneration. In the case of only minor defects, however, the customer shall not be entitled to withdraw from the contract.

3. the customer must notify us in writing of obvious defects within two weeks of acceptance/handover, otherwise the assertion of the claim for rectification of defects is excluded. Timely dispatch shall suffice to meet the deadline. The customer shall bear the full burden of proof for all claim prerequisites, in particular for the defect itself, for the time of discovery of the defect and for the timeliness of the notice of defect.

The claims according to item 2) shall expire one year after the start of the statutory limitation period, unless we can be accused of gross negligence and in the event of physical injury and damage to health attributable to us or in the event of loss of life of the customer.

4. if the customer chooses to withdraw from the contract due to a legal or material defect after subsequent performance has failed, he shall not be entitled to any additional claims for damages due to the defect.

5. obvious inaccuracies, such as typographical errors, calculation errors and formal defects contained in our reports, expert opinions, etc., can be corrected by us at any time, even vis-à-vis third parties. In principle, only our product description shall be deemed agreed. Public statements, promotions or advertising do not constitute a proper statement of quality.

6. we shall only provide a warranty for deliveries and services purchased from third parties via us to the extent that the customer otherwise has no warranty claims against the third party and then only to the extent that we ourselves have warranty claims against the third party.

7. upon delivery of goods, the customer must carefully inspect the delivery item immediately upon receipt and notify us in writing of any defects no later than seven working days after receipt, in the case of hidden defects seven working days after they become apparent.

VIII. Liability

1. in the event of slightly negligent breaches of duty, our liability shall be limited to the typical direct average damage foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract according to the type and manner of our delivery and service. This also applies to slightly negligent breaches of duty by our legal representatives or vicarious agents.

2. claims of the customer arising from product liability or from bodily injury and damage to health for which we are responsible or in the event of loss of life of the customer are not affected by the limitation of liability.

IX. Default of acceptance and failure of the customer to cooperate

If the customer is in default of acceptance of the service offered by us or if he fails to cooperate in accordance with Section IV, we shall be entitled to declare within a reasonable period of time that we will refuse to execute the order after the fruitless expiry of the period set by us. If the deadline expires without result, we shall be entitled to terminate the contract. In this case, we shall be entitled to remuneration for the service already rendered.

Instead of termination, we can also demand compensation instead of performance. In this case, the customer is obliged to pay a lump-sum compensation amounting to 30% of the net order volume. The customer is at liberty to provide evidence that lower damages or no damages at all were incurred in the individual case. We are entitled to prove higher damages in individual cases and to assert these against the customer.

X. Right of retention

As long as the claims asserted by us from the order have not been settled in full, we shall have a right of retention. This extends to all documents provided by the customer - and to all documents produced by us - with the exception of those which the customer absolutely needs to fulfill legal obligations.

XI. Retention of title

1. we reserve title to the goods until all claims arising from an ongoing business relationship have been settled in full.

2. the customer is obliged to treat the goods with care. If maintenance and inspection work is required, he must carry this out regularly at his own expense.

3. we must be informed immediately in writing if a third party gains access to the goods, in the event of seizure, other damage or destruction of the reserved goods.

4. we shall be entitled to withdraw from the contract and demand the return of the goods subject to retention of title in the event of breach of contract by the customer - in particular in the event of default in payment or breach of an obligation under clause 3) of this provision.

5. the customer is entitled to resell the goods subject to retention of title in the ordinary course of business. He hereby assigns to us all claims in the amount of the invoice amount which accrue to him against a third party as a result of the resale. We accept the assignment. After the assignment, the customer is authorized to collect the claim. However, we reserve the right to collect the claim ourselves as soon as the customer