These general terms and conditions of service set out the rights and obligations of Claire BENNETT EI, microenterprise, SIRET company registration number: 511 582 173 00023 (hereafter the “Service Provider”),

on the one hand, and

and any individual or legal entity wishing to benefit from its services (hereafter the “Customer”),

on the other hand.

1. APPLICATION OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS – ENFORCEABILITY

Any order placed implies the Customer’s full and unreserved acceptance of these general terms and conditions of service, to the exclusion of any other document.

No special condition may prevail over the present general terms and conditions of service, except in the case of a formal, written exception appearing on the order form, which has become firm and definitive.

Performance of any service by the Service Provider implies acceptance by the Customer of these general terms and conditions, and waiver of the Customer’s own general terms and conditions of purchase. In the absence of express acceptance, any condition to the contrary shall be unenforceable against the Service Provider, regardless of when it may have been brought to the Service Provider’s attention.

The fact that the Service Provider does not at any time avail itself of any of the present general terms and conditions of service shall not be construed as a waiver of its right to avail itself of any of the said terms and conditions at a later date.

2. ORDER PLACEMENT/QUOTES

Each customer order is either placed online or preceded by a free quotation, drawn up by the Service Provider on the basis of the documents to be translated or information provided by the customer.

The quotation sent by the Service Provider to the Customer, by post, fax or e-mail, shall specify in particular:
– The number of pages or words to be translated;
– The language of translation;
– How the price of the translation is determined. The latter is invoiced either on a flat-rate basis, on the basis of time spent, or on the basis of the service provider’s price list in force on the day the quotation 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 (or any other tool agreed by mutual agreement), per line or per page;
– The delivery deadline for the translation;
– 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 for urgent work, specific terminology research or any other request outside the scope of the usual services provided by the Service Provider.

To definitively confirm an order, the Customer must return the quotation to the Service Provider unchanged, either by post or fax, signed with the words “bon pour accord” if the quotation was sent by fax or post, or by e-mail with an expression of consent if the quotation was sent by e-mail. Failing receipt of acceptance of the quotation, the Service Provider reserves the right not to commence the service.

If the order is not confirmed in accordance with the above terms within the period indicated on the quotation, or otherwise within 3 (three) months from the date of dispatch of the quotation, the quotation shall be deemed null and void.

The Service Provider reserves the right, after having informed the Customer, to increase the rates for services and/or not to respect the delivery date shown on the Customer’s initial order confirmation, in particular in the following cases:

Modification or addition of supplementary documents by the Customer after the quotation has been drawn up by the Service Provider. In this case, the Service Provider reserves the right to adjust the price according to the volume of additional text to be processed, as determined or requested;

The absence of documents when the quotation was drawn up (if the quotation had to be drawn up simply on the basis of the approximate number of words and an extract of the content to be processed).

In the absence of the Customer’s express agreement to these new delivery and/or invoicing conditions, the Service Provider reserves the right not to commence work.

Unless otherwise agreed in the quotation, all costs incurred in providing the service (travel, express mail, etc.) are to be borne by the Customer.

Any decision to grant a discount, reduction or sliding scale of charges, based on a percentage or flat rate (per page, per line or per hour), remains at the sole discretion of the Service Provider, and solely for the service concerned. Any discounts or rebates granted to the Customer shall in no case create an acquired right for subsequent services.

In the event that the Service Provider has not sent the Customer a quotation in advance, orders are placed by simple exchange of e-mails, and translation services are invoiced in accordance with the basic rate usually applied by the Service Provider, or any other rate agreed between the Service Provider and the Customer in the exchange of e-mails. Any validation by the Customer of the deadline communicated by the Service Provider constitutes an order.

3. PROOF

For the purposes of proving the existence of acceptance of a quotation, the Customer hereby agrees to hold, as equivalent to the original and as perfect proof, any fax, e-mail, photocopy or electronic media.

4. DEPOSIT

Any order exceeding 1,000 (one thousand) euros (excluding VAT) may be subject to a request for a deposit, the percentage of which is specified in the quotation. In this case, performance of services shall not commence until the deposit has been received.

5. DELIVERY TIME

Subject to receipt by the Service Provider of all the documents to be translated, the indicative delivery time mentioned on the quotation is only applicable if the Customer confirms his order in accordance with the conditions defined in article 2 above within 3 (three) working days of receipt of the quotation. After this period, the delivery date may be revised according to the Service Provider’s workload.

6. OBLIGATIONS OF THE SERVICE PROVIDER

The Service Provider shall make every effort to ensure that the translation is as faithful as possible to the original, in accordance with the practices of the profession. The Service Provider shall make every effort to take into account and integrate into the translation any information provided by the Customer (glossaries, plans, drawings, abbreviations, etc.). The Service Provider declines all responsibility in the event of inconsistency or ambiguity in the original text; verification of the technical consistency of the final text is the sole responsibility of the Customer.

7. OBLIGATIONS OF THE CUSTOMER

The Customer undertakes to provide the Service Provider with all the texts to be translated and any technical information required for their understanding, as well as any specific terminology required. Should the Customer fail to inform the Service Provider, the latter cannot be held responsible for any non-conformities or missed deadlines.

The Customer has a period of 10 (ten) working days from receipt of the translated or proofread documents to express any disagreement with the quality of the service in writing. Once this period has elapsed, the service is deemed to have been duly carried out and no objection may be lodged. For this purpose, the customer agrees to consider as proof of delivery any acknowledgement of receipt by post, fax or e-mail.

8. CONFIDENTIALITY

The Service Provider undertakes to respect the confidentiality of information brought to its knowledge before, during or after the performance of its services. Originals will be returned to the Customer upon written request.

The Service Provider cannot be held liable for any interception or misappropriation of information during data transfer, particularly via the Internet. Consequently, it is the Customer’s responsibility to inform the Service Provider, prior to or at the time of the order, of the means of transfer it wishes to see implemented in order to guarantee the confidentiality of any sensitive information.

9. FORMAT

Certified translations are delivered by email in PDF format and by post on request. Non-certified translations are delivered by e-mail in Word format. On request, they can be delivered by fax or in hard copy by post. Any other means of transfer or format must be expressly agreed between the parties and may be subject to additional invoicing.

10. LIABILITY

The Service Provider’s liability is limited solely to the amount of the invoice concerned.

Under no circumstances shall the Service Provider be held liable for claims arising from stylistic nuances.

Please note that delivery times are given as an indication only, and failure to comply with them will not, in principle, result in penalties for late delivery. In any event, the Service Provider may not be held liable for any direct or indirect damage caused to the Customer or to third parties as a result of a delay in delivery due to force majeure, or to any delivery problem.

11. CORRECTIONS AND PROOFREADING

In the event of disagreement on certain points of the translation, the Service Provider reserves the right to correct the translation in cooperation with the Customer.

If the translation is to be published, the Service Provider must receive the printer’s proof for proofreading.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, any correction or proofreading will be invoiced additionally at the current hourly rate.

12. TERMS OF PAYMENT

Unless otherwise specified on the quotation, invoices are net, without discount, and are payable within 30 (thirty) days of the invoice date.

In the event of payment by cheque or bank transfer from abroad, all exchange and bank charges are either subject to a flat-rate surcharge specified on the quotation, or billed in full to the customer.

The translation remains the property of the translator until full payment has been received.

For business customers only, it should be noted that in the event of late payment, orders in progress are automatically suspended until full payment has been made, and the Customer is liable, without prior formal notice being required, in accordance with article L.441-6 of the French Commercial Code, for late payment interest calculated at the rate applied by the European Central Bank to its most recent refinancing operation, plus 10 percentage points, applied to the amount of the invoice in question, as well as a flat-rate indemnity for collection costs of 40 euros.

13. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Before submitting a document to the Service Provider for translation, the Customer must ensure that it has the right to do so. This means that the Customer must be the author of the original document, or must have obtained prior written authorisation for translation from the document’s copyright holder.

Failing this, the Service Provider cannot be held responsible in any way if all or part of the documents entrusted by the Customer infringe the intellectual property rights or any other rights of a third party, or any applicable regulations. In such a case, the customer shall be solely liable for any damages and financial consequences arising from its own negligence.

Furthermore, the Customer acknowledges that the translation produced 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 demand that its name be mentioned on any copy or publication of its service, in accordance with article L.132-11 of the French Intellectual Property Code.

14. CANCELLATION AND RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL

In the case of a Contract concluded remotely, the Customer has, in accordance with the law, a right of withdrawal of 14 days from the conclusion of the Contract. Within this period, the Customer may exercise its right of withdrawal, without having to give any reason or pay any penalty, by sending an e-mail to claire@bennett-translations.com expressing its wish to withdraw. The price of the Services ordered will be reimbursed within a maximum of 14 days from receipt of the Customer’s notification of withdrawal, sent by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

However, any Customer who wishes the Services to be carried out immediately, or who wishes performance to begin, or who wishes the translation to be delivered without waiting for the end of the withdrawal period, is duly informed that, by virtue of this express request and in accordance with article L.121-21-8-1° of the French Consumer Code, it expressly waives its right of withdrawal for the Services in question. In the event of retraction or 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 Customer at the rate of 100% (one hundred percent) and the work remaining to be carried out will be invoiced at the rate of 50% (fifty percent).

15. AMICABLE SETTLEMENT

In the event of a dispute of any kind whatsoever, and before taking any legal action, the parties undertake to attempt conciliation.

To this end, as soon as the disputed event occurs, the parties undertake to jointly refer the matter to the SFT Arbitration Committee by registered letter with a copy sent by registered letter to the other party.

The parties undertake to do their utmost to ensure that this conciliation has every chance of success. They undertake to act in good faith. They also undertake not to refer the matter to a judge for a period of 4 (four) months following referral to the Committee, and acknowledge that any referral made contrary to this obligation may be construed as a dismissal or, failing this, as an obstacle to any amicable settlement of the dispute, and justifies the payment to the other party of compensation of 1,500 (one thousand five hundred) euros.

16. DISPUTES – CONSUMER MEDIATION

In the event of a dispute between the Customer and the Service Provider, the latter shall endeavor to resolve it amicably in accordance with article 15 above.

In the absence of an amicable agreement, or in the absence of a response from the Service Provider within a reasonable period of one (1) month, the Customer, a consumer within the meaning of article L.612-2 of the French Consumer Code, may refer the matter free of charge, if disagreement remains, to the competent mediator on the list of mediators drawn up by the French Commission d’Evaluation et de Contrôle de la Médiation de la Consommation in application of article L.615-1 of the French Consumer Code, namely:

La Société Médiation Professionnelle

www.mediateur-consommation-smp.fr

Alteritae 5 rue Salvaing – 12000 Rodez

17. APPLICABLE LAW – COMPETENT JURISDICTION

These terms and conditions are governed by and shall be construed in accordance with French law. Failing amicable settlement in accordance with article 15 above, the parties hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the French courts to settle any dispute relating to the provision of the service and these general terms and conditions.