General Terms and Conditions of Johnson & Witte Partnerschaft, Fachübersetzer + Sprachdienstleister

The language services that we provide (including translation, editing, proofreading, language instruction, and interpreting) are subject to our General Terms and Conditions detailed below. These are binding upon both private customers ("consumers" within the meaning of the law) and business customers. No other provisions apply unless we have agreed on them with our customers.

1. Any orders placed with us will only be binding after we have confirmed them in writing.

2. As the basis for translation, you can either deliver the texts to us personally in the form of paper-based documents or send us your texts or files by e-mail/uploaded to our FTP site or alternatively by fax. In that respect, we will not be liable for any loss or damage incurred to the document en route to us unless it was our fault. We adhere to strict confidentiality regarding all submitted documents/files.

3. We charge for our services on the following basis:
- The basis for calculating our translation fees shall be the number of words or number of standard lines containing 55 characters, including spaces in the source text, unless any conversion of PDFs, image files, faxes, or paper-based documents into a format that may be processed electronically fails. In the latter case, we charge based on the line or word count of the target text.
- Proofreading fees shall be based on the word or line count or on an hourly basis, as agreed.
- Interpreting assignments will be charged based on an hourly fee or a flat rate for half-days or full days, as individually agreed.
If it becomes necessary to charge the customer VAT, based on country of residence (Germany/EU/outside of the EU) and fiscal status (entrepreneur/non-entrepreneur), the statutory VAT will be detailed separately on all invoices.

4. Invoices can be paid by bank transfer, PayPal, Western Union, MoneyGram, or in cash.
- In cases where we deliver our work results by post or electronically, invoices will be payable without any deduction within 21 days of the invoice date. If the documents are collected personally, the invoice will be payable immediately, without any deduction, in cash. Interpreting services shall be paid in cash immediately afterwards, unless the customer is an agency. Other than as laid down above, due to their role as an agent, individually agreed payment periods will be negotiated with translation and interpreting agencies.
- If our invoice remains unpaid following a second written reminder for payment, we reserve the right under German law to charge interest (for our private customers, 5% above the base rate as published by the European Central Bank; for our business customers, 8% above the base rate as per the announcements issued by the European Central Bank).
- In special cases (such as in the case of customers domiciled in non-EU countries or when carrying out very extensive projects), we reserve the right to agree to payment in installments with our clients.

5. We always do our best to provide our services on time. Delivery dates and times will only be binding when we have confirmed them in writing. If we do not adhere to the agreed delivery time, the customer may set a reasonable grace period for completing the order. If this grace period passes without results, for reasons that are our fault, the customer can cancel the contract.

6. We provide our language services to the best of our knowledge and belief.

If despite our best efforts our services are flawed, the customer shall give us a period of 96 hours (calculated on the basis of a working week from Monday to Saturday) to remedy any possible defects. Our business customers will be required to notify us about any defects within 30 days. If defects are asserted at a later date, we will no longer have to remedy any defects. If the remedying of the defect(s) fails, the customer will have the right to reasonably reduce the amount of the invoice.

The company's liability for any monetary losses incurred by the customer through any defective linguistic services provided, that are our fault, will be limited to € 75,000 per project.

In addition, the statutory provisions on limitation apply.

7. If the customer cancels the order placed with us while it is still in progress, our claim to payment of our fee will be in accordance with the value of the part of the order that has already been completed. If interpreting assignments are cancelled up to 48 hours prior to the commencement of the trip to the agreed location, only the actual traveling expenses already incurred (such as cancellation fees in the event of scheduled use of public transport) shall be invoiced. If interpreting assignments are cancelled less than 48 hours prior to the commencement of the trip to the agreed location, we shall in addition claim flat-rate compensation for the preparation time invested and lost profits amounting to € 65.00 plus any statutory VAT. It will be the customer’s responsibility to prove to us that lesser damage has been incurred by us in such cases.

8. If any provision contained in our General Terms and Conditions is or becomes invalid, the remaining provisions will remain valid.

9. In so far as is statutorily admissible, the court having jurisdiction for our company's registered office is agreed upon as the place of jurisdiction for any claims arising in any disputes with our customers.