When you accept a quotation, you agree to have read and accepted the General Terms and Conditions of Sale stated on this website.
General Terms and Conditions of Sale
1. Application and Scope of the General Terms and Conditions of Sale
All orders placed imply the Client’s full acceptance of these General Terms and Conditions of Sale to the exclusion of any other document, without any reservation.
No special terms may take precedence over these Terms of Sale unless they are stated in writing on the purchase order in its final and binding form.
The performance of any service by the Service Provider implies that the Client accepts these Terms of Sale and waives his own general terms and conditions. Any provision to the contrary will, in the absence of manifest consent, be without effect against the Service Provider, regardless of the time at which such provision is brought to the notice of the same Service Provider.
Should the Service Provider not make use of any or several of the provisions in these Terms of Sale, this is not to be interpreted as a waiver of the Service Provider’s right to make use of any of such provisions at a later date.
2. Quotations and Orders
Before the Client places any order, the Service Provider will issue a price quotation, free of charge, based on the documents to be translated or proofread, or on information provided by the Client. This quotation, that is sent by the Service Provider to the Client by postal mail, email or fax will specify:
- the number of words or pages to be translated;
- the language they are in, and the language they are to be translated into;
- the way in which the price for the translation or the proofreading is calculated. The fee may correspond to a minimum charge, or be determined according to the Service Provider’s rates at the time the quotation is established. This rate may be based on criteria such as the number of words in the text to be translated or proofread, as established by the Statistics function in Microsoft Word, or on the number of lines, pages, or in some cases, at an hourly rate;
- the estimated delivery time of the finished work;
- the format of the translated or proofread documents in cases where a specific layout has been requested;
- any special rates applied because of the urgency of the required service, special research or any other service that is not usually performed by the Service Provider.
To confirm an order, the Client has to express his/her acceptance in writing on the quotation received by postal mail or fax, sign and date the same along with the statement “Approved for purchase” and return it in its otherwise unmodified form to the Service Provider by postal mail or fax. If the Client receives the quotation by email, he/she may confirm the order by return of email that clearly expresses his/her acceptance. If the Service Provider does not receive confirmation of the order, the Service Provider reserves the right to withhold commencement of the translation or proofreading service in question.
If confirmation of the order is not received within three (3) months following the date at which the quotation is sent, the quotation will lapse.
The Service Provider reserves the right, after informing the Client, to charge an additional fee and/or not to comply with the delivery time on the Client’s initial order in any of the following cases:
- modification or addition of documents by the Client after the initial quotation was established by the Service Provider, in which case the Service Provider reserves the right to adjust the amount charged in proportion to the additional volume of work observed or requested;
- the absence of documents at the time the quotation was established. An initial quotation based solely on the Client’s estimation of the number of words and an excerpt of the text in question.
In the absence of the Client’s express acceptance of the new delivery date and/or charges, the Service Provider reserves the right to not commence work. Unless otherwised specified in the quotation, out-of-pocket expenses incurred in relation to the provision of services (travel, courier or postal charges etc.) are to be borne by the Client.
Any decision to offer a discount, reduction or declining rate, whether expressed as a percentage or an amount (per page, line or hour), is at the sole discretion of the Service Provider and only for the service to which they immediately apply. Any such discounts or rebates do not give rise to any rights that the Client might assert with respect to any future services.
If no quotation has been sent to the Client before the commencement of work, charges for translation or proofreading services will be calculated at the rate habitually applied by the Service Provider.
3. Evidence of Acceptance
The Client agrees to consider faxes, emails, copies and computer files as being equivalent to the original and conclusive evidence of the confirmation of orders.
4. Down Payments
A down payment may be required for any order exceeding 1000 euros excluding VAT, in which case the amount of the down payment will be stipulated in the quotation. Work will not begin until payment has been received.
5. Delivery
Any delivery date or dates are not binding until the Service Provider has received all the documents to be translated and subject to the condition that the Client confirms his/her order as specified in paragraph 2 above within 3 (three) business days from the date the quotation is sent out. When the three days have elapsed, the Service Provider may modify the delivery date in accordance to his/her workload. Nevertheless, the Service Provider will not be held responsible for delays in cases of force majeure (disaster, accident, strikes, riots, etc.) or other circumstances beyond his/her control (Internet connection problems, server failure, computer breakdown, etc.). The Service Provider will inform the Client with minimal delay of any circumstances that are liable to compromise his/her ability to adhere to the terms of the Client’s order, and will assist the Client, as is reasonably possible, in searching for an alternative solution.
6. Service Provider’s Obligations
The Service Provider shall make every effort to provide a translation or proofreading that is as faithful as possible to the original and that complies with professional standards. He/She will do what is necessary to take into account and include in the translation or proofreading any information provided by the CLient (glossaries, drawings, diagrams, abbreviations, etc.). The Service Provider will not be held responsible for any inconsistencies or ambiguities in the original text, the verification of the final text’s technical adequacy being the Client’s sole responsibility.
7. Client’s Obligations
The Client is to provide the Service Provider with all the texts to be translated, along with all the technical information required for their understanding and, where applicable, the specific terminology required. Failing which, the Service Provider will not be held responsible if the translation or proofreading does not comply with the Client’s standards or for any late deliveries.
The Client is to inform the Service Provider in writing of any disagreement concerning the quality of the translated or proofread text within 10 business days from the time the translated or proofread documents are received. Once this period has elapsed, the service will be considered duly completed and no further contestation or claims will be allowable. The Client agrees to consider postal, fax or email receipts as evidence of delivery.
8. Confidentiality
The Service Provider undertakes to preserve the confidentiality of information of which he/she is apprised before, during and after the provision of services. Original documents will be returned to the Client on request.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, confidential information for purposes of this paragraph shall not include the following: a. information which is or becomes available to the general public; b. terminological glossary entries compiled by the Service Provider in the course of his/her performance of the translation or proofreading service, unless the Client and Service Provider agree in writing that, upon payment by the Client to the Service Provider of an agreed-upon fee, such terminological glossary entries shall be the property of the Client and shall be covered by the confidentiality provisions of this paragraph.
The Service Provider will not be held liable in the event that information is intercepted or used by a third party during data transfer, especially in the case of transmission by the Internet. Thus, prior to the provision of services or at the time the order is placed, the Client is to inform the Service Provider of the means of transmission to be used to ensure the confidentiality of sensitive information.
9. Delivery Format
Translations or proofreadings are generally delivered by email in Microsoft Word format. On request, they may be delivered by postal mail or fax, and/or on a CD or DVD. Any other means of delivery or formats must be agreed upon between the two parties and may be subject to additional charges.
10. Liability
The liability of the Service Provider may in no case exceed the invoiced value of the work.
The Service Provider may in no case incur any liability in respect of claims related to nuances of style.
It is expressly agreed that delivery deadlines are only of an indicative nature and that late delivery will not give rise to penalties. The Service Provider will not be held liable for any loss or damage suffered by the Client or a third party as a direct or indirect consequence of late delivery, as may occur in particular cases of force majeure or disruption of fax transmission, email connections or postal services.
11. Corrections
In the event of disagreement over certain aspects of a translation or proofread document, the Service Provider reserves the right to make related corrections in coopertaion with the Client. If the translation or proofread document is to be published, the Service Provider is to receive the printer’s proofs to proofread before publication.
In certain cases, corrections may result in additional charges calculated at the usual hourly rate.
12. Payment
Unless otherwise stipulated in the quotation, full payment is to be made to the Service Provider within 30 days from the date of invoice.
In the case of payment by cheque or bank transfer from a foreign country, all foreign exchange and banking charges will be either covered by an additional charge specified on the quotation or be separately billed to the Client.
In the event of late payment, work on orders in progress may be unilaterally interrupted as a matter of right until full payment is received and the Client will be liable, without formal demand, for penalties in the form of interest on the full amount outstanding, this being charged at one and a half times the prevailing interest rate applied to court-ordered payments in France.
Translations remain the property of the Service Provider until full payment has been received.
13. Copyright
Before undertaking to have a document translated or proofread, the Client must have obtained an assurance that this does not infringe the rights of any third parties. The Client must thus be the author of the original document or have obtained prior written permission to have the document translated from any person holding copyright.
If the Client fails to comply with this requirement, the Service Provider may under no circumstances be held responsible or in any way liable if all or a portion of the documents to be translated or proofread infringe the intellectual property rights or any other rights of a third party, or violate any applicable law or regulation. In such cases, the Client alone will be liable for any compensation due and the financial consequences of his/her own negligence.
The Client further acknowledges that the translation is a new document and that the related rights of authorship are held jointly by the author of the original document and the Service Provider. In cases where a translation is of a literary or artistic nature, the Service Provider thus has the right to require, as provided under France’s Intellectual Property Code (paragraph L.132-11), that his/her name be shown on any copies or publications of the translationn this being without prejudice to the Service Provider’s economic rights.
14. Cancellation
In the event that the Client gives the Service Provider written notice of the cancellation, for whatever reason, of an order on which work has already begun, the Client is to pay the Service Provider the full contractual amount for the portion completed and 50 % (fifty percent) for that not completed.
15. Disputes
In the event of a dispute of any nature, the Service Provider and the Client undertake to seek an agreed settlement as follows. As soon as the event giving rise to the dispute occurs, either party may refer the matter to the Arbitration Commission of the Société Française des Tarductuers (SFT) by registered letter with return receipt. The parties will allow the commission to seek an agreement as it deems appropriate. The parties will do everything within their power to ensure the success of this arbitration. They undertake to act in good faith. They further undertake not to take the matter to court in the four months following referral to the Commission and acknowledge that any resort to the courts contrary to this undertaking may be considered a denial of competence or, failing this, obviation of agreed settlement, warranting payment to the other party of a penalty amounting to 1500 euros.