Last modified on 29th February 2024

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Section  1   Scope of Validity

1. These General Terms and Conditions of Business shall apply to all legal transactions between ACCESS INTERNATIONAL EMEA SRL, Bucharest, Romania (ACCESS) and its clients who are not consumers.

2. Terms and Conditions of Business issued by the contractual partner shall not be accepted by ACCESS, unless ACCESS has agreed in writing to the contractual partner’s T&Cs.

3. ACCESS’s T&Cs shall apply in the version that stood at the time the Agreement was concluded. They are published in their latest version on the website access-international.eu.

4. These T&Cs apply to all types of translation services. As well as written translations, this includes interpreting, proofreading, linguistic consulting and other language services.

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Section 2 Terms of Offer

1. Whenever ACCESS provides the Client with an offer for translation services, this offer shall stand for 14 days after it is issued.

2. Delivery deadlines specified by ACCESS are calculated from the date on which the confirmation of acceptance is received.

3. Unless ACCESS has explicitly stated in writing that a deadline is binding or contractual, these deadlines are non-binding.

4. ACCESS is entitled to provide the service itself or through third parties.

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Section 3 Conclusion of Agreement

1. The Agreement shall be concluded when ACCESS receives the confirmation of acceptance.

2. If a Framework Agreement has already been concluded, then the individual Agreement shall be deemed concluded by the fact that the client has entered the work into the data processing system – usually a CAT tool – as agreed with ACCESS, or when the written job order has been sent to ACCESS.

3. The Agreement can be concluded in English or German.

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Section 4 Performing the Agreement, Cancellation

1. ACCESS is available on work days from 09:00 to 17:00 Central European Time (CET), with the exception of Romanian national holidays.

2. It is up to the Client to collaborate in the fulfilment of the Agreement so that ACCESS can deliver what is contractually due. If the Client does not meet this obligation within 14 days of being requested to do so, ACCESS is entitled to decline to proceed further and may request the agreed fee, minus any actual savings.

3. If the Client requests changes to the service once the order has been placed, such as the translation of amended documents, a new order incurring costs shall be placed in relation to the amended services.

4. For linguistic services charged on an hourly basis (interpreting, consulting etc.), a minimum of one hour shall be charged for each appointment. Thereafter, invoicing shall be for every 15 minutes commenced.

5. In the event of cancellation, the agreed fee shall be payable in full, unless ACCESS expressly agrees on a reduced cancellation fee.

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Section 5 Prices, Terms of Payment

1. In the case of agreed unit prices (such as fee per word), the fee shall be calculated based on the actual quantity in the source language.

2. All prices specified by ACCESS are net and subject to any applicable statutory turnover tax.

3. Postage costs – in particular for the delivery of certified translations – are to be covered by the Client.

4. Payments must be made in euros by bank transfer. The Client shall cover any costs for monetary transactions.

5. Unless payment in advance has been agreed on, invoiced amounts are due 14 days after invoicing, provided the invoice is sent to the Client in written form.

6. In the event of late payment, the Client shall owe default interest amounting to nine percentage points above the base rate of the European Central Bank (ECB).

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Section 6 Form

1. In the case of translation services, ACCESS shall provide a pure translation of the original text. In the case of standard file formats, the translation shall be done in the original document or in the table itself.

2. There is no obligation to provide any particular formatting or visual design, unless the Client asks ACCESS explicitly to provide a particular layout or to observe particular client-related guidelines.

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Section 7 Acceptance and Rights Accruing from Defects

1. Translations shall only be deemed defective if they are objectively incorrect from a linguistic point of view, or if they distort the meaning. Client preferences relating to particular translation instructions (‘preferential errors’) shall only be considered if the client has expressly asked ACCESS to follow that preference, such as in a Style Guide referring to the target language.

2. It is up to the Client to check the services rendered by ACCESS immediately upon receipt, to ensure they are usable and free from defect.

3. The Client must inform ACCESS of any objections within 14 days of receiving the service.

4. Objections must be in written form and must be qualified, i.e. they must be clearly set out with reference to the specific points in the text.

5. If the Client does not raise any qualified objections as described in Part 4 within this time period, then the service shall be deemed accepted and the Client shall no longer have any right to object to defects.

6. If defects have been asserted, ACCESS shall have the right to rework the service or rectify the defects within a reasonable time period.

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Section 8 Reservation of Ownership and Rights of Use

1. Until the fee has been paid in full, ACCESS reserves ownership of all of the services rendered, in particular texts delivered, and any rights of usage and exploitation connected to them.

2. While these rights remain reserved, it is forbidden to utilise, process, publish or otherwise exploit the services provided by ACCESS.

3. If they are utilised without authority, the Client shall be obliged to pay ACCESS anything gained by their utilisation. ACCESS reserves the right to claim further compensation.

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Section 9 Liability

1. The Client may not make claims for damages. Excluded from this are the Client’s claims for damages arising from injury to life, limb or health or from a breach of fundamental contractual obligations (cardinal duties) as well as liability for other damages caused by an intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty by the Supplier, its legal representatives or agents. Fundamental contractual obligations are those without which the aim of the Agreement could not be achieved.

2. In the event of a breach of fundamental contractual obligations, the supplier shall only be liable for that damage which could typically be foreseen under the Agreement if this was caused by simple negligence, unless the Client’s claims for damages are based on injury to life, limb or health.

3. The limitations in Parts 1 and 2 also apply in favour of ACCESS’s legal representatives and agents if claims are asserted directly against them.

4. The limitations of liability resulting from Parts 1 and 2 do not apply if ACCESS has fraudulently concealed a defect or guaranteed the quality of the item. The same applies if ACCESS and the Client have concluded an agreement on the quality of the item.

5. Whenever physical products are sent by post, the Client shall accept the risk of shipping, unless they ask ACCESS to insure the shipment against an additional fee. ACCESS shall then only be liable to the extent insured.

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Section 10 Non-solicitation

1. The Client undertakes not to solicit any translator who works for ACCESS, nor to appoint them themselves or employ them, during the contractual relationship and for a period of one year after ACCESS provides the service.

2. For each culpable breach of Part 1, the Client shall pay ACCESS an appropriate contractual penalty set at the reasonable discretion of ACCESS, and to be reviewed by the relevant court in the event of a dispute, which shall be no less than €5000.

3. The Client may not directly contact translators working for ACCESS unless ACCESS provides written permission to do so.

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Section 11 Confidentiality

1. ACCESS shall treat the Client’s information in strict confidence and not make it available to third parties unless they are themselves contractual partners of ACCESS who have been similarly obliged.

2.  ACCESS shall take appropriate precautions to protect the Client’s confidential information, and at least those precautions which ACCESS itself takes to protect its own sensitive information about business secrets.

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Section 12 Choice of Law, Language, Place of Jurisdiction, Final Provisions

1. Agreements between ACCESS and the Client shall be governed by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

2. The German version of these T&Cs is definitive for the contractual relationship. Translations are only for the purpose of guidance.

3. The place of jurisdiction for any disputes arising from contractual relationships between the Client and ACCESS is the jurisdiction of the District Court of Charlottenburg, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany.

4. The Agreement shall remain binding in its remaining components even if individual aspects become legally ineffective. Equivalent legal regulations, if they exist, shall take the place of any invalid terms. Should this constitute an unreasonable hardship for either of the parties to the Agreement, then the Agreement shall become void as a whole.