Your General Terms and Conditions

Introduction

Why would you, as a company, want to use terms and conditions? We assume that you want to limit your liability and want to have a strong basis for counteracting doubtful debts. How then is it possible that when it comes down to it these general terms and conditions often appear to be worthless? Unfortunately, many companies apply them the wrong way or essential stipulations appear to be missing. Smart Advocatuur has years of experience in drafting general terms and conditions and helps you with the legal certainty of their implementation.

Content

General terms and conditions can be very helpful in protecting the company from legal problems. Matters that are usually provided for include rejecting the other party's general terms and conditions, limiting the right of recovery period, stating the limitations of your liability, demanding payment of your invoices within a particular time frame, charging collection costs and contractual interest for late payment (instead of the statutory interest), and much more. Experience teaches that companies quite often underestimate what is required before general terms and conditions are enforceable on an agreement entered into.

Exactly because you will probably seldom have to invoke your general terms and conditions, it is crucial that you weave them into your operational processes consistently and in a legally correct manner. If you do not do this, you run the risk of ending up empty handed in (although) rare, but gripping situations (for example when it comes down to exclusion of liability).

Applicability

To allow your general terms and conditions to be applicable within a particular legal relationship, it is important that you submitted them to your intended business partner beforehand, for example by mail or by printing them on the back of a quote or an agreement entered into or as an enclosure with an accompanying letter. In any case, the person with whom you are doing business must have taken cognizance of them. A reference on your stationary is insufficient. Courts are very critical about this, as is apparent from recent Supreme Court decisions. In addition, it is of essential importance that you can prove to have actually submitted your general terms and conditions to the person you are doing business with beforehand. You can prove this by confirming in an accompanying (fax) letter (or for instance simultaneously with the submittance of a quote on the front of the paper) that you are sending the general terms and conditions and that they apply to the agreement to be entered into. When it comes to an agreement in writing, it is wise to include in that agreement that the other party received the terms and conditions, and that they agree with their applicability.

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Legal Scan

We would be more than happy to assess the legal consistency of your general terms and conditions. If you send us your general terms and conditions and order confirmations we will assess them and report on our findings in writing. We can also draft your company's general terms and conditions for a reasonable fee.

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