Lingua Jura – General terms and conditions
1. General
The following terms and conditions, as well as any changes mutually agreed in writing, apply to the services we provide. These general terms and conditions may also be consulted on Lingua Jura’s website https://linguajura.be. The general terms and conditions of the client and/or the person placing the order, or any other general terms and conditions to the contrary on orders, purchase orders, etc. do not apply without the explicit and written agreement of the parties concerned. The reference to “Lingua Jura” in these general terms and conditions is defined in Article 12.
2. Orders
Orders must be confirmed in writing via a purchase order or a signed quote by post or e-mail. Orders made by telephone must be confirmed in writing within 24 hours, if the next day is a working day, in the absence of which, the order will be deemed to be null and void. When placing an order, the client and/or the person placing the order agrees to Lingua Jura’s general terms and conditions. Lingua Jura cannot be held liable for incomplete or incorrect invoicing details provided by the client and/or the person placing the order. If the client and/or the person placing the order requires a change to an issued invoice, a EUR 75 (excl. of VAT) charge will be levied for administrative costs.
3. Legal translations
The material required for translation work must be delivered to Lingua Jura at the cost of the client and/or of the person placing the order. The costs of delivering the translation and the aforementioned material to the client and/or the person placing the order will be borne by Lingua Jura, on the understanding that this will take place by e-mail or normal postal services. Translations provided by Lingua Jura will be based on the words, expressions and spelling as contained in recognised dictionaries. However, clients and/or the persons placing the order may request that Lingua Jura use their preference for a particular spelling or vocabulary. Clients and/or persons placing the order must provide all the information required to ensure proper completion of the work required, either before or during execution of the agreement. If the text contains specific internal abbreviations, the client and/or the person placing the order is requested to provide the meaning of these in full. All translations will be carried out with respect for professional secrecy, except in cases where the client and/or the person placing the order has provided a written agreement to the contrary. All legal translations shall be carried out by a translator having a legal background, and nothing contained in any legal translation is intended to be or should be interpreted as legal advice. Only if the client and/or the person placing the order supplies the text to be translated as an editable Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document will Lingua Jura attempt as much as possible to respect the original layout (font, page layout and paragraph structure) of the source text. In the event of a unilateral cancellation of the assignment, the person placing the order shall owe Lingua Jura compensation equal to payment for the work already delivered in accordance with Lingua Jura’s rates, and a lump-sum payment equal to 25% of the agreed price, unless proof of higher compensation is provided. Lingua Jura agrees to keep all digital files relating to translation jobs (source texts and translations) on its servers for a period of five (5) years. Thereafter Lingua Jura reserves the right to delete these digital files.
4. Complaints
All complaints, including a full description of the issue, must be sent via registered mail within seven (7) days of delivery of the translation. Failure to follow this procedure will render complaints null and void. In the absence of this, the translation provided is deemed to have been accepted. Complaints or disputes about the non-conformity of a translation that is completed within the contractual deadline must be thoroughly substantiated with dictionaries, glossaries, or similar text material written by authorised native speakers. The unsubstantiated rejection of a translation does not constitute a reason for non-payment of the invoice. No complaint entitles the client and/or the person placing the order to suspend payment.
5. Delivery deadline - Delivery
Lingua Jura is not bound to the delivery and execution deadlines proposed by the client and/or the person placing the order, unless agreed otherwise in writing. The delivery and execution deadlines quoted by Lingua Jura are provided only as an indication. Exceeding these deadlines may in no way be considered as a contractual error on Lingua Jura’s part, nor shall it give rise to a fine and/or compensation. Lingua Jura may in no way be held liable for the late delivery or loss of material by third parties such as mail and courier services or damage during sending, nor for delays at the National Register for Sworn Translators and Interpreters in the case of legalised translations. The prices for legalised translations include delivery in a digital form of the legalised translation. Should a version on paper be required, mailing by ordinary post in Belgium will be done at no additional charge. However, if the client and/or the person placing the order wishes delivery by registered mail or courier, a supplement will be charged.
6. Force Majeure
Lingua Jura’s obligations are suspended in the case of force majeure. In such situations, Lingua Jura is only obliged to deliver, and to execute its other commitments, when this is again reasonably possible.
7. Payment
The invoices are validly sent by to the e-mail address or the invoicing address that the client has communicated. In case of an invoice sent electronically, this invoice will be the only original copy of the invoice and will have the legal significance and scope of an invoice. Upon request, an invoice on paper can also be procured. Invoices are payable within fifteen (15) days of the invoice date, in full, in cash and without discount, to the address of the seat unless otherwise agreed. Exchange rate risk and the collection costs shall be borne by the client and/or the person placing the order, who must indemnify and hold harmless for this. VAT, as well as any other levy or tax charged or to be charged, is always for the expense of the client and/or the person placing the order. If payments made by the client and/or the person placing the order from a non-euro account result in automatic bank charges being debited from the bank account of , these costs plus a reasonable administration charge will be invoiced to the client and/or the person placing the order. The person placing the order remains in all instances responsible for the payment within the payment term set by , even if the person placing the order is acting on behalf of an end customer whom has accepted to invoice, and regardless of the payment terms applied by the end customer. does not accept “pay when paid” or other conditions, and payment is due to regardless of any receipt of funds/monies from a third party. Disputes concerning invoicing must include a letter containing the justification sent by registered mail within seven (7) days after the date of the invoice. In the absence of such a notification, the invoice is deemed to have been accepted. Invoices that are not paid or not paid in full on the due date entitle to charge, by operation of law (“ipso iure”) and without prior notice of default, an additional 12% interest per annum, as well as fixed and irreducible compensation equal to 10% on the amount still due, with a minimum of EUR 125 (excl. of VAT). Failure to pay a single invoice by the due date entitles by operation of law (“ipso iure”) to demand immediate payment of all other invoices, even though these may not be overdue. Any discounts that are granted to the client and/or the person placing the order are one-off and linked to a specific legal translation assignment. is not obliged to grant the same or comparable discounts for later orders by the same client and/or the person placing the order. The benefit of a discount granted will lapse in the case of late payment of the invoice by the client and/or the person placing the order.
8. Limitation of liability
Lingua Jura may only be held liable in cases of wilful acts. In all cases, with the exception of fraud, Lingua Jura may only be held liable up to the amounts invoiced to or paid by the client and/or the person placing the order that were the occasion for the assignment in question. Under no circumstances may Lingua Jura be held liable for indirect damages, including an increase in general costs, loss of clients, loss of profits, absence or damage of electronic data. This list is not exhaustive. Lingua Jura is also not liable for changes that the client and/or the person placing the order subsequently makes to the legal translation provided by Lingua Jura. The client undertakes not to hold any persons affiliated with Lingua Jura liable for any errors made in the undertaking of their work for Lingua Jura, irrespective of their capacity (shareholders, directors, employees or self-employed persons).
9. Termination
Should the client and/or the person placing the order not meet his, her or its obligations, or in the event of manifest insolvency, liquidation or bankruptcy on the part of the client and/or the person placing the order, shall be entitled to terminate the assignment either partially or completely, or to suspend the execution thereof, without being liable to pay any compensation.
10. Copyrights
Unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, Lingua Jura reserves the copyright to translations and texts provided by Lingua Jura. The client and/or the person placing the order indemnify Lingua Jura against claims by third parties in connection with alleged breaches of property rights, patent rights and copyrights or other intellectual property rights in connection with the execution of the assignment. The client and/or the person placing the order confirms that he/she/it is authorised to the have the texts translated.
11. GDPR
Data are processed in the context of the activities of Lingua Jura. Some of these data are personal data as defined under Article 4.1 of the General Data Protection Regulation. This processing mainly concerns personal data of clients, but also those of third parties (e.g. business relations of clients) (the “data subjects”). We refer to the privacy policy on the website https://linguajura.be with regard to the personal data that we process and the purposes of that processing, as well as with regard to the rights and complaints options of the data subjects.
12. Definitions
“Lingua Jura” is a trade name of Empress Development SRL/BV, having its seat at B-8790 Waregem, Belgium, Leeuwkestraat 1 box 01, registered with the register of legal entities of Ghent, division Courtrai (enterprise number BE 0475.815.583).
13. Dispute resolution
The contractual relationship and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with it shall be governed by and construed in accordance with Belgian law. The courts of Ghent, division Courtrai (Belgium) have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute arising out of or in connection with this contractual relationship (including a dispute relating to non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with this contractual relationship).
(Last updated February 2023)
