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Terms and Conditions of Service

These terms of service outline the rights and obligations of Auriane Michotte de Welle, registered translator under the number Y8382012K, with its registered office located at Calle Monte Oliveti 63, 3 IZQ, 28038 Madrid, Spain (the "Service Provider"), on the one hand,
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and any natural or legal person wishing to benefit from its services (the "Client"), on the other hand.

1. APPLICATION OF GENERAL CONDITIONS - OPPOSABILITY

Any order implies the full and unconditional acceptance by the Client of these general terms of service, to the exclusion of any other document.

No special condition can prevail over these general terms of service unless formally and in writing stated on the purchase order that has become final and binding.

The execution of any service by the Service Provider implies the Client's acceptance of these general terms, and the waiver of its own general terms of purchase. Any contrary condition will, in the absence of express acceptance, be unenforceable against the Service Provider, regardless of when it may have been brought to its attention.

The fact that the Service Provider does not invoke any of these general terms at a given time cannot be interpreted as a waiver of the right to invoke them later.

2. PLACING ORDERS / QUOTES

Each order from the Client is generally preceded by a free quote issued by the Service Provider based on the documents to be translated or information provided by the Client.

The quote sent by the Service Provider to the Client, by postal mail or email, specifies in particular:

    • The number of pages or words submitted for translation;

    • The language of translation;

    • How the price of the translation service is determined. It can be invoiced on a flat-rate basis, on the basis of the time spent, or on the basis of the Provider's rate in effect on the day of the quote, particularly per source word (i.e. per word contained in the text to be translated) or per target word (i.e. per word contained in the translated text) according to the breakdown proposed by Microsoft Word or another computer-assisted translation (CAT) tool, per line or per page;

    •  The delivery deadline for the translation;

    • The format of the documents to be translated if a specific layout is required for the document delivered;

    • Any price increases applied in particular for reasons of urgency, specific terminology research or any other request outside the scope of the usual services provided by the Service Provider.

In order to confirm a firm and final order, the Customer must return the quotation to the Service Provider unchanged, either by post or fax signed with the words "bon pour accord" where the quotation was sent by fax or post, or by e-mail with an expression of consent where the quotation was sent by e-mail. If acceptance of the quotation is not received, the Service Provider reserves the right not to commence the service.

In the absence of confirmation of the order in accordance with the terms defined above within the period indicated on the quotation or, failing this, within 3 (three) months from the date on which the quotation was sent, the quotation shall be deemed to have lapsed.

The Service Provider reserves the right, after informing the Customer, to increase the rates for services and/or not to meet the delivery date indicated on the Customer's initial order confirmation, particularly in the following cases:

  1. Modification or addition of additional documents by the Customer after the quotation has been drawn up by the Service Provider. In this case, the Service Provider reserves the right to adjust the rate according to the volume of additional text to be processed;

  2. The absence of documents when the quote was drawn up (if the quote had to be drawn up simply on the basis of the approximate number of words and an extract of the content to be processed).

In the absence of the Customer's express agreement to these new delivery and/or invoicing conditions, the Service Provider reserves the right not to commence its service.
Unless otherwise agreed in the quotation, the costs incurred in providing the service (travel, sending express mail, etc.) shall be borne by the Customer.

Any decision to grant a discount or reduction or to apply degressive rates, based on a percentage or a flat rate (per page, per line or per hour), remains at the sole discretion of the Service Provider, and solely for the service which is the subject of the discount or reduction. Any discounts or rebates granted to the Customer shall in no way create an acquired right for subsequent services.

If the Service Provider has not sent the Customer a quotation in advance, orders are placed by simply exchanging e-mails and translation services are invoiced in accordance with the basic rate usually applied by the Service Provider or any other rate agreed between the Service Provider and the Customer in the exchange of e-mails. Any validation by the Customer of the deadline communicated by the Service Provider constitutes an order.

 

3. PROOF

For the purposes of proving the existence of this acceptance of a quotation, the Customer agrees to consider faxes, e-mails, copies and electronic media as equivalent to the original and as perfect proof.

4. DOWN PAYMENT

Any order exceeding 1,000 (one thousand) euros before tax may be subject to a request for a deposit, the percentage of which is specified on the quotation. In this case, performance of the services will not commence until the deposit has been received.

5. DELIVERY DEADLINE

Subject to receipt by the Service Provider of all the documents that are the subject of the translation service, the delivery date, given as an indication and mentioned on the quotation, is only applicable on condition that the Customer confirms his order in accordance with the procedures defined in Article 2 above within 3 (three) working days of receipt of the quotation. After this period, the delivery date may be revised depending on the Service Provider's workload.

6. OBLIGATIONS OF THE SERVICE PROVIDER

The Service Provider shall endeavour to produce the translation as faithfully as possible in relation to the original and in accordance with the practices of the profession. The Service Provider shall make every effort to take into account and integrate into the translation any information provided by the Customer (glossaries, plans, drawings, abbreviations, etc.). The Service Provider accepts no responsibility for any inconsistencies or ambiguities in the original text. The Customer is solely responsible for verifying the technical consistency of the final text.

7. OBLIGATIONS OF THE CLIENT

The Customer undertakes to provide the Service Provider with all the texts to be translated and all the technical information required to understand them and, where applicable, the specific terminology required. If the Customer fails to inform the Service Provider, the latter cannot be held responsible for any non-conformities or missed deadlines.

The Customer has 10 (ten) working days from receipt of the translated or proofread documents to express any disagreement with the quality of the service in writing. Once this period has elapsed, the service is deemed to have been duly carried out and no dispute can be accepted. To this end, the customer agrees to consider as proof of delivery any acknowledgement of receipt by post, fax or e-mail.

8. PRIVACY

The Service Provider undertakes to respect the confidentiality of any information brought to its attention before, during or after the performance of its services. The originals will be returned to the Customer upon written request.

The Service Provider cannot be held liable for any interception or misappropriation of information during data transfer, in particular via the Internet. Consequently, it is the Customer's responsibility to inform the Service Provider, prior to or at the time of the order, of the means of transfer that it wishes to see implemented in order to guarantee the confidentiality of any sensitive information.

9. FORMAT

The translation is delivered by e-mail or another pre-agreed platform (such as WeTransfer) in the format agreed with the customer. On request, it can be delivered by fax or in hard copy by post. Any other means of transfer or format must be expressly agreed between the parties and may be subject to additional invoicing.

10. LIABILITY

The Service Provider's liability is limited solely to the amount of the invoice concerned.

Under no circumstances can the Service Provider be held responsible for claims based on stylistic nuances.

Please note that delivery times are given as an indication only, and failure to comply with them will not, in principle, result in penalties for late delivery. In any event, the Service Provider may not be held liable for any direct or indirect damage caused to the Customer or to third parties as a result of a delay in delivery due, in particular, to a case of force majeure, or to any delivery problem.

11. CORRECTIONS AND REVISION

In the event of disagreement on certain points of the service, the Service Provider reserves the right to correct the service in cooperation with the Customer.

If the translation is to be published, the Service Provider must receive the printer's proof for proofreading.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, any correction or proofreading will be invoiced at the current hourly rate.

12. TERMS OF PAYMENT

Unless otherwise specified in the quotation, invoices are net, without discount and are payable within 30 (thirty) days of the invoice date.

In the event of payment by cheque or bank transfer from abroad, all exchange and bank charges will be subject either to a flat-rate surcharge specified on the quotation, or to the Customer being billed in full.

The translation remains the property of the translator until full payment has been received.

In the case of business customers only, it should be noted that in the event of late payment, orders in progress are automatically suspended until full payment has been made and the Customer is liable, without prior formal notice being required, in accordance with article L.441-6 of the French Commercial Code, for late payment interest calculated at the rate applied by the European Central Bank to its most recent refinancing operation plus 10 percentage points, applied to the amount of the invoice in question, as well as a fixed indemnity for collection costs of 40 euros.

13. INTELECTUAL PROPERTY

Before submitting a document for translation to the Service Provider, the Customer must ensure that it has the right to do so. The Customer must therefore be the author of the original document or have obtained prior written authorisation for translation from the document's copyright holder.

Otherwise, the Service Provider may in no way be held liable if all or part of the documents entrusted by the Customer infringe the intellectual property rights or any other rights of a third party or any applicable regulations. In such a case, the Customer shall be solely liable for any damages and financial consequences arising from its negligence alone.

Furthermore, the Customer acknowledges that the translation produced by the Service Provider constitutes a new document, the copyright in which is held jointly by the author of the original document and the Service Provider. Consequently, in the case of services of a literary or artistic nature, and without prejudice to its economic rights over its work, the Service Provider reserves the right to demand that its name be mentioned on any copy or publication of its service, in accordance with Article L.132- 11 of the French Intellectual Property Code.

14. CANCELLATION

In the event of cancellation of an order in progress, for whatever reason, notified in writing to the Service Provider, the work already carried out will be invoiced to the Customer at the rate of 100% (one hundred per cent) and the work remaining to be carried out at the rate of 50% (fifty per cent).

15. AMICABLE SETTLEMENT

The parties undertake, in the event of a dispute of any nature whatsoever and prior to any legal action, to submit to an attempt at conciliation.

To this end, as soon as the disputed event occurs, the parties undertake to jointly refer the matter to the SFT Arbitration Committee by registered letter with a copy sent by registered letter to the other party.

The parties undertake to do their utmost to ensure that this conciliation has every chance of success. They undertake to act in good faith. They also undertake not to refer the matter to a judge for a period of 4 (four) months following referral to the Committee and accept that any referral made in contradiction with this obligation may be construed as a dismissal or, failing that, as an obstacle to any amicable settlement of the dispute and justifies the payment to the other party of compensation of 1,500 (one thousand five hundred) euros.

16. APPLICABLE LAW - JURISDICTION

These general terms and conditions are governed by and must be interpreted in accordance with French law. In the absence of an amicable settlement in accordance with article 15 above, the parties grant exclusive jurisdiction to the French courts to settle any dispute relating to the provision of the service and these general terms and conditions.

Last updated: 4 January 2024