GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SALE

English version 1/2018 (download)

I. Validity/Offers
1. These General Conditions of Sale (“Conditions”) shall apply to all present and future contracts with entrepreneurs, governmental entities, or special governmental estates in the meaning of sec. 310 para. 1 BGB (German Civil Code) in regard to deliveries and other services rendered. Buyer’s purchase conditions shall not be binding, even if we do not expressly object to them again after their receipt.

2. Our offers are subject to change without notice. Any agreements, especially oral collateral agreements, promises, guaranties and other assurances given by our sales staff before or at conclusion of the contract shall be binding only once they have been confirmed by us in text form.

3. Commercial terms such as „EXW“, „FOB“ and „CIF“ shall be interpreted in accordance with the INCOTERMS in their current version.

II. Prices
1. Our prices are free our business, excluding packaging, unless something else is agreed upon. Statutory Value Added Tax will be added.

2. If the items are to be delivered packaged, we will charge the packaging at cost price. We will take back the packaging delivered according to statutory provisions if it is returned to us freight free within a reasonable period of time.

III. Payment and Set-Off
1. Payment shall be made immediately without cash discounts so that we can dispose of the sum on the due date. Unless otherwise agreed, our invoices are due 14 days from date of invoice. . The payment must take place so that the amount invoiced is available to us at the latest on the due date. The Buyer will be in default at the latest 10 days after payment is due and without the need for a reminder.

2. Cash discount periods granted shall begin with the invoice date. Any cash discount agreed to always applies to the value of the invoice excluding freight and has a prerequisite that all amounts due by the Buyer have been paid at the time of the discount.

3. Invoices for amounts under EUR 50.00 as well as for assembly, repairs, forms and tooling costs are due immediately without deductions.

4. Counterclaims which we have contested or which have not yet been legally determined to be final and conclusive do not entitle Buyer to withhold or offset payments. This shall not apply if the counterclaims result from the same contractual relation and/or would entitle the Buyer to refuse the fulfilment of his contractual obligations under Section 320 of the German Civil Code.

5. When payment is not on time, at the latest by default, we are authorized to invoice interest at the level of the appropriate bank rate for overdraft credits, at a minimum, however, at the statutory default interest. Additionally, we charge a default allowance of EUR 40.00. A claim for further damages due to this delay remains reserved.

6. Should it become evident after the conclusion of the contract, that payment is jeopardised by the Buyer’s ability to perform, or should other circumstances arise which show a material deterioration in the Buyer's ability to perform we are entitled to refrain from any further performance and exercise the rights of Sec. 321 of the German Civil Code. This also applies in case the performance of our contractual obligation is not yet due. In such cases, we are also authorised to make due any and all of our accounts receivable resulting from the same legal relationship. Buyer’s ability to perform shall be deemed jeopardised also if the Buyer is for at least three weeks in default with a considerable portion (10% or more) of the amounts due; further, in case of a considerable downgrading of his existing credit limit by our credit insurance.

IV. Delivery Deadlines
1. Delivery deadlines and dates are considered to have been met when the goods have left our plant by the time due.

2. Our commitment to deliver is subject to our correct and timely self-delivery unless we are responsible for the deficient or late self-delivery.

3. Force majeure events entitle us to postpone the deliveries for the period of the hold-up and an appropriate start-up time. This also applies if such events occur during a present default. Force majeure is the equivalent of monetary or trade measures or other acts of sovereignty, strikes, lockouts, breakdowns not caused by us, obstruction of transport routes, delays in clearing the goods for import and in customs clearance as well as of all other circumstances, that essentially impede or render the deliveries and performances impossible, without being caused by us. Thereby, it is irrelevant if the circumstances occur at our place, the delivering plant or at another presupplier. If performance becomes unacceptable for one of the parties due to the abovementioned events, this party shall be able to withdraw from the contract by instant declaration in text form.

V. Retention of Title
1. All goods delivered by us remain our property (Reserved Property) until all claims arising from our business contacts have been settled, regardless of the origin of the claims and including future or conditional claims (current account reservation). The current account reservation is not applicable in in prepayment or delivery vs payment cases.In these cases, the goods remain our property until the purchase price for these goods has been paid in full.

2. With regard to processing or manufacturing of the Reserved Property, we shall be deemed to be manufacturer within the meaning of § 950 BGB (German Civil Code) without committing us in any way. The processed or manufactured goods shall be regarded as Reserved Property within the meaning of clause V/1 of these Conditions. When the Buyer processes, combines or mixes the reserved goods with other goods, we retain co-ownership in the new product in the relation of the invoice value of the reserved goods to the invoice value of the other goods produced. If our property disappears due to combination or mixture, the Buyer transfers to us already his property rights in the new goods or items in relationship to the invoice value of the reserved goods and will retain them for us without cost. The resulting co-ownership counts as Reserved Property in the meaning of Section V/1 of these Conditions.

3. The Buyer may re-sell the Reserved Property only in his normal business relations and to normal business conditions as long as he is not in arrears and only on the condition that the claims from the related sale are transferred to us according to Sections V/4 to V/6 of these Conditions. He is not authorized to use the Reserved Property for any other purpose.

4. The claims of the Buyer from the further sale of the Reserved Property count already as transferred to us. They count, in the same relationship, as security as does the Reserved Property. If the Reserved Property is sold by the Buyer together with other goods not sold by us, the assignment of the claim from the further sale is only in the amount of the sales value of the Reserved Property. With the sale of goods on which we have co-ownership according to Section V/2 of these Conditions, the assignment of the claim is in the amount of this co-ownership.

5. The Buyer is authorized to collect claims from the further sale until we exercise our rights of revocation at any time. In addition, when Buyer defaults in payment we are entitled, after expiration of an appropriate extension period, to take back the goods delivered and to request that they not be sold or processed. This taking back shall not constitute a withdrawal from the contract. At our request, the Buyer is required to inform his customers immediately about the assignment to us – as far as we do not do it ourselves – and to provide us with the necessary information and details to accomplish collection.

6. The Buyer must inform us immediately about any seizure or other adverse actions on the part of third parties.

7. Should the value of the existing securities exceed the value of the secured claims by more than 50 %, we are required to release securities of our choice upon demand of the Buyer.

VI. Carrying out Deliveries
1. When the goods are handed over to a forwarding agent or a carrier, at the latest, however, when the goods leave the warehouse or – with direct sales – the supplying plant, the risk is transferred to the Buyer in all cases, even those which are prepaid or free house deliveries. The Buyer must bear the responsibilities and costs of unloading. We shall obtain insurance only at the instruction of and at the cost of the Buyer.

2. We are permitted to make partial deliveries in reasonable amounts. With goods we produce, deliveries are permitted which are up to 10 % more or less than the quantity ordered.

3. With call contracts, we are permitted to produce or have the total quantity produced at one time. Any changes desired cannot be considered after the order has been given unless this has been specifically agreed to. Unless there is a firm agreement, call up times and quantities can only take place according to our supply or manufacturing capabilities. Should the goods not be called according to the contract, after a reasonable additional period of time we are authorized to invoice them as having been delivered.

4. For business with continuous deliveries we must receive release orders and type categories for roughly the same amount per month. If the release orders or type categories are not given on time, we are entitled after the expiry of a fixed period to make the type categories and deliver the goods or to cancel the outstanding part of the contract and demand compensation instead of payment. At the end of the contract, Buyer has to accept and pay for the remaining goods on stock.

VII. Liability for Defects
1. Any of properties of the goods, in particular to their quality, grade and measures will follow the agreed standards and, in default of such an agreement, any DIN and EN-standards which may be applicable at the time of the conclusion of the contract, and in absence of such standards the trade use and practice. Any reference to standards and to similar guidelines as well as to quality, grade, measure, weight and usage of the goods, any information given in drawings and illustrations as well as any predictions given in our advertising material shall not be regarded as representations or guaranties, unless we have expressly referred to them in text form. The same shall apply to declarations of conformity and to similar characteristics such as CE and GS signs. The Buyer shall bare any risks as to the suitability and usage of the goods.

2. As to the Buyer’s obligations to examine the goods and to notify us of any defects, the statutory provisions of the German HGB (Commercial Code) shall apply, subject to the following conditions: