General Terms and Conditions (GTC)
Here you will find our General Terms and Conditions (GTC). These are binding for our customers and regulate the conditions for working with our laboratory. We attach great importance to transparency and would therefore like to give you a clear overview of our services, prices, payment options, delivery conditions, right of withdrawal and our liability. Please read our terms and conditions carefully. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
§ 1 Scope of application
The following General Terms and Conditions (GTC) apply to all laboratory services commissioned as part of the business activities of Gen me GmbH (hereinafter referred to as the contractor from § 2). The GTC are also effective if the contractual partners - in particular within the framework of an ongoing business relationship - do not expressly refer to them in subsequent contracts. They shall also apply to all future business relationships, even if they are not expressly agreed again. By placing an order with the Contractor, these GTC shall be deemed accepted unless the contractual partner expressly objects to their validity when placing the order.
Conflicting, deviating or supplementary GTC shall not become part of the contract, even if they are known, unless their validity is expressly agreed in writing.
The GTC are published on the contractor's homepage (www.zk-vet.de).
§ 2 Offer and conclusion of contract
All offers are subject to change and non-binding, unless they are expressly marked as binding.
The contract for the performance of the above-mentioned work, in particular the examination and diagnosis of the material samples provided by the client, shall only come into effect once the examination order has been confirmed in writing.
The contract is concluded exclusively between the client and the contractor, irrespective of the respective operating site.
If the order contains processing times or deadlines, these shall only be binding for the Contractor if the Contractor has expressly confirmed their binding nature in writing. If it subsequently transpires that the bindingly agreed processing times or deadlines cannot be met, the Client shall be informed in writing of the reasons for the delay. In this case, the parties shall endeavor to agree on an appropriate adjustment of the processing time or a new deadline. In the event of a delay, the client must set a reasonable grace period in writing, which may not be shorter than 2 weeks, before withdrawing from the contract.
The accepted orders are carried out in accordance with the general rules of laboratory technology and the recognized state of the art, taking into account the legal and official regulations.
The client shall receive the results of the findings in written or electronic form. It is the responsibility of the client to check the findings immediately upon receipt and, if a defect becomes apparent, to notify the contractor immediately. If the Client fails to notify the Contractor, the findings shall be deemed to have been approved without defects, unless the defect was not recognizable during the inspection.
Additional information such as measurement uncertainties shall only be made available to the client upon express written request. Deviating forms of data transmission must be agreed in writing in advance. The Contractor is entitled to subcontract services to internal or external subcontractors in accordance with the applicable quality guidelines.
§ 3 Remuneration/ Prices/ Payments
Unless otherwise agreed in writing in individual contracts, the prices stated in the current price list shall apply.
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the client's invoices shall be due for payment within 30 days of the invoice date. After expiry of this period, the client shall be in default of payment without the need for a reminder. A payment shall only be deemed to have been made when it has been credited to an account of the Contractor. Discounts or other reductions require a special written agreement.
In the event of default in payment, the Contractor shall be entitled, without prejudice to further claims, to charge the usual bank interest, but at least the statutory default interest rate. Furthermore, in this case the Contractor shall be entitled to make further services dependent on advance payments or the provision of security, to assert claims for damages or, alternatively, to terminate the contract for good cause without observing a period of notice.
For direct debits that are not honored due to insufficient funds or objection, a processing fee of € 15.00 per case shall be deemed agreed.
The Client shall only be entitled to a right of retention insofar as it is based on the same contractual relationship. The offsetting of counterclaims is only permitted insofar as these are recognized by the Contractor as existing, due or have been legally established. The Client's rights arising from contractual relationships with the Contractor may not be transferred to third parties without written consent.
§ 4 Warranty
The Contractor warrants in accordance with the statutory provisions that the laboratory tests are carried out professionally in accordance with the applicable regulations. No guarantee is given for the accuracy of the findings.
If it turns out that the analysis result is defective, the Contractor shall be permitted to rectify this defect initially by way of subsequent performance. The Contractor shall be entitled to two attempts at rectification without the Client being entitled to withdraw from the contract or to assert claims for damages during the subsequent performance. The Client shall not be responsible for a defect if this is attributable to incorrect or incomplete information, data or documents supplied by the Client or to sample material of inferior quality or contaminated sample material or to statistically unrepresentative partial quantities of sample material; the Client shall not be obliged to provide subsequent performance in these cases. Furthermore, there is no defect if the test result does not show certain elements or findings not expressly requested by the client. Nor shall the Contractor be liable if measurement errors or measurement inaccuracies occur which are attributable to the technical nature and/or technically measurable measurement capabilities of the measuring equipment used, provided that the Contractor informs the Client of the expected range of measurement errors and measurement inaccuracies before the findings are made.
The Client shall only be entitled to withdraw from the contract if the Contractor has made substantial and two unsuccessful attempts to rectify the defect. In this case, the Contractor shall nevertheless be entitled to appropriate remuneration for the work performed to date.
Warranty claims of the Client, who has not concluded legal transactions with the Contractor within the scope of his commercial or independent professional activity, shall become time-barred two years after receipt of the service, in the case of entrepreneurs one year after receipt of the service. This period shall not apply to claims for damages due to grossly negligent or intentional conduct, including by employees of the Client or vicarious agents, or due to injury to life, limb or health or from product liability claims. In these cases, the statutory provisions shall apply.
The Contractor shall not be liable in the event of simple negligence, in particular in the event of inspection, measurement or transmission errors, insofar as this does not involve a breach of material contractual obligations. In this case, the Contractor's obligation to pay compensation for material damage and any further financial losses resulting therefrom shall be limited to an amount equal to the order value. In particular, the Contractor shall not be liable for indirect damage, loss of profit or other financial losses suffered by the Client. In any case, liability shall be limited to the damage that could reasonably have been foreseen or could have been foreseen at the time of conclusion of the contract on the basis of the circumstances and facts available to the Contractor.
The Contractor shall be liable for grossly negligent or intentional conduct or for injury to life, limb or health of third parties or under the Product Liability Act.
§ 5 Contract term/ Termination
Contracts between the Client and the Contractor are concluded for an indefinite period. The notice period for both parties is 6 weeks to the end of a calendar quarter. The right to terminate for good cause within the meaning of § 314 BGB remains unaffected. In particular, the contracting parties shall be entitled to give notice of termination for good cause if the other party voluntarily or involuntarily goes into liquidation, insolvency proceedings are pending, it becomes insolvent or assigns its assets to third parties or creditors, as well as in comparable cases of impending insolvency.
§ 6 Data protection/ Confidentiality
All research results are only sent to the client, who may only use them for his own purposes or those of his own clients.
All personal data shall be stored and processed by the Contractor in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR). The client has the right to free information, correction, blocking or deletion of their personal data and their respective clients at any time.
The contracting parties undertake not to make any mutually disclosed confidential information and data of a technical or business nature accessible to third parties and are obliged to maintain confidentiality. This does not apply to generally accessible or public communications.
§ 7 Final provisions
The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply.
The court at the Contractor's registered office (Düsseldorf) shall have local jurisdiction for disputes arising from this contract and for claims on other legal grounds in connection with the inspection order.
Should one of the above provisions or individual contractual provisions be or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that comes closest to the intention of the parties.
Ancillary agreements or verbal agreements must be made in writing. This also applies to the waiver of the written form clause.