Terms & Conditions (“T&C”)

Drafting T&C

For virtually any kind of business, it is vital to specify terms and conditions. In Germany though, when it comes to making contractual business arrangements, the law strictly limits the freedom of scope – for instance, clauses putting the contractual partner at an unfair disadvantage are null and void for a start. Apart from the fact that certain clauses are ineffective, others may prompt competitors and consumer protection organisations to seek injunctive relief. And ultimately, terms and conditions that are not consumer-friendly may have a damaging effect on your image and business reputation. Reporting by well-known consumer organisations such as “Stiftung Warentest” (the German equivalent of “Which?”) also includes taking a critical look a company’s standard terms and conditions.

Any flaws in the actual contract wording may therefore have pretty dire consequences. And that is true not only of the infamous “small print”, but also of any standard contractual agreements that are intended for use in more than just one specific case.

Drafting your standard terms and conditions calls for more than just a rough idea of the business in hand: they also need to be geared towards the set-up you specifically require in your contractual relations. That means though that uniform T&C may not always cover all your contractual arrangements. Frequently your whole range on offer has to be carefully defined, because most likely the types of contract already provided in legislation won’t fit the bill. In order to draw up T&C to suit your particular business, we naturally take the time to look into your goods and services and work out the contractual arrangements they call for. Apart from checking the actual wording, it is essential that T&C are effectively incorporated in the contract proper as well. Making sure of that, especially when contracts are concluded through the Internet, is just one of the vital points we can advise you on.

Keeping T&C Updated

If legal certainty is to be ensured in the long term, it doesn’t suffice for appropriate terms of business to be drawn up merely once. Quite apart from the fact that anything you might add to your range may create a need for revision, the legal framework – in e-commerce in particular – is constantly changing: for instance, numerous court rulings and changes in the law have already resulted in alterations having to be made to the information on revocation rights that has to be provided to consumers in distance selling. We help you to keep your T&C up-to-date, so you can avoid the hassle of having to deal with complaints from competitors.

Individual Arrangements

Standard terms and conditions help to handle contracts rationally, but they can’t necessarily be used in absolutely every situation. If individual arrangements are needed, then either a separate contract has to be drawn up or the existing T&C have to be adjusted for the specific case in hand. Giving thorough consideration to the ins and outs of each contractual relationship is decisive if time-consuming and costly disputes are to be avoided later on.

What we can do for you: