General Terms of Sale • Marie Girardin Translations

1. APPLICABILITY AND VALIDITY OF TERMS OF SALE

All orders placed imply the Client’s full acceptance of these Terms of Sale, without any reservation whatsoever and to the exclusion of any other document.
No special terms will take precedence over these Terms of Sale unless expressly stated in writing on the final and binding purchase order.

The execution of any service by the Service Provider (hereafter Marie Girardin Lépine) implies the Client accepts these Terms of Sale and waives his/her own general terms and conditions. Any other disposition, in the absence of manifest consent, will be ineffective against Marie Girardin Lépine, regardless of the time at which she may have been made aware of it.

Any condition to the contrary shall not be binding to Marie Girardin Lépine unless expressly accepted by Marie Girardin Lépine in writing, regardless of when Marie Girardin Lépine becomes aware of the condition. That Marie Girardin Lépine does not exercise one or more of the provisions in these Terms of Sale shall not be interpreted as a waiver of Marie Girardin Lépine‘s right to exercise any of the provisions in these Terms of Sale at a later date.

2. QUOTES AND ORDERS

Each order placed by the Client shall be preceded by a free quote issued by Marie Girardin Lépine based on the documents to be translated or information provided by the Client.

The quote Marie Girardin Lépine sends to the Client by regular mail or electronic mail shall include:

The number of words or pages to be translated;
The language pair;
The way in which the translation was priced. A translation is billed either at a flat rate, at an hourly rate, or based on Marie Girardin Lépine‘s rates at the time the quote is prepared, such as the number of words in the text to be translated or number of target words in the translated text, according the Statistics function in Microsoft Word;
The date of delivery of the translation;
The format of the translated documents in case a specific layout has been requested;
Any special rates applied because of urgency, specific research, or any other service that goes beyond the services usually provided by Marie Girardin Lépine.

To confirm an order, the Client must return the unaltered quote with the Client’s written approval and signature to Marie Girardin Lépine by regular mail if the quote was sent to the Client by regular mail. If the Client received the quote by electronic mail, the Client may confirm the order by expressing his/her clear acceptance by return electronic mail. If Marie Girardin Lépine does not receive the order confirmation, Marie Girardin Lépine reserves the right not to commence work on the project concerned.

If confirmation of the order is not received within three (3) months of the date the quote is sent by the means stipulated above, the quote shall be considered null and void.

Marie Girardin Lépine reserves the right, after informing the Client, to charge an additional fee and/or not to adhere to the delivery date on the Client’s initial order in the following cases:

Modification of documents or the addition of documents by the Client after the initial quote was prepared by Marie Girardin Lépine, in which case Marie Girardin Lépine reserves the right to adjust the rate based on the additional volume of work estimated or requested;
If the documents were not furnished during the quote preparation process;
If the initial quote was based on the Client’s estimation of the number of words and an excerpt of the text.

In the absence of the Client’s express acceptance of the new delivery and/or invoicing conditions, Marie Girardin Lépine reserves the right not to commence work.
Unless otherwise stated on the quote, costs incurred during the provision of services (travel, courier or postal fees, etc.) are to be charged to the Client.

Any decisions to offer a discount, reduction, or sliding fee scale based on a percentage or flat flee are at the sole discretion of Marie Girardin Lépine and only for the service to which they apply. Any discounts or rebates offered to the Client shall not create a right vested in interest concerning future services.

In the event that a quote is not sent to the Client before the commencement of work, translation services shall be invoiced at the base rate usually billed by Marie Girardin Lépine.

3. PROOF

The Client agrees to consider e-mails, copies, and computer files as equivalent to the original and valid proof that the order was confirmed.

4. DEPOSITS

Any order exceeding Euro 1,000.00 excluding tax may be subject to a deposit, the amount of which shall be clearly stipulated in the quote. Work shall begin only once the payment has cleared.

5. DELIVERY

Any delivery date or dates agreed between Marie Girardin Lépine and the Client shall become binding only once Marie Girardin Lépine has received all the documents to be translated and if the Client has confirmed his/her order as specified in Paragraph 2 above within 3 (three) working days from the date of reception of the quote. After that time, the delivery date may be revised if so required by Marie Girardin Lépine‘s workload.

6. MARIE GIRARDIN LÉPINE’S OBLIGATION

Marie Girardin Lépine agrees to provide a translation that is as faithful as possible to the original and that complies with professional standards. He/she shall do everything possible to take into account and include in the translation information provided by the Client (glossaries, drawings, diagrams, abbreviations). Marie Girardin Lépine shall not be held liable for any inconsistencies or ambiguities in the source text, the verification of the final text’s technical coherence remaining the Client’s sole responsibility.

7. THE CLIENT’S OBLIGATIONS

The Client shall provide Marie Girardin Lépine with all of the texts to be translated and all of the technical information required to understand the text and, if necessary, the specific terminology required. If the Client fails to inform Marie Girardin Lépine, Marie Girardin Lépine shall not be held liable if the translation does not conform to the Client’s standards or if delivery is late.

The client has 10 working days from the time the translated documents are received to inform Marie Girardin Lépine in writing of any disagreement concerning the quality of the translation. Once this period has expired, the service shall be considered duly completed and no claims may be made. The client agrees to consider postal, or electronic mail receipts as proof of delivery.

8. CONFIDENTIALITY

Marie Girardin Lépine agrees to preserve the confidentiality of information Marie Girardin Lépine becomes aware of before, during, and after providing services. Original documents shall be returned to the Client upon simple request.

Marie Girardin Lépine shall not be held liable in the event that information is intercepted or used by a third party during the transfer of data, especially on the Internet. Therefore, the Client must inform Marie Girardin Lépine before the provision of services or at the time the order is placed of the means of transmission the Client would like Marie Girardin Lépine to use to ensure the confidentiality of any sensitive information.

9. FORMAT

Translations are delivered by electronic mail in Word format. On request, translations may be delivered by regular mail, on a PC CD-ROM. Any other means of delivery or formats must be expressly agreed to by the parties and may result in additional fees.

10. RESPONSIBILITY

The liability of Marie Girardin Lépine on any grounds whatsoever shall be limited to the invoiced value of the work.

Under no circumstances shall Marie Girardin Lépine be held liable for claims related to nuances of style.

It is expressly agreed that delivery deadlines are provided for information only and that missed deadlines shall not be considered grounds for penalties. Marie Girardin Lépine shall not be held liable for direct or indirect harm to the Client or a third party resulting from late delivery due to force majeure or electronic mail, postal and other problems.

11. CORRECTIONS and PROOFREADING

In the event of disagreements about certain aspects of the translation, Marie Girardin Lépine reserves the right to correct these aspects in cooperation with the Client.

If the translation is to be published, Marie Girardin Lépine shall receive the printer’s proofs to proofread them before the document goes to print.

Unless otherwise specified in writing, all corrections will result in additional charges to be billed at the prevailing hourly rate.

12. PAYMENT

Unless otherwise mentioned on the quote, payment in full to Marie Girardin Lépine shall be made no later than 30 days from the date of invoice.

In the case of payments by check or wire from abroad, all forex and banking fees will be specified on the quote or be billed to the Client.

In the event of late payments, orders in progress can be unilaterally interrupted until full payment is received and the Client will be liable for late payment penalties of 10% per month, plus a fixed penalty charge of 40 euros for recovery cost (according to the article D.441-5 of the French Commercial Code).

Translations remain the property of Marie Girardin Lépine until payment has been received in full.

13. COPYRIGHT

Before undertaking to have a document translated, the Client must ensure that this does not infringe on any third-party rights. Therefore, the Client must be the author of the original document or have obtained written permission to have the document translated from the party holding the copyrights to the document.

If these conditions have not been ensured by the Client, under no circumstances shall Marie Girardin Lépine be held liable if all or a portion of the documents to be translated were to infringe on the rights of a third party or violate any applicable regulations. If this were to occur, the Client shall be held solely liable for any harm or financial consequences resulting from the Client’s negligence.

Furthermore, the Client acknowledges that the translation is a new document, whose copyright is held jointly by the author of the original document and Marie Girardin Lépine. As a result, for literary or artistic translation, and without harm to Marie Girardin Lépine‘s rights to the work, Marie Girardin Lépine reserves the right to require that Marie Girardin Lépine‘s name be mentioned on any copies or publications of the translation, in compliance with France’s Intellectual Property Code (paragraph L.132-11).

14. CANCELLATION

If work that is commissioned is subsequently cancelled after work has commenced, for whatever reason and notified in writing by the Client to Marie Girardin Lépine, the Client shall pay Marie Girardin Lépine the full contract sum for the work completed and half (fifty percent) for the uncompleted work.

15. COMPLAINTS and DISPUTES

In the event of a complaint or dispute of any nature whatsoever, Marie Girardin Lépine and the Client agree to attempt to settle the complaint or dispute amicably as follows. As soon as the event from which the complaint or dispute arises occurs, either party may refer the matter to the Arbitration Commission of the Société Française des Traducteurs (SFT) by registered letter with return receipt. The parties agree to allow the Commission to attempt to arbitrate using the means it deems appropriate. The parties agree to do everything within their power to ensure that arbitration is successful. They agree to operate in good faith. They also agree not to take legal action in the four months following the referral of the dispute to the Commission. The parties agree that any attempt to resolve the matter through channels other than the Commission during this period may result in the rejection of the case by the Commission or in the incapacity to resolve the matter amicably and shall justify the payment to the other party of Euro 1,500.