1. Scope

These General Conditions (GC) define the terms and conditions of the contract relating to translation services or similar services concluded between the company Lexcellence Traductions, a sole proprietorship represented by Lara Quinche (the Translator), on the one hand, and its provider of order (the Principal), on the other hand, insofar as reference is made to these GTC at the conclusion of the contract and subject to specific agreements between the Parties.

For ease of reading, the masculine form designates both men and women.

2. Scope of services

The Translator undertakes to translate the original text with the required care, without omitting or adding anything, and to deliver it within the agreed deadline.

If the Principal does not give any specific instructions on the form of execution of the translation (electronic or paper format, presentation or typeface), the Translator refers to the source text.

The Translator may call on third parties to perform the contract or entrust its full performance to third parties insofar as the latter have undertaken to maintain confidentiality in accordance with point 8.

3. Participation of the Principal

The Principal is obliged to provide the Translator with any available information necessary or useful for the translation (e.g. internal glossaries, parallel texts, illustrations, tables, etc.).

4. Fees

The agreed fee or the agreed calculation basis for the fee (line, word, keystroke, hourly or flat rate fee) applies. Value added tax is, where applicable, charged in addition.

When neither the fees nor the basis of calculation have been agreed, the usual rate per line of the incoming text (standard line of 55 to 60 keystrokes, spaces included) for this degree of difficulty of translation is considered as agreed. .

The Principal may withdraw from the contract before having received the translation, but he still owes the full fees. If line, word or typing fees have been agreed, the fees are calculated, for the untranslated part, on the basis of the source text and not the target text. If hourly fees had been agreed, the Translator must reasonably estimate the time it would have taken to translate the part not yet translated. It must only deduct from the fees the costs not incurred following the early termination of the contract and what it has earned with other contracts carried out during the availabilities thus released or what it has intentionally omitted to earn.

Unless payment in advance or another agreed payment term, the fees must be paid within the period indicated on the invoice, which must be at least 10 days. After this period, the Client is in arrears with the payment and the Translator is entitled to demand default interest of 5% and to charge a fee of CHF 20. – per reminder.

5. Later changes and additional work

If the Principal modifies the original text more than slightly after having handed it over to the Translator, the latter has the right to request that the delivery deadline be extended accordingly. In addition, the Translator is entitled to request, in addition to the agreed fees, hourly fees corresponding to the additional work carried out.

Similarly, work that goes beyond the actual translation activity, such as proofreading, is billed by the hour at an appropriate hourly rate.

6. Claims of the Client relating to the warranty for defects

The Customer is entitled to the free removal of defects in the translation: by defects are meant only serious errors of content. He must assert this right within 30 days of delivery of the translation, specifying the defects and granting the Translator a reasonable period of time to eliminate them.

If the translation should still contain defects after being revised, the Client has the right to request a further reformulation within 30 days of the new delivery or an appropriate reduction of the fees. There are no further warranty claims for defects.

Warranty claims for defects expire if the defects are not reported within 30 days of delivery of the translation. If the defects are notified within the time limit, the warranty claims for defects expire one year after the initial delivery of the translation.

7. Limitation of Liability

Compensation for breach of contract by the Translator is limited to cases of intentional or gross negligence and requires, where applicable, the notification of defects within the time limit.

8. Privacy / Data Protection

The Translator undertakes to treat the Principal’s documents confidentially, and in particular the source text.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, the Translator has the right to assume that the Principal accepts the electronic processing and unencrypted electronic transmission of the translation via the Internet. Consequently, the risks related to data protection, the risks of modification and loss of data incurred are borne by the Client.

9. Copyright

The Client grants the Translator the rights required to translate the source text. The Principal guarantees that he has the said rights and will indemnify the Translator if third parties take legal action against him in this regard.

From its copyright created by the translation, the Translator grants the Client the right to use the translation for the purpose identified by him at the conclusion of the contract. Any other use requires his consent, which he does not refuse if the use respects the moral rights of the author and is compensated as it should be.

When this is customary for this type of text, the Principal must duly mention the name of the Translator if the translation is published.

The Principal may modify the translation. However, if the reformulation is not insignificant, he must inform the Translator, who has the right to waive the mention of his name.

The Translator has the right to use the source text and the target text as well as the documentation provided by the Principal as working tools used to establish glossaries, lists of words or blocks of text under anonymized form to feed translation memories and/or transmit them to third parties.

10. Applicable law / Jurisdiction

The Client and the Translator are invited to settle any disputes arising from the contract amicably. However, an attempt at conciliation with ASTTI is not a prerequisite for filing a complaint.

The contract between the Principal and the Translator is subject to Swiss law. The exclusive forum is that of the domicile, registered office or place of establishment of the Translator (within the meaning of Article 12 of the Swiss Code of Civil Procedure).

La Chaux-de-Fonds, February 2022

Text used with the kind permission of the Swiss Association of Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters.