General terms and conditions

 Last update: 28.03.2019

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The following General Terms and Conditions shall apply to all contractual agreements made between M&M Translation Services Kft. (further referred to as ’Service Provider’) and the Client. The Client accepts the following General Terms and Conditions by the act of ordering any kind of job (whether by written confirmation of the spoken word, on a written Purchase Order, or via e-mail). 

I. Subject matter of the services

The Service Provider undertakes the professional translation and proof-reading of traditional paper-based documents and electronic documents of any kind, from Hungarian into foreign languages, from foreign languages into Hungarian, and from any foreign language to another foreign language, in all specific professional fields listed in its profile. Furthermore, the Service Provider also undertakes consecutive and simultaneous interpreting in the specified language-pairs.

II. Service fees

1. Basic fee
The translation, interpreting and proof-reading fees (collectively, ’service fees’) will be specified according to the perpetual schedule of fees defined by the Service Provider.Prior to the order of the service the Parties agree on the service fee, which shall be preliminarily confirmed by the Service Provider to the Client. Deviating from the agreed prices is allowed only in extraordinary cases. 

2. Urgency and other fees
In exceptional cases we may add on some additional, extra fees (for example urgency, proof-reading, editing fees, or in the case of interpretation, an overtime fee). The Service Provider must inform the Client about possible urgency, proof-reading and editing extra fees prior to the confirmation of the order. The basis of the overtime fee is each started hour above the agreed amount of interpretation hours. However, the overtime fee shall not exceed 125% of the original project amount, unless the parties have agreed differently. 

3. The fees of professional translation
In the case of translation jobs, the basis of the calculation is the source wordcount, or source character wordcount (with spaces) of the source text. If the source wordcount, or character count cannot be defined based on the source file (e.g. the file to be translated is a sound file, or non-editable file format, or non-electronic format), the Parties can agree on the calculation of the target word, or character count of the target text. In this case, the written offer provides an approximate estimation for information purposes only, as the final price can only be calculated on the basis of the translated target text. Therefore, in this case,  the Parties are obliged to settle the translation costs after the translation has been done, upon delivery. The fees of proof-reading jobs will be defined according to the actual valid fee table of the Service provider, with the basis of the calculation being the source character/wordcount of the source text. The interpretation fees are defined on time-basis, on the actual time spent (in case the fee was set in hours, we calculate and invoice all the started interpretation hours) - the calculated fees also include - in the case of interpretation jobs in the countryside or in foreign countries - the time spent for travelling, breaks, meals, etc. In addition to the interpretation fees, the Client shall bear all the transportation and accommodation costs of the interpreter. The Parties may also define daily, or half-daily fees, according to preliminary agreements.

III. Payment terms

The Client is obliged to pay the invoiced amount, in the case of a cash invoice, at the time of receiving the invoice, or in the case of bank/wire transfer, within 10 (ten) days after the receipt of the invoice, by transferring the money to the bank account (stated on the invoice) of the Service Provider. When large volumes of work are being ordered, the Service Provider has the right to claim pre-payment from the Client. In such cases, the terms and schedules of the pre-payments will be regulated by separate agreements between the Parties. In the case of delayed payment or non-payment, the Service Provider has the right to withold the deliveries, or to not process the rest of the order, until the payment arrives. These conditions also apply to the jobs where the Parties set fixed delivery times. The Service Provider accepts no liability for the late delivery of a contract if the Client is late with payment (this also relates to part payment). Beside this, the Client is obliged to pay the current interest rate set by the Hungarian National Bank plus 6% as a penalty for delay of payment.

IV. Cancellation/withdrawal of an order

In the case of the Client cancelling or withdrawing an order, s/he is obliged to pay for work already completed by the Service Provider up until the date and time of the cancellation. The Service Provider proves the actual amount of the job completed by the time of the cancellation by forwarding the written material to the Client. In the case of interpretation, the Client may withdraw or cancel the order, prior to 3 days before the commencement date of the order, without incurring any payment obligation. If the Client withdraws or cancels the interpretation order within 3 days prior to the commencement date of the order, s/he is obliged to pay 50% of the interpretation fee (in the case of orders where work duration is less than 1 day), or the full interpretation fee of the first day (in the case of orders scheduled for more work days).

V. Briefing and co-operation obligation of the Client

By signing the order, the Client is obliged to inform the Service Provider about the special implementation conditions to be fulfilled by the Service Provider (e.g. the use of data carriers, number of copies needed, formatting issues, requested format, etc.). These conditions, and/or instructions must be defined in written form, in e-mail, or on the Purchase Order. All relevant information and documents necessary in order to provide a good quality translation (e.g. list of special terminology requested by the Client, explanation of drawings, tables, abbreviations, etc.)  must be passed by the Client to the Service Provider, (without the latter having to call his/her attention to this), at the latest time when s/he signs the Purchase Order. In the case where the Client requests the use of special terminology from the Service Provider, s/he is obliged to provide all the relevant documents, materials, list of special terms, to provide optimal conditions for the Service Provider to deliver a good quality job. The professional and grammatical correctness and the correct content of the source text is the sole responsibility of the Client. The Client shall bear all the risk of damages resulting from not adhering to the aforementioned obligations.

VI. Certified translation

We provide the following information in terms of the official (translation with a clause issued by the translation office) and certified, attested translation:

Our office issues its translations by using a so called translation office clause in form of a company certificate (official translation), which proves, that the translation was done by translation professionals. We print all the pages of the translated document, we sign it, stamp it and bind it together with the original source document and the company certificate (clause) proving that the content of the translation fully corresponds to the content of the source document, for which the company takes liability.

Upon request of the client, we can also notarize the translation by getting it to the notary office, where the notary issues a notary certificate and notarizes the translated documents. Please note however that it cannot be considered as attested translation, even with notarization.

Please note, that the translations provided by our company cannot be considered as certified attested translations, because in Hungary the so called Hungarian Office for Translation and Attestation LTD is the only company entitled by law to attest translations. For more information please visit www.offi.hu.

We would like to draw your attention explicitly to the fact, that in order to avoid double translation fees, please ask the accepting party (institute, government office, authority, etc.), what type of translation they do accept, before you place your order for translation. Is official translation with a clause issued by a translation office enough, or you need it attested by OFFI Ltd?

After placing the order for translation, we DO NOT take ANY liability for issues resulting from the inobservance of this information! It is the sole responsibility of the client!

VII. Defective performance, liability

The Service Provider declares, that he considers the regulations of the Act 2013/V. relating to the Civil Code as standard considering the settlement of all quality, indemnification, correction, and discount issues relating to any potential defective performance, in the following way:

The Service Provider only accepts complaints and/or claims on jobs with a normal delivery time within 4 days after delivery to the client, and for urgent jobs, within 2 days after delivery.

When sending any complaints or claims, the Client shall precisely mark, and mention the reason for the complaint, and state which part(s) of the translations are affected by this complaint. If the complaint is justified, the Service Provider shall correct the affected parts by giving a new deadline to the Client, by taking the normal or urgent original delivery deadline and the volumes into consideration. In the case that the Service Provider is not able to correct the defective parts after receiving the complaint, and fails to deliver a good quality job at the second attempt, the Client has the right to terminate the order in written form and to pay only 50% of the original order fee.

In the case of any dispute, the Service Provider reserves the right to ask for an expert opinion from an independent professional third party, who shall examine the translation and give an expert opinion on its quality. Both Parties shall consider this opinion as final and the Service provider shall take the appropriate measures (reject the complaint, correct the translation, or indemnify the Client, provide discount, etc.) If the complaint is found to be unjustified, in the opinion of the independent expert, the Client shall bear the consultation costs of the expert.

The Service Provider shall not take responsibility for:
damages, extra costs, price differences resulting from a price quote offer based on inaccurate data given by the Client, damages resulting from non-compliance with the co-operation obligation of the Client, for damages, deadline extensions, extra costs resulting from the amphibological phrases, thoughts, contents of the source text, and format, formatting, technical damages (e.g. corrupted, illegible files) content errors of the source text, and faulty sending of source files, for any damages resulting from the damage or destruction of the source files during transfer, and damages resulting from the source text related violation of any copyrights, or any other late deliveries, damages not to be imputed to the Service Provider.
The Client can claim for compensation and/or indemnification due to the low quality of the translation/proof-reading only after the Client has demanded correction, but the Service Provider was unable to correct the failures, errors. In the case that the Client rejects demanding a correction, or asks a third person to correct the errors, s/he gives an exemption from the correction obligation of the Service Provider. If the Service provider carries out all corrections within the given timeframe, the Client shall pay the invoice of the Service Provider to the full. In the case of translation of handwritten, or partially illegible, and/or non-understandable documents, no warranty claims shall apply. With regard to stylistic corrections (e.g. the use of synonyms), or the use of incorrect specific terminology (for instance, Client-created internal professional terms) - if the Client does NOT inform the Service Provider about his/her request to use, or follow such specific terms or style when giving the order, these cannot be considered as translation errors. The Service Provider is not obliged to carry out stylistic changes, or corrections. In the case where the Client orders an urgent translation, but without proof-reading, the Client shall take into consideration that the Service Provider will exclude the high quality control of the translation, which is the usual standard. In such cases, the Service Provider will not accept any liability for any inaccuracy in the translation(s), although the Service Provider shall manage the translation(s) with the highest accuracy and care. If the Client orders a translation without proof-reading, s/he accepts that any stylistic modification requests from the Client after the work has been completed should not be considered as faulty performance from the Service Provider.

The Client explicitly agrees, that the level of indemnification the Service Provider undertakes for the indemnification of justified damages is maximum the amount of the project fee offered. No indemnification, or any other claims can be claimed by the Client after 6 months, calculated from the delivery date.

In the case of delayed delivery, the Client has the right to terminate the contract, and cancel the order in written form, by notifying the Service Provider after 12 hours of delay in the case of projects with an urgent deadline, and after 2 days of delay in the case of projects with normal delivery deadline. In the case of delayed delivery, the Client has the right to pay 10% less after every day.

VIII. Indemnification

The Service Provider takes liability solely for the damages caused directly by him. The extent of the idemnification cannot exceed the invoiced amount of a given project. In case the Service Provider has a professional indemnification insurance, all the justified damages caused by the Service Provider shall be indemnified by the Insurance company.

IX. Non-disclosure

The Service Provider takes responsibility for not disclosing and/or publishing any confidential, sensitive information - e.g. all the information related to the operation, activities, financial-business status, plans of the Client - to any third party, without the prior written consent of the Client, and will not misuse such information during his activities for its own purposes.
In case the Service Provider involves any sub-contractors to carry out the assignment, this NDA shall also apply to them. If the Service Provider violates these obligations defined above, the Client has the right to take a civil action against the Service Provider.

X. Delivery deadlines

The delivery deadline set and agreed by both Parties shall be defined in written form, in e-mail, or on the Purchase Order. The prerequisite of on-time delivery is the punctual hand-over of the source materials by the Client to the Service Provider, and the compliance with all the payment terms and other obligations of the Client. In the case that the above-mentioned prerequisites are not fulfilled by the Client, the delivery deadline shall be automatically extended and the delivery of the job shall be delayed. In the case that the Service Provider is obstructed by reasons beyond his control and cannot deliver on time, the Service Provider is obliged to inform the Client immediately. If  the extension of the deadline is not possible, the Service Provider is obliged to undertake any action reasonably required to keep the deadline, or in the worst case, to minimize the delivery delay. In the case of delivery delays, the Parties shall agree on indemnification, or price discount, based on the above.

XI. Termination of the contract

The contract between the Client and the Service Provider is a fixed-term contract and is valid until the performance and delivery of the project defined in the contract. The contracting Parties may modify or discontinue the contract through negotiations in written form at any time.

The Client may withdraw a contract at any time after paying all the justified costs and damages of the Service Provider. The Service Provider has the right to claim the translation fee after the service was ordered, unless he fails to deliver on time, or has rejected any correction claims of the Client, or did not perform the corrections by the deadline set by the Client, or has violated the present contract in any form.

The Service Provider may terminate the contract if the Client does not comply with his/her obligations defined in the contract, or violates the present contract in any form.

Validity, scope of the contract
If  there are no extra agreements between the Parties, the present terms and conditions shall apply to the performance of the jobs, beside any instructions/agreements defined in the purchase order, or the Client's confirmation.
The Parties may agree otherwise, provided such an agreement is with the prior written consent of both parties. Present terms and conditions are valid until recalled.

XII. Miscellaneous ordinances

The Client gives permission to the Service Provider to use the name of the Client as a reference, related to a given job.

The Client must not contact the employees or contracted partners of the Service Provider to ask them for a price quotation or to deliver a job directly, thereby by-passing the Service Provider. The Client may only contact these persons solely for the purpose of the order regulated by present terms and conditions. If the Client violates these obligations, s/he shall indemnify the Service Provider in full, and reimburse the full amount of the order to the Service Provider  in order to restore the original status of the Service Provider, as if s/he had ordered the job originally, and directly, from the Service Provider. The Service Provider reserves the right to involve sub-contractors in order to fulfill the order.

XIII. Closing ordinances 

The Parties shall do their best to enforce their own interests through non-judicial channels. With respect to the matters not regulated hereunder, the provisions of the Hungarian Civil Code (PTK) shall prevail. In the event of legal dispute, Parties appoint the exclusive competence of the Hungarian Court of Ráckeve with the relevant jurisdiction. The parties understand and agree that if any provision of this Agreement shall, for any reason, be adjudged by any court or arbitrator of competent jurisdiction, to be invalid or unenforceable, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder of this Agreement,  but shall be confined in its operation to the provision of this Agreement directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.