General Terms and Conditions

1.1 The following General Terms and Conditions are valid for all legal transactions between gieschen&partner GmbH, hereinafter referred to as “Consultant” and its contracting party, hereinafter referred to as “Customer”.  Differing terms and conditions of the customer shall not apply.

1.2 The Consultant renders services in the field of operational advice especially in the areas of strategic planning, controlling and personnel planning.

2.1 A detailed description of the services to be rendered shall be based on the order confirmation and its attachments as well as the possible specification of services supplied by the Consultant.  All afore-mentioned documents are components of the consultancy contract between the parties.

2.2 Swiss law shall apply. The place of fulfillment and place of legal domicile shall be Zurich.  The services of the Consultant shall be performed when the necessary analyses and the resulting conclusions and recommendations have been processed and explained to the customer.  It is immaterial whether or when the conclusions and recommendations are implemented.

2.3 Events of Force Majeure that substantially impede fulfillment of services or temporarily render such fulfillment impossible, or obstructions due to lack of cooperation on the part of the Customer entitle the Consultant to postpone the completion of the agreed-upon services for the duration of the impediment as well as an appropriate start-up period.  Events of Force Majeure include labour unrest and similar circumstances as long as they could not be foreseen and are serious in nature.  The parties to the consultancy contract shall immediately disclose to each other the emergence of such circumstances.

2.4 On the Customer's request, the Consultant shall be obliged to furnish information on the status of the execution of the order.  Should the Consultant be required to provide a comprehensive written report for the benefit of a third party, a separate agreement shall be necessary.

3.1 Changes and amendments to the contract shall be submitted in writing.

3.2 As long as any changes are not put in writing the Consultant shall perform his work regardless of any such requests.

3.3 The Consultant is obligated to consider the Customer’s requests for changes as long as he can reasonably be expected to do so within the framework of his operational capacities, in particular with regard to additional time requirements and personnel planning.  Compensation for additional expenditures shall be made according to paragraph 4.2 of these General Terms and Conditions.

4.1 Remuneration shall be made as agreed upon in the order confirmation.  Payments are due immediately on receipt of the invoice and without any discounts unless specified in the contract.  Should a reminder on the part of the Consultant become necessary or payment not be made on the predetermined date, the Customer shall be held in default.  In the event of default is Consultant is entitled to claim default interest in the amount of ten percentage points above the base interest rate.  The right to claim damages above and beyond this rate shall remain unaffected.

4.2 Should the Customer change or cancel orders, tasks, planning and the like or if the Customer should change the prerequisites for the provision of a service, he/she shall be responsible for all costs incurred and shall exempt the Consultant from any and all liabilities toward a third party.

4.3 Should the Customer rescind a contract before the placing of an order, the Consultant can claim an adequate portion of the agreed-upon fee as a cancellation fee.

4.4 Any amounts payable DO NOT include the statutory value-added tax.

4.5 The Consultant shall be reimbursed separately for any third-party costs, expenses and business expenses on the basis of supporting documents.

5.1 The Customer is obliged to support the Consultant to the best of his/her ability in terms of a mutually trusting cooperation.  He/she is also obliged to make available in a timely manner any and all documents and information essential and relevant to the proper execution of the contract.  The Customer shall inform the Consultant immediately about any circumstances which may occur during execution of the contract and may have an effect on the handling of the same.

5.2 Upon the Consultant’s request the Customer shall confirm in writing the accuracy and completeness of the documents submitted to him/her as well as any information and oral explanations.

5.3 The Customer shall involve and engage other service providers only in agreement with the Consultant.

5.4 The Customer shall not hire or mandate any employee or former employee involved in the execution of the assignment for a period of 24 months from completion of the project. 

6.1 The Consultant is only liable for any damage caused by him or his/her agents either intentionally or by gross negligence.

6.2 Liability for simple or light negligence only exists in case of infringement of fundamental contractual obligations.  The extent of the liability is limited to damages typical for this type of contract and foreseeable when concluding the contract or, at latest, when committing the infringement of the obligation.  There shall be no liability for damages not typical for the type of contract.

6.3 The contractual claims for compensation of the Customer against the Consultant shall expire two years from the emergence of the claim.

7.1 The Consultant undertakes to indefinitely hold in strict confidentiality any and all knowledge received in connection with this order, especially company-related data, balance sheets, plans and documents and the like.  The Consultant shall likewise impose such confidentiality on his/her employees as well as any third parties involved.

7.2 The Customer agrees to the electronic storage and processing of the contract and service provision documentation by the service provider in accordance with the stipulated regulations governing data protection.  Both parties to the contract mutually undertake not to make available to third party any data stored electronically or in any other form.

8.1 Any and all reports, plans, designs, summaries and calculations produced by the Consultant may only be used for the contractually agreed-upon purposes.  Each and every utilization of the aforesaid items, especially their publication, shall require the prior written consent of the Consultant.  This provision shall also apply if special legal rights do not cover the work performed, particularly by the relevant copyrights.

8.2 In the event of a breach of provision 8.1, the Consultant is entitled to an additional fee commensurate with the specific consequences of the breach. 

Unless otherwise stipulated the contract with the Customer can be terminated with 14 days’ notice before the end of the month.  The right to immediate termination for cause remains unaffected.  Notice of termination must be given in writing.

10.1 The Consultant has the right to retain all documents provided to him until any and all parts of his claim are satisfied.

10.2 Once full settlement of all claims arising from the contract has been reached, the Consultant shall return all documents provided to him by the Customer or a third party required for the execution of the contract.  This provision shall not apply to any correspondence between the parties, nor to simple copies of reports, organizational charts, drawings, lists, calculations etc provided the Customer has received the originals.

10.3 The Consultant’s duty of retention of the aforementioned documents shall expire 6 months after a written request for clearance has been received.  Otherwise such expiry shall occur 3 years after termination of the contract; in the case of retained documents according to clause 10.1 this period shall be 5 years.

11.1 The Customer is not entitled to transfer any contractual rights or claims to a third party.

11.2 A setoff or enforcement of a right of retention by the Customer is permitted only in the case of counter-claims recognized by us or established by non-appealable judgment.

11.3 Changes or amendments to these conditions or of the contract must be made in writing and be expressly identified as such.

11.4 Swiss law shall apply.  The place of fulfillment and place of legal domicile shall be the head office of the Consultant.

We appreciate your interest in our offer and shall be pleased to answer your questions.  We look forward to meeting you.

gieschen&partner GmbH thank you for your interest in our company and our website; we take very seriously the protection of your personal and corporate data and would point out to you how we store and apply such data, strictly observing legal regulations.

We only store your personal information, such as name and e-mail address if they are voluntarily supplied to us for example in the case of a registration.  In this case we use such information to the extent necessary.  Should you not or no longer agree to such usage you may contact us at any time requesting the deletion of your data.  We would ask you to use the following e-mail address: info@gieschens.de