General Terms and Conditions
Scope of Application
These General Terms and Conditions (“Terms and Conditions”) apply to all current and future business relations between Intercult Partners LLC (“Intercult Partners”) and the clients, regardless of whether they are a legal person or a natural person, unless otherwise expressly agreed or required by law.
The Terms and Conditions can be found at any time on the Intercult Partners website at https://intercultpartners.com.
The Terms and Conditions are recognized by the clients upon placing of the order and are valid for the entire duration of the business relationship.
Deviating or conflicting from the terms and conditions of the client shall not become part of the contract, even if Intercult Partners does not expressly object to them.
The terms and conditions of the client shall only become part of the contract if and to the extent that Intercult Partners expressly agrees to his/her validity in writing.
Contractual Relationship
The contract comes into effect when the client has confirmed the concrete offer sent by Intercult Partners with reference to the terms and conditions.
The assignment is placed by the client by e-mail or by telephone.
The contractual relations with the translators, the interpreters, or other service providers (“service providers” as a collective term) exist exclusively and in all cases between Intercult Partners and the respective service provider.
Assignments
Assignments of any kind must unambiguously mention their object and content.
Verbal supplemental agreements and alternations of the assignment are only valid and subject to written confirmation by Intercult Partners.
When placing a translation assignment, the customer is obliged to specify the target language, the subject area, the intended use of the respective translation and, if necessary, special terminology requirements as well as wishes regarding the form of translation to be delivered (storage on certain storage media, number of copies etc.).
When placing an interpretation assignment, the client is obliged to specify the type of interpretation, the technologies to be used for the interpreting service during the conference, the exact location and date, the target group to be addressed, and the contact person.
The client is also obliged to provide Intercult Partners with appropriate information materials for technical and terminological preparation at an early stage, but a minimum of five days before the start of the event.
These are, for example, the program, agenda, list of names and titles of participants, past minutes and reports, lectures, and, in particular, speech texts that are read out during the event.
The interpretation is intended for immediate use only; recording by listeners or other persons and transmission without prior consent is not permitted.
Execution of Assignment
The services assigned and accepted by us are carried out according to the assignment description and these terms and conditions, according to the principles of proper professional execution and in all conscience.
Intercult Partners reserves the right to use third parties to execute the assignment.
Payment
Unless otherwise agreed, payment is due immediately upon conclusion of the contract and after service has been provided or upon sending the invoice in electronic or other forms without deduction.
In individual cases, Intercult Partners reserves the right to demand an advance payment or an advance payment of the agreed remuneration.
This is mentioned in the offer or the offer letter and is due after the written order confirmation.
Prices are in Japanese yen unless otherwise agreed.
All prices quoted in our offer are net prices without tax.
Payment terms, discounts, or other deductions are not granted unless they are expressly agreed.
Offset
Offsetting is permitted only with undisputed or legally binding claims.
This is also applied if the client makes a complaint about errors or counterclaims.
The client may only exercise a right of payment retention if his/her counterclaim is based on the same contractual relationship.
Acceptance and claims for error correction in the translation service
The client is obligated to accept the translations as soon as they have been sent to him/her.
If the delivered translation is not according to the assignment description as agreed, we are obligated to remedy the respective errors.
This shall not apply if the error is negligible and not relevant to the customer’s interest or is the result of a circumstance for which the client is responsible.
The client may not refuse acceptance on the grounds of insubstantial errors.
If the client does not request correction of any errors within 12 working days after the translation has been delivered, the service shall be deemed to have been accepted without errors.
Upon acceptance, we are no longer liable for obvious errors unless the client has reserved the right to request corrections for a certain error.
Errors are significant deviations from the original text or incorrect interpretation of the content。
Stylistic improvements such as synonyms do not represent a translation error.
If the client makes a complaint about an objectively existing, insignificant error in the translation, we are first entitled to rectify those errors.
In this respect, the client shall grant us a reasonable time frame for the rectification.
The client shall describe the error as precisely as possible.
If we do not rectify the error within the time limit, the client can, at his/her discretion withdraw from the contract or demand a payment reduction.
In the case of minor or insignificant errors, no rights of withdrawal or reduction will be granted.
Complaint with the interpretation provided
In the event of any complaints by the client regarding the quality of the interpretation service, the client is obliged to immediately contact Intercult Partners by telephone with a specific description of the shortcomings regarding the respective interpreter.
A claim for liability in the case of quality complaints of the interpretation is limited to the value of the assignment of the language combination in relation to the complaint.
Liability
All claims for damages against Intercult Partners are unless otherwise required by law, limited to the amount of the invoice amount (net).
Claims for damages based on slight negligence are generally excluded.
Exceptions to this liability limitation are cases in which the damage was caused by gross negligence or willful intent or such for a personal injury.
There is no liability for lost profits or consequential damages.
Confidentiality
Intercult Partners is obligated to keep the business and trade secrets of the client confidential as well as personal data which would be known to it during the course of assignment for the client as well as information marked as confidential. In addition, Intercult Partners will take appropriate measures to prevent unauthorized third parties from accessing/using this information or documentation.
The obligation to maintain confidentiality does not apply to information that has become publicly accessible, or that has already been known to us.
In principle, we will not pass on confidential information of the client to unauthorized third parties. Still, we may use third parties who are also committed to secrecy to provide the assigned services.
The obligation to maintain confidentiality is not applicable, so far as Intercult Partners is obligated to disclose confidential information by an official or court order.
Property rights
The ownership of a translation is transferred to the client upon full payment, and they receive all possible rights to the translation.
Third-party rights
The client ensures that no rights of third parties to the information, documents, and other objects transmitted to us prevent processing, utilization, duplication, and/or publication.
The client exempts our subcontractors and us from any liability for claims of third parties that are based on the use, processing, utilization, or reproduction of this information, documents, and other objects.
Disruption, force majeure, closure and limitation of operations, network and server errors, or viruses.
We are not liable for damage caused by force majeure, e.g., natural events and traffic disturbances, network and server errors, any other line and transmission disturbances, and other obstacles for which we are not responsible.
In such exceptional cases, we have the right to withdraw from the contract in whole or in part.
We are not liable for damages resulting from computer viruses.
Jurisdiction and Choice of law
The place of performance is the registered office of the Intercult Partners.
The place of jurisdiction, if permitted, is the place of the business address of Intercult Partners.
The contract and all claims resulting therefrom shall be governed by Japanese law.
Consumer Dispute Settlement/Universal Reconciliation Office
We will not or are not obligated to participate in dispute settlement proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
Severability clause
The invalidity of individual provisions of these Terms and Conditions shall not affect the validity of the contract.
Should a clause be or become invalid or unenforceable, Intercult Partners and the client agree to replace it with a legally permissible, effective, and enforceable clause that comes closest to the economic intent of the provision to be replaced.