1. The partnership 'Avizor advocates & arbitrators' ("Avizor") is a cost partnership to which several Dutch and foreign lawyers are affiliated, either through their practice companies or as private practitioners, associated to Avizor either as partners of the partnership or as parties contractually associated with the partnership ("the Avizor related party/parties"). Avizor's partners are registered in the commercial register. A list of associated parties will be provided upon request.
2. These conditions apply to all services offered and performed by or on behalf of any of the Avizor related party, unless that party and the client have agreed otherwise in writing.
3. Contractor is the Avizor related party to whom the instruction to provide services is issued. Instructions are always issued exclusively to an Avizor related party and accepted by that Avizor related party. As a cost partnership, Avizor itself is never the contractor.
4. The contracting party is the person who issues an assignment, either for him, her or itself as the client or for another person who is the client, to one of the Avizor related parties. The contracting party who is not himself the client guarantees that the client is bound by the agreement between the client and the contractor. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the contractor may consider the client, who has given an assignment for another, as an agent in his own name for that other person.
5. The contractor is free to have assignments carried out, entirely or partly, by employees of Avizor or by one or more of the other Avizor related parties. The effect of Article 7:404 of the Dutch Civil Code is excluded.
6. The contractor shall charge fees for its services as agreed with the client. If no express agreement has (yet) been made, the usual hourly rate that the contractor applies to similar cases, taking into account the circumstances of the client, shall apply. The hourly rates of the Avizor related parties and Avizor employees are exclusive of VAT and any other taxes due in the Netherlands or abroad and exclusive of third-party costs (disbursements). Invoices are submitted monthly with a payment term of 14 days.
7. With effect from 1 January of each subsequent calendar year, the contractor may increase its applied rate by no more than the inflation rate (consumer price index (CPI)) set by the Dutch Central Statistical Office, rounded to multiples of €5.
8. If the client fails to pay an invoice or fails to pay it on time, the contractor shall be entitled to claim statutory commercial interest on the outstanding amount from the day the invoice is due, as well as statutory collection costs, without prejudice to the contractor's other statutory rights.
9. The contractor shall at all times be entitled to require an advance payment or cash deposit before commencing or continuing its services.
10. The contractor shall only be liable for damage to the extent that such damage is caused by the contractor him/her/itself or by Avizor employees or Avizor related parties, and then only to the extent that such damage is the result of deliberate intent or gross negligence. Under no circumstances shall Avizor, its partners or its related parties be liable for damage caused by third parties, including auxiliary persons and external consultants. Employees of Avizor and of its partners and contracting parties cannot be held directly liable, barring wilful intent.
11. Without prejudice to these conditions, any liability of the contractor shall be limited to no more than the amount paid out under his professional and/or corporate liability insurance policy, increased by the applicable own risk amount. Upon request and if sufficiently interested, inspection of the policy conditions may be obtained. If and to the extent that the professional liability insurance does not pay out for whatever reason, the contractor's liability shall be limited to an amount equal to the total fees declared in the case concerned.
12. Any claim for damages shall lapse one year from the day following the day on which the client became aware of the damage and of the contractor as the person liable for it.
13. The contractor is authorised in the context of its services to third parties (bailiffs, couriers, external consultants and the like) on behalf of the client assignments, accepting the limitations and exclusions of liability as well as any other terms and conditions of those third parties on behalf of the client.
14. Avizor may amend these terms and conditions at any time. The contracting party shall not be bound by the amendment only if, within four weeks of the amendment becoming known to him, he/she/it notifies the contractor in writing not to accept the amendment.
15. The legal relationship between the contracting party and the contractor shall be governed exclusively by Dutch law and the court in Amsterdam shall have exclusive jurisdiction to resolve any dispute relating to or arising from that legal relationship.
16. This document is a translation of the original ‘Avizor Voorwaarden’ in Dutch. In the event that there should be any discrepancy between the Dutch original and the English translation, the Dutch original will prevail.
Amsterdam, June 2024