General terms of sale

These general Terms of Sale represent the rights and obligations of Elisabeth L Guillerm Traductions, the “Service Provider”, and of any natural or legal person willing to benefit from her services, the “Client”.

In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original French version of these General terms of sale, the original French version (“Conditions générales de vente”) will prevail.

1. APPLICATION OF TERMS OF SALE – OPPOSABILITY

The execution of any service by the Service Provider implies that the Client accepts these terms of sale only, not his own general terms and conditions. In the absence of written formal consent, any other disposition will be ineffective against the Service Provider, regardless of the time at which it might have been brought to her attention.

That the Service Provider does not exercise one or more of the provisions in these Terms of Sale shall not be interpreted as a waiver of the Service Provider’s right to exercise any of the provisions in these Terms of Sale at a later date.

2. QUOTES AND ORDERS

Each order made by the Client shall be preceded by a free quote issued by the Service Provider, based on the documents to be translated or any information provided by the Client.
The quote the Service Provider sends to the Client by mail or e-mail shall include:

  • the number of pages or words to be translated;
  • the source and target language(s);
  • the way in which the translation is priced (billing by number of words – according to word count in Word Microsoft –, by page, by line, by hour…);
  • the translation’s delivery date;
  • the format of the translated documents in case a specific layout has been requested;
  • any special rates applied because of urgency, specific formats, specific research, or any other service that goes beyond the services usually provided by the Service Provider.

To confirm an order, the Client must return the unaltered quote with his/her written approval and signature to the Service Provider by regular mail or fax. If the quote has been sent to by electronic mail, the Client may confirm the order by expressing his clear acceptance by return electronic mail. If the Service Provider does not receive the order confirmation, she reserves the right not to start working.

If confirmation of the order is not received within three (3) months of the day the quote is sent by the means stipulated above, the quote shall be considered null and void.

The Service Provider reserves the right, after informing the Client, to charge an additional fee and/or not to adhere to the delivery date on the Client’s initial order in the following cases:

a. Modification or addition of new documents by the Client after the initial quote has been provided by the Service Provider, in which case the Service Provider reserves the right to adjust the rate based on the additional volume of work estimated or requested;
b. If the documents were not available to the Service Provider during the quote preparation process. If the initial quote was based on the Client’s personal word number estimation or on an excerpt of the text.
In the absence of the Client’s express acceptance of the new delivery and/or invoicing conditions, the Service Provider reserves the right not to start working.


Unless otherwise stated on the quote, any cost incurred during the provision of services (travel, postal fees, etc.) is charged to the Client.

Any decision to offer a discount, reduction, or sliding fee scale based on a percentage or flat fee (per page, line or hour) is at the sole discretion of the Service Provider and only for the service to which it applies. Any discount or rebate offered to the Client shall not create a right vested in interest concerning future services.

In the event that a quote is not sent to the Client before the beginning of work, translation services shall be invoiced at the base rate usually billed by the Service Provider.

3. PROOF

The Client agrees to consider e-mails, copies and computer files as equivalent to the original and valid proof that the order has been confirmed.

4. DEPOSITS

Should the Service Provider consider it appropriate, any order exceeding 1 000 (one thousand) euros excluding tax may be subject to a deposit, the amount of which shall be clearly mentioned in the quote. Work shall begin only once the payment has cleared.

5. DELIVERY DATE

Any delivery date agreed between the Service Provider and the Client shall become binding only once the Service Provider has received all the documents to be translated and if the Client has confirmed his/her order as specified in paragraph 2 above. After that time, the delivery date may be revised by the Service Provider’s workload.

6. THE SERVICE PROVIDER’S OBLIGATIONS

The Service Provider agrees to provide a translation that is as faithful as possible to the original and that complies with the professional standards. She shall do everything possible to take into account and include in the translation information provided by the Client (glossaries, drawings, diagrams, abbreviations, etc.). The Service Provider shall not be held accountable for any inconsistencies or ambiguities in the source text, the verification of the final text’s technical coherence remaining the Client’s sole responsibility.

7. THE CLIENT’S OBLIGATIONS

The Client shall provide the Service Provider with all of the texts to be translated and all of the technical information required to understand the text and, if necessary, the specific terminology required. If the Client fails to inform the Service Provider, the Service Provider shall not be held accountable if the translation does not conform to the Client’s standards or if delivery is late.

From the time the translated documents are received, the Client has ten (10) working days to inform the Service Provider in writing of any disagreement concerning the quality of the translation. Once this period has expired, the service shall be considered duly completed and no claims may be made. The Client agrees to consider postal or electronic mail receipts as proof of delivery.

8. CONFIDENTIALITY

The Service Provider agrees to preserve the confidentiality of information which is brought to her attention before, during, and after providing services. Original documents shall be returned to the Client upon simple request.

The Service Provider shall not be held liable in the event that information is intercepted or used by a third party during the transfer of data, especially on the internet. Therefore, the Client must inform the Service Provider before the provision of service or at the time the order is placed of the means of transmission the Client would like the Service Provider to use to ensure the confidentiality of any sensitive information.

9. FORMAT

Translations are delivered by electronic mail in Word format. On request, translations may be delivered in PDF format, or by regular mail. Any other means of delivery or formats must be expressly agreed to by the parties and may result in additional fees.

10. RESPONSABILITY

The liability of the Service Provider on any grounds whatsoever shall be limited to invoice value of the work.

Under no circumstances shall the Service Provider be held liable for claims related to nuances of style.

It is expressly agreed that that delivery deadlines are provided for information only and that missed deadlines shall not be considered grounds for penalties. The Service Provider shall not be held liable for direct or indirect harm to the Client or a third party resulting from late delivery due to cases of emergency or fax, electronic mail, postal or any other type of transmission delay.

11. CORRECTIONS AND PROOFREADING

In the event of disagreements about certain aspects of the translation, the Service Provider reserves the right to correct these aspects in cooperation with the Client.

If the translation is to be published, the Service Provider shall receive the printer’s proofs to proofread them before the document goes to print.

Unless otherwise specified in writing, all corrections will result in additional charges to be billed at the prevailing hourly rate.

12. PAYMENT

Unless otherwise mentioned on the quote, payment in full to the Service Provider shall be made upon receipt of the invoice or no later than thirty (30) days net from the date of invoice. There will be no discount for early payment of the invoice.

In the case of payment by check or wire from abroad, all forex and banking fees will produce a flat-rate increase which will be specified on the quote or be rebilled to the Client.

Translations remain the property of the Service Provider until payment has been received in full.

In the event of late payment, orders in progress can be interrupted until full payment is received and the Client will be liable for late payment penalties of at least 3 times the prevailing base legal interest rate applied to the entire sum in question, without any formal notice being required.

13. COPYRIGHT

Before undertaking to have a document translated, the Client must ensure that this does not infringe on any third-party rights. Therefore, the Client must be the author of the original document or have obtained written permission to have the document translated from the party holding the copyrights to the document.

If these conditions have not been ensured by the Client, under no circumstances shall the Service Provider be held accountable if all or a portion of the documents to be translated were to infringe on the rights of a third party or violate any applicable regulations. If this was to occur, the Client shall be held solely accountable for any harm or financial consequences resulting from the Client’s negligence.

Furthermore, the Client acknowledges that the translation is a new document, whose copyright is held jointly by the author of the original document and the Service Provider. As a result, for literary or artistic translation, and without harm to the Service provider’s rights to the work, the Service Provider reserves the right to require that the Service Provider’s name be mentioned on any copies or publications of the translation, in compliance with the French Intellectual Property code (Paragraph L.132-11).

14. CANCELLATION

If the work that is commissioned is cancelled while it is under way for whatever reason and notified in writing by the Client to the Service Provider, the Client shall pay the Service Provider the full contract sum for the work completed and half (fifty percent) for the uncompleted work.