Terms and conditions

Mr Lode Eymael h.o.d.n. Advopro is a one-man business under Dutch law. Advopro is registered at Mauritslaan 49 office 6.2.03 in 6129EL Urmond, the Netherlands. These general terms and conditions apply exclusively to all assignments to Advopro, including follow-up assignments. The applicability of the general terms and conditions of the client (“client”) is expressly rejected.

1. The legal relationship between Advopro and client qualifies as an assignment agreement. All assignments entail obligations of means and never obligations of result. Advopro only advises, and can only be deemed to advise, in relation to Dutch law, including the law of the European Union. All assignments are deemed to have been given exclusively to Advopro and not to a person affiliated with Advopro. This also applies if it is the intention of the parties that an assignment will be carried out by a specific person affiliated with Advopro. The effect of Article 7:404 of the Dutch Civil Code, Article 7:407(2) of the Dutch Civil Code and Article 7:409 of the Dutch Civil Code is excluded. Persons affiliated with Advopro include employees, consultants, partners, persons working through the flexible shell and officers of Advopro. Not only Advopro, but also any person affiliated or formerly affiliated with Advopro and their legal successors may rely on these general terms and conditions.

Liabilities

1. Advopro is never liable for (in)direct damage, consequential damage and trading loss. Advopro’s liability shall never extend beyond that stipulated in these general terms and conditions, irrespective of whether there are claims pursuant to the agreement or for other reasons, in particular wrongful act.
2. If, despite the provisions of article 3, Advopro is nevertheless liable for any damage incurred by the client, this shall be limited to the amount for which Advopro is liable under its general liability insurance (AVB) (for persons and property) or under its professional liability insurance policy, plus the amount of Advopro’s deductible under that insurance policy. Upon request, clients may inspect the relevant policy at Advopro’s offices. If, for whatever reason, no payment is made under the insurance policy mentioned in article 4 and article 3 does not apply, any liability of Advopro towards the client shall be limited in its entirety to the amount charged by Advopro to the client and paid by the client for the activities (in connection with which the damage arose), or to be charged by the client for the activities in the 12-month period prior to the liability claim, subject to a maximum of € 25,000 (in words: twenty-five thousand euros).
3. If Advopro engages a person not associated with it in the execution of an assignment, Advopro will not be liable to the client for any mistakes made by that person. If such a person engaged by Advopro wishes to limit its liability, Advopro shall be authorised to accept that limitation of liability also on behalf of the client.
4. The limitation of liability contained in these general terms and conditions also applies when the damage is caused by (defects in) equipment, software, registers, internet connection and/or other third-party items or sources of information used in the execution of the order.zaken of informatiebronnen van derden.
5. The limitation of Advopro’s liability does not apply in the event of intent or deliberate recklessness on the part of Advopro’s management or managerial subordinates belonging to its management.
6. The client indemnifies Advopro against all third-party claims, including reasonable costs of legal assistance, which are in any way related to or result from the activities carried out or to be carried out for the client, with the exception of gross negligence or wilful misconduct on the part of Advopro.
7. Advopro can only be deemed to interrupt current limitation and expiry periods in a case on behalf of the client if Advopro and the client have explicitly agreed to this in writing in the signed assignment agreement.
8. Any claim for damages expires one year after the day on which the client became aware or could have become aware of the damage and Advopro’s liability for it.

Financial

1. Advopro does not hold a third-party account and will not be able to hold client or third-party funds within the framework of the execution of assignments.
2. Advopro charges a fee for its activities, which is generally based on an hourly rate, as well as the costs incurred by third parties. Subject to (interim) rate adjustments, the hourly rates to be charged will be adjusted each time on 1 January. In addition, changes in the importance of the case, urgency, may lead to (possibly temporary) adjustment of the agreed rate. However, this will be announced to you as timely as possible and, in principle, will not have retroactive effect. Advopro is always entitled to request an advance on the fee from the client and to set this off against the final invoice.
3. Payment of Advopro’s invoices must be made within 14 days of the invoice date. After expiry of that fatal term, client is deemed to have accepted the correctness of the invoice, unless client has objected in writing beforehand, and client may be charged interest of 1% per month. Client does not have the right of set-off or suspension. All judicial and extrajudicial costs incurred by Advopro in connection with the collection of its receivables shall be borne by the client, with a minimum of 15% of the outstanding invoices.
4. Advopro also has the right to set off any amount it is and/or will be able to claim from client conditionally and/or reasonably foreseeably against any amount it owes or will reasonably owe to client. For the purposes of this provision, client also includes group companies and/or majority participations of client. Advopro is entitled to suspend its activities pursuant to the assignment granted if the invoices are not paid on time.

Privacy and compliance

1. As a result of applicable regulations (including the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (“Wwft”), Advopro is obliged to establish the identity of client and report unusual transactions to the authorities under circumstances.
2. All client personal data are processed according to the General Data Protection Regulation (“AVG”).
3. Client data may be used in new cases to check for possible conflict of interest. To this end, we use only the necessary data to verify this and express consent is given through acceptance of these general terms and conditions.
4. In securing client and third party data, Advopro shall exercise the care that may be expected under the given circumstances. Client agrees to electronic data exchange (internet and e-mail) and is aware that despite all security measures taken by Advopro, no absolute security can be provided against unauthorised consultation. Advopro is not liable for loss of data or damage resulting from unauthorised access, regardless of whether the loss and/or damage is the result of the transmission of these data.
5. The digital file formed with the assignment will be kept for ten years after the case is filed, after which Advopro has the right to destroy the digital file. Original documents will be sent by Advopro to the client by registered mail after digital archiving.

Overige bepalingen

1. The legal relationship between Advopro and its clients is governed by Dutch law. Complaints regarding the execution of this assignment, including complaints of a financial nature, will be submitted to the competent court in Maastricht (NL), which will take cognisance of any dispute between Advopro and clients in the first instance.
2. Advocacy work performed by Advopro is subject to Advopro’s complaints procedure. In case of absence, matters will be handled by Mr M. Gaber of Sijben & Partners Advocaten in Heerlen.
3. The Dutch text of these general terms and conditions shall prevail in the event of a discrepancy with the text of these general terms and conditions in a foreign language.