Privacy policy and general terms and conditions

Privacy policy for clients of Schneider-SET GmbH


In order to be able to fulfil the order you have placed with us, we process the data you provide (e.g. contact data, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers) in accordance with the require-ments of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). In the event of an ongoing busi-ness relationship, we do not delete the personal data transferred to us, unless in the rare indi-vidual cases of particularly sensitive data. In all other cases, your data will be deleted after the termination of the contractual relationship in accordance with the principle of data minimiza-tion, unless statutory storage obligations oblige us to store the data for a longer period.

You can find our contact details in the imprint.

We do not pass on your personal data and process your data exclusively within the EU. Inso-far as an expert opinion requires that the data provided by you be passed on to a body outside the EU, we meet the requirements of the GDPR for a "data export" by concluding so-called "standard contractual clauses" with the recipient of the data (see https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/international-dimension-data-protection/standard-contractual-clauses-scc_en.).

You can obtain information about the data stored with us at any time. You also have rights to correct incorrect data, delete data and restrict processing, as well as a right to data transfera-bility.

If you have any questions or comments about your data or the exercise of your rights, please contact our data protection officer Mr. Jonas Schütz js@schneider-set.de.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority at any time. The data protection supervisory authority responsible for Schneider-SET GmbH is the Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information North Rhine-Westphalia Kavaller-iestr. 2-4, 40213 Düsseldorf, poststelle@ldi.nrw.de, phone: 0211 / 384 24-0, fax: 0211 / 384 24-10).




General Terms and Conditions of Schneider-SET GmbH


§ 1 Validity

The legal relations between Schneider-SET GmbH and its exclusively commercial customer are governed by the following General Terms and Conditions of Schneider-SET GmbH ("con-tractual conditions"). Any terms and conditions of the customer that deviate from these terms and conditions shall only become part of the contract if Schneider-SET GmbH expressly ac-cepts them in writing.


§ 2 Subject of the engagement

The subject of the contract is the expert activity (determination of facts, presentation of em-pirical values, derivation of conclusions and actual evaluation and assessment of an event or condition). This activity can also be carried out in the context of arbitral expert or arbitral court proceedings.


§ 3 Execution of the engagement

1. Basis

The assignment shall be carried out impartially and to the best of the expert s knowledge and belief in accordance with the professional principles applying to an expert. The expert cannot guarantee a certain success, especially a result desired by the client.


2. Selection of experts and involvement of third parties

Schneider-SET GmbH shall be free to choose the expert(s) to work on the engagement. The client has no right to have his order carried out by a particular expert.

Schneider-SET GmbH may, at its own discretion, involve its own assistants and other vicarious agents in the preparation of the expert opinion/report.

If it is necessary to consult experts from other disciplines for the proper execution of the engagement, Schneider-SET GmbH shall commission such experts with the consent of the customer in his name and for his account.


3. Triggering of usual costs

Schneider-SET GmbH shall otherwise be entitled, at its dutiful discretion, to carry out or have carried out the necessary customary investigations at the customer s expense in order to process the engagement, to investigate facts and conditions, to make enquiries, to undertake travel and visits and to take photographs without the customer s special consent being required.


4. Storage of expert opinions and documents

After completion of the engagement and payment of the agreed fees, Schneider-SET GmbH is obligated to return the documents provided to it by the customer for the crea-tion of the expert opinion upon request. Schneider-SET GmbH shall be entitled to ar-chive copies of the expert opinion and the working documents electronically or in copy within the time frame of the legal and fiscal obligations to retain records.


§ 4 Obligations of the client

The client may not give Schneider-SET GmbH and the appointed expert any instructions which could influence the actual findings, technical conclusions, assessments or the result of the expert opinion/report.

The customer shall allow Schneider-SET GmbH access to the object of the expert opinion.

The customer shall ensure that Schneider-SET GmbH receives all information and docu-ments necessary for the execution of the order (e.g. invoices, drawings, calculations, corre-spondence) free of charge and in good time. Schneider-SET GmbH shall be informed in good time and without special request of all events and circumstances which could be of im-portance for the preparation of the expert opinion/report.

Schneider-SET GmbH shall be authorized and empowered by the client to obtain the infor-mation necessary for the preparation of the expert opinion from third parties and to conduct surveys. Upon request, the client must issue a special power of attorney to the company.


§ 5 Copyright

Schneider-SET GmbH retains the copyright to the provided services, provided they are copy-rightable.

The client may only use the expert opinion including all lists, calculations and other details for the purpose for which it is intended as agreed.

Any use beyond this, in particular the passing on of the expert opinion to third parties, any other use, change or shortening of the text is only permitted to the client with the consent of Schneider-SET GmbH.

Publication of the expert opinion requires the consent of Schneider-SET in all cases. Repro-ductions are only permitted within the scope of the intended use. The results of investigations and expert opinions may only be used for advertising purposes by the client with the consent of the expert and with his approval of the wording of the advertisement.


§ 6 Fees

Schneider-SET GmbH is entitled to payment of a remuneration. This shall be based on the agreements made between it and the client. The fee agreements apply accordingly for sub-sequent activities (e.g. discussion of the expert opinion, evaluation of counter-assessments, etc.).

In the case of a hearing as an (expert) witness on the occasion of a prepared expert opinion, the client shall pay a time fee in accordance with the original fee agreement, taking into ac-count any reimbursement of costs in accordance with the Judicial Remuneration and Com-pensation Act (JVEG).


§ 7 Acceptance, due date and default of payment


Unless otherwise agreed, the agreed fee is due upon receipt of the invoice by the client. Payments must be made within two weeks of receipt of the invoice. Partial results, individual reports or separately sent partial expert opinions are each individually acceptable and must be accepted by the client. The transmission of an expert opinion, report or partial result shall be deemed to be accepted if no complaint is made immediately, at the latest within two weeks.

Schneider-SET GmbH shall be entitled, at its own discretion, to issue appropriate advance and partial invoices and to offset due invoice amounts against any advances.

If the customer defaults on payment of the fee, Schneider-SET GmbH may withdraw from the contract or claim for compensation after setting a reasonable grace period. Subject to the assertion of further damages, default interest at a rate of nine percentage points above the base interest rate plus VAT shall be payable in the event of default of payment. Schneider-SET GmbH reserves the right to prove higher damages caused by delay.


§ 8 Termination

The customer and Schneider-SET GmbH may terminate the contract at any time for good cause. The termination is to be declared in text form.

Important reasons, which entitle Schneider-SET GmbH to terminate the contract, are in par-ticular refusal of the necessary cooperation of the client, attempt of inadmissible influence of the client on the expert, which can falsify the result of the expert opinion, delay with due pay-ments despite setting a deadline, insolvency of the client and the statement of Schneider-SET GmbH after acceptance of the engagement that communicated facts and assumptions, on the basis of which the assignment was accepted, are incorrect.

Schneider-SET GmbH shall also be entitled to terminate the contract if the execution of the engagement under the agreed conditions is impossible or economically unreasonable in view of the agreed remuneration. The fulfilment of the order shall be deemed impossible in particu-lar if facts necessary for the evaluation do not fall within the offered and agreed field of exper-tise of Schneider-SET GmbH, if the involvement of third parties on behalf of and for the ac-count of the client is not possible or not desired, if examination results are not accessible or if the assessment of decisive facts is not possible.

If the contract is terminated for a reason for which Schneider-SET GmbH is responsible, Schneider-SET GmbH shall be entitled to remuneration for the partial services rendered up to the time of termination insofar as these are objectively usable for the customer.

In all other cases, Schneider-SET GmbH retains the right to the contractually agreed fee; Schneider-SET GmbH must, however, offset any expenses it saves as a result of the cancel-lation of the contract or which it acquires or maliciously omits to acquire through other use of the manpower of its employees. Unless the customer can prove a higher share of saved ex-penses in an individual case, this shall be agreed at 40% of the fee for services not yet pro-vided to Schneider-SET GmbH.


§ 9 Liability for defaults

If the expert opinion is wrongful, Schneider-SET GmbH has the right to rectify the default twice.

Obvious defaults must be reported to the expert in text form immediately, at the latest within two weeks; otherwise, any warranty claims resulting from such obvious defects shall expire.

Warranty claims shall become statute-barred within one year from acceptance of the expert opinion, report or partial result. Excluded are claims for compensation in case of injury to life, body and health, in case of intent or gross negligence of Schneider-SET GmbH, its legal rep-resentative or vicarious agents, in case of fraudulent concealment of defaults or assumption of a guarantee for the result of the expert opinion.


§ 10 Liability


1. Insurance cover

Schneider-SET GmbH has liability insurance protection for the agreed professional ac-tivity with a sum insured of € 2,000,000 for property damage and € 5,000,000 for finan-cial losses per year. Schneider-SET GmbH undertakes to maintain insurance cover at this level for the duration of the execution of the engagement.


2. Limitation of liability

a) Schneider-SET GmbH shall not be liable - irrespective of the legal reason - for any damages and/or expenses of the customer caused by simple negligence of the expert, its legal representative and its vicarious agent or assistant, provided that these exceed the part of the damages and expenses to be compensated by the insurer. This does not apply to claims of the client due to the violation of es-sential obligations, the fulfilment of which are mandatory for the proper execution of the contract and on the fulfilment of which the client may therefore regularly re-ly (cardinal obligations).

b) Insofar as the exclusion of liability pursuant to clause 10 No. 1 lit. a) does not ap-ply in the case of simple negligence on the part of Schneider-SET GmbH, its legal representative and its vicarious agent or assistant in particular, therefore, in the case of a simple negligent breach of cardinal obligations within the meaning of clause 10 No. 1 lit. a) any liability of Schneider-SET GmbH for all claims for com-pensation and/or expenses of the customer exceeding the part of the damages and expenses to be reimbursed by the insurance company, irrespective of their legal nature, shall be limited to the foreseeable damages and expenses typical for the contract (less the part of the damages and expenses to be reimbursed by the insurance company).

c) Taking into account all circumstances of the specific contractually agreed en-gagement, the foreseeable damage and expense typical of the contract within the meaning of clause 10 No. 1 lit. b) shall be deemed to be limited to a maximum amount of € 5,000,000 unless the client states otherwise offering the engagement (§ 254 Para. 2 BGB).

d) The above exclusions or limitations of liability in accordance with clause 10 No. 1 lit. a) to c) do not apply to any claims due to injury to life, body or health, to claims arising from any guarantees assumed by the client and to non-obligatory claims under the Product Liability Act.

e) Insofar as the liability of Schneider-SET GmbH is or would be excluded or limited in accordance with the above provisions of clause 10 No. 2, the same shall apply accordingly to the possible own liability of the organs, representatives, employees, staff, agents, subcontractors, vicarious agents or assistants of Schneider-SET GmbH for the same reason for liability.


3. Liability towards third parties

Unless expressly agreed otherwise, Schneider-SET GmbH shall not be liable under the contract concluded with the client to third parties who are not themselves party to the contract. Accordingly, no third parties shall be included in the protection of the contract unless the parties expressly agree otherwise.


§ 11 Communication

The client is advised that unencrypted communication via the Internet (e-mail, messenger, file exchange) is not secure and that contents may possibly be accessed by unauthorized third parties. Insofar as the contractor wishes to comply with a certain safety standard, this can be agreed separately. Without a separate agreement, Schneider-Set GmbH may exchange data by e-mail and via all communication channels also used by the client.


§ 12 Final provisions

1. If any provision of this contract is invalid or becomes invalid due to jurisdiction or legal regulations, this shall not result in the invalidity of the entire contract. The void provision shall be replaced by a provision which most closely corresponds to the intended purpose.

2. The customer may only assert a right of retention or offset against his own claims if these rights of retention or claims have been legally established or acknowledged in writing by Schneider-SET GmbH.

3. Place of performance and jurisdiction for all rights and obligations arising from this con-tract is the registered office of Schneider-SET GmbH, provided that both parties to the contract are merchants or a legal entity under public law. This contract is governed by German law.


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