General Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions of the VDA QMC

1. Scope of application

The following General Terms and Conditions apply to deliveries and services (publications and/or seminars) supplied by the VDA QMC. The current version is published on the VDA QMC website.

Any deviating terms and conditions of the customer shall apply only if the VDA QMC has explicitly given its consent in writing to a change to its own General Terms and Conditions.

The VDA QMC’s offers are available solely to customers that use the deliveries and services of the VDA QMC in the course of their commercial or self-employed activities (entrepreneurs in the meaning of Section 14 of the German Civil Code [BGB]).

All prices on the Webshop, website and/or registration form are quoted in euros and net of tax, without the applicable German VAT.

2. Ordering publications (books, e-books, apps/software) / registration for seminars

3a. Delivery of publications

Unless agreed otherwise, publications (books/posters) will be delivered from the place of performance (VDA QMC’s place of storage) to the delivery address indicated by the customer. The publication(s) will be dispatched via a courier service. The costs for “postage and processing” will be charged as indicated in the VDA QMC Webshop. Information about the delivery deadline is not binding as long as no binding delivery date has been agreed. The customer shall bear the risk that the goods may be lost during transit.

3b. Prices and invoicing of orders for publications

All invoices are issued in euros. The amount invoiced is payable immediately in full upon receipt of the goods and the invoice. All the costs of monetary transactions shall be paid by the customer. In the case of a customer’s first order we reserve the right to demand an advance payment by bank transfer; alternatively the customer may pay through PaySquare.

Any subsequent alterations to the invoice at the customer’s request will incur a fee charge of EUR 15.00 to 23.00 EUR.

3c. Returning goods (books/posters) and downloaded e-books and apps/softwares

Within two weeks of receipt of the goods, they may be exchanged or returned to the VDA QMC, if they have not been used and are in perfect condition. The original invoice must accompany the goods and reason for the return must be given in the documentation. The costs of the return shall be borne by the customer.

E-books and apps/softwares cannot be returned.

3d. Reservation of title

The goods shall remain the property of the VDA QMC until payment has been made in full.

3e. Complaints of defects

Upon receipt of the goods, the customer shall check that they are complete, undamaged and free of other visible defects. If a defect is apparent, it must be reported to VDA QMC without undue delay. If the customer does not report the defect, the goods shall be deemed to have been accepted.

3f. Copyright

Books and e-books are protected under copyright and are made available exclusively to customers for their own use. In the case of e-books or apps/softwares, the customer acquires a simple non-transferable right of use, which entitles him to use the e-book(s) for business purposes as the single user.

It is possible to transfer the use right to another user within the company upon request. Any use beyond this scope, in particular the transmission, processing, copying or reproduction, distribution, publication of e-books or making them publicly accessible, either in whole or in part, in digital form or by other means (e.g. by remote data transmission or in an analog form), is not permitted and may result in criminal proceedings.

3g. Usability of hardware and software

Given that there may be restrictions on the interoperability and compatibility of hardware and software products, users should refer to the product description. Furthermore, the liability of the VDA QMC is limited as specified in Section 6 of these General Terms and Conditions.

4. Requirements for participating in seminars

Special requirements relating to professional qualifications and experience apply for participating in some seminars. If the requirements are not satisfied, the VDA QMC reserves the right to reject the application to attend the seminar.

4a. Invoicing for seminars

Once the customer’s registration has been received, he will first receive a confirmation of receipt. Once the capacities have been checked, a confirmation of registration is sent to the customer. The invoice is dispatched after the event and is immediately payable in full.

4b. Cancelling/rebooking seminars

Cancellation/rebooking is possible by e-mail.

The following fees will be charged for cancellations of any seminar:

up to 6 weeks before the event begins:              no cancellation fee

from 6 to 4 weeks before the event begins:        25% of the price

from 4 to 2 weeks before the event begins:        50% of the price

less than 2 weeks before the event begins:         100% of the price

A replacement participant may be named, in which case there is no cancellation fee.

4c. Cancellation of the seminar by the organizer

If a seminar is fully booked or cannot take place due to force majeure (e.g. the speaker falls sick at short notice), the customer will be notified without undue delay. If too few participants have registered, the VDA QMC reserves the right to cancel the event up to seven days before the event is due to begin.     

5. Using personal customer information, forwarding customer data

Orders and registrations will be accepted only if the customer provides the information specified in Section 2. This is needed to process the order/registration and for concluding and fulfilling the contract. This information is stored, used for the purposed specified, and forwarded to third parties only for fulfillment of the order/registration. The VDA QMC commissions other companies and individual persons to execute order-processing tasks, for example delivery, payment processing, and supplying files (e.g. e-books).

The VDA QMC makes available to these service providers the customer’s personal information which they require in order to fulfill their tasks. The customer consents to the forwarding of his data for this purpose. The service providers are obligated not to use the data for other purposes, and to handle them in accordance with the German data protection laws.

6. Warranty and liability

The customer has statutory rights under the laws governing guarantees, subject to the provisions in the following paragraphs.

The customer shall not be entitled to claim any damages payments. This does not include the customer’s claims for damages payments arising from injury to life, body or health, or the violation of essential contractual obligations (cardinal obligations) or liability for other damage arising from an intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty on the part of the VDA QMC, its legal representatives or its agents. Essential contractual obligations are those whose fulfillment is necessary for achieving the objective of the contract.

If essential contractual obligations have been violated, the VDA QMC shall be liable only for the foreseeable damage typical of this type of contract if it was caused through simple negligence, unless the matter is a customer’s claim for damages arising from an injury to life, body or health.

The restrictions specified in paragraphs 2 and 3 also apply to the benefit of the VDA QMC’s legal representatives and agents if claims are lodged directly against these parties.

The provisions of the German Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz) shall remain unaffected, as shall any claims arising from a guarantee that is granted by the VDA QMC or a third party for the condition of the goods or that the goods will maintain certain characteristics for a certain period of time.

7. Other provisions

German law applies, with the exclusion of UN purchasing law (CISG). The mandatory regulations of the state in which the customer has his customary residence shall remain unaffected.

If one of the foregoing provisions is or becomes invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the other provisions. In such cases, the invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that comes as close as possible to the desired economic result. This shall also apply in the case of an omission in the regulations.

Set-off against a receivable of the VDA QMC shall be permissible only if the counter-claim is either uncontested or has been legally established. Furthermore, counter-claims may be offset if they arose in connection with a delivery whereby the customer was entitled to refuse performance.

The place of performance and jurisdiction for disputes connected with the order for goods or participation in seminars/events is the jurisdiction where the VDA QMC has its registered office (Berlin).