Enterprise and Business
General terms and conditions
One of the things you want to have properly regulated as a business owner is your “general terms and conditions”. Examples of provisions in general terms and conditions are provisions relating to invoicing, methods of terminating the agreement, delivery deadlines and liability.
Unnecessary provisions in general terms and conditions
General terms and conditions regularly contain provisions that are actually superfluous. Many subjects are already regulated by law and therefore do not require further mention in the general terms and conditions. Consider, for example, the provision that a contract is concluded by offer and acceptance. This rule of law is already included in Article 6:217 of the Dutch Civil Code and as such does not need to be included in the general terms and conditions.
Relevant provisions in general terms and conditions
Of course there are also matters of which it is advisable to include them in the general terms and conditions. For example, for a company with a high liability risk it may be useful to devote a provision in the general terms and conditions to limiting liability to a certain amount.
Declaring general terms and conditions applicable
Once you have general terms and conditions, it is also important that you declare them applicable in the right way. In practice, it often happens that, with hindsight, the general terms and conditions have not been declared applicable in the right way.
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