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General Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions

I. Scope

  1. These terms and conditions apply to contracts between the client (hereinafter referred to as the organiser) and Balzer & Co. GmbH, which involve the provision of catering and event services, as well as to all services and deliveries in this context, insofar as the following clauses can be applied in their meaning.

  2. The organizer's terms and conditions shall only apply if this has been agreed in writing in advance.

II. Defects, liability, statutory limitation

  1. The contract is concluded by Balzer & Co. GmbH's acceptance of the organizer's application; they are the contracting parties.

  2. Balzer & Co. GmbH shall be liable for its obligations under the contract with the due care of a prudent businessman. Claims of the organizer for damages are excluded. Excluded from this are damages arising from injury to life, limb or health if Balzer & Co. GmbH is responsible for the breach of duty, other damages based on an intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty by Balzer & Co. GmbH and damages based on an intentional or negligent breach of typical contractual duties by Balzer & Co. GmbH. A breach of duty by Balzer & Co. GmbH is equivalent to that of a legal representative or vicarious agent. If disruptions or defects occur in the services of Balzer & Co. GmbH, Balzer & Co. GmbH shall endeavour to remedy the situation if it becomes aware of them or if it receives a complaint from the organizer without delay. The organizer shall be obliged to contribute what is reasonable to him in order to remedy the disruption and keep any possible damage to a minimum. Furthermore, the organizer shall be obliged to inform Balzer & Co. GmbH in good time of the possibility of an exceptionally high level of damage occurring. All claims against Balzer & Co. GmbH shall in principle become time-barred one year after the statutory commencement of the limitation period. Claims for damages shall become statute-barred after five years regardless of knowledge. The reductions in the statute of limitations do not apply to claims based on an intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty by Balzer & Co. GmbH.

III. Services, prices, payment, set-off

  1. Balzer & Co. GmbH is obliged to provide the agreed deliveries and services.

  2. The organiser is obliged to pay the agreed or usual prices of Balzer & Co. GmbH for these and other deliveries and services used. This also applies to deliveries, services and expenses of Balzer & Co. GmbH to third parties arranged by him (in particular also for claims of copyright exploitation companies) as well as for additional expenses, e.g. defective lifts, locked doors, power failure, which arise unexpectedly and could not be calculated.

  3. Services not estimated in the offer which are carried out at the request of the client or additional expenses which are caused by incorrect information provided by the client, by transport delays through no fault of the client or by advance performance by third parties not meeting the deadline or professional requirements, insofar as they are not vicarious agents of Balzer & Co. GmbH, shall be additionally invoiced to the client in accordance with the current remuneration rates of Balzer & Co. This also includes additional expenses due to complex coordination with service partners.

  4. The agreed prices are net, in each case plus the statutory value- added tax valid on the day of the event.

  5. If the period between conclusion of the contract and the event exceeds four months and the price generally charged by Balzer & Co. GmbH for such services increases, the contractually agreed price may be increased appropriately, but by a maximum of 10%. For each additional year between conclusion of the contract and the event beyond these four months, the upper limit shall increase by a further 5%.

  6. Invoices from Balzer & Co. GmbH without a due date are payable without deduction within 10 days of receipt of the invoice. If Balzer & Co. GmbH has exceptionally granted the organizer a period of payment or other credit and if the organzer falls into arrears with this or with other payment obligations towards Balzer & Co. GmbH, the period of payment or other credit can be revoked and all claims can be made due immediately. In the event of default in payment, Balzer & Co. GmbH shall be entitled to charge interest at the rate of 6% p.a.. The organizer reserves the right to prove lower damages, Balzer & Co. GmbH reserves the right to prove higher damages.

  7. Unless otherwise agreed between the contracting parties, the organizer undertakes to make an initial advance payment of 50% of the estimated or already agreed total price after signing the contract, a further 35% up to 60 days before the event and the remaining 15% of the commissioned sales volume no later than 4 weeks before the first day of the event.

  8. Any special requests of the client with regard to invoicing after conclusion of the contract shall be charged at 2.5% of the agreed net amount. This also applies to changes with regard to the invoice address.

  9. The organizer may only offset claims of Balzer & Co. GmbH with undisputed or legally established counterclaims or exercise a right of retention in this respect.

IV. Resignation from Balzer & Co. GmbH

  1. If and insofar as advance payments have been agreed with the organizer and the organizer fails to make these within a reasonable period of grace set by Balzer & Co. GmbH with a threat of refusal, Balzer & Co. GmbH shall be entitled, at its discretion, to withdraw from the contract or to demand damages for non- performance. Section V. shall apply accordingly to the assessment of the damages.

  2. Furthermore, Balzer & Co. GmbH shall be entitled to withdraw from the contract for objectively justified reasons, for example if (a) force majeure or other circumstances for which Balzer & Co. GmbH is not responsible make performance of the contract impossible or unreasonably difficult for Balzer & Co. GmbH; (b) venues have been ordered under misleading or false statements of material facts, e.g. concerning the person of the organizer or the purpose of the rental; (c) Balzer & Co. GmbH has reasonable grounds to assume that the use of the supplies and services of Balzer & Co. GmbH may jeopardise the safety or reputation of Balzer & Co. GmbH in public without this being attributable to the sphere of control or organisation of Balzer & Co. GmbH; (d) Balzer & Co. GmbH is unable to transport the required equipment, personnel, food or beverages to the event location due to weather conditions or other unforeseeable events, the obligation to perform shall lapse for both contracting parties. In this case, any advance payments already made, less any expenses already incurred by Balzer & Co. GmbH, shall be refunded. This is particularly the case if the use of access roads is not possible and replacement material cannot be provided in time with economically reasonable effort, so that it is no longer reasonably possible to hold the event.

  3. In the event of justified withdrawal by Balzer & Co. GmbH, the organizer shall have no Claim for damages.

  4. Should Balzer & Co. GmbH have a claim for damages against the customer in the event of a withdrawal in accordance with subsections (2) or (3) above, Balzer & Co. GmbH may lump-sum the claim. Clause V. (2) shall apply accordingly in this case.

V. Resignation/cancellation by the organizer

  1. Should the event be cancelled for reasons for which the client is responsible or be cancelled by the client, Balzer & Co. GmbH shall receive 85% of the total contract sum upon notification of the cancellation in the event of cancellation within a period of up to 60 days before the planned date of the event (in the case of events lasting several days, the first day of the event shall be decisive); 90% of the total contract sum in the event of cancellation within a period of 59 days and less before the planned date of the event (in the case of events lasting several days, the first day of the event shall be decisive).

  2. These deadlines apply unless otherwise agreed in the contract. The basis for calculating the total contract value is the actual number of participants stated in the contract. Should the total contract value increase after signature (e.g. due to an increase in the number of persons or booking of additional services), the total contract value at the time of cancellation shall be decisive.

  3. Within the specified periods for compensation of the lost food and beverage turnover, the relevant food turnover is calculated according to the formula: Menu price x number of persons. If no price has yet been agreed for the menu or buffet, the lowest-priced food proposal of the event offer valid at the agreed time of the event shall be used as a basis laid. For the purpose of calculating the compensation for lost beverage turnover, 45% of the total meal turnover shall be determined as the beverage turnover basis, of which 70% shall be applied as compensation for lost beverage turnover. If a flat rate has been agreed, 60% of the flat rate shall be applied.

  4. The organizer shall only have a right to withdraw from the contract concluded with him if this has been agreed in writing in the contract. If any right of withdrawal was not exercised within the agreed period, it shall expire upon expiry of the period and the contract shall remain in full force and effect with the consequence that the organiser shall pay the agreed consideration even if he does not make use of the ordered deliveries and services, in particular the ordered event rooms. The consideration shall also include compensation for lost food and beverage sales in accordance with Clause V. (3).

  5. In any case, the services arranged with third parties are to be paid by the organizer if a cancellation of the event free of charge for these services is not agreed and Balzer & Co. GmbH is charged corresponding cancellation fees.

  6. The deduction of saved expenses is taken into account by numbers (3) to (5). The organizer is free to prove that the above-mentioned claim did not arise or did not arise in the amount claimed. Balzer & Co. GmbH reserves the right to prove higher damages.

  7. A withdrawal of the client from the contract concluded with Balzer & Co. GmbH free of charge requires the written consent of Balzer & Co. GmbH.

  8. Special pandemic regulation: If the event is banned due to official requirements or if it is not sensible to hold the event at the scheduled time due to the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute, this would be a case of force majeure. The contract concluded can be cancelled by both parties. The costs already incurred by Balzer & Co. GmbH at that time for the preparation of the offer, research, administrative fees, tax advisors, subcontractors, location rental, rehearsal dinner, purchases for the above event format etc. shall be borne in full by the organizer and paid to Balzer & Co. GmbH.
• Any advance payments already made will be offset against the aforementioned costs and the surplus will not be returned to the organizer but will be offset or credited against the organiser's next projects taking place within a period of 12 months.

• If the organizer cancels the event on his own initiative, the cancellation conditions (deadlines and fees) listed in the contract apply. The cancellation fee can also be credited to a new contract in this case with the written consent of Balzer & Co. GmbH, or if a new date is agreed directly, the existing contract can be changed without a processing fee.


VI. Changes to the number of participants and the event time

  1. A reduction in the number of participants by up to 5% compared to the agreed number of participants (in the case of an "approximate number", the absolute number stated in the figures applies) must be notified to Balzer & Co. GmbH in writing at least 72 hours before the start of the event and will be taken into account as a reduction in the invoice.

  2. A reduction in the number of participants by more than 5% compared to the agreed number of participants (in the case of an "approximate number", the absolute number stated in figures applies) must be notified to Balzer & Co. GmbH in writing at least seven working days before the start of the event. Unless Balzer & Co. GmbH agrees in writing to a different arrangement, in such a case the agreed number of participants less 5% shall be used as the basis for invoicing.

  3. If the number of participants is reduced by more than 10%, section VI. (2) applies accordingly with the proviso that Balzer & Co. GmbH is also entitled to adjust the agreed prices upwards within reasonable limits.

  4. In the event of an increase in the actual number of participants confirmed by Balzer & Co. GmbH compared to the agreed number of participants, the actual number of participants shall be used as the basis for invoicing purposes.

  5. Additional orders for food, drinks and additional material will be charged in accordance with the contract prices of Balzer & Co GmbH.

  6. If the agreed start and/or end times are postponed without the prior consent of Balzer & Co. GmbH, Balzer & Co. GmbH may charge reasonable additional costs for the readiness to perform, unless Balzer & Co. GmbH is at fault.

VII. Bringing food and drinks

  1. As a matter of principle, the organizer may only bring food and drinks to events if Balzer & Co. GmbH has given its prior written consent. Consent may be made dependent on the payment of a contribution to cover overhead costs.

  2. Balzer & Co. GmbH is not liable for the quality of the food and drinks brought in.

VIII. Technical facilities and connections

Insofar as Balzer & Co. GmbH procures technical and other equipment for the organizer at the latter's instigation or rents premises and spaces from third parties
 
Balzer & Co. GmbH shall act on behalf and for the account of the organizer. The organizer shall be liable for careful handling and for the proper return of the equipment. He shall indemnify Balzer & Co. GmbH against all claims by third parties arising from the procurement and provision of such facilities.


IX. Loss and damage

The organizer shall be responsible for the care of rented objects, technical and other equipment from the time of takeover until the time of return. In the event of damage or loss through the fault of the organizer, its employees, vicarious agents or guests, the costs of replacement or repair shall be invoiced.


X. Liability and other obligations of the organizer

  1. The organizer shall be liable for all damage to the venue and its facilities caused by the organizer, event participants, visitors to the event, employees of the organizer or other third parties attributable to the organizer. The organizer shall be responsible for proving that there was no culpable conduct.

  2. Decorative material brought along must comply with the requirements of the fire police. Balzer & Co. GmbH is entitled to demand official proof of this. Due to possible damage, the installation or attachment of decoration and similar material must be agreed with Balzer & Co. GmbH in advance and requires the written approval of Balzer & Co. GmbH. The use of pyrotechnics and fog systems must generally be agreed with Balzer & Co. GmbH.

  3. The organizer shall ensure that all waste is disposed of in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions on separation and other treatment. If the organizer nevertheless leaves waste behind, Balzer & Co. GmbH shall be entitled to charge the customer for the costs of disposal in accordance with the regulations and for any special cleaning of the rooms that may be associated with this.

  4. The organizer shall obtain any official permits required for the event in good time and at his own expense. The organizer shall be responsible for compliance with public-law requirements and other regulations.

  5. Balzer & Co. GmbH may, if there is good cause, demand the provision of appropriate securities which go beyond the advance payment obligation in Clause III. (6).

XI. Final provisions

  1. Amendments and supplements to the contract or these terms and conditions must be made in writing to be effective.

  2. The place of performance and payment is Frankfurt am Main.

  3. The exclusive place of jurisdiction, also for disputes concerning cheques and bills of exchange, shall be the court of the place of performance specified in Clause XI. (2) shall be the place of performance. Its jurisdiction is hereby agreed in any case also in relation to those organizers who fulfil the requirements of section 38 (1) of the German Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO) and/or who do not have a general place of jurisdiction in Germany (although in the case of the latter Balzer & Co. GmbH is also entitled, at its discretion, to bring an action in the organizer's general place of jurisdiction abroad).

  4. German law shall apply. The application of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the conflict of laws is excluded.

  5. Should individual provisions of these General Terms and Conditions for Events be invalid or void, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. In this case, the parties shall agree on a new provision that comes as close as possible to the meaning of the invalid provision.

Status: 14.08.2023
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