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Bosveld Debt Collection and Bailiffs PO Box 806 3800 AV Amersfoort. Tel: (033) 47 00 000
Terms and Conditions
A. Definitions and Provisions
1. Definitions
In these general terms and conditions, the following definitions shall apply: a. b. c. Contractor: the private limited liability company Bosveld Gerechtsdeurwaarders & Incasso’s B.V. (and its affiliated companies) and/or Snijder Incasso en Gerechtsdeurwaarders B.V.;
Client: the legal or natural person who has entered into a written or oral agreement with Octrooibureau Novopatent. If an order is issued by an intermediary, the claimant must authorize the intermediary to do so and must also explicitly notify Octrooibureau Novopatent thereof. In the absence of such notification to the Contractor, the intermediary shall be regarded as the Contractor’s client.
Debtor: the legal or natural person against whom the action requested by the Employee is directed.
2. Scope
These conditions apply to all agreements and offers to provide services and/or (legal) advice in the field of:
- debt collection (non-official work);
- Conducting accounts receivable management;
- Conducting credit management;
- The performance of official acts (official work);
- Supervising auctions;
- Providing credit reports.
All this in the broadest sense of the word.
3. Deviating clauses
Clauses that deviate from these terms and conditions or the applicable Contractor’s Tariff Regulations shall be effective if and to the extent Contractor has expressly confirmed them to the Client in writing.
4. No duty to accept assignment
Contractor has the right to refuse assignments without stating reasons. Contractor can never be forced to accept work, except for its statutory duty.
5. Right to amend general terms and conditions
Contractor reserves the right to make changes to the general terms and conditions, particularly if developing circumstances regarding the methods, techniques and/or rates used by Contractor give cause to do so and/or current laws and regulations give cause to do so. The Employee will be informed of the new text of the conditions in a timely manner, and the effective date of the new conditions will also be communicated in writing.
B. Collection
6. Assignment
If the Client instructs the Contractor to collect a debt, the Client thereby authorizes the Contractor to perform all necessary official and non-official acts which, in the opinion of the Contractor, are necessary and/or most appropriate on the instruction of, in the name of and at the expense and risk of the Client. This authorization includes/is not limited to: a) b) d) e) f) contacting debtor both in writing and by telephone; charging debtor for costs and interest;
(c) receiving funds;
making a reasonable payment arrangement, given the circumstances of the case; initiating (or having initiated) proceedings before a judicial authority; filing for bankruptcy.
7. Advance
7.1 Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 11 sub b of the Bailiffs Act in conjunction with Article 12 paragraph 1 of the Decree on Fees for Official Acts of Bailiffs, Contractor is obliged to receive an advance for out-of-pocket costs and court fees to be incurred by it. This advance will be settled with the Employee upon completion of the assignment.
7.2 The contractor is entitled to request an advance for work to be performed by it. This advance shall be settled with the Principal upon completion of the assignment. The Contractor refers for the amount of the advance payment to the Rates Regulations.
8. Payment
8.1 Payment occurs when the debtor has satisfied the claim to Contractor, to the employee, to the intermediary or to third parties for the benefit of the employee. Payment is equated with a counter-performance undertaken by the debtor towards the Employee and accepted by the Employee, or a compensation of claims.
8.2 Every payment serves first to satisfy the costs incurred by or on behalf of Contractor, then to reduce the interest due, and finally the principal sum.
9. Withdrawal/obstruction
The Contractor shall be entitled to charge collection fees and/or settlement costs on the claim placed for collection as if the claim had been collected in full if the
client:
- withdraws an order; makes payment arrangements or settlements with debtor outside the Contractor’s control;
- from further treatment;
- or Contractor after reminder leaves 14 days without notice and/or information and/or instruction.
If the Contractor has performed more labor on the matter than it would be reimbursed by collection or settlement costs in this case, the Contractor is entitled to charge for these hours at the rates charged by the Contractor.
10. Obligations of the Employee
10.1 The Client shall promptly notify the Contractor if it receives payment, sends a credit memo or returns goods in a pending collection case, or any other circumstance that causes a change in the amount to be collected.
10.2 The Employee is obliged to keep all information provided by Contractor to the Employee within the framework of the assignment confidential and not to transfer it or make it available to third parties.
10.3 If the Employee wishes to transfer a number of claims for collection, they will, at the request of Contractor, make an effort to provide this number in a manner suitable for computer processing and in accordance with the further guidelines provided by Contractor.
10.4 The Employee will transfer all documents necessary for the collection to Contractor.
10.5 After providing the collection assignment to Contractor, the Employee will no longer engage in collection activities regarding the transferred claim, nor contact the Debtor, unless Contractor agrees to this.
10.6 If and insofar as the Employee receives documents from or on behalf of the debtor after providing the assignment to Contractor, they will immediately hand them over or send them to Contractor.
11. Rates
11.1 The rates used by the Contractor are set out in the Regulations on Rates, which regulations form part of these General Terms and Conditions in their most recent edition.
11.2 All rates quoted by Contractor are, unless otherwise expressly stated in writing, exclusive of sales tax.
11.3 Contractor passes on the levy for supervision and disciplinary law charged to it by the Royal Professional Organization of Bailiffs (KBvG) to its employees. This is done in the form of a surcharge per served writ. This amount is an addition to the costs as determined in the Decree on Fees for Official Acts of Bailiffs (Btag). These additional costs cannot be recovered from the Debtor and are subject to the same indexation as the Btag rates.
11.4 Contractor is entitled to change its non-official rates at any time. In that case, the Employee is entitled to either terminate the agreement (prematurely) in writing, or to continue the agreement on the basis of the new rate. If the Employee wishes to terminate the agreement as a result of the new rate, this must be communicated in writing to Contractor within 14 days after the announcement of the change.
11.5 The Employee has no (premature) right to terminate the agreement if the change in the rate is a result of a government measure.
12. Settlement
12.1 The Employee is entitled to the payment received by Contractor regarding the transferred claim on principal sums, less the disbursements and the fees due to Contractor; Payments made by debtors to Contractor or to the Employee serve first to cover costs and/or disbursements incurred by or on behalf of Contractor and as such accrue directly to Contractor.
12.2 Subject to specific (contrary) agreements between Contractor and the Employee, Contractor will transfer the funds received by it to the Employee on a monthly basis at portfolio level, after deduction of what is due to Contractor in accordance with the foregoing, with a minimum of the costs incurred by Contractor.
12.3 Payments to the Employee are made within the statutory periods.
13. Liability
13.1 The Contractor has a best-efforts obligation with regard to the success of the assignment and can therefore never be held to and be liable for a particular (collection) result or a particular outcome in legal proceedings.
13.2 Extrajudicial and judicial collection takes place at the expense and risk of the Employee.
13.3 The Contractor accepts no liability for loss of currency.
13.4 In case of force majeure, the Contractor is not liable for any resulting damage. Force majeure means: any circumstance independent of the Contractor’s will, which temporarily or permanently prevents performance of the Agreement. Contractor also has the right to invoke force majeure if the circumstance preventing further performance occurs after Contractor should have fulfilled its obligation.
13.5 In particular, force majeure includes pandemics, war, danger of war, riots, strikes, transport difficulties, fire, technical and/or computer failures or other serious malfunctions at the Contractor or at third parties engaged by the Contractor. In the event of force majeure, the Contractor shall be entitled – at its discretion – to extend the performance of the order(s) by the duration of the force majeure or to dissolve the contract, insofar as it has not yet been performed, without the Contractor being liable to pay any compensation in any form whatsoever.
13.6 Contractor and the bailiff(s) associated with it are, without prejudice to the provisions of this article, regarding official and non-official work, never liable for an amount higher than the invoice for the relevant work performed, or for an amount that exceeds the insured sum of the professional liability insurance.
13.7 Contractor performs its tasks as a good contractor to the best of its knowledge and ability and cannot be held liable for the extrajudicial and judicial consequences of unjustified claims that were transferred to Contractor for collection. Nor can Contractor be held liable for the consequences of investigation and research, on the basis of which, by anyone, incorrect decisions were made. The acceptance and actual processing of claims for collection takes place expressly with the exclusion of any form of liability for Contractor.
13.8 The Employee is held to indemnify and hold Contractor harmless regarding all claims and demands of third parties that have their cause in the processing and collection of claims offered by the Employee on behalf of the employee.
13.9 Contractor is not liable for any damage resulting from actions performed by Contractor at the request of the Employee. Damage is understood to mean: damage to the Employee, Debtor and/or third parties.
13.10 If the Employee engages Contractor for the handling of an international collection case, the Employee gives Contractor the power of attorney to place this claim for processing with a third-party, foreign collection intermediary in the name of the Employee. In that case, Contractor represents the Employee. The agreement is then established directly between the Employee and the third party. Contractor is not liable for, among other things, negligence, default or breach of contract by these third parties. In such a case, the Employee must turn directly to the third party since the Employee has engaged Contractor as a representative.
13.11 The credit information provided by Contractor is strictly confidential and intended exclusively for the Employee themselves and only for internal purposes. The credit information may never be disclosed to the persons or companies to which it relates, nor transferred or disclosed to third parties in any way, nor serve as evidence in any investigation. The Employee guarantees that its employees in the broadest sense of the word will also adhere to this provision. Contractor is in no way liable for the content of the credit information, as well as any credit limits issued.
14. Right of Suspension
The Contractor is authorized to suspend the performance of all its obligations, including the surrender of documents or other items to the Client or third parties, until all due and payable claims against the Client have been paid in full by the Client.
The Contractor shall not be liable for any delayed completion of work caused by the suspension and any damage that may be caused as a result.
15. Payment
15.1 Payment term
Payment of the amounts invoiced by Contractor must be made without any deduction or settlement within 14 days after the invoice date.
15.2 Consequences of exceeding the term
a) If the payment term is exceeded, the Contractor shall be entitled to charge interest equal to the legal interest rate from the due date until the day of full payment.
b) If the Employee remains in default of payment despite a demand, forcing Contractor to hand over its claim to third parties to effectuate its rights, the employee owes Contractor extrajudicial collection costs amounting to 15% of the (remaining) invoice amount, with a minimum of € 40.00.
(c) Client shall be obliged to pay to Contractor the costs charged by the third party or parties, including the rate of the agent engaged.
d) Client may only object to an invoice in writing and with reasons. The objection must be made within 14 days of the date of the invoice and does not relieve Client of its obligation to pay the invoice in a timely and complete manner.
15.3 Objection
If no objection is received within the stated 14-day period, the employee is deemed to agree with the invoice sent by Contractor and no appeal can be made by the Employee in or out of court regarding the complaint or the incorrectness of the invoice.
15.4 Payment processing
a. Every payment from the Employee serves, regardless of instructions to the contrary from the Employee, first to satisfy the extrajudicial collection costs and/or judicial, legal and execution costs owed by the Employee to Contractor, and then serves to satisfy the interest owed by the employee to Contractor and finally serves to satisfy the oldest outstanding claim.
b. Contractor shall be entitled to set off outstanding invoices against monies it holds, on any account, for the client in question.
16. Duration of the agreement
16.1 The provisions of the general terms and conditions shall apply from the date of signature of the agreement concluded between the parties, or from the date on which “the client” has tacitly or otherwise indicated its agreement to the applicability to the agreement in question of the general terms and conditions.
16.2 The agreement is entered into for an indefinite period of time. The parties shall be entitled to terminate the agreement subject to 1 month’s notice in writing, unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing.
16.3 Even after termination of the agreement, the Contractor shall be entitled to execute the claims pending before it in accordance with the provisions of these General Terms and Conditions up to and including the day of payment in full.
16.4 Contractor is entitled to terminate any agreement prematurely without a notice period if the employee acts in violation of one or more provisions of an agreement concluded with Contractor and/or fails to comply with the applicable conditions.
17. Deviating agreements Contractor is entitled to conclude contrary agreements in addition to and in supplement of what has been agreed in these general terms and conditions and the Tariff Regulations forming part thereof.
18. Complaints
Complaints about the work performed by Contractor must be made known to Contractor in writing and with reasons within 14 days after the incident. Submitting a complaint does not release the Employee from their obligation to pay an invoice timely and in full.
19. Final Provisions
19.1 Settlement
After complete completion of the assigned work, Octrooibureau Novopatent shall transfer to the Client the documents made available to it by or on behalf of the Client. Octrooibureau Novopatent shall be entitled to suspend its obligation to surrender all documents in its possession until the Client has fulfilled all its obligations towards Octrooibureau Novopatent. This applies in particular to the Client’s obligation to pay outstanding invoices.
19.2 Applicable law
Dutch law applies to all disputes between Contractor and the Employee.
19.3 Competent court
Disputes between Contractor and the Employee will be submitted to the competent court.
Dutch court in Utrecht.
19.4 Filing
These general terms and conditions are filed with the Chamber of Commerce in Woerden.
