Article 1. Definitions
Within the framework of the present General Terms and Conditions the following definitions shall apply:
a. Client: the other party who concludes or wishes to conclude a Contract with Visa Support Services.
b. Visa Support Services: the trade name of Belgian Office Support Services, a limited liability partnership (bvba/sprl), incorporated under Belgian law, located and with offices at Steenweg 113 1745 Mazenzele, with registered office at Avenue de l’Orée 17/75 1000 Brussels, Belgium, RPR Brussels, VAT number BE0844056089.
c. Embassy: the body, i.e. an embassy, consulate or other agency that issues or supplies the documents the Client has applied for.
d. General Terms and Conditions: the present General Terms and Conditions set forth and operated by Visa Support Services, as may be amended from time to time, governing a Contract.
e. Contract: any agreement between Visa Support Services and the Client, including any amendment or supplement to said Contract;
Article 2. Applicability of the present General Terms and Conditions
The present General Terms and Conditions shall govern any offer and any Contract between Visa Support Services and the Client in respect of which Visa Support Services has declared the present General Terms and Conditions to be applicable, including any work or any legal acts Visa Support Services shall perform on behalf of the Client or a third party, insofar as the parties did not expressly deviate from the present General Terms and Conditions in writing. If any part of the present General Terms and Conditions are in conflict with the General Terms and Conditions of the Client, the present General Terms and Conditions have priority. The present General Terms and Conditions shall also govern the performance of any agreements in respect of which Visa Support Services engaged the services of third parties.
Article 3. Offers
Any offers issued by Visa Support Services are free of engagement and shall remain valid for a period of 30 days, unless otherwise specified. Visa Support Services shall only be obliged to honour its offer if the Client has accepted it in writing within 30 days. The prices quoted in said offer are exclusive of VAT, unless explicitly specified otherwise. The prices published on the Visa Support Services website are listed under reserve of any inaccuracies or price changes on the part of Visa Support Services or third parties.
Article 4. Performance of the Contract
A Contract shall not be deemed to have been concluded until such time as the Client has tasked Visa Support Services with a specific assignment, which Visa Support Services shall have accepted in writing, or until such time as Visa Support Services has begun to perform the Contract. If the Contract relates to a visa application or an authentication, Visa Support Services shall act as an intermediary in the performance of one or several agreements between the Principal and the Embassy issuing or tending to the documents in question. Visa Support Services shall not assume any liability for the services the Embassy has provided at the Client’s request or for any documents the Embassy shall issue or supply. The Client is aware of the fact that the regulations and rates Embassies operate may be amended at any moment in time and that the consequences of any such amendments shall be borne by the Client. Visa Support Services shall not assume any liability for the accuracy or the validity of the documents the Embassy issued. The Client is obliged to check the accuracy and the completeness of the documents he has received from the Embassy. Visa Support Services shall perform the Contract to the best of its ability and in accordance with the requirements of a good service-provider, whereby it commits itself to a best endeavours obligation and not to an obligation to achieve a result. When and insofar as may be required for the proper performance of the Contract, Visa Support Services shall be entitled to assign certain tasks to third parties. The Contract shall be performed on the basis of the information furnished by or on behalf of the Client. The Client shall ensure that he timely furnishes Visa Support Services with all the details either Visa Support Services or the Embassy shall have specified as being essential or in respect of which the Client ought to reasonably accept that these are necessary for the performance of the Contract. The Client shall assume full responsibility for the accuracy and the completeness of the details furnished to Visa Support Services. Visa Support Services shall not be obliged to check the details the Client has furnished it with. If Visa Support Services has not been timely furnished with the details required for the proper performance of the Contract or if the brief is in any other way incomplete, Visa Support Services shall be entitled to suspend the performance of the Contract and to pass any expenses Visa Support Services has so far been charged by third parties, including any further expenses that may ensue from the delay, on to the Client at the applicable Visa Support Services rates. The parties shall observe the strictest confidentiality with regard to any personal details, personal or confidential information they may obtain from one another in any way whatsoever in performance of the Contract. The Client hereby authorises Visa Support Services to use and process these data insofar as necessary for the performance of the Contract.
Article 5. Duration of the contract and completion deadline
The Contract is concluded for the exact purpose specified in the Contract, c.q. a fixed number of purposes, unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing between the parties. If, during the lifetime of the Contract, a specific period has been agreed within which certain tasks shall be completed, this period of time shall never be construed as a final deadline. In the event the completion deadline is exceeded, the Client shall invariably issue Visa Support Services with formal notice in writing first and provide Visa Support Services with a reasonable period of time in which Visa Support Services can complete their assignment.
Article 6. Amendment to the Contract
If, during the lifetime of the Contract, it were to transpire that the work to be carried out would need to be amended or supplemented to ensure the reasonable performance of the Contract, the parties shall timely, and in consultation, amend the Contract accordingly. If the parties agree that the Contract shall be amended or supplemented, the completion deadline may be affected as a result. Visa Support Services shall as soon as possible notify the Client to that effect. If said amendment or supplement would ensue in Visa Support Services having to amend its fee, it shall duly notify the Client accordingly and, if possible, beforehand. By way of derogation from what has been specified in the previous sentence, Visa Support Services shall not be entitled to pass on any extra costs to the Client if the amendment or supplement to the Contract is the result of a circumstance that can be reasonably attributed to it.
Article 7. Defective performance and time limits for lodging a complaint
The Client shall notify Visa Support Services of any complaints in relation to the performance of the Contract within 8 working days of the shortcoming having been discovered, and within a maximum of 14 days following the completion of the work in question, on pain of forfeiture of all the Client’s rights and claims. If Visa Support Services deems the complaint to be founded, it shall redress the shortcoming and as yet perform the work as agreed. If the performance of the work agreed is no longer possible or useful, Visa Support Services shall only be liable for the ensuing damage and within the limits of the provisions of article 11.
Article 8. Fee payable to Visa Support Services
Visa Support Services shall be entitled to a fee for the work it has performed irrespective of whether the agreement it brokered between the Client and the Embassy has been concluded and can be performed. In cases of urgency, Visa Support Services shall charge a supplementary urgency fee. The fees Visa Support Services charges are published on its website www.visasupport.be, unless the parties were to come to a deviating arrangement between them or unless Visa Support Services specifies a different fee at the time the Contract is concluded. All amounts quoted by Visa Support Services are exclusive of VAT, unless explicitly specified otherwise. Aside from paying Visa Support Services for any work performed, the Client shall be obliged to reimburse Visa Support Services the full fees the Embassy charges and any other expenses a reasonable performance of the Contract may require, including though not exhaustively so, postage and/or courier costs, travel expenses and any other expenses. At the explicit request of the Client, Visa Support Services can furnish the Client with an estimate of the foreseeable costs. These estimates shall be exclusive of VAT and non-binding, unless explicitly agreed otherwise. Visa Support Services shall at all times be entitled to pass on any price increases introduced by the Embassy and/or the third parties it engaged to the Client. At the Client’s first request, Visa Support Services shall allow the Client to examine the price increase in question.
Article 9. Payment
Fees, as specified under article 8, shall be payable with 14 calendar days of the invoice date, as specified by Visa Support Services and in the currency the invoice has been issued in. In the event of non-payment 14 days after the invoice date, the Client shall ipso jure be deemed to be in default, without any prior formal notice being required and shall, as of the date of default, incur interests at the rate of 1% per month on the payable amount, unless the legal (commercial) interest rate were to exceecoming within the scope of collective debt-regulation, the claims from Visa Support Services and the Client’s obligations vis-à-vis Visa Support Services shall become immediately payable without any formal notice or reminder being required and Visa Support Services shall be entitled to cease its activities with immediate effect. Payments issued by the Client shall firstly be offset against any interests and costs incurred and then against the longest outstanding invoices, irrespective of the payment reference the Client may specify.
Article 10. Extrajudicial collection costs
In the event the Client were to default on one or several obligations ensuing from the Contract, the Client shall bear any reasonable costs ensuing from their extrajudicial recovery. In that event, the Client shall be charged a fee for the extrajudicial collection costs of 15% of the VAT-inclusive amount of the invoice, with a minimum of EUR 150.00. If Visa Support Services can demonstrate that the costs it has incurred are higher than the costs referred to in the previous sentence and if these costs were reasonably warranted in view of obtaining an extrajudicial settlement, the Client shall also reimburse Visa Support Services these particular costs. Aside from the extrajudicial collection costs referred to in the present article, the Client shall also incur an administrative fee of EUR 25.00 per reminder issued. All above mentioned compensations do not interfere with any legal foreseen system of compensation for costs arising from any judicial procedure.
Article 11. Liability
Visa Support Services shall not assume any liability for any damage Visa Support Services or one of the third parties it has engaged inflicted on the Client as a result of or following the (non-)performance of the Contract or in the course of other services, work or legal acts performed by Visa Support Services, unless said damage is the direct result of malevolence or deliberate recklessness on the part of Visa Support Services. Visa Support Services shall on no account be held liable for any damage, whatever its nature, caused by (i) the inaccuracy and/or incompleteness of the details the Client furnished(ii) the inaccuracy, incompleteness or invalidity of the documents the Embassy issued, (iii) the delays created by (i) or (ii). The Client shall safeguard Visa Support Services against any costs and claims third parties and the relevant Embassy Visa Support Services engaged in performance of the Contract may seek from or file against Visa Support Services. If Visa Support Services is liable for the damage the Client sustained, said damage shall be limited to the amount the liability insurer of Visa Support Services or the third party it engaged pays out. If said insurer were to refuse cover or if the damage is not covered by an insurance policy, liability on the part of Visa Support Services shall be limited to twice the fee Visa Support Services charged the Client for the relevant work within the framework of the Contract, or, at any rate, for that part of the Contract to which the liability relates. Visa Support Services shall on no account be held liable for any indirect damage, such as loss of profits, stagnation of business or any other consequential losses the Client may sustain.
Article 12. Force majeure
Visa Support Services shall be entitled to invoke force majeure, if an event beyond its control, foreseen or unforeseen, hampers the (further or timely) performance of the Contract. Force majeure shall in any case be deemed to mean: strikes at Visa Support Services, delays at or closure of the Embassy, default on the part of suppliers or third parties engaged by Visa Support Services, measures imposed by authorities rendering the performance temporarily or permanently impossible, and any circumstances beyond the control of Visa Support Services as a result of which performance on the part of Visa Support Services can no longer be reasonably expected. The obligations incumbent on Visa Support Services shall be suspended for the length of time the event of force majeure persists. If an event of force majeure prevents performance on the part of Visa Support Services for a period of more than 2 weeks, either party shall be entitled to terminate the agreement without any damages being due. If Visa Support Services has already performed part of its obligations, or will only be able to perform part of its obligations at the moment the event of force majeure occurs, it shall be entitled to invoice the Client for the part already performed c.q. the performable part and the Client shall be obliged to settle this invoice as if the Contract had been (partly) performed. This shall not apply however if the part performed c.q. the performable part of the Contract does not have any autonomous value.
Article 13. Settlement of disputes and applicable law
The Dutch-speaking Courts in Brussels shall have sole jurisdiction to take cognizance of any disputes that may arise between Visa Support Services and the Client. Every Contract shall be governed by Belgian law.