General Terms and Conditions (GTC)
General Terms and Conditions of Engagement (Version 3.0)

Working translation for convenience.
The German version (“AAB”, available at www.forensik.at/AAB)
shall prevail in the event of conflicts or ambiguities.

These Terms and Conditions of Engagement (“GTC”, in German “AAB” or “AGB”) apply in particular to the activities of GFOR Gesellschaft für interdisziplinäre Forensik mbH and GCPL Gesellschaft für Compliance Services mbH as well as to the personal expert activities of the generally sworn and court-certified experts (expert witnesses) of the group of companies, insofar as their application is agreed. In addition, other contractors, in particular affiliated companies of the group such as Georg H. Jeitler Sachverständigengesellschaft mbH & Co KG, Georg H. Jeitler Sachverständigengesellschaft mbH or Skarpa Digitalforensik GmbH, may refer to these terms and conditions. The contractor is referred to in particular as the “Contractor” or the “Company”, and also as the “Expert” (in German “SV”, Sachverständige:r), a term which is typically associated with expert witness activities but does not as such indicate a personal activity or personal liability of a specific expert: as a rule, expert activities and the liability associated with them are conducted through one of the companies named above; purely personal engagements are always agreed explicitly and are recognisable by the fact that the engagement documents name only the expert, without naming a company. Abbreviations such as “GFOR” or “GCPL”, in particular in proposals or engagement documents, may refer generally to the Contractor or to the group of companies and denote the specific company only where this is expressly defined.

The current version of these GTC can be viewed at any time at www.forensik.at/AAB. It should be noted that, depending on the engagement, other terms and conditions of engagement may apply, which will be named.

The client (“Client”) is informed at the outset that experts and other professions are subject to legal provisions and rules of professional conduct which they are obliged to observe.

§ 1 Scope of application

These terms and conditions apply to contracts between the Contractor and clients, in particular for management consultancy services, forensic investigation activities, expert services such as examinations (findings), expert opinions and the preservation of evidence, other consultancy services, audits or similar, as well as for IT services and IT consultancy of all kinds. Irrespective of the specific service, a corresponding contract may be concluded with an individual (e.g. an expert) as well as with a company (as an independent legal entity), or may be invoiced through either of them. References to these terms and conditions by other cooperating companies are also permissible. Neither the invoicing arrangement nor the contracting party (person or company) shall affect the validity of these terms and conditions. The Contractor is hereinafter referred to as the “Company” for short, even if in the specific case the engagement is with an individual. The term “expert” or “SV” refers as a rule to the Contractor and does not indicate a separate personal activity or personal liability of an expert as an individual, unless the engagement has explicitly been concluded as such.

§ 2 Subject matter of the contract

2.1. The Company undertakes to perform the contractually agreed services with due care and in accordance with the principles of proper professional practice, in particular in management consultancy and IT services. The Company and its employees endeavour to make the wealth of experience gained from previous engagements available to the Client.

2.2. If an expert is engaged personally or named in an engagement, that expert shall carry out the engagement in principle under his or her own professional project responsibility, whereby substitution by another suitable expert is permissible where necessary. The use of internal and external assistants under the expert’s own supervision and of auxiliary findings and auxiliary reports is permissible. No personal liability can be derived from this; liability follows from the definition of the Contractor.

2.3. If the engagement constitutes expert activity, at least in the broader sense, the Client shall, during the term of the contract, engage further experts or expert witnesses in the relevant field or in neighbouring fields only with the prior consent of the Company, shall make their work, intermediate products and preliminary work available to the Company, and shall involve the Company in coordination.

2.4. Activities designated as “statements” (in German “Stellungnahmen”, including, where applicable, “Vorgutachten” or “Kurzgutachten”, i.e. preliminary or short expert opinions) or similar are, in the sense of initial assessments intended to reduce effort and as a preliminary stage to a final, complete execution, expressly of a more superficial, non-holistic character and may show less distinction between findings and assessment. For reasons of effort reduction, the explanations supporting traceability may be reduced depending on the case. Statements are therefore clearly distinguished in scope from typical expert opinions (and/or findings) and have a reduced depth of execution and examination which, depending on the individual case, is at the discretion of the Company or of the respective expert, but naturally remains professionally and ethically justifiable.

The character of the result corresponds to advisory work. For the aforementioned reasons, statements are therefore intended for internal use only. Submission of statements to external bodies is permitted only once, with the consent of the Company or for an expressly defined purpose. Any risks arising from the use of a statement lie with the Client in any case. Publication of statements is prohibited in any case. Any use of the terms “findings” or “expert opinion” has no effect on the classification as a statement, insofar as the character as a statement or as a preliminary stage to a complete expert opinion that may be prepared later is evident from the content or the title.

2.5. If the activity requires the independent gathering of information (e.g. in procurement procedures or examinations), the Company is authorised upon engagement to represent the Client within the scope of the engagement and, where necessary, to obtain information and documents from third parties, whereby this authorisation in no way constitutes an obligation to obtain documents independently.

2.6. Where expert discussions or similar are to be conducted for the performance of an engagement (e.g. for market research, examinations, forensic interviews, etc.), the Company is entitled, at its own discretion, to disclose to the interlocutors such information about the subject of the activity and/or assessment as is useful and necessary for conducting the discussion, and the Company and its vicarious agents are released from confidentiality obligations to the corresponding extent. Excluded from this is, of course, information the disclosure of which would obviously cause direct damage to the Client. It is expressly agreed that in forensic interviews / questioning the tactical disclosure of information, including in borderline areas, is at the free discretion of the Company, provided that an advantage for the investigation can be expected from the disclosure.

2.7. The Client undertakes to inform the Company if the Client is not acting as an entrepreneur and is subject to consumer protection law.

2.8. In its approach, the Company is guided – where suitable and applicable – by ISO 20700 (Guidelines for Management Consultancy Services). As the standard is designed as a guideline, however, this expressly does not result in any obligations of any kind for the Company. If the Client wishes specific procedures with regard to ISO 20700, this must be explicitly agreed, naming the relevant areas, and both parties must ensure a suitable contract and project structure.

2.9. All engagements are accepted subject to the successful completion of conflict, risk and anti-money-laundering checks. The Company is not in every case obliged towards the Client to carry out such checks; the Client cannot derive any claims or legal consequences from the performance or non-performance of such checks.

2.10. For compliance services (e.g. whistleblowing systems / ombudsperson services, internal investigations), it is agreed in particular that the Company is free from instructions and independent of the Client to the necessary extent and is entitled to involve the supervisory board or ownership level on its own initiative, and furthermore the right to protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers and other protected persons, also vis-à-vis the Client and its bodies (cf. the Austrian Whistleblower Protection Act, HSchG).

§ 3 Deadlines

If deadlines for performance have been agreed, they begin to run as soon as the parties have agreed on all details of the project and the Client has handed over to the Company all documents, information or other materials to be provided under the contract and necessary for its performance. If an agreed date for the handover of documents passes, the Company is not bound to previously stated deadlines, dates and periods. This also applies if an engagement is not placed within a reasonably short time after submission of the proposal.

Moreover, deadlines for performance are to be understood as indicative, since the scope of activities can as a rule not be estimated precisely. If any agreed deadline passes, the Client is obliged to request the Company or the Expert to perform, setting a reasonable grace period of at least 14 days, whereby in determining the period particular account is to be taken of the circumstances of the project to date (e.g. difficulties in obtaining information). Public holidays and the court-recess periods pursuant to § 222 of the Austrian Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO, formerly “court holidays”) are not to be included in the grace period, irrespective of the type of engagement.

§ 4 Early termination of the contract

4.1. On the basis of professional regulations, rules of professional conduct, internal rules, etc. (which may also apply to persons working for the Company), the Company may be obliged to decline or restrict an engagement due to conflicts of interest. This may also become apparent only during the performance of the engagement. The decision on this and on the further course of action – in particular also on establishing a situation that allows the engagement to continue, or on measures to protect the Client’s information – is at the discretion of the Company.

If an engagement is withdrawn from, the Company’s entitlement to remuneration lapses if the conflict of interest would have been obvious and readily apparent to the Company from the outset and a clear, written engagement exists within whose defined scope the conflict falls. In any event, the entitlement to remuneration does not lapse in cases in which the Client has withheld information which, as was recognisable to the Client, should have been provided with regard to a possible conflict of interest. The entitlement to fees remains in all cases for those parts of the services which the Company can complete or hand over separately or which the Client makes use of.

When conflicts arise, the Company is obliged to take immediate measures to keep the Client’s information confidential and will ensure that no information is used in connection with conflicting third parties. The Company is under no obligation to cease or restrict services to third parties, but will endeavour to adapt its further course of action to the circumstances of the conflict as best as possible.

4.2. If the contractual relationship ends prematurely for any other reason, the Company is in any case entitled to remuneration for the work performed up to that point, unless the premature termination is attributable to the sole fault of the Company. Furthermore, the Company is entitled to remuneration for all services and expenses whose performance has already been initiated, as well as to compensation for those expenses arising after the end of the engagement that necessarily accompany the termination of the activity (e.g. administrative processes, data organisation, necessary documentation, etc.).

4.3. If the premature termination of the contractual relationship is predominantly attributable to the Client, the Company shall receive, in addition to the remuneration referred to in § 4.2, liquidated damages of 50 % of the remuneration agreed or estimated by the Company for the services of the project not yet performed, subject to further specific claims for damages exceeding this amount. This provision does not apply to lump-sum fees and recurring agreements. For these, the Company shall in any case receive liquidated damages of 90 %, subject to further specific claims for damages exceeding this amount.

4.4. If, during an ongoing project, a Client fails to respond appropriately within two weeks despite repeated contact attempts by the Company, and no obvious and reasonable justification for this arises from the project circumstances, the Company is in any case entitled to invoice in accordance with the preceding paragraphs.

4.5. In the event of invoicing by the Company within the meaning of the preceding paragraphs, any reductions of whatever kind that have been promised, granted or agreed – analogous to § 14.4 – are to be regarded as forfeited and shall not be taken into account, or may be invoiced subsequently if already granted.

4.6. In the event of insurmountable capacity bottlenecks and the like resulting from organisational changes, illness, force majeure (e.g. cyber attacks, official orders, failure of essential service providers) or other unforeseeable adversities, the Company is entitled to withdraw from engagements, in particular from lump-sum engagements, recurring annual engagements and the like, without the Client being able to assert any claims as a result. However, the Company is obliged to inform the Client in good time of the occurrence of such a situation.

§ 5 Confidentiality and return of documents

5.1. The Company undertakes to treat confidential information that becomes known to it in the course of its work for the Client as strictly confidential. At the Client’s request, the fact of the engagement itself will also be disclosed to third parties only with the Client’s approval. Such agreements must, however, be expressly confirmed by the Company. Express reference is made to the Company’s right, as a rule possible and accepted by the Client, to name the Client as a reference together with a rough indication of the subject matter; the conclusion of a basic confidentiality agreement or the issuing of a corresponding unilateral declaration expressly does not conflict with this right to use the Client as a reference. Exempt from the confidentiality obligation are disclosures which the Company is required to make by law, by an authority or by a court, or which are necessary to protect the Company’s own legal claims (including vis-à-vis insurers), as well as the sharing of information with companies of the group of companies within the meaning of the preamble and with vicarious agents who are subject to an equivalent confidentiality obligation.

5.2. After its claims arising from the engagement have been satisfied, the Company shall, at the Client’s request, hand over all documents received from or on behalf of the Client in connection with its work on the engagement. This does not apply, however, to the correspondence between the Company and the Client, nor to documents which the Client already holds in original or copy.

The Company may, at the Client’s expense, make and retain digitised copies, transcripts or photocopies of all documents made available to it or to which it is given access; reference is made in particular to the retention obligations and retention needs applicable to experts. The choice of archiving method is at the Company’s discretion, and the Company is also entitled to engage vicarious agents for this purpose. As a rule, documents are digitised. The Client expressly authorises the Company to store and process the documents electronically for an unlimited period in a form freely chosen by the Company.

5.3. In the interest of the use of empirical knowledge and of science, the Company and the experts involved are expressly entitled to use insights gained from their activities for future projects, in particular expert opinions or other activities such as scientific or publishing work, provided that no reference to the Client is made or the Client’s anonymity is ensured. If research is commissioned within an engagement through the Company, coordinated with the Company’s participation or made accessible to it, the Company and any experts involved are entitled to any future use (including direct quotations) of the results and findings obtained, without the Client being entitled to any remuneration, irrespective of who bore the costs of the research and in what form the research service (e.g. direct engagement) was carried out.

5.4. The Company accepts liability for evidence, devices, documents and samples handed over only if this has been agreed and the significance of a document or sample was pointed out at the time of handover. In any case, no liability is accepted for the normal wear and tear of documents and samples handed over or for process-related signs of wear (e.g. due to scanning, storage or stickers for inventory purposes). The Company must be expressly alerted to relevant single items for which single-item character would not normally be expected (e.g. one copy of a large print run which is not known to be the last remaining copy) and to originals not clearly recognisable as such; otherwise no liability is accepted for loss or condition. Coloured documents do not necessarily indicate originals.

5.5. The Company is entitled to use domestic and foreign cloud solutions for data storage and transfer as long as these meet appropriate security standards. Solutions commonly used in the business environment are mutually defined as suitable.

The Company may obtain infrastructure such as storage solutions or computing capacity from trustworthy contractual partners and, where applicable, share its use within a professional collaboration, provided that corresponding agreements ensuring confidentiality and strict secrecy have been concluded.

5.6. In principle, telephony, e-mail and SMS are expressly accepted by the Client – at the Client’s risk – as means of communication, in awareness of the confidentiality risks arising therefrom. If certain communication channels are rejected, a written agreement must be made to this effect and a suitable alternative medium specified. If messenger services (e.g. Signal) are used by the Client or its project participants, project communication via these channels is likewise permissible by analogy.

§ 6 Duties of the Client and obligation to cooperate

6.1. In order to determine possible bias or conflicts, the Client is obliged to inform the Company, without being asked, of all parties directly or indirectly involved in a matter, of opposing parties and of the potential recipients of any expert opinion, whereby the information provided by the Client at the start of the engagement is decisive for assessing the care to be exercised by the Company; the Client must explicitly point out any parties named later, and the Company is not obliged to identify such parties independently from project documents provided. Furthermore, the Company is not obliged to carry out register searches or similar for its checks.

6.2. The Client undertakes to provide the Company free of charge with all necessary support and in particular to supply the information required within the scope of the engagement. For this purpose, the Client shall name a contact person who is responsible for coordinating appointments between the Company and the Client’s employees/assistants and for procuring documents.

6.3. At the Company’s request, the Client shall provide appropriate, free-of-charge working facilities ensuring confidentiality, including access to standard office infrastructure, at the examination sites to the extent necessary for the engagement.

6.4. The Client must ensure that all documents necessary for the performance of the contract are submitted to the Company in good time, even without specific request, and that the Company is informed of all events and circumstances that may be of significance for the performance of the engagement. This includes, in particular and without exception, any other expert opinions existing in the same matter, as well as the value of the object under examination (or information on it), if known. This provision also applies to documents, events and circumstances that only become known during the course of the work. In the case of large volumes of documents, particularly relevant documents are to be explicitly identified or brought to the Company’s attention. Redactions and deliberate omissions in documents must be refrained from. In court, arbitration and administrative proceedings in particular, the Client is obliged to provide the Company with all documents relevant to the proceedings; this expressly includes a copy of any (court) file in as complete a form as possible. Especially in the case of large volumes of documents, the Company is expressly not obliged to study all documents in full, but will be guided by the results of screening or by the Client’s indications, or will choose an approach that meets any budgetary requirements.

6.5. In principle, by approving a draft document submitted by the Company, the Client confirms the completeness of the documents and the factual accuracy, naturally for all information that can be assessed by the Client.

At the Company’s request, the Client must confirm in a written declaration the completeness of the documents submitted and of the information and explanations given, again where applicable on the basis of a draft document (report, expert opinion, findings, etc.). The Company is not obliged to issue any final documents without such a declaration.

Documents are based on the findings and information as presented. Changes in the available information may give rise to a need for amendment. By using a document prepared by the Company, the Client undertakes to pass on any corrections or rectifications of that document to third parties in the same way, or to submit them in proceedings.

6.6. The Client undertakes to pass on only complete final versions of documents prepared by the Company. In particular, the Client will therefore forward neither drafts nor parts of documents without consulting the Company. Statements are generally intended for the Client’s internal use only. Publications are permitted, without exception, only with the written consent of the Company.

Even where publication has been authorised, the publication of mere excerpts of documents is expressly not permitted. Explicit confirmation certificates or similar which form part of a document are an exception.

6.7. The Company provides information on legal aspects (e.g. in the context of expert services) only with regard to practical experience, customary practice, etc. The Client is in any case obliged to have legal aspects reviewed by a lawyer or (where applicable) a notary. The Company has no duty to advise in this respect.

6.8. By handing over data carriers, IT equipment and other documents, data and devices used for forensic analysis, or by granting corresponding access (or otherwise coordinating the use of third-party data with the Client’s involvement), the Client warrants to the Company that it has taken the necessary legal – in particular data protection – precautions permitting the handover to and analysis of the data by the Company, and indemnifies and holds the Company harmless in this respect. This also applies to expenses arising from data protection information requests by any persons affected by projects. Expenses for data protection requests and other third-party claims or their defence constitute billable services that are not covered by lump sums, warning thresholds or budget limits.

6.9. With regard to the provision of data, reference is made to the Client’s obligations within the meaning of §§ 9.26 et seq.

§ 7 Acceptance

7.1. The service shall be deemed to have been accepted without reservation if the Client does not object to it in writing to the Company within two weeks of handover, setting out the circumstances in detail.

7.2. Partial services shall be deemed accepted individually in accordance with § 7.1.

§ 8 Warranty

Defects must be notified to the Company in writing within 14 days of their discovery, failing which warranty claims, claims for damages and claims based on a mistake as to the absence of defects are excluded. Any warranty claims become time-barred six months after acceptance within the meaning of § 7.

§ 9 Liability and service level

9.1. Claims for damages by the Client against the Company or its vicarious agents based on tort, breach of contract or culpa in contrahendo – except in the case of personal injury – exist only if the Company has acted with at least gross negligence. The Client must prove the Company’s fault and cooperate with any insurers obliged to provide cover.

9.2. The Company is liable only if and insofar as damage so caused was foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract or of the damaging event, taking into account all circumstances that were known or unknown through gross fault.

9.3. The Company is not liable for damage caused by the Client’s failure to cooperate or to submit necessary documents or information in accordance with § 6.

9.4. Insofar as the Company is liable hereunder, liability is limited to the contract value of the partial service in the performance of which the damage was caused. No liability is accepted for indirect or consequential damage.

9.5. Any liability towards third parties is excluded to the extent legally possible. Unless expressly agreed, contracts do not create any obligations in favour of third parties. Excluded from this are the recipients of a document, e.g. an expert opinion, who were named to the Company at the time of engagement. Liability towards them is the same as towards the Client. Claims of the Client are directed exclusively against the Contractor within the meaning of § 1; any personal liability of the bodies, employees and assistants of the Company and of experts, insofar as they were not engaged personally, as well as any liability of other companies of the group is excluded to the extent legally permissible.

9.6. The Company is not liable for consequential damage caused by defects. All claims for damages become time-barred, as a rule, six months after handover of the service. In addition, a claim for damages may in any case only be asserted in court within six months after the claimant(s) became aware of the damage, but at the latest within three years of the occurrence of the (primary) damage following the event giving rise to the claim, unless mandatory statutory provisions stipulate other limitation periods.

9.7. The provisions of this section also apply in particular to damage caused by delay.

9.8. The Company accepts no liability for information or statements given outside a specific, remunerated engagement – these are in any case deemed non-binding. Likewise, the Company is not liable for any services, including expert opinions, which, for whatever reason, are provided for remuneration that is obviously unusual for the Company and inappropriate in an arm’s-length comparison (in terms of time or hourly rate), or which are initially provided at the Company’s own cost risk. This also applies irrespective of any (lump-sum) agreement.

9.9. In particular for risk assessments and the like concerning disputes, no liability whatsoever is accepted in the event that proceedings end differently.

9.10. Liability for information provided verbally to the Client is generally excluded due to the risk of misunderstandings and abbreviated presentations. The same applies to presentations and training sessions, which as a rule present information in simplified form.

9.11. Any liability of the Company arising or assumed for whatever reason beyond that provided for in these GTC is limited by mutual agreement to the amount of the cover provided by the Company’s insurance (for indication see https://www.forensik.at/agb/vers/) or by any other applicable third-party insurance (in particular of experts), or, as a fallback, to the minimum sum insured provided for by law under § 2a of the Austrian Expert and Interpreter Act (SDG).

9.12. Liability of the Company for information on legal questions is generally excluded, unless the engagement is a specific one primarily relating to legally oriented advisory activities permitted for management consultants. Reference is made to § 6.7.

9.13. If the Company engages third parties, e.g. as sub-experts or to provide auxiliary findings, the Company will carry out basic research to identify suitable third parties and will endeavour to find the most suitable providers – but is not liable for specific characteristics such as creditworthiness, professional reputation or similar. In particular in the case of direct dealings between third parties and the Client – even if initiated by the Company – liability in connection with engaged third parties and their work results lies solely with the Client, unless there is direct fault on the part of the Company through instructions issued in the ongoing project.

9.14. Without a separate agreement, no specific availability (service level) is guaranteed; this also applies to IT, crisis and incident services.

9.15. It is noted that – especially in forensic projects – no specific result or success can, as a matter of principle, be guaranteed. Fees are expressly not dependent on the occurrence of a success, unless such agreements are expressly made.

9.16. It is further noted that data carriers and devices used for analysis may not contain any forensically relevant data (or residual data), and that the Company accepts no liability for actual usability and evaluability, irrespective of the effort expended on the analysis. Data may be unreadable, e.g. due to encryption, ageing or changes in technical standards. The time required, licence costs or other expenses may also be disproportionate and thus make evaluation impossible, whereby the assessment of proportionality is at the Company’s free discretion.

9.17. Attempts at data preservation and research may, due to necessary manipulations in special technical cases, lead to irreversible changes, data loss and damage to data or hardware, for which the Company accepts no liability as a matter of principle. Particular emphasis is placed on the residual risk of force majeure, latent quality defects of devices or the ageing of devices, which may come to light during technical manipulation and lead to unexpected damage or data loss. The Company will – insofar as the circumstances, e.g. on site, permit – take appropriate precautions to prevent damage, but cannot completely eliminate residual risks, especially when working at deployment sites, which above all also involve transport risk, for which the Company accepts no liability. Furthermore, the Company accepts no liability for the breach of any warranty provisions through digital or physical attempts to access devices or data.

9.18. It is noted that web applications, cloud services and similar services may offer only regular access options (e.g. as a user), or that the project circumstances permit only such access. Such access, e.g. for the purposes of analysis, research or data preservation, involves the risk of altering forensically relevant data or leaving traces in the system. The Company therefore accepts no liability for any alteration or deletion of data resulting from such access when analyses, recovery or data preservation attempts are carried out in relation to web applications, cloud services and similar services. In this context, express reference is made to the risks (especially cross-border) of a chain of custody that cannot be traced flawlessly, for which the Company accepts no liability.

9.19. If agreed or if it results from the nature of an engagement, the Company will provide – always for separate fees outside cost estimates, unless explicitly included – for the access-secured and documented storage of evidence deposited with it, but even in this case – as with the receipt of other documents or devices – assumes no responsibility for ageing or necessary maintenance measures, for example to preserve the battery capacity of electronic devices, even if storage fees are charged. Storage takes place under normal, partly seasonally fluctuating building climate conditions without any particular climatic conditions being ensured.

9.20. Where services are provided in the course of which persons are consulted for information, the Company will carefully analyse the information received and summarise it appropriately and from an objective, neutral perspective, processing only such information as appears suitable and appropriate at its free discretion. Information provided to the Company by human sources will only be used if the sources appear trustworthy and suitable in relation to the topic, the classification being at the free discretion of the Company’s experts. It is emphasised in any case that all information, comments, findings and observations of persons consulted may be entirely subjective. In many cases there is no practical way for the Company to verify such information and opinions. The Company therefore accepts no liability for the accuracy, completeness or appropriateness of information and summaries based on the statements of persons consulted, provided that the consultation of such persons is disclosed accordingly. The Company is entitled to treat persons consulted anonymously.

9.21. The Company is entitled, but not obliged, to dispose of stored objects of examination, devices, documents and other evidence as well as other project-specific objects and devices at the Client’s expense, without the Client being entitled to any compensation, if the Client does not claim their return within one year after a) completion of the project, b) the occurrence of payment arrears or c) any other cessation of activities by the Company. The Company is entitled, but not obliged, to carry out secure destruction or deletion at the Client’s expense and will as a rule refrain from doing so if payment arrears exist. Furthermore, the Company is entitled to proceed as described at an earlier point in time if a) the Client has been requested twice to take back the items and granted a two-week period each time, or b) the storage causes unusually high costs and an agreed storage period has expired or full coverage of the costs is not to be expected despite a corresponding agreement.

9.22. The Company is not obliged to return stored physical or digital valuables if there are outstanding claims and, in the event of payment arrears lasting more than six months, is entitled, but not obliged, to realise such valuables independently at its free discretion to cover claims and other costs.

9.23. As a matter of principle, the Company is not obliged to retain data after completion of a project. Furthermore, the Company is entitled to delete project-related data of uncompleted projects if a cessation of activities or a payment arrear persists for more than six months, or if retaining the data results in ongoing high costs for which full coverage is not to be expected. The Company accepts no liability for deletions carried out in this way.

9.24. The Company is not liable for compliance with special rules (e.g. conflict rules) that do not arise from the obligations associated with management consultancy and IT services. In particular, the Company is not obliged to comply with rules that apply to the Client or to the Client’s legal representatives, even if the Company acts as an assistant (or similar) to them. However, the Company is expressly entitled to invoke such rules at its free discretion. Rights to refuse to give evidence that extend to the Company will in any case be exercised to the customary or defined extent.

9.25. The Company accepts no liability for circumstances resulting from an unclear engagement for which the Client is predominantly responsible, or arising from activities performed at the Company’s own cost risk.

9.26. In the event that access to preserved data or other project data is provided (e.g. eDiscovery) – whether for a fee or free of charge – it is expressly stated that no specific service level and no specific availability are guaranteed. The service is provided to the best of the Company’s knowledge and belief, i.e. on a “best effort” basis and “as is”, without any obligation to provide training (or retraining, e.g. in the event of system changes). The Company licenses standard or specifically agreed software for the provision of access and is therefore not liable for changes to the software resulting from updates of any kind.

The range of functions is always provided – even if the Client bears specific licence costs or shares thereof – purely for user-side functions. Administrative functions are performed exclusively by the Company. The Company is entitled to restrict the user-side functionality of the respective software to the necessary extent (e.g. no option for user-side data export for reasons of confidentiality and data protection), this being at the Company’s discretion.

The Company will operate access in accordance with the state of the art and with the highest system security requirements, but expressly points out that the external availability of data always entails residual risks that may be beyond the Company’s control (e.g. previously unknown security vulnerabilities). It is therefore pointed out that the use of such systems entails an inherently increased risk, which the Client assumes upon placing the engagement. On explicit request, the Company can implement additional technical measures at extra cost, which may, however, reduce accessibility and user-friendliness. The Company is entitled at any time to implement such measures on its own initiative for security reasons. The Client acknowledges any resulting restrictions on availability (e.g. restricting access to specific IP addresses) as permissible in any case.

The Company is not liable for abusive or excessive use of the system by third parties (such as the Client or its agents), in particular with regard to any data protection risks arising therefrom. The Company is entitled to read out and analyse user activities in the systems, but is expressly not obliged to monitor activities in any form whatsoever.

9.27. Recipients of access credentials are themselves obliged to store the credentials securely. The use of standard password stores is not recommended. The Company is not liable for risks of any kind arising from the unsafe handling of access credentials.

Passing on or sharing access credentials between several persons is strictly prohibited.

9.28. Feasibility studies and proofs of concept do not constitute a commitment to overall feasibility. It is noted that forensic activities inherently involve elements of uncertainty due to unforeseeable data structures, and that performance expectations may not be met. Even in the case of agreed lump sums and the like, changes regarding system capacities and software solutions to be used may arise due to the emergence of new circumstances, e.g. through circumstances becoming apparent during processing or through additional data volumes. The Company is not liable for such risks. Such changes are to be understood as changes to the subject matter of the engagement and may therefore require the assumption of additional costs. The same applies to the incurrence of unforeseeable expenses for maintaining the provision of access, e.g. due to changes to licensed software as a result of updates, necessary security adjustments and the like.

9.29. The Company is not liable for risks arising from, and for the content of, data made accessible in whatever way. Data sets are not examined for malware or other harmful content before being made available, exported or handed over. In the interest of the integrity of evidence, data sets are left in their original state. Access to or use of programs, files, links and the like from data sets made available is at the sole risk of the Client or recipient, even if access takes place via a system provided by the Company. It is also noted that the use and opening of data sets may lead to unwanted disclosure of information, e.g. about the access made (such as read receipts or similar).

9.30. The Company is not liable for the long-term availability of the software solutions used and may at any time, at its free discretion, switch to alternative suitable software solutions with comparable or better functionality. This expressly also applies to solutions used within the meaning of § 9.26.

9.31. The Company states that no liability is accepted for minutes or records prepared by the Client that have not been explicitly approved by the Company. This applies in particular to records created automatically using artificial intelligence (AI).

§ 10 Default of acceptance and failure of the Client to cooperate

If the Client is in default of acceptance of the service offered by the Company, or fails to cooperate as required under § 6 or otherwise, the Company is entitled to terminate the contract without notice. Claims are determined in accordance with § 4. The Company’s claim to compensation for additional expenses incurred as a result of the Client’s default or failure to cooperate, as well as for the damage caused, remains unaffected, even if the Company does not exercise its right of termination.

§ 11 Remuneration

11.1. Fee quotations and estimates by the Company are non-binding and, unless otherwise stated, cover only the basic activity. Quotations are therefore exclusive of typing work, cash expenses, ancillary costs, expenses of all kinds and other expenditure necessary for the performance of the engagement, the use of which is at the Company’s discretion.

As a matter of principle, services are charged according to the time actually spent. Unless otherwise agreed, all work of whatever kind triggered by the project is subject to a fee. This also includes any services prior to the placing of the engagement, in particular preliminary discussions, project preparation, conception and preparation of proposals, project set-up as well as anti-money-laundering and conflict checks.

Any duty to warn is deemed to exist only if it has been recorded in writing by the Company. If a warning by the Company in the event of cost overruns has been explicitly assured in writing, but no specific warning threshold has been stated, an overrun of 100 % of the amount estimated as the upper limit is assumed as the warning threshold.

Proposals with specific cost figures and lump-sum agreements aimed at producing a document (e.g. an expert opinion) relate in principle to the preparation of a draft version and include minor coordination within one iteration as well as the subsequent final version. Iterations beyond this scope involving coordination, extensions, adjustments, major restructuring, rewording and the like, or the preparation of new, amended or split versions, constitute supplementary engagements and are charged at the hourly rate on a time basis without any prior duty to warn.

If separate budgets (e.g. for ancillary costs, third-party costs, etc.) are stated within an engagement, the Company is entitled to dispose freely of the corresponding budget within the overall engagement, to place orders, to perform services planned as third-party costs itself, or to reallocate unused parts of the budget, where this serves the engagement.

As a matter of principle, services are to be remunerated. If, in a special case, the non-binding nature of e.g. a meeting is agreed, this does not affect the billability of the work performed in advance should an engagement materialise. Preliminary services are as a rule attributed to the project volume.

11.2. The fee rates for services charged on a time basis are based on an eight-hour day with five working days per week. Usual breaks or short non-project side activities (e.g. a short e-mail reply, a short telephone call) are permissible within recorded times. Time sheets and any times stated are indicative only. For system-related reasons, recorded times of day may deviate from the actual time of performance; what matters above all are the days. Collective subsequent bookings on other days are also expressly permissible, but are generally exceptions.

Depending on the scope of the engagement and the calculation, hourly or daily rates are charged. Irrespective of an original calculation (e.g. on the basis of daily rates), the Company is entitled to charge actual time on an hourly basis if more than eight hours are worked on one day.

Travel time counts as regular working time, as does unused time resulting from engagement-related necessity. Any reduced rates for travel time are to be understood as a voluntary reduction to which there is no entitlement for future grants or for all travel time.

Daily rates are understood as a maximum of 8 hours and may in any case be charged for time away from base of 6 hours or more (irrespective of the type of activity). If an agreement distinguishes between travel time and working time, travel time is charged only for that time away from base which exceeds the hours covered by the daily rate (8 h).

Unless otherwise agreed, invoicing is per hour or part thereof.

11.3. Unless otherwise agreed in the individual case, the Client bears the full expenses for travel, accommodation and meals of the Company’s employees/assistants deployed at the place of work, irrespective of the specific legal relationship of the respective persons to the Company. The choice of means of travel and accommodation is at the Company’s discretion. Expenses are to be borne to the extent of the proven reasonable expenditure; furthermore, the Client bears all costs of travel to and from the location as well as the costs of any emission compensation measures. Each person deployed is entitled to one trip home per week, the costs of which are invoiced to the Client. If no expenses can be evidenced, either customary local costs that can be evidenced through general research or the maximum rates permitted under tax law may be used for calculation.

The form of accommodation, means of travel, etc. customary in business at senior consultant/management level is defined as appropriate. (Indicative: hotel of an international chain, category at least European 4-star-plus standard with adequate working facilities in the room including internet charges; rail travel in the highest class (e.g. ÖBB First Class Business / Premium) including seat reservation; flights: Economy Class: continental up to 2 h total travel time of all flights; Premium Economy Class: continental between 2 h and 4 h total travel time of all flights; Business Class: generally for persons of grade Director and above, otherwise for more than 4 h total travel time of all flights or for intercontinental flights, and in all cases in which project work is performed for the Client during the flight; as a rule, rebookable and cancellable fares are booked, but the actual choice of fares within the respective classes is at the Company’s free discretion. If there are no cost disadvantages, a higher class of transport may be booked in any case. Use of car services/taxis or (rental) cars (plus all operating and parking costs separately) is permissible. Costs forfeited in the event of trips not taken are to be reimbursed if the circumstance is attributable to the Client.

The Company is entitled to charge fares that are verifiable by other means (e.g. public transport) without presenting receipts, for example on the basis of published fares.

11.4. All agreed remuneration is understood as net of tax. The applicable statutory value added tax or other applicable taxes and duties are charged additionally.

11.5. The Company may demand reasonable advance payments on fees and reimbursement of expenses, may issue interim invoices and may make delivery of the service dependent on the full satisfaction of claims (of whatever kind).

11.6. For services that are charged on a time basis or have in principle been calculated on that basis, the Company may issue interim invoices regularly (e.g. monthly or, depending on the type of project, at shorter intervals) or at other suitable times at its free discretion. Lump sums may likewise be invoiced in comprehensible instalments. In any case, the Company is entitled to invoice immediately upon completion of services. In principle, the delivery of a complete draft is already to be regarded as completion of the service.

11.7. Fixed-price engagements are a special case and are explicitly designated as such. For fixed-price engagements whose billability is not otherwise defined or does not follow from a breakdown of the time expenditure, the Company generally invoices 50 % of the engagement value upon placement of the engagement. Upon performance of the engagement (e.g. delivery of a complete draft), the remaining 50 % is invoiced, or, for larger projects, interim invoices are issued in comprehensible instalments based on project progress. Cash expenses, out-of-pocket expenses, travel costs, etc. (including in accordance with § 11.3) may be invoiced separately after completion of the engagement, where applicable with a longer time lag.

11.8. Unless otherwise agreed, invoices are payable within 10 days of the invoice date without deduction, provided that the invoice was sent (e.g. by e-mail) no later than the following day. The credit to the bank account of the Company or of the invoicing legal entity is decisive for the timeliness of payment. Set-off against or the assertion of rights of retention against due fee claims of the Company is permissible only if the Client’s claim is undisputed or has been established by a final court decision. The Company is free to decide on the invoicing channel (e.g. via a third party).

11.9. Standard hourly/daily rates are set as follows (“grades”, as of 2025/26):

Senior Partner, Partner with management responsibilities, Senior Expert: EUR 525/h (daily rate 4,200); Partner, Director, generally sworn and court-certified Expert or Senior Advisor / Team Leader assistant to the Expert: EUR 455/h (daily rate 3,640); Senior Manager / Senior managing assistant to the Expert, Senior Specialist: EUR 380/h (daily rate 3,040); Manager / Managing assistant to the Expert, Specialist: EUR 305/h (daily rate 2,440); Senior Associate / Senior professional assistant to the Expert: EUR 245/h (daily rate 1,960); Associate / Professional assistant to the Expert: EUR 185/h (daily rate 1,480); Other, general assistance staff: EUR 115/h (daily rate 920)

These hourly rates apply as a fallback in the event that no other rates have been communicated, refer to the date of the last update of this section of the GTC and may therefore be subject to interim adjustments.

It is noted that different rates may apply when international specialists from affiliated companies of the group or from cooperation partners are engaged, to which the Company may further apply a surcharge of 25 % on the corresponding standard rates.

11.10.1 Ancillary costs are charged separately at customary rates, e.g. according to the tariffs of the Austrian Court Fees Act (Gerichtsgebührengesetz). Other costs, e.g. communication costs incurred (such as data roaming), are to be reimbursed against (where necessary, substitute) proof. For costs based on publicly available tariffs (e.g. rail fares), no proof is required; in each case the highest class (including upgrades and reservations) is chargeable without deductions. Lump sums that simplify administration are also permissible instead of proof, provided that they are in reasonable proportion to the savings in effort.

Cash expenses or cost contributions, in particular for the creation of capacity, may be evidenced by plausible, arm’s-length calculations (e.g. because a procurement was made in advance); proof of the amount charged by receipt is not required.

To cover general IT, security, administrative and overhead costs, other cash expenses, pre-financing costs, etc., an overhead lump sum of 5 % of the total invoice amount may additionally be charged. This expressly does not cover project-specific cash expenses, however.

11.10.2 If special services integral to the performance are procured by the Company, these are charged, at the Company’s discretion, in line with the defined hourly rates, as a lump sum according to the budget offered, or by applying a coordination surcharge of 25 % to the services.

11.11.1 For requested or urgently required services on weekdays between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. and on Saturdays all day, a surcharge of 50 % applies to the hourly rates or other price quotations. On Sundays and public holidays the surcharge is 100 % for the whole day.

11.11.2 In the case of generally particularly urgent (e.g. crisis measures) or risk-exposed engagements, an express or risk surcharge of up to 100 % may furthermore (additionally) be applied.

11.11.3 Surcharges (of whatever kind) are calculated additively as a matter of principle, i.e. they are cumulative.

11.12.1 It is agreed that personal explanations of expert opinions, court or administrative hearings, participation in hearings and in particular any function as an informant or witness in proceedings arising from the (possibly prior) activity of the Company or of the respective employees/assistants for the Client will be invoiced to the Client at the then applicable hourly rate according to the actual time spent (including preparation) without cost estimate or cost warning, irrespective of any lump sum previously agreed for the underlying service. The Client acknowledges such activities as time expenditure caused by the engagement and therefore subject to a fee. This provision expressly also applies where it is a civic duty to comply with a request / summons. This provision covers all follow-up services and proceedings, both civil and criminal, irrespective of who caused them.

11.12.2. It is further agreed that all additional expenses incurred by the Company due to the exercise of rights by participants in or persons affected by a project – this concerns in particular actions under data protection law, e.g. requests for information or erasure – are borne by the Client separately and without limitation by any cost warnings or budget limits. This includes the time spent by all employees at the agreed rates as well as all further costs and expenses, in particular any legal support.

11.12.3. Expenses arising from special compliance checks, e.g. due to a corresponding (in particular foreign-oriented) corporate or ownership structure, are remunerated to the Company separately at the fee rates, likewise without limitation and outside cost warnings or budget limits within the meaning of the preceding paragraph.

11.13. Costs incurred by the Company for documentation, digitisation and archiving, e.g. of documents and the like, are to be reimbursed in full by the Client, separately from agreed fees and irrespective of whether these services are provided by the Company itself, by an assistant or by an external vicarious agent.

11.14. The Company is entitled to have externally incurred costs invoiced directly to the Client.

11.15.1. If reductions are agreed, charged, credited or promised, they apply – unless otherwise agreed or unless they are based on professionally deficient performance – only to direct services of the Company (i.e. not to third-party services), only vis-à-vis the Client, and only upon the certain occurrence of any situation on which the reduction is based (e.g. losing a case).

If, however, the Company’s costs are borne by third parties, the corresponding reductions are forfeited, irrespective of the way in which they were granted or promised. If only part of the Company’s costs remains with the Client, reductions are to be applied proportionately. If it appears possible that costs will be borne by third parties, the Client is obliged to claim the Company’s fees (charges) from the third parties accordingly, to a reasonable extent and demonstrably. To this end, the Client is obliged – if not already available – to request in advance a corresponding fee note from the Company showing no reductions, or, if a reduced fee note is submitted, to inform the third party bearing the costs of the circumstances.

11.15.2. If, where such a claim appears possible in principle, the Client does not claim the Company’s costs from the third parties concerned, reduction entitlements are forfeited. Likewise, reduction entitlements are forfeited in any case in the event of an agreed suspension of proceedings or a concluded settlement, if this is accompanied by at least partial success in the sense of the claim brought, or if the Client otherwise does not pursue proceedings and derives at least partial success from this.

11.15.3. The Client is obliged – also where the Company has already issued a reduced fee note – to provide suitable evidence of the occurrence of the circumstances justifying the reduction without being requested to do so by the Company, failing which reductions may be declared forfeited.

11.15.4. The Company is free, depending on its assessment of the situation at the time of invoicing, to issue either a regular or a reduced fee note. In the former case, a credit note is issued upon occurrence and proof of the corresponding situation. Reduction options are forfeited in any case after full payment of a fee note, 3 years after the date of issue of a fee note that may still be partially unpaid, and in any case if they are not claimed within one month of the occurrence of the situation triggering a reduction entitlement.

11.15.5. If the Company agrees to defer an invoice or part of an invoice amount pending the occurrence of certain circumstances (e.g. the outcome of proceedings), this is deemed on the part of the Client to constitute a simultaneous waiver of the statute of limitations with regard to the invoice(s) concerned.

11.15.6. A qualification as winning or losing for the purposes of the applicability of reductions does not refer to completeness. Winning also means the merely partial success of a Client’s claim.

11.15.7. In case of doubt, the result at first instance is used to assess the Company’s fee entitlement, although a subsequent success likewise leads to a reassessment and may trigger the fee falling due.

11.15.8. If an expert opinion is used in several proceedings, irrespective of the designation or allocation in the document, a failure of the Client (e.g. losing) or a reduction entitlement refers only to the case where that circumstance occurs in all proceedings. If, however, a success occurs in only one of several proceedings and agreements have been made concerning success, this is already deemed a sufficient basis for the reduction entitlement to lapse completely. This expressly also applies where the success occurs only in proceedings to which the document is not directly allocated by its designation.

11.15.9. Subsequent limitations or reclaims of fees already paid, e.g. in the event of losing at a higher instance, are expressly not permitted.

11.16. By paying cash expenses (in full or in part), cost contributions or other lump sums, e.g. in connection with building up capacities and/or infrastructure, in particular through the procurement of hardware and software, licences or other necessary procurements by the Company in connection with a project, the Client does not, as a matter of principle, acquire ownership of the goods concerned and has no claim to their surrender or to their provision beyond the original purpose, in particular (but not limited to) where they are integrated into the Company’s structures, processes and systems or may be needed for later enquiries, liability questions, etc. They remain in the Company’s ownership without any compensation entitlement. It is noted that, for reasons of significant cost advantages, capacities are as a rule added to and integrated into the overall system, managed within it and can therefore not readily be separated. The Company may moreover dispose of the goods concerned at its free discretion.

11.17. At the beginning of each year, the Company is entitled to index the hourly rates or other cost rates and tariffs, rounded up, either on the basis of the increase in the consumer price index (VPI) of Statistics Austria or a suitable successor index or – if higher – on the basis of demonstrably increased company-specific costs in the corresponding percentage. Furthermore, adjustments to hourly rates, cost rates and tariffs are permissible during the year as soon as the corresponding increases reach a level of more than 10 %.

§ 12 Security

12.1. Where this appears necessary, the Client bears, to a reasonable extent, all expenses arising from an engagement for the personal security of the Company’s employees and assistants and their respective private environments, where applicable also before or after the performance of the engagement, to an extent appropriate to the case. A connection with an activity for the Client that appears plausible is sufficient for this obligation to arise.

12.2. The Company is entitled, but not obliged, to take its own precautions of whatever kind for the security of employees and assistants. For this purpose, the Company’s employees and assistants are, upon engagement or upon the expression of interest in the Company’s services, expressly exempted from any prohibitions on the carrying of weapons contained in the house rules of the Client and of other companies and organisations relevant to an engagement, whereby the (prospective) Client undertakes to initiate the steps necessary with regard to third parties.

12.3. The Company’s employees and assistants are to be exempted from security rules in the IT and communications area and from access restrictions of the Client and of other companies and organisations relevant to an engagement in such a way that the activities to be carried out by the Company are not impeded.

§ 13 Non-solicitation

During the performance of the engagement and for 12 months thereafter, the Client shall not employ employees or assistants of the Company or of other companies of the group within the meaning of the preamble, nor engage them in any other form, at its own organisation or at a dependent or otherwise affiliated company. As a contractual penalty for a breach of this provision, an amount equal to the last annual gross remuneration of the person concerned (including variable remuneration) is agreed; the assertion of damages exceeding this amount remains reserved.

§ 14 Default of payment

14.1. In the event of default of payment, the Company reserves the right to charge default interest of 4 % above the customary bank overdraft interest rate, but at least 15 % p.a. The Client bears all costs arising from a default of payment. These include, among other things, collection costs, reminder and other expenses including an expense surcharge, administrative effort, clarification, processing and archiving effort, various financial losses as well as cancellation costs and the like. In the event of prolonged default, the Company is furthermore entitled to claim compound interest, e.g. at (interim) settlement dates. Upon handing over a claim for collection or other external enforcement, the interest and ancillary costs accrued up to that point formally become part of the principal claim; further interest is therefore calculated on the basis of this sum.

14.2. The Client may set off only undisputed claims or claims established by a final court decision, or assert a right of retention only on that basis. The Company reserves the right to subsequently charge taxes or duties not collected if the tax authority demands them (e.g. in the case of a reduced VAT rate not being recognised, etc.).

14.3. In the event of default of payment, of an improper contestation of a claim used for the purpose of delay, or of any court proceedings to enforce its claims (irrespective of the cause or the opponent), the Company is entitled to claim separately from the debtor all expenses and ancillary costs incurred, including the time and travel expenses of employees or suppliers, at the standard hourly rates applicable in the normal course of business.

14.4. Any reductions, rebates, credit notes, discounts, goodwill deductions or credits, payment deferrals, reduced hourly rates or other concessions granted (or to be granted) may be declared as not granted or forfeited, and claims extended accordingly, in the event of missed payment deadlines, gross default of payment, improper contestation or the opening of insolvency proceedings against the Client. This also includes the Company’s option to subsequently claim services or entitlements not previously invoiced, e.g. as a gesture of goodwill.

14.5. If an engagement is placed by several Clients, they are jointly and severally liable without limitation, irrespective of any agreements on the manner of invoicing.

§ 15 Data protection and artificial intelligence

15.1. The Company points out that – in strict compliance with legal and regulatory provisions, in particular data protection law and the AI Act – artificial intelligence may be used to support the provision of services, and that corresponding internal quality guidelines have been established for this purpose.

15.2. The decision on the nature and extent of the use of such solutions rests with the Company. The Company endeavours to exploit the latest technical possibilities in the Client’s interest. It is noted that, for reasons of time and efficiency, it may therefore occasionally be appropriate to use, in particular, combined solutions in which data processing within the EU cannot be fully ensured. The Company will only use solutions whose use appears justified in the specific case.

15.3. The Client agrees in principle that meetings, calls and exchanges of information of any kind may be recorded and automatically minuted using AI tools; specific notices to this effect are not required. It is pointed out that the use of such technology may result in transcription errors in the minutes exchanged; minutes are therefore deemed final only once they have been expressly reviewed and confirmed as final. In case of doubt, minutes exchanged are raw versions.

15.4. The Company processes personal data in accordance with the GDPR and the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG). Its role under data protection law (controller or processor) depends on the respective activity; in expert and investigative activities involving independent professional judgement, the Company generally acts as a controller. Where the Company acts as a processor, a data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR will be concluded at the Client’s request. Processing by companies of the group within the meaning of the preamble and by service providers in accordance with § 5.5 is permissible.

§ 16 Final provisions

16.1. All proposals of the Company are non-binding unless expressly stated otherwise in the proposal.

16.2. Contracts referring to these GTC replace all previous agreements on their respective subject matter, unless otherwise provided.

16.3. Amendments and supplements must be made in writing.

16.4. An assignment of the Client’s claims arising from contracts with the Company is not permitted. The Company, by contrast, is entitled to assign or transfer claims and contracts, including the rights and obligations arising therefrom, to cooperation partners or to affiliated companies of the group within the meaning of the preamble of these GTC.

16.5. The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from a collaboration is the court with subject-matter jurisdiction in Vienna, Austria. Austrian law applies exclusively, to the exclusion of its conflict-of-laws rules.

16.6. Deviating provisions in a proposal or engagement letter take precedence over these GTC. Conflicting or deviating terms and conditions of the Client do not become part of the contract, even if the Company does not expressly object to them. Should individual provisions of these GTC be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected; the invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that comes closest to the economic purpose of the invalid provision.

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