Translation for Information Purposes of the Publishers General Terms and Conditions for Advertisements and Special Inserts

german version

(in case of interpretation issues the German version shall be binding)

1. In accordance with the following Terms and Conditions an advertising order is considered to be the agreement regarding the publication of one or more advertisements of an advertiser or other parties (in the following Customer) in a printed matter for the purpose of dissemination.
2. In case of doubt, advertisements shall be called for publication within one year from the conclusion of the agreement. If, in the course of a contractual conclusion, the right to the calling for publication of individual advertisements is granted, then the agreement must be executed within a one year of publication of the initial advertisement, if the first advertisement is called for publication and published within the timeframe according to Sentence 1.
3. With respect to contractual conclusions the Customer shall be entitled to call for the publication of further advertisements exceeding the advertising quantity specified in the contract within the agreed-upon timeframe or the timeframe specified in Clause 2.
4. If an order is not fulfilled due to circumstances not under control of the Publisher then the Customer will, notwithstanding any further legal obligations, reimburse the Publisher for the difference between the discount granted and the discount applicable for the quantity actually booked. The duty to reimburse shall not apply if the non-fulfillment results from acts of nature within the risk area of the Publisher.
5. Orders for advertisements and third party advertising inserts, meant by definition to be published exclusively in designated issues, designated editions or designated locations of the printed material will be provided to the Publisher timely enough so that the Customer can be notified prior to the advertisement deadline if the order cannot be executed as assigned. Classified advertisements shall be printed in the respective section without an express agreement being required.
6. Advertisements not recognizable as advertisements due to their editorial layout shall be clearly labeled as such by the Publisher with the word “Anzeige” (advertisement).
7. The Publisher reserves the right to reject advertising orders – including individual calls for publication in accordance with a contractual conclusion – and insert orders due to the content, the origin or the technical form according to consistent, professionally justified principles of the Publisher if their content violates the law or any official regulations or if the publication thereof is unacceptable for the Publisher. This also applies for orders submitted to business outlets, receiving offices or representatives. Insert orders are binding for the Publisher only after the submission of a sample of the insert and its approval. Inserts which through format or layout give the reader the impression that they are an editorial component of the paper or magazine or include third-party advertising shall not be accepted. The Customer shall be notified of an order rejection immediately. Orders referring to the complete number of circulated issues shall be given priority over those intended for a selective circulation only. In case any processing problems occur, completing the print run takes precedence over the processing of inserts.
8. The Customer shall be responsible for the timely submission of suitable flawless printing materials or inserts. The Publisher shall demand the immediate replacement of printing materials which are obviously unsuitable or damaged. The Publisher shall guarantee the standard print quality for the called publication in the framework of the possibilities given by the submitted materials.
9. The Customer shall have a claim to a reduction of payments or a flawless replacement advertisement if the print of the advertisement is, either in whole or in part, illegible, incorrect or incomplete, but only to the extent that the purpose of the advertisement has been compromised. If the Publisher does not act within a reasonable time limit set for this purpose or if the replacement advertisement is again not flawless the Customer shall have the right to demand a reduction in price or withdraw from the contract. Claims for damages from a positive violation of contractual obligations, from negligence at the time of conclusion of the contract and from unauthorized actions are excluded – also of orders placed by telephone; claims for damages arising from the impossibility of services and from delay are limited to the compensation of the foreseeable damage and to the price payable for the respective advertisement or insert. This shall not apply for intentional wrong-doing or gross negligence on part of the Publisher, his legal representative or vicarious agent. A liability on part of the Publisher for damages due to the lack of guaranteed quality features shall remain unaffected. In commercial business transactions the Publisher is, furthermore, not liable for gross negligence of vicarious agents; in the remaining cases the liability towards merchants for gross negligence is restricted in its extent to the forseeable damage up to the amount for the remuneration for the advertisement in question. With the exception of cases where damage is not obvious claims must be brought forward within four weeks of receipt of the invoice and the print copy.
10. Proofs shall be supplied only upon express request. The Customer shall assume responsibility for the correctness of the returned proofs. The Publisher shall observe all error corrections communicated within the time limit set when the proof was sent.
11. If no special size specifications have been provided, then the actual printing height, common for that type of advertisement, shall be taken as the basis for calculation.
12. If the Customer does not make an advance payment, the invoice shall be sent immediately or preferably within 14 days after publication of the advertisement. The invoice must be paid within the timeframe specified on the price list which starts with the reception of the invoice, unless a shorter payment period or an advance payment has been agreed upon for this particular case. Any discounts for prepayment shall be granted according to the price list.
13. In the event of payment default or if a payment extension is granted, interest as well as costs for the debit transfer shall be charged. In the event of payment default the Publisher may suspend the further execution of the current order until payment is received and may demand an advance payment for the remaining advertisements. In case of reasonable doubt of the solvency of the Customer the Publisher is, even during the course of a contractual conclusion, entitled to make the publication of remaining advertisements dependent upon advance payment of the amount charged and settlement of unpaid invoices, regardless of previously agreed terms of payment.
14. The Publisher shall provide a print copy upon request. If a print copy can no longer be procured, the Publisher will provide in its place a legally binding certification that the advertisement has been published and circulated.
15. The Customer must pay the costs for the fabrication of printing materials and drawings as well as for substantial changes of originally agreed-upon order specifications desired by or attributable to the Customer.
16. With respect to a standing order for multiple advertisements a reduction in the number of copies circulated may lead to a claim for a price reduction if, as an overall average of the advertisement year which commences with the first placement, circulation falls short of the average circulation quoted in the price list or otherwise or – in case a circulation has not been named – is smaller than the average circulation sold during the previous calendar year. A circulation reduction is only deemed to be a defect justifying a price reduction if it amounts to 20 percent of a print-run of up to 50.000 copies, to 15 percent of up to 100.000 copies, to 10 percent of up to 500.000 copies and to 5 percent of a print-run exceeding 500.000 copies. Furthermore, any claims for price reduction are excluded if the Publisher has notified the Customer of the circulation reduction in due time, allowing the Customer to withdraw from the agreement before it was published.
17. In the case of box account advertisements, the Publisher shall exercise the diligence of a prudent businessman for the safekeeping and timely forwarding of offers. No further liability is accepted. Registered mail and express letters in response to box account advertisements will be forwarded as standard mail only. (Valuable documents shall be returned by the Publisher without obligation.) The Publisher, in the interest and for the protection of the Customer, reserves the right to open incoming mail offers for checking purposes in order to prevent the abuse of box account services. The Publisher is not obliged to forward business proposals and agency offers.
18. Printing materials shall be returned to the sender only if expressly requested. The obligation for storage ends three months after the contract has expired.
19. The place of jurisdiction is Aschaffenburg. In business transactions with merchants, legal entities under public law or special funds under public law the legal venue for any possible action is Aschaffenburg. If the domicile or usual place of residence of the Customer is – also in the case of non-business customers – unknown at the time the action is raised, or if after the contract is concluded the Customer has moved his domicile or usual place of residence out of the area where this law applies Aschaffenburg is agreed as the place of jurisdiction.

Additional Business Terms of the Publisher

1. Advertising agencies and advertising agents shall be obliged to comply with the Publisher’s price list in all their proposals, contracts and settlements with the advertisers. The mediating remuneration granted by the Publisher may not be transferred either in total or in part to the customers.
2. The General and the Additional Business Terms of the Publisher also apply correspondingly for orders of special inserts or technical custom solutions. Each order shall only become legally binding following written confirmation by the Publisher.
3. After it goes into effect an alteration in the price list also applies to current contracts.
4. If the business relationship is new the Publisher reserves the right to demand advance payment at the time of the advertising deadline.
5. The Customer bears sole responsibility for the content and legal admissibility of the text and the graphic materials made available for the insertion. He guarantees that he is in the possession of all rights necessary for the publication of the advertisement. The Customer shall be obliged to indemnify the Publisher against all claims raised by third parties arising through violations of legal provisions particularly through violations of intellectual property rights. In the case that third parties claim such rights the Publisher will be exempt from costs necessary for legal defense. For legal defense purposes the Customer is obliged to support the Publisher by providing information and documentation to a reasonable extent.
6. In the event of operational breakdown or delays due to force majeure, labour disputes, seizure, disruption of transport, general shortage of raw materials or energy supplies etc. – at the location of the company as well as in companies on whose services the Publisher relies on to execute his responsibilities – the Publisher shall be entitled to full payment of advertisements published, as long as the publication has been distributed at a level of 80 percent on average of the circulation sold or quoted otherwise by the Publisher during the last four quarters. Should the number of distributed copies fall short, the payable amount shall be reduced at the same proportion as the sold circulation guaranteed or quoted is to the circulation actually executed.
7. The failure to deliver printing materials in good time and the wish for a reproduction at variance from the material provided may give rise to repercussions to placing and printing quality and may exclude complaints. The Publisher needs to reserve the right for charging the resulting additional costs.
8. In case of electronically processed data transfer the Publisher is not liable for errors in the transfer and print of the advertisements.
9. The Publisher reserves the right in exceptional circumstances to place coupon advertisements back to back.
10. An exclusion of competitors for a specified issue or on the same page cannot be granted.
11. Advertisements must comply with the interests of distributing outlets. If it becomes apparent only after publication of the advertisements that they do not comply with the requests of distributing outlets the Publisher shall be entitled, also in retrospect, to withdraw from the execution of the contract immediately.