Download the General Purchasing Conditions as pdf

1.)
These general purchasing conditions apply to all current and future orders for goods and
services, and to processing them. Their prevalence is exclusive. We do not recognise
suppliers’ conditions that are contrary to or deviate from our conditions.

2.)
Our purchasing conditions only apply to merchants as defined in § 310 of the German
Civil Code.


§ 2 Quotation
1.)
The supplier is obliged to accept our order within a period of two weeks.

2.)
Providing us with quotations must not involve us in any cost or legal obligation.

3.)
Oral agreements given by our employees only become legally binding on us when we
have confirmed them in writing.


§ 3 Trading terms
The current version of the Incoterms (International Commercial Terms) concerned is
definitive for interpreting trading terms


§ 4 Prices, payment conditions
1.)
The price shown on the order is firm.

2.)
VAT at the rate laid down by law is included in the price.

3.)
In the case of prices quoted “free to factory gate”, “free to specified destination” or for
“FOB” delivery in some other way, the price includes the costs of packaging and freight.
In the case of CIF deliveries we only bear the most favourable freight charges, unless we
have prescribed a particular method of despatch.

4.)
Unless something else has been agreed, we pay the purchase price within 14 days less
3% cash discount, or net within 30 days.

5.)
The periods within which cash discounts are taken and payment is made run from the
date of invoices being received, but do not run prior to the arrival of goods or, in the case
of services, not prior to their acceptance, and to the extent that documentation, test
certificates (such as factory certificates) or similar paperwork that forms part of the
performance, not prior to such documentation being handed over to us in accordance with
the contract.

6.)
Interest on overdue payment may not be demanded. The rate of interest on arrears in
accordance with § 1 of the DÜG is five percentage points above the basic rate of interest.
We have the right to demonstrate that loss caused by delay is lower than that demanded
by the vendor.


§ 5 Delivery date, delay in delivery
1.)
The delivery date detailed in the order is firm.

2.)
We have the right, in the case of delay in delivery, to demand compensation for loss
cause by delay in instalments at the rate of 0.25% of the value of the delivery per
completed week with a limit, however, of 10% of that value. Statutory claims going over
and above that remain reserved. The supplier has the right to demonstrate to us that no
loss, or substantially lower loss has arisen as a consequence of the delay, in which case
the instalments are moderated accordingly.

3.)
Unless something else has been agreed, the date of the arrival of the goods at our
premises is definitive for compliance with the delivery deadline or period.


§ 6 Investigation of faults
We are obliged to check the goods for quality or quantity variances within an appropriate
period. Any complaint counts as having been made in good time if it arrives at the
supplier within a period of 8 working days of the arrival of the goods. This does not,
however, apply in respect of faults that were not visible at the time of checking. If any
such fault appears later, then we may lodge a complaint about it within 14 days of its
discovery.


§ 7 Guarantee
1.)
We are entitled to make unabridged statutory claims under guarantee. We are entitled to
make our own selection from the rights available to us under the law. Any remedy by the
vendor shall count as having failed immediately after the first fruitless attempt at
rectification.

2.)
We may demand reimbursement from the vendor of expenditure that we have to bear in
the relationship with our customer, if the defect was already present at the time of the
passage of risk to us.

3.)
The statutory periods of limitation apply to our claims on account of defects.

4.)
The vendor assigns to us here and now, on account of performance, all claims on its
upstream suppliers to which it is entitled arising from and in connection with the delivery of
defective goods, or with goods that do not have properties that they were guaranteed to
have. The vendor shall hand over to us all the documentation necessary for the purpose
of our asserting such claims.


§ 8 Retention of title
To the extent that we place orders on suppliers for parts, we retain ownership in them.
Processing or conversion of them by the supplier is undertaken on our behalf. In the case
of processing or intermingling of them we acquire joint ownership of the new item in the
proportion that our goods bear to the other processed items in terms of value, at the time
of such processing.


§ 9 Assignment
The purchaser’s written consent is required for the assignment of rights or claims on the
purchaser arising from the order, with the exception of assignment of them to the vendor’s
principal banker.


§ 10 Delivery
1.)
Even when shipments are delivered CIF the vendor bears the risk in them up until delivery
is taken of them at the point of their use. Care must be taken when despatching them that
the goods ordered are precisely as described on their consignment notes, in line with the
Deutsche Bundesbahn or other freight forwarding organisation regulations applying at the
time.

2.)
The vendor bears the costs of packaging, providing nothing else has been agreed. Any
possible obligations to repurchase go by the provisions of the current version of the
Packaging Ordinance of 21.08.1998.


§ 11 Declaration on status of origin
The following applies in the event of the vendor submitting declarations on the status of
origin of the goods sold:

1.)
The vendor undertakes to make it possible for the documentary evidence of origin to be
checked by Customs Administration, and both to provide the necessary information and to
bring about any confirmations that may be required.

2.)
The vendor undertakes to reimburse any loss arising from the origin declared not being
recognised by the responsible officials because of defective certification, or because of the
opportunity for re-examination not being available, unless it does not have to be
answerable for those consequences.


§ 12 Place of fulfilment, place of jurisdiction and applicable law
1.)
Unless something else is agreed, our factory is the place of fulfilment for delivery.

2.)
The registered office of our principal place of business is the place of jurisdiction. We may
take legal proceedings against the vendor also at its place of jurisdiction and at the place
of jurisdiction of whichever of our branches registered in terms of commercial law the
contract was entered into.

3.)
German law applies for all legal relationships between the vendor and us. Application of
the United Nations Purchasing Law is expressly ruled out.



Status December 2003