General Terms and Conditions
1. An advertisement order in the sense of the following General Terms and Conditions is the contract for the publication of one or more advertisements by an advertiser or other advertiser in a printed publication for the purpose of distribution.
2. Orders for advertisements and third-party inserts, which are expressly to be published only in certain numbers, certain editions or at certain places in the printed publication, must be received by the publisher in time so that the client can still be informed before the advertising deadline if the order cannot be executed in this way. Classified advertisements are printed in the respective category without this requiring explicit agreement. Advertisements that are not recognizable as such due to their editorial design are clearly marked as such by the publisher with the word “advertisement”.
3. The publisher reserves the right to reject advertisement orders – also individual calls within the scope of the conclusion – and insert orders due to their content, origin or technical form according to uniform, objectively justified principles of the publisher, if their content violates laws or official regulations and their publication is unreasonable for the publisher. Insert orders are binding for the publisher only after submission of a sample of the insert and its approval. Inserts that give the reader the impression of being part of the newspaper or magazine due to their format or design, or contain third-party advertisements, are not accepted. The rejection of an order is communicated to the client immediately.
4. The client is responsible for the timely delivery of the advertisement text and flawless print documents or inserts. For recognizably unsuitable or damaged print documents, the publisher immediately requests replacement. The publisher guarantees the usual print quality for the occupied title within the possibilities given by the print documents.
5. If an advertisement is completely or partially illegible, incorrect or incomplete, the client has a claim to a reduction in payment or a flawless replacement advertisement, but only to the extent that the purpose of the advertisement was impaired. If the publisher allows a reasonable period set for this purpose to elapse or if the replacement advertisement is again not flawless, then the client has a right to a reduction in payment or cancellation of the order. Claims for damages arising from positive breach of obligation, fault at conclusion of contract and tort are excluded – even in case of telephone order placement; claims for damages arising from impossibility of performance and delay are limited to compensation for foreseeable damage and to the fee payable for the relevant advertisement or insert. Liability on part of publisher for damages due to absence of assured properties remains unaffected. In commercial business transactions, publisher is also not liable for gross negligence on part of vicarious agents. Complaints must be made – except in case of non-obvious defects – within four weeks after receipt of invoice and proof.
6. Proofs are only supplied on express request. The client bears responsibility for correctness of returned proofs. Publisher takes into account all error corrections communicated to him within deadline set when sending proof.
7. The invoice must be paid within the period visible from the price list, running from the receipt of the invoice, unless another method of payment or advance payment has been agreed in individual cases.
8. In case of default in payment or deferral, interest as well as collection costs will be charged. The publisher can suspend further execution of the current order until payment is made in case of default in payment and demand advance payment for the remaining advertisements. If there are justified doubts about the client’s ability to pay, the publisher is entitled to make the appearance of further advertisements dependent on the advance payment of the amount and the settlement of outstanding invoice amounts, regardless of an originally agreed payment target, even during the term of an advertisement contract.
9. The publisher delivers an advertisement receipt with the invoice. Depending on the type and scope of the advertisement order, advertisement excerpts, proof pages or complete proof numbers are delivered. If a proof can no longer be obtained, a legally binding certificate from the publisher about the publication and distribution of the advertisement takes its place.
10. The client bears the costs for the production of print documents as well as for significant changes to the originally agreed execution desired or to be represented by the client.
11. A reduction in circulation can result in a claim for a price reduction if, on average over the year starting with the first advertisement, the average circulation stated in the price list or otherwise – if a circulation is not mentioned – the average sold (in case of trade journals possibly actually distributed) circulation of the past calendar year is undercut. A reduction in circulation is only a defect entitling to a price reduction if it amounts to more than 25 %. Furthermore, claims for price reductions are excluded in case of contracts if the publisher has informed the client about the decrease in time so that he could withdraw from the contract before publication of the advertisement.
12. Print documents are only returned to the client upon special request. The obligation to keep them ends three months after expiry of the order.
13. Place of jurisdiction and place of performance is the seat of the publisher. Insofar as claims by publisher are not asserted in dunning proceedings, jurisdiction for non-merchants is determined by their place of residence. If client’s place of residence or habitual abode is unknown at time lawsuit is filed or if client has moved his place of residence or habitual abode out of scope of law after conclusion of contract, publisher’s seat is agreed as place of jurisdiction.
14. The intermediary compensation of 15 % is only granted to recognized advertising agencies. Exclusion competition cannot be guaranteed. For advertisements for job searches, advance payment must be made or bank direct debit authorization must be granted. Publisher assumes no liability for errors from telephone transmission, of any kind.
15. The order confirmation for advertisement order is binding. The basis for processing an order is the price list valid on day contract, terms of business and other agreements.
