If the Buyer is in default of acceptance of the delivery item, fails to cooperate or delays delivery for other reasons for which the Buyer is responsible, the Seller shall be entitled to store the goods or have them stored at the Buyer's expense and to claim any other additional expenses. In the event of storage by the Seller, the storage costs including necessary
transport costs shall amount to 0.25% of the invoice amount of the delivery items to be stored per expired week, but not more than a total of 2.5%. We reserve the right to claim and prove higher or lower storage costs and to claim further damages. However, the lump sum shall be offset against further monetary claims due to storage costs.
The statutory claims of the Seller (in particular compensation for additional expenses, reasonable compensation, termination) shall remain unaffected. In particular, the Seller shall have the rights under Section 373 (2) of the German Commercial Code (HGB) (authority, after prior warning, to have the goods sold by public auction or, if the goods have a stock exchange or market price, after prior warning, to effect the sale by private agreement by a commercial broker publicly authorised to make such sales or by a person authorised to hold public auctions at the current price).
The Seller shall insure the consignment against theft, breakage, transport, fire and water damage or other comparable risks only at the express request of the Buyer and at the Buyer's expense.
If the delivered goods are defective (§ 437 BGB) and if the Buyer was not aware of the defect at the time of conclusion of the contract or was not aware of the defect due to gross negligence (§ 442 BGB) and if the goods are not deemed to have been approved as a result of non-compliance with the statutory duties of inspection and notification (§§ 377, 381 HGB), cf. § 6.3, the Seller shall initially be entitled, at its own choice and discretion, either to rectify the defect or to deliver defect-free goods to the Buyer (subsequent performance). The Seller may refuse subsequent performance if it involves disproportionate costs. The right of the
Seller to refuse performance insofar as this requires an effort which, taking into account the content of the contractual obligation and the principles of good faith, is grossly disproportionate to the Buyer's interest in performance, shall remain unaffected. Within the scope of the statutory warranty obligation, the Seller shall bear all expenses necessary for the purpose of subsequent performance, in particular transport, travel, labour and material costs. The Seller shall be entitled to make subsequent performance dependent on the Buyer paying the agreed purchase price. However, the Buyer shall be entitled to withhold a reasonable part of the purchase price. In the event of a replacement delivery, upon request the Buyer shall return the defective goods to the Seller. The Buyer shall give the Seller the time and opportunity required for the subsequent performance owed, in particular to hand over the rejected goods for inspection purposes.
Claims of the Buyer for reimbursement of expenses pursuant to § 445a para. 1 BGB are excluded, unless the last contract in the supply chain is a consumer goods purchase (§§ 478, 474 BGB).
Warranty claims and claims for damages of the Buyer due to material defects and defects of title shall become statute-barred one year after delivery of the goods, irrespective of the legal basis on which the claims are based.
The above shortening of the statutory limitation periods shall not apply:
(a) in the event that the Seller has fraudulently concealed the defect,
(b) to claims based on intent and gross negligence, as well as claims based on culpable breach of a essential contractual obligation (as defined in § 10.1),
(c) for claims based on defects in a building or defects in goods which have been used in accordance with their customary use for a building and have caused the defectiveness of the building or a work the success of which consists in planning or supervision services for a building,
(d) for claims based on the assumption of a guarantee,
(e) for claims due to injury to life, body or health,
(f) for claims under the Product Liability Act,
(g) for recourse claims based on the provisions of the sale of consumer goods (§§ 445a, 445b BGB), as well as
(h) for claims due to defects which consist in a right in rem of a third party, on the basis of which the surrender of the object of sale can be demanded, or in another right which is registered in the land register
The shortening of the statutory limitation periods applicable to claims based on material defects and defects of title pursuant to § 6.7 shall apply mutatis mutandis to competing contractual and non-contractual claims for damages of the Buyer based on a defect in the delivered items.
Insofar as the limitation of claims against the Seller is shortened in accordance with § 6.7, this shall apply mutatis mutandis to any claims of the Buyer against the Seller's legal representatives, employees, agents and vicarious agents which are based on the same legal grounds.
The Buyer shall only have a right of set-off if the according counterclaims have been acknowledged, legally established or undisputed by the Seller. Furthermore, he shall only be entitled to exercise a right of retention insofar as his counterclaim is based on the same contractual relationship. The defence of non-performance of the contract shall remain unaffected. However, the Buyer shall not be entitled to arbitrarily offset bonuses in the form of credit balances voluntarily credited to him on the basis of certain contractual relationships with the Seller. The settlement of bonuses shall be carried out exclusively by the Seller. The unauthorised offsetting of bonuses by the Buyer constitutes a breach of contract which gives rise to interest claims by the Seller without the need for a separate reminder.
Should individual provisions of these General Terms and Conditions of Business and Delivery be invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. Insofar as the contract or these General Terms and Conditions of Business and Delivery should contain loopholes, those legally effective provisions shall be deemed to have been agreed to fill these loopholes which the contracting parties would have agreed in accordance with the economic objectives of the contract and the purpose of these General Terms and Conditions of Business and Delivery if they had been aware of the loophole.
April 2024