Terms and Conditions

Article 1 – Assignment

1.1 Franssen Advocaten is a partnership registered at the Kamer van Koophandel (Chamber of Commerce), KvK-nummer 85064327. The Franssen Advocaten law firm office is situated at the Sarphatistraat 370 in Amsterdam, in the building named “The Bell”, office suites.
1.2 These General Conditions are applicable to every assignment to Franssen Advocaten, including every follow-up assignment or changed or supplementary assignment. An obligation will come into existence between the client and the firm upon an attorney’s acceptance of an assignment. Instructions are accepted by and on behalf of the firm, even where the expressed or implied intention is for such instructions to be implemented by a specific person. Articles 7:404 and 7:407, section 2 of the Dutch Civil Code are not applicable to these assignment agreements. No attorney or other individual who takes instructions for or on behalf of the firm, whether employed by the firm or not, is personally obligated or liable to implement such instructions, and the death of any such partner or other individual does not terminate the instructions, even if given with a view to them being provided by a specific person. This limitation of liability is also effective in the case that an assignment is unjustly refused and damages result.
1.3 The person, on behalf of whom work activities are carried out, will be considered to be the client. If the assignment is given by anyone other than the client, the assignor as well as the client is principally obligated to all payment that is due to the attorney.

Article 2 – Intellectual Property

The client is not allowed to disclose, duplicate, exploit or distribute in any form whatsoever, whether to or through the engaging of a third party, the advice, contracts, or other products of the mind produced by the attorney, without prior written permission from the attorney.

Article 3 – Finances

Fees and Disbursements
3.1 The attorney will be due fees and disbursements. Understood as part of retainers are: payment of costs to be specified, such as court filing fees, travel and lodging costs, valuation costs, legal fees, application filing fees as well as costs of solicitors, bailiffs, couriers, etc.
3.2 The agreement of applicable fees between the attorney and client shall be confirmed in writing by the attorney. The fee will be calculated based on the number of hours worked multiplied by the hourly fees of the attorney engaged and 21% VAT. In some cases a fixed fee per procedure can be agreed between the attorney and the client.
3.3 The services rendered will in principle be billed monthly, unless otherwise agreed.
3.4 The attorney can legally require a fee and retainer before beginning the work. This retainer will be accounted for in the final invoice.

Article 4 – Invoices and suspension of work

4.1 Complaints regarding an invoice must be submitted, under penalty of expiry, in writing before the payment terms as stated in Art. 5. ends. As long as the assignment is not completed, the attorney is entitled to continue invoicing.
4.2 If an invoice is not settled within the payment term as stated in Art. 5, all of the attorneys in the office have the legal right to suspend their work activities on the specific case as well as any other assignments that involve that client. Franssen Advocaten is not liable for damage, material or intangible, which results from the suspension of work activities.

Article 5 – Payment terms, interest and collection fees

5.1 Invoices must be settled within 14 days after the date of issuance. Failure to do so will result in the client and the assignor being in default and will be charged the statutory interest rate on the amount owed.
5.2 If steps must be taken for fee collection, 15% will be charged over the amount owed, with a minimum of € 110.00 as well as the collection fees.

Article 6 – Liability

6.1 Franssen Advocaten carries professional liability insurance for the firm, all of the attorneys working therein and each individual employee, as well as for all of the services performed in any capacity whatsoever. All liability, in the matter concerned, is limited to the amount that is paid out under the firm’s professional liability policy plus the amount of the deductible (eigen risico) applicable to this insurance coverage. The attorney can provide the client with information regarding the policy. If for any reason whatsoever no benefits are payable under this insurance, liability is limited to the amount billed and received by Franssen Advocaten in the relevant case. The attorneys of Franssen Advocaten, as well as all those who work for or have worked for Franssen Advocaten, are never personally bound or liable.
6.2 Liability resulting from incomplete or non-timely receipt of e-mails is excluded. Franssen Advocaten does not accept any liability for damages, in any form, as a result of the effects of viruses or software when receiving or opening e-mail messages.
6.3 Franssen Advocaten will take the necessary care when making use of third parties for carrying out the assignments made to Franssen Advocaten. Franssen Advocaten is not liable for inferior performance on the part of these third parties.
6.4 The software system, including inter alia e-mail processing, data security and data storage, is provided on assignment to Franssen Advocaten by BaseNet Advocatuur. Franssen Advocaten is not liable for inferior performance or data loss, or the consequences thereof, on the part of or at BaseNet.

Article 7 – Personal Data

Franssen Advocaten is allowed to process, save and disclose the client’s (personal) data to everyone working in the lawfirm Franssen Advocaten connection with the handling of the instructions and for the purposes of its client management. Under the applicable laws and regulations, Franssen Advocaten must, among other things, establish the identity of the client, check whether unusual transactions have been conducted or are intended and, if so, inform the authorities, without informing the client to that effect. The client confirms to be aware of this and agrees with it and will furnish all necessary data.

Privacy Policy
7.2. The privacy policy describes the types of personal data that are processed within our office, the purpose for which this data are processed and the method by which this is done. Personal data refers to all information about an identified or identifiable natural person. Franssen Advocaten can, among other things, process the following personal data:

  • First and last name
  • Date of birth and place of birth
  • Sex
  • Address data; telephone number and e-mail address
  • BSN or other government identification number
  • All other personal data that you provide to us when entering into an agreement with us

7.3 Franssen Advocaten processes your personal data in order to provide legal services to you and to meet our legal obligations. The processing of your personal data takes place under the following guidelines: implementing your agreement with Franssen Advocaten, your permission, compliance with legal obligations and the legitimate interest.
7.4 Franssen Advocaten does not store your personal data for longer than is strictly necessary to achieve the purpose stated in this privacy policy. Unless another agreement is made between attorney and client, the physical case files will be stored in our archives for five years. After this time, they will be destroyed.
7.5 Franssen Advocaten may in certain cases share your personal data with third parties, only when necessary for the fulfillment of our agreement with you or to comply with a legal obligation. The sharing of your data in the scenarios discussed above is done only for the purposes mentioned in this privacy policy and in accordance with the principles stated in this privacy policy. When we provide your data to third parties, we enter into a processor agreement to provide the same level of security and confidentiality of your data. Third parties are responsible for compliance with the privacy legislation; Franssen Advocaten is neither responsible nor liable for the processing of your personal data by third parties.

Article 8 – Archiving

Unless a different agreement has been made between the attorney and the client, the physical case file will be stored in our archives for five years. After that point in time, it will be destroyed.

Article 9 – Applicable law

The legal relationship (rechtsverhouding) between the firm and the client is subject to Dutch law. Any dispute arising out of such a legal relationship shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts in the Netherlands, unless it concerns a case in which the Dutch Bar Dispute Regulation (Geschillenregeling Advocatuur) is applicable and sets jurisdiction for the Geschillencommissie Advocatuur.

Article 10 – Complaint procedure

Franssen Advocaten aims to provide you with professional service that is as satisfactory as possible. But it is possibly that you may be dissatisfied with some aspect of our professional service. This is what you can do in that case.

If you are dissatisfied with the quality of our professional service or about the invoice we have sent you, we ask you first submit your complaint within 3 months after the time at which the complainant became aware or could reasonably have become aware of the acts or omissions that gave rise to the complaint to your own attorney. However, you can also immediately contact our Complaint’s officer, attorney P.W.M. Franssen of this firm. Our firm handles complaints according to an established procedure, which we can make available to you on request.

We will attempt to work with you to come up with a solution for the problem that has arisen as soon as possible. We will provide confirmation of this solution in writing. Within 30 days you can expect to receive our written decision on your complaint.

We appreciate it greatly if you let us know when you have a complaint. You can rest assured that we will take all well-founded complaints into account in evaluating our firm’s performance, and we will do our very best to prevent it from happening again.

Franssen Advocaten’s complaints procedure will apply to the contract between Franssen Advocaten and the client. Appeal against a decision of Complaints officer can be brought before the Geschillencommissie Advocatuur in The Hague.

Article 11 – Language

These general conditions are available in Dutch and English. In case of a dispute regarding their contents or intention, the Dutch language and version is binding.
These General Terms and Conditions are available on www.franssenadvocaten.nl. They will be provided upon request and free of charge.

Article 12 – Escrow

Franssen Advocaten does not use a third-party account (escrow).

Amsterdam, April 2024

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