General Terms and Conditions

for freely agreed laboratory and expert services of the Institut für Korrosionsschutz Dresden GmbH

1. General

1.1 The Institut für Korrosionsschutz Dresden GmbH (hereinafter referred to as IKS) is a limited liability company. Its purpose is the promotion of corrosion protection measures as well as the research in the fields of corrosion and active and passive corrosion protection. Its laboratory services, which include amongst others freely agreed work in regard to analysis, measurement, testing, expert reports, and other orders, are an indispensable help for the realization of these statutable purposes.

1.2 Derogations of individual customers cannot be accepted.

1.3 Additional agreements, acceptances, and other statements of employees of the IKS or third parties authorised by the IKS are only binding if these are explicitly confirmed by the IKS in written form. This also applies for alterations of this clause.

2. Execution of the order

2.1 The orders accepted by the IKS are carried out and expert reports and opinions are furnished in accordance with the recognised codes of science and technology and – if conflicting arrangements have not been agreed in written form – in accordance with the usual code of management of the IKS. Unless a specific method is agreed, the analysis is carried out in accordance with general standard methods (DIN, VDE, ISO, VDI, EC directives, EPA etc.) or by means of the most modern analysis methods and state of the art. Unless otherwise explicitly agreed in written form, no responsibility shall be taken in regard to the correctness of the safety programs or safety regulations on which the tests are based.

2.2 The extent of the work being done by the IKS is specified in written form upon ordering. In case changes or extensions of the specified extent of the order occur during proper execution of the order, these shall be additionally agreed in advance and in written form. In this case, the customer is entitled to withdraw from the contract, if the amendment of the contract in regard to the changes or extensions are unacceptable or unreasonable. However, in accordance with § 649 BGB the customer shall pay the agreed compensation or, for lack of agreement, an adequate compensation.

2.3 If not otherwise agreed, unused test material will be disposed of three months after the delivery of the test report or the expert report.

3. Terms and liability

3.1 The terms and periods for an order shall be non-binding if their bindingness is not explicitly agreed in written form. In the case of force majeure, as well as delays due to official orders, effects of labour disputes, traffic disruptions, interruptions of operation, and supply difficulties by suppliers the IKS shall be exempt from the obligation of adherence to any term or period even if such term or period has been acknowledged in written form.

3.2 The warranty of the IKS shall only include the explicitly ordered services in accordance with clause 2.1.

3.3 The IKS’ warranty shall be limited to the correction of a defect, which also includes the lack of a guaranteed characteristic, within an appropriate period. If no correction takes place, or it does not take place in time, or it is badly done, the customer shall be entitled to claim a rebate.

3.4 If the defect is a result of a circumstance for which the IKS is responsible, the IKS is liable for damages afflicted to the customer only in accordance with legal regulations and for each order only for a maximum amount of

– 500.000,00 € for personal damages

– 500.000,00 € for material damages

– 250.000,00 € for property damages

with further limitations as follows: Claims for defects in accordance with § 634a (1) BGB may only be asserted within the period of 2 years after the execution of the order (limitation period).

The liability shall be excluded for claims for damages or for defects which result from material sampling from buildings or other items. The exclusion shall also apply for consequential property damages. The IKS shall not be liable for claims for compensation asserted by a third party. Customers shall explicitly indemnify the IKS from such claims.

In addition, inevitable field damages shall be the customer’s responsibility. The customer shall obtain any entry right required for on-site inspections and sampling, and the customer shall determine and record the position of any cables, wires, or supply lines or shall provide a layout plan with indicated cables, wires, or supply lines. If the timely, correct, and complete obtaining or announcement is omitted, the IKS shall be compensated for any charges resulting thereof. The IKS shall be liable for the correctness of analyses only if the entire analysis (including sampling, storage, and transport) has been carried out by employees of the IKS. No liability shall be assumed for nuncupative information.

3.5 The liability limitations of the clauses 3.4 and 3.5. shall also apply in regard to any third party authorised by the IKS for execution.

4. Exclusion of further liability and claims

All further claims by the customer of direct and indirect damage – irrespective of legal basis – especially damage claims due to positive violation of contractual duty or tortious act and for indemnity for losses, which do not regard the subject of order itself, shall be excluded, as far as they exceed the liability and warranty by the IKS given in clause 3.3 to 3.6, unless the IKS shall be liable in cases of intention and gross negligence.

5. Conditions of payment and prices

5.1 For the calculation of services the agreed fees and charges apply.

5.2 Advanced payments may be demanded and/or partial invoices for relevant work performed may be raised.

5.3 The fees are due in full and on receipt, at the latest by the date stated on the invoice.

5.4 The value-added tax (VAT) will be charged in accordance with the percentage which is legally valid until completing the order and in addition to the fees and will be indicated separately on the invoice.

5.5 Queries regarding our invoices shall be justified in writing within a limitation period of 14 days after the receipt of the invoice.

6. Secrecy, copyright, privacy

6.1 For filing, the IKS may copy written documents, which are entrusted for viewing purposes and important for the execution of the order.

6.2 The IKS reserves the copyrights for the furnished expert reports and opinions, test results, calculations, and the like.

6.3 The IKS, its employees as well as third parties authorised by the IKS shall not disclose and use business affairs and operation conditions, which will come to their knowledge when executing the order, without authority.

6.4 The IKS processes personal data exclusively for own purposes. Employees processing such data are bound to the BDSG (Federal Data Protection Act) and are obliged to strictly adhere to all data protection regulations.

7. Place of jurisdiction and place of fulfilment

As far as legal regulations do not exclude any agreements, Dresden shall be the place of jurisdiction and place of fulfilment for both of the contracting parties. Dresden is the place of jurisdiction especially regarding the assertion of claims in dunning procedures.

8. Translations

In the event of any conflicts between the German text of these General Terms and conditions and translations thereof, the German text shall prevail and be authoritative.