For all legal transactions, the German GTC are legally binding. The customer and / or other business partners are obliged to inform themselves about the content of the German-speaking business conditions or to translate them into their national language. Upon conclusion of a purchase contract, the German terms and conditions are understood and accepted.

Terms of delivery and payment

I. General
1. For all legal transactions, the German GTC are legally binding. The customer and / or other business partner is obliged to inform himself about the content of the German terms and conditions or translate them into his national language. With the conclusion of a purchase contract, the German terms and conditions are considered understood and accepted.

2. Our terms of delivery and payment apply in each case in the latest version, for all current and future orders unless we have expressly recognized deviations in writing. Ancillary agreements and subsequent changes are binding for us only after our written confirmation. Acceptance of our deliveries and services shall be deemed acknowledgement of our terms of delivery and payment.

3. Any terms and conditions of purchase of the customer shall only be binding for us after express and written acknowledgement.

4. Agreements of the customer with travelers, representatives and agents are binding for us only after our written confirmation. Our representatives and travelers are not authorized to accept cash and checks.

5. We are entitled to process data of the orderer, which are in connection with the business relation to him, in the sense of the Federal Law for Data Protection.

II. Offers and Conclusions
1. Our offers are always subject to change, as far as we do not call them expressly obligatory designate.

2. The delivery contract shall only be concluded by our written order confirmation or, if such confirmation is not issued or is only issued together with the invoice, by the Execution of the delivery.

3. We expressly reserve the right to deviations in quantity and type. The customer is obligated to accept the goods as long as these deviations are within commercially reasonable limits.

III. Delivery times
1. We shall endeavor to comply with the delivery periods and dates specified by us. In the absence of an express guarantee, they nevertheless only have the meaning of giving the customer an approximate indication of the delivery date.

2. Insofar as, in exceptional cases, written delivery periods and delivery dates have been agreed as binding, these shall only be valid if, at the time of such a written commitment, all commercial and technical commercial and technical details have been finally clarified.

3. If the customer does not fulfill obligations to cooperate or if we are prevented from delivering due to unforeseen or extraordinary disruptions in the operational process or shipping at our company or at our upstream and downstream suppliers or transport companies or due to labor disputes, the delivery period shall be extended by a reasonable period.

4. If we are in default, the customer shall set us a reasonable grace period of at least two weeks. If this period expires without result, the customer shall have the right to withdraw from the contract in accordance with Section VIII 1 b of these Terms and Conditions of Delivery and Payment.

IV. Prices
1. All prices are ex works or ex warehouse and exclusive of sales tax, which will be invoiced separately at the rate applicable at the time of delivery. Likewise, costs for packaging, shipping, insurance, customs duties and the like will be invoiced separately.

2. In principle, the prices on the day of the conclusion of the contract apply. We reserve the right to invoice the prices valid on the day of delivery, if price increases have occurred in the meantime.

V. Terms of Payment
1. All payments are to be made in cash without any deduction immediately after receipt of the invoice and receipt of the goods, but no later than 21 days after the invoice date without any deduction free our payment office.

2. According to §286 BGB, the debtor of a monetary claim is in principle 30 days after the due date and receipt of an invoice or equivalent payment schedule in default. If the debtor is in default,
a) Claim for interest in the amount of 9% points above the respective prime rate in accordance with § 247 BGB. The assertion of a higher damage caused by default remains reserved;
b) We are entitled to assert all claims arising from this or other transactions, even insofar as they are
due to the Buyer with immediate effect;
c) We shall be entitled to suspend our deliveries and other services from this or other
other orders until all our outstanding claims have been satisfied in full.

3. If, after conclusion of the contract, we become aware of facts concerning a significant deterioration in the financial circumstances of the customer which, according to prudent business judgment, are likely to jeopardize our claim to counter-performance, we may demand the provision of suitable security within a reasonable period of time until the time of his performance or performance in return. A deterioration of the financial situation shall be deemed to exist in particular in the event of the opening of insolvency proceedings or compulsory enforcement measures against the customer. If the customer does not comply with our justified request or does not comply with it in time, we may withdraw from the contract and claim damages for non-performance. Furthermore, in such cases we shall be entitled to declare all outstanding claims due and payable with immediate effect.
The Customer may only set off claims against our claims if the counterclaim is undisputed or has been finally determined by a court of law. This applies equally to rights of retention. If the orderer owes the payment of several invoices or partial demands, the salesman can determine that first the older debt is redeemed.

VI. Reservation of Proprietary Rights
1. Our goods remain our property until the full payment of the purchase price including all subsidiary claims our property. In the event of acceptance of bills of exchange or checks, payment shall be deemed made only upon their final redemption. Ancillary claims include, in particular, the costs of packaging, freight, insurance, bank charges, dunning charges, lawyers’ fees, court costs and other costs.

2. In the case of a current account, the retention of title shall serve as security for our balance claim. Goods already paid for remain our property as long as we still have any claims against the customer.

3. The orderer takes the reservation commodity for us into commercial custody. He is obliged to store and mark separately the goods belonging to us. The customer is liable for the loss of our goods for any fault and their accidental destruction. He shall insure the goods at his expense against all risks in our favor. Insurance claims shall be deemed assigned to us.

4. A treatment or processing of the goods subject to retention of title by the customer or a third party commissioned by him is always carried out for us. We shall be deemed to be the manufacturer within the meaning of §950 of the German Civil Code (BGB) and shall acquire ownership of intermediate and finished products.
The Customer or the respective owner shall only be the custodian of the goods for us. He is obliged to make such agreements with his customers when passing on the goods that ensure that we remain the owner of the goods despite their being passed on several times. If the goods are in the possession of a third party, the customer hereby assigns to us the claims against this third party, in particular all claims for return of the goods. We shall be entitled to record the stock of goods or have it recorded, to remove the goods from the possession of the customer or have them removed and to also enter the premises of the buyer or owner for this purpose.

5. Liabilities and claims for damages may not arise for us from treatment or processing. The processed goods shall serve as our security, in any case to the amount of the price invoiced to the customer for the goods subject to retention of title. If the goods subject to retention of title are processed with other goods not belonging to us, we shall be entitled to co-ownership of the new item in the ratio of the values of the goods subject to retention of title to the other goods at the time of processing. The new goods shall be deemed to be goods subject to retention of title within the meaning of these terms and conditions and shall be subject to the same provision. In the event of mixing or blending of goods subject to retention of title with other goods, our ownership shall remain as co-ownership; in all other respects, the above provisions on treatment and processing shall apply mutatis mutandis.

6. The customer may dispose of the reserved goods in the ordinary course of business. He is prohibited from pledging, transferring ownership by way of security, etc.; any pledges and other impairments of the reserved goods by third parties must be reported to us without delay.

7. If the customer utilizes the goods subject to retention of title – regardless of their condition – e.g. by selling or processing them, he hereby assigns to us all claims against his contractual partners arising from the utilization up to the amount of all our claims, including all ancillary rights, until all our claims arising from the business relationship with him have been satisfied in full. The assigned claims shall serve as security for all claims to which we are entitled against the Purchaser from the business relationship with the Purchaser, but at least to the amount of the price invoiced to the Purchaser for the respective goods subject to retention of title which have been utilized. If the goods subject to retention of title are utilized by the customer together with other goods not belonging to us – irrespective of their condition – the assignment of the customer’s claims shall be deemed to be agreed only to the amount of the price of the goods subject to retention of title invoiced by us to the customer. The same shall apply to any claims which the Purchaser may have against third parties due to damage to or destruction of the Retained Goods, as well as to any claims arising from the fact that the Purchaser processes the goods alone or together with others in such a way that the resulting product becomes the property of a third party by operation of law. The customer is authorized to collect the claim despite the above agreed assignment until revoked by us in writing. Our authority to collect shall remain unaffected by the purchaser’s authorization to collect. We shall not collect the claims as long as the customer duly meets his payment obligations. At our request, the customer shall inform the debtor of the assignment of the claim. He shall grant us the right to notify the debtor of the assignment. Furthermore, the customer shall provide us with all information and documents required for the assertion of claims against the debtor.

8. The retention of title in accordance with the above provisions shall also remain in force if individual claims are included in a current account and the balance has been struck and acknowledged. With the satisfaction of our claims against the customer, the ownership is automatically transferred to him. Furthermore, the assigned claims shall revert to him. We undertake to release the securities to which we are entitled under these provisions to the extent – at our discretion – that their realizable value exceeds the claims to be secured by 10%. With the exception of deliveries in genuine current account transactions, however, this shall only apply to such deliveries or their surrogates which have been paid in full.

9. If the proceeds are paid to the orderer by a third party, the money shall be transferred to us immediately without regard to any due date otherwise agreed. In the event of cessation of payments or insolvency of the Purchaser, the purchase price claim shall be due immediately and any discounts granted or provided for shall be deemed to have lapsed, so that the Purchaser shall pay the gross prices (base prices) invoiced.

10. The authorization of the customer to dispose of the reserved goods as well as to process, combine, mix, blend, furthermore to collect the assigned claims shall expire in case of non-compliance with the terms of payment, in case of unauthorized disposals, in case of bill and check protests, furthermore also if composition or insolvency proceedings have been or will be filed against the customer. In such cases, we shall be entitled to take possession of the goods subject to retention of title without granting a grace period or notice of rescission, to enter the Purchaser’s premises for this purpose, to demand relevant information and to inspect its books in order to secure our rights. The repossession of the reserved goods shall only constitute a rescission of the contract if we expressly declare this.

VII Warranty
1. Sample and sample deliveries are considered average quality, descriptions and illustrations of our products in the brochures are not binding.

2. Prerequisite for the assertion of warranty claims is that the treatment instructions according to No. IX. of these terms of delivery and payment are strictly observed.

3. Our warranty for the shelf life of the goods is primarily based on the expiration dates attached to the goods or your packaging, bearing in mind that natural casings, if not stored properly, are subject to rapid spoilage.

4. The supplied articles are in the sense of § 377 HGB immediately after Delivery by the customer or the third parties designated by him carefully. With regard to obvious defects or other defects that would be recognizable in the course of an immediate, careful inspection, they shall be deemed to have been approved by the customer if we do not receive a written notice of defect within 7 days of delivery. With regard to other defects, the items shall be deemed to have been approved by the Purchaser if the notice of defect is not received by the Seller within 7 days of the time at which the defect became apparent. If the defect was already apparent to the Purchaser at an earlier point in time during normal use, this earlier point in time shall, however, be decisive for the commencement of the period for lodging a complaint. At our request, a delivery item which is the subject of a complaint shall be returned to us carriage paid.

5. If the customer does not give us the opportunity to inspect the defect complained of and/or does not provide samples of the goods complained of at our request, he shall thereby forfeit any warranty claims.

6. In the event of justified defects or incorrect delivery, the customer’s claims shall be limited to the delivery of defect-free or correct goods.

7. In the case of unsorted natural casings, any warranty for quality and caliber is excluded.

VIII. Liability for damages due to fault
1. The liability of the seller for damages on whatever legal grounds, in particular due to impossibility, delay, defective or incorrect delivery, breach of contract, breach of duties during contract negotiations and tort, shall be limited as follows, insofar as fault is involved in each case. a) The Seller shall not be liable in the event of simple and average negligence, insofar as this does not involve a breach of duties essential to the contract. Material contractual obligations are, in particular, the obligation to deliver on time, its freedom from defects that impair the functionality or usability more than insignificantly.
b) Insofar as the Seller is liable for damages on the merits in accordance with the above condition, this liability shall be limited to damages that the Seller foresaw at the time of conclusion of the contract as possible consequences of a breach of contract or that it should have foreseen by exercising due care. Indirect damages and consequential damages which are the consequence of defects of the delivery item are only eligible for compensation insofar as such damages are typically to be expected when using the delivery item as intended.

2. The above limitations do not apply to the liability of the seller for intentional conduct, for guaranteed characteristics, for injury to life, limb or health, the Product Liability Act.

IX. Treatment instructions
1. All natural casings must be properly unpacked immediately upon receipt, inspected and stored in cool, airy and dry rooms. In addition, our printed treatment instructions, if any, and the symbols noted in our documents, if any, must be observed.

2. In the case of sampling by the official food inspection, we can only recognize the natural casings as delivered by us, of which two counter-samples are sent to us. We require one sample for identification.

X. Goods designation
1. Provided that by regulations of the federal states other goods designations as the at our place of dispatch valid were specified, these are to be considered by the orderer before passing on to third. In particular, the correct designation when selling the goods according to § 4 LMKV in case of deviating local and trade customs is the responsibility of the buyer.

XI. Final Provisions
1. Place of performance for both parties and exclusive jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the contractual relationship is Braunschweig. This also applies to claims made in judicial dunning proceedings.

2. The contractual relationship, including the terms of delivery and payment, shall be judged exclusively in accordance with the law of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding the uniform UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), even in cases involving foreign relations.

3. Should individual parts of the above terms of delivery and payment be or become invalid, the remaining parts shall remain valid. Instead of an invalid provision, a valid provision that comes as close as possible to its economic purpose shall be deemed agreed.

June 2015