General terms and conditions Notary office Duchamp/NKMNV B.V.

These General Terms and Conditions apply to all assignments, follow-up assignments and additional assignments given by third parties as clients to Civil-law notary office Duchamp and are also made for the benefit of the individual employees of the firm, the civil-law notary, the (acting) junior civil-law notary and other employees.

The notary office is practised in the form of a private limited company under the name: Notary office Duchamp/NKMNV B.V.

Upon request, these general terms and conditions will also be made available in writing.

Article 1 - Assignment

1. The client is the natural or legal person who has given the notary verbal or written instructions to perform work.
2. Contractor: NKMNV.BV, also trading as Civil-law notary office Duchamp.
3. Assignment: the agreement between the Client and the Contractor as referred to in Title 5 of Book 6 of the Civil Code, under which the Contractor performs: statutory work, related work and other work.
4. An assignment is not created until it is accepted by the notary.
   The client agrees to the notary having the assignment carried out under its responsibility, if necessary by third parties, on behalf of the contractor. All assignments are accepted to the exclusion of article 7:404 and article 7:407 paragraph 2 of the Civil Code.
5. The notary exercises her legal activities in independence. In doing so, she represents the interests of all parties involved in the legal act. The notary determines the manner in which the assignment is carried out.
6. On the services of Civil-law notary office Duchamp the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act (WWFT) applies.
   In this context, the civil-law notary is obliged, among other things, to conduct a ‘client screening’ in connection with the provision of services to the client, which includes establishing and verifying identity. The civil-law notary is also obliged to report to the Financial Intelligence Unit-Netherlands (FIU-Nederland) without the knowledge of the parties involved in the assignment if an unusual situation or transaction occurs.

Article 2 - Provision of information by client

1. The client shall be obliged to make all information and documents which the contractor, in its opinion, requires for the execution of the order available to the contractor in time, in the desired form and in the desired manner.
2. The contractor has the right to suspend the execution of the order until the client has fulfilled this obligation.

Article 3 - Fee and payment

1. For services, the notary shall charge the rates customary at the firm, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
   Work performed may be charged on an interim basis.
2. Payment of invoices shall be made in advance or within fourteen days of the invoice date, unless otherwise agreed in writing or stated otherwise. If this period is exceeded, the client shall be in default and shall owe default interest equal to the statutory interest rate.
   If collection measures are taken against the defaulting client, the costs of such collection shall be borne by the client.
3. The civil-law notary shall always be entitled to demand one or more deductible advances from the client prior to or in order to continue his services. Failing payment thereof, the civil-law notary shall be authorised, after prior notice, not to commence, suspend or discontinue her activities.

Article 4 - Information on financial consequences / disbursement of funds / quality account

1. The notary shall inform clients in a clear and timely manner of the financial consequences of her engagement.
2. The notary shall inform clients in a timely manner when more fees will be charged than agreed.
3. The notary may not charge the costs of her work to any other assignment, other part of the assignment or any person other than the client.
4. A claim against the notary on account of the disbursement of money pursuant to the legal act contained in a deed cannot be assigned or pledged. Pursuant to the notarial rules of professional practice and conduct, the notary shall only pay out money to the person who is a party to the deed and/or is entitled to the disbursement pursuant to the legal act contained in the deed, except if otherwise follows from these notarial rules of professional practice and conduct.
5. The civil-law notary shall pay or charge interest to the client if monies are kept by the civil-law notary in his quality account for the client for longer than three weeks. The interest rate used shall be equal to the interest rate paid or charged by the notary to the notary on the reported quality account of the bank concerned. With regard to the calculation and the manner of payment of the interest, the Regulation on the Notary Profession is followed.

Article 5 - Termination of the assignment

1. The client and the contractor may terminate the agreement at any time by giving written notice thereof to the other party.
2. Assignments accepted by the notary which do not result in the execution of a deed or advice but in which work has been carried out and costs have been incurred shall be charged to the client, with a minimum of € 50.00 excluding turnover tax, regardless of the reason why the case in question did not proceed.

Article 6 - Professional liability

1. Any liability of the civil-law notary shall be limited to the amount paid in the relevant case under the professional liability insurance(s) taken out by the civil-law notary, plus the amount of the deductible which, according to the policy conditions, is not for the account of the insurer(s). The notary complies with the insurance obligation prescribed by the Royal Notarial Association.
2. The notary is not liable for any shortcomings of third parties. The exclusion of liability described in this article shall also apply to the improper functioning of notices issued by Civil-law notary office Duchamp equipment, software, data files, registers or other items used in the performance of the services, none excepted.
   The limitation of liability shall also apply if the notary has wrongfully refused her service and damage has resulted from this. The notary public shall be entitled to accept any limitations of liability of third parties engaged by it also on behalf of its clients.

Article 7 - Settlement of disputes

1. On the services of Civil-law notary office Duchamp The Notarial Complaints and Disputes Procedure applies, which can be consulted at: www.knb.nl/de-notaris/klacht-over-notaris and at www. degeschillencommissie.nl/over-ons/commissions/notarial.
2. If client is dissatisfied with the quality of service of Civil-law notary office Duchamp or the amount of the invoice, the Principal shall first submit his objections to the Contractor in writing within three months of the date on which the Principal became aware or could reasonably have become aware of the acts or omissions that gave rise to his objections. The accountant will confirm a solution to the problem that has arisen to the client in writing within four weeks of receiving his objections.
3. If, in the opinion of the client, the contractor has not satisfactorily resolved the objections, the client may file a complaint with the Notarial Disputes Committee.
   This avenue is also open to the client if the contractor has not dealt with the objections in writing within four weeks of their submission.
   The Notarial Disputes Committee handles the case according to the Regulations of the Notarial Disputes Committee in force at the time the complaint is submitted to it. 

Article 8 - Retention obligation

As soon as ten years have elapsed after the conclusion of a case that has been pending before the notary, the notary is entitled to remove and destroy the relevant files and the documents contained therein from its archives without further notice, without prejudice to its statutory 20-year retention obligation of the deeds (the protocol).
In the event of any disputes after the expiry of ten years, the burden of proof will lie, as far as possible, on the client's side.
Notarial deeds are kept in the manner provided for in the Notary Act.

Article 9 - Rules of professional conduct

The notary adheres to all existing professional and conduct rules. An explanation of these rules can be found in the consumer brochure ‘Rules of the Game for Notaries and Consumers’ prepared by the KNB in consultation with the Consumers' Association and Vereniging Eigen Huis. This brochure can be found at www.knb.nl and can be provided on request. 

Article 10 - Choice of law

The provision of services and any liability are governed by Dutch law. The Dutch courts or the Disputes Committee shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle disputes.

The general terms and conditions of Civil-law notary office Duchamp have been filed with the Hague Chamber of Commerce.