Drafting General Terms and Conditions of Service

General Terms and Conditions for Services are the standard agreements used by a service provider for quotations, order confirmations, projects, subscriptions, and recurring work. They regulate topics that recur across multiple assignments, such as payment, scope, additional work, liability, cancellation, complaints, confidentiality, and intellectual property.

General terms and conditions are not the same as a quotation or service agreement. The quotation or agreement describes the specific assignment, price, schedule, and work. The general terms and conditions supplement that assignment with legal rules that generally apply.

MKB Juristen drafts general terms and conditions for services that align with your services, clients, and risks. We ensure that your terms are practically usable for quotations, order confirmations, online bookings, subscriptions, and long-term assignments.

A service provider requires general terms and conditions as soon as they regularly perform work for clients. This applies to business services, consultancy, coaching, training, marketing, IT, facility management, maintenance, online services, service companies, and other forms of service provision.

Without clear terms and conditions, disputes quickly arise regarding exactly what was agreed upon. For example, the client may expect that additional work is included in the price, that a specific result is guaranteed, or that cancellation is free of charge. General terms and conditions establish in advance what the client may expect and where the boundaries lie.

The content depends on your services and client type. In many cases, we assess or arrange, among other things:

• applicability of the terms and conditions and rejection of customer terms and conditions;
• quotations, agreement and conclusion of the contract;
• description of services, scope and exclusions;
• obligation of effort or obligation of result;
• information, cooperation and responsibility of the client;
• planning, feedback periods and delays caused by the customer;
• prices, advances, subscriptions and payment terms;
• extra work, urgent work, additional revisions or supplementary work;
• cancellation, rescheduling and no-show;
• delivery, acceptance and complaints;
• liability, consequential damages and insurance;
• intellectual property and usage rights;
• confidentiality and confidential information;
• termination, cancellation, applicable law and disputes.

In service provision, the scope is often the most important element. It must be clear which activities fall within the assignment and what falls outside of it. Consider additional consultations, supplementary analyses, urgent work, revision rounds, support, aftercare, or work arising because the client modifies the assignment.

General terms and conditions may stipulate that only work listed in the quotation or order confirmation is included. Additional work may then be treated as extra work. This prevents you from performing work without receiving payment.

Much service provision involves an obligation of effort. The service provider must execute the assignment carefully and professionally, but does not automatically guarantee that the client will achieve a specific commercial, financial, or operational result.

That distinction is important. For example, a marketing agency cannot always guarantee revenue growth, a consultant cannot guarantee that organizational advice will be followed, and an IT service provider is sometimes dependent on third-party software, hosting, or systems. Good terms and conditions clarify which responsibility lies with the service provider and which factors are beyond their control.

For service providers, payment agreements and provisions for additional work are essential. You can work with an hourly rate, project price, subscription, prepaid card, advance payment, or installment payments. General terms and conditions must clearly state when invoices are sent, when payment is due, and what happens in the event of late payment.

Cancellation and rescheduling also deserve attention. Time is reserved for appointments, sessions, training, service visits, or on-site work. If the client cancels too late, it may be reasonable to charge costs or a portion of the fee.

The provision of services can impact the client's business processes, revenue, planning, personnel, customers, or systems. Therefore, liability must be carefully managed. Consider limiting liability to the invoice amount, the contract value, or the amount paid out by the insurer.

Consequential damages must also be properly assessed. An error or delay may be linked by the client to loss of revenue, missed savings, reputational damage, delays, or third-party costs. Not every indirect damage should be borne by the service provider. The provision must, however, be reasonable and appropriate to the nature of the service.

Service providers often deliver reports, content, formats, designs, software, templates, analyses, training materials, or other results. Without clear agreements, disputes can arise regarding who is permitted to use, modify, share, or reuse these materials.

General terms and conditions may stipulate that intellectual property rights remain with the service provider and that the client acquires a right of use for the agreed purpose. It may also be regulated whether source files are provided, whether material may be shared with third parties, and whether work may be used in a portfolio.

General terms and conditions do not apply automatically. You must declare them applicable before or at the time of concluding the agreement and give the client a reasonable opportunity to read them. In practice, this means sending the terms and conditions with the quotation, attaching them as an appendix to the order confirmation, or using a clear download link.

Merely referring to this on the invoice is usually too late. Moreover, with business clients, you must be careful if the client uses their own purchasing terms and conditions. If you wish your own terms to apply, you must clearly declare them applicable and expressly reject the client's terms.

Do you work exclusively for business clients? Then there is a relatively high degree of contractual freedom. Nevertheless, even in B2B, it must be clear what the assignment entails, when payment is due, and which limitation of liability applies.

Do you also work for consumers, for example as a coach, trainer, service provider to private individuals, or online provider? If so, you must take consumer protection into account. Provisions regarding cancellation, payment, withdrawal, complaints, and liability must then be formulated with extra care.

Do you already have general terms and conditions for your services? If so, we can check whether they are still suitable for your services, clients, and way of working. We examine, among other things, applicability, scope, payment, additional work, cancellation, liability, intellectual property, confidentiality, complaints, consumer regulations, and termination.

We also assess whether you are using the terms and conditions correctly. Well-written text is of little use if the terms are only sent after agreement or do not align with your quotation process, order confirmations, online bookings, or invoicing.

After a brief intake, we discuss your services, client type, quotation process, payment structure, and key risks. Subsequently, we draft customized general terms and conditions for services or review your existing terms.

You will receive terms and conditions that align with your way of working, with attention to scope, payment, additional work, cancellation, liability, intellectual property, confidentiality, complaints, and correct use in quotations and order confirmations.