General terms and conditions

The fol­lo­wing con­di­ti­ons app­ly to the order of access to the web­site „QM VOTUM BIO” at Büro Lebens­mit­tel­kun­de und Qua­li­tät GmbH (BLQ GmbH):

§ 1 Scope and provider

The Gene­ral Terms and Con­di­ti­ons of Sale (her­ein­af­ter refer­red to as „GTC”) govern the con­trac­tu­al rela­ti­onship bet­ween Büro Lebens­mit­tel­kun­de und Qua­li­tät GmbH (BLQ) (her­ein­af­ter refer­red to as „Sup­pli­er”) and you (her­ein­af­ter refer­red to as „Cus­to­mer”), in the ver­si­on valid at the time of con­clu­si­on of the con­tract. The­se Terms and Con­di­ti­ons of Sale shall app­ly exclu­si­ve­ly to entre­pre­neurs, legal enti­ties under public law or spe­cial funds under public law within the mea­ning of Sec­tion 310 (1) of the Ger­man Civil Code (BGB). The­se Terms and Con­di­ti­ons of Sale shall also app­ly to all future tran­sac­tions with the Purcha­ser, inso­far as the­se are legal tran­sac­tions of a rela­ted natu­re. We shall only reco­gni­ze terms and con­di­ti­ons of the cus­to­mer that are con­tra­ry to or devia­te from our terms and con­di­ti­ons of sale if we express­ly agree to their vali­di­ty in wri­ting. Any devia­ting terms and con­di­ti­ons of the purcha­ser will be rejec­ted. Plea­se read the­se terms and con­di­ti­ons careful­ly befo­re using any of BLQ GmbH’s ser­vices. On the ser­vice web­site www.qm-votum.bio the pro­vi­der offers you the fol­lo­wing ser­vices: Infor­ma­ti­on about con­ta­mi­nants and resi­dues in orga­nic food.

§ 2 Formation of the contract

Inso­far as an order is to be regard­ed as an offer pur­su­ant to Sec­tion 145 of the Ger­man Civil Code (BGB), we may accept it within the fol­lo­wing five working days. Access to the use of the ser­vice web­site www.qm-votum.bio by the cus­to­mer requi­res regis­tra­ti­on. By regis­tering, the cus­to­mer accepts the­se Gene­ral Terms and Con­di­ti­ons. By orde­ring a paid ser­vice, the regis­tered orde­rer enters into a fur­ther con­trac­tu­al rela­ti­onship with the pro­vi­der, which is sepa­ra­te from the regis­tra­ti­on. The user will be infor­med about the respec­ti­ve char­geable ser­vice and the terms of pay­ment befo­re the con­clu­si­on of this con­trac­tu­al rela­ti­onship. The con­trac­tu­al rela­ti­onship ari­ses when the cus­to­mer con­firms the order and pay­ment obli­ga­ti­on by cli­cking the „buy” button.

§ 3 Description of the scope of services

The scope of ser­vices for the ser­vice web­site of Büro Lebens­mit­tel­kun­de und Qua­li­tät GmbH con­sists of the fol­lo­wing ser­vices: The user can purcha­se a paid access and use it to access a coll­ec­tion of docu­ments, opi­ni­ons and legal inter­pre­ta­ti­ons on con­ta­mi­nants and resi­dues in orga­nic food.

§ 4 Prices and shipping costs

To use the Ser­vice Web­site of the Pro­vi­der, regis­tra­ti­on is requi­red first. In order to purcha­se the ser­vices of the ser­vice web­site, the user must regis­ter and crea­te a user account. If the User wis­hes to use a ser­vice that is sub­ject to a char­ge, he will be infor­med in advan­ce of the fact that the ser­vice is sub­ject to a char­ge. In par­ti­cu­lar, he will be infor­med of the respec­ti­ve addi­tio­nal scope of ser­vices, the cos­ts incur­red and the method of pay­ment. Our pri­ces are sub­ject to value added tax at the appli­ca­ble rate. The pro­vi­der reser­ves the right to char­ge dif­fe­rent fee models for dif­fe­rent boo­king times and user groups and in par­ti­cu­lar for dif­fe­rent peri­ods of use, as well as to offer dif­fe­rent sco­pes of services.

§ 5 Terms of payment

The acc­ruing fee is to be paid in advan­ce, on the due date wit­hout deduc­tion to the account of Büro Lebens­mit­tel­kun­de und Qua­li­tät GmbH spe­ci­fied by us in the regis­tra­ti­on con­fir­ma­ti­on or invoice. Cer­tain pay­ment methods may be excluded by the sup­pli­er in indi­vi­du­al cases. Should the Purcha­ser choo­se an online pay­ment method, the Purcha­ser ther­eby aut­ho­ri­ses the Sup­pli­er to coll­ect the amounts due at the time of the order. If the Sup­pli­er offers pay­ment in advan­ce and the Cus­to­mer choo­ses this pay­ment method, the Cus­to­mer shall trans­fer the invoice amount to the Supplier’s account within five calen­dar days of receipt of the order. If the Sup­pli­er offers pay­ment by cre­dit card and the Cus­to­mer choo­ses this method of pay­ment, the Cus­to­mer express­ly aut­ho­ri­ses the Sup­pli­er to coll­ect the amounts due. If the Sup­pli­er offers pay­ment by direct debit and the Cus­to­mer sel­ects this pay­ment method, the Cus­to­mer shall grant the Sup­pli­er a SEPA basic man­da­te. If, in the case of pay­ment by direct debit, the pay­ment tran­sac­tion is rever­sed due to a lack of funds in the account or due to incor­rect­ly trans­mit­ted bank details, the cus­to­mer shall bear the cos­ts incur­red. If the cus­to­mer is in default of pay­ment, the sup­pli­er reser­ves the right to cla­im dama­ges for default.

Sett­le­ment can be made via the fol­lo­wing means of payment:

  • Pre­pay­ment
  • Invoice

§ 6 Registration and termination

Fur­ther­mo­re, the Cus­to­mer decla­res that he and, to the best of his know­ledge, no mem­ber of his com­pa­ny has been con­vic­ted of an inten­tio­nal cri­mi­nal offen­se end­an­ge­ring the safe­ty of third par­ties, espe­ci­al­ly not for a crime against sexu­al self-deter­mi­na­ti­on (§§ 174 ff. StGB), a crime against life (§§ 211 ff. StGB), a crime against phy­si­cal inte­gri­ty (§§ 223 ff. StGB), a crime against per­so­nal free­dom (§§ 232 ff. StGB), or for theft and embezz­le­ment (§§ 242 ff. StGB) or rob­be­ry and extor­ti­on (§§ 249 ff. StGB). A user account is for his/her sole and per­so­nal use and a user may not aut­ho­ri­ze third par­ties to use this account. A user may not trans­fer his/her account to third par­ties. A user is, sub­ject to reser­va­ti­on, entit­led to can­cel his/her account at any time wit­hout giving any reason in wri­ting by mail, e‑mail or tele­pho­ne. At the same time, it is pos­si­ble to deac­ti­va­te this com­ple­te­ly and manu­al­ly within the data and set­tings in the user account. The pre­vious­ly con­cluded con­trac­tu­al rela­ti­onship is ther­eby ter­mi­na­ted. If a user has regis­tered for a paid ser­vice, he may ter­mi­na­te the con­tract no later than 30 days befo­re the boo­king peri­od. If this dead­line is not met, the paid ser­vice will be exten­ded by this peri­od, depen­ding on the sel­ec­ted boo­king peri­od, and the can­cel­la­ti­on will only take effect at the end of the fol­lo­wing boo­king peri­od. Can­cel­la­ti­on by e‑mail or let­ter is pos­si­ble and will be con­firm­ed by us in wri­ting. So that your can­cel­la­ti­on can be assi­gned, the full name, the depo­si­ted e‑mail address and the address of the cus­to­mer should be indi­ca­ted. The pro­vi­der may ter­mi­na­te the con­tract at its sole dis­cre­ti­on, with or wit­hout pri­or noti­ce and wit­hout giving reasons, at any time. The Pro­vi­der fur­ther reser­ves the right to remo­ve pro­files and/or any con­tent published on the Web­site by or from the User. If the Pro­vi­der ter­mi­na­tes the User’s regis­tra­ti­on and/or remo­ves the User’s pro­fi­le or published con­tent, the Pro­vi­der is not obli­ged to inform the User about the ter­mi­na­ti­on or rem­oval. The Users are obli­ged not to make any inten­tio­nal or frau­du­lent fal­se state­ments in their pro­fi­le and other are­as of the Por­tal. Such infor­ma­ti­on may result in civil action. The ope­ra­tor also reser­ves the right to ter­mi­na­te the exis­ting con­trac­tu­al rela­ti­onship with imme­dia­te effect in such a case. If a user’s access is blo­cked and/or the con­trac­tu­al rela­ti­onship is ter­mi­na­ted due to a cul­pa­ble breach of con­tract, the user shall pay dama­ges for the remai­ning term of the con­tract in the amount of the agreed fee less the expen­ses saved. The amount of the saved expen­ses is set at a flat rate of 10% of the fee. Both con­trac­ting par­ties are at liber­ty to pro­ve that the dama­ge and/or the saved expen­ses are actual­ly hig­her or lower. After ter­mi­na­ti­on of the con­trac­tu­al rela­ti­onship, all data of the user will be dele­ted by the provider.

§ 7 Limitation of liability (services)

The pro­vi­der assu­mes no respon­si­bi­li­ty for the con­tent and accu­ra­cy of the infor­ma­ti­on in the regis­tra­ti­on and pro­fi­le data of the purcha­sers and other con­tent gene­ra­ted by the purcha­sers. The Pro­vi­der shall only be lia­ble for dama­ges resul­ting from inju­ry to life, body or health if they are based on an inten­tio­nal or negli­gent breach of duty by the Pro­vi­der or an inten­tio­nal or negli­gent breach of duty by a legal repre­sen­ta­ti­ve or vica­rious agent of the Pro­vi­der. For other dama­ges, as far as they are not based on the vio­la­ti­on of car­di­nal obli­ga­ti­ons (such obli­ga­ti­ons, the ful­fill­ment of which enable the pro­per exe­cu­ti­on of the con­tract in the first place and on the com­pli­ance with which the con­trac­tu­al part­ner may regu­lar­ly rely), the pro­vi­der is only lia­ble if they are based on an inten­tio­nal or gross­ly negli­gent breach of duty by the pro­vi­der or on an inten­tio­nal or gross­ly negli­gent breach of duty by a legal repre­sen­ta­ti­ve or vica­rious agent of the pro­vi­der. The claims for dama­ges are limi­t­ed to the fore­seeable, con­tract-typi­cal dama­ge. In the event of default, they shall amount to a maxi­mum of 5% of the order value. Claims for dama­ges based on inju­ry to life, limb, health or free­dom are sub­ject to a limi­ta­ti­on peri­od of 30 years; other­wi­se after 1 year, wher­eby the limi­ta­ti­on peri­od beg­ins at the end of the year in which the cla­im aro­se and the cre­di­tor beco­mes awa­re of the cir­cum­s­tances giving rise to the cla­im and the per­son of the deb­tor or should have beco­me awa­re wit­hout gross negli­gence (§ 199 Abs.1 BGB). The pro­vi­der reser­ves the right to check the con­tent of a text writ­ten by a user as well as uploa­ded files for com­pli­ance with law and jus­ti­ce and, if neces­sa­ry, to dele­te it in who­le or in part.

§ 8 Offsetting and right of retention

The cus­to­mer shall only have the right to off­set if the coun­ter­cla­im of the cus­to­mer has been legal­ly estab­lished or has not been dis­pu­ted by the sup­pli­er. The Purcha­ser may only exer­cise a right of reten­ti­on inso­far as its coun­ter­cla­im is based on the same con­trac­tu­al relationship.

§ 9 Data protection

If per­so­nal data (e.g. name, address, e‑mail address) is coll­ec­ted, we under­ta­ke to obtain your pri­or con­sent. We under­ta­ke not to pass on any data to third par­ties unless you have given your pri­or con­sent. We would like to point out that the trans­mis­si­on of data on the Inter­net (e.g. by e‑mail) can have secu­ri­ty gaps. Accor­din­gly, error-free and trou­ble-free pro­tec­tion of third-par­ty data can­not be ful­ly gua­ran­teed. In this respect, our lia­bi­li­ty is excluded. Third par­ties are not entit­led to use cont­act data for com­mer­cial acti­vi­ties, pro­vi­ded that the pro­vi­der has given pri­or writ­ten con­sent to the per­sons con­cer­ned. You have the right to obtain com­ple­te infor­ma­ti­on from the pro­vi­der about the data con­cer­ning you at any time. Fur­ther­mo­re, the­re is a right to rectification/deletion of data/restriction of pro­ces­sing for the user. Fur­ther infor­ma­ti­on on data pro­tec­tion can be found in the sepa­ra­te pri­va­cy policy.

§ 10 Cookies

We use coo­kies. Coo­kies are small text files that are stored local­ly in the cache of the site visitor’s Inter­net brow­ser. Num­e­rous Inter­net pages and ser­vers use coo­kies. Many coo­kies con­tain a so-cal­led coo­kie ID. A coo­kie ID is a uni­que iden­ti­fier of the coo­kie. It con­sists of a string of cha­rac­ters by which Inter­net pages and ser­vers can be assi­gned to the spe­ci­fic Inter­net brow­ser in which the coo­kie was stored. This enables the visi­ted Inter­net pages and ser­vers to distin­gu­ish the indi­vi­du­al brow­ser of the data sub­ject from other Inter­net brow­sers that con­tain other coo­kies. A spe­ci­fic Inter­net brow­ser can be reco­gni­zed and iden­ti­fied via the uni­que coo­kie ID. Through the use of coo­kies, the users of this web­site can pro­vi­de more user-fri­end­ly ser­vices that would not be pos­si­ble wit­hout the coo­kie set­ting. We would like to point out that some of the­se coo­kies are trans­fer­red from our ser­ver to your com­pu­ter sys­tem, wher­eby the­se are most­ly so-cal­led ses­si­on-rela­ted coo­kies. Ses­si­on-rela­ted coo­kies are cha­rac­te­ri­zed by the fact that they are auto­ma­ti­cal­ly dele­ted from your hard dri­ve at the end of the brow­ser ses­si­on. Other coo­kies remain on your com­pu­ter sys­tem and enable us to reco­gni­ze your com­pu­ter sys­tem on your next visit (so-cal­led per­ma­nent coo­kies). You can object to the sto­rage of coo­kies, for this pur­po­se a ban­ner is available to which you can object/accept. Of cour­se, you can set your brow­ser so that no coo­kies are stored on the hard dri­ve or alre­a­dy stored coo­kies are dele­ted again. The ins­truc­tions regar­ding the pre­ven­ti­on and dele­ti­on of coo­kies can be found in the help func­tion of your brow­ser or soft­ware manufacturer.

§ 11 Place of Jurisdiction and Applicable Law

For dif­fe­ren­ces of opi­ni­on and dis­pu­tes on the occa­si­on of this con­tract, the law of the Fede­ral Repu­blic of Ger­ma­ny shall app­ly exclu­si­ve­ly, to the exclu­si­on of the UN Con­ven­ti­on on Con­tracts for the Inter­na­tio­nal Sale of Goods. The sole place of juris­dic­tion is the regis­tered office of the provider.

§ 12 Final provisions

The con­trac­tu­al lan­guage is Ger­man. All agree­ments made bet­ween the par­ties for the pur­po­se of exe­cu­ting this con­tract are set out in wri­ting in this con­tract. We reser­ve the right to make chan­ges to our web­site, rules, con­di­ti­ons inclu­ding the­se GTC at any time. Your order will be gover­ned by the terms and con­di­ti­ons of sale, terms and con­di­ti­ons in force at the time of your order, unless a chan­ge to the­se terms and con­di­ti­ons is requi­red by law or govern­ment order (in which case they will also app­ly to orders pre­vious­ly pla­ced by you). If any pro­vi­si­on of the­se Terms of Sale is inva­lid, void or for any reason unen­forceable, that pro­vi­si­on shall be dee­med severa­ble and shall not affect the vali­di­ty and enforcea­bi­li­ty of any remai­ning provisions.

The inva­li­di­ty of a pro­vi­si­on shall not affect the vali­di­ty of the other pro­vi­si­ons from the con­tract. Should this occur, the pro­vi­si­on shall be repla­ced by ano­ther legal­ly per­mis­si­ble pro­vi­si­on in accordance with its mea­ning and pur­po­se, which cor­re­sponds to the mea­ning and pur­po­se of the inva­lid provision.