These general terms and conditions apply to all services provided by the lawyers of law firm Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven, a private limited company with registered office in Belgium, 2600 Antwerp (Berchem), Potvlietlaan 6, RPR Antwerp and registered in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises under number 0766. 553.584 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven’) with regard to its clients.
T +32 3 448 49 92
F +32 3 448 49 95
E info@legaloffice.be for all administrative matters concerning your file
E boekhouding@legaloffice.be for all accounting-related matters
In the event of any conflict, these general terms and conditions shall prevail over any conflicting general terms and conditions of the client, unless otherwise agreed in writing by one of the directors of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven.
The lawyers affiliated with Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven perform their services in the name and on behalf of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven. Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven is the client's sole contracting party for any services provided by one or more specific lawyers of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven.
The services provided by Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven may include advice, meetings, negotiations, representation in court, assistance with proceedings, acting as a representative, etc.
The parties shall determine the exact scope of the services provided by Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven at the start of the work and, if necessary, the subject of the services may be adapted or extended during the further execution. Adaption or extension of the services may occure informally, and shall be apparent form, among other things, the giving of instructions, the acceptance of services or the payment of invoices.
The client accepts that Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven has the right to engage third parties (other lawyers, judicial officers, translators, notaries, experts, accountants, etc.) in the name and on behalf of the client in the performance of its activities. The client leaves the choice of these third parties to Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven. Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven will only engage other third parties with the explicit consent of the client.
Any advice given by Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven is for the sole use of the client and is given solely in the context of the case and/or matter for which it was given. Advice given by Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven may not be used by third parties. Nor may third parties invoke it. The client accepts that he will not disclose any advice given by Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven to third parties without prior written consent (unless, if necessary, to another professional advisor of the client, but without any obligation or liability on the part of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven towards this third party). The contractual obligations of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven apply only to the client and do not extend to third parties, unless Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven expressly accepts this responsibility in writing.
The client indemnifies Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven and its affiliates against all claims by third parties that are in any way related to or arise from the client's assignment and/or the work performed for the client. The compensation shall also include the costs of defence.
The client is prohibited from recording conversations with the lawyer on any medium whatsoever.
The client undertakes to provide all relevant information and data. The client is responsible for the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the information and data provided, even if these can be verified.
If Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven Advocaten lawyers assist you in the context of financial transactions or transactions relating to immovable property, we must comply with specific legal and ethical rules aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.
Before we can accept you as a client in such cases, we must first verify your identity and that of any authorised representatives and ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs). We must also assess your characteristics and the purpose and nature of the assignment you entrust to us. These due diligence obligations also apply during the performance of our assignment and any other assignments you may entrust to us. The costs of these administrative obligations are included in our fee.
In order to enable us to comply with these obligations, you must provide us with the necessary information immediately when we request it. If there are any changes that may affect your status, you must provide us with this information immediately on your own initiative. We will process and store the information you provide to us for a period of 10 years from the end of our business relationship or the last assignment you entrust to us. For more information about the data protection aspects of our obligations under the anti-money laundering regulations, please refer to our privacy policy.
If you fail to provide us with the necessary information, we will not be able to accept you as a client and/or we will be obliged to terminate our work for you immediately. We are not liable for any damage resulting from this. Furthermore, the termination of our work does not affect the services already provided and invoiced.
If, in the course of our assignment, we discover facts that we know or suspect to be related to money laundering or terrorist financing, we must immediately report this to the president of the Bar Association, unless we are providing you with legal advice or defending or representing you in legal proceedings. The president of the Bar Association will then decide whether to forward our report to the Financial Intelligence Processing Unit. In the event of a report, we are also obliged to terminate our work for you immediately, without being allowed to inform you of the reason for this. This is prohibited by law. Furthermore, you cannot hold us liable for reports that we submit in good faith to the Financial Information Processing Unit.
These obligations do not, of course, affect the professional secrecy that characterises the relationship between the client and their solicitor.
Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven may terminate the representation of its client for any reason in accordance with the applicable rules of professional conduct and/or if unforeseeable or unforeseeable circumstances arise after the start of the representation that make it difficult or impossible for Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven to provide its services. The client may terminate the representation by Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven at any time in writing. However, the termination of the services shall not affect the client's liability to pay for the services and costs incurred prior to the termination and for services and costs relating to the transfer of the file.
Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven operates with complete transparency in terms of fees and costs. The fee covers the services provided by the lawyer, such as advice, meetings, correspondence, negotiations, telephone discussions, research, preparation of documents, representation in court, travel time, etc. If specific office know-how, models developed by the firm or strategies developed by the firm are used, these will be charged under fees.
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, our services are charged at an hourly rate, which is determined on the basis of the experience and knowledge of our lawyers.
Specific costs in files such as costs incurred by court registries, mortgage offices, registration offices, business registration offices, the Belgian Official Gazette, the National Register, the Central Register of Seizures, official and unofficial trade and company registers, other official and unofficial registers and databases, services provided by third parties, court costs, bailiffs, experts, translators, parking costs, expertise and translation costs, additional premiums for professional liability insurance where the client's interests require additional cover, will be charged separately on the basis of the actual costs incurred.
Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven rents Cloud-based virtual data room software for the secure sharing of documents. For the use of this data room in one or more of your files, Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven charges a price of 750 euros excluding VAT for Grade 2 and Grade 3 files. For Grade 1 files, a fee of 250 euros excluding VAT will be charged. For the efficient management of some of your files, the lawyers will recommend the use of this software and the cost will be passed on to the client.
Without prejudice to the fees charged, various office costs will be charged for opening the file. The firm applies the following rates for all current and new files:
File creation (digital file start-up) at 400€ per file
A flat-rate administration fee of 15% will be charged on top of the fees charged. This flat-rate fee covers all administrative costs incurred on behalf of the client, including mileage in Belgium.
All amounts stated are exclusive of VAT (to be added at the applicable VAT rate, which is currently 21%) and exclusive of any tax, surcharge or similar increase that a client, payer or Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven is obliged to pay or that Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven is obliged to charge on the basis of applicable regulations.
The amounts of both the hourly rates and the fixed percentage of costs will be communicated to the client at the start of the services and will in any case be provided to the client free of charge at their first request.
The rates are reviewed periodically. Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven reserves the right to ask clients for an advance payment or commission in respect of its fees and costs. An advance payment or commission is a fixed amount that the client must pay to Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven prior to an interim invoice or final invoice. Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven will settle all advances paid when drawing up the final invoice. Invoices are normally drawn up on a monthly basis.
Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven will keep a timesheet and record all billable time units. A time unit is 6 minutes, with each time unit started being charged as a full time unit. These time units are then multiplied by the applicable hourly rate to arrive at an accurate fee estimate.
Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven will adjust the above fee in line with the consumer price index. The index figure for the month preceding the signing of the mandate will serve as the initial index, and the index figure for the month preceding the anniversary of the agreement's entry into force will serve as the new index.
The client must inform Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven of the legal expenses insurer with which he works before the start of the case. If the client's legal expenses insurer intervenes, Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven will recover the fees and costs not covered or paid by the legal expenses insurer from the client.
If Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven acts on behalf of several persons or legal entities that are affiliated with each other, these persons or legal entities shall be jointly and severally liable for all amounts owed by them or one of them to Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven. Only upon termination of the cooperation with one of the persons or legal entities shall that respective person or legal entity no longer be liable for services provided to the other persons or legal entities after such termination. The respective person or legal entity shall remain jointly and severally liable for all services provided up to the time of termination of the cooperation.
The client must pay the invoices (advance invoice, interim invoice or final invoice) within 15 calendar days of the date of issue. If the client does not agree with the invoice, they must protest in writing within 15 calendar days of receipt. Details of the services provided are available on request. In the absence of any written objection, the invoice shall be deemed to have been accepted.
If the client is a consumer, failure to pay or late payment of all or part of the invoice shall give rise to a) suspension of the service obligation on the part of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven; b) the sending of a first notice of default; c) if payment is not made within fifteen (15) calendar days (in the case of an electronic reminder) or seventeen (17) calendar days (in the case of a reminder by post) after the aforementioned notice of default, default interest and costs will be charged immediately. The following costs will be charged for this: a) €20 if the outstanding balance is less than or equal to €150; b) €30 plus 10% of the amount due on the tranche between €150.01 and €500 if the outstanding balance is between €150.01 and €500; c) €65 plus 5% of the amount due on the tranche above €500, with a maximum of €2,000 if the outstanding balance exceeds €500. The default interest shall be equal to the reference rate plus eight percentage points as specified in Article 5, paragraph 2 of the Act of 2 August 2002 on combating late payment in commercial transactions, calculated from the due date of the invoice until the date of full payment.
If the client is a company, any invoice that remains unpaid on the due date shall, by operation of law and without prior notice, be subject to default interest equal to the statutory interest rate from the due date until full payment is received. In the latter case, any amount remaining unpaid after the due date shall also be increased by a penalty clause equal to 10% of the invoice amount, with a minimum of £75 per unpaid invoice.
Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven shall, without having to give the client prior notice of default, the right to either suspend all further services in the file until all amounts due have been paid in full, or to terminate the agreement with the client with immediate effect, unless this would be untimely in view of the interests and representation of the client.
The client acknowledges that he/she has been informed of the law of 21 April 2017 on the recoverability of fees and costs associated with the assistance of a lawyer. The legal aid fee may be used by the lawyer to settle his fees and costs.
Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven shall transfer all amounts received on behalf of the client to the client as soon as possible. Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven may deduct sums from the amounts received on behalf of the client to cover commissions, costs or fees, even if these are not yet due. Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven shall inform the client of this in writing. This provision does not affect the client's right to dispute the fee statements and to claim payment of these amounts withheld.
Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven shall immediately transfer all amounts it receives from the client on behalf of third parties to these third parties.
The third-party account number is BE43 6304 3921 0201 (BIC/SWIFT: BBRUBEBB) and is in the name of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven.
All lawyers affiliated with Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven are individually insured for professional liability and insolvency (with Amlin Europe nv) through insurance endorsed by the Flemish Bar Association. The insurer's coverage under the specific terms and conditions of the insurance policy is limited to a maximum of €2,500,000 per claim.
In addition, Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven has taken out supplementary second-tier professional liability insurance for lawyers with AG Insurance nv. This insurance provides cover of €5,000,000 per insurance year in addition to and after exhaustion of the €2,500,000 per claim in the first tier.
Third-party professional liability insurance has been taken out with HDI Global Specialty SE for the following lawyers: Kristiaan Caluwaerts, Kristof Uytterhoeven, Dirk Berckmans, Frederik Van Overtveldt, Ignace Kroos, Stephanie Moras, Steven Slachmuylders, Yannick Grauwels, Stéphanie Schepens, Federico Wuyts, Noëmi Callaert and Vincent De Somer. The guarantee amounts to €10,000,000 per claim and per claim year, in addition to and after exhaustion of the underlying second and first-tier policies.
The client accepts that compensation for damage suffered as a result of professional negligence on the part of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven is limited to the amount actually paid out by the professional liability insurer. The client therefore accepts that compensation for damage suffered as a result of a professional error on the part of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven is limited to the amount for which Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven is insured, except in the event of intentional error or fraud on the part of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven.
A claim shall in any case lapse if Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven has not been notified in writing of the claim within one year of the discovery of an event or circumstance that gives rise or may give rise to liability.
If the professional liability insurer does not cover the damage, through no fault of Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven, the compensation for professional negligence shall be limited in principal, costs and interest to the amount paid by the client during the year preceding this act or omission, with a total maximum of € 50,000. A copy of the policy conditions can be provided on request.
Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven is not liable for any shortcomings of third parties engaged in the performance of their services, regardless of whether these third parties have charged their fees and costs to Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven or directly to the client.
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Where applicable, Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven collects all data necessary for the provision of its services, including the client's name, address, telephone numbers, email address and any other information about the client.
This data may be passed on to third parties, such as bailiffs, translators, other lawyers, notaries, experts, accountants, etc., who are engaged by Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven in the context of its services. In that case, Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven will act as the Controller and the third party as the Processor within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing the Directive on the protection of personal data (General Data Protection Regulation). Directive 95/46/EC and the Act of 30 July 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data.
The client has the following rights: the right of access, the right to rectification, the right to data portability, the right to restriction of processing, the right to data portability, the right to object and the right not to be subject to automated decision-making. The client may exercise the aforementioned rights at any time by contacting Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven at the following contact details: Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven | Potvlietlaan 6, 2600 Berchem | +32 (0)3 448 49 92 | info@legaloffice.be.
If there are any complaints regarding the processing of the client's personal data, the client may contact Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven | Potvlietlaan 6, 2600 Berchem | +32 (0)3 448 49 92 | info@legaloffice. be, with a view to resolving the matter internally, or submit a complaint to the Data Protection Authority | Drukpersstraat 35, 1000 Brussels | +32 (0)2 274 48 00 | +32 (0)2 274 48 35 | contact@apd-gba.be].
Notwithstanding Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven's reasonable efforts to protect its emails and attachments from viruses or other defects that may affect computers or an IT system, including cooperating with Eye Security and taking out cybersecurity insurance, it remains the client's responsibility to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to protect the client's computers and IT system against such viruses or defects. Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven accepts no liability for any loss or damage resulting from the receipt or use of electronic communications from Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven.
Unless otherwise required by mandatory legal provisions, the legal relationship between the client and Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven is exclusively subject to Belgian law, with the exception of rules of private international law. In the event of a dispute between Caluwaerts Uytterhoeven and the client, the courts of Antwerp, Antwerp division, shall have exclusive jurisdiction.