GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN CONTRACTS

All companies use general terms and conditions (‘GTC’) in their contracts, which are usually pre-formulated by them and are intended for a large number of contracts.

This typically creates an imbalance between the company and its business partners. This is why Austrian law requires GTC clauses to meet certain criteria in order to be valid:

GTC only apply by virtue of the parties' agreement (express or implied). It is sufficient if the company declares prior to the conclusion of the contract that it only wishes to enter into a contractual relationship subject to its GTC and the business partner accepts this.

A tacit submission of the business partner may only be assumed if it is clearly recognizable to him that the company only wants to conclude a contract according to its GTC and he had the opportunity to take note of the content of these conditions.

• Validity check: Provisions of unusual content used by one party to the contract do not become part of the contract if they are disadvantageous to the other party and the other party did not have to expect them in the circumstances, especially in the external appearance of the document.

• Content review: Gross disadvantages may not become part of the contract. The interpretation of a contract is to the disadvantage of the user of the GTC.

• Transparency requirement: The content of the contract must be clear and comprehensible.

  
  

If you have any questions, please contact your lawyer or notary public.

(c) Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay