Terms & conditions – Jinah Translations

Article 1: Applicability

1.1. These general terms apply to all services delivered by Translation Agency Jinah Translations / Jinah International CommV, hereinafter referred to as Jinah. These terms override any of the customer’s own terms and conditions and, unless otherwise stated, the customer will abide by Jinah’s general terms and working methods.

1.2. These general terms also apply to contracts entrusted to Jinah and for which the latter may or may not engage third parties to perform the assignments.

1.3. By customer we mean: person, legal body or private individual who consigned an assignment to Jinah.

1.4. If the client is acting as an intermediary on behalf of and for the account of a third party, the client must communicate the third party’s name, address and business number to Jinah.

1.5. In no case whatsoever, should the nullity of one or more clauses in these terms result in the nullity of the remaining clauses. In case a clause is declared invalid, Jinah and the client will discuss and agree on a replacement clause which takes into account the purpose and intent of the original clause.

Article 2: Price offer

2.1. For each request for a quotation, Jinah will give the potential customer a detailed offer by e-mail. The offer is only applicable to the assignment in question and is not automatically valid for future assignments.

2.2. Each offer is valid for thirty (30) days from the date of the offer. After which Jinah reserves the right to change its offer, partially or fully, or to cancel it completely. All valid assignments will require a written acceptance by Jinah.

2.3. To avoid any disputes, Jinah will only start working on the assignment on receipt of the customer’s signed acceptance of the offer, which should be sent to Jinah by e-mail, and on receipt of a possible monetary advance, as mentioned in article 10.

2.4. If the customer uses his own order form, it must indicate the reference number from Jinah’s offer. The customer must also add a signed copy of Jinah’s offer and general terms as an attachment to the order form.

2.5. Any prices indicated on the website are mere guidelines. They do not count as offers.

2.6. Unless expressly agreed otherwise, the price included in the offer is calculated based on the number of characters / words taken from the supplied source text by the client and estimated in the target language. The number of characters/words is counted digitally. Copywriting, text revision and post-editing assignments are generally charged at an hourly rate.

2.7. Assignments requested by telephone must be confirmed in writing by the customer within 24 hours after the phone call; without this confirmation, the assignment will be considered non-existent..

2.8. Jinah reserves the right to withdraw the offer and possible agreed term of delivery after the customer has accepted the offer in the case where Jinah was not able to look at the complete text when the offer was made.

2.9. Assignments containing illegal or indecent contents can be refused by Jinah, even after the offer has been signed.

2.10. All special offers and estimated prices, in any form, are without commitment, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Special offers and offers are not automatically valid for future assignments.

2.11. By signing this offer, the customer agrees with Jinah’s general terms.

Article 3: Quality guarantee

3.1. Jinah commits itself to execute the assignment with proper professional knowledge and skill and/or to let the assignment be executed with which the intended final objective, communicated to Jinah by the customer together with the assignment, is taken into account. If the objective was not communicated, Jinah considers the assignment as for internal use. Specific wishes regarding the layout must be mentioned by the customer when the assignment order is made.

3.2. Should Jinah have any questions about the assignment before or while working on the assignment, the customer will reply in time and/or give directions in order that the assignment can be executed within the agreed term of delivery.

3.3. Source material required to execute the assignment effectively, will be given to Jinah by the customer at his own expense and risk. The material must be delivered by e-mail or another digital form and must be clearly legible.

3.4. The words, expressions and spelling of acknowledged dictionaries will be considered as correct for every assignment. The new preferred spelling will be used for French. If the customer prefers using specific terminology or technical language, he will be required to deliver the necessary information, documentation and/or terminology data to Jinah, before Jinah starts working on the assignment. If texts contain uncommonly known abbreviations, the customer must share their meaning with Jinah. If the above-mentioned information is not provided, Jinah will consider the technical language as that used in general terms.

3.5. The source text quality determines the translation quality. If the source text is of poor quality, Jinah cannot be held responsible for language, spelling or grammatical mistakes in the translation.

3.6. Assignments executed by Jinah will be sent to the customer by e-mail or via an alternative digital method, unless the customer wishes to receive the final work by regular and/or registered post. The costs for sending the final work by post are at the expense of the customer.

3.7 All articles also apply to text revision, proofreading, post-editing, SEO copywriting and transcription assignments.

Article 4: Terms of delivery

4.1. Unless explicitly agreed in writing, Jinah does not need to adhere to the terms of delivery requested by the customer. Jinah will, however, do everything possible to respect the customer’s requested term of delivery. If Jinah realises it is not possible to finish the assignment by the desired term of delivery, Jinah will inform the customer immediately..

4.2. If the customer does not have a desired term of delivery, Jinah will determine one.

4.3. The client is obliged to make every effort to enable a timely delivery by Jinah.

4.4. If Jinah exceeds the agreed delivery period by at least three (3) working days, for example in cases of force majeure, the client has the right to terminate the contract unilaterally, provided that this decision was communicated explicitly and in writing by e-mail to and accepted by Jinah. In any case, the client cannot claim compensation for such an occurrence. The work already carried out by Jinah will be invoiced by Jinah and made available to the client.

4.5. The delivery of translation and revision assignments by Jinah will be made by e-mail. The delivery process is considered fulfilled after the complete work carried out by Jinah is sent by e-mail.

Article 5: Transfer of intellectual property rights

5.1. Jinah retains the rights to all texts created and produced by Jinah until the invoice is completely paid by the customer. At that moment, Jinah transfers the complete and unconditional intellectual rights on the final product to the customer. The customer does not have to pay extra charges when reusing the product in the same medium or other media, not even when used by third parties.

5.2. After transfer of the intellectual property rights, the client indemnifies Jinah against claims from both the client and third parties regarding alleged infringement of copyright, proprietary or other intellectual property rights in connection with the execution of the contract(s).

Article 6: Privacy confidentiality and protection

6.1. Jinah observes the law on the protection of personal data and the data will not be made available to third parties without the express written consent of the client. The requested data for completion of the assignment and of the agreement are only for communications between the client and Jinah. The client always has the right to access his data, for any given purpose, and to have the said data modified or removed.

6.2. Jinah commits itself on behalf of the customer to confidentially handle all third party information and data which has been made available during the assignment. Jinah takes all possible precautions to protect the customer’s interests. Freelancers who work with Jinah also adhere to this confidentiality. Jinah, however, is not responsible for any possible violation made by her freelancers, if she can prove that she could not have prevented the violation.

6.3. Jinah reserves the right to have an assignment executed fully or partly by a third party freelancer without a preceding agreement in writing by the customer. The freelancer is selected by Jinah, is well known by Jinah, and is adequately qualified and has proven to have the necessary skills..

6.4. Jinah retains the right to store digital files related to the assignment for a period deemed necessary and subsequently to delete them.

6.5. The customer cannot share information regarding Jinah’s sales approach, marketing methods or offers to third parties without Jinah’s written consent. Nor can the customer make Jinah’s reports available to others without Jinah’s explicit and written consent.

Article 7: Liability

7.1. Based on the material sent by the customer, Jinah translates and/or writes the content in good faith. Consequently, Jinah cannot be held responsible for statements contained within the requested translations or copywriting which might not be in agreement with ethical and legal standards, regardless of whether the customer shares this intellectual property or texts with other parties. When in doubt, Jinah is allowed to consult the customer regarding this. Subsequently, possible changes to the text will be charged at the hourly rate. Consultation with the customer is an extra service provided by Jinah, when required. This service still remains without obligations and the customer is always liable for the final decisions and text content.

7.2. Jinah is only liable for damage which is the direct and demonstrable consequence of an imputable error by Jinah. Jinah cannot be held responsible for any other damage. In any event, Jinah’s liability is limited to the total sum of the invoice, VAT excluded, for the assignment corresponding to the proven error.

7.3. Jinah is not liable for damage caused by use of automated information technology and modern means of communication, such as e-mail, Internet, cloud technology…

7.4. Jinah is not liable for late deliveries caused by third party strikes, equipment failures within the company, force majeure as described in art. 11, network or server failures, digital viruses … all of which are out of Jinah’s control.

7.5. When delivering the executed assignment digitally, Jinah cannot be held liable for damage or problems caused by computer malware. If the customer’s software is damaged by using Jinah’s processed files, Jinah is only liable in the case where gross negligence can be proven.

7.6. Jinah cannot be held liable for faulty, illegible, poor state or unusable state of the format and/or software, or data storage device provided by the customer.

7.7. Jinah cannot be held liable for complaints about style, layout, font size, font, presentation, quality or format of the data storage device, software, …

7.8. Jinah cannot be held liable for the content, erroneous, vague or ambiguous phrases in the customer’s texts which have to be translated or used for copywriting and for possible damage caused by the use of this text. Jinah has the right to refuse copywriting and/or translation assignments which could be considered to be illegal, libellous, insulting

7.9. In no case whatsoever can Jinah be held liable for plagiarism for texts sent by the customer with the intended purpose of having them translated or used for copywriting as the customer’s own texts, if these are subsequently considered an infringement of copyright.

7.10. Jinah cannot be held liable for damage resulting from loss, destruction of or damage to files, leaflets, papers or other data storage devices, such as USBs or DVDs, which the customer offers to be at Jinah’s disposal for a translation and/or copywriting assignment. Sending those to Jinah is at the customer’s own risk and account.

7.11. Jinah cannot be held liable for errors of any kind in copywriting and/or the translation if Jinah has used the erroneous terminology given by the customer, even when it was given in good faith. Including errors resulting from vague, illegible, faulty information or incomplete texts or reference material or missing, faulty or incorrect terminology as provided by the customer when submitting an assignment.

7.12. Jinah cannot be held liable in any case for errors in the copywriting and/or translation, resulting from working under undue pressure due to the customer not allowing enough time to complete an assignment effectively. For example, if the lack of time has not permitted any text revisions, the customer cannot appeal to Jinah’s commitment to quality.

7.13. It’s the customer’s responsibility to check legal, technical or other translations including numbers, formulas, addresses, specific terminology and other data in the target text once he receives the translated and/or written texts. If necessary, he may have to correct or edit the translated and/or written documents before having them published internally in the company or externally. The responsibility regarding any risk to the delivered copywriting and/or translation is that of the customer’s.

7.14. In the above-mentioned case, Jinah cannot be held liable for trivial errors in the copywriting and/or translation texts delivered by Jinah.

7.15. The customer commits himself to safeguard Jinah against claims from third parties, as a result of using the delivered copywriting and/or translation texts and as far as Jinah’s liability goes as mentioned in this article.

Article 8: Changes and cancellations of assignments

8.1.  The customer accepts that the time of delivery is subject to change, if both parties agree to interim change or expand the approach, method or size of the assignment, and/or the work resulting from that. If it means there will be more work, this will be confirmed as an additional assignment by the customer. If both parties agree with the execution phases, Jinah is able to suspend working on some sections which belong to the next phase until the customer has approved the results from the previous phase in writing.

8.2. If the customer changes the assignment after Jinah has accepted it, Jinah is entitled to change the agreed rates and/or term of delivery or refuse the assignment. In the latter case, the customer must pay Jinah for the work already executed..

8.3. If the customer annuls or breaks off the assignment, even after Jinah has accepted it, the customer must pay Jinah for the work already executed of which Jinah does not stand surety for its quality. If the total sum of the executed work is less than 25% of the total offer, 25% will be charged by Jinah. If Jinah has not yet started working on the assignment, Jinah will charge damages equal to 25% of the total offer.

8.4. If the progress or delivery of the work is delayed by the customer due to negligence or force majeure on his side, Jinah can charge the total agreed sum of the offer and/or any costs already realised due to materials/services necessary for the assignment.

8.5. All articles also apply to text revision, post-editing and copywriting assignments.

Article 9: Complaints

9.1. Should a customer have a complaint about an assignment executed by Jinah, he must express his motivated complaint in writing to Jinah within five (5) working days, starting from the date of delivery. A complaint can only be accepted if the customer delivers a detailed overview of his complaint in writing.

9.2. Jinah will investigate the complaint and inform the customer whether it is well-founded or not. If the complaint is well-founded, Jinah will commit itself to change and/or correct the executed work without any recompense for damages and within a limited term. If Jinah is not capable of obliging the customer’s wishes, Jinah will allow a discount on the customer’s invoice, without any recompense for damages for the customer.

9.3. Clearly described and well-founded complaints are only permissible if the customer has not used, edited or processed, or managed the executed work in another way.

9.4. Under no circumstances does a complaint relieve the customer from his obligation for payment.

9.5. If the previously mentioned period of five (5) working days has passed, the assignment will be considered as accepted and approved.

Article 10: Invoice, payment, damages and interest on arrears

10.1. For every assignment with a value of 500 euros or more (VAT excluded) Jinah demands an advance of 30% on the day that Jinah accepts the assignment. Jinah reserves the right to ask for a minimum 30% in advance, even with lower assignment values, when working with new customers. If the advance is not paid, Jinah reserves the right to repudiate the contract immediately and without notice. The customer will be charged for any damages suffered by Jinah.

10.2. An invoice will be sent by Jinah on delivery of the final texts.

10.3. Basic rates are calculated on the amount of work and based on a maximum of 2,500 words per working day. In the case where the amount of assessed work is exceeded and in the case where Jinah has to work during the weekend and/or on legal holidays, Jinah reserves the right to increase the price.

10.4. In the case where the customer delivers unclear documents or documents and/or data files which need to be processed, Jinah reserves the right to charge the customer for the extra work required.

10.5. Jinah is permitted to draw up interim invoices for the work delivered on assignments taking more than 30 days.

10.6. If the customer has paid an advance, that advance will be subtracted from the customer’s final invoice.

10.7. Jinah’s invoices are payable:

• In euros, unless another currency is mentioned on the invoice, after Jinah’s explicit and written approval to the customer.
• The invoice must be paid by transferring the amount of money to the bank account mentioned on the invoice, no later than 14 days after the date of the invoice.
• All late payments and arrears will be considered a breach of contract according to article 1147 BW of the Belgian law. If the customer fails to pay the invoice within the stated time limit, Jinah reserves the right to charge interest on arrears by right and without notice in accordance with the Belgian law with regard to fighting late payments in commercial transactions. The interests on arrears amount to 1% per month of the invoice balance, calculated per started month and from the invoice payment expiry date until the day the full amount of money stated on the invoice is paid. Jinah will also raise the interests on arrears with a compensation payment for all administrative costs and collection charges amounting to 10% of the due payment and with a minimum of 150 euros. In the case of late payment, the client must first pay the administration costs, then the accumulated arrears and finally the outstanding invoice amount.
• Should Jinah find it necessary to hire a debt collection agency, then all costs incurred by Jinah will be directed to the customer, with a minimum of 150 euros.
• In the case of late payment or arrears, Jinah reserves the right to suspend all work on unfinished assignments without prior notice and by right until the payment due is fully compensated.

Article 11: Force majeure

11.1. Cases of force majeure, whether temporarily or permanently suspending or making the assignment’s execution impossible, remove, as of right, Jinah’s obligations to the assignment and remove Jinah of any liability to damages. The following are considered force majeure: all foreseen and unforeseen conditions which Jinah has no control over and which prevent Jinah from fulfilling her obligations. The following items are also considered force majeure: war and similar situations, public government decisions or actions, strikes, floods, storms, fire, accidents, illness, epidemics, delivering obstruction, customer bankruptcy, service interference of internet providers, supplier negligence (this list is not exhaustive).

11.2. Should the force majeure period take longer than two months, then both parties are allowed to end the assignment, by right of either single party, without any damages to the other party.

11.3. Should Jinah partially meet her obligations at the start of the force majeure period, or has only partly met her obligations, then Jinah will consider it a separate assignment for which Jinah has the right to charge for work executed and the customer is obliged to pay the invoice.

Article 12: Disputes

The general terms and agreements in each section between Jinah and the customer are exclusively governed by Belgian Law.

All disputes between the parties involved, either directly or indirectly resulting from the present agreement are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts under which Jinah’s head office is registered.

The general terms and conditions in Dutch always prevail over the terms and conditions translated into another language.

Article 13

Our privacy & cookie policy and disclaimer are an integral part of these general terms and conditions.