ARTICLE 1 – SCOPE
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All translation, proofreading and formatting services provided by SIX CONTINENTS for its professional clients are governed by these General Terms and Conditions, excluding any other document and excepting any specific conditions negotiated between the Parties. Therefore, any clauses that may appear on the Client’s documents, in particular the Client’s general terms and conditions of purchase, will be unenforceable against SIX CONTINENTS.
Placing an order with SIX CONTINENTS implies knowledge and acceptance of these General Terms and Conditions by the Client, who acknowledges having received and accepted them and waiving any general purchase conditions.
SIX CONTINENTS reserves the right to contravene certain clauses of these General Terms and Conditions, subject to the Client’s prior agreement.
For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions, the term “Client” refers to any natural or legal person represented by the signatory of the Quote or any other document which constitutes a Purchase Order.
SIX CONTINENTS considers that all employees or associates of a business or organization who place an order on behalf of said business or organization have received prior permission from their line management to purchase said services, without any possibility of objection from the Client.
ARTICLE 2 – QUOTES AND ORDERS
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All Client orders are preceded by a Quote, drawn up free of charge by SIX CONTINENTS based on the documents to be translated provided by the Client or information provided by the Client.
Documents to be translated may contain reference documents and/or diagrams, drawings or plans which would assist the translators in their work. Any glossaries provided by the Client shall also be taken into account and used in the translation.
The Quote is a document sent by SIX CONTINENTS to the Client which includes a description of the work to be carried out and the service fee.
The Quote is normally sent to the Client electronically through SIX CONTINENTS’ management system; the document sent expressly refers to these General Terms and Conditions via a link to https://sixcontinents.fr/en/terms-conditions-of-sale/. The Client must then accept the Quote and the General Terms and Conditions by following the outlined procedure. If the digital acceptance method is temporarily unavailable, the Client shall return the Quote to SIX CONTINENTS by post or email after having added the date, signature and company stamp, preceded by the words “Signed and agreed”. The Client must also return a copy of these General Terms and Conditions, signed in accordance with Article 13.
The Client may also place an order by sending SIX CONTINENTS a Purchase Order, issued by the Client’s authorized teams, or by sending payment for all or part of the chosen service to SIX CONTINENTS.
The order placed by the Client, using one of the methods described above, shall only be considered definitive if the Client expressly accepts these General Terms and Conditions and the order is confirmed by SIX CONTINENTS. Any special condition that deviates from or supplements these General Terms and Conditions must be stipulated on the Quote or purchase order and accepted by both Parties.
ARTICLE 3 – ORDER CANCELLATION
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Should the Client cancel a firm and final order, SIX CONTINENTS shall invoice the Client for 100% of the work which has already been completed on the date of cancellation, plus 50% of the remaining initial order amount.
Should cancellation occur before work begins, lump-sum compensation of 50% of the initial Order amount shall be invoiced.
ARTICLE 4 – DELIVERY DEADLINE
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If a deadline has been set for the service provision, the period begins on the date on which SIX CONTINENTS receives the Quote accepted by the Client or on the date on which SIX CONTINENTS issues written confirmation of the Purchase Order, as described in Article 2.
All quotes accepted and received after 5 p.m. by SIX CONTINENTS shall be considered to have been received the next day. If the next day is not a working day, the date of the next working day shall apply.
If SIX CONTINENTS receives the Client’s acceptance of the Quote more than one week after said Quote was issued, the service provision deadline may be adapted based on the translators’ workloads on the date of acceptance.
ARTICLE 5 – PRICES
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Rates for SIX CONTINENTS’ services differ based on the nature of the service provided. Translation and proofreading services are invoiced based on a unit rate per source word or per hour. Formatting services are invoiced based on an hourly rate, following estimation of the number of hours necessary to carry out the work requested by the Client.
Rates are given net and excluding taxes. These base rates may be increased depending on the format of the documents to be processed, the specifics of the texts and the degree of urgency.
SIX CONTINENTS has sole discretion over any decision to apply discounts or sliding-scale prices, based on a percentage or a fixed amount. The application of a discount in no way obliges SIX CONTINENTS to apply the same discount to subsequent orders made by the Client.
Unless otherwise requested by the Client, translations of text contained in images, Flash animations, etc. are provided without formatting. SIX CONTINENTS may however reintegrate the text or carry out image editing work at the express demand of the Client and in exchange for an additional fee based on a Quote sent in advance.
All detailed quotes are free of charge and preferably calculated based on the documents to be processed, provided by the Client. The amount given in the Quote is firm and final, except in the following instances:
(1)changes made to the content or additional documents added by the Client during order confirmation,
(2)absence of documents when the Quote is being established, if the Quote was established based only on the approximate number of words and an extract of the content,
(3)underestimation of the work to be carried out, in particular for services that are invoiced at an hourly rate, and for scanned documents and PDF files.
In these cases, SIX CONTINENTS reserves the right to alter the rate given in the Quote and to establish a corrected Quote.
ARTICLE 6 – PAYMENT CONDITIONS
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6.1. Payment terms
Unless otherwise agreed, invoices are payable within thirty (30) days of the date of invoice, and without discount for upfront payment.
6.2. Payment methods
All payments must be made by cheque, credit card or bank transfer, made payable to SIX CONTINENTS. SIX CONTINENTS’ postal address and bank account details are given on the invoice. Unless otherwise stated, the billing address shall be that provided by the Client when requesting the Quote.
Any first order will be subject to a 50% deposit. Any order exceeding 3,000 EUROS (three thousand euros) excluding tax may be subject to a 50% deposit. In this case, work will only begin once the deposit has been received (payable by bank transfer, bank card or check).
6.3. Late payment and late-payment penalties
In the event of late payment, late-payment penalties will be applied at a rate equal to the European Central Bank refinancing rate plus 7 percentage points. This rate will be applied to the amount of the invoices including tax. These penalties shall be due to SIX CONTINENTS automatically, without any formality or prior formal notice. The application of these late-payment penalties will make all sums owed by the Client immediately due, without prejudice to any other action the service provider may be entitled to bring against the client.
In the event of non-compliance with the payment terms set out above, SIX CONTINENTS also reserves the right to suspend the service in progress until payment is received.
Should SIX CONTINENTS be required to take legal action to recover its invoices, the Client shall automatically owe the fixed recovery fee of €40 excluding tax (Article D. 441-5 of the French Commercial Code), to which additional compensation may be added upon proof.
Until full payment for the services, in particular translation, revision and proofreading, SIX CONTINENTS retains the reproduction rights to any translated document or file, in whole or in part, in accordance with the intellectual property laws in force. In the event of non-payment, any use, representation or partial or full reproduction of said translation is unlawful. SIX CONTINENTS reserves the right to take the necessary legal action to enforce its property rights.
ARTICLE 7 – SIX CONTINENTS’ OBLIGATIONS
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7.1. Quality service provision
SIX CONTINENTS shall ensure the Client receives consistent expertise in the quality of the work carried out. In case of subcontracting, SIX CONTINENTS commits to use qualified actors and to ensure that said actors have the necessary skills and means to ensure correct service provision.
In no case shall SIX CONTINENTS be held morally or financially liable for complaints based on differences in style or distinct terminological preferences.
The acknowledgement of certain inaccuracies in part of the translation shall in no way call into question the entirety of the work carried out by SIX CONTINENTS. SIX CONTINENTS reserves the right to carry out the necessary modifications and/or offer the Client a discount or credit note if the complaint proves to be founded.
SIX CONTINENTS shall not be held liable for the Client’s use of the work, nor that of any third party to which the Client may have sent said work.
In case of disputes relating to the quality of the service, SIX CONTINENTS’ liability only extends to the amount of the invoice concerned.
SIX CONTINENTS shall under no circumstances be held responsible by the Client or any other person for any special, incidental, indirect or immaterial damages (including, but not limited to, the loss of profits or savings, business interruption, damage to or replacement of equipment and goods or the recovery or replacement of programs or data) ensuing from complaints about the precision, exactitude, readability or coherence of data processed by SIX CONTINENTS, even if the latter was warned about the possibility of such complaints or damages.
In the case of translation of documents destined to be reproduced in high numbers (such as menus, price lists, sales brochures, etc.), it is recommended that the Client submit the printer’s proof to SIX CONTINENTS for proofreading. This service is priced independently and in addition to the cost of translation.
7.2. Timeliness of work
SIX CONTINENTS’ IT development department constantly strives to implement the best means of digital transfer in order to ensure optimum service speed over the internet.
As such, SIX CONTINENTS shall not be held liable for any delays in delivery, in particular those caused by technical problems which are beyond its control, by delays in delivery by email and postal means, or by cases of force majeure.
Likewise, SIX CONTINENTS shall not provide any compensation for any delays which are due to the Client (late delivery of files, waiting for necessary information, invalid formats, illegible text, etc.).
ARTICLE 8 – CLIENT’S OBLIGATIONS
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The Client shall provide SIX CONTINENTS with all the texts to be translated, all technical information necessary to understand the text, and any specific terminology they may request. SIX CONTINENTS shall not in any case be held liable for non-compliances or deadline overruns which are due to the Client’s failure to comply with this information obligation.
The Client has a period of ten (10) working days following receipt of the finalized documents to notify SIX CONTINENTS of any dissatisfaction with the quality of the service provided in writing. After this period, the service shall be considered to have been duly provided.
The terms and conditions of any complaints made by the Client are provided hereafter in Article 10, “Complaints”. In this way, the Client actively collaborates on verifying the translation received.
ARTICLE 9 – CONFIDENTIALITY
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SIX CONTINENTS undertakes to respect the rules of confidentiality and trade secrets, and shall not disclose any information to third parties without the Client’s prior written consent. This confidentiality agreement shall remain valid even after work for the Client has been completed.
Any subcontractors acting on behalf of SIX CONTINENTS are bound to the latter by a Confidentiality Agreement which also engages their responsibility in case of indiscretion or disclosure of information made available to them as part of their service provision.
Client documents, translations and data are never used to train or improve third-party artificial intelligence models. Where SIX CONTINENTS uses machine translation or artificial intelligence tools, it uses only professional tools whose contractual terms prohibit the retention and reuse of submitted data, and never consumer-grade tools. Client data may only be used to build translation memories, glossaries or engines dedicated to that Client, and solely for the Client’s own projects.
However, the responsibility of SIX CONTINENTS and its subcontractors does not extend to the disclosure of Client information which is likely to result from internet use. In this regard, the Client hereby acknowledges that data available on the internet may be subject to misappropriation and that, as such, the transfer of sensitive data online is done so at the Client’s own risk. Consequent to the foregoing, the Client shall not hold liable SIX CONTINENTS in case of disclosure of information following data exchanges on the internet.
ARTICLE 10 – COMPLAINTS
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Complaints about the quality of the services shall only be considered if they are explicitly sent in writing, by means of a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt (or by email sent with automatic acknowledgement of receipt to the SIX CONTINENTS project manager), no later than ten (10) working days after delivery of the work.
All complaints must include precise corrections and explicit comments about the nature of the parts concerned or disputed terms, with pertinent examples to back up the claims.
Beyond this 10-day period, all translations shall be considered approved and shall be invoiced ipso jure.
If a complaint about the quality of the work carried out proves to be founded, SIX CONTINENTS may, in agreement with the Client or at its sole discretion, take one of the following compensatory measures:
(1)offer a discount equal to no more than 40% of the relevant invoice amount excluding taxes,
(2)issue a credit note for the next order of no more than 40% of the relevant invoice amount excluding taxes,
(3)have the text revised at its own expense and as soon as possible by an independent proofreader chosen by SIX CONTINENTS or the Client.
ARTICLE 11 – USE OF MACHINE TRANSLATION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
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Some services provided by SIX CONTINENTS may be produced, in whole or in part, using machine translation and artificial intelligence tools, including large language models (the resulting content being referred to as “AI Output”). Services that rely primarily on these tools, such as raw machine translation or machine translation with light post-editing, are identified as such in the Quote.
AI Output may be inaccurate, incomplete or unsuitable for the Client’s intended purpose. It does not constitute, and is not a substitute for, legal, medical, financial or other professional advice. Unless the Quote expressly includes a full human review, the Client is responsible for reviewing AI Output before any use. SIX CONTINENTS does not warrant that AI Output will be accurate, error-free or fit for any particular purpose.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, SIX CONTINENTS excludes, with respect to AI Output, any warranty other than those expressly provided herein, including any warranty of fitness for a particular purpose and of non-infringement. Nothing in this article shall exclude or limit the liability of SIX CONTINENTS in the event of fraud or gross negligence, or any other liability that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
ARTICLE 12 – PERSONAL DATA
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SIX CONTINENTS complies with the provisions of French Law No. 78-17 of January 6, 1978, known as the “Informatique et Libertés” (Data Protection) Act, and with European Regulation 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data.
SIX CONTINENTS is, within the meaning of EU Regulation 2016/679, the controller of personal data under the conditions described below. Personal data is processed in order to manage orders (delivery, payment, after-sales service, etc.) and more generally for the proper performance of the sales contract governed by these General Terms and Conditions.
SIX CONTINENTS collects, within the limits of what is strictly necessary for the performance of said contract, the following personal data: LAST NAME, FIRST NAME, POSTAL ADDRESS, EMAIL ADDRESS, TELEPHONE, ORDER HISTORY.
Collected data is retained for 2 years from the last activity on the account or its permanent closure. This data may then be archived for an additional period of 4 years in order to preserve the rights of each of the Parties to these General Terms and Conditions.
Your data will only be shared with:
- SIX CONTINENTS;
- Where applicable, its IT service provider responsible for personal data processing operations, the entities of the SIX CONTINENTS group, and the translators and subcontractors involved in performing the services;
Some data may be transferred outside the European Union, in particular to entities of the SIX CONTINENTS group in Canada and the United States, to translators based outside the Union, or to providers of IT, machine translation or artificial intelligence tools. These transfers are governed by an adequacy decision of the European Commission or, failing that, by the standard contractual clauses adopted by it.
In accordance with the regulations on personal data protection (EU Regulation 2016/679, known as the “GDPR”), individuals have the following rights regarding their personal data:
- The right to access the data collected;
- The right to rectify inaccurate personal data;
- The right to restriction of processing under the conditions set out in Section 3 of Chapter III of the GDPR;
- The right to erasure under the conditions set out in Section 3 of Chapter III of the GDPR;
- The right to data portability;
- The right to object to processing under the conditions set out in Section 4 of Chapter III of the GDPR;
- The right not to be subject to automated processing under the conditions set out in Section 4 of Chapter III of the GDPR;
- The right to lodge a complaint with the national supervisory authority, namely the CNIL
Any data subject may exercise their rights by contacting, where applicable, SIX CONTINENTS at: +33 (0)3 67 10 40 40 or by email: traduction@sixcontinents.fr
ARTICLE 12 – GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION
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By express agreement between the parties, these General Terms and Conditions of Sale and the purchase and sale transactions arising from them are governed by French law. They are drafted in French. Should they be translated into one or more languages, only the French text shall prevail in the event of a dispute.
Disputes of any kind arising between SIX CONTINENTS and its Client shall fall under the jurisdiction of the COMMERCIAL CHAMBER OF THE STRASBOURG JUDICIAL COURT (CHAMBRE COMMERCIALE DU TRIBUNAL JUDICIAIRE DE STRASBOURG).
SIX CONTINENTS collects, within the limits of what is strictly necessary for the performance of said contract, the following personal data: LAST NAME, FIRST NAME, POSTAL ADDRESS, EMAIL ADDRESS, TELEPHONE, ORDER HISTORY.
Collected data is retained for 2 years from the last activity on the account or its permanent closure. This data may then be archived for an additional period of 4 years in order to preserve the rights of each of the Parties to these General Terms and Conditions.
Your data will only be shared with:
- SIX CONTINENTS;
- Where applicable, its IT service provider responsible for personal data processing operations, the entities of the SIX CONTINENTS group, and the translators and subcontractors involved in performing the services;
Some data may be transferred outside the European Union, in particular to entities of the SIX CONTINENTS group in Canada and the United States, to translators based outside the Union, or to providers of IT, machine translation or artificial intelligence tools. These transfers are governed by an adequacy decision of the European Commission or, failing that, by the standard contractual clauses adopted by it.
In accordance with the regulations on personal data protection (EU Regulation 2016/679, known as the “GDPR”), individuals have the following rights regarding their personal data:
- The right to access the data collected;
- The right to rectify inaccurate personal data;
- The right to restriction of processing under the conditions set out in Section 3 of Chapter III of the GDPR;
- The right to erasure under the conditions set out in Section 3 of Chapter III of the GDPR;
- The right to data portability;
- The right to object to processing under the conditions set out in Section 4 of Chapter III of the GDPR;
- The right not to be subject to automated processing under the conditions set out in Section 4 of Chapter III of the GDPR;
- The right to lodge a complaint with the national supervisory authority, namely the CNIL
Any data subject may exercise their rights by contacting, where applicable, SIX CONTINENTS at: +33 (0)3 67 10 40 40 or by email: traduction@sixcontinents.fr
