GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

November 2023

1. General principles / Scope of application

1.1. These General Terms and Conditions apply exclusively to all legal transactions between the client or customer and ARTIO OÜ – hereinafter referred to as ARTIO. The version valid at the time the contract is concluded shall apply.

1.2. These General Terms and Conditions shall also apply to all future contractual relationships, even if no express reference is made to them in supplementary contracts.

1.3. Any conflicting general terms and conditions of the Client shall be invalid unless they are expressly recognized by the Contractor in writing.

1.4. In the event that individual provisions of these General Terms and Conditions should be and/or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions and the contracts concluded on the basis thereof. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that comes as close as possible to the meaning and economic purpose of the invalid provision.

1.5. The customer agrees to the transmission and provision of all relevant information, order confirmations and contracts by electronic means.

2. Benefits

2.1. The scope of the services is clearly defined in the offer and in the order. Agreements deviating from this with the local provider or with third parties cannot be recognized or asserted.

2.2. The Contractor shall be entitled to have the tasks incumbent upon it performed in whole or in part by third parties. Payment of the third party shall be made exclusively by the Contractor itself. There is no direct contractual relationship of any kind whatsoever between the third party and the client.

3. Hunting consulting

3.1. The Contractor reserves the right to increase the prices confirmed with the order for reasons beyond its control, provided that the start of the order is more than two months after the conclusion of the contract, but not less than 20 days before the start of the order. Such reasons are exclusively changes in transportation costs (such as fuel costs), charges for certain services, such as fees or applicable exchange rates.

3.2. The hunting log is the only recognized basis for the final account. The hunting protocol must be written in a language that is understandable for both the hunting provider and the client. All performances, kills and trophy weights must be entered in this report.

3.3. By signing, the customer confirms the accuracy of the information entered in the hunting log. Furthermore, the hunting log is also the only recognized basis for any complaints. Complaints must be reported to the provider or service provider immediately on site. Every complaint – even if it is rectified immediately – must be entered in the hunting log. Complaints not entered in the hunting log cannot be recognized.

3.4. In order to be able to complete all necessary formalities such as visas, weapons import papers, hunting and shooting licenses on time, the documents requested by the contractor must be received by the contractor at least 40 days before the start of the trip, unless otherwise agreed. Otherwise ARTIO cannot guarantee proper organization. In the event of non-compliance, any additional costs incurred or any resulting cancellation costs must be borne by the customer.

4. Consulting in agriculture and forestry

4.1. The client shall ensure that the organizational framework conditions for the fulfilment of a consultancy assignment allow for work that is as undisturbed as possible and conducive to the rapid progress of the consultancy process.

4.2. The Client shall also provide the Contractor with comprehensive information about previous and/or ongoing consultations – including in other specialist areas.

4.3. The Client shall ensure that all documents necessary for the fulfillment and execution of the consulting assignment are submitted to the Contractor in a timely manner, even without the Contractor’s specific request, and that the Contractor is informed of all processes and circumstances that are of significance for the execution of the consulting assignment. This also applies to all documents, processes and circumstances that only become known during the Contractor’s work.

4.4. The Contractor undertakes to report to the Client on the progress of its work, that of its employees and, if applicable, that of third parties commissioned by the Client.

4.5. The client shall receive the final report within a reasonable period of time, i.e. two to four weeks, depending on the type and scope of the consultancy assignment, after completion of the assignment.

4.6. The Contractor shall be free from instructions in the production of the agreed work and shall act at its own discretion and under its own responsibility. The Contractor is not bound to a specific place of work or specific working hours.

5. Protection of intellectual property

5.1. The copyrights to the works created by ARTIO and its employees and commissioned third parties shall remain with the Contractor. The Client shall not be entitled to reproduce and/or distribute the work(s) without the Contractor’s express consent. Under no circumstances shall any unauthorized reproduction/distribution of the work give rise to any liability on the part of the contractor – in particular for the accuracy of the work – vis-à-vis third parties.

5.2. Any breach of these provisions by the Client shall entitle the Contractor to terminate the contractual relationship prematurely with immediate effect and to assert other statutory claims, in particular for injunctive relief and/or damages.

6. Liability / Compensation

6.1. The Contractor shall only be liable to the Client for damages – with the exception of personal injury – in the event of gross negligence (intent or gross negligence). This shall also apply mutatis mutandis to damage attributable to third parties engaged by the Contractor.

6.2. Liability towards the customer is limited to the price paid by the customer and, in the event of damage, is limited to the total sum insured. If the sum insured is not sufficient to satisfy all claims, the customer’s claims shall be satisfied with the pro rata share.

6.3. Claims for damages by the client can only be asserted in court within six months of becoming aware of the damage and the damaging party.

6.4. The client must provide proof that the damage is due to the fault of the contractor.

6.5. If the Contractor performs the work with the assistance of third parties and warranty and/or liability claims arise against these third parties in this context, the Contractor shall assign these claims to the Client. In this case, the client shall give priority to these third parties.

6.6. In the context of consulting and brokering hunts, the Contractor shall only be liable for the proper brokerage, careful selection of the third party and a concrete description of services. The contractor cannot accept any liability for the desired hunting success or the desired trophy size and this does not entitle the client to a reduction or refund of the tour price.

6.7. The customer is always responsible for his/her own shot. If the stalking guide releases the shot at a piece of game, this simply means that the customer is allowed to shoot this piece. It is the customer’s sole decision whether he/she wants to shoot it. If the customer decides to shoot, he/she bears all the consequences, also with regard to misses, welding and trophy strength.

6.8. The customer is responsible for the transportation of trophies to his/her home country. The Contractor cannot accept any liability for damage to the trophies due to improper handling, or for breakage or loss of the trophy during transportation home or shipment.

6.9. Hunting trips are trips with special risks (expedition character). The Contractor and any third parties commissioned by it shall not be liable for any consequences arising from the occurrence of such risks if this occurs outside the scope of their duties. The Contractor cannot accept any liability for damage to the Client’s health or equipment.

6.10. Arrangements or agreements made between the Customer and third parties without the Contractor shall not be binding on the Contractor.

6.11. For all offers, the Contractor acts as a consultant and agent and not as a tour operator.

7. Confidentiality / Data protection

7.1. The Contractor undertakes to maintain absolute confidentiality about all business matters that come to his/her knowledge, in particular business and trade secrets as well as any information that he/she receives about the type, scope of operations and practical activities of the Client.

7.2. Furthermore, the Contractor undertakes to maintain confidentiality towards third parties regarding the entire content of the work as well as all information and circumstances that it has received in connection with the creation of the work, in particular also regarding the data of the Client’s clients.

7.3. The Contractor shall be released from the duty of confidentiality vis-à-vis any assistants and representatives he/she uses. However, it must impose the duty of confidentiality on them in full and is liable for their breach of the duty of confidentiality in the same way as for its own breach.

7.4. The duty of confidentiality extends indefinitely beyond the end of this contractual relationship. Exceptions exist in the case of statutory obligations to give evidence.

7.5. The contractor is entitled to process personal data entrusted to him/her within the scope of the purpose of the contractual relationship. The Client warrants to the Contractor that all necessary measures have been taken for this purpose, in particular those within the meaning of the Data Protection Act, such as declarations of consent by the data subjects.

8. Fee

8.1. Upon completion of the agreed work, the Contractor shall receive a fee in accordance with the agreement between the Client and the Contractor. The Contractor shall be entitled to submit interim invoices in accordance with the progress of the work and to demand payment on account in accordance with the respective progress. The fee is due in each case upon invoicing by the Contractor.

8.2. The Contractor shall issue an invoice entitling the Customer to deduct input tax with all legally required features.

8.3. Any cash outlays, expenses, travel costs, etc. incurred shall be additionally reimbursed by the Client on presentation of an invoice by the Contractor.

8.4. If the agreed work is not carried out for reasons on the part of the Client or due to a justified premature termination of the contractual relationship by the Contractor, the Contractor shall retain the right to payment of the entire agreed fee less expenses saved. If an hourly fee is agreed, the fee shall be paid for the number of hours that could have been expected for the entire agreed work, less the expenses saved. The expenses saved are agreed at a flat rate of 30 percent of the fee for those services that the contractor has not yet provided by the date of termination of the contractual relationship.

8.5. In the event of non-payment of interim invoices, the Contractor shall be released from its obligation to provide further services. However, this shall not affect the assertion of further claims resulting from non-payment.

9. Electronic invoicing

9.1. The Contractor is entitled to send invoices to the Client in electronic form. The client expressly agrees to the sending of invoices in electronic form by the contractor.

10. Duration of the contract

10.1. In principle, this contract ends with the completion of the assignment (i.e. trip or project) and the corresponding invoicing.

1o.2. Notwithstanding the above, the contract may be terminated by either party at any time for good cause without notice. Good cause shall be deemed to exist in particular,

• if a contracting party breaches material contractual obligations, or
• if a contracting party defaults on payment after insolvency proceedings have been opened, or
• if there are justified concerns regarding the creditworthiness of a contracting party for which insolvency proceedings have not been opened and this party neither makes advance payments at the request of the Contractor nor provides suitable security prior to the Contractor’s performance and the poor financial circumstances of the other contracting party were not known at the time the contract was concluded.

10.3. It is possible to withdraw from an arranged hunting trip at any time in accordance with the cancellation policy.

10.4. Cancellations can only be made in writing or electronically. The postmark or stamp of the electronic signature is deemed to be the date. The following amounts will be charged in the event of cancellation:

• all costs already incurred at the time of cancellation, e.g. for firearms import documents applied for, booking costs from third parties, etc.
• up to 61 days before departure 35% of the agreed services
• 60 to 31 days before departure 55% of the agreed services
• less than 30 days, all agreed services are

10.5. We therefore recommend that you take out appropriate travel cancellation insurance in good time before booking any trip.

10.6. If the trip is canceled prematurely by the customer, regardless of the reason, the full price for all agreed services will be charged. All additional costs for rebooking, additional transfers, overnight stays, etc. must be borne by the customer.

11. Mediation clause

11.1. In the event of disputes arising from this contract that cannot be settled amicably, the contracting parties mutually agree to consult registered mediators (ZivMediatG) specializing in business mediation from the list of the Ministry of Justice for the out-of-court settlement of the conflict. If no agreement can be reached on the selection of the commercial mediators or on the content, legal action will be initiated at the earliest one month after the failure of the negotiations.

11.2. In the event that mediation does not take place or is terminated, Austrian law shall apply in any court proceedings that may be initiated.

11.3. All necessary expenses incurred as a result of prior mediation, in particular those for legal advisors, can be claimed as “pre-litigation costs” in court or arbitration proceedings in accordance with the agreement.

12. Final provisions

12.1. The contracting parties confirm that they have provided all information in the contract conscientiously and truthfully and undertake to notify each other immediately of any changes.

12.2. Amendments to the contract and these GTC must be made in writing, as must any waiver of this formal requirement. There are no verbal collateral agreements.

12.3. This contract shall be governed by Austrian substantive law to the exclusion of the conflict of law rules of private international law and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The place of performance shall be the place of the Contractor’s professional establishment. The court at the Contractor’s place of business shall have jurisdiction for disputes.