General Terms
These are the general terms and conditions of Dr. Antoinette Vlieger and Sovara BV (Dutch Chamber of Commerce no. 68850859), Zonnelaan 5, 1217 ND Hilversum, the Netherlands, the private limited company through which Dr. Vlieger operates and which also trades under the names Vlieger Legal and EHDS-jurist.nl, hereinafter referred to as the Contractor. Version: May 2026.
1. Applicability
1.1 These general terms and conditions apply to all quotations, engagements and legal acts of the Contractor, including supplementary or follow-on assignments, as well as to all legal relationships arising from or related to them.
1.2 The applicability of any general terms and conditions used by the Client is expressly excluded, unless agreed otherwise in writing.
1.3 These general terms and conditions are also stipulated for the benefit of any persons assisting or standing in for the Contractor, as well as third parties engaged by the Contractor.
1.4 The Contractor reserves the right to amend these general terms and conditions. In the case of ongoing engagements, the amended terms will be sent to the Client. If the Client does not reject the amended terms in writing within thirty days, they shall be deemed accepted.
1.5 Dr. Antoinette Vlieger does not contract in a personal capacity. All legal relationships are entered into by Sovara BV.
2. Engagement and fees
2.1 The Contractor undertakes a best-efforts obligation. The Contractor will make every reasonable effort to achieve the result desired by the Client but does not guarantee this result, unless explicitly agreed otherwise in writing.
2.2 All amounts in quotations are exclusive of VAT, unless stated otherwise. Training engagements are VAT-exempt under the Contractor’s CRKBO registration (Dutch register for quality-assured private education providers).
2.3 Unless agreed otherwise in writing, fees are calculated on the basis of hours worked multiplied by the applicable hourly rate.
2.4 The Contractor is entitled to adjust the hourly rate periodically. In the event of a fee increase, the Client has the right to terminate the engagement, provided this is done in writing within fourteen days of notification.
3. Invoicing and payment
3.1 Unless agreed otherwise, work performed is invoiced monthly.
3.2 The Contractor may require an advance payment. Any advance received will be offset against the final invoice.
3.3 Invoices must be paid within 28 days of the invoice date, in the manner specified by the Contractor, without any deduction, discount or set-off.
3.4 Upon expiry of the payment term, the Client is automatically in default and statutory commercial interest is owed under Article 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code. Extrajudicial collection costs are also owed in accordance with the Dutch Extrajudicial Collection Costs Decree (BIK).
3.5 In the event of default, the Contractor is entitled to suspend all work for the Client with immediate effect until all outstanding invoices, including interest and costs, have been paid.
4. Liability
4.1 Any liability of the Contractor is limited to the amount paid out under the Contractor’s professional indemnity insurance in the relevant case.
4.2 Where no payment is made by the insurer, liability is limited to the amount invoiced in respect of the relevant engagement in the relevant calendar year, exclusive of VAT.
4.3 The Contractor is never liable for indirect loss, including consequential loss, lost profits, missed savings or business interruption losses.
4.4 Any right to compensation lapses twelve months after the event from which the loss directly or indirectly arises.
4.5 The Contractor exercises due care in engaging third parties but is not liable for shortcomings on the part of those third parties.
4.6 The Contractor is not liable for loss arising from bugs, hacks or other technical failures in software or hardware.
5. Confidentiality and privacy
5.1 The Contractor treats all information from and about the Client as confidential and does not share it with third parties, unless necessary for the performance of the engagement or required by law.
5.2 The Contractor processes personal data in accordance with the GDPR. Further information is available in the privacy statement at ehds-jurist.nl.
6. Intellectual property
6.1 The intellectual property rights to all advice, reports, training materials and other products developed by the Contractor vest in Sovara BV, unless agreed otherwise in writing.
6.2 The Client acquires a non-exclusive right of use for internal use within its own organisation. Further distribution, publication or commercial use of materials prepared by the Contractor is only permitted with the prior written consent of the Contractor.
6.3 The Contractor retains the right to use advice and analyses for its own publications and research, subject to the confidentiality obligation.
7. Force majeure
7.1 The Contractor is not obliged to perform any obligation if and for as long as it is prevented from doing so by force majeure. Force majeure includes any circumstance not attributable to the Contractor, such as illness, communications infrastructure failures, government measures or other external causes.
7.2 If the force majeure situation continues for more than thirty days, both the Client and the Contractor are entitled to dissolve the agreement in writing, without any obligation to pay damages. Work already performed will be remunerated on a pro-rata basis.
8. Termination and dissolution
8.1 The Client may terminate the engagement at any time by written notice. Work already performed and costs already incurred will in that case be invoiced in full.
8.2 The Contractor may terminate the engagement if continuation cannot reasonably be required of it. The Contractor will act with due care and will, where possible, observe a reasonable notice period.
8.3 Dissolution for breach of contract is only possible after written notice of default, allowing a reasonable period for remediation.
9. Governing law and disputes
9.1 All legal relationships with the Contractor are governed exclusively by Dutch law.
9.2 Any disputes that cannot be resolved amicably shall be submitted exclusively to the competent court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.