Terms and Conditions

The contractor shall, for the purposes of this document, refer to Davide Cavanna and/or any other colleagues working in his name and on his behalf. Davide Cavanna is a certified (sworn) translator and interpreter before the courts of Luxembourg (French, Italian, English, Spanish and German) as well as Germany (German, Italian, English and French).

The working day is deemed to be 8 hours with a minimum billing time of 4 working hours and multiples thereof (i.e. half days). Time, in excess of 8 working hours, will be billed at time and a half.

The job shall refer to any linguistic performance that the client requires: interpreting, translating, proofreading, editing, or else.

The quote shall refer to the price offered by the contractor for the job.

INTERPRETING SERVICES

1. The contractor will provide a quote for his work before an event in accordance with any information provided by the client about the type of event and their specific requirements. The offer is based on the type of interpreting (simultaneous, consecutive, whispered, liaison, etc), the duration of the event measured in working days, plus all reasonable expenses including (but not limited to) travel, travel time, meals and lodging costs, where applicable.
2. The client must accept the contractor’s offer in writing for it to be binding for both parties. At the time of acceptance of the offer, the client will provide full commercial and invoicing details (notably business address and VAT number) and in some circumstances an advance payment (to cover up front expenditure - such as travel).
3. Once the quote is accepted, in the case of cancellation within 30 to 15 days of the event, the contractor will receive 50% of the agreed basic interpreting fee. In case of cancellation of the job within 14 calendar days, the contractor will receive 100% of the agreed interpreting fee. Rescheduling to a period beyond 30 days from the original date shall be deemed to be a cancellation.
4. The assignment shall be carried out with the principles of proper professional practice. The contractor undertakes to work to the best of his ability and to treat all information he acquires during the execution of his duties with the strictest confidentiality and/or in accordance with any NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) he is asked to sign by the client in advance of his work
5. The client undertakes to provide appropriate preparation material (detailed agenda of the event, presentations, speech manuscripts etc.) at least 10 working days before the event to support the contractor's subject-matter and linguistic preparation.
6. The contractor will endeavour to arrive 30 minutes before the start of the interpreting assignment. This time forms part of the working hours detailed in the quote.
7. The contractor's copyright to his image and work shall be respected. Recordings and transcripts of his work will be subject to royalty payments.
8. Due to the high cognitive load of simultaneous interpreting, it is not possible for the contractor to work alone as a simultaneous interpreter for more than 2 hours at a time. Working as a team (together with other professional interpreters) is a prerequisite for a consistently high-quality service. The contractor is willing to collaborate with other professionals and, on request, form a team for events requiring interpreting into multiple languages.
9. The invoice for the agreed service will be sent by e-mail to the client (detailed in 2 above) and settlement is due by bank transfer within 15 days of the date of the invoice. (Special terms and conditions of business may be agreed between the parties.)

TRANSLATION SERVICES

1. According to article 6, paragraph 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 on promoting the free movement of citizens by simplifying the requirements for presenting certain public documents in the European Union, a certified translation carried out by a person qualified to do so under the law of a Member State shall be accepted in all Member States. The translations carrying his official stamp are therefore valid across the EU. Should any local authorities not be aware of this and reject the translation on the grounds of the contractor not living in their country or not being on their internal register, the client can refer them to the above-mentioned EU legal reference.
2. To receive a quote for translation work, the client must send the full text to the contractor by e-mail, together with any relevant indications and sources available. The contractor will reply with a quote and an estimated delivery time shortly thereafter. Should the contractor not receive confirmation within three hours of submitting the quote, he may amend the delivery deadline. In cases where a job is cancelled by the client after the contractor has commenced the job, a charge for the amount of work completed will be due.
3. The quote is usually a lump sum, based on the estimation of the time needed to complete the job, whether it is translating, editing, or proofreading. The quote does not include the 17% VAT which will be added only to invoices for private clients everywhere in the EU and corporate clients based in Luxembourg, where the contractor is also based, as required by the legislation. Reverse charge applies for VAT-liable companies in other EU countries.
4. For sworn translations, a scanned copy of the original must be sent by e-mail or delivered in person to the contractor. The translation will then be delivered in person or sent by regular post to the client, according to the client's preference, as the authorities may not accept a scanned copy of the certified translation.
5. Where the sworn translation is sent by regular post, payment prior to delivery may be requested. In such case, the contractor sends the stamped translation to the client upon receiving the bank transfer. Where the translation is delivered electronically, whether by e-mail or another online interface, the invoice is sent on the day of delivery and payment is due within 15 days.
6. Should the client identify obvious mistakes that impede the proper use of the translation, the contract will amend the translation. In any other case, editing will be invoiced by the hour as a separate and additional job. Questions of style and other issues of personal preference do not constitute obvious mistakes.
7. Any offer presented by the contractor and accepted by the client by telephone, e-mail or other means implies the acceptance of the conditions set out above. Alternative conditions may be agreed in writing between the contractor and the client.

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