General Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions of ETI experts GmbH – hereinafter referred to as “ETI” –

These General Terms and Conditions (GTC) apply to our debt collection services provided to businesses. Claims from creditors who are consumers will not be accepted. If the customer refers to the inclusion of its own terms and conditions, we hereby object to their application. Individual contractual agreements shall take precedence over these General Terms and Conditions.

• 1 Subject Matter of the Contract

Upon receiving an order, ETI collects due payment claims on behalf of its customers and provides further related services to the extent requested.

• 2 Conclusion of the Contract

The descriptions of services on ETI’s websites do not constitute offers to conclude a service agreement. The customer may request information and offers from us, e.g. by telephone, email or via the contact form. We are bound by an offer submitted to the customer for a period of 2 months from the date of receipt by the customer. Even after this period, however, our offer shall remain valid until revoked. The customer may accept our offer expressly or implicitly by submitting a specific debt collection case.

• 3 Information on Electronic Commerce

1. Technical steps for concluding the contract
   Please refer to the explanations in Section 2 of our GTC.
2. Storage / Printing of the Contract Text
   The customer may save the contract text by using the “Save as” function of their browser to save the relevant webpage on their computer. The customer may also print the contract text using the browser’s print function. We also store the contract texts ourselves and make them available to the customer upon request by email or post.
3. Correction Options
   The customer may correct their entries at any time during the ordering process by selecting the “Back” button in the browser and then making the relevant changes. The customer may cancel the entire ordering process at any time by closing the web browser. In addition, the order overview displayed before the online order is submitted provides a further opportunity to make corrections, of which the customer will be informed.
4. Language
   The only language available for concluding the contract is German.
5. Code of Conduct
   We have not submitted to any specific code of conduct (set of rules).

• 4 Provisions Governing the Performance of Debt Collection Activities

1. ETI undertakes to carry out promptly all legally permissible and economically reasonable measures for the recovery of the claims entrusted to it. The customer’s wishes regarding the procedure to be followed against individual debtors will be taken into account insofar as this is possible and appropriate.
2. The customer agrees that
   1. ETI shall decide, at its reasonable discretion, which collection measures are appropriate in each individual case;
   2. throughout the entire processing period of the order, the customer is obliged to inform ETI without delay of any changes in the debtor’s financial circumstances, payment behavior or the customer’s personal assessment of the debtor, to provide ETI promptly with any documents that may be required, and otherwise to cooperate with ETI in every necessary respect;
   3. after placing the order, the customer is not entitled to take any measures of their own to recover the claim without prior consultation with ETI;
   4. the customer is obliged to inform ETI without delay if the claim is reduced or settled by payment made directly to the customer or in any other manner;
   5. ETI is entitled to enter into economically and legally appropriate installment payment agreements regarding the assigned claim without the customer’s prior consent.

• 5 Allocation of Incoming Payments

Payments made toward claims assigned for collection shall, insofar as legally permissible and subject to any deviating contractual agreement, be allocated, irrespective of the recipient of the payment, first to 1. debt collection costs, 2. principal claim, 3. ancillary claims, and 4. interest.

• 6 Remuneration, Expenses and Reimbursement of Costs

1. ETI is entitled to remuneration from the client (creditor), the basis of which is the debt collection service agreement. Unless otherwise agreed, the amount of remuneration shall correspond to the amount to which a lawyer would be entitled for the corresponding activity.
2. Interest paid by the debtor shall accrue to ETI as commission in addition to the debt collection remuneration (§ 6 No. 1). During the long-term monitoring phase, the amount shall be divided equally (§ 12 No. 1). Different commission arrangements may be agreed individually.
3. Reimbursement of expenses may be regulated differently by individual agreement in text form.
4. Deferral of debt collection remuneration for out-of-court activities: As a general rule, the client may require a debtor who fails to pay in breach of their obligations to indemnify the client against the debt collection remuneration incurred by ETI (including necessary expenses), which ETI is entitled to claim from the client under the debt collection service agreement. Upon conclusion of the debt collection service agreement, the client assigns this indemnification claim against the debtor (indemnification of the creditor through reimbursement of costs by the debtor to ETI) to ETI in lieu of performance. ETI hereby accepts this assignment and attempts to collect the claim together with the costs incurred from the debtor. If this is unsuccessful, ETI will not demand payment of the debt collection remuneration (including expenses) from the client unless the debtor makes a payment. Therefore, ETI’s out-of-court collection activities do not result in costs for the client if the debtor does not make a payment.
5. ETI shall determine and assert the amount of the claim for reimbursement of costs against the debtor in accordance with § 13e (1) of the German Legal Services Act (Rechtsdienstleistungsgesetz – RDG): “A creditor may claim reimbursement from their debtor for the costs charged by a debt collection service provider for its activities only up to the amount of remuneration that a lawyer would be entitled to receive for such activities under the provisions of the German Lawyers’ Remuneration Act.”
6. For commissioned address searches (expenses classified as disbursements), the client shall, provided that the search confirms the known address as correct or identifies a new address, pay in advance (as a special arrangement deviating from the deferral stipulated in § 6 No. 4) a partial amount plus statutory VAT, the amount of which shall be determined individually by ETI in consultation with the client. The partial amount of the address search expenses shall be invoiced to the client as part of the monthly statement.
7. If a client withdraws a debt collection order that ETI has already begun processing because the case submitted was unfounded or proves to be unfounded during the debt collection process (e.g. a debtor payment overlooked by the client or justified objections raised by the debtor), the client shall owe ETI the remuneration calculated in accordance with § 6 (1), without being entitled to rely on the provision in § 6 No. 4. On the basis of an individual agreement with the client, ETI may reduce or waive the remuneration in individual cases.
8. If the client fails to respond to two inquiries made by ETI in text form regarding an ongoing debt collection case, ETI shall terminate the debt collection mandate. In this case, the client shall owe ETI the remuneration calculated in accordance with § 6 (1), without being entitled to rely on the provision in § 6 No. 4. On the basis of an individual agreement with the client, ETI may reduce or waive the remuneration in individual cases.
9. Activities relating to judicial dunning proceedings and enforcement proceedings shall be invoiced in accordance with the German Lawyers’ Remuneration Act (RVG). The client shall receive an advance invoice for the anticipated costs and expenses. The costs of obtaining information, e.g. credit checks or address searches, will be provided upon request.

• 7 Billing Procedures and Customer Information

1. Incoming payments shall be accounted for by ETI using the date on which the payment is received as the posting date.
2. ETI maintains a customer account for each customer as a current account in which all claims and liabilities are recorded. This account shall be balanced, and collected third-party funds shall be paid out and/or ETI’s claims against the customer shall be invoiced on a monthly basis, unless otherwise contractually agreed.

• 8 Limitation Periods

1. ETI does not monitor limitation periods in respect of claims entrusted to it for collection. It is therefore agreed that such monitoring does not form part of the debt collection service agreement and that the customer is responsible for independently monitoring the applicable limitation periods.
2. All claims against ETI relating to the settlement of an assigned claim shall become statute-barred one year after the date on which the final statement is sent to the customer’s last known address.

• 9 Liability

1. ETI shall be liable only for intent and gross negligence. This shall also apply to culpable breaches of duty by ETI’s legal representatives or agents. This limitation of liability shall not apply to damage resulting from injury to life, limb or health, culpable breaches of pre-contractual duties to provide information and clarification, or breaches of material contractual obligations by ETI, its legal representatives or agents. A material contractual obligation is any obligation whose performance is essential for the proper execution of the contract and on whose compliance the contracting party may regularly rely.
2. Where the exclusion of liability under paragraph 1 above does not apply, ETI’s liability shall nevertheless be limited to damages that are typical of the contract and foreseeable.

• 10 Data Protection

The Privacy Policy implementing the applicable data protection requirements can be found on our website [www.eti-experts.de/datenschutzerklaerung/](http://www.eti-experts.de/datenschutzerklaerung/).

• 11 Retention Periods

Upon successful completion of an order, ETI is entitled to destroy all documents received from the customer, with the exception of the enforceable title (if any), one month after the date on which the final statement is sent to the customer’s last known address. If the collection attempt is unsuccessful, this period shall be six months from the date on which ETI determines that the collection attempt has been unsuccessful. Destruction shall only take place after the customer has been notified thereof in text form and has either failed to respond or has consented to the destruction. Documents shall only be destroyed insofar as and for as long as no statutory retention obligations prevent their destruction.

• 12 Long-Term Monitoring

1. If claims for which an enforceable title has been obtained have not been settled in full and the customer does not wish to pursue any further chargeable enforcement measures, the case shall automatically be transferred to ETI’s long-term monitoring service. From this point onward, the customer shall not incur any additional costs for further processing that must be financed by the customer in advance. ETI shall monitor the claims and decide on suitable further investigative and enforcement measures. ETI shall advance all costs incurred in this connection, including bailiff and court costs. Incoming payments shall first be allocated to debt collection remuneration and costs advanced by ETI. Any remaining amounts attributable to the principal claim plus interest shall be paid to the customer at a rate of 50% (the remaining 50% constitutes ETI’s success commission). If no payments are received, the costs incurred by ETI during long-term monitoring shall remain deferred until payment is made by the debtor.

2. If, following an unsuccessful attempt to recover the claim, the customer has requested that the matter be transferred to a law firm recommended by ETI for the purpose of judicial enforcement, the customer agrees – subject to revocation at any time in text form or to a different agreement – to the following procedure: If an enforceable title has been obtained but enforcement has been unsuccessful or is no longer pursued by the customer, or if the customer does not commission any further enforcement measures, the law firm may return its case file together with the enforcement titles to ETI so that the claim can be transferred to long-term monitoring. The conditions applicable to long-term monitoring are governed by § 12 No. 1.

• 13 Final Provisions

1. Cologne shall be agreed as the place of performance and place of jurisdiction for all mutual claims between the contracting parties, provided that the contracting parties are merchants, legal entities under public law or special funds under public law. Cologne shall likewise be agreed as the place of performance and place of jurisdiction if the customer has no general place of jurisdiction within Germany.
2. Should any of the foregoing provisions be or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these General Terms and Conditions.

(Version: 14 September 2026)