GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
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Article 1
All actions and services provided by any company of the Bureau Veritas group, individually
designated hereafter as "Bureau Veritas" are governed by the following General Conditions of
service.
Accordingly, all contracts, agreements or other arrangements entered into by Bureau Veritas, for the
performance or supply of services, shall in all respects be governed by these conditions, except
where such conditions are at variance wit h legal provisions governing services performed on behalf
of governments or government bodies, or the law of the place where the said agreements or
contracts are made or are to be implemented, in which case relevant national or local laws shall take
priority.
Article 2
Bureau Veritas, in the capacity of an independent third party, supplies information in the form of
ascertainment, advice, assessment or recommendations, for the principal purpose of contributing to
the prevention of the risks to which the ben eficiaries of its services are exposed, and of helping them
assure the quality of their products or services. To this end, Bureau Veritas performs actions
including surveys, inspections, verifications, assessments, audits or appraisals. In the course of such
performance, it has recourse to techniques and processes such as examination, sampling, testing,
analysis and measurement, thereby enabling it to exercise complete independence, impartiality and
objectivity in collecting the information it has been req uested to supply. Such information is
communicated to the beneficiary in the form of an inspection sheet, report, certificate, attestation or
mark, or by any other suitable means.
All such activities are hereafter referred to collectively as "Bureau Veritas Services".
Article 3
Bureau Veritas undertakes certain services, meeting requirements which do not correspond to the
definition in article 2 above, only by special arrangement.
Such special services comprise, without being confined to:
3.1 Qualitative or quantitative guarantees;
3.2 Preshipment inspections under the terms of a government import control scheme;
3.3 Combined services, comprised of concurrent and consecutive operations;
3.4 Supervision of complete industrial project schemes, including consulting, monitoring, expediting
and progress reporting;
3.5 Value appraisal and price control or assessment;
3.6 Acceptance procedures for goods, works, equipment or any other item, or supervision of their
commissioning on behalf of the Principal;
Article 4
Bureau Veritas, as the case may be, acts for :
4.1 - Government bodies, or on their behalf, on their direct instructions or as a result of regulatory
requirements incumbent on the Principal (as defined in article 4.2 below). In such cases, Bureau
Veritas Services are supplied in accordance with relevant legislative or administrative provisions, and
Bureau Veritas is legally accountable only to the government bodies concerned.
4.2 - Persons or entities issuing the instructions to act, hereafter referred to as "the Principal". No
other party is entitled to issue instructions to Bureau Veritas, particularly on the nature and extent of
the services, unless so authorised by the Principal.
However, Bureau Veritas expressly reserves the right to act at its own discretion in delivering reports
and/or certificates, or any other information relating to its services to a third party, if such an act
results from instructions from the Principal, or from an undertaking entered into towards the Principal,
or derives implicitly from circumstances, trade custom, usage or practice.
Article 5
5.1 - Bureau Veritas undertakes to supply services on the basis of its Quality Assurance Manual, in
accordance with proper professional practice, and in compliance with:
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Principal's special instructions as confirmed by Bureau Veritas, and, in the absence of such
instructions:
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terms of Bureau Veritas standard order form and/or specifications of standard contracts, if used,
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any relevant professional standard, trade custom, usage or practice,
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such methods as Bureau Veritas shall deem suitable on technical and/or financial grounds.
5.2 - Bureau Veritas shall exercise due care and skill, and acts in a professional and workmanlike
manner:
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in the selection and assignment of its personnel ,
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in performance of its services, considering the state of the art and technology at the time the
services are being performed.
5.3 - Unless otherwise stipulated, Bureau Veritas, which carries out its investigations at random, does
not usually perform any systematic and comprehensive examination. Consequently, Bureau Veritas
services cannot be considered as exhaustive.
Bureau Veritas representatives are therefore not expected to be in permanent attendance on site,
and their visits are normally intermittent and unannounced.
Article 6
6.1 - Documents concerning undertakings entered into between the Principal and other
interested parties, such as contracts of sale, supply or work contracts, letters of credit, bills
of lading, specifications, datasheets, letters of commissioning, certificates of acceptance or
conformity, and which are divulged to Bureau Veritas, shall be considered to be for
information only, without either extending or restricting Bureau Veritas remits or
obligations.
6.2 - Unless instructed specially to the contrary by the Principal, Bureau Veritas reports,
certificates of inspection and any other relevant information or document relate the facts as
recorded by it within the limits of instructions received, and if appropriate state its opini on
on such facts; but Bureau Veritas is under no obligation to refer to or report upon any facts
or circumstances which are outside the specific scope of its assignment or commission.
6.3 - The Principal agrees:
6.3.1 - To ensure that adequate instructions are given in due time to Bureau Veritas, in
order to facilitate proper performance of the requested services ;
6.3.2 - Except for generally available documents such as codes and standards, to provide
Bureau Veritas, either directly or through his suppliers and subcontractors, with all
documents necessary for performance of the requested service ;
6.3.3 - To provide Bureau Veritas with all information and particulars concerning the use or
purpose of the items in relation to which Bureau Veritas services ar e to be provided ;
6.3.4 - To advise Bureau Veritas of the date on which services are to commence, or be
resumed in case of suspension, and also of essential dates affecting the item(s) for which
its services have been requested ;
6.3.5 - To provide Bureau Veritas agents and representatives with all necessary
transportation facilities and access to premises where the services are to be carried out, as
well as all material means needed for performance of its services ;
6.3.6 - To ensure that all necessary me asures are taken to ensure safety and security of
working conditions on site during performance of the requested services ;
6.3.7 - To provide all manipulations or handling needed for performance of Bureau Veritas
services ;
6.3.8 - To take all necessary teps to eliminate or remedy any obstructions to or
interruptions in performance of the requested services ;
6.3.9 - Fully exercise all his rights and discharge all his liabilities under the contract in
connection whereof the services have been requested, failing which Bureau Veritas shall
be under no obligation to the Principal.
Article 7
When providing services, Bureau Veritas does not take the place of designers, architects,
builders, contractors, manufacturers, producers, operators, transporters or owner s, who,
notwithstanding Bureau Veritas actions, are not released from any of their obligations of
whatever nature. In particular, any information and advice supplied by Bureau Veritas
shall not be held or construed to amount to approval or acceptance of the items in
connection with which the information and advice are supplied.
The interested parties are responsible for acting as they see fit, according to the
information and advice provided by Bureau Veritas. Neither Bureau Veritas nor any of its
agents guarantee the accuracy of such information or advice, or the quality, outcome,
effectiveness or appropriateness of any decision or action undertaken on the basis of the
said information or advice.
Furthermore, none of the services or information provided by Bureau Veritas shall create
any obligation bearing on Bureau Veritas or constitute any warranty of proper operation of
any equipment or plant that has been subject to any inspection by Bureau Veritas using
computer software or hardware of any sort or other comparable concepts (hereafter
referred to as "Equipment") with respect to the absence of failures when processing or
handling dates or performing other similar operations of any computer element, whether
hardware or software, of said Equipment.
It is hereby agreed that Bureau Veritas shall in no circumstances whatsoever incur any
liability for, without limitation, any damage, loss, cost or expense arising from any such
failures.
