General Terms of Service
Effective 05.04.2024
Welcome to zaharia.law!
We consider this page to be the most important on our website. It describes the terms and conditions under which you may access and use the zaharia.law website and its subdomains (the "Website") as well as other services which we may offer (together, the "Services").
Please keep in mind that these terms form a legally binding contract (the "Contract") which includes:
- our Privacy Policy - which describes how we process your data in connection with your use of our Services,
- our Licensing Terms - which apply whenever you download or otherwise use the legal resources we provide,
- any other policies, notices and legal disclaimers contained or referenced within this page.
We may provide you with our Services subject to your compliance with the Contract.
No legal services
We have tried to design the Contract clearly and transparently, providing explanations for the reasoning behind some of the terms - they start with"Let's explain". Please note that these statements are provided as a courtesy solely for your convenience and are not legally binding or otherwise intended to modify the Contract. You can contact us if you have suggestions for improving the Contract or concerns about its terms.
Let's explain
For instance, Privacy Policies are best incorporated. However, express consent is just one of the legal grounds under which personal data may be processed according to privacy regulations such as the GDPR. Fair use policies are a great place to store highly lengthy rules of conduct and obligations or just plain dull terms like the interdiction to use malware or hacking, which, although important, would otherwise clutter the central part of the contract.
Finally, providing your customers with the possibility to contact you regarding contract modification is more than just a courtesy. It sets you one step removed from a unilaterally decided contract which jurisdictions that emphasise consumer protection do not look upon favourably.
Contracting Parties
The Services are provided by, and you are contracting with Cabinetul Individual de Avocat – Zaharia Radu-Andrei ("us", "we"), an entity that operates according to Romanian Law no. 51/1990, with headquarters in Timișoara, str. Nicolae Iorga, no. 6c, apartment 1, Timiș County.
When we say "you" or "your", we mean the organisation you represent in agreeing to the Contract. If you are not legally affiliated with an organisation, you, as an individual, will be bound by the terms of the Contract. In certain instances, you will be referenced as our "Customer".
Let's explain
Your agreement
To use our Services, you must accept this Contract. Please read the terms carefully before expressing your consent. The contract will be concluded by electronic means and may involve a payment obligation on your part.
You may express your consent to the Contract by pressing a button or completing another action indicating your acceptance of the terms when this option is available to you within the Services. For example, when you submit a request through our order form or schedule an online appointment, you must check a box to accept these terms. As for browsing the zaharia.law website, accessing it implies acceptance of the Contract.
Please note that legal services may only be provided under a client-attorney relationship and imply a separate contract in the form of a Legal Assistance Contract as defined by Romanian Law no. 51/1990.
Let's explain
We can identify three main ways of agreeing to terms of service:
- Browsewrap agreements state that by using a website or app, you agree to be bound by its terms of service. Unsurprisingly, this type of consent capture (or lack thereof) was found to be highly unenforceable in a court setting, especially if not aided by a prominent notice.
- Clickwrap Agreements, on the other hand, are highly enforceable and imply clicking a button or ticking a box that would otherwise prevent you from accessing the site or using the app.
- Sign-in-wraps are a sort of hybrid of those mentioned above: you don't have to tick a box, but you are advised that by continuing with your account registration, you agree with certain terms.
We'll probably do an in-depth review of each of them, so keep an eye on our blog.
Modification of the Contract
From time to time, it may be necessary for us to update the terms of the Contract for reasons such as:
– to respond to a change in law or regulation;
– to comply with a regulatory requirement that applies to us;
– because we have modified the Services (for example, we have improved or developed new features), because we have added new products or services, or because we have changed our business practices;
– to make the Contract terms easier to understand or more beneficial for you;
– to prevent abuse or harm.
We will post a notice regarding the Contract modification on this page. Also, in case of a material change to the Contract, we will notify you by email or through the Services to provide you with the opportunity to review the proposed change, unless:
– the change is related to a new service or product or
– the change must be implemented at once due to an emergency (for example, to meet legal requirements or to prevent abuse or harm).
Your continued use of the Services constitutes your acceptance of any revised terms. If you disagree with the changes that will take place, we suggest that you stop using the Services before they take effect.
Let's explain
As mentioned above, this is a contract. As with any contract, once the parties have agreed to a certain set of terms, those terms may only be modified by the party's subsequent agreement. However, this clause is set in place to allow one party to modify the contract unilaterally in certain situations - a common practice when it comes to ToS and other such agreements.
There are a few things you have to keep in mind when unilaterally modifying a contract:
- Notifying the other party
- Providing the modified terms beforehand
- Capturing consent with regards to the change
- Tracking contract versions
Modification of the Services
From time to time, it may be necessary for us to update the terms of the Contract for reasons such as:
– to respond to a change in law or regulation;
– to comply with a regulatory requirement that applies to us;
– because we have modified the Services (for example, we have improved or developed new features), because we have added new products or services, or because we have changed our business practices;
– to make the Contract terms easier to understand or more beneficial for you;
– to prevent abuse or harm.
We will post a notice regarding the Contract modification on this page. Also, in case of a material change to the Contract, we will notify you by email or through the Services to provide you with the opportunity to review the proposed change, unless:
– the change is related to a new service or product or
– the change must be implemented at once due to an emergency (for example, to meet legal requirements or to prevent abuse or harm).
Your continued use of the Services constitutes your acceptance of any revised terms. If you disagree with the changes that will take place, we suggest that you stop using the Services before they take effect.
Let's explain
Similar to how we may modify the contract terms, a change of the actual services may be necessary. This clause makes such a modification possible, as well as suspending and shutting down the services altogether.
As with material changes to the contract, only changes that negatively affect the services must be notified beforehand. This is because most modifications consist of updates that improve functionality or would otherwise go unnoticed by a casual user of the services.
However, this clause can play a central role in contracts where services are guaranteed to have a certain uptime or where users pay for a precise set of features they do not want to change - even for the better.
Intellectual property
Our license to you
To access and use our Services, we grant you a worldwide, non-exclusive, limited, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, and revocable licence. The license is subject to your compliance with this Contract and to further service-specific amendments.
We retain all rights, titles and interests, including all intellectual property rights to the brand, logos, legal texts and other data within the Services. If you wish to use our brand or logos, please contact us.
You may print or copy, and you can download extracts of the site for personal use. You must not modify the printed or downloaded copies in any way. Violation of these terms entails a ban on using the Services and the obligation to destroy, delete and return any printed, copied or downloaded materials.
You may not use the content of the Services for commercial purposes without obtaining a license from us or the other persons and entities that own intellectual property rights to the materials on the Services.
Let's explain
Today's internet runs on licensing agreements - contracts that award certain rights to a service without transferring ownership. The license above allows you to do the basics, like accessing and browsing our website (displaying it on your screen) and saving information offline for personal use.
Depending on your business type, you will probably need more complex licensing terms, and in some situations (like software licensing), you should probably consider a stand-alone licensing agreement.
Customer Data
We call "Customer Data" all the data (such as text, links, emoji, photos, videos, documents, or other information) that you may upload, store, send, share or add in any other way when using our Services. You retain all intellectual property rights in Customer Data. You must ensure that Customer Data does not violate applicable law or the terms of the Contract. Concerning Customer Data, you warrant that you have all necessary rights to use the Services. We are not responsible for the content of Customer Data or how you choose to use the Services to store and process Customer Data.
You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license and all the necessary rights to host, access, use, process, copy, distribute, perform and display Customer Data in order for us:
– provide, maintain and improve the Services;
– develop new services, products and technologies;
– prevent or solve a problem related to the provision of the Services or their security;
– respond to a request related to Customer Data;
– comply with our legal obligations.
The license granted also extends to our third-party providers solely to help us provide the Services. You warrant that you can legally grant us these rights.
If we believe there is a breach of the Contract that you can remedy by deleting some or more of Customer Data, in most cases, we will require you to take direct action instead of us intervening. However, if we believe that you have not taken the necessary steps, or if there is a risk of harm to us, the Services, other users or our third-party providers, we will act accordingly.
Let's explain
Although customer interaction with the services is limited in our specific case, there can still be instances when someone posts a comment or uploads a photo. We offered you a license to be able to benefit from our services, and, in turn, we need a limited license from you to receive and process specific data to provide the Services. This is different from our privacy policy, which describes how we handle your personal information (like your name and email address) and allows us to do basic things like display your comments for others to see.
As mentioned, this is less relevant for a simple website like ours but can represent the essential building block for services focused on user-generated content like Instagram and YouTube.
Feedback
We welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions, but please note that we may use them for any purpose and without any obligation or liability to you.
Review and publicity
As a Customer, you may grant us the right to use your company name and logo as a reference for marketing purposes and promotional materials or within our portfolio, website, social media, and other public or private communications. We would greatly appreciate it if you could offer us a review which we would be able to use similarly.
Do not rely on the information provided
All published articles, materials, case studies, quotes, graphics, images, videos and other information contained within the Services, as well as information of any kind communicated during video or phone calls, by email or through messaging apps (collectively, the "Information") is provided for general information purposes only. The Information is not intended to provide advice or opinions that you should rely on when making a decision of any kind, including, but not limited to, medical, financial, psychological or legal decisions. We use reasonable efforts to update the Information. However, we make no warranties or representations, express or implied, that the Information is accurate, complete or up-to-date. We recommend you consult a certified professional before implementing or acting on the Information.
Let's explain
Although we are lawyers, we are not your lawyers…at least not yet. As we mentioned at the beginning (remember?), to provide legal services, we must enter into what applicable legislation calls a legal assistance contract. This clause is meant to differentiate the information provided outside such a legal agreement.
It's tempting and more accessible than ever to self-diagnose based on what you read on the internet. That's why we highly discourage such practices. And when it comes to your clients or customers, you should consider doing the same.
Links to Other Sites
The Services contain links to other websites and resources provided by third parties. These links are for informational purposes only. We do not endorse, support or encourage the sites we link or the information contained within them. We have no control over the content of these sites.
Online consultation - Per Hour Call
Our Services offer you the possibility to request an appointment online to benefit from remote legal consultations.
To provide you with the services described above, we process your personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy. We respect the privacy of your data and try to be flexible in providing these services. For this reason, we offer you the opportunity to choose the provider of videoconferencing services through which you want the remote legal consultation to take place. Given that this provider will process your personal data, we recommend you carefully read the provider's data processing policy and choose a provider with all the privacy guarantees required by law. We are not affiliated with and do not recommend using any particular provider and are not responsible for how your chosen provider processes your personal data. Please note that communications between you and us are not protected by the attorney-client privilege or as work product before the conclusion of a legal assistance contract.
We do not assume any responsibility regarding the impossibility of carrying out the remote legal consultation for technical reasons. If we consider the conditions for the consultation to be inappropriate, we will work with you to try to remedy the situation, suggest that it be held at a later date, or recommend a legal consultation at the office of the law firm.
Remote legal consultations may involve the exchange of messages, documents, images, video clips and other such data via email, SMS, electronic messaging applications and cloud platforms ("Electronic Messages"). Please be aware that Electronic Messages are not a confidential form of communication, as there is a reasonable possibility of interception by third parties (including people in your home, people who have access to your phone or computer, or third parties responsible for the administration and maintenance of the technical infrastructure). Also, take note of the prohibition to record the remote legal consultation by any means, under penalty of the applicable criminal and civil provisions.
Return policy. According to Romanian law, article 16 letter a) of OUG 34/2014 service contracts are exempted from the right of withdrawal provided by art. 9-15 of the same ordinance after the complete rendering of the services. Therefore, please note that we will not be able to honour your request to withdraw and reimburse the costs of the remote legal consultation after it has been completed.
Let's explain
This clause is highly tailored to our needs. It describes a specific part of our services, setting the parties' responsibilities and disclaiming certain liabilities. We have dedicated an entire case study focused on the implications of this very clause, which you can read here.
In case of misunderstandings
Disclaimer of Warranties
We provide the Services with a reasonable degree of skill and diligence. Except as provided in the Contract and to the extent permitted by law, we make no warranty, express or implied, as to the content, availability or reliability of the Services, the features available or their ability to meet your requirements.
The Website is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE". During use, you may encounter errors and limitations. You undertake to notify us of these, and we will work with you to remedy the problem.
Liability
The Contract does not limit either party's liability for death, personal injury, fraud, gross negligence or intent.
To the extent permitted by law, neither party will be liable for any loss of profit, revenue or data, loss of opportunity or any financial loss of any kind, nor for any direct or indirect damages resulting from the use or inability to use the Services. In addition, neither you nor we will be liable for losses we could not reasonably have foreseen when entering the Contract or for events beyond our reasonable control.
Force Majeure
Neither party shall be liable for its inability to comply with Contract terms due to events beyond its control. Such events may include but are not limited to denial-of-service attacks, a failure by a third party hosting provider or utility provider, strikes, shortages, riots, fires, acts of God, war, terrorism, and governmental action. We will make reasonable efforts to resume performance as events may allow. However, if the events continue for more than 60 (sixty) days, either party may terminate this Contract by delivering a notice to the other party.
Indemnification
You will indemnify us, our administrators, agents, employees and contractors against any claims, complaints, demands, liabilities, damages, losses and costs, including fines or actions by government authorities, incurred as a result of your breach of the terms of the Contract or illegal use of the Services.
Disputes and Applicable Law
The contract is governed by Romanian law. Romanian courts will be competent to judge any disputes related to the Contract.
Miscellaneous
This Contract only governs the relationship between you and us. You may not transfer any rights or obligations to third parties without our written consent, and they will have no rights under the Contract.
Either party may assign the rights and obligations conferred based on the Contract, without the other party's consent, to a corporate affiliate or if the assignment is related to a merger, acquisition, or corporate reorganisation or sale of assets.
The inability or delay of either party to exercise a right provided for in the Contract will not constitute a waiver of that right.
If any terms of this Contract were to be found invalid or unenforceable under applicable law, the rest of the Contract would remain unaffected. We agree to modify such terms in the spirit they were initially created.
All provisions of this Contract that by their nature should survive termination shall survive, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, limitations of liability and miscellaneous provisions.
Let's explain
These final sections are technical and standard. Through the years, they have evolved from ALL CAPS to slightly more intelligible writing. Still, they remain quite dry as their main objective is to eliminate surprises, avoid differences in interpretation and achieve maximum enforceability.
