Terms & Conditions

1. Scope and provider

These General Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) apply to all contracts for certified translation services concluded between Transzlate, A Linguidoor Company, Musterstraße 42, 10115 Berlin, Germany (“Transzlate”, “we”, “us”) and customers (“Customer”, “you”) via our website at transzlate.com.

Deviating, conflicting or supplementary terms of the Customer shall not become part of the contract unless Transzlate has expressly agreed to their validity in writing. These Terms apply equally to consumers (Verbraucher, § 13 BGB) and businesses (Unternehmer, § 14 BGB) unless a provision specifically distinguishes between them.

2. Services

Transzlate provides certified translation services for official documents. All translations are produced by sworn translators (vereidigte/ermächtigte Übersetzer) who have been officially appointed by a German regional court (Landgericht or Oberlandesgericht). Each certified translation bears the translator’s court stamp, signed certification statement and is accompanied by a copy of the original document.

Our services include:

• Certified (sworn) translation of official documents into and from German
• Digital delivery of the certified translation as a PDF
• Physical delivery of the certified printed original by post (optional add-on)
• Express 24-hour digital delivery (selected languages, subject to availability)
• Add-on services: notarisation, apostille, proofreading, consultation

Transzlate does not provide legal advice. The certification of a translation confirms its linguistic accuracy but does not constitute legal advice on the admissibility of the document in any specific proceeding.

3. Conclusion of contract

The display of services on our website does not constitute a binding offer. A binding contract is concluded as follows:

• The Customer places an order by completing the online order process and clicking “Place Order”.
• Transzlate confirms receipt of the order by automated email. This confirmation does not yet constitute acceptance of the offer.
• The contract is concluded when Transzlate sends a separate order acceptance email, or — at the latest — when work on the translation commences.

The contract language is English. The contract text (order details and these Terms) is stored by Transzlate. Customers may retrieve their order details from their order confirmation email.

4. Prices and payment

All prices are shown on our website inclusive of German VAT (Mehrwertsteuer) at the applicable rate. Prices are fixed per document type and delivery method as shown at the time of ordering. No additional charges arise after checkout unless the Customer adds optional services.

4.1 Payment methods

We accept the following payment methods: Stripe (pay securely now), PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, SEPA direct debit, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Payment processing is handled by the respective payment service providers.

4.2 Stripe — pay securely now

Where the Customer selects Stripe Pay After Delivery, Stripe issues an invoice after the translation has been delivered. Payment is due within 14 days of the invoice date. Stripe’s own terms and conditions apply to the payment arrangement. Transzlate assigns its payment claim to Stripe; the Customer must pay Stripe directly.

4.3 Default

In the event of payment default, Transzlate reserves the right to charge statutory default interest (5 percentage points above the base rate, § 288(1) BGB). Debt collection costs may be charged to the Customer.

5. Delivery and performance

Standard delivery is 3–4 business days (Monday–Friday) from the point at which the Customer has uploaded a legible copy of the source document and the order has been confirmed. Express 24-hour digital delivery is available for selected language pairs (currently EN↔DE, ES↔DE, IT↔DE) for orders placed before 10:00 AM CET on a business day.

Delivery of the certified PDF is made to the email address provided at the time of ordering. The postal dispatch of the printed certified original is free of charge and is sent by Deutsche Post to addresses within Germany within 5–6 business days of the PDF delivery.

Delivery periods are estimates and do not constitute guaranteed deadlines. Transzlate is not liable for delays caused by: (a) incomplete or illegible document uploads; (b) force majeure events; (c) delays caused by third-party postal operators after dispatch.

6. Acceptance guarantee & corrections

Transzlate provides an acceptance guarantee: if a German public authority, court or university rejects a certified translation produced by us for a reason attributable to a linguistic or technical error in the translation itself, we will redo the translation at no additional charge.

The acceptance guarantee does not apply in the following cases:

• Rejection caused by an apostille or legalisation requirement not disclosed to Transzlate at the time of ordering
• Rejection caused by the authority’s own procedural or administrative requirements unrelated to the quality of the translation
• Documents rejected because the original document itself is not authentic, expired or not recognised by the authority
• Rejection caused by an incorrect document type being ordered by the Customer

To invoke the acceptance guarantee, the Customer must provide Transzlate with the written rejection notice from the authority within 30 days of the rejection.

7. Obligations of the customer

The Customer undertakes to:

• Upload a clear, complete and legible copy of the source document. Both sides must be included where data appears on the reverse. All stamps, seals, signatures and registration numbers must be visible.
• Provide accurate contact and delivery details. Transzlate is not liable for non-delivery caused by incorrect addresses provided by the Customer.
• Upload only documents to which the Customer is legally entitled. Transzlate may refuse to process documents if it has reasonable grounds to suspect they are forged or fraudulent.
• Notify Transzlate without undue delay of any special requirements of the receiving authority before the translation is commenced.

8. Intellectual property & confidentiality

All certified translations produced by Transzlate on behalf of the Customer are delivered solely for the Customer’s own use in connection with the submission identified at the time of ordering. The Customer may not reproduce, sell or license the translation to third parties for any purpose other than the originally intended submission without Transzlate’s prior written consent.

Transzlate and all translators in our network treat all documents and information contained therein as strictly confidential. All translators are bound by professional confidentiality obligations. No document content is disclosed to any third party except as necessary to perform the translation and subject to GDPR data processing agreements.

9. Liability

Transzlate is fully liable for damages caused by intentional misconduct (Vorsatz) or gross negligence (grobe Fahrlässigkeit) on our part or that of our legal representatives or agents.

For simple negligence (leichte Fahrlässigkeit), Transzlate’s liability is limited to foreseeable, typically occurring damages and only where a material contractual obligation (Kardinalpflicht) has been breached.

Transzlate’s liability for indirect damages, loss of profit, and consequential loss is excluded to the extent permitted by applicable law.

The above limitations do not apply to liability for injury to life, body or health, or liability under the German Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz).

Transzlate is not liable for the decision of any authority, court or university to accept or reject any document, provided the translation itself conforms to the applicable professional standards.

10. Right of withdrawal (consumers)

If you are a consumer (Verbraucher) within the meaning of § 13 BGB, you have a statutory right to withdraw from the contract within 14 days without giving any reason (§§ 355 ff. BGB).

The withdrawal period begins on the day the contract is concluded. To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must notify us by means of a clear statement (e.g. by email to hello@transzlate.com or by post).

11. Governing law & jurisdiction

These Terms are governed exclusively by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and German conflict-of-law rules. For consumers, mandatory consumer protection provisions of the country in which the consumer is habitually resident continue to apply.

For business customers, the exclusive place of jurisdiction is Berlin, Germany. For consumers, statutory rules on jurisdiction apply.

The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (ODR) at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. Transzlate is not obliged to participate in ADR proceedings before a consumer arbitration board and does not do so voluntarily.

12. Final provisions

Should any provision of these Terms be or become invalid or unenforceable, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The invalid provision shall be replaced by the applicable statutory provision.

Transzlate reserves the right to amend these Terms at any time. Amendments will be communicated to registered customers by email at least 30 days before they take effect. Continued use of our services after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the amended Terms.