These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter T&Cs) regulate the execution of paid assistance activities. The current range of assistance activities can be viewed at my-vpa.com (hereinafter my-vpa). By purchasing an hour package, you accept and agree to the T&Cs valid at the time of purchase.

between

my-vpa GmbH
Kleine-Spitzengasse 2-4, 50676 Cologne
hereinafter referred to as: Contractor or my-vpa

and its

contractual partners
hereinafter referred to as: Clients

Section 1. Conclusion of contract
(1) The conclusion of a contract is considered effective when the Client has purchased the hour package via email or directly via the my-vpa website and confirmation of this has been given by my-vpa. This applies equally to both new orders and individual orders via the services provided in the context of ongoing business relationships.
(2) Each purchase of an hour package constitutes its own contract.
(3) You are not entitled to the conclusion of a contract. my-vpa reserves the right to reject client orders and individual orders without specifying any reasons.

Section 2. Entitled service recipients; no direct obligation on the part of the Contractor towards third parties
(1) The Client alone and any active employees it may have are entitled to make use of the services; third parties may not. In relation to my-vpa, the person to whom the Client has assigned an electronic account for making orders or the person who uses an account assigned by the Client is entitled.
(2) The transfer of entitlement to my-vpa’s services is dependent upon my-vpa’s prior approval in writing..
(3) The Contractor shall only provide services to third parties (e.g., making flight reservations for a Client) in the capacity of an intermediary or authorised representative (Sections 164(ff) of the German Civil Code (BGB)).

Section 3. Pricing
(1) By ordering a chosen hour package, the Client acknowledges that the services demanded are subject to a fee.
(2) The hourly price depends on the requested activity and the size of the hour package. The hourly rate varies according to the type of service ordered. The applicable hourly prices can be found on the current price list, which is available in the application.
(3) If a service is performed on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, as requested in the order, 1.7 times the hourly rate is applicable. The increase in remuneration is dependent on the Client’s prior approval. Approval may be given informally.
(4) The price list relevant at the time of the order applies.
(5) All listed prices are net prices without statutory value-added tax. Value-added tax will be included on every invoice.

Section 4. Payment, invoicing, maturity, term
(1) The remuneration for the hour packaged ordered shall be payable immediately upon invoice. The Client shall receive the invoice via email if a contract has been concluded. Upon request, a written invoice may also be sent.
(2) Payment of the hour packages shall be carried out via bank transfer or one of the payment methods detailed on the my-vpa website and in the app provided.
(3) The Contractor is obligated to perform the service once the invoice amount has been paid in full..
(4) Every hour package has a term of 24 months after contract conclusion and must be redeemed within this time period. Once this period has been exceeded, entitlement to the service expires, i.e., unredeemed portions of the package are no longer valid. In this case, the fee is not refundable in full or in part.

Section 5. Time billing
(1) The services performed shall be billed in ten-minute intervals for each task.
(2) Each ten-minute interval started shall be billed in proportion to the full hourly rate.

Section 6. Termination, reimbursement, subcontractors
(1) The right to ordinary termination during the term of an hour package is excluded. The user’s right of cancellation and the right to extraordinary termination remain unaffected by this.
(2) my-vpa may use subcontractors, in the form of Virtual Personal Assistants, to perform the services. The subcontractor may be changed at any time, even within an assigned hour package, after prior notice has been given. The Client may not select a particular Virtual Personal Assistant to assign work to or to retain. my-vpa reserves the right to assign suitable assistants to the Client. The regulations on subcontractors in the agreement on order processing take precedence in the case of processing personal data.

Section 7. Liability
(1) a) my-vpa is liable without limitation for physical harm, damage to human health and damages that are based on premeditation, gross negligence or fraudulent intent;
b) In the case of simple negligence, my-vpa is only liable for damages that were caused by a culpable breach of a contractual obligation that jeopardises the fulfilment of the purpose of the contract. In this case, my-vpa’s liability is limited to damages typical to the nature of the contract and damages foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract. Otherwise, liability is excluded. In other respects, liability for simple negligence is excluded.
(2) Where Clause 1 b) applies, liability for loss of profit and missed savings is excluded.
(3) my-vpa is not liable for replacing data and/or programs if their loss was not intentional or due to gross negligence or fraudulent intent. In this case, liability can only be considered if the Client has ensured through suitable means (making backups at least daily) that the data and/or programs originally stored can be reinstated through reasonable effort.
(4) Claims for damages by the Client, who is a business entity, lapse one year after the beginning of the statutory limitation period, unless shorter statutory limitation periods apply. However, the statutory limitation periods apply in the case of my-vpa causing physical harm, damage to human health, restriction of personal freedom or acting with fraudulent intent, malicious intent or gross negligence.
(5) The limitations of liability specified earlier also correspondingly apply in favour of the employees and representatives (subcontractors) of my-vpa.
(6) Liability in the case of guarantees and in accordance with Product Liability Act remains unaffected by the aforementioned provisions (Section 14 of the German Product Liablity Act (ProdHG)).

Section 8. Direct employment of assistants, contractual penalties, assistant declarations
(1) After purchasing an hour package, the Client will be put in contact with the subcontractor that will be his personal assistant. During the ongoing contract and for the duration of 24 months after contract end, the Client must refrain from engaging the personal virtual assistant in return for payment. This applies equally to self-employed and employed activities of the assistant.
(2) The conclusion of a direct contractual relationship between the Client and the personal virtual assistant is dependent upon written approval of the Contractor within the time period specified in Section 8(1). Approval is given in accordance with an intermediate commission to be specifically agreed upon that, as a general rule, is at least 5,000 EUR. The intermediate commission is payable immediately as soon as approval is given. There is no entitlement to approval.
(3) If the personal virtual assistant is directly commissioned by the Client in violation of Section 8 (1) and (2), the Client must pay an appropriate contractual penalty. The Contractor shall use its reasonable discretion to determine the amount of the contractual penalty. This amount may be judicially reviewed in the case of a dispute.
(4) The Client must only obtain legally binding declarations of a subcontractor, which that are intended to have an effect against the subcontractor and the Contractor with respect to the Client or a third party, after following prior approval from the Contractor.

Section 9. Communication, data protection
(1) The Contractor may carry out communication with the Client via email. It should be noted that the e-mail traffic is not encrypted. Communication is also carried out via other channels, in particular via the provided application, telephone, Skype, WhatsApp, SMS, etc. The particularities of the communication means also arise from the technical and organisation measures of the Order Processing Agreement (VAV).
(2) The contract partners shall adhere to the applicable data protection conditions. The Client’s personal data shall only be processed for the purpose of processing the applicable order and for fulfilling the contract. In addition to the technical and organisational measures, the VAV, as amended, forms part of the applicable contract for an hour package. Insofar as personal data are affected, the VAV takes precedence in the event of contradictions between the VAV and the contract including these T&C.

Section 10. Copyright and other property and usage rights
(1) If the Contractor has acquired property or usage rights for the purpose of fulfilling the contract, the Client acquires the exclusive, transferrable usage rights that are unlimited in terms of time and content. The applicable right is herewith transferred to the Contractor.
(2) Upon payment of the remuneration, all claims of the Contract with respect to the transferred rights are completely compensated for. Mandatory provisions of the Author Remuneration Act remain unaffected.
(3) The Contractor is not obligated to exercise the rights conferred on them. Exercising a recall right that nevertheless exists due to non-exercise of the transferred right (Section 41 of the German Copyright Act (UrhG)) shall be excluded for a duration of five years.

Section 11. Confidentiality and non-disclosure
(1) Contract partners must not disclose any confidential information or business and trade secrets of their respective contract partners. Such information must not be passed onto external third parties by neither the contract partner nor a third party. Every contract partner shall make the necessary arrangements to prevent unlawful acquisition of knowledge by third parties. Such knowledge shall only be disclosed to a subcontractor of my-vpa or other subcontractors if these subcontractors have agreed to non-disclosure. Passing on confidential information to external third parties is only permissible with prior consent.
(2) Information within the meaning of this provision includes all confidential or sensitive written, oral, digital or other information. Digital data, Client data and Client information, drawings, operations, designs, sketches, plans, descriptions, measured values, calculations, methods, samples, knowledge and procedures as well as intellectual property applications that have not yet been published are collected in particular.
(3) The Contractor is also obligated not to disclose the Client’s business and trade secrets after the end of the contractual relationship. The same applies to the personal virtual assistants and any other subcontractors involved in the order.
(4) The aforementioned obligations are not valid for information which
a) was known to the public or was generally accessible by the public prior to the disclosure; or
b) was generally disclosed through no fault of the contract partner who agreed to non-disclosure; or
c) was lawfully acquired by a third party who is not involved in the order relationship.

Section 12. Place of jurisdiction and choice of law
(1) Insofar as the Client is a tradesperson within the meaning of the German Commercial Code, the place of jurisdiction for all disputes is Cologne.
(2) Insofar as the Client is a businessperson within the meaning of Section 14 of the German Civil Code, the law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply exclusively.

Section 13. Final provisions
(1) Should a provision of these T&Cs be ineffective, this shall not affect the effectiveness of the other clauses.
(2) Should a term be ineffective, the content of the contract shall be determined by legal provisions.