General Terms and Conditions
Tags: agreement, algemene voorwaarden, bedingen, black list, conditions, fine print, gebruiker, general terms and conditions, grey list, grijze lijst, kleine lettertjes, onredelijke bedingen, overeenkomst, reflex action, reflexwerking, ter hand stellen, terms, unreasonable terms, user, zwarte lijst.
General terms and conditions are stipulations that are intended to form part of several agreements. The “normal” agreement then contains specific provisions about what has been agreed between the parties, while the general terms and conditions contain the more general terms, such as the delivery time and the method of invoicing. The party that uses the general terms and conditions is referred to in law as the user of the general terms and conditions.
Applicability of General Terms and Conditions
General terms and conditions apply if the user has offered the other party a reasonable opportunity to take note of these general terms and conditions.
The starting point that the user hands over the general terms and conditions to the other party before or during the conclusion of the agreement. If this is not possible or not practical, the user suffices by stating that the general terms and conditions can be viewed and where they can be viewed.
If it concerns an agreement that has been concluded electronically (for example a purchase via the internet), making it available is not sufficient. The other party must be able to save the terms and conditions so that they can be consulted at a later time.
Unreasonable Terms
Terms from the general terms and conditions can be cancelled if they are unreasonably onerous. It is difficult to say in general whether a clause is unreasonably onerous. Fortunately, the legislator has therefore drawn up two lists of terms that are presumably unreasonably onerous. The grey list lists terms that are usually unreasonably onerous, the blacklist lists terms that are always unreasonably onerous. If the user’s counterparty is a consumer, then these lists are mandatory
When it comes to an agreement between two companies, these lists are not leading. It will often be assumed more quickly that a clause is unreasonably onerous if it is on the grey or blacklist. This is called the reflex effect of the frames. The extent to which companies look at these lists depends, among other things, on the size of the company.
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