ICT – Office Conditions

The ICT – Office conditions are industry conditions for ICT suppliers.

The ICT – Office Conditions have been drawn up by Nederland ICT, the trade association for ICT suppliers. ICT ~ Office was the name of the trade association, but it is now called Nederland ICT. The current version of the conditions is now also called the Netherlands ICT conditions.

The FENIT conditions were the predecessors of the ICT ~ Office conditions.

These industry conditions have been drawn up to best serve the interests of ICT suppliers. The obligations of ICT suppliers are limited to mostly best efforts obligations. Moreover, the remedies that the customer would have if the supplier does not fulfill his obligations are limited.

The ICT ~ Office conditions are known to be customer-unfriendly and unbalanced. As a customer, you should therefore not agree to the applicability of the ICT ~ Office conditions.
For example, the liability of the supplier is excluded everywhere in almost all cases. In addition, the supplier can implement price increases fairly easily. Although you have the option to terminate the agreement before a price increase takes place, that is quite difficult if you are highly dependent on the ICT supplier. Furthermore, a notice of default is almost always required if the supplier fails to fulfil his obligations. This deviates from the statutory regime, which sometimes means that a notice of default can be omitted. You are also obliged to arbitrate in the event of disputes. That is not always desirable. And finally, the regime regarding intellectual property rights is very limited.
All in all, the ICT ~ Office conditions are very one-sided. If there is a large dependence on the ICT supplier, when there are major (financial) risks or if you want to have something legally arranged, it is not advisable to agree to the ICT ~ Office conditions.