General Terms

1. Unless otherwise specifically agreed in writing, Link Inspection Expertise Services Co. Ltd. (hereinafter called “the Company”) undertakes services in accordance with these General Terms & Conditions of Service (hereinafter called “Terms & Conditions”), and accordingly all offers or tenders of service are made subject to the same. Our trading conditions are to be accepted before the commencement of our work. All resulting contracts, agreements, or other arrangements will in all respects be governed by these Terms & Conditions, except only to the extent that the law of the place where such arrangements or contracts are made or carried out shall preclude any of the Terms & Conditions and in such case the said local law shall prevail wherever, but only to the extent that, it is a variance with these Terms & Conditions.

2. The Company is a business enterprise engaged in the trade of inspection, surveys, controls, sampling, and testing. As such it carries out inspections, verifications, examinations, tests, samplings, measurements, Marine Surveys, and similar operators (referring to article 6); renders advisory and special services as may be agreed by the company (referring to article 7); issues reports and certificates (referring to article 8) relating to the aforesaid operations renders advisory services in connection with such matters.

3. The Company acts for the persons or bodies from whom the instructions to act have originated (hereinafter called "the Principal"). No other party is entitled to give instructions, particularly on the scope of inspection or delivery of report or certificate, unless so authorized by the Principal. The Company will however be deemed irrevocably authorized to deliver at its discretion the report or the certificate to a third party if following instructions by the Principal a promise in this sense had been given to this third party or such a promise implicitly follows from circumstances, trade, custom, usage or practice.

4. The Company will provide services in accordance with; the specific instructions given by the Principal as confirmed by the Company; terms of the Company's Standard Order Form and/or Standard Specification Sheet if used; any relevant trade, custom, usage or practice such methods as the Company shall consider suitable on technical and/or financial ground.

5. Information and documentation; The Principal must provide sufficient information, instruction, and specifications regarding all their inquiries and orders to be given services by the Company. The Company cannot be held responsible for any incorrect or misleading information supplied or obtained. Documents reflecting engagements contracted between the Principal and third parties, such as copies of contracts of sale, letters of credit, bills of lading, etc. are (if received by the Company) considered to be for information only, without extending or restricting the Company's mission and obligations.

6. The Company's standard services may include all or any of the following;
6.1. Damage Surveys, Pre-Shipment, loading or discharging inspections;
6.2. Quantitative and/or qualitative inspection;
6.3. Inspection of the condition of goods, equipment, containers, vessels, packing, containers and transportation;
6.4. Sampling;
6.5. Witnessing laboratory analysis or other testing.
6.6. Supervising Weighing Operations
6.7. Marine Surveys, Risk Analyses

7. Special services where the same exceeds the scope of standard services as referred to in Article 6 will only be undertaken by the Company by particular arrangement. Such special services are illustratively not exhaustively.

8. Reports and Certificates: Subject to the Principal's instructions as accepted by the Company will issue reports and certificates of inspection which reflect statements of opinions made with due care within the limitation of instructions received but the Company is under no obligation to refer to or report upon any facts or circumstances which are outside the specific instructions received. The issued report is evidence of the performed inspection and reflects the findings at the time and place of inspection only and results are valid for the place and date of the survey. The issuance of the certificate does not exonerate buyers or sellers from exercising all their liabilities under the contract of sale, stipulations to the contrary are not binding on the company.

9. The company shall be entitled at its discretion to delegate the performance of the whole or any part of the services contracted for with the Principal to any agent or subcontractor. The provided services are carried out to the best of the Company’s ability at the present conditions, however without any responsibility.

10. Once the Company took samples for the inspections, the company will retain samples or portions of samples on behalf of the Principal for a period of 3 (three) months from receipt of samples unless the Principal instructs the company in writing to retain for a longer period of time. If the Principal requests that reserve samples be forwarded by the company, all the cost of forwarding will be for the Principal’s account. The company will not be responsible for samples lost in transit by courier services, Postal services and the like whether going to or from the Company’s offices.
10.1 If the requirements of the Principal necessitate the analysis of samples by the Client's or by any third party's laboratory the Company will pass on the result of the analysis (if it would be obtained) but without responsibility for its accuracy. Likewise, where the Company is only able to witness an analysis by the Client's or by any third party's laboratory the Company will confirm that the correct sample has been analyzed but will not otherwise be responsible for the accuracy of any analysis or results.
10.2. If the sample or the service is or is potentially the subject of legal proceedings this fact must be notified to the Company in writing before the work is carried out. If that fact is not disclosed to the Company at that stage the Company shall not necessarily be obliged or prepared to provide expert testimony.

11. The Company provides confidentiality referring to all documents and any kind of information obtained concerning the orders given by the customer. Unless the information is asked to be declared by the accrediting agency, T.R. Laws, government order, court decision, regulations, rules, or an authorized court, documents, and information are shown to the third party only with the confirmation, allowing such sharing, of the customer or a person authorized by the customer.

12. The customer has the right to resort to the Complaints and Objections Board for any kind of unsolved matters related to the services. For this purpose, there is the Complaint and Objection Procedure of the company.

13. The principal will;
13.1. Ensure that instructions to the Company and sufficient information are given in due time and in writing in the English and/or Turkish language to enable the required services to be performed effectively;
13.2. Procure all necessary access for the Company's Representatives to enable the required services to be performed effectively
13.3. Supply, if required, any special instrument and personnel necessary for the performance of the required services;
13.4. Ensure that all necessary measures are taken for the safety and security of working conditions, sites, and installations during the performance of services and will not rely, in this respect, on the Company's advice whether required or not;
13.5. Take all necessary steps to eliminate or remedy any obstruction to or interruptions in the performance of the required services;
13.6. Fully exercise all his rights and discharge all his liabilities under the contract of sale whether or not a report or certificate has been issued by the Company failing which the Company shall be under no obligation to the Principal.
13.7. Inform the Company in writing in advance of any known hazards or dangers, actual or potential, associated with any order or samples or testing including, for example, but not restricted to, the presence or risk of radiation, toxic or noxious or explosive elements or materials, environmental pollution or poisons.

14. The Company cooperates for amicable solutions with due care and skill in the performance of its services and accepts responsibility only in cases of gross negligence proven by the Principals. The liability of the Company to the Principal in respect of any claims for loss, damage, or expense of whatsoever nature and howsoever arising shall in no circumstances exceed a total aggregate sum equal to ten times the amount of the fee or commission payable in respect of the specific service required under the particular contract which gives rise to such claims. Where the fee or commission payable relates to several services and a claim arises in respect of one of those services the fee or commission shall be apportioned for the purposes of this paragraph by reference to the estimated time involved in the performance of each service. The responsibility can never exceed the sum of TL 20.000, - for any claim. - A prerequisite for the Company at all to consider any liability is that all fees and expenses due to the Company have been paid.

15. The Principal shall guarantee, hold harmless, and indemnify the Company and its officers, employees, agents, or subcontractors against all claims made by any third party for loss, damage, or expense of whatsoever nature and howsoever arising relating to the performance, purported performance or non-performance, of any services to the extent that the aggregate of any such claims relating to any one service exceeds the limit mentioned in paragraph 12.

16. The principal will punctually pay not later than 15 working days after the relevant invoice date or within such other period as may have been agreed in writing by the company all proper charges rendered by the Company failing which the company reserves the right to charge interest at the rate of 3.0 (three) percent per annum above LIBOR from time to time from the date of Invoice until payment. The Client shall not be entitled to retain or defer payment of any sums due to the Company on account of any dispute, cross-claim, or set-off which it may allege against the Company. In the event of any suspension of payment arrangement with creditors, bankruptcy, insolvency, receivership, or cessation of business by the Client the Company shall be entitled to suspend all further performance of its services forthwith and without liability.

17. In the event of the Company being prevented because of any cause whatsoever outside the Company's control from performing or completing any service for which an order has been given or an agreement made, the Principal will pay to the Company; the amount of all abortive expenditure actually made or incurred a proportion of the agreed fee or commission equal to the proportion (if any) of the service actually carried out, and the Company shall be relieved of all responsibility whatsoever for the partial or total non-performance of the required services.

18. Every officer, employee, agent, or subcontractor of the company shall have the benefit of the limitation of compensation and the indemnity contained in these Terms & Conditions and so far as relates to such limitations any contract entered into by the Company is entered into not only on its own behalf but also as agent and trustee for every such person as aforesaid.

19. In the event that any unforeseen problems or expenditure arise in the course of carrying out any of the contracted services the Company shall be entitled to make additional charges to cover additional time and cost necessarily incurred to complete the service.

20. The Company shall be discharged from all liability to the Client for all claims for loss, damage, or expense unless suit is brought within one year after the date of the certificate or report by the Company of the service which gives rise to the claim or in the event of any alleged non-performance within 3 (three) months of the date when such service should have been completed.

21. All results and data contained in an e-mail or Fax are valid only when supported by the original document on the Company’s file.

22. These Terms & Conditions are governed by the laws of Turkey and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Istanbul courts.

23. No alteration, amendment, or waiver of any of these Terms & Conditions shall have any effect unless made in writing and signed by an officer of the Company