New buisness dealing with French people - Terms and Conditions ?

Amelie Q

Hi everyone,
I am French and living in Ireland. I am starting a business : I'll create tours for French people coming to Ireland.
I would like to have some advise about the terms and conditions that will have to be on my website :
I have asked 2 Irish solicitor how to write them, if they would do it for me... and they said I can write them myself by checking on the internet.
French solicitors seem to say that it's strongly advisable to see one to write them.
A friend of mine (she's Irish and she's a solicitor) wrote some for me and I translated them into French.
So my question is : do I need a solicitor to have a look at them ? Does that solicitor need to be Irish or French ? As my business is Irish, I suppose it concerns Irish law, but my Terms and conditions must be written in French...
I am a bit confused, can somebody help me ? Merci beaucoup !

Peterdalkey

You will be goverened by Irish law so your Irish Solicitor friend's work translated into French should be just perfect! Put them up in English too for belt and braces cover!!

Peterdalkey

SpaceTime wrote: »

You should get an Irish solicitor to check them for you.

If this is an Irish business, you're dealing with Irish contract law.

Just bear in mind that Irish, English & US legal systems are very different to French law. France uses a legal system based on civil and criminal codes. Ireland uses "Common Law" which is not really codified at all and works largely on precedent.

Normally, the English version will be what the courts would use. Any translation into French would be for your customers' convenience only.

if you read the OP you will note she already has!!

Peterdalkey

Me? a sainted moderator? perish the thought!!

Just did not want our French poster to be confused

Amelie Q

Ok so if I understand well, I use what my Irish solicitor friend has written for me, I use my translation too (no need to hire an professional translator ?) and I put the 2 versions on my website ?
So I don't need to contact any French solicitor as I'll be dealing with Irish law ?
Am I right ?

Peterdalkey

I would say you are fine!

Amelie Q

Thank you very much for your help !

SpaceTime

If you want to be entirely clear, simply state that the company is based in the Republic of Ireland and that this contract is subject to the jurisdiction of the Courts of the Republic of Ireland and Irish law.

You'll see similar text on most contracts for online companies that will make reference to say the Courts of England and Wales etc.

There are really significant differences between "Common Law" (Ireland, England, Canada, US, Australia etc) legal systems and "Civil Law" (France, Germany, Italy all of continental Europe) systems.

In general, the legal system here is a lot easier to deal with from the point of view of doing business as there aren't endless codes to trip over.

If your solicitor is happy with the T&Cs you should be OK.

Also bear in mind that you cannot put something into a contract that takes away statutory rights. So, you will still need to be aware of Irish consumer law etc.

I realise you've spoken to a solicitor who is a friend of yours, but I would suggest that perhaps you might be best to seek the advice of a solicitor who has expertise in business formation.
Usually, your accountant should be able to recommend someone as they'll know who's good in that kind of area.

Example of text I stumbled upon on a website:

http://www.asos.com/infopages/pgetandc.aspx?r=2

Fairly typical statement :
"Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These terms and conditions are to be construed in accordance with the laws of England and in the event of any dispute or claim associated with these terms and conditions, that dispute or claim shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts."

In Ireland you'd have a similar statement about the Republic of Ireland, Courts of the Republic of Ireland and Irish Law.

Depending on how complicated your business is, you may want to have various disclaimers and things like that. It depends on what you're doing and what kind of legal risks you might be exposed to.

We cannot really give you any legal advise on a forum to be perfectly honest.
You'd really need to have a proper consultation with someone who is an expert in commercial and contract law.

If you've a complicated business, like say boards.ie which has to deal with publication and all that stuff, you may have some very complicated T&Cs:

http://www.boards.ie/content/terms/

Good sources of advice:

1) Your local county or city enterprise board : http://www.enterpriseboards.ie/
(You can just make an appointment and go in and have a chat and they have all sorts of advice, courses and supports that can be really useful)

They also have a mentoring service which can be really useful and most of them would have business networking events which would give you an opportunity to meet with other businesses owners in the area and just chat/network etc. It can be very eye opening.

2) Small Firms Association www.sfa.ie
and 3) ISME (Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association) www.isme.ie

4) Irish-French Chamber of Commerce
If you're doing business between Ireland and France, maybe get in touch with them. There's a lot of support, enthusiasm and advice!

http://www.irelandfrance.com (Irish affiliate of Chambres de Commerce et d’Industrie Françaises à l’Etranger)

and their Irish counterparts in France : http://www.franceireland.com

Also these guys : http://www.centreculturelirlandais.com could be quite useful perhaps?

You'd be quite surprised at how many French entrepreneurs are based in Ireland. There are a lot of small businesses in the food sector in particular. So, definitely get in touch with some of those organisations and hunt around online a bit. You might be able to get some excellent advice and make some good contacts and friends too.

Amelie Q

Thanks very much for your complete answer.