Clients - General Terms of Business (update 27/06/2024)


                BETWEEN:

                Skills At Click SPRL with registered offices at Campagne des rites 30, 1421 Ophain, Belgium, VAT number 0691.556.550 (« Skills At Click »)

                 

                AND:

                Your company (the “Client”).

                Each of the parties as set out above are hereinafter also collectively referred to as the "Parties" or separately as “Party”.

                If you agree to the present General Terms of Business on behalf of a company, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that company to these General Terms of Business.

                Definitions

                “Agreement” The General Terms of Business and any and all Statements of Work as defined below.

                “Consultant” The user utilizing Skills At Click to perform Consulting Services 

                “Consulting Services” The services performed by the Consultant for the Client

                “Consulting Fees” The fees due by the Client in consideration for the Consulting Services. For time base time-based consulting, those fees are calculated by multiplying the actual number of consulting days provided and the Daily Rate defined in the Statement of Work. Those fees include intermediary fees of Skills At Click.

                “Client Invoice” The invoice issued by Skills At Click in consideration for the Consulting Services requested by the Client. 

                “Consultant's Annual Gross Salary” The annual gross salary of the Consultant after the signature of a permanent employment contract. This salary is calculated as follow 13,92 * monthly gross salary plus all extra-legal advantages and the maximum bonus foreseen. 

                “Daily Rate” The daily fee defined in the Client Statement of Work. Those fees include intermediary fees of Skills At Click.

                “Statement of Work” The appendices to these General Terms of Business 

                “Substantial Change” Changes to those General Terms of Business that reduce your rights or increase your obligations

                "Users"  The persons utilizing Skills At Click to perform or ask for Consulting Services

                1. Object of this Agreement

                Skills At Click is a marketplace that connects Clients and Consultants who wish to buy or perform Consulting Services. The site comprises an online platform through which Clients can post Consulting Services requests and Consultants can accept those offers.


                Subject to the terms and conditions of the Agreement, the Client is willing:

                • to post a project vacancy on the Skills At Click platform so that Skills At Click can propose potential candidates;
                • to accept, refuse or make a counterproposal to candidates within 7 days after being informed of their candidature by Skills At Click.    

                Upon mutual agreement, Skills At Click will commission the independent Consultant to provide the Consulting Services with the appropriate care, integrity & skills expected from an experienced professional. 

                The scope, duration & Daily Rate  for each assignment will be determined beforehand in the Statement of Work.

                In the context of the performance of the Consulting Services, the status of the Consultant shall be that of an independent contractor and not that of an agent or employee of Skills At Click nor the Client. The Consultant will perform the Consulting Services in full independence and autonomy. 

                The Consultant shall have no power or authority to act on behalf of the Client or Skills At Click, in its name or to bind them, either directly or indirectly, in any matter or thing whatsoever.

                The Consulting Services defined in the Statement of Work shall be executed intuitu personae given the appointed Consultant has been chosen based on his/her personality and qualifications. As a result, unless otherwise explicitly agreed by the Client, the appointed Consultant shall not be allowed to delegate the performance of the Consulting Services to any and all third party.

                2.  Account Eligibility, Identity Verification, Contracting and Evaluation

                2.1. Account Eligibilty

                To use the Skills At Click website or services you must register to our website and must therefore be a legal entity or an individual older than 18 years old who can legally execute and perform a contract.

                By using Skills At Click, you agree to a) be bound by the Agreement AND to b) be financially responsible for your use of our website and/or the request for Consulting Services.

                Skills At Click reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to refuse, suspend or revoke your access to Skills At Click website or services.


                2.2. Identity Verification

                You authorize Skills At Click, directly or through a third party, to check or validate your identity & profile. When requested and subject to applicable law, you must provide us information about you and/or your company. 

                This being said and although these General Terms of Business require Users to provide accurate information, Skills At Click does not confirm any Users purported identity or profile. Clients are responsible for determining the identity and suitability of Consultants hired.


                2.3. Evaluation

                You agree that Users evaluations and feedbacks benefit the marketplace.


                This is why,

                a) Clients and Consultants agree to complete the evaluation no later than 20 days after the end of each Consulting Service;

                b) Clients and Consultants agree that Skills At Click will make evaluation results and feedbacks available to other (potential) Clients.


                Skills At Click is not responsible for the contents, accuracy and/or objectivity of evaluation results and feedbacks, even if those are defamatory. In order to protect Clients and Consultants, Skills At Click, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to remove evaluation or feedbacks that negatively affects our marketplace.


                3.  Consulting fees

                3.1. In consideration for the Consulting Services, the Client shall pay to Skills At Click (i) the Consulting Fees and (ii) if any, the expenses agreed- upon in the Statement of Work.

                3.2. If the Consulting Services call for scenario time-based consulting & within 3 days after the end of each month, the Consultant will need to complete, through our platform, his/her timecard. The Client will have ten (10) days to validate the timecard, after which it will tacitly but irremediably be considered as accepted.

                3.3. Client Invoice is payable no later than thirty (30) days after timecard validation. In case of late payment, Skills At Click reserves the right to request the payment of interests at the yearly rate of 10% plus a fixed indemnification equal to 10% of the unpaid amounts.

                3.4. If the Client disputes all or part of a Client Invoice, the Client will notify Skills At Click to that effect in writing within 30 calendar days following receipt of the Client Invoice. In any event, the Client will not withhold payment for any undisputed items included in the Client Invoice.

                3.5. If the Client refuses to pay undisputed amounts, Skills At Click may decide to terminate or suspend the Agreement.


                4.  Duration and Termination

                4.1. Each set of Consulting Services starts and ends as mentioned in the Statement of Work but can be extended by mutual consent of the Client, the Consultant and Skills At Click.

                4.2. The Client may terminate the assignment for the Consulting Services in written form subject to the respect of a one-month notice. However, the Client will have to pay any and all outstanding Client Invoice and expenses relating to the Consulting Services provided until the end of the notice period and expenses (such as but not limited to travel expenses) incurred by Skills At Click and/or the Consultant.

                4.3. Each Party may terminate this Agreement in writing with immediate effect if the other Party violates a material contractual obligation of the Agreement which is irremediable or which, if remediable, is not remedied within 30 days of a written request to remedy the same.

                4.4. Each Party may terminate the Agreement by written notice with immediate effect if the other Party is unable to pay its debts or has a trustee, liquidator, judicial administrator or expert appointed over it or calls a meeting of its creditors or ceases for any reason to carry on business or if, in the reasonable opinion of the party wishing to terminate, any of these events appears likely.

                4.5. This Agreement may be terminated by the Consultant subject to the respect of a one-months’ notice period, notified both to the Client & to Skills At Click by registered mail or email. Skills At Click will attempt to find a replacing Consultant after being so notified.

                4.6. If due to illness or injury or force majeure as defined in Article 9 of the General Terms of Business, the Consultant is unable to perform the Consulting Services, Skills At Click will attempt to find a replacing Consultant after being so notified. The Client may decide to terminate this Agreement in the absence of effective replacement by an agreed-upon successor within 15 days of the notification of the original Consultant’s inability to perform the Consulting Services.


                5.  Obligations

                    5.1. Client's Information Obligations

                5.1.1. To the extent that Consulting Services are dependent on information and explanations to be provided by the Client, the Client will ensure that such information and explanations are provided on a timely basis and that all such information and explanations are complete, accurate and not misleading. Where information or explanations are based on assumptions, the Client will provide the Consultant with relevant details. The Client is responsible for immediately informing the Consultant of any change to the information or explanations provided, and if the information or explanations provided should no longer be relied upon or if the assumptions previously presented are no longer appropriate.

                5.1.2. When the Client uses or provides the Consultant with third-party information, support or materials, the Client will ensure that it has appropriate agreements in place with those third parties to enable the Consultant to perform the Consulting Services. The Client will be solely responsible for the management of the relationship with such third parties, the quality of their input and work and for the payment of their fees.


                     5.2. Obligations of the Consultant

                The Consultant agrees to :

                • Perform the consulting Services with the appropriate care, integrity & skills expected from an experienced professional;

                • Behave in such a way not to be subjected to the authority of Skills At Click nor the Client.


                6.  Liability

                6.1. Skills At Click is only liable for providing an adequate access to the platform described above, in the context of an obligation of means, and as result shall not be held liable for:

                • bugs, errors, delays or disruptions on Skills At Click website;

                • viruses or damages to your hardware from the use of Skills At Click website;

                • content, evaluation, actions, inactions from other Clients or Consultants.

                Skills At Click is moreover not liable for the quality of the Consulting Services that are to be provided by the Consultant appointed by the Client, under the sole responsibility of the latter.

                Any claim arising out of or in connection with this Agreement can only validly be brought against Skills At Click within 1 year of the act or omission that is invoked against it.

                Skills At Click will only assume liability for any loss, damage, delay, costs or compensation arising from breach of this Agreement or intentional fault. Skills At Click’s liability to pay damages shall be limited to the lesser of a) € 2,000 OR b) the aggregate fees retained by Skills at Click with respect to Consulting Services during the 6 months period preceding the date of the claim.

                6.2. The obligations of the Consultant are obligations of means and not on a performance basis (obligations of result). The Consultant will only assume liability for any loss, damage, delay, costs or compensation arising from deliberate errors, negligence or misconduct.

                In any cases, the Consultant’s liability to pay damages for any loss, damage, cost or expense incurred by the Client shall be limited to the minimum of aggregate fees already paid by the Client during the 6 months period preceding the date of the claim or € 10,000. 

                6.3. In no event shall Skills At Click nor the Consultant be liable for any such damages arising in any way from or in connection with fraudulent acts, omissions or misrepresentations or wilful default on the part of the directors, employees or agents of the Client.

                In addition to the limitations described in Articles 6.1 and 6.2, Skills At Click and Consultants are not liable for indirect or consequential losses or damages such as but not limited to lost revenues or profits, downtime costs, no realization of savings, loss of data, loss of prospects, …

                 

                7.  Confidentiality

                7.1. All information that is obtained by the Consultant from Skills At Click and/or the Client and that does not belong to the public domain shall be kept confidential. The Consultant agrees neither to disclose nor to use, directly or indirectly this confidential information and to take all necessary actions to prevent the disclosure of it.

                7.2. The Client however expressly authorizes Skills At Click to relay to possible Consultants a short description of the project in the context of which the Consulting Services are to be provided (i.e. non-exhaustive list: industry, topic, skills needed, project duration, etc.). 

                7.3. Unless explicitly agreed, all reports, data, programs, documents and other know-how belonging to Skills At Click or the Client will remain the property of such Party and will be returned to said Party after full payment of all Client Invoices. 

                7.4. The reports, data, programs, documents and other know-how developed by the Consultant in the course of the providing of the Consulting Services will be the sole property of the Client after full payment of all Client Invoices.  All electronic copies of it will need to be destroyed by the Consultant. 

                7.5. Any and all personal data communicated to Skills At Click for the purposes of the execution and/or performance of Agreement will be subject to our Privacy Statement, accessible at the following address: www.skillsatclick.com. By entering into the Agreement, the Client formally acknowledges its approval of the terms of this Privacy Statement.


                8.  Permanent Employment & Non-Compete

                8.1. If the Client wants to permanently employ the Consultant introduced by Skills At Click, the Client must pay Skills At Click a commission equals to twenty percent (20%) of the Consultant's Annual Gross Salary (plus applicable VAT) within 30 days of the signature of the employee contract.

                8.2.a. When the Consultant introduced has been retained for a consulting engagement & except as provided in Section 8.1, the Client shall refrain, during the Consultant's engagement and for a period of twenty-four (24) months following the termination thereof, from directly or indirectly soliciting, employing, or engaging with the Consultant without the prior consent of Skills At Click. If the Client is a holding or private equity company, this clause also includes its participations. If the Client is a consultancy or interim agency company, this clause also includes the clients of this company to whom the Consultant has been introduced.

                8.2.b. When the Consultant has been presented/introduced to the Client but wasn't retain for the consulting engagement & except as provided in Section 8.1, the Client shall refrain, for a period of twenty-four (24) months following the introduction or presentation of the Consultant by Skills At Click, from directly or indirectly soliciting, employing, or engaging with the Consultant without the prior consent of Skills At Click. If the Client is a holding or private equity company, this clause also includes its participations. If the Client is a consultancy or interim agency company, this clause also includes the clients of this company to whom the Consultant has been introduced. 

                8.3. In the event of a violation in this non-compete clause, the Client shall have to compensate Skills At Click by the payment of a fee that equals twenty percent (20%) of the Consultant’s daily rate applied throughout the total project duration and in addition to any penalty that may be requested to the Consultant.


                9.  Force Majeure

                No Party will be liable to the other(s) to the extent that any failure to fulfil obligations is caused by circumstances outside its reasonable control including any advice, warning or prohibition by any appropriate local, national or supra-national authority or foreign office relating to travel to, visiting or working in any country or territory. If any circumstances continue such that a Party is unable to fulfil its obligations for a continuous period of 30 days, the other Party/ies will have the right to terminate the Agreement by giving 15 days’ notice in writing any time after that 30-day period.

                 

                10. Advertising

                The Client grants Skills At Click, a limited permission to use its company name and logo in any physical or digital marketing materials.

                Skills At Click shall wherever relevant include a trademark attribution notice detailing the Client’s ownership of its trademarks in the marketing materials in which the name and logo appear.


                11. General

                11.1. These General Terms of Business together with Statements of Work and if any, attached exhibits, addenda, and/or appendixes supersede any and all other prior agreements and understandings, both written and oral, between the Parties with respect to the subject matter hereof.

                11.2. Skills At Click reserves the right to amend the present General Terms of Business in which case the new General Terms of Business will supersede prior versions for the future collaboration, with no retroactive effect. Skills At Click will share the new terms to the Client when signing the next Statement of Work.

                11.3. Any notice in connection with this Agreement must be in writing in English (however attachments to notification which are not immediately available in English, may be sent in their original version) and shall be validly given with respect to each Party by email deemed received on the day of its sending.

                However, any notice in connection with Articles 6 (claim for damages) shall, to be admissible, be sent by registered mail or email, deemed received 3 days following the date of its posting.

                11.4. If you do not accept the General Terms of Business in their entirety, you must not use Skills At Click website or services.


                12. Applicable Law - Jurisdiction

                12.1. This Agreement is governed exclusively by, and interpreted in accordance with, the laws of Belgium.

                12.2. Should any dispute arise in connection with the Agreement or the Consulting Services, the Parties commit themselves to attempt to resolve any dispute, controversy or claim in an amicable manner, by engaging in good-faith discussions and negotiations.

                12.3. If an appropriate solution cannot be found within a thirty (30) day period, only the courts of Nivelles shall have jurisdiction concerning the interpretation and performance of this Agreement.


                13. Severability

                In the event that any provision or section of these General Term of Business shall be held to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, the same shall not affect in any respect whatsoever, the validity of the remaining provisions. Rather, the Parties shall endeavor in good faith negotiations to replace the illegal, invalid or unenforceable provisions with valid provisions the economic effect of which comes as close as possible to that of the illegal, invalid or unenforceable provision.