General Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions (GTC)

of cargo protection gf GmbH

Version: October 2026 · Convenience translation – the German version prevails

1. Scope

(1) These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter “GTC”) apply to all services provided by cargo protection gf GmbH, Mitterstrasse 287a, A-8073 Seiersberg-Pirka, Austria, registered under FN 685320 z, Regional Court for Civil Matters Graz (hereinafter “cargo protection”), to its customers, in particular (a) the provision of the software-based platform for the verification and assessment of transport undertakings (in particular carrier verification, CP rating and plausibility checks of freight offers) to the extent of the service package booked, (b) transport-related risk management services for transport by road, air and sea, (c) consulting services and (d) seminars, training courses and workshops.

(2) cargo protection provides its services exclusively to entrepreneurs within the meaning of Section 1 of the Austrian Commercial Code (UGB) and Section 1 of the Austrian Consumer Protection Act (KSchG) (B2B). Contracts with consumers are excluded. By concluding the contract, the Customer confirms that it uses the services as an entrepreneur for the purposes of its business.

(3) These GTC apply exclusively. Conflicting, deviating or supplementary terms and conditions of the Customer shall not become part of the contract, even if cargo protection does not expressly object to them or provides services without reservation in the knowledge of such terms, or if such conflicting terms appear on orders, documents or the like of the Customer and cargo protection does not separately and expressly object to them again. Any terms or restrictions conflicting with or contradicting these GTC are hereby expressly rejected. Deviations or amendments require the express written consent of cargo protection in order to be legally binding.

(4) These GTC, as amended from time to time, also apply to all future transactions with the Customer without the need for any further reference to them. Amendments to the GTC shall be notified to the Customer in text form at least one month before they take effect; if the Customer does not object within one month of receipt, the amended GTC shall be deemed accepted, provided that the notification referred to this legal consequence. In the event of amendments that are materially disadvantageous to the Customer and are not required by law or case law, the Customer has a special right of termination effective as of the date on which the amendment takes effect.

2. Definitions

“Platform”: the application provided by cargo protection as software-as-a-service, including databases, interfaces and analyses.

“Verification Service”: the collection, consolidation, plausibility check and assessment of information about transport undertakings (in particular identity, licences, proof of insurance, documents, operational history), including the issuance of a rating (CP rating) or verification report.

“Risk Management Service”: the transport-related risk analysis and assessment for road, air and sea transport, including recommendations on prevention and loss avoidance.

“Work Results”: ratings, reports, analyses, recommendations, training materials and other results covered by the order.

“Third-Party Sources”: public registers, official and private data sources, documents and information provided by the verified transport undertaking or by the Customer, and other external sources of information.

“Interfaces”: technical connections (in particular APIs) to Third-Party Sources and to technical service companies through which data is retrieved, transmitted or processed.

3. Subject Matter of the Services

(1) The specific scope of services is set out in the respective offer, the order confirmation or the selected service or package description. Product descriptions, brochures and website content are non-binding and do not constitute any assurance of characteristics or of any (financial) benefit whatsoever to the Customer.

(2) Unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, cargo protection owes diligent performance in accordance with the information and methods available at the time the services are provided (obligation of means), but not any particular economic result, and in particular not the prevention of freight fraud, cargo theft, cargo embezzlement, transport damage or any other financial loss of the Customer.

(3) cargo protection is entitled to use qualified third parties (subcontracting companies, data supply services, interface and verification services, OCR and analysis services, hosting and cloud services) to provide its services.

(4) Accessibility of the Platform and the Work Results within the meaning of the applicable accessibility regulations (in particular the Austrian Federal Disability Equality Act and the Austrian Accessibility Act) is not owed unless expressly agreed separately; it is the Customer's responsibility to determine whether accessibility is required for its intended use. The Customer shall itself verify the legal admissibility of any content it provides (in particular under competition, trademark, copyright and data protection law); cargo protection shall be liable in this respect only in accordance with Section 13.

4. Nature and Limits of the Verification and Information Services

(1) The Verification Services and the CP rating are information and support services. They are based on Third-Party Sources and on information accessible to cargo protection at the time of verification, over whose content cargo protection has no influence whatsoever. cargo protection gives no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or authenticity of information from Third-Party Sources or of documents submitted. Professionally forged documents, identities or information may remain undetected despite careful verification.

(2) Ratings, verification reports and risk analyses are snapshots as of the respective reference date. Subsequent changes (e.g. revocation of a licence, change of insurer, insolvency, takeover of the verified undertaking by third parties) are not covered by the Verification Service unless ongoing monitoring has been expressly agreed.

(3) The Customer is aware that private providers do not have direct access to certain official registers (in particular the European Register of Road Transport Undertakings, ERRU). The Verification Services therefore cannot replace official checks and do not claim to reflect all officially available information.

(4) Work Results are a basis for decision-making and recommendations. Decisions on the engagement, selection or continued engagement of a transport undertaking, on the performance of a transport and on the type and scope of security and insurance measures are made exclusively by the Customer on its own responsibility. The Customer's statutory and contractual duties of care and selection (in particular as consignor, principal or freight forwarder) remain unaffected and are neither assumed nor restricted by the services of cargo protection.

(5) The services of cargo protection do not constitute legal advice, tax advice, insurance mediation or an expert opinion in the judicial sense, unless the latter is expressly commissioned separately. Accordingly, cargo protection assumes no liability whatsoever within the meaning of Section 1299 of the Austrian Civil Code (ABGB).

(6) In particular, cargo protection does not guarantee that (a) cases of fraud, deception or embezzlement will be detected, prevented or excluded, (b) a verified undertaking actually exists, is economically capable or will perform its contractual obligations, (c) a transport will be properly performed, or (d) damage, financial loss or other risks of the Customer – including the rejection, reduction or refusal of insurance benefits – will be avoided.

(7) The Platform uses automated analysis methods, optical character recognition (OCR) and AI-supported systems to structure, check the plausibility of and assess information and documents. Despite careful development, quality assurance and ongoing further development, misclassifications, incomplete or incorrect results, AI-typical erroneous outputs (so-called hallucinations) and technical malfunctions cannot be ruled out. The Platform does not make autonomous decisions with legal effect vis-à-vis the Customer or third parties.

(8) Ratings, risk indicators, warnings and comparable outputs of the Platform are professional assessments based on automated and, where applicable, manual evaluations of the available information. They constitute neither statements of fact about the verified undertaking nor legal assessments or binding statements.

(9) The CP rating serves to detect inconsistencies and fraud indicators in connection with freight offers. It is not information on credit circumstances and not an assessment of the creditworthiness of the verified undertaking. A particular rating (e.g. CP-A) does not constitute a guarantee of creditworthiness or reliability and does not give rise to any liability of cargo protection for the future conduct or future performance of the rated undertaking.

(10) In particular, cases cannot be detected in which third parties have taken over or are misusing the actual communication channels of an existing undertaking (e.g. email accounts, telephone numbers, freight exchange accounts), since in such cases the verified attributes match those of the genuine undertaking. cargo protection therefore recommends reconfirming orders through an independently verified contact channel before handing over the cargo.

5. Conclusion of Contract

(1) Offers made by cargo protection are subject to change and non-binding. The contract is concluded by written order confirmation from cargo protection, by activation of the customer account on the Platform or by commencement of performance.

(2) cargo protection is entitled to reject registrations, orders and the activation of customer accounts without giving reasons and to check registrations for plausibility and suspected misuse prior to activation.

(3) cargo protection may grant free or discounted trial access with a scope limited in time, functionality or volume. Trial access serves exclusively for evaluation purposes, does not give rise to any claim to permanent use or to specific functions and may be revoked at any time. Paid use after the end of the trial period begins only if this has been agreed. These GTC, in particular Section 13 (Liability), also apply to trial periods and other services provided free of charge.

(4) There are no oral side agreements, and any such agreements shall have no legal effect. Amendments and additions to the contract must be made in writing (including email); this also applies to any waiver of the written form requirement.

6. Customer's Obligations to Cooperate

(1) The Customer shall provide cargo protection with all information, documents and access required for the provision of the services in a timely, complete and accurate manner. The Customer is solely responsible for the accuracy and lawfulness of the data it provides (including the admissibility of its transmission under data protection law).

(2) The Customer shall keep access credentials to the Platform confidential, protect them against unauthorised access and notify cargo protection without delay of any suspected misuse. Actions carried out using the Customer's access credentials are attributed to the Customer.

(3) The Customer shall check Work Results for plausibility before making any decisions based on them and shall report obvious inaccuracies without delay. If the Customer breaches its obligations to cooperate, cargo protection shall not be responsible for any resulting defects in performance, delays or damage; additional effort may be invoiced separately.

(4) Irrespective of the verification result, the Customer shall take the security measures customary in the trade, in particular reconfirming the order through an independently verified contact channel and checking the driving personnel, vehicle and licence plate when the cargo is taken over. If the Customer fails to take such measures, it may not claim vis-à-vis cargo protection that it relied exclusively on the Work Result.

7. Rights of Use

(1) For the term of the contract, the Customer receives the non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable right to use the Platform for its own business purposes.

(2) Work Results may be used exclusively for the Customer's internal purposes. Disclosure to third parties (in particular to verified transport undertakings or to the Customer's principals), publication or use for advertising purposes is permitted only with the prior written consent of cargo protection. Disclosure to insurance companies, legal advisers, courts and authorities is permitted without separate consent to the extent necessary to safeguard the Customer's legitimate interests (in particular to demonstrate the careful selection of the transport undertaking, for claims handling or for legal proceedings) or to comply with statutory obligations. In the event of disclosure without consent, the Customer shall fully indemnify and hold cargo protection harmless against third-party claims. In the case of any permitted disclosure, the Customer shall ensure that such disclosure is admissible under data protection law and that Work Results are not misleadingly presented as binding findings, official checks or guarantees of cargo protection.

(3) All copyrights and related rights in the Platform, databases, assessment methods (including the CP rating model), training materials and other Work Results remain with cargo protection. Systematic extraction, reproduction or further exploitation of database content (screen scraping, data mining) is prohibited.

(4) In particular, the Customer is prohibited from (a) circumventing technical protection measures of the Platform, (b) introducing malware or uploading unlawful content, (c) carrying out automated mass access or systematic repeated queries of the same transport undertaking or of similar data sets that evidently serve to determine the verification and assessment logic, (d) reverse engineering, analysing or replicating the Platform, its verification mechanisms, algorithms, assessment and scoring systems, and (e) using the Platform or Work Results to develop, train or improve competing products or services. cargo protection is entitled to evaluate query patterns automatically in order to detect such breaches. In the event of a justified suspicion of misuse, cargo protection is entitled to deactivate individual users or access accounts or to suspend the provision of services; this may be done for a limited period, generally for up to 30 days. In the event of repeated breaches, cargo protection is entitled to block the users or access accounts concerned permanently. The Customer shall be liable for all damage incurred by cargo protection as a result of a culpable breach of this section, including reasonable costs of legal proceedings; actions of its users are attributed to the Customer. cargo protection's claims to remuneration remain unaffected during any deactivation, suspension or block; Section 9(2) remains unaffected.

(5) Access credentials and user accounts are personal and may only be used by the natural person to whom they are assigned; joint use of a user account by several persons (account sharing) is not permitted without the express written consent of cargo protection. The number of user accounts depends on the service package booked.

8. Use of Interfaces, Data Supply Services and Technical Service Companies

(1) In order to provide its services, cargo protection uses interfaces to Third-Party Sources and technical service companies, in particular to or from public and private registers and databases, identity and verification services, document and text recognition services (OCR), analysis and AI-supported evaluation services, and hosting and cloud infrastructure services. The Customer acknowledges and agrees that the content, scope, quality, timeliness and availability of data obtained via interfaces depend on the respective third-party providers.

(2) cargo protection selects third-party providers with the diligence of a prudent businessperson but has no influence on their data holdings, update cycles, technical availability or contractual terms. Section 4 applies to the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of data obtained via interfaces.

(3) If third-party providers change, restrict or discontinue their interfaces, data sources or terms of service, cargo protection is entitled to adapt the services concerned, to switch to equivalent sources or – where a replacement is not possible with reasonable effort – to discontinue the affected part of the services. The Customer shall have no claims arising therefrom, provided that the essential nature of the services is preserved; in the event that essential parts of the services cease to be available, the Customer shall have an appropriate right to a price reduction or to terminate the affected service.

(4) Where personal data is processed in the course of using interfaces and technical service companies, this is done in accordance with Section 17 (Data Protection). cargo protection provides the Customer with a current list of the subcontracting companies and processors used on request or at www.cargo-protection.com/subprocessors.

(5) cargo protection is liable for disruptions, outages, delays or faulty data deliveries of interfaces, Third-Party Sources and technical service companies exclusively in accordance with Section 13 (Liability) and only to the extent that it is itself responsible for the disruption; fault on the part of third-party providers is not attributed to cargo protection as its own fault, unless they are vicarious agents in the narrower sense.

9. Availability and Maintenance of the Platform

(1) cargo protection endeavours to ensure high availability of the Platform but – subject to an expressly agreed service level agreement – does not owe any particular minimum availability. Maintenance work, updates, disruptions at third-party providers and interfaces within the meaning of Section 8, and circumstances of force majeure may lead to temporary restrictions and do not give rise to any claims by the Customer.

(2) cargo protection is entitled to block access temporarily or – after an unsuccessful warning, except in the case of serious breaches – permanently if there is, or there is a serious threat of, misuse, security risks, unlawful use, a breach of Section 7, account sharing or a threat to the Platform, other customers or the technical infrastructure. cargo protection's claims to remuneration remain unaffected by a justified block. In the event of a justified suspicion of fraud or misuse, cargo protection is further entitled to maintain and apply platform-wide block and warning lists to the extent that this is necessary to protect the Platform and its customers and is legally permissible.

(3) cargo protection is entitled to further develop, change or discontinue the functionality and data sources of the Platform, provided that the essential nature of the services is preserved.

(4) If a minimum availability (service level) is agreed separately with the Customer, the point at which the Platform is handed over to the internet (router output of the data centre of cargo protection or its hosting service) shall be decisive for its calculation. Announced maintenance windows, outages of third-party services, interfaces and external registers, disruptions within the Customer's sphere (in particular its IT infrastructure and internet connection) and force majeure are excluded from the calculation.

10. Fees and Terms of Payment

(1) The fees stated in the offer or in the current price list apply, plus value added tax at the statutory rate. Unless stated otherwise, the amounts are therefore net prices. Recurring fees are invoiced monthly or annually in advance, depending on the payment method selected by the Customer; usage-based fees (query quotas) in accordance with the selected tier. Use exceeding the agreed quota may be invoiced additionally in accordance with the price list applicable at the time.

(2) Invoices are due for payment without deduction within 14 days of the invoice date. In the event of default in payment, default interest pursuant to Section 456 UGB applies; cargo protection is entitled to charge reminder fees and lawyers' collection costs and to block access to the Platform after prior notice until payment has been made in full.

(3) cargo protection is entitled to adjust recurring fees once a year in line with the development of the consumer price index published by Statistics Austria (base CPI 2020). In addition, cargo protection is entitled to adjust fees appropriately for future contract periods to the extent that the costs of providing the services demonstrably change, in particular due to increased interface, licence, data, hosting or infrastructure costs, security measures or changed regulatory requirements. Fee adjustments shall be notified to the Customer in text form at least two months before they take effect.

(4) If a fee increase – excluding the adjustment in line with the consumer price index – exceeds 20% of the most recently agreed fee within one contract year, the Customer has a special right of termination effective as of the date on which the increase takes effect; if the Customer does not terminate within one month of receipt of the notification, the adjustment shall be deemed accepted.

11. Term and Termination

(1) Unless agreed otherwise, contracts for the use of the Platform are concluded for twelve months and are extended by a further twelve months in each case unless terminated in writing no later than three months before expiry.

(2) The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected. Good cause for cargo protection exists in particular in the event of default in payment despite the setting of a grace period, a material breach of the terms of use, disclosure of Work Results to third parties without consent, or the opening of insolvency proceedings over the Customer's assets.

(3) Upon termination of the contract, the rights of use of the Platform expire. Fees already paid for unused query quotas will not be refunded unless cargo protection is responsible for the non-use. Statutory retention obligations and the deletion of personal data after termination of the contract are governed by Section 17 (Data Protection) and the data processing agreement.

12. Warranty

(1) The Customer shall give written and specific notice of defects without delay, but no later than 14 days after receipt of the Work Result or after the defect became recognisable (Section 377 UGB); otherwise, warranty claims, claims based on error and claims for damages on account of the defect are excluded.

(2) cargo protection shall initially provide warranty by rectification or supplementing what is missing (subsequent improvement within a reasonable period). A price reduction or rescission shall only be considered after subsequent improvement has failed twice. The warranty period is six months from performance. Section 924 ABGB (presumption of defectiveness) and Section 933b ABGB shall not apply to the extent permitted by law.

(3) In particular, the following do not constitute defects: deviations based on incorrect or incomplete Third-Party Sources or Customer information; subsequent changes in the circumstances of the verified undertaking; and assessments, forecasts and evaluations that subsequently prove to be incorrect, although they were professionally justifiable on the basis of the information available at the time of verification.

13. Liability

(1) cargo protection shall be liable – irrespective of the legal grounds – only for damage caused intentionally or with gross negligence of a particularly severe degree (krass grobe Fahrlässigkeit) by cargo protection or its vicarious agents. Liability for slight and for ordinary gross negligence is excluded to the extent permitted by law. This exclusion does not apply to personal injury or to claims under mandatory law (in particular the Austrian Product Liability Act).

(2) Except in the case of intent, liability is in any event excluded for indirect damage, consequential damage, loss of profit, loss of production, wasted expenditure, reputational damage, loss of data outside the sphere of influence of cargo protection, loss of interest, contractual penalties owed by the Customer to third parties, the rejection, reduction or refusal of insurance benefits to the Customer, and damage arising from third-party claims against the Customer.

(3) In particular, except in the case of intent, cargo protection is not liable for damage resulting from (a) a verified or rated transport undertaking acting in breach of contract, embezzling, misappropriating or damaging cargo, becoming insolvent or having forged its identity despite a positive verification or favourable rating, (b) the Customer making a business decision on the basis of a Work Result, (c) Third-Party Sources supplying incorrect, incomplete or outdated information, (d) automated or AI-supported analysis methods making misclassifications or failing to detect cases of fraud and deception despite careful development and quality assurance, or (e) interfaces, external services or third-party providers within the meaning of Section 8 failing, being disrupted or malfunctioning.

(4) Where liability exists in principle, it is limited per case of damage to the amount of the fee paid by the Customer for the specific service causing the damage or, in the case of ongoing contracts, to the annual fee paid by the Customer in the twelve months preceding the occurrence of the damage, but in total to EUR 25,000 per contract year. This limitation does not apply in the case of intent or to personal injury.

(5) Claims for damages by the Customer become time-barred within six months of knowledge of the damage and the party causing the damage, and in any event within three years of the event giving rise to the claim. The Customer bears the burden of proving intent or gross negligence of a particularly severe degree; the reversal of the burden of proof under Section 1298 ABGB is excluded to the extent permitted by law.

(6) The above limitations of liability also apply in favour of the corporate bodies, employees, vicarious agents and subcontracting companies of cargo protection.

(7) Recourse claims within the meaning of Section 12 of the Austrian Product Liability Act are excluded unless it is proven that the defect was caused within the sphere of cargo protection and was at least grossly negligent.

(8) For services provided free of charge (in particular trial access, free functions and voluntary additional services), cargo protection shall be liable – to the extent permitted by law – only in the case of intent.

14. Special Provisions for Consulting Services

(1) Consulting services (in particular risk management consulting, load securing and loss prevention consulting) are provided in accordance with the principles of proper professional practice on the basis of the information provided by the Customer. Recommendations are a basis for decision-making; their implementation is the Customer's own responsibility.

(2) The General Terms of Engagement for Management Consultants of the UBIT professional association of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Allgemeine Auftragsbedingungen für Unternehmensberater der Fachgruppe UBIT der Wirtschaftskammer Österreich), as amended from time to time, apply additionally to consulting services, unless these GTC provide otherwise.

15. Special Provisions for Seminars and Training

(1) Registrations for seminars are binding. In the event of cancellation by the Customer up to four weeks before the start of the event, no fee is charged; up to two weeks before the start, 50% of the participation fee is charged; thereafter, and in the event of non-attendance, 100% of the participation fee is charged. A substitute participant may be named at any time.

(2) cargo protection is entitled to cancel or postpone events for good cause (in particular illness of the speaker, insufficient number of participants, force majeure). In this case, participation fees already paid will be refunded; there are no further claims (in particular for reimbursement of travel and cancellation costs).

(3) Seminar content conveys general specialist knowledge and does not replace advice in individual cases. cargo protection assumes no liability within the scope of Section 13 (Liability) for the application of the content conveyed in the participants' operations. Training materials are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced or made accessible to third parties without consent.

16. Confidentiality

(1) Both parties undertake to keep confidential information of the other party secret and to use it only for the purpose of performing the contract. This obligation continues for a period of three years after termination of the contract.

(2) cargo protection is entitled to use data obtained in the course of providing the services in anonymised or aggregated form for statistical purposes, for the further development of its assessment models and for industry analyses.

17. Data Protection

(1) The parties comply with the applicable data protection provisions (in particular the GDPR and the Austrian Data Protection Act, DSG). Where cargo protection processes personal data on behalf of the Customer, the parties conclude a separate data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR. This agreement is accepted upon registration by express confirmation and is available to the Customer for download at any time. Where cargo protection processes personal data (e.g. relating to contact persons and responsible persons of verified transport undertakings) under its own responsibility, the privacy policy of cargo protection applies (www.cargo-protection.com/en/privacy).

(2) cargo protection uses sub-processors within the meaning of Art. 28(2) and (4) GDPR for data processing (in particular hosting and cloud services, OCR, analysis and verification services, and data supply services with interface connections pursuant to Section 8). These may also be established in third countries outside the EEA; in this case, cargo protection ensures appropriate safeguards pursuant to Art. 44 et seq. GDPR (in particular adequacy decisions or EU standard contractual clauses together with any necessary supplementary measures). The Customer will be notified of the engagement or replacement of sub-processors in accordance with the data processing agreement; the Customer has the right to object provided for therein.

(3) Each verification is carried out anew on the basis of the data loaded at the time of verification; stored verification data is not used for verifications by other customers. Previous verifications of the same transport undertaking by the same Customer may be taken into account for as long as they are stored. cargo protection stores verification processes, uploaded documents, OCR and analysis data and Work Results for a period of three and a half years from the respective verification in order to enable the Customer to trace and demonstrate verifications carried out within the limitation periods relevant to transport contracts (in particular Art. 32 CMR) (verification history). Query and system logs (in particular time, access account and verified undertaking) are stored for a period of one year for the purposes of security, support and error analysis, and the detection and investigation of misuse and fraud. Longer storage takes place only where statutory retention obligations exist or where this is necessary to pursue a specific suspicion of misuse. cargo protection is further entitled to view content uploaded by the Customer to the extent necessary for support, error analysis, security purposes, the prevention of misuse or compliance with statutory obligations.

(4) The Customer warrants that it is entitled to transmit the personal data it provides to cargo protection and shall indemnify and hold cargo protection harmless against third-party claims arising from a breach of this warranty.

18. Force Majeure

(1) Events of force majeure and other circumstances for which cargo protection is not responsible (in particular failure of Third-Party Sources, data supply services or communication networks, official measures, cyber attacks despite appropriate protective measures, strikes, pandemics) release cargo protection from its obligation to perform for the duration of such events and do not give rise to any claims for damages by the Customer. If the impediment lasts longer than 60 days, both parties are entitled to withdraw with respect to the services not yet performed.

19. Set-Off, Retention, Assignment

(1) The Customer may only set off against claims of cargo protection with counterclaims that have been established by a court or acknowledged in writing by cargo protection. Any right of retention of the Customer is excluded to the extent permitted by law. The assignment of claims arising from the contract requires the written consent of cargo protection.

20. Final Provisions

(1) Austrian substantive law applies, excluding the conflict-of-law rules of private international law and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

(2) The place of performance is the registered office of cargo protection. The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with the contract is the court having subject-matter jurisdiction at the registered office of cargo protection (Graz). cargo protection is also entitled to bring an action against the Customer at the Customer's general place of jurisdiction.

(3) Should individual provisions of these GTC be or become invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that comes closest to the economic purpose of the invalid provision. The same applies to any gaps in the contract.

(4) The language of the contract is German. In the event of translations of these GTC, the German version shall prevail.