General terms and conditions

ARTICLE 1: OBJECT

The object of this Agreement is the use by the Customer of the DCC Diplomatic Card (the “Card”), the services related thereto (the “Services”), the fuel products (the “Fuel Products”) and any other quota-related products (the “Products”) as launched from time to time by DCC and/or its affiliates. The present General Terms and Conditions are intended to define the operating modalities of the Card and the Services related thereto allowing to retrieve the Fuel Products as set forth in article 4, in a network of outlets in Belgium (the “Network”). The Network may be subject to modification from time to time. The guide of these outlets is accessible on simple demand at the card centre.

ARTICLE 2: CONDITIONS FOR USE OF THE SERVICE

The Services are exclusively reserved to the beneficiaries of excise, VAT and tax exemption, as set forth in:
- article 20, 7° to 10 ° of the general law on customs and excise dd. 18 July 1977;
- articles 33 to 35 of the Ministerial Decree of 17 February 1960 on the franchises with respect to import duties;
- article 42, § 3.1 and 3.2 of the Code of value-added taxes dd. 3 July 1969.

The retrieval of Fuel Products with the Card is limited to the territory of Belgium.

ARTICLE 3: MODIFICATIONS

DCC reserves the right to modify these General Terms and Conditions at any time. In case of any modification of the General Terms and Conditions, DCC shall inform the Customer thereof in writing. Any use of the Card, five (5) business days after the notice of modification of the General Terms and Conditions, will entail acceptance thereof without any reservations.

ARTICLE 4: FUEL PRODUCTS

The Card allows the retrieval of the Fuel Products in the Network. DCC cannot be held liable for any temporary or definite unavailability of the fuel Products in one or more outlets. DCC will be allowed to modify the available fuel Products at any time, which may possibly result in a new Card being issued. Any complaint about a defective Product must be notified to DCC within two (2) business days following discovery of the defect and accompa-nied with the justifying documents. No complaint whatsoever will be admitted after expiry of the above term. DCC will only be responsible for passing on the complaint as soon as possible to the management of the outlet where the Fuel Product has been delivered.

ARTICLE 5: OPERATION OF THE WEBSITE

The DCC website (the “Site”) is accessible by means of an access code and password furnished by DCC, by electronic mail, either on the Customer’s demand, or on proposal from DCC. The access code and password are confidential. The Customer is responsible for the consequences of any abuse of these data. It is therefore the Customer’s responsibility to take the necessary measures to guarantee the security and confidentiality of the access code and password. The Customer may change the password at any time through the Site. The number of attempts to get access to the Site is limited. For security reasons, access to the Site may be invalidated after several erroneous attempts. DCC reserves the right to suspend the Customer’s access to the Site in case of fraudulent use or attempted fraudulent use of this access. The termination of this Agreement entails termination of the access to the Site.

ARTICLE 6: OPERATION OF THE CARD

1) Upon the fulfillment of the conditions as set forth in article 9.1 of this Agreement, DCC will issue the Card to the Customer. Any Card that is delivered to the Customer will allow the Customer to retrieve a specific type of Fuel Products. In order to validate any retrieval of Fuel Product, the Card must first be inserted into the card reader of the outlet, after introduction of the code. Each Card allows the retrieval of only one type of Fuel Product. Any request for the creation of a Card or modification thereof (modification of the Customer’s descriptive data, more in particular any change of address, name, contact persons, … ) will be sent to DCC inwriting. The creation or modification of a Card shall not be unreasonably withheld.

2) The Card remains valid up to and including the last day of the month of validity as mentioned on the Card. A non-valid or refused Card can be saved or confiscated by the outlet. Prior to expiry of a Card and as far as the Customer wants to renew this Agreement, the Customer will make sure to submit an application for a new Card. The Customer remains responsible for his Card and the use thereof, until expiry of its validity.

3) Cards are only valid and/or can only be used if DCC is in possession of the ad hoc form validated by the proper administration (Federal Public Service (FOD) of Finances – Administration of Customs and Excise), within the limits of the quota quantity and period as authorized by the administration and in compliance with the rules and procedures as fixed by the latter.

4) The Customer will have custody over the Card that has been assigned to him. To this effect, the Customer will take any measures that may be useful to prevent the Card from being lost, stolen or damaged. The Customer will be responsible for the use made of the Card that has been assigned to him. The Customer cannot dispute transactions for which the PIN was validated, even if the Card was skimmed. The Customer needs to inform DCC in writing (email, fax) stating the Customer’s name, phone number, card number if a card needs to be put on hold. The suspension of the card will be effective two (2) business days after receipt by DCC of a written confirma-tion by the Customer of the loss, theft or damage of the Card.

5) DCC will charge the Customer with a fee in case the use of the Card was suspended because of an unpaid bill and/or rejected direct debit. Costs to reintegrate a Card are set forth in the Particular Conditions. DCC reserves the right after receiving a 2nd rejected direct debit to put the Card on hold and request a bank guarantee from the Customer.

ARTICLE 7: FORCE MAJEURE

In the event of force majeure, DCC has the right, at its own option and without being liable for damages, to suspend the performance of the Agreement for a period of at maximum three (3) months or to fully or partially dissolve this Agreement without legal recourse, unless such measures are unjustified, taking into account the duration of the force majeure. If the situation of force majeure lasts longer than three (3) months the parties shall enter into discussions to find a reasonable solution to solve the situation. For the purpose of this Agreement force majeure is understood to mean any circumstance which DCC could not reasonably have taken into account at the time of conclusion of the Agreement and as a result whereof the normal performance of the Agreement can not reasonably be required by DCC, such as natural and environmental disasters, war, threat of war, riots, strikes, partial or complete non-performance by third-party suppliers, raw materials and or ancillary materials and/or energy, government measures of any kind, transport problems, fire and other calamities at DCC or at its suppliers. The non imputable and inevitable character of the aforementioned circumstances is presumed.

ARTICLE 8: ASSIGNMENT

DCC may at any time assign all of its rights and obligations (or part thereof) within the terms of the present Agreement to any branch or related company of the DCC Group or any third party. The Customer undertakes not to assign or to transfer, in any form whatsoever, all of his rights and obligations (or part thereof) resulting from this Agreement.

ARTICLE 9: TERM – CANCELLATION

1) This Agreement comes into force if and only all of the following conditions are met: – the validation of the 136 F form by the Belgian Administration of Customs and Excise; – the signing of this Agreement; – the confirmation by the Customer’s bank of the direct debit of the Customer’s account of DCC’s invoices to the Customer.

2) The duration of this Agreement shall be for an initial term of twelve (12) months. The Agreement shall be automatically renewed for the same term if new quota are assigned to the customer.

3) DCC may at its own discretion suspend the validity of the Card(s), ask for the Card(s) to be withdrawn, or terminate this Agreement, in case of the Customer failing to comply with the General Terms and Conditions and/or the Particular Conditions, in case of fraud or improper use of the Card, in case of termination of the direct debit by the Customer or his bank, in case of unpaid invoices or insolvency of the Customer. These measures can be taken without notification and without prejudice to any damages DCC may be entitled to receive.

4) DCC reserves the right to terminate this Agreement without notification in as far as the rules and regulations as set forth in article 2 are being reviewed in such a way as to modify the principle or the modalities of the franchise of excise or the exemption of VAT, of which the Customer is a beneficiary.

5) In case of termination of this Agreement, any non retrieved Fuel Product within the period defined in article 6.3. will be forfeited by the Customer.

ARTICLE 10: APPLICABLE LAW – ALLOCATION OF COMPETENCE

This Agreement is governed by Belgian Law. Any disputes arising out of this Agreement shall be exclusively settled by the courts of Brussels.

ARTICLE 11: PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA

By virtue of the laws on privacy (Belgian Act of 8 December 1992, on the protection of privacy with respect to the processing of personal data – M.D., 18 March 1993), the Customer is informed of the fact that any personal data regarding himself, will be processed and stored by DCC OPERATIONS BV, Lage Mosten 31, 4822 NK Breda, The Netherlands These data are necessary for the execution of the Agreement to which the Customer is a party or for the execution of pre-contractual measures that may be taken on his request. The Customer authorizes DCC to communicate these data, including his email address, to any third companies and therefore may receive commercial offers from DCC or any third companies. The Customer is entitled to object, free of charge and upon request addressed to DCC, to the use thereof for the effect of direct marketing. The Customer has a right of access and rectification with respect to the personal data regarding him self, and to this effect may address DCC at any time.