General Terms and Conditions (Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen, AGB)

§ 1 Scope

(1) These General Terms and Conditions apply to all contracts between Postuvio UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Am Tiergarten 10-12, 22926 Ahrensburg (hereinafter the “Provider”), and its customers (hereinafter the “Customer”) concerning the use of the digital mail service.

(2) Customers may be consumers (Verbraucher, section 13 of the German Civil Code, § 13 BGB) or businesses (Unternehmer, § 14 BGB). Provisions that apply to only one of these groups are marked as such. Deviating terms of the Customer do not apply.

(3) The German wording is authoritative. Translations and English summaries serve only to aid understanding.

§ 2 Description of services

Depending on the plan booked, the Provider provides the following services:

• Provision of a delivery address in Ahrensburg (near Hamburg) for receiving letter mail addressed to the Customer; the address contains the Customer’s personal PD number
• Opening and digitising incoming letters and making them available in the personal customer account; processing times are governed by § 8(4)
• Notification by e-mail in the form chosen by the Customer and — depending on the plan — AI-supported summary, deadline detection and translation (German, English)
• Storage of the original letters for 90 days after digitisation; thereafter destruction in compliance with data protection requirements using a document shredder
• On request: forwarding of the originals to an address specified by the Customer against postage and a handling fee according to the price list

§ 3 Authorisation

(1) The service requires the Customer to grant the Provider an authorisation to receive and open the letter mail addressed to the delivery address (authorisation to receive, Empfangsvollmacht). It is granted at registration and remains valid until revoked. The Customer may revoke it at any time in the customer account or in text form (Textform). After revocation, the Provider accepts no further letters for the Customer; letters already digitised remain available in the customer account until the end of the contract.

(2) The authorisation to receive does not entitle the Provider to make declarations, lodge legal remedies or accept payments on behalf of the Customer.

(3) The Customer may name the Provider to tax authorities as authorised recipient (Empfangsbevollmächtigter) within the meaning of section 123 of the German Fiscal Code (§ 123 AO) and, as a business without a residence or habitual abode, registered office or place of management in Germany, in another member state of the European Union or in a state of the European Economic Area, also under section 22f(1) sentence 2 of the German VAT Act (§ 22f Abs. 1 Satz 2 UStG). In the Starter plan this is included for one authority, in the Business and Enterprise plans for any number of authorities. For this purpose the Customer grants a separate authorisation signed by hand; for a company, a person authorised to represent it signs. The service begins as soon as the Provider has received the signed authorisation and activated it in the customer account. The Customer notifies the authority of the appointment itself; the Provider provides a template for this.

(4) As authorised recipient, the Provider only receives documents and makes them available in accordance with § 8(4). It makes no declarations, lodges no legal remedies and does not monitor deadlines. A revocation of the authorisation under paragraph 3 becomes effective vis-à-vis the authority only when it is received there; the Customer informs the authority of it itself.

§ 4 Use of artificial intelligence; no legal advice

Summaries, deadline detection, urgency ratings and translations are produced with the support of AI and are non-binding assistance. They do not constitute legal or tax advice; the Provider is not a law firm or tax adviser and does not represent the Customer before courts or authorities.

§ 5 Conclusion of contract, term and termination

(1) The contract is concluded by registration and confirmation of these terms.

(2) With monthly payment, the contract runs for an indefinite period and can be terminated at any time with effect from the end of the current billing month.

(3) With annual payment, the term is twelve months. The contract can be terminated at any time with effect from the end of the term; there is no pro-rata refund for the remainder of the term. Without termination, the contract is extended by a further twelve months each time. For consumers the following applies instead: after the first term has expired, the contract is extended for an indefinite period and can then be terminated at any time with one month’s notice; the Provider refunds on a pro-rata basis amounts paid in advance for the period after the end of the contract.

(4) Termination is possible in the customer account or in text form to support@portodoc.de. The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected.

(5) Consumers have a statutory right of withdrawal (Widerrufsrecht); details are set out in the information on the right of withdrawal (Widerrufsbelehrung).

§ 6 Remuneration

(1) The prices in the price list on the Provider’s website apply (Starter €19.95, Business €49.95, Enterprise €79.95 per month; with annual payment, 10 instead of 12 months are charged).

(2) For consumers and businesses based in Germany, all prices are final prices including statutory VAT (Umsatzsteuer).

(3) For businesses based outside Germany to which the service is not taxable in Germany (section 3a(2) UStG), the amounts stated are net prices; no German VAT is charged, and the Customer reports and bears any tax owed in its own country (e.g. reverse charge) itself. The prerequisite within the EU is a valid VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.), outside the EU proof of business status; if this is missing, paragraph 2 applies.

(4) The monthly letter allowance is 10 letters in the Starter plan, 25 letters in the Business plan and 50 letters in the Enterprise plan. A fee of €2.95 is charged for each additional letter; paragraphs 2 and 3 apply accordingly. The Provider informs the Customer when the allowance has been reached before additional fees are incurred; access to received mail is not blocked if the allowance is exceeded.

(5) The prices for further additional services (forwarding of originals, registered mail, extended storage, re-scans) are set out in the price list on the Provider’s website.

§ 7 Data protection

(1) The processing of personal data is governed by the privacy policy (Datenschutzerklärung).

(2) Businesses conclude the data processing agreement (Vertrag zur Auftragsverarbeitung) under Art. 28 GDPR (DSGVO) at registration; it forms part of this contract and takes precedence in matters of data protection.

§ 8 Liability

(1) The Provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz) and under guarantees.

(2) In the event of a slightly negligent breach of material contractual obligations, the Provider is liable only for the typical, foreseeable damage. Material contractual obligations are those whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance the Customer may regularly rely. Towards businesses, liability under sentence 1 is limited per claim to the remuneration paid in the current contract year, but at least to €1,000.

(3) Otherwise, liability for slight negligence is excluded. The limitations also apply in favour of the Provider’s employees and agents.

(4) On working days (Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays in Schleswig-Holstein), the Provider makes incoming mail available digitally in the customer account, as a rule on the day of receipt and at the latest on the following working day. It does not check letters for content, deadlines or required action and does not monitor deadlines. AI notes on deadlines, urgency and required action are non-binding. The Customer checks the customer account regularly and checks deadlines itself.

§ 9 Termination and data deletion

(1) After the end of the contract, the Customer can still export its digitised letters for the period stated in the privacy policy. The Provider then deletes them unless there is a statutory retention obligation. The other storage periods are also set out in the privacy policy.

(2) Original letters still in storage at the end of the contract are forwarded by the Provider on request to an address specified by the Customer (§ 6(5)) or destroyed in compliance with data protection requirements using a document shredder.

§ 10 Final provisions

(1) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Towards consumers, this choice of law applies only insofar as it does not deprive them of the protection of mandatory provisions of the country in which they have their habitual residence.

(2) If the Customer is a merchant (Kaufmann), a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, or has no general place of jurisdiction in Germany, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contract is the Provider’s registered office in Ahrensburg.

(3) Should individual provisions be invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected.