Terms and conditions

What these terms cover

They cover two separate things: using this website, and engaging BEE Strategy Amsterdam for consultancy work. Using the site means you accept the part about the site. The part about consultancy applies once an engagement is agreed in writing.

Using this website

The content here is general information about the practice. It is not advice for your specific situation, and no client relationship exists because you read it. Advice only follows from an actual engagement, where the circumstances are known.

The text and design on this site belong to BEE Strategy Amsterdam or are used under licence. Photographs are licensed stock imagery. Quoting a passage with attribution is fine; republishing pages wholesale is not.

How an engagement starts

A first conversation is free and commits neither side. Work begins only after a written proposal setting out the scope, the deliverables, the timeline and the fee has been accepted by both sides. That proposal, together with these terms, forms the agreement. Where the two disagree, the proposal wins.

Anything outside the agreed scope is discussed and priced before it is started, never billed as a surprise afterwards.

Fees and payment

Fees are stated in the proposal and are exclusive of VAT unless it says otherwise. Invoices are payable within 30 days of the invoice date. Expenses agreed in advance are charged at cost.

For late payment the statutory Dutch commercial interest rate applies, and reasonable collection costs may be charged, as provided by the Dutch Civil Code.

What each side is responsible for

The obligation here is one of effort and professional care, not of a guaranteed commercial result. Consultancy improves the odds of a good outcome, and anyone promising more than that is selling something else.

The client provides accurate information, timely access to the people who know the situation, and decisions when decisions are needed. Advice is only as good as what it is based on, and a project that cannot reach its own decision makers will stall regardless of the quality of the work.

Confidentiality

Everything learned about a client organisation stays confidential, during the engagement and after it ends. Nothing is published, quoted or used as a reference without written permission. This works both ways: proposals and methods shared by BEE Strategy Amsterdam are equally confidential.

Intellectual property

Reports, models and other deliverables produced for a client become the property of the client once the invoice is settled. General methods, templates and know-how used to produce them remain with BEE Strategy Amsterdam and can be used again elsewhere.

Liability

Liability is limited to the fees paid for the engagement in which the problem arose, and to direct damage. Indirect and consequential loss, including lost profit, lost savings, lost data and business interruption, is excluded.

These limits do not apply to damage caused intentionally or by deliberate recklessness, where Dutch law does not permit a limitation. Any claim must be raised in writing within one year of the event that gave rise to it.

Ending an engagement

Either side can end an engagement in writing with 30 days notice. Work delivered up to that point is invoiced; work not yet done is not. If prepaid fees exceed the work delivered, the difference is refunded under the refund policy.

Personal data

Any personal data involved is handled as described in the privacy policy. Where BEE Strategy Amsterdam processes personal data on behalf of a client, a separate data processing agreement is put in place, as the GDPR requires.

Governing law

Dutch law applies. Disputes that cannot be resolved in conversation go to the competent court in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Conversation is genuinely the first step.

Changes to these terms

These terms may be updated for future engagements. The version that applies to an existing engagement is the one in force when it was agreed. Questions go to the business e-mail address.