Framework agreement
The framework agreement is in the business a contract that has the future conclusion of many among themselves similar individual contracts to content relating to the framework agreement. It only regulates the framework conditions of a legal relationship , which must be specified in later individual contracts.
General
Contractual partners are legal , less often natural persons who strive for a cooperation which should offer them legal security in the future . The framework agreement ensures a long-term business relationship . A client - contractor relationship or a seller - buyer relationship can be considered between the two . The framework contract does not appear in the German Civil Code , but is derived from the general freedom of contract under the law of obligations .
content
Framework agreements are usually agreed in order to regulate fundamental aspects of the cooperation in advance, but they should still leave scope for specific individual cases later. A preamble defines basic questions and mutual interests, further contract contents are delivery and payment conditions , quality requirements, any acceptance obligations , contract duration , notice period , prices or price escalation clauses . Framework contracts can also be designed as contingents , so that their total volume decreases when used by individual contracts.
species
The service level agreement often initially regulates recurring services in the form of a framework contract. Also multiple delivery contract or work delivery contract are economically framework agreement. The banking industry knows a large number of framework loans designed as framework agreements, namely facility , revolving credit , roll-over credit or stand-by credit . The typical credit line can be used by different types of credit and / or by different borrowers within a group . In insurance , an agreement is made with an insurer on the content of insurance contracts with the help of a framework contract . It is available, for example, common in the fire insurance for the premises of several subsidiaries of the Group. According to § 651a Abs. 5 Nr. 3 BGB , the regulations on package tours do not apply to framework contracts which deal with the organization of business trips with a traveler who is an entrepreneur and which are concluded for his business purposes.
In the case of framework agreements for the delivery of goods, the quantity and time frame for the acceptance of a product can be agreed. The agreed quantity is then requested in lot sizes within the time frame provided in the framework contract . Buyers have the advantage here that by purchasing larger quantities, a lower price can normally be achieved and the products can be called up easily. Framework agreements offer the seller security in sales planning and / or production planning . A maintenance contract can also be concluded in the form of a framework contract.
Delimitations
The mere declaration of intent does not contain any legally binding obligations , while the contracting parties in the framework agreement mutually commit to individual contracts. The preliminary contract and the framework contract have in common that they provide for the conclusion of further contracts, but the preliminary contract is done with the conclusion of the main contract, while the framework contract remains effective. The framework contract is not a long-term obligation, because only the respective individual contracts trigger an exchange of services. It is also not a successive delivery contract , as partial services are provided in the latter.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christiane Hoffbauer, The framework contract in the supply relationship , 2010, p. 13
- ^ Jörg Freiherr Frank von Fürstenwerth / Alfons Weiss, Insurance Alphabet , 2001, p. 509
- ↑ Christiane Hoffbauer, The framework contract in the supply relationship , 2010, p. 22
