Terms and conditions (version 1.0, 2022)

Status: 3 January 2022 (Version 1.0)

1. Introduction

Thank you for taking the time to read our General Terms and Conditions (“GTC”). You - hereinafter also referred to as “User:in “ - will find below your rights and obligations for the use of our notarity platform.

You will find further valuable and important information on existing data protection in our applicable data protection declaration. These GTC only concern the contractual relationship between you and notarity GmbH (hereinafter “notarity” or “we”). The contractual relationship between you and the notary:in (“partner notary:in”) requires a separate agreement. For further information on our company, please refer to our imprint.

2. General

2.1 notarity GmbH is an Austrian technology company based in Vienna. We operate a platform for the digital establishment of notarial documents (“Remote Online Notarisations”) for the Austrian and European market, which can be accessed at https://app.notarity.com.

2.2 notarity is a platform that supports our partner notaries in their activities. No notaries work at notarity itself and notarity does not offer any services that are subject to the professional and activity reservation of notaries.

2.3 The current software product is still in a development phase and therefore only a prototype of the browser-based software application (“Prototype”, “Platform” or “Webapp”) currently exists. In order to test the functionality of the prototype, we are conducting a beta test phase in which the prototype will be tested with several notaries and their clients (“beta test phase”). In addition, all interested parties can register with us to gain an insight into our platform. You therefore acknowledge and recognise that the prototype is still in the development stage, does not yet have its full planned range of functions and that the prototype may also contain malfunctioning errors (so-called bugs). More detailed information on warranty (clause 14) and liability (clause 16) can be found below.

2.4 The prototype already fulfils all the technical and legal requirements for digitally drawing up legally effective notarial deeds. In the beta test phase, therefore, notarial deeds can already be drawn up digitally and this is also the purpose.

2.5 For the avoidance of doubt, these GTC only govern the legal relationship between you and notarity. Any contractual relationship between you and the respective partner notary (incl. fee claim) is not affected by this.

2.6 notarity is not a trust service provider (“TSP”) within the meaning of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS No. 910/2014). Insofar as we make trust services (in particular Qualified Electronic Signatures) available within the scope of our platform, their availability as well as the quality requirements for such third-party services are governed by the respective provisions applicable to the third-party services. notarity shall disclose the applicable provisions to the User:in, unless the User:in directly enters into a contractual relationship with a third party.

2.7 The source code of the Platform will not be made available to you. You agree not to reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile, translate or facilitate any unauthorised disclosure.

2.8 These GTC apply to all services that notarity provides to users on the webapp. You may only use our platform if you agree to the application of these GTC.

3. Availability of the platform and partner notaries

3.1 The availability of the webapp also depends on various technical equipment of the user. In order to be able to use the webapp to its full extent and to access app.notarity.com, the minimum hardware and software requirements listed on the website notarity.com/webapp/faq must be met. Functional limitations may occur when using the webapp with hardware that deviates from these requirements, especially with less powerful hardware, or with older system software. In the case of incompatible hardware and/or software, the web app may abort the start.

3.2 We endeavour to offer our platform continuously. For technical reasons, uninterrupted availability of the platform cannot be guaranteed. Availability may be impaired, for example, by regularly necessary maintenance and security work, but also by unforeseen events or restrictions of server capacities that are beyond our control. Planned work that leads to an impairment of availability will, as far as possible, be carried out by us during low-frequency periods. The display quality of the digital content may also vary from device to device and depend on the speed of the user’s internet connection and other factors. In this respect, we cannot be held liable for any deviations.

3.3 You are required to notify us immediately and as precisely as possible of any functional failures, malfunctions or impairments of the platform. Failure to do so may result in the limitation of any claims.

3.4 At the current product status, we cannot assure you of the availability of partner notaries. The appointment is subject to the contractual relationship between you and our partner notaries.

3.5 General liability provisions can be found under point 16.

4. Registration with notarity and conclusion of contract

4.1 For the application and registration with notarity, we generally assume that you are a natural person over 18 years of age with unlimited legal capacity. We also assume that you want to make a notary appointment digitally via the platform in a timely manner.

4.2 Registration initially requires only the specification (and confirmation) of your e-mail address, name, telephone number and the selection of an access password. Registration will only take place if you previously accept the inclusion of these General Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy in a binding manner. There is no entitlement to registration.

4.3 By clicking on the “Register” button, you confirm and guarantee the accuracy of your details. After confirming your e-mail address by clicking on the confirmation link sent to you, your account is created. This account contains all relevant data for the use of the platform. By registering, a contractual user relationship is created between you and notarity. You are considered a “user:in” of our platform from the time of registration.

4.4 The access password can be changed by you at any time and must be kept secret in any case.

4.5 The registration of a person is only permitted once. Multiple registrations under different names are expressly not permitted. Accounts are not transferable to other persons. They may also not be used by other persons, e.g. by passing on the password.

4.6 Violations of the above provisions (such as providing false data or registering several times) entitle notarity to terminate the contractual relationship without notice and to immediately delete the user account from the platform (see also clause 17.1).

5. Verification of your identity and issuance of the signature certificate

5.1 After successful registration (see point 4), you can already use our platform to a limited extent (accept appointments, edit/delete data, etc.). In order to be able to use notarity to its full extent, you must verify your identity after registration by means of a (legally required) video identification procedure (“verification”). You can only make notary appointments after successful verification.

5.2 Verification is carried out by means of a video identification procedure on our behalf by identity Trust Management GmbH, Auenstraße 100, 80469 Munich, Germany (“identity.TM”), a company specialising in this field. The data processing by identity.TM is carried out as a service provider and order processor. identity.TM is obliged - as are we - to comply with all applicable data protection regulations. We refer at this point to our data protection declaration, which is available at notarity.com/webapp-privacy/.

5.3 The service of identity.TM - and thus also the verification on our platform - is generally possible independent of location and around the clock (24/7/365). Due to maintenance or technical defects, downtimes may occur. We can therefore not guarantee round-the-clock availability and are not liable for the availability of the verification service. notarity excludes any liability for damages that could arise due to the lack of availability of the verification service.

5.4 The transmission of the evidence data from the verification procedure to notarity usually takes no longer than ten minutes. In exceptional cases, however, there may unfortunately be delays. This is partly due to internet infrastructure over which we have no control. We will inform you as soon as we have received the evidence data and you have therefore been successfully verified.

5.5 For verification, you will need to meet the minimum software and hardware requirements set out on the notarity.com/webapp/faq website, as well as a valid and undamaged identification document, whereby only passport or ID card will be accepted. Please observe all identity.TM requirements in this regard.

5.6 Our Signing Partner will also set up a signature account including signature certificate for a Qualified Electronic Signature (“QES”) on our behalf. Our signing partner is Swisscom Trust Services AG, Hardturmstrasse 3, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland (“Swisscom”), a company specialising in signature services and TSP iSd eIDAS No. 910/2014. identity.TM will also provide Swisscom with your record data from the verification procedure for issuing your signature certificate. Swisscom will conclude a separate contractual relationship with you for this purpose and will act as the controller for the processing of your personal data. We refer at this point to our privacy policy, which is available at notarity.com/webapp-privacy/. The conclusion of this contractual relationship with Swisscom, which is free of charge for you, is a prerequisite for using notarity.

5.7 You will receive a signature password in the course of verification. You will need this password for your signature in notarial appointments. Please remember your password, keep it in a safe place accessible only to you or use an encrypted password manager for this purpose. We do not know your password and cannot reset it. If you have forgotten your password, you will unfortunately have to repeat the verification process. In this case, please contact us directly so that we can reset your verification status.

5.8 Your verification and signature certificate lose their validity when the identification document presented in the video identification procedure expires. After the expiry of the identification document, the verification procedure must be carried out again so that you can continue to make notarial appointments via our platform.

5.9 As long as the verification is valid, you can make as many notary appointments as you wish with any partner notary via our platform.

5.10 The first verification is free of charge for you. Each new verification (5.8) is free of charge for you once per quarter.

6. Use of notarity

6.1 In order to use our platform, we always require that you have successfully registered with us as a user.

6.2 We always assume for the use and processing of notarial appointments on our platform that you have successfully verified your identity, that the verification data is valid and that you know your signature password. You acknowledge that the requirements for the processing of notarial appointments and the creation of legally effective notarial deeds may change, e.g. in the event of a change in the law. In such a case, we will also have to adjust the requirements and the use of notarity accordingly.

6.3 Subject to clause 3.2, you may log into your Account at any time using your Access Data to check the status of your Notarial Appointments, edit them or accept Notarial Appointments.

7. Technical execution of notarial appointments

7.1 notarity itself does not provide any notarial services or legal advice. We help our partner notaries to offer digital services and provide the corresponding software. Furthermore, we help you to find a suitable partner notary and establish contact. The mediation is always free of charge for you.

7.2 The web app is currently still in a beta test phase. In the beta test phase, the creation and booking of notarial appointments is carried out exclusively via our partner notaries.

7.3 Our partner notaries only need your email address to invite you to a notary appointment. As soon as you have been invited to a notarial appointment, we will notify you by e-mail - and if you already have an account - also in the web app. Once you have accepted or confirmed the notary appointment, you will be added to the notary appointment as a participant:in and will have access to the notary appointment dashboard and data room from that point on.

7.4 By accepting the notarial appointment, you agree that the partner notary will have access to your personal data (including data from the verification procedure). Before the notarial appointment is accepted, no partner notary has access to your data. After the notarial appointment, your data remain accessible to the partner notary for a period of seven days. It goes without saying that we will not pass on your e-mail address to the partner notary without your consent.

7.5 You can already accept notarial appointments before successful verification. However, participation in the notarial appointment is only possible after verification has been completed. By accepting, you undertake to have completed the verification by the agreed time of the notarial appointment at the latest. In this context, please note that the verification process may take several hours in exceptional cases. We therefore recommend that you complete the verification at the latest on the day before a scheduled notary appointment.

7.6 The selection, preparation or provision of the documents to be notarised or certified are governed by the contractual relationship between you and the partner notary. Both you and the partner notary have the option of adding documents to an appointment. The upload is only possible for PDFs. If documents are provided by you, this must be confirmed by the partner notary before the notarial appointment.

7.7 The date and time of the notarial appointment shall be determined by the contractual relationship between you and the partner notary.

7.8 The digital notarial appointment takes place via an audio-visual two-way connection in which you are connected to the partner notary and, if applicable, the other users in real time. The actual course of the notarial appointment is the responsibility of the respective partner notary. You are obliged to remain online and in front of the camera during the entire notarial appointment. If the connection is temporarily interrupted or if you leave the picture or deactivate the camera, the partner notary must pause and only continue when the connection is fully re-established or you are back in the picture.

7.9 At the beginning of the notarial appointment, the partner notary will confirm your identity. For this purpose, the evidence data from the verification procedure will be shown to her for comparison. Please keep your identification document handy in case the partner notary wants to see it for further security.

7.10 In the course of the notarial appointment, you will sign the document using a Qualified Electronic Signature.

7.11 After the notarial appointment, the partner notary will additionally provide the signed document with an official signature and then upload it to the appointment dashboard. There it will be available for download for the duration of the user relationship. As soon as the officially signed document is available for download, we will notify you by e-mail and in the web app.

8. Matching procedure

8.1 If you are interested in notarial services but are not in contact with a notary, you can inform us via our platform. After clicking the corresponding button (“I do not yet have a notary:in”), you can send us details of the service requirement or your legal concern by entering data. You must enter this data completely and correctly, otherwise it will not be possible for us to process your request or our suggestions may not be suitable for your needs.

8.2 By submitting this data, you automatically consent to its processing by us. We will point this out to you again separately.

8.3 We will subsequently try to find a suitable partner notary from our pool of partner notaries for you. There is no legal entitlement to a referral to a partner notary. It may happen that we do not find a suitable partner notary. Of course, you are under no obligation to mandate or instruct a partner notary suggested by us.

8.4 Under no circumstances will we charge a fee for mediation between you and our partner notaries.

8.5 After we have found a suitable partner notary from our pool of partner notaries, we will send you the contact details of the partner notary. At the same time, we will also forward your contact details including your enquiry to the partner notary. By accepting these GTC, you expressly agree to this forwarding.

8.6 Our proposals for a partner notary are based on the requirements entered by you and the partner notary’s own information. We are not obliged to check this information for accuracy, completeness and up-to-dateness. We are not liable for any particular suitability of the proposed partner notaries. Please form your own impression of the proposed notary’s offices.

8.7 The contractual relationship regarding notarial services is exclusively between you and Partner Notar:in. We are neither responsible for the conclusion of the contract between you and the partner notary nor for its content in any way. In particular, notarity is not liable for the services of the partner notary and is also not obliged to provide a warranty or to pay damages.

9. Provision of storage space

9.1 As part of the use of the Platform, we will provide you with storage space on our data servers or on the data servers of a subcontractor:in to an appropriate extent depending on the product. You can use this storage space to store, view and edit certain data that is necessary for the use of the platform (e.g. storage of documents). No separate costs are incurred for the provision of the storage space.

9.2 IT security is important to us. We and the subcontractors commissioned by us have taken suitable, state-of-the-art precautions against data loss and to prevent unauthorised access to your data by third parties. Nevertheless, we recommend that you at least download and back up the notarial deeds you have drawn up on your own data carriers.

9.3 You undertake not to store any content on the storage space provided whose provision, publication or use violates applicable law, official requirements or the rights of third parties.

9.4 You are not entitled to make the storage space made available to you available for use by third parties, either in return for payment or free of charge.

9.5 Under no circumstances shall there be a claim against notarity for the provision of storage space. Any provision of storage space by notarity is always voluntary.

10. hardware and software requirements

10.1 The webapp is a browser-based software application which can basically be executed in all common web browsers. For the best experience, we recommend using the latest version of Google Chrome.

10.2 The correct, error-free and contractual use of the webapp (in particular verification and execution of notarial appointments) requires that your hardware and software used comply with the minimum requirements stated on the website https://notarity.com/webapp-faq/.

10.3 You undertake to make notarial appointments only via the notarity app provided that you can provide the minimum software requirements and minimum hardware requirements at the agreed time.

11. Payment processing and payment services

11.1 The use of the platform is free of charge for you. We charge our services to our partner notaries on a transaction basis. We cannot exclude the possibility that our partner notaries may charge you our fees (e.g. as cash expenses).

11.2 By way of clarification, we would like to state that the fee agreement between you and Partnerotar:in remains unaffected by these GTC.

12. Term/termination

12.1 The contractual relationship of use between notarity and you is concluded for an indefinite period of time and can be terminated by either party with 14 days’ notice. The termination must be received by the other party in writing or text form (e-mail or letter) to be effective.

12.2 Upon termination of the user contract, notarity is entitled and obliged to irrevocably delete your account and all data and documents stored for it. The data and documents will be deleted thirty days after the termination of the user contract. Until then you have the possibility to download a copy of the stored documents. Please note that personal data, documents and other information exchanged between you and partner notaries or third parties and partner notaries may continue to be processed and stored under the responsibility of the respective partner notary or third party.

12.3 notarity reserves the right to terminate the user relationship with immediate effect and to block the user account in the event of good cause, in particular in the event of violations of these GTC and other contractual obligations, or in the event of disruptions, abuse or damage to the reputation of this platform.

13. Warranty

13.1 It is beyond the influence of notarity whether and how the partner notary does or does not perform the notarial services. The conclusion of the contract with the partner notary is outside this contractual relationship. The User shall not be entitled to any claims against notarity due to non-performance or poor performance of the notarial services of the partner notary.

13.2 notarity is exclusively an implementation platform and software service provider and in some cases carries out a free matching procedure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the quality or any other aspect of the services provided by the partner notary. Any complaints must be resolved directly between you and the partner notary.

13.3 We provide a warranty for our own services in accordance with the statutory provisions.

14. Data Protection & Confidentiality Obligation

14.1 Data protection, data security and reliability have the highest priority for us. We treat your data with maximum integrity, the highest IT security and strict confidentiality.

14.2 We collect, process and use your data in accordance with the applicable data protection regulations, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Please read our privacy policy for further details.

15. Liability of notarity

15.1 notarity only operates the platform and is not a partner in the contract for services of the partner notary. notarity can therefore not accept any responsibility for the failure to conclude or the conclusion of contracts with partner notaries, their proper fulfilment or any deficiencies in performance as well as for their reversal. All claims are to be made directly against the respective partner notary.

15.2 notarity shall only be liable to the users for the following:

• (a) malice, intent and gross negligence;
• (b) under any warranty expressly given by them;
• (c) for damages arising from injury to life, limb or health, or
• (d) due to mandatory liability such as under the Product Liability Act.

15.3 The User:in acknowledges that any liability of notarity beyond the cases described in clause 15.2 is excluded. As far as legally permissible, this exclusion also applies to consequential damages and loss of profit.

15.4 The above liability rules apply accordingly to the conduct of and claims against employees, legal representatives, subcontractors and other vicarious agents of notarity.

15.5 notarity excludes in particular any liability for damages, the cause of which is exclusively related to the services of identity.TM or Swisscom, if they do not act as vicarious agents, but a direct contract exists between the user:in and identity.TM or Swisscom. Otherwise the liability of notarity for the aforementioned damages is also limited to the cases of clause 15.2.

16. Special rights of notarity

16.1 We may suspend and/or terminate Accounts, in particular for any of the following reasons:

• (a) obviously false and/or missing information;
• (b) lack of email confirmation after registration within 48 hours;
• (c) obvious misuse of the platform.

16.2 You grant us the necessary rights of use to all content (in particular documents) that you upload to the platform for our provision of services to you and the partner notaries. This includes, in particular, the non-exclusive, geographically unrestricted authorisation, limited in time for the duration of the provision, to reproduce this content and to make it available to the partner notaries. We are also entitled to keep the data in a fail-safe system or separate fail-safe computer centre. Furthermore, we are entitled to make changes to the structure of the data or the data format in order to eliminate disruptions.

16.3 We shall not receive any further rights of use or exploitation and shall in particular not publish the content uploaded by you to the platform and make it accessible to third parties unless this is necessary for the purpose of the contract.

16.4 We are entitled to temporarily or permanently block the use of or access to the Software if there are concrete indications that you are in breach of the contractual terms (in particular as defined in 16.1) or applicable law. When deciding on a blocking, the legitimate interests of the users shall be taken into account appropriately.

16.5 We are entitled at any time, without giving reasons, for example due to a change in the legal requirements for the execution of notarial deeds, to change or delete functions of notarity.com or app.notarity.com or to add new functions or to enable the use of functions only under certain conditions. If we make significant restrictions to the scope of services, you have an extraordinary right of termination.

17. Your liability for user data and indemnification against third party claims

17.1 You are responsible for the documents and content that you upload to the platform. As a matter of principle, we do not take any notice of this content and do not check this content.

17.2 You undertake vis-à-vis us not to post any content and data that is punishable by law or otherwise illegal in absolute terms or in relation to individual third parties and not to use any programmes containing viruses or other malware in connection with the platform. In particular, you undertake not to use the platform to offer illegal services or goods.

17.3 You shall indemnify us against any liability and costs, including potential and actual costs of legal proceedings, in this connection if a claim is made against us by a third party as a result of your acts or omissions. We will notify you of the claim and, to the extent legally possible, give you the opportunity to defend the asserted claim. At the same time, you are obliged to immediately provide us with all information available to you about the facts that are the subject of the claim.

17.4 Any further claims for damages by notarity shall remain unaffected.

18. Final provisions

18.1 We are entitled to involve third parties in the provision of the Services (“Sub-Contractors”) without your prior consent.

18.2 There are no verbal or written ancillary agreements to this contractual user relationship. notarity reserves the right to change these Terms of Use including the Privacy Policy (notarity.com/webapp-privacy/) at any time. Existing users will be informed by e-mail of any significant changes, including the date on which they come into effect. Material changes are in particular those changes that affect the performance of notarity or the consideration of users. Not significant changes are in particular editorial changes, new features of the platform, as long as they do not lead to unavoidable costs for users and changes that only improve the user’s situation. The notified material changes are deemed to be agreed if the user does not object to the new conditions in writing or by e-mail within four weeks of notification of the new conditions. notarity shall expressly inform the user of the effect of silence on a notification of change in the e-mail. In the event of an objection by a user, the user’s authorisation to use the platform shall end and any account shall be deleted.

18.3 For non-registered users or, in the case of minor changes, also for existing users, the new terms and conditions shall apply as of publication on the platform.

18.4 If any provision of these GTC is or becomes void, invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity and enforceability of all remaining provisions shall not be affected. The void, invalid or unenforceable provision shall, to the extent permitted by law, be deemed to be replaced by the valid, effective and enforceable provision which most closely approximates the economic purpose pursued by the void, invalid or unenforceable provision in terms of measure, time, place or scope. The same shall apply to any loopholes in these GTC.

18.5 If we do not or do not immediately assert any rights or claims under this Agreement, this shall in no way be deemed to be a waiver of such rights or claims.

18.6 All contractual relationships between notarity and the User:s are governed by Austrian law, but excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (UN Sales Convention) and excluding the conflict of law rules of private international law (including those contained in other conventions).

18.7 If you are an entrepreneur within the meaning of the Austrian Consumer Protection Act (KSchG), the following shall apply: The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from and in connection with this contractual usage relationship or relating to its breach, dissolution or invalidity shall be the respective court with subject-matter jurisdiction for the first district of Vienna.