By using our services, you agree to all of the below terms and conditions.
By engaging in the Services offered by Apostil.co.za, you irrevocably and immediately bind yourself to the standard terms and conditions as disclosed hereunder.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 In these Terms, where any provision is qualified by the words “to the extent permitted by law” the parties agree that such provision shall only apply to the extent that the laws of the Republic of South Africa allow same to apply, on the basis that if Apostil.co.za is precluded from applying:-
1.1.1 any such provision then the terms of such provision which Apostil.co.za is precluded from applying shall not apply; or
1.1.2 the full terms of any provision, then such provision shall not apply and shall be severed from these Terms, and the remaining provisions hereof shall be of full force and effect.
1.2 The Client of the Services of Apostil.co.za does hereby accept to be bound by the Terms set out herein.
2 DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION
2.1 The clause headings in this document have been inserted for convenience only and not for interpretation purposes.
2.2 Hyperlinks herein to legal documents should be deemed part of these Terms. The fact that some, or all, of the hyperlinks may, from time to time, be non operational, shall not affect the validity and interpretation of these Terms.
2.3 Reference herein to the singular includes the plural and vice versa.
2.4 The following defined terms shall, wherever used in these Terms, bear the corresponding meaning ascribed to them:-
2.4.1 “Client” means any person and/or entity that makes use the Services which are provided by Apostil.co.za.
2.4.2 “ECT Act” means the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, No. 25 of 2002;
2.4.3 “Apostil.co.za” means Evergration Close Corporation trading as Apositl.co.za, registration number 2010/117569/23, its employees, its subsidiaries and any affiliated companies and agents;
2.4.4 “Personal Information” has the meaning as defined in POPIA;
2.4.5 “POPIA” means the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013, as amended from time to time and includes any regulations promulgated thereunder;
2.4.6 “Privacy Policy” means Apostil.co.za’s privacy policy including any annexures thereto (as amended from time to time), published by Apostil.co.za and kept at its registered place of business, a copy of which can be accessed at: apostil.co.za/privacy-policy and apostil.co.za/paia.
2.4.7 “Processing” means any operation or activity or any set of operations, whether or not by automatic means, concerning Personal Information, including:-
2.4.7.1 the collection, receipt, recording, organisation, collation, storage, updating or modification, retrieval, alteration, consultation or use;
2.4.7.2 dissemination by means of transmission, distribution or making available in any other form; or
2.4.7.3 merging, linking, as well as restriction, degradation, erasure or destruction of information;
2.4.8 “Services” means documentation services offered by Apostil.co.za which includes but is not limited to the processing and assistance with various concierge services, assistance with visa and “citizenship by investment” applications, “documentation services” (apostilles, notarisations, authentications and various certifications of documents in the Republic of South Africa as well as the obtaining of police clearances, birth, marriage and death certificates and letters of no impediment as well as divorce decrees), and many other services;
2.4.9 “Terms” means these standard terms and conditions, as amended from time to time, together with any annexures thereto.
3 COMMENCEMENT AND DURATION
3.1 These Terms shall continue to govern the relationship between the Parties until these Terms are amended in accordance with the provisions hereof, alternatively until these Terms are cancelled by either Party as a result of the exercise of either Party’s rights of termination contained herein.
4 LAWFUL PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND PRIVACY
4.1 The Client understands and consents to Apostil.co.za Processing the Client’s Personal Information, for the purposes of:-
4.1.1 supplying services to the Client in accordance with these Terms;
4.1.2 allowing Apostil.co.za to account to the Client in respect of those services supplied;
4.1.3 allowing Apostil.co.za to communicate with the Client in accordance with these Terms.
4.1.4 compliance with any obligation of Apostil.co.za to Process the Personal Information of the Client, in accordance with any law or legislation, including but not limited to, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 38 of 2001, the Value-Added Tax Act, 89 of 1991 and the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962;
4.1.5 such other purposes as further detailed in the Privacy Policy and in this regard, the Clients continued use of the Services shall constitute its express consent for the collection and processing of Personal Information by Apostil.co.za as provided for in these Terms, or a third party on their behalf, and which may include the sharing and processing of such Personal Information with any third parties that are required by Apostil.co.za in order for Apostil.co.za to provide the Services.
4.2 Apostil.co.za undertakes and the Client understands that Apostil.co.za will not disclose, disseminate or transfer the Client’s Personal Information to any other person, without the Client’s prior written consent, except as provided for in accordance with these Terms.
4.3 Apostil.co.za will do everything within reason to protect any Personal Information supplied by the Client and will, in processing such Personal Information, comply with applicable legislation.
4.4 Should the Client’s Personal Information change, the Client shall advise Apostil.co.za of such changes in order for Apostil.co.za to properly update such Personal Information, in order for Apostil.co.za to ensure that the Processing of the Personal Information of the Client is done according to the purposes as recorded. Save as stated above, and to the extent that same does not contravene any applicable legislation, Apostil.co.za may be required to disclose the Client’s Personal Information to a third party in the following circumstances:-
4.4.1 to employees and/or third party service providers who assist Apostil.co.za to interact with the Client for the ordering or delivering of Services, to the Client;
4.5 Whilst Apostil.co.za will do all things reasonably necessary to protect the Client’s rights of privacy, Apostil.co.za does not guarantee or accept any liability whatsoever for unauthorised or unlawful disclosures or use of the Client’s Personal Information, whilst in Apostil.co.za’s possession, made by third parties who are not subject to Apostil.co.za’s control.
4.6 Apostil.co.za shall take all reasonable steps as required by the Protection of Personal Information Act and the Promotion of Access to Information Act, to protect the Personal Information of Clients that it collects or has access to through the use and acquisition of Apostil.co.za’s services.
4.7 Personal Information may be, at Apostil.co.za’s sole election, collected either electronically through the use of data collection units (“Cookies“), alternatively may be provided voluntarily by the Client.
4.8 By using the Services, the Client hereby consents to the collection, use and storage of Personal Information.
4.9 The Client further warrants that the information provided to Apostil.co.za belongs to the Client and is correct.
4.10 Apostil.co.za may collect, maintain, save, compile, modify, destroy, de identify, and disclose any Personal Information collected from Clients, provided that:-
4.10.1 Apostil.co.za shall not disclose Personal Information without the Client’s consent, unless required to do so through due legal process;
4.10.2 Apostil.co.za shall retain records with Personal Information for as long as it is required to do so in terms of any applicable laws, and for Apostil.co.za’s lawful purposes. Personal Information that has been collected will form part of a data bank that Apostil.co.za shall maintain according to any applicable laws;
4.10.3 Apostil.co.za shall take all reasonable steps to secure the content of the Personal Information provided by, and collected from Clients, from unauthorised access and/or disclosure. However, Apostil.co.za does not make any warranties or representations that such content shall be safe and/or secure from any and all threats, which the Client acknowledges and understands.
4.11 The Client’s attention is also drawn to Apostil.co.za’s:-
4.11.1 Privacy Policy; and
4.11.2 PAIA Manual,
both of which can be obtained by request from the Information Officer at officer@apostil.co.za and the terms of which are incorporated herein and form part of these Terms. Any conflict between these Terms and the Privacy Policy and/or terms of the PAIA Manual, will be resolved by the terms of Privacy Policy and PAIA Manual taking precedence to the extent of such conflict.
5 USE OF APOSTIL.CO.ZA’S SERVICES
5.1 The Services offered by Apostil.co.za are to assist on behalf of the Client to have the Client’s documents certified, notarized, collected and/or otherwise authenticated. Apostil.co.za does not perform the authentication, notarization or certification of documents itself, but assists Clients in the process in order to procure such services.
Estimated Timelines
5.2 Apostil.co.za is subjected to the timelines and proficiency of the government departments and third parties which provide authentication, notarization and/or certification services and consequently, Apostil.co.za cannot guarantee a specific outcome or adhere to a strict timeline.
5.3 Any time estimation provided by Apostil.co.za is an estimate only and Apostil.co.za shall not incur liability of whatsoever nature should a Service not be completed in accordance with the estimated timeline. As Apostil.co.za must make use of third party suppliers, services may take longer than originally quoted and/or estimated and Client’s must consider estimates as a guideline only.
5.4 In the event that a Service takes longer than originally estimated there will be no refund offered and the Client acknowledges that Apostil.co.za will incur no liability of whatsoever nature as the estimate provided is merely a guideline.
Documentation and information to be provided by the Client
5.5 It is the responsibility of the Client to determine which documents are needed and what type of authentication and/or legalisation is required by the Client, Apostil.co.za is not an official advisory body and shall incur no liability of whatsoever nature in the event of problems arising due to the incorrect information or documents being supplied by the Client.
5.6 All documentation supplied to Apostil.co.za by the Client must be via a courier. Should a Client send documentation via post, the documents may take an extremely long time to arrive and must be collected from the post office, which collection thereof by Apostil.co.za will incur an extra cost.
5.7 Apostil.co.za will not incur liability of whatsoever nature for any loss arising from or in connection with the posting, couriering and or transportation of documents of the Client to the offices of Apostil.co.za or Apostil.co.za’s service providers.
Errors in Documents received
5.8 Apostil.co.za will incur no liability of whatsoever nature should there be any error contained within a document as requested by the Client in accordance with the Services provided. It is not uncommon for documents to have errors contained therein as government departments and other third parties may have, among other errors, typing and spelling errors. Apostil.co.za will incur no liability of whatsoever nature for any errors or delays occurred as a result thereof.
5.9 There will be no refund offered in the event of an error having occurred and Apostil.co.za will be entitled to charge the Client an additional fee to have the documents corrected.
5.10 Should a document be unobtainable or the Client is denied having the document issued to them by a government department or third party, the Client is still liable for the fee charged by Apostil.co.za and for the use of Apostil.co.za’s Services in attempting to obtain same. Apostil.co.za will incur no liability of whatsoever nature should a document be unobtainable or a government department or third party deny issuing a document and consequently, no refund will be permitted.
6 LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND INDEMNIFICATION
6.1 To the extent permitted by law, the Apostil.co.za shall incur no liability in respect of the non-delivery or late delivery of any Service ordered by the Client.
6.2 Neither Party shall be liable for any failure to fulfil its obligations under this Agreement if and to the extent such failure is caused by any circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to an act of God or state of war (whether declared or not) or sabotage, fire, flood, riot, strike, lock out or delays due to third party operations affecting the performance of such Party’s obligations in terms of this Agreement (“Force Majeure Event”).
6.3 Should either Party be unable to fulfil a material part of its obligations under this Agreement for a period in excess of 90 (ninety) days due to circumstances beyond its reasonable control, as recorded in clause 6.2, then either Party may cancel their respective obligations to perform forthwith by written notice to the other and in that event the Client shall not have the right to claim any damages or loss from the Seller.
6.4 Apostil.co.za is not liable for any damage, harm, injury or loss to any person or property arising from the use of the Services offered by Apostil.co.za and/or any third party.
6.5 Under no circumstances will Apostil.co.za be liable to the Client, or any third party, for any special, indirect or consequential damages of any nature whatsoever and howsoever arising.
7 ENTIRE AGREEMENT AND SEVERABILITY
7.1 These Terms constitute the entire agreement between Apostil.co.za and the Client and shall take precedence over any other agreements, disclaimers and/or legal notices attached to any communications and/or postings received by Apostil.co.za from the Client.
7.2 No variation or waiver of any of these Terms will be binding or effectual for any purpose unless expressed in writing by a duly authorised representative of Apostil.co.za, and any such waiver will be effective only in the specific instance and for the purpose given.
7.3 Any failure by Apostil.co.za to exercise or enforce any right or provision shall in no way constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
7.4 In the event that any term or condition detailed herein is found unenforceable or invalid for any reason, such term(s) or condition(s) shall be severable from the remaining terms and conditions. The remaining terms and conditions shall remain enforceable and applicable.
8 AGREEMENT IN TERMS OF SECTION 21 OF THE ECT ACT 8.1 The Client and Apostil.co.za agree that:-
8.1.1 The Client shall be bound to these Terms for so long as it makes use of the Services, and such agreement is concluded in Johannesburg (South Africa) at the time the Client accesses the website of Apostil.co.za or engages in the procurement of Apostil.co.za’s Services;
8.1.2 The Client agrees and warrants that data messages as defined in the ECT Act addressed by the Client to Apostil.co.za shall only be deemed to have been received if and when responded to by Apostil.co.za;
8.1.3 Electronic signatures, encryption and/or authentication shall not be required for valid electronic communications between the Client and Apostil.co.za;
8.1.4 data messages that are sent to Apostil.co.za from a computer, IP address or mobile device normally used by or owned by the Client, shall be deemed to have been sent and/or authorised by the Client personally; and
8.1.5 an email sent to the Client by Apostil.co.za, shall be deemed to have been received by the Client when the Client is capable of downloading the email.
9 APPLICABLE GOVERNING LAW
9.1 The services are controlled and operated within the Republic of South Africa and therefore, subject to the remainder of these Terms, the South African law enforced by the South African courts governs the use of the Services.
10 LEGAL COSTS
10.1 Apostil.co.za, its agents and suppliers, shall not be liable for costs incurred by Clients to obtain professional advice relating to these Terms.
11 GENERAL
11.1 The Parties shall at all times owe each other a duty of good faith.
11.2 The Parties hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the Magistrates court in terms of section 45 of Act no. 32 of 1944, in respect of any legal proceedings arising out of or in connection with these Terms.
11.3 When any number of days is prescribed in these Terms, same shall be reckoned exclusively of the first and inclusively of the last day, unless the last day falls on a day which is not a Business Day, in which case the last day shall be the next succeeding Business Day.
11.4 The rule of construction that an agreement shall be interpreted against the Party responsible for the drafting or preparation of the agreement, shall not apply.
11.5 Each Party respectively agrees and acknowledges that:-
11.5.1 it has been free to secure independent legal advice as to the nature and effect of each provision of these Terms and that it has either taken such independent legal advice or has dispensed with the necessity of doing so; and
11.5.2 each provision of these Terms is fair and reasonable in all the circumstances and is part of the overall intention of the Parties in connection with these Terms.
