Sec. 4 Delivery period, partial deliveries and delivery quantities (1) In the absence of an agreement to the contrary, the delivery periods indicated by us shall only be approximate. (2) Delivery deadlines start with the date of the order confirmation, however, not before all technical questions have been clarified and Customer has met all obligations incumbent upon him, in particular not before he has provided all required documents and any parts, samples and plans and has effected any agreed advance payments. (3) The delivery deadline shall be deemed met once the delivered item has left the works by its expiry or, if dispatch of the goods is not possible without our fault, once the readiness for shipment is communicated to Customer. (4) Any disruptions of business operations beyond our control, in particular those caused by labour disputes, force majeure events, unforeseeable operational interruptions, interventions by authorities or by the government, shortage of raw materials, disturbances in energy supply, etc. both on our part and on the part of our upstream suppliers, shall extend the delivery period accordingly, insofar as such obstacles are demonstrated to have a considerable influence on the completion or delivery of the purchased item. We shall not be deemed responsible for the aforementioned circumstances even they occur while we are already in default. If the aforementioned disruptions are not only temporary but permanently render our performance impossible, we shall be entitled to withdraw from the contract either in whole or in part. Customer shall not be entitled to assert any claims for compensation based on such withdrawal. (5) If the delivery deadline is exceeded for reasons attributable to us, we shall be deemed in default of delivery if Customer requests us in writing to deliver the goods after expiry of the delivery deadline, setting a deadline of at least three weeks, and we fail to deliver the goods within this deadline. In this case, Customer shall be entitled to claim flat-rate compensation for default amounting to 0.5% of the contract value, not exceeding 10% of the contract value in total, for each full week of default. Customer shall be entitled to withdraw from the contract if he has set another deadline for performance, threatening to withdraw from the contract, and this deadline expires without effect. (6) Any further claims for compensation by Customer shall be excluded, unless one of the exceptional circumstances pursuant to Sec. 8 (2) and (3) has occurred or a specific delivery deadline has been agreed as a primary obligation on a case-by case basis. (7) Upon our request, Customer shall declare within a reasonable period whether he withdraws from the contract, claims compensation in lieu of performance or insists on the performance. Partial deliveries shall be permissible. (8) We reserve the right to make excess or short deliveries of up to 10% of the agreed delivery quantity.
