TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS OF CHEM-SCIENCE LABORATORIES (PTY) LTD

REPORTS AND ALL CERTIFICATES ARE ISSUED SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING:

1. Reports are issued free of any alterations or additions; save where there has been negligence and/or error of fact which may or may not influence the report in which event the affected report shall be re-issued. Chem-Science Laboratories (Pty) Ltd (aka the Contract Laboratory) does not accept any liability whatsoever for the tampering or any unlawful alteration by a third party of documents or reports sent by the Contract Laboratory via any electronic transmission media.
2. Reports/certificates or any attachments shall NOT be reproduced, except IN FULL, without the prior written consent of the Contract Laboratory; photocopies of originals are not legally valid; e-mail of reports/certificates or any attachments serve for information purposes only and are not considered as the original documents. Original documents are supplied to the client/customer upon request.
3. Reports relate ONLY to the samples tested and are issued in good faith.
4. Tests marked with an asterisk (*) in reports, are not included in the SANAS Accreditation Schedule for the Contract Laboratory. Any opinions and interpretations so marked in the reports are outside the scope of SANAS accreditation of ISO/IEC 17025.
5. Tests outsourced are clearly identified as outsourced in reports and will only be outsourced with the prior written approval of the client/customer. Services are only outsourced to competent organisations as approved by the Contract Laboratory.
6. The estimated precision, tolerance or errors of measurement, as stated in the reports shall be taken to be the estimated “Uncertainty of Measurement” at the 95% confidence level; unless otherwise stated.
7. Whilst every reasonable care is taken to ensure that the reports are accurate in figures and statistics quoted therein, and in the conclusions and/or opinions drawn from the results of these tests or investigations, the Contract Laboratory does not accept any responsibility for any matters arising or consequences from the further use of these reports and/or certificates by third parties; unless such damage is due to the negligence or wilful misconduct of the Contract Laboratory.
8. Whilst every effort is taken by the Contract Laboratory and its employees to ensure that results/reports are timelessly presented to clients, the Contract Laboratory does not guarantee turnaround times nor is it responsible for any late delivery of services/goods due to circumstances beyond its reasonable control; but will endeavour to meet any deadlines stipulated by the client/customer.
9. The total liability of the Contract Laboratory or its employees or agents is limited to three (3) times the fees payable by the client for the specific services rendered and invoice in relation thereto.
10. Any possible infringement of any patent rights of formulations or processes or any other intellectual property rights on the part of the client/customer, is the sole responsibility and liability of the client/customer.
11. If the Contract Laboratory or its employees or agents are required to give expert evidence in any litigation arising from the reports, then the client will be charged for such services at the prevailing rate of the Contract Laboratory.
12. All services rendered by the Contract Laboratory are treated as strictly confidential; to the extent that in the performance of its obligations the Contract Laboratory receives or has access to information which is proprietary to the client, the Contract Laboratory undertakes that all such information shall be and remains the sole and exclusive property of the client.
13. All information provided by the client/customer to the Contract Laboratory and the Contract Laboratory’s findings and report shall be kept confidential by the Contract Laboratory and shall not be used or disclosed unless agreed to in writing by the client/customer, or in accordance with an order of the court or to comply with any law or government regulations. the Contract Laboratory abides by the POPI Act.
14. All quotes or estimates given are valid for 30 days only, unless otherwise stated.
15. Any non-perishable samples which remain after testing, will be retained for a period of THREE months only, and any documents arising from the service rendered will be retained for a period of THREE (3) years.
16. Payment is to be made free of deduction and on demand on presentation of invoice. Interest will accrue on all amounts outstanding at the rate of TWO (2) % per month. No other terms of payment are acceptable unless mutually agreed to in writing by both parties; unless a credit application has been made by the client/customer and has been granted in writing by the Contract Laboratory.
17. Services rendered to non-South African clients and in respect of work done outside of South Africa will be paid in US Dollars or any other currency requested by the Contract Laboratory.
18. If the Contract Laboratory’s ‘Service Level Agreement’ form (SLA) has not been completed and signed by the client/customer, then a legal contract between the customer/client and the Contract Laboratory will be so deemed to have been constituted upon the receipt of samples, or the delivery of goods/services/reports, unless notice of intention or complaint has been received by the Contract Laboratory within 10 business days of receipt of such goods/services/reports.
19. In the event of that, if any, of these terms or conditions are found to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, such terms will be severable from the remaining terms, which will continue to be valid and enforceable.
20. Any legal costs incurred by either party in enforcing any aspect of this agreement including legal or attorney fees will be on own client basis, and will be payable by the other party on demand.
21. All matters arising out of contracts entered into or services rendered by the Contract Laboratory, will be governed by the Laws of the Republic of South Africa.
22. The Contract Laboratory reserves the right to assess a pro rata surcharge for any cancellation after laboratory testing has commenced, to cover the costs of the work done up to the date received by the Contract Laboratory, of the cancellation by the client/customer.

Amended: 18 August 2022