General Terms and Conditions
Version 1.1, August 2026
These General Terms and Conditions (GTC) govern the services of the sole proprietorship of Nasser Zafi, Glasistrasse 9, 8180 Bülach, trading under the names «Zafi Design House» and «ALPENIQ». They supplement the applicable quote. In case of conflict the following order applies: quote, then service annex, then these GTC.
1. Scope
These GTC apply to all offers, contracts and services of ALPENIQ across the five divisions Growth, Studio, AI, Labs and IT.
The contracting party is exclusively Nasser Zafi, proprietor of the sole proprietorship, Glasistrasse 9, 8180 Bülach. «Zafi Design House» and «ALPENIQ» are business names of this sole proprietorship and not legal entities in their own right. Should an ALPENIQ GmbH be incorporated in the future, we will inform you before any transfer of the contract.
They apply to companies, self-employed persons, associations and public bodies. They apply to consumers only to the extent that mandatory law does not provide otherwise.
Deviating terms of the client apply only if ALPENIQ agrees to them in writing. ALPENIQ performing a service without objection does not constitute such agreement.
Managed IT and managed security services are additionally governed by the Managed Services agreement and the SLA annex. Where ALPENIQ processes personal data on your behalf, a data processing agreement (DPA) applies in addition.
2. Formation of contract and quotes
Presentations on alpeniq.ch, in decks and in price lists are non-binding and do not constitute an offer in the legal sense.
A contract is formed when you accept a quote from ALPENIQ: in writing, by email, or via the approval link in the ALPENIQ document portal. Electronic acceptance is equivalent to written acceptance.
Quotes are valid for 30 days from their date of issue unless the quote states otherwise.
The accepted quote including its annexes governs the scope of services. Verbal commitments require written confirmation.
3. Scope of services
ALPENIQ performs the services described in the quote with the care of a competent provider.
Legal nature: services with a separable result, such as a website, a design system or software, constitute a contract for work and services (Art. 363 et seq. CO). Ongoing and advisory services, such as SEO and ads management, consulting, maintenance and managed IT, constitute a mandate (Art. 394 et seq. CO).
Unless the quote expressly lists them, the price does not include: third-party licence and subscription fees, hosting and domains, advertising budgets, stock material, translations, and content you supply.
Ranking, reach, revenue and conversion outcomes depend on factors outside the control of ALPENIQ, in particular third-party algorithms and auction mechanics as well as the competitive environment. ALPENIQ owes the agreed work performed competently, not a particular commercial outcome. A guarantee of a position, a visitor count or a revenue figure applies only where the quote states it expressly together with the method of measurement.
ALPENIQ may engage subcontractors and cloud services and remains responsible for their performance.
4. Client cooperation obligations
Digital projects fail more often on missing input than on technology. Your cooperation is therefore a contractual obligation, not a courtesy.
You provide in good time: content, copy, images, logos, access to domain, hosting, analytics and advertising accounts, a named contact person with decision-making authority, and feedback within the agreed period.
You warrant that you hold the necessary rights to all content you supply, in particular images, fonts, video, music and trade marks. If those rights are absent, you indemnify ALPENIQ against third-party claims.
If you delay an input, deadlines shift by at least the duration of the delay. If a project is dormant for more than 60 days for reasons within your sphere, ALPENIQ may invoice the effort incurred to date and reschedule the project.
5. Dates and deadlines
Dates are target dates unless the quote expressly designates them as binding.
Binding dates presuppose that you have met your cooperation obligations under section 4 in good time.
If ALPENIQ is in default, you shall set a reasonable grace period of at least 20 working days in writing. Only thereafter are the statutory remedies available to you.
6. Prices and payment terms
All prices are in Swiss francs (CHF) and, to the extent ALPENIQ is liable for VAT, exclusive of VAT. VAT is shown separately on the invoice.
Billing models are fixed fee, time and materials at an hourly rate, or a recurring fee. The quote states which model applies.
For projects from CHF 3'000 ALPENIQ invoices a deposit of 50 per cent on order; the balance falls due on acceptance. Recurring services are invoiced in advance for the agreed period.
Invoices are payable in full within 20 days of the invoice date.
On expiry of the payment period you are in default without a reminder. From that point default interest of 5 per cent accrues (Art. 104 para. 1 CO). ALPENIQ charges CHF 20 for each reminder from the second onwards.
If a due payment remains outstanding after a written reminder with a 10-day deadline, ALPENIQ may suspend ongoing services, in particular maintenance, management and support. Measures to contain an acute security incident are excepted.
You may set off only undisputed or judicially established counterclaims.
7. Changes to the scope of services
If you request a change to the agreed scope, you shall record it in writing. ALPENIQ will then state the effect on effort, price and dates.
A change is implemented only once both parties have confirmed it. Until then the existing scope applies.
Minor adjustments of up to one hour of effort are implemented by ALPENIQ without a separate quote and shown on the next invoice.
If a third party changes its platform, interface or pricing such that the agreed service can no longer be delivered as described, ALPENIQ will inform you and propose an adjustment.
8. Acceptance
Work results are subject to acceptance. ALPENIQ notifies completion; you inspect within 10 working days.
You report defects within that period in writing and in a comprehensible manner. Apparent defects not reported are deemed approved (Art. 367 CO).
If you report nothing within the period, or use the result productively, for instance by taking a website live, acceptance is deemed to have occurred.
Immaterial defects do not prevent acceptance. ALPENIQ remedies them under the warranty.
Where a service was agreed in parts, each part is accepted separately.
9. Rights of use and intellectual property
Upon full payment you receive, in the agreed result, a right of use unlimited in territory and time and transferable, for the purpose contemplated by the contract. Prior to full payment all rights remain with ALPENIQ.
In all cases the following remain with ALPENIQ: pre-existing tools, libraries, components, templates, frameworks and methods developed by ALPENIQ independently of your project. ALPENIQ may continue to use them, including for other clients. You receive a simple, non-exclusive right of use in them to the extent necessary to operate your result.
Third-party software and open-source components are subject to their own licences. ALPENIQ will name them on request.
No right of use arises in drafts that are not carried into execution.
Resale of the result as your own product, or disclosure of source code to third parties, requires the written consent of ALPENIQ unless the quote provides otherwise.
10. Confidentiality and data protection
Both parties treat the other party's non-public information as confidential and use it only to perform the contract. This obligation survives termination by three years.
Information is not confidential where it is publicly known, was developed independently, or must be disclosed by law.
Where ALPENIQ processes personal data on your behalf, for instance in operating a website, a form or an IT system, ALPENIQ acts as processor within the meaning of Art. 9 revFADP. The parties conclude a data processing agreement (DPA) governing purposes, sub-processors, security measures and deletion periods.
How ALPENIQ processes personal data for its own purposes is set out in the privacy policy at alpeniq.ch/en/privacy-policy.
Credentials and passwords are handed over only by the agreed channels, never unencrypted by email.
11. Warranty
ALPENIQ warrants that work results have the agreed characteristics at acceptance.
The warranty period is 30 days from acceptance. Defects reported within that period are remedied by ALPENIQ free of charge by way of rectification.
You report defects without delay upon discovery, in writing and with a description that allows reproduction. Defects not reported within the period are deemed approved and the resulting claims lapse.
Rectification is the sole warranty remedy. Price reduction or withdrawal from the affected part of the services is available to you only once rectification has demonstrably failed twice.
After the warranty period expires, ALPENIQ remedies defects against payment at the applicable hourly rate. A maintenance agreement is recommended for continuous cover.
The following are not defects: deviations resulting from changes made to the result by you or by third parties; disruption caused by updates to software, browsers, operating systems or third-party services; improper use; outages at hosting, network or platform providers; changes to third-party algorithms, advertising policies or interfaces; differences in rendering between browsers and devices where the function is preserved.
All claims arising from work results become time-barred 12 months after acceptance. The statutory period under Art. 371 CO is thereby contractually shortened.
For ongoing services under a mandate there is no warranty as to a result, but an obligation of diligent performance.
12. Liability
ALPENIQ is liable without limitation for damage caused by intent and gross negligence. Under Art. 100 para. 1 CO that liability cannot be excluded and is not limited here.
All further liability is excluded to the extent permitted by law. This excludes in particular liability for slight negligence, for any type of damage.
Also excluded, within the scope of the permissible limitation of liability, is liability for indirect and consequential damage, namely lost profit, enquiries or revenue that did not materialise, loss of data, business interruption, reputational harm and third-party claims.
Liability for auxiliary persons and subcontractors is excluded in full on the basis of Art. 101 para. 2 CO. ALPENIQ does not operate a trade subject to official authorisation, so the restriction in Art. 101 para. 3 CO does not apply.
For loss of or damage to data ALPENIQ is liable only to the extent that a backup was expressly part of the commissioned service. In that case compensation is limited to the effort of restoring from the most recent available backup. Otherwise you are responsible for backing up your data appropriately to the risk.
ALPENIQ is not liable for the performance, outages, or changes in price and functionality of third parties, in particular hosting, network operation, search engines, advertising platforms, payment, AI and cloud services.
Claims for damages against ALPENIQ become time-barred 12 months from knowledge of the damage, and at the latest 12 months after acceptance or after termination of the affected service.
Vis-à-vis consumers these limitations apply only to the extent that mandatory law permits.
13. Term and termination
Project contracts end on acceptance and full payment.
Recurring services, such as maintenance, management and managed IT, run from the agreed start date and renew tacitly for the same period unless terminated with 3 months' notice to the end of the current period. Termination is given in writing or by email.
Either party may terminate the contract for cause with immediate effect, in particular in the event of payment default of more than 30 days after a reminder, a material breach not remedied within 20 days of a written request, or the insolvency of the other party.
On termination ALPENIQ invoices the services rendered up to that point.
On request ALPENIQ supports the handover to you or to a successor against compensation for the effort: credentials, data export and documentation. After 60 days from the end of the contract ALPENIQ is no longer obliged to retain project data, absent a statutory retention obligation.
14. Use as a reference
ALPENIQ names you as a reference and shows work results only with your prior consent. Consent is obtained in the quote or separately and may be withdrawn at any time with effect for the future.
Consent covers what may be shown: name, logo, screenshots, metrics, quotes. Metrics are published only in the form you released.
A withdrawal means ALPENIQ removes the presentation from the website within 30 days. Materials already printed and archived articles are excepted.
Without consent ALPENIQ names at most the industry and the type of project, with no inference back to you.
15. Force majeure
Where a party cannot perform its obligations because of an event beyond its control that it did not have to foresee at the conclusion of the contract, the affected obligations are suspended for the duration of the event.
This includes in particular natural events, epidemics, war, official orders, strikes, prolonged failures of power or communications networks, and severe disruption at central service providers.
The affected party informs the other without delay and endeavours to find an alternative.
If the event lasts longer than 60 days, either party may terminate the affected part of the services in writing. Services already rendered are invoiced.
16. Use of AI in delivering our services
Where AI is used and where it is not differs by division. Because the difference matters contractually, the authoritative breakdown is set out here in this clause — not in an internal document you cannot inspect.
Without generative AI: Studio and IT. The Studio division's services — photography, video, brand identity, corporate design, layout systems and visual language — are designed by hand, through graphic design, videography, cinematography and photography. No design element of the delivered result is produced by generative AI. This is distinct from AI-assisted helper functions in standard editing software, such as cut-out, denoising or upscaling: they improve an existing capture but create no design content. The same applies to the IT division — managed services, cybersecurity, hardware and procurement are human and platform work.
With AI support: Growth, AI and Labs. For content, automation and software we work in a mixed way: AI for research, drafts, text, image and code suggestions, the human for selection, expert review and responsibility. No result is delivered without a person having reviewed it on the substance and signed it off beforehand. The process is set out openly at alpeniq.ch/en/ai-transparency.
The share differs within those three divisions as well. Search and social advertising campaigns are run manually. For websites, the share depends on the project. If you want to know exactly for your project, we record it in the quote; that statement then takes precedence over this clause.
Personal data. AI use in delivering our services does not, in itself, put any personal data of yours or your customers into an AI system. Where that is necessary in an individual case — for instance in an automation you commission from us — clause 10 applies: ALPENIQ acts as processor under Art. 9 revFADP, the AI provider used is listed as a sub-processor in the data processing agreement, and any disclosure abroad follows Art. 16 et seq. revFADP.
Provenance features. Where AI was involved, results may carry technical provenance features: invisible statistical marks in text, or signed provenance data under the C2PA standard in image files. Which providers this concerns is stated at alpeniq.ch/en/ai-transparency and kept current there. Such features are provenance signals, not claims of ownership; they do not affect the transfer of usage rights under clause 9. We do not warrant that results will be classified as non-AI-generated by third-party detection tools.
Copyright. Under Art. 2 of the Swiss Copyright Act, protection covers intellectual creations with individual character. Those are two conditions: human authorship and individual character. The Studio division's work meets the first, because it is created by hand. Whether the second is also met in a given case depends on the result — simple designs do not reach the required individuality under settled case law, regardless of how they were made. Where a result is produced predominantly by machine, the first condition is already absent; there, copyright protection may not exist at all, including for the client. In every case ALPENIQ transfers every transferable right under clause 9, but does not promise protection the law does not provide. Where protectability matters to you, we record the working method in writing before the project starts. For logos and other signs, registration as a trade mark under the Swiss Trade Mark Protection Act is the more reliable route in any event — it does not depend on the threshold of originality.
No AI on request. If you would like us to work without AI support on a Growth, AI or Labs project as well, tell us before the contract is concluded. We will then tell you whether that is possible and on what terms; if it is agreed, we record it in the quote.
17. Final provisions
Amendments and additions to this contract require written form. Email suffices.
ALPENIQ may amend these GTC for future contracts. For ongoing recurring services ALPENIQ notifies an amendment at least 30 days before it takes effect; if you object in writing within that period, the previous version applies for the current period.
You may transfer rights and obligations under this contract only with the written consent of ALPENIQ. ALPENIQ may transfer the contract to a future ALPENIQ GmbH and will inform you beforehand.
If a provision of these GTC is invalid, the remainder stays valid. The invalid provision is replaced by one that comes closest to the intended purpose.
Swiss law applies exclusively, to the exclusion of the Vienna Sales Convention (CISG).
The place of jurisdiction is Bülach, Canton of Zurich. Mandatory places of jurisdiction, in particular that of consumers under Art. 32 CPC, are reserved.