June 9, 2026
We place great importance on transparent and reliable contractual foundations. For this reason, the following sets out which documents take precedence over one another. Individual agreements always take precedence.
- Individual contractual agreements;
- Data Processing Agreements (DPA);
- these General Terms and Conditions (GTC);
- the Terms of Use for the digital information content and the online platform of RI Innovation GmbH, available at https://reimbursement.institute, https://reimbursement.info and https://app.reimbursement.info.
The Privacy Policy provides information on the processing of personal data and is not affected by the above hierarchy.
In the event of any contradictions, the provision of higher rank shall apply. Individual agreements shall always take precedence.
The inclusion of any deviating, conflicting or supplementary terms and conditions of business and/or use of the customer is expressly rejected; these shall only form part of the contract if their validity has been expressly confirmed by the provider in writing.
“Customer” within the meaning of these General Terms and Conditions is the natural or legal person, partnership or other entity acting in a capacity other than as a consumer, which commissions the Provider’s services, in particular management consultancy, digital services or a premium agreement for the use of the online platform.
“User” means any natural person who uses the online platform as a registered member of an organisation on behalf of the Customer. Where the term “organisation” is used in the following Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy, it refers to the entity or company associated with the Customer to which the user accounts and data structures on the platform are assigned by the system.
“Visitors” means any natural person who uses the information content or the online platform to a limited extent without registration, without being a customer or a registered user.
Where terms from the Terms of Use are used in these Terms and Conditions, in particular “information content”, “online platform”, “basic version”, “premium version”, “user account”, “organisation”, “separately processed data”, “platform components”, “Exports” and “project-related work results”, the definitions set out in the Terms of Use shall apply accordingly, unless these Terms and Conditions expressly provide otherwise.
The Terms and Conditions consist of the General Provisions (I.) and the Special Provisions for Management Consultancy (II.).
Customers, visitors and users may access, save and print the currently valid version of the Terms and Conditions at https://reimbursement.institute/en/terms-and-conditions/.
I. General Provisions
§ 1 Scope, Target Group, Contract Term and Choice of Law
(1) These General Terms and Conditions (“GTC”) apply to declarations of intent, contracts and legal or quasi-legal acts, deliveries and other services provided by RI Innovation GmbH (hereinafter “Provider”), Lehnengasse 20a, 50354 Hürth, to its customers, as well as to the use of the information content and the online platform by visitors and users.
(2) The Provider expressly does not direct its offers and services at consumers within the meaning of Section 13 of the German Civil Code (BGB). By completing the registration process or concluding a contract, the customer (or the user acting on their behalf) confirms that the services are commissioned or used for a commercial, institutional, freelance or other professional activity. The conclusion of a contract with consumers is excluded. Should a person nevertheless conclude the contract as a consumer, the Provider is entitled to withdraw immediately or terminate the contract without notice.
(3) For the provision of paid digital services and platform subscriptions (in particular the premium version of the online platform), the initial contract term is twelve (12) months from the date of invoicing, unless otherwise specified in the individual offer. The contract shall be extended for a further twelve (12) months in each instance unless it is terminated by either party in writing (e.g. by email) with 30 calendar days’ notice to the end of the respective term. The right to terminate the contract for cause remains unaffected. Consultancy services (Part II) are expressly excluded from this automatic term and renewal provision; their termination is governed exclusively by Section 6(3) of these General Terms and Conditions.
(4) Any ancillary agreements, amendments or additions to these terms and conditions must be in writing; individual agreements between the parties shall always take precedence.
(5) The business relationship between the Provider and the Customer is governed exclusively by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
(6) To the extent permitted by law, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with contracts with the Provider shall be Cologne. The Provider is also entitled to bring legal proceedings against the Customer at the Customer’s general place of jurisdiction.
§ 2 Value Added Tax, Invoicing and Payment
(1) Unless otherwise stated, the agreed fees, prices, subscription or premium charges are net amounts plus the statutory value added tax applicable at the time of invoicing.
(2) Invoiced amounts are due without deduction within 14 days of the invoice date, unless otherwise agreed. In the event of late payment, the statutory interest on arrears and provisions regarding compensation shall apply. In the event of a delay in payment that is not merely insignificant, the Provider shall be entitled, following a prior reminder and the setting of a reasonable deadline, to withhold services arising from the same contractual relationship in whole or in part or to suspend them temporarily, insofar as this is proportionate. This includes, in particular, access to user accounts assigned to the customer or their organisation for paid services of the premium version of the online platform, including the use of technical protection measures in accordance with Section 11 of the Terms of Use, as well as the continued execution of consultancy projects, project phases, workshops, analyses, reports and the handover of work results not yet provided. If payment is still not made even after a reasonable grace period, the Provider may terminate the contract extraordinarily for good cause. Further statutory rights remain unaffected.
(3) The Provider shall always issue an invoice to the Customer, which is sent by email as a PDF file as standard.
§ 3 Limitation of the Provider’s Liability
(1) The Supplier is liable for material defects and defects of title in accordance with the statutory provisions. The Supplier’s strict liability for defects existing at the time of conclusion of the contract pursuant to Section 536a(1) (1) of the German Civil Code (BGB) is excluded.
(2) The following applies to claims for damages outside the scope of liability for defects:
a) The Provider shall be liable without limitation for damage resulting from injury to life, limb or health, in cases of intent or gross negligence, in respect of guarantees given, and in respect of claims under the Product Liability Act.
b) In the event of a breach of a material contractual obligation (cardinal obligation – i.e. an obligation the fulfilment of which is essential for the proper performance of the contract and on the observance of which the contracting party may regularly rely ) due to slight negligence, the Provider’s liability is limited to the damage typical for the contract and foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract.
c) In all other respects, the Provider’s liability for simple or slight negligence is excluded. For services provided free of charge, in particular the free information content and the free basic version of the online platform, the above limitations of liability shall apply mutatis mutandis, to the extent permitted by law. Insofar as supplementary statutory provisions on services provided free of charge apply to the free services, the statutory limitations of liability in favour of the Provider vis-à-vis visitors and users remain unaffected.
d) The Provider shall not be liable for damage or platform-related outages caused by events of force majeure, unforeseeable attacks by third parties on the IT infrastructure (e.g. Distributed Denial of Service attacks / DDoS), disruptions to the internet or disruptions to cloud infrastructure and upstream network operators, provided that these lie outside the Provider’s reasonable sphere of influence and control and were not culpably caused by the Provider.
(3) The above liability provisions shall apply mutatis mutandis in favour of the Provider’s legal representatives, employees and vicarious agents.
§ 4 Set-off and Right of Retention
(1) The Customer shall only be entitled to set-off if their counterclaims have been legally established, are undisputed or have been acknowledged by the Provider. The Customer shall only be authorised to exercise a right of retention to the extent that their counterclaim is based on the same contractual relationship.
§ 5 Data Protection and Data Processing
(1) The Provider processes personal data in accordance with the applicable privacy policy.
(2) Where a user uploads or processes personal data of third parties within the scope of the online platform, the customer remains responsible for this under data protection law.
(3) The Provider shall process such data exclusively in accordance with a separate data processing agreement (DPA). The conclusion of a valid DPA is a prerequisite for the uploading and processing of separately processed data. Details are set out in the DPA and the Terms of Use.
II. Special Provisions – Management Consultancy
§ 6 Commissioning and Determination of the Termination of the Contract
(1) In the field of management consultancy, a binding contract is concluded when the Provider accepts the offer signed by the Client by means of a written order confirmation. This order confirmation sets out the estimated project duration, the earliest possible project start date and an estimated completion date.
(2) The specific scope of work, the project-specific approach, the nature of the deliverables and the remuneration are set out in the relevant written agreement (quotation/order confirmation). Any subsequent changes, additions or extensions to the scope of services require written confirmation.
(3) The Provider’s consultancy services shall be deemed to have been fully performed once the contractually agreed analyses, conclusions and recommendations have been drawn up and explained to the Client or communicated to the Client. Whether or when the Client implements the conclusions or recommendations in practice is irrelevant to the provision of services and the entitlement to fees.
§ 7 Client’s duty to cooperate and client protection
(1) The client undertakes to support the provider’s consultancy activities to the best of their ability. In particular, the client shall, free of charge and in a timely manner, create all the conditions within their sphere of operation and influence (e.g. provision of data, documents and contact persons) that are necessary for the proper provision of services.
(2) Client protection / non-solicitation clause: The client undertakes not to solicit, hire or independently commission, either directly or indirectly, any permanent employees or permanent agents of the provider during the term of the collaboration and for a period of 24 months following the termination of the collaboration. In the event of any culpable breach, the Customer undertakes to pay a reasonable contractual penalty to be determined by the Provider and, in the event of a dispute, to be reviewed by the competent court.
§ 8 Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure
(1) The Provider is obliged to treat all of the Client’s trade and business secrets made available to it within the scope of the consultancy engagement as strictly confidential.
(2) If an employee or vicarious agent of the Provider culpably breaches this confidentiality obligation, their conduct shall be attributed to the Provider in accordance with the statutory provisions. The Provider’s liability is governed by § 3 of these General Terms and Conditions.
(3) The Client undertakes, for its part, to treat as confidential all non-public information of the Provider to which it gains access in the course of the collaboration, in particular methods, analytical logic, data structures, calculations, presentations, concepts, platform information, trade secrets and other confidential information, and not to use such information for any purpose other than that contractually agreed or to disclose it to third parties. This obligation shall continue to apply even after the termination of the collaboration.
§ 9 Protection of consultancy results
(1) The reports, plans, drafts, schedules and calculations produced by the Provider in the course of the management consultancy may be used by the Client exclusively for the contractually agreed purposes. Any use, exploitation or publication of these results outside the scope of the contract requires the Provider’s prior express consent in writing. This applies regardless of whether the service provided is subject to specific statutory property rights (e.g. copyright) or not.
(2) Where consultancy deliverables contain extracts, representations, analyses or other results produced using the online platform, the information content or platform components, the restrictions on use (Section 5 of the Terms of Use) shall apply in addition, in particular with regard to exports, platform components, information content, project-related deliverables and unauthorised reuse.
