Let it be clear in advance that I assume honesty on both sides, but in order to avoid misunderstandings and the famous ‘right to be forgotten’ we need to set out the possible scenarios and resolutions.
When you are faced for the first time, either to draft a contract of this type or to sign it (depending on the part you play in the contracting of the design), you are lost and you do not know if you are covering at least the minimum that your rights and obligations cover.
Nobody likes to be cheated or to take advantage of our trust, so the first thing we must do is to sign an agreement/contract, not out of distrust but on the contrary, because of the trust that both parties have in each other.
I am going to detail the points that cannot be missing in this type of contract/agreement.
Content of the contract
Object of the contract
The purpose of the contract is the development of a website for the client by a service provider (it may include the contracting of a domain name, hosting and even maintenance for a period of time).
It is necessary to add, ‘which will be none other than to say that you undertake to carry out, under the terms set out therein, the design of a website for your client, who is requesting your services’.
Include dates
You must specify the date on which the agreement starts and the date on which the project is expected to be delivered. It is very important to specify the number of revisions that the client is entitled to after the delivery of the project and the time frames he/she has to ask for these revisions. This should be made clear in writing. The client may refuse to pay until the work is 100% optimised to his liking. This can lead to endless disputes. For this reason, it is recommended to include in the contract the number of agreed revisions (2 or 3) to which the client is entitled once the project has been delivered and the time limit for requesting these revisions.
Financial
The price referring to the object of the contract must be clearly specified and likewise the method of payment. For example:
In ‘Project’, 30% of the budget will be paid at the beginning of the project, 30% before going into production and the remaining 40% in the week following commissioning.
It is advisable to specify what the conditions will be in the event of cancellation of the project before the start of production, including the agreed conditions of both parties to the contract.
Responsibilities
The responsibilities of both parties must be specified, as in many cases, projects do not go ahead because one of the parties does not fulfil their obligations. For example:
If in the agreement the text and information contents must be provided by the contracting party, it is important that this section makes it very clear (in this case, the designer must include that he/she is exempt from any responsibility for the veracity of the information included in the website).
Confidentiality
It is important to include a confidentiality clause for both parties. Bear in mind that, for example, the client will provide data (sensitive or not) to the designer and the designer should not have the right to disclose them or use them for purposes other than those strictly detailed in the object of the contract.
Data protection
It is important to include compliance with the law on Personal Data Protection. Here is a sample text that includes this section:
“In compliance with the provisions of Law 15/1999 on the Protection of Personal Data, we inform you that your personal data are collected in order to properly provide the services you request, as well as to comply with tax and legal obligations arising from the provision of this service.
Our company has implemented the necessary technical and organisational measures to guarantee the security and integrity of the personal data it processes. You may exercise your right of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition at the e-mail address xxxxx@tuempresa.com and under the terms provided for in Organic Law 15/99. “
If, in addition to the Web design, the maintenance of the website, hosting and/or domain is included, this must be included in the object of the contract and, of course, the conditions of the contract must be specified, based on the agreement reached between both parties.
The legislation is complex and often difficult to understand, as in many cases it does not always reward the fairest, if not the one who has the best lawyer… well, this is a thought of my own, which could generate a full-fledged debate, but I do not want to go there. Therefore, the advice I give you is to make things very clear from the beginning to avoid confusion and misinterpretations.
