Publisher / Seller — John Linotte, a natural person acting in a private capacity as an author under the atelier name « Département des Harnais », 1000 Brussels, Belgium. Email: contact@harnais.be. Website: https://harnais.be.

These terms apply to any order placed with the Seller for one of the three objects described on the page Travailler avec moi (page in French): the decision dossier (from the catalogue or on mandate), the published piece and the countersignature. They may be supplemented by special conditions specific to an order (scope, white-label delivery), which prevail in case of conflict.

Article 1 — Definitions

• Dossier: decision dossier published under the atelier name « Département des Harnais », consisting of a written study and a verifiable fabrication trace (named and dated sources, Ed25519 signature, RFC 3161 timestamp). The Dossier is from the catalogue when it has already been produced and is described by a Lab entry; it is on mandate when it is produced for the Buyer, on the decision it describes.
• Published piece: article, architecture note or op-ed, written for the Buyer and published under the Buyer's name, with the same verification chain and the same trace.
• Countersignature: dated attestation issued on a document written by the Buyer, claim by claim: which claims are sourced, which are not, which say something other than their source.
• Document: any of the three objects above.
• Buyer: the natural or legal person who orders a Document.
• Consumer: a Buyer who is a natural person acting outside their professional activity (within the meaning of Book I of the Belgian Code of Economic Law — CDE).
• Professional: any Buyer other than a Consumer.
• Licence: the rights of use over the Document, defined in Article 8.
• Transfer note: the accounting and legal document formalising the transfer of the Seller's copyright to the Buyer, serving as invoice.
• Forensic trace: the evidentiary material (sources, excerpts, signed pieces) accompanying the Document, released under the free CC-BY 4.0 licence.

Article 2 — Subject

1. These Terms govern the sale, by the Seller, of digital Documents delivered electronically and ordered by email. The Documents are works of intellectual analysis and technical publishing; they constitute neither personalised legal advice nor a service of a lawyer or expert within the meaning of the CDE.
2. Self-contained character. The Dossier is a self-contained document, complete in itself: the excerpts, the sources and the Forensic trace are embedded in it. Its evidentiary value and its usefulness therefore subsist regardless of the subsequent availability of the external sources mentioned in it.

Article 3 — Prices and taxes

1. The price is a fixed price per Document, never based on time spent. No price is displayed on the site: it is communicated to the Buyer within two working days of the request, and applies to the order it describes.
2. The price includes the Document and its Forensic trace, as well as the rights of use provided for by the Licence.
3. Taxation (VAT not applicable). Under Article 44 § 3, 3° of the Belgian VAT Code, sums received for the transfer of copyright by an author who is a natural person are exempt from VAT. No VAT is charged or collected on the order.
4. The Seller may change prices at any time, without retroactive effect on orders already confirmed.

Article 4 — Order, payment and late payment

1. The Buyer sends the request by email to contact@harnais.be, naming the Document required (the catalogue entry, the decision to be made, the text to be signed) and providing billing details (company name, registered office address, company number where applicable). The Seller replies within two working days: yes, with the price and the delivery time, or no, with the reason.
2. The order is confirmed by the Buyer's written agreement on the price. For organisations that require it (public and semi-public sector, large companies), a prior purchase order is drawn up on request before any production or delivery.
3. The Seller delivers the Document together with the Transfer note, which contains the bank details (IBAN/BIC) required for payment.
4. Payment is made by SEPA bank transfer within 14 calendar days of receipt of the Transfer note, unless an extended period is agreed in writing.
5. Late payment (Professionals). In case of late payment, and in accordance with the Belgian Act of 2 August 2002 on combating late payment in commercial transactions, late-payment interest at the statutory rate for commercial transactions is due automatically and without prior notice of default, plus a fixed indemnity of €40 for recovery costs.
6. The Seller may refuse any order for a legitimate reason (in particular: doubt as to the Buyer's identity, suspicion of fraud, incompatibility with the restrictions of Article 8, absence of sources to hold to).

Article 5 — Delivery times and delivery

1. The Document is digital content delivered electronically, to the email address provided: the Dossier in PDF and HTML, with its evidentiary pieces and its Transfer note; the Published piece and the Countersignature in the agreed form.
2. Delivery times, counted from the confirmation of the order (Article 4.2) or from the purchase order where one is required, are as follows:
   • Dossier from the catalogue: within two working days at most;
   • Countersignature and Published piece: within seven working days;
   • Dossier on mandate: within fifteen working days.
   A different time may be agreed in writing for an order whose scope requires it.
3. In case of delay attributable to the Seller exceeding seven working days beyond the applicable time, the Buyer may, at their choice, obtain delivery or the cancellation of the order free of charge.
4. The Buyer must provide a valid email address and archive their copy upon receipt.
5. In case of non-receipt not attributable to the Buyer, the Buyer has 15 days to report it to contact@harnais.be; beyond that, delivery is deemed completed.

Article 6 — Right of withdrawal (Consumers)

1. Under Article VI.53 of the CDE, the Consumer has 14 days from the conclusion of the contract to exercise the right of withdrawal, without giving reasons and without penalty.
2. Exception — digital content. Article VI.53 §2, 13° of the CDE (formerly VI.53 §2, 4°) provides that the right of withdrawal does not apply to the supply of digital content not supplied on a tangible medium, where performance has begun with the Consumer's prior express consent and express waiver of the right of withdrawal. By confirming the order and requesting delivery of the Document before the end of the fourteen-day period, the Consumer gives express consent and expressly waives the right of withdrawal from the start of the supply of the content.
3. Professionals do not benefit from any right of withdrawal.
4. Any admissible request for withdrawal or cancellation is sent to contact@harnais.be.

Article 7 — Legal guarantees and conformity

1. Legal conformity guarantee (Consumers). Under Book III, Title IV of the CDE, the Seller is bound towards the Consumer by the conformity rights applicable to digital content. In case of lack of conformity (in particular: unusable Document, corrupted file, failure to meet the stated characteristics), the Consumer may require the Document to be brought into conformity, failing which a price reduction or termination with refund. The action is time-barred 2 years from supply.
2. Guarantee against hidden defects. Under Articles 1641 et seq. of the Civil Code, the Buyer may invoke the guarantee against hidden defects affecting the Document file to the point of rendering it unfit for its intended use.
3. The above guarantees apply independently of the commercial guarantee provided for in Article 9.

Article 8 — Licence, intellectual property and condition precedent

1. Split licence & copyright. (a) Document text: © John Linotte, author. (b) Forensic trace: released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) licence, reusable and republishable with attribution.
2. Condition precedent to the grant of the Licence. The grant of the licence of use over the Document text is expressly subject to the actual and full payment of the agreed price. Any use of the Text in the absence of full payment constitutes copyright infringement within the meaning of the Code of Economic Law.
3. Internal-use licence (Dossier). Subject to full payment, the Seller grants the Buyer a non-exclusive, non-assignable and non-transferable internal-use licence, without limit of duration: reading, consultation, archiving, printing and circulation within the Buyer's organisation, for the purposes of the decision the Dossier informs.
4. Published piece. Subject to full payment, the Buyer receives the right to publish the text under their name, on the agreed media, without limit of duration. The author retains the right to mention the commission among their references, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
5. White label. Where a consultancy, an integrator or an engineering firm orders a Dossier on mandate for its own client, white-label delivery is agreed in writing: the Dossier is delivered without the atelier name, under the name of the commissioning party, with the same Forensic trace and the same signature. The Transfer note records it. The commissioning party remains responsible for the use its client makes of the Dossier.
6. What the Buyer may not do (penalty clause). It is prohibited to republish, redistribute, put online, resell, rent, sublicense or integrate into a commercial product the Text of a Dossier, or to communicate it to third parties outside the Buyer's organisation, except under an agreed white-label delivery (Article 8.5). Any unauthorised reuse or leak of the Text makes the Buyer liable for a fixed indemnity equal to 5 times the price of the Document concerned, without prejudice to the right to demand the immediate cessation of the infringement.
7. Signature and integrity. Each piece of the Forensic trace is signed (Ed25519) and timestamped (RFC 3161). The Buyer shall not alter, falsify or remove these signatures, copyright notices or CC-BY attributions.

Article 9 — Commercial quality guarantee (risk reversal)

1. In addition to the legal guarantees, the Seller grants Professionals a commercial guarantee known as the « quality » guarantee covering three dimensions: accuracy, depth, actionability of the Document.
2. If the Buyer demonstrates, within 30 days of delivery, that the Document does not hold on one of these three dimensions, they may obtain, on reasoned request to contact@harnais.be, the cancellation of the Transfer note or its full refund.
3. Condition of refund. The grant of a refund under this commercial guarantee is subject to the Buyer's written undertaking to destroy all digital and physical copies of the Document text in their possession and to cease any internal use of its conclusions. The licence of use is terminated automatically on the date of the refund.
4. This guarantee does not cover: mere disagreements of opinion or interpretation on the verdict, the subsequent evolution of sources or the market, use of the Document for purposes not intended, nor the disappearance or modification after delivery of an external source, provided the corresponding excerpt and trace are included in the self-contained Document (Article 2).

Article 10 — Liability

1. The Document is a work of analysis and investigation of informative and methodological value; it does not constitute personalised legal, tax, financial or technical advice adapted to the Buyer's particular situation. The Buyer remains solely responsible for operational or legal decisions taken on the basis of the Document.
2. The Document is not intended to inform decisions critical to safety, health or physical integrity. The Seller declines any liability for use of the Document for such purposes.
3. The Countersignature attests that the sources of a text say what they are made to say; it does not attest that the text is right.
4. The Seller cannot be held liable for indirect damages, loss of turnover, profit, data or clientele resulting from use of the Document.
5. The Seller's overall liability is capped at the amount actually paid by the Buyer for the Document concerned, except in cases of fraud, gross negligence, bodily injury or death, and except for non-derogable Consumer rights.

Article 11 — Personal data (GDPR)

1. The data collected (buyer's identity, company name, address, email, company number) is used exclusively for the performance of the contract, the issuing of accounting documents (Transfer note), delivery and after-sales service. The legal basis is contractual performance and the legal obligation to retain accounting documents.
2. Billing data is processed directly by the Seller for the drawing-up of accounting documents and the keeping of their statutory records. It is neither sold nor transferred to third parties for commercial purposes.
3. The data is retained for the period prescribed by Belgian accounting and tax obligations (7 years), then deleted.
4. The Buyer has the rights of access, rectification, erasure, objection, restriction and portability, exercisable with contact@harnais.be, and the right to lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (apd-gba.be).
5. The detailed privacy policy is available at https://harnais.be/vie-privee/en/.

Article 12 — Complaints, mediation and applicable law

1. Any complaint is addressed to contact@harnais.be. The Seller endeavours to reply within 15 working days.
2. B2C — mediation. Without prejudice to court action, the Belgian Consumer may, for any unresolved consumer dispute, use the mediation service of the Control and Mediation Directorate-General of the FPS Economy (economie.fgov.be) or the competent Ombudsman. The European Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform is accessible at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/.
3. Applicable law. These Terms are governed by Belgian law, to the exclusion of conflict-of-laws rules. For Consumers, the mandatory provisions of their country of residence remain applicable.
4. Jurisdiction. The following courts have sole jurisdiction: (a) for the Consumer, the courts of their domicile, the court of the district of Brussels having jurisdiction by default; (b) for the Professional, the courts of the district of Brussels (French-speaking), to which the Parties grant exclusive jurisdiction.

Article 13 — Force majeure

1. The Seller is not liable for failures due to force majeure or to an event beyond their control affecting the performance or delivery of the contract (failure of computer networks, email outage, breach of network security).
2. Given the self-contained character of the Dossier (Article 2), the disappearance, modification or unavailability after delivery of an external source mentioned in the Dossier does not constitute a case of force majeure giving rise to a refund, provided the corresponding excerpt and trace are included in the Dossier itself.

Article 14 — Revision of Dossiers and amendment of the Terms

1. Each Dossier from the catalogue bears the date on which its content was fixed and the date of its next scheduled revision, both stated on its entry. The Buyer receives the version current at the date of the order; a later revision is a new Document.
2. The applicable Terms are those in force at the date of the order, available on harnais.be. The Seller may amend the Terms at any time; amendments apply to subsequent orders.

Article 15 — Partial invalidity

If any clause of these Terms is declared void or unenforceable, the other clauses retain their full force and effect. The invalid clause is replaced by a provision whose economic purpose is closest to it.

Article 16 — Notices and contact

Seller: John Linotte — « Département des Harnais », Brussels, Belgium. Email: contact@harnais.be — Website: https://harnais.be. Payment/regime: transfer of copyright (natural person), Transfer note serving as invoice, SEPA bank transfer. VAT regime: exempt (Article 44 § 3, 3° of the Belgian VAT Code). Language of the contract: French. An English version is provided for information; in case of divergence, the French version prevails.