Service contract between businesses — Dienstvertrag (Germany)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
A contract between two businesses in Germany for ongoing or one-off services — consulting, IT support, marketing, bookkeeping, agency work — where the provider owes careful performance rather than a particular result (a Dienstvertrag under §§ 611 ff. of the German Civil Code, BGB). It covers the scope and what lies outside it, independent performance, term and notice, the fee with a payment deadline and the statutory consequences of late payment, re-performance, confidentiality, a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR, rights in work results and a liability cap. In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Client
- Client's address
- Client's register court and commercial register number (if registered)
- Client's representative
- Contractor
- Contractor's address
- Contractor's register court and commercial register number (if registered)
- Contractor's representative (or “in person”)
- Services
- Outside the scope
- Term from
- End of the contract (leave empty if it is open-ended)
- Notice period
- Remuneration
- Basis of pricing
- Payment term (days)
- Usage rights granted: exclusive or non-exclusive
- Fields of exploitation of the work
- Liability cap
- Court for disputes: at the client's or the contractor's place of business
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Service contract or contract for work: which one fits a German assignment?
- It depends on what is owed. Under a Dienstvertrag the provider owes careful work, such as ongoing consulting or IT support (§ 611 BGB); the client pays for the services rendered, and there is no acceptance. Under a Werkvertrag the provider owes a result, such as a finished website or an expert report (§ 631 BGB); the fee falls due only on acceptance, and the rules on defects apply. What counts is the content of the agreement, not its heading.
- Does a service contract between German businesses have to be in writing?
- No. The BGB sets no form for a Dienstvertrag; it is valid even if agreed orally or by e-mail. This document is printed, signed by both sides and made out in two copies, so that the scope, the fee and the deadlines can be proved. The contract itself requires changes and notices of termination in text form, at least by e-mail, so oral arrangements should be confirmed in text form.
- When is the client under a German service contract late with payment?
- At the latest 30 days after the fee falls due and the invoice is received — between businesses without any reminder (§ 286(3) BGB); a reminder sent after the due date puts the client in default sooner. From then on the client owes default interest of nine percentage points above the base rate and a flat €40 per invoice (§ 288(2) and (5) BGB). The base rate changes on 1 January and 1 July; the Deutsche Bundesbank publishes the current figure.
- How is a German service contract terminated, and what applies if no notice period was agreed?
- With the notice period entered in the contract, in text form. Without an agreement, a service relationship that is not employment follows the periods of § 621 BGB, which depend on how the fee is calculated — with a monthly fee, for example, notice by the 15th for the end of the month. Either party may terminate without notice for good cause, but only within two weeks of learning of the cause (§ 626 BGB).
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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