General Terms and Conditions

This English version is provided for convenience. Only the German version is legally binding.

§ 1 Scope and provider

These General Terms and Conditions (Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen, AGB) apply to all contracts between Himmelfreund DP GmbH, Wilhelmstraße 32, 51379 Leverkusen, registered in the commercial register (Handelsregister) of the Local Court (Amtsgericht) Cologne under HRB 108115, represented by its managing director (Geschäftsführer) M. A. Di Prato, VAT ID DE359534246 (hereinafter “Himmelfreund”), and its customers (hereinafter “Customer”).
Contact: phone +49 (0)214 76073983, e-mail info@himmelfreund.de, web himmelfreund.de, himmelfreund.com and himmelfreund.net.
These terms and conditions apply to all services provided by Himmelfreund, in particular web hosting (including WordPress, Joomla and Shopware hosting as well as lifetime web hosting), domains and domain portfolio management, virtual and dedicated servers, server housing/colocation, software development and software as a service, AI agents and AI-based systems, and procurement management.
For individual services, the special provisions in §§ 3 to 6 of these terms and conditions, the relevant service description and price list and, where applicable, an individual offer apply in addition. In the event of conflicts, the following order of precedence applies: individual agreement, service description, special provisions, general provisions of these terms and conditions.
Customers may be consumers (Verbraucher) within the meaning of § 13 of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB) or businesses (Unternehmer) within the meaning of § 14 BGB. Provisions that expressly apply only to businesses are marked as such.
Deviating, conflicting or supplementary terms and conditions of the Customer do not become part of the contract unless Himmelfreund expressly agrees to their validity in text form (Textform, e.g. e-mail).

§ 2 Conclusion of contract and subject matter of services

The presentation of products on the website is not a legally binding offer but an invitation to place an order.
By submitting the order in the ordering process or in the customer area, the Customer makes a binding offer. The contract is concluded when Himmelfreund confirms the order in text form or provides the service (e.g. activation of the hosting package, placing the domain registration order). An automatic confirmation of receipt does not yet constitute acceptance.
Himmelfreund may make the activation of services and the ordering of domains dependent on receipt of the first payment or of a valid SEPA direct debit mandate. Himmelfreund may reject orders, in particular if the Customer’s details are incorrect or if misuse is suspected.
For individual services (software development, AI projects, procurement, colocation), the contract is concluded by acceptance of a written offer from Himmelfreund or by a separately signed contract.
The scope of services is determined by the service description or offer valid at the time of the order. Services beyond this (e.g. data migration, setup, consulting, reactivation of a cancelled or suspended order, transfer of the contract to a new holder) are charged separately according to the price list in force at the time or on a time-and-materials basis, unless otherwise agreed.
If Himmelfreund provides services free of charge (e.g. trial accounts, free additional features), there is no legal entitlement to them. Himmelfreund may discontinue such services with reasonable notice or offer them only against payment in future.
Special offers for pupils, students and nonprofit organizations require suitable proof (e.g. school or student certificate, tax exemption notice (Freistellungsbescheid)). Himmelfreund may request the proof again every year. If the eligibility ceases or the proof is not provided within 14 days, the regular plan applies from the next billing period.
Himmelfreund may use third parties to provide its services, in particular data center operators, domain registrars and registries (Vergabestellen) as well as providers of AI models. Himmelfreund remains responsible to the Customer for the service unless otherwise provided in these terms and conditions.
Changes to services: Himmelfreund may change services insofar as this is necessary for a valid reason that was not foreseeable when the contract was concluded, in particular to adapt to the state of the art and security, to changed legal requirements or to the end of support by manufacturers (e.g. outdated PHP or operating system versions). The balance between service and consideration must not shift to the Customer’s disadvantage. Individual features, applications or scripts may be added, replaced or switched off; this does not result in any additional costs for the Customer.
If a change under para. 9 impairs access to a digital product or its usability more than only insignificantly, Himmelfreund informs the Customer in text form in good time beforehand about the content and timing of the change. In this case, consumers may terminate the contract free of charge within 30 days of receiving the information, at the earliest from the time of the change (§ 327r BGB). This does not apply if the unchanged product remains usable without additional costs.
Partners and resellers: If the Customer offers Himmelfreund’s services to its own customers within the partner program or as an agency, it remains Himmelfreund’s contractual partner and is responsible for its end customers’ compliance with these terms and conditions. It passes on the terms relevant to its end customers, in particular the registration terms of the registries (§ 4), to them in a binding manner.

§ 3 Web hosting, servers and colocation

Himmelfreund provides the Customer with storage space, computing power and network connectivity to the agreed extent. The servers are located in data centers in [placeholder: location/country].
Availability: Himmelfreund guarantees an availability of the servers and of the data paths up to the transfer point to the internet of [placeholder: 99.5]% on an annual average. Not included are maintenance work announced at least [placeholder: 48 hours] in advance, carried out where possible between midnight and 6 a.m. and not exceeding a total of [placeholder: 0.5]% of the hours of a year, as well as outages due to force majeure or due to disruptions outside Himmelfreund’s sphere of influence, and outages for which the Customer is responsible. Attacks by third parties (e.g. DDoS) are only excluded insofar as Himmelfreund has taken protective measures in line with the state of the art. Emergency maintenance that cannot be postponed, for example to close acute security vulnerabilities, is permitted even without notice; Himmelfreund informs the Customer about it without undue delay.
Resources: Himmelfreund uses terms such as “unlimited” or “flat rate” only for service features without a fixed technical upper limit. They apply to use as website, e-mail or application hosting to the customary extent, not to use as a data archive, backup or download storage. If a Customer’s use significantly impairs the stability of the systems or other customers, Himmelfreund points this out to the Customer and offers a suitable plan. If the impairment continues after a reasonable period has expired, Himmelfreund may limit the Customer’s resources to a level compatible with operation; in this case the Customer may terminate the contract without notice.
Shared hosting: The Customer has no entitlement to a specific IP address or server hardware. Himmelfreund may move customer data to other, equivalent systems.
Virtual and dedicated servers: The Customer receives administrator rights and is solely responsible for the operating system, software, updates, security configuration and data backup, unless a managed plan has been agreed. Himmelfreund owes the provision of the hardware or the virtual environment and the network connectivity.
Server housing/colocation (businesses only): Himmelfreund provides rack space, power and network connectivity to the agreed extent. The hardware brought in remains the property of the Customer; the Customer insures it at its own expense. Access to the data center is only possible after registration and in accordance with the rules of the data center operator. For claims due under the colocation contract, Himmelfreund has a right of retention (Zurückbehaltungsrecht) over the hardware brought in, to the extent permitted by law.
Data backup: Himmelfreund only creates backups insofar as this is promised in the service description; these serve primarily to restore the systems. Irrespective of this, the Customer is obliged to back up its data regularly, in particular before every significant change, itself and outside Himmelfreund’s systems.
Lifetime web hosting: With the “Lifetime” plan, the Customer pays a one-time fee. Himmelfreund undertakes to provide the hosting package for 30 years from conclusion of the contract (minimum provision period) and waives ordinary termination (ordentliche Kündigung) for this period; § 544 BGB remains unaffected. After that, the contract continues without further fees until either party terminates it with [placeholder: six] months’ notice. The Customer may terminate at any time with one month’s notice; if the Customer terminates within the first [placeholder: 24] months, Himmelfreund refunds the portion of the one-time fee that is mathematically attributable to the remaining time of these [placeholder: 24] months. Domains are only included if this is expressly stated and are otherwise charged separately every year. If Himmelfreund discontinues the plan before the end of the minimum provision period, Himmelfreund offers an at least equivalent plan at no extra cost or refunds the portion of the one-time fee attributable to the remaining minimum provision period. The right of both parties to terminate for good cause (aus wichtigem Grund) remains unaffected.
Environmental claims: Himmelfreund only makes environmental claims about its services insofar as they are substantiated, for example regarding the purchase of electricity from renewable sources in the data center with guarantees of origin. Himmelfreund does not use claims such as “climate-neutral” or “CO2-neutral” that are based on the offsetting of emissions. The evidence is available at [placeholder: link].
IP addresses: Himmelfreund may change IP addresses assigned to the Customer if this is necessary for technical or legal reasons and announces this in good time for fixed IP addresses. The Customer cooperates, as far as reasonable, in necessary changes (e.g. adjusting DNS records or access credentials).
Faults: The Customer reports faults without undue delay via the support in the customer area. Himmelfreund remedies faults within its area of responsibility without undue delay within the scope of its technical and operational capabilities. A right to reduce the fee (Minderung) exists for the period from receipt of the fault report, insofar as the service is significantly impaired.
Service level agreement: For servers and colocation, the Customer may separately book a service level agreement with fixed response and resolution times and credits if these are not met. Without a booked SLA, only para. 2 applies.
Attacks: If a Customer system becomes the source of an attack (e.g. DDoS, botnet) or is repeatedly the target of such attacks, so that other customers or the infrastructure are endangered, Himmelfreund may disconnect the system from the network. If a repetition is to be expected and cannot be averted by Himmelfreund with reasonable effort, Himmelfreund may terminate the contract for good cause after a formal warning (Abmahnung).
It is prohibited to make servers available in whole or in part to anonymous third parties or to operate anonymization services (e.g. open proxies, Tor exit nodes).
Software and licenses: For programs, scripts, themes, templates and images that Himmelfreund provides as part of a plan, the Customer receives a simple (non-exclusive), non-transferable right of use for the term of the contract; copies must be deleted after the contract ends. Open source software is governed exclusively by its own license terms, and software from manufacturers (e.g. Microsoft Windows Server) by their license terms, which the Customer accepts with the order. If the Customer sets up licenses itself or changes license-relevant parameters (e.g. number of cores or users), it is responsible for correct licensing.

§ 4 Domains and domain portfolio management

In the registration, renewal and management of domains, Himmelfreund acts merely as an intermediary between the Customer and the relevant registry or registrar; the contract for the domain itself is concluded between the Customer and the registry. In addition, the registration terms and policies of the relevant registry apply (e.g. DENIC eG for .de, EURid for .eu, nic.at for .at, ICANN policies for generic extensions), to which Himmelfreund links in the ordering process and which the Customer accepts with the order.
Himmelfreund only owes the proper application for the domain with the registry, not its allocation. Whether a domain can be registered is only certain once the registry has confirmed it.
The Customer warrants that the requested domain does not infringe any third-party rights (in particular trademark, name and competition rights) and does not violate applicable law. The Customer indemnifies (freistellen) Himmelfreund against third-party claims relating to the domain insofar as the Customer is responsible for the infringement; § 7 para. 4 applies accordingly.
The Customer is obliged to provide true and complete registrant data and to update it without undue delay whenever it changes.
Domain contracts initially run for twelve months. For businesses, they are renewed for a further twelve months each time unless terminated with [placeholder: one month’s] notice before expiry. For consumers, after the first twelve months they are extended for an indefinite period and may then be terminated at any time with one month’s notice; Himmelfreund refunds fees paid in advance for the period after the end of the contract on a pro rata basis, less fees already irrevocably paid to the registry. Para. 9 applies to transfers.
If the Customer does not issue a transfer order upon termination, Himmelfreund is entitled, after the end of the contract and after expiry of a period of at least [placeholder: 14] days of which Himmelfreund notifies the Customer in advance in text form, to release the domain to the registry or have it deleted. Himmelfreund only releases an auth code to the registrant or to a person authorized by the registrant.
If a registry increases its prices, Himmelfreund may pass on the increase to the Customer in the same amount for the next renewal period; Himmelfreund passes on price reductions in the same way. The Customer is informed in text form at least [placeholder: six weeks] in advance and may terminate without notice with effect from the date the change takes effect.
Domain portfolio management for customers with more than 50 domains (monitoring of terms, renewals, registrant data and DNS, reports) is agreed separately; scope and fees are set out in the relevant offer.
Himmelfreund only places the order for registration or renewal of a domain after receipt of the fee owed for it. As long as claims due under the contractual relationship remain unpaid, Himmelfreund may assert a right of retention over the domains concerned (e.g. refuse the transfer or the release of the auth code).
Himmelfreund is not obliged to check, before placing the order, whether a domain is available or complies with the registry’s terms. After registration, the Customer checks without undue delay whether the domain is correctly registered in its name and reachable, and reports errors immediately.
Registrant data is transmitted to the registry and, where applicable, to registrars for registration. Depending on the extension and policies, contact data may be published via lookup services such as WHOIS or RDAP, in particular if the domain holder is a legal entity. In this case, the Customer does not provide personal data of individual employees for the contact details, but role-based addresses.
In disputes over generic domains (e.g. .com, .net, .org) concerning infringement of trademark or name rights, the Customer submits to ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). A proven significant violation is good cause for termination.
For a transfer to Himmelfreund, the Customer provides the valid auth code and, if the Customer is not the registrant itself, the consent of the domain holder. Himmelfreund gives no guarantee for the duration and success of a transfer that depends on the previous provider or the registry.
Premium domains (domains that are already registered or offered by the registry at special prices) must be paid for in advance. If a premium domain cannot be obtained, Himmelfreund may withdraw from the contract and refunds amounts already paid. Otherwise, the acquisition and registration of a premium domain are final; statutory rights of withdrawal of consumers remain unaffected.
If Himmelfreund returns a domain to the registry after the end of the contract (para. 6), depending on the registry, the holder may remain under a separate payment obligation towards the registry (e.g. in the case of direct administration by DENIC (DENIC-Direktverwaltung)).

§ 5 Software development, SaaS and AI systems

Custom development: Scope, deadlines and fees are set out in the offer or in the specification (Pflichtenheft). The offer determines whether Himmelfreund owes a specific result (contract for work, Werkvertrag) or only an activity on a time-and-materials basis (contract for services, Dienstvertrag). If no such determination is made and no specific work result is described, the service is deemed to be a service on a time-and-materials basis.
Cooperation: The Customer provides all necessary information, content, access and test data in good time and names a contact person authorized to make decisions. Delays caused by lack of cooperation extend agreed deadlines by the duration of the delay plus a reasonable start-up period; proven additional effort is charged on a time-and-materials basis.
Change requests after the order has been placed are offered separately and only implemented after the Customer’s consent in text form.
Acceptance (Abnahme) (for work services): Himmelfreund notifies completion. The Customer examines the work within [placeholder: 14] days and declares acceptance or gives notice of defects in text form. Acceptance cannot be refused because of insignificant defects. The work is deemed accepted if the Customer does not refuse acceptance within this period, stating at least one defect (§ 640 para. 2 BGB); for consumers only if Himmelfreund has informed them of this consequence in text form together with the notice of completion. For businesses, the work is also deemed accepted if the Customer puts it into productive use without giving notice of defects.
Rights of use: Upon full payment, the Customer receives a simple (non-exclusive) right of use, unlimited in time and territory, for its own purposes in work results created individually for it [placeholder: alternatively: an exclusive right of use, if agreed]. Until then, use is permitted on a revocable basis. Pre-existing components, frameworks and tools of Himmelfreund (e.g. XINTEGRO) as well as open source components remain unaffected; open source components are governed by their license terms, to which Himmelfreund draws attention. Source code is only handed over if this has been agreed. Insofar as work results are generated wholly or partly with AI tools and therefore do not enjoy copyright protection, Himmelfreund transfers the actual power of disposal over them to the same extent.
SaaS products: For software that Himmelfreund provides as a service (e.g. XINTEGRO, XINTEGRO CHARITY), the Customer receives, for the term of the contract, a simple, non-transferable right to use the software via the internet as intended. The Customer’s data remains the Customer’s data; § 9 paras. 6 and 8 apply.
AI agents and AI-based systems: These work with statistical models, some of them from third-party providers. Outputs may be incomplete, incorrect or not reproducible. Himmelfreund owes the agreed technical function of the system, not the factual accuracy of individual outputs. The Customer checks results before using them, in particular for legal, medical, financial or personal decisions.
Transparency under the AI Act: Himmelfreund designs AI systems that interact directly with people (e.g. chatbots, telephone assistants) in such a way that the persons concerned recognize that they are communicating with an AI, and marks synthetic content generated by such systems in a machine-readable format, insofar as Art. 50 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 requires this. The Customer may not remove or obscure these notices and markings. If the Customer uses AI systems as a deployer, it is itself responsible for the obligations incumbent on it, in particular for disclosing deepfakes and AI-generated texts published to inform the public and for sufficient AI literacy of its staff (Art. 4 of the Regulation). High-risk applications within the meaning of the Regulation are only permitted by separate agreement.
The Customer is responsible for ensuring that its inputs (prompts, documents, data) do not infringe any third-party rights and that it is entitled to process the personal data contained therein.
If Customer data is transmitted to providers of AI models, Himmelfreund names these providers and the processing locations in the service description or in the data processing agreement. Customer data is not used to train Himmelfreund’s own or third-party models unless the Customer expressly consents.

§ 6 Procurement management (businesses only)

As part of procurement management, Himmelfreund supports businesses in selecting, obtaining quotes for, ordering and coordinating hardware, software, licenses and IT services.
Depending on the agreement, Himmelfreund acts either in the name and for the account of the Customer (brokerage) or in its own name as seller (resale). The respective variant is specified in the offer.
In the case of brokerage, the contract is concluded directly between the Customer and the supplier; warranty and delivery obligations are governed by the supplier’s terms. Himmelfreund is only liable for careful selection and brokerage.
In the case of resale, the goods remain the property of Himmelfreund until paid in full (retention of title, Eigentumsvorbehalt). The limitation period for claims for defects in new items is one year from delivery; this does not apply in the cases of § 10 para. 3 or to recourse claims under §§ 445a, 478 BGB. If the Customer is a merchant (Kaufmann), the duties to inspect and give notice of defects under § 377 of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch, HGB) apply.
Delivery dates are only binding if they are expressly confirmed as binding. Himmelfreund is not responsible for delivery delays caused by suppliers or manufacturers if they occur despite careful selection.
Software licenses are governed by the license terms of the respective manufacturer, which the Customer takes note of before ordering.

§ 7 Customer obligations, prohibited content and suspension

The Customer keeps its access credentials secret, uses secure passwords and informs Himmelfreund without undue delay if third parties may have gained knowledge of them. The Customer is liable for actions carried out under its access credentials insofar as it is responsible for this.
The Customer keeps software it has installed (e.g. WordPress, Joomla, Shopware, plugins, themes) up to date and closes known security vulnerabilities.
The Customer is solely responsible for the content of its websites, e-mails and stored data, including the obligation to provide a legal notice (Impressumspflicht) and a privacy policy. The following are prohibited in particular:
1. unlawful content, in particular content that is criminal, harmful to minors, incites hatred (volksverhetzend), pornographic or glorifies violence;
2. content that infringes copyrights, trademarks, personality rights or other rights of third parties;
3. sending spam or unsolicited advertising, phishing, distributing malware;
4. attacks on other systems, port scans, botnets, crypto mining without agreement, and any use that endangers the stability of the systems.
The Customer indemnifies Himmelfreund against all third-party claims based on an infringement for which the Customer is responsible, including reasonable costs of legal defense.
Suspension: Himmelfreund is entitled to temporarily block content or services in whole or in part if there is sufficient suspicion of a violation of para. 3, if there is an acute danger to the security of the systems or of third parties, or if there is an order from a public authority or court. Where possible, the suspension is limited to the affected part. Himmelfreund informs the Customer without undue delay, giving a statement of reasons under Art. 17 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act, DSA), and lifts the suspension as soon as the reason no longer applies. The Customer may lodge a complaint against the measure via the support; Himmelfreund examines it without undue delay and communicates the result. Statutory remedies remain unaffected.
In the event of payment default (Zahlungsverzug), Himmelfreund is entitled, after a reminder threatening suspension and after expiry of a period of at least two weeks, to suspend the services until the amount has been paid; the obligation to pay remains in place. For consumers, this only applies if the arrears amount to at least €[placeholder: 100].
Himmelfreund accepts reports of illegal content electronically via [placeholder: abuse@himmelfreund.de or a reporting form at link] and processes them in a timely, diligent and objective manner (notice and action mechanism under Art. 16 DSA). The single point of contact for authorities and users under Arts. 11 and 12 DSA is [placeholder: e-mail address]; communication is possible in German and English. Decisions on measures are taken by Himmelfreund staff; Himmelfreund does not use fully automated decisions for this [placeholder: adjust if filters are used].
The Customer keeps its customer and billing data up to date and provides as contact address an e-mail address that is not operated via a Himmelfreund package; only in this way can the Customer also be reached in the event of a suspension or fault. Himmelfreund may send declarations concerning the contractual relationship to this address.
Initial passwords received by the Customer must be changed without undue delay. A separate, secure password must be used for each service. In the event of repeated incorrect entries or a justified suspicion of misuse, Himmelfreund may temporarily block access and informs the Customer accordingly.
Himmelfreund may reject incoming e-mails or mark them as spam on the basis of objective criteria if facts justify the assumption that they contain malware, carry forged sender information or are unsolicited advertising.
If a competent authority orders the removal of terrorist content online under Regulation (EU) 2021/784, Himmelfreund blocks or removes this content within one hour of receipt of the order and informs the Customer in accordance with the Regulation.
If third parties credibly show that content or domains of the Customer infringe their rights, Himmelfreund may block them for the duration of the clarification. The Customer is given the opportunity to comment. The obligation to pay continues during a justified suspension.

§ 8 Prices and payment

The prices stated at the time of the order apply. For consumers, all prices are final prices including statutory VAT; for businesses, prices are exclusive of VAT unless otherwise stated.
Fees that do not depend on usage are payable in advance for the respective billing period (monthly, annually or for several years, depending on the plan). One-time fees (e.g. setup, Lifetime plans) are due upon conclusion of the contract. Usage-based fees (e.g. additional traffic, additional AI credits) and services on a time-and-materials basis are invoiced after the end of the billing period. If the Customer exceeds a usage volume agreed as a flat rate, it owes the fee stated for this in the price list; if it does not use it in full, the fee is not reduced.
Payment is made by [placeholder: SEPA direct debit, credit card, PayPal or bank transfer]. Individual payment methods may be excluded for certain products. For SEPA direct debit, the Customer grants Himmelfreund a mandate that also applies to bank details notified later; Himmelfreund announces each debit at least one bank business day in advance (pre-notification).
Invoices are provided electronically in the customer area or by e-mail; the Customer agrees to this. For businesses, invoices are issued as e-invoices in accordance with the statutory requirements, insofar as these apply. If the Customer requests delivery by post, Himmelfreund may charge a fee of €[placeholder: 2.50] per invoice.
Costs arising from returned direct debits or chargebacks for which the Customer is responsible are borne by the Customer.
In the event of payment default, the statutory default interest applies (§ 288 BGB). For businesses, the lump sum under § 288 para. 5 BGB remains reserved.
Price adjustment: Himmelfreund may adjust the prices of recurring services no more than once per calendar year at its reasonable discretion (billiges Ermessen, § 315 BGB) to reflect the development of the costs that are decisive for pricing. These include in particular costs for data centers, electricity, hardware and network connectivity, software licenses, fees of registries and registrars, usage fees for AI models, personnel and service costs as well as taxes and levies imposed by public authorities.
The adjustment is limited to the extent of the actual change in costs. Rising costs in one area are offset against falling costs in other areas. Himmelfreund passes on cost reductions to the Customer according to the same standards and at the same times as cost increases.
Himmelfreund notifies a price change in text form at least [placeholder: four weeks] before it takes effect. In the event of a price increase, the Customer may terminate the contract in text form without notice with effect from the date the change takes effect; Himmelfreund points this out separately in the notification. This does not apply if the change is based solely on changed taxes or public levies or only benefits the Customer.
For businesses, after the minimum term has expired Himmelfreund may in addition change prices with at least [placeholder: four weeks’] notice, insofar as this is reasonable after weighing the interests of both parties; para. 9 sentences 2 and 3 apply accordingly.
The Customer may only set off (aufrechnen) undisputed claims or claims that have been finally established by a court; claims arising from a withdrawal under § 355 BGB remain unaffected. The Customer only has a right of retention for claims arising from the same contractual relationship.

§ 9 Term, termination and end of contract

The minimum term depends on the chosen plan. If no minimum term is stated, the contract runs for an indefinite period and may be terminated by either party with [placeholder: one month’s] notice to the end of the respective billing period.
Contracts with a minimum term are renewed by the respective billing period after it has expired unless terminated with [placeholder: one month’s] notice to the end of the term. For consumers, the initial term is no more than two years; after it has expired, the contract is extended for an indefinite period and may be terminated at any time with one month’s notice. For dedicated servers and colocation, a notice period of [placeholder: three months] to the end of the term applies to businesses.
For domains, § 4 paras. 5, 6 and 15 apply in addition.
Termination must be in text form (e.g. e-mail) or made via the cancellation button in the customer area or on the website (“Cancel contracts here”, § 312k BGB). Receipt of the termination is decisive.
The right to extraordinary termination for good cause (außerordentliche Kündigung aus wichtigem Grund) remains unaffected. Good cause exists for Himmelfreund in particular if the Customer seriously violates § 7 despite a formal warning, or if the Customer is in default with payment of the fee or a not insignificant part of it for two consecutive billing months, or in default over a period of more than two months with an amount equal to at least two monthly fees. The Customer’s right to terminate for good cause (§§ 314, 543 BGB) remains unaffected.
Handover and deletion of data: The Customer is obliged to back up its data itself before the end of the contract. Himmelfreund keeps the data available for collection for [placeholder: 30] days after the end of the contract and then deletes it irrevocably, unless statutory retention obligations prevent this. Any further support with migration is charged on a time-and-materials basis unless para. 8 provides otherwise.
Fees paid in advance for periods after the end of the contract are refunded on a pro rata basis, unless the termination was made for good cause for which the Customer is responsible.
Switching providers under the EU Data Act: For data processing services within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (in particular virtual servers, cloud storage and SaaS products), the following applies in addition: The Customer may request switching to another provider or to its own infrastructure, as well as the complete deletion of its data, with a notice period of no more than two months. During the subsequent transition period of 30 days, Himmelfreund supports the export of all exportable data and digital assets in a common, machine-readable format and maintains the services and their security. If this is technically not possible, Himmelfreund informs the Customer of this within 14 working days, stating its reasons, and specifies a transition period of no more than seven months. After that, the data remains available for retrieval for at least 30 days. Himmelfreund only charges switching fees to the extent permitted by law, and no longer from 12 January 2027. Trade and business secrets as well as protected software of Himmelfreund and third parties are excluded from the export. Himmelfreund describes the details at [placeholder: link to the Data Act page].

§ 10 Warranty and liability

The statutory rights in respect of defects apply unless otherwise provided below. For consumers, §§ 327 et seq. BGB apply to digital products without restriction; the following paragraphs only apply to them insofar as this is permitted by law. The Customer reports faults and defects without undue delay via the support in the customer area or by e-mail, with as precise a description as possible.
For businesses, no-fault liability for defects already existing at the time the contract was concluded in rental and rental-like services (§ 536a para. 1 alt. 1 BGB) is excluded.
Himmelfreund is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, for fraudulent concealment of a defect, under the Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz) and to the extent of any guarantee assumed.
In the event of a slightly negligent breach of material contractual obligations (cardinal obligations, Kardinalpflichten, i.e. obligations whose fulfillment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose compliance the Customer may regularly rely), liability is limited to the typical contractual damage foreseeable at the time the contract was concluded. For businesses, this damage amounts per incident to no more than the total of the fees that the Customer has paid to Himmelfreund for the affected contract in the [placeholder: 24] months before the damaging event, but at least €[placeholder: 10,000].
Otherwise, liability for slight negligence is excluded.
Himmelfreund is only liable for the loss of data to the extent that would have arisen if the Customer had backed up its data properly and regularly (§ 3 para. 7), i.e. for the effort of restoring it from the backup copies.
Himmelfreund is not liable for the Customer’s content, for the allocation decisions of the registries (§ 4 para. 2), for the factual accuracy of AI outputs (§ 5 para. 7) or for disruptions due to force majeure; para. 3 remains unaffected.
The above limitations of liability also apply in favor of Himmelfreund’s employees, vicarious agents (Erfüllungsgehilfen) and legal representatives.
For businesses, claims for defects become time-barred one year after the statutory start of the limitation period, except in the cases of para. 3.
Himmelfreund is not liable for the functioning of networks and transmission paths of the internet outside its area of responsibility, nor for loss of use caused by third parties outside this area; para. 3 remains unaffected.
The Customer’s right to extraordinary termination (§§ 314, 543 BGB) remains unaffected. Good cause exists in particular if the service is significantly impaired for more than [placeholder: eight] consecutive days and Himmelfreund does not remedy the fault within a reasonable grace period set by the Customer.

§ 11 Data protection, data processing on behalf and confidentiality

Himmelfreund processes the Customer’s personal data for the performance of the contract in accordance with the privacy policy.
Insofar as Himmelfreund processes personal data on behalf of the Customer (e.g. on websites, in e-mail mailboxes, SaaS applications or AI systems), the Customer is the controller within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, DSGVO). For this purpose, the parties conclude a data processing agreement (Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag) under Art. 28 GDPR, which Himmelfreund provides in the customer area.
Himmelfreund implements appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect the data. Sub-processors (e.g. data centers, AI providers) are named in the data processing agreement.
Both parties treat confidential information of the other party, in particular trade secrets, access credentials and source code, as confidential and use it only for the performance of the contract. This obligation continues after the end of the contract.
Himmelfreund may name the Customer as a reference with the Customer’s prior consent.

§ 12 Right of withdrawal for consumers and final provisions

Consumers have a statutory right of withdrawal (Widerrufsrecht). Details are set out in the withdrawal instructions (Widerrufsbelehrung) in the annex, which are also made available to the Customer in the ordering process and with the contract confirmation. The withdrawal can also be declared online in the customer area; Himmelfreund then confirms receipt by e-mail without undue delay.
If the consumer expressly requests that Himmelfreund begin performance before the withdrawal period has expired (e.g. immediate activation of the hosting or registration of a domain), in the event of withdrawal the consumer must pay a reasonable amount for the services provided up to that point under § 357a para. 2 BGB, provided that Himmelfreund has properly informed the consumer about the right of withdrawal. For domains, the registration cannot be reversed once it has been ordered from the registry.
Changes to these terms and conditions: Himmelfreund may change these terms and conditions for existing contracts insofar as this is necessary for a valid reason (e.g. change in the law, case law, new services) and the balance between service and consideration does not shift to the Customer’s disadvantage. Changes are notified in text form at least [placeholder: six weeks] before they take effect. Changes to prices and main services are governed exclusively by § 2 paras. 9 and 10 and § 8 paras. 7 to 10. For businesses, other changes are deemed accepted if they do not object in text form within this period; Himmelfreund points out this consequence separately in the notification. If the business objects, the contract continues under the previous terms; Himmelfreund may then terminate it with the ordinary notice period. For consumers, changes only take effect with their express consent.
Consumer dispute resolution: Himmelfreund is neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board (Verbraucherschlichtungsstelle).
The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). For consumers, this choice of law only applies insofar as it does not deprive them of the protection afforded by mandatory provisions of the law of the state in which they have their habitual residence.
If the Customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law (öffentlich-rechtliches Sondervermögen), or has no general place of jurisdiction in Germany, the exclusive place of jurisdiction (Gerichtsstand) for all disputes arising from the contract is Leverkusen or the court competent for Leverkusen. Himmelfreund may also sue the Customer at the Customer’s general place of jurisdiction.
The contract language is German. Translations of these terms and conditions (e.g. the English version) are for information purposes only; the German version is authoritative.
Should individual provisions of these terms and conditions be invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected. The invalid provision is replaced by the statutory provision.

Last updated: November 2026

Annex: Withdrawal instructions for consumers

Right of withdrawal

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period will expire after fourteen days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.

To exercise the right of withdrawal, you must inform us (Himmelfreund DP GmbH, Wilhelmstraße 32, 51379 Leverkusen, phone +49 (0)214 76073983, e-mail info@himmelfreund.de) of your decision to withdraw from this contract by an unequivocal statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or an e-mail). You may use the attached model withdrawal form, but it is not obligatory. You can also declare your withdrawal online in your customer area at [placeholder: link]; in this case, we will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse to you all payments received from you without undue delay and in any event not later than fourteen days from the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract. We will carry out such reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

If you requested to begin the performance of services during the withdrawal period, you shall pay us an amount which is in proportion to what has been provided until you have communicated to us your withdrawal from this contract, in comparison with the full coverage of the contract.

Early expiry of the right of withdrawal

In the case of a contract for services, the right of withdrawal expires when we have fully performed the service and only began performance after you gave your express consent and at the same time acknowledged that you will lose your right of withdrawal once the contract has been fully performed. This applies in particular to the registration of a domain that has already been ordered from the registry.

End of withdrawal instructions

Model withdrawal form

(Complete and return this form only if you wish to withdraw from the contract.)

To: Himmelfreund DP GmbH, Wilhelmstraße 32, 51379 Leverkusen, e-mail info@himmelfreund.de
I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract for the provision of the following service (*) / the supply of the following digital content (*):
Ordered on (*) / received on (*):
Name of consumer(s):
Address of consumer(s):
Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper):
Date:

(*) Delete as appropriate.