Special Terms and Conditions for Email Hosting

Scope of Application

These special contract terms supplement the General Terms and Conditions of alkima.

Insofar as no deviating provisions are made below, the General Terms and Conditions of alkima shall apply in their respective current version.

These special contract terms apply exclusively to the provision and use of the email hosting services offered by alkima.

Scope of Services

1. alkima provides the Client with email hosting services, including the agreed mailboxes and associated administration services.

2. The specific scope of services results exclusively from the respective offer or service description.

3. Depending on the tariff booked, the following services in particular may form part of the contract:

   • Email mailboxes
   • Webmail
   • IMAP, POP3 and SMTP
   • Calendar
   • Contacts
   • Cloud storage
   • Office applications
   • Video conferencing
   • User management
   • Setup and administration

4. alkima is entitled to make technical adjustments, updates and changes to the infrastructure or platform used, provided that these serve the security, stability or further development of the services and do not cause the Client any material disadvantages as a result.

Client's Duties of Cooperation

1. The Client is obliged to treat all access credentials as confidential and to protect them from access by unauthorized third parties.

2. The Client must use secure passwords in accordance with the current state of the art and change them regularly.

3. The Client is obliged to adequately protect its end devices against malware and to install security-relevant updates promptly.

4. If the Client manages its own domains or DNS entries itself, it is responsible for their proper configuration.

5. The Client shall provide alkima with all information and access credentials required for setup, migration or operation, completely and in good time.

Permitted Use

1. The email services provided may only be used within the framework of the applicable statutory provisions and the recognized rules of electronic message traffic.

2. In particular, the following are prohibited:

   • Sending spam or unsolicited advertising emails
   • Sending or distributing malware
   • Phishing or identity misuse
   • Operating open mail relays
   • Use for botnets
   • Sending unlawful content
   • Actions that may impair the security, integrity or availability of the systems

3. The Client is responsible for all messages sent and content stored via its user accounts.

Availability and Maintenance

1. alkima endeavours to ensure the highest possible availability of the services.

2. Planned maintenance work, security-relevant updates and technical extensions may temporarily lead to restrictions in availability.

3. Maintenance work is carried out outside usual business hours where possible.

4. Restrictions due to force majeure, disruptions to public telecommunications networks, data centers, internet providers or other third parties do not constitute a defect in the service.

Support

1. Support requests must be addressed exclusively to alkima.

2. The following service hours apply:

   • Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

3. Within service hours, alkima endeavors to respond to support requests as promptly as possible. No specific response time is guaranteed; Section "Dates, deadlines and performance barriers" of the General Terms and Conditions of alkima applies.

4. There is no response time on Sundays and statutory public holidays.

5. Services outside the agreed support scope may be charged separately.

Migration

1. Insofar as contractually agreed, alkima supports the Client in migrating existing email accounts.

2. The scope of the migration results exclusively from the respective offer.

3. The Client shall provide all information and access credentials required for this, completely and in good time.

4. alkima assumes no responsibility for delays or restrictions arising from incomplete, incorrect or invalid access credentials.

Data Backup

1. Operational backups serve exclusively to maintain technical operations.

2. These backups do not constitute a data backup for the Client and do not give rise to any entitlement to the restoration of individual or all data.

3. The Client remains responsible for backing up its own data.

4. Guaranteed data backup, archiving or restoration of emails or other data is not part of the email hosting services, unless such services have been expressly and separately commissioned.

5. Backup and archiving solutions, in particular "365 Total Protection" or comparable additional services, are standalone products and not part of the email hosting services.

Misuse and Suspension

1. alkima is entitled to temporarily suspend individual user accounts or access as a whole, provided that

   • these special terms and conditions are violated,
   • the services are being misused,
   • spam or malware is being sent,
   • the security or stability of the systems is at risk, or
   • statutory or regulatory obligations require this.

2. Where possible, the Client will be informed prior to a suspension.

3. If prior notification is not possible due to the severity of the incident or for security reasons, notification shall be given without delay after the suspension.

Third-Party Services

1. To provide the services, alkima uses technical platforms and infrastructure from external service providers.

2. alkima is entitled to change the technical platforms or service providers used, provided that the agreed scope of services is not materially impaired as a result.

3. There is no entitlement to the use of a specific platform, software or infrastructure.

Fair Use and Resource Limitation

1. The storage and system resources provided are intended exclusively for the contractual use of the email hosting services.

2. Use of the mailboxes or storage space as general file storage, a backup system or an archiving solution is not permitted, unless this is expressly part of the tariff booked.

3. alkima is entitled to take measures to maintain secure and stable operation if individual clients or user accounts impair the availability or performance of the systems through exceptionally high or abusive use.

4. If use in breach of contract or disproportionate use is detected, alkima will inform the Client and grant it a reasonable period to remedy the situation. If no remedy is provided or if there is a significant risk to system operation, alkima is entitled to temporarily restrict or suspend the affected services.

Email Delivery

1. alkima provides the technical infrastructure for sending and receiving emails in accordance with the current state of the art.

2. Due to the technical structure of the internet and the influence of external systems, network operators and receiving mail servers, successful or timely delivery of individual emails cannot be guaranteed.

3. Delivery may in particular be impaired by spam filters, blacklists, incorrect DNS configurations, technical faults or security measures of receiving systems. These circumstances are beyond alkima's area of influence.

4. alkima gives no guarantee that emails sent will be accepted, delivered or read by the recipient.

5. If alkima supports the Client in setting up SPF, DKIM, DMARC or comparable authentication procedures, this serves exclusively to improve deliverability. This does not constitute a guarantee of the successful delivery of individual emails.

Security Measures

1. alkima is entitled to take appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect its own systems as well as the systems of other clients.

2. If there is suspicion that a user account has been compromised, is being used to send malware, is being used for phishing, or otherwise poses a significant risk to the security or stability of the systems, alkima is entitled to temporarily restrict or suspend the affected user accounts or services without prior notice.

3. Insofar as necessary to avert danger, alkima is entitled to reset passwords or temporarily disable the sending of emails.

4. The Client will be informed of any such measures as soon as possible. alkima supports the Client in restoring secure operation.