Consultancy and collaboration agreements

A self-employed consultancy agreement or collaboration agreement describes precisely what services you, the self-employed consultant, are to deliver to your customer. The contract will state what has been agreed, and your situation in the event of any unforeseen events. A written consultancy agreement will help protect you against possible misunderstandings and uncertainties.

The consultancy agreement and its contents can vary depending on the services offered in the specific situation. Perhaps it is a more or less permanent freelance collaboration, where you set up a general framework agreement supplemented with agreements on the scope and price of individual services. It could also be a single delivery of shorter or longer duration. In this case there will be just a single collaboration agreement containing all the terms and conditions.

Checklist for your consultancy agreement

You should clarify the points below when you set up a consultancy agreement:

• Name and address of business ordering the service
• Possible contact person
• Detailed description of the work/task and the product to be supplied
• Dates for performance of the task (start/hand-over/delivery date)
• Where is the task to be performed (at your customer’s office or your office)
• Any tools and equipment made available for the task
• Payment for the task - when and how payment is to be made, including any payments on account
• Who owns the intellectual property rights (for example copyright) to what you produce?
• Tax
• VAT
• Costs in connection with the performance of the task to be covered by the business ordering the service, e.g. transport, accommodation, telephone, entertaining, materials and similar.
• Provisions on termination of the contract, if this involves ongoing performance of specific tasks