What is the purpose of the Cooperation Agreement?

The main purpose of the Cooperation Agreement is to increase transparency relating to the terms and conditions that apply to our user groups, to make self-service contract conclusion between customer and consultancy simpler and more efficient, and to make sure that it is easy and convenient to hire consultants, or to take on assignments, across geographical markets.

Folq has recently expanded to Sweden, and our ambition is to expand to several more geographical markets in the future. The Cooperation Agreement is thus written in English.

The Cooperation Agreement collects the following in one agreement which is the same across customers, consultancies and independent consultants:

Terms of use of the Marketplace
General terms for assignments
Practical guidelines and duties while in an assignment (for example related to invoicing), and
Folq’s Standard Data Processing Agreement

The Cooperation Agreement shall be signed once; when a customer, consultant or a consultancy gains access to the marketplace. Our promise is to be transparent at all stages - that is why we would like all user groups to be familiar with all terms up front.

Assignment agreements will hopefully be entered into several times, and with our agreement structure we will simplify this process so that concluded Assignment Agreements become an annex to the Cooperation Agreement. Assignment Agreements will thus be shorter and quicker to review. This makes the process of entering into an Assignment Agreement even more autonomous and automated. It also underpins our ambition to be transparent and ensure efficient and self-serviced matchmaking between customers and consultants.

The Cooperation Agreement has been translated into English to make sure that customers and consultants from different nationalities have the same opportunity to understand the contents of the agreement.
Changes have been made to ensure that the agreement works across Norway, Sweden and future markets, i.e. in currency and what district courts shall apply in case of any legal disputes.
We have implemented a right for Folq AS to transfer the Cooperation Agreement to its subsidiaries so that local Folq entities can offer their services and support to customers and consultancies in their local markets. This transfer will occur automatically for users who are located in markets where Folq has a subsidiary; see section 19.
Section 21 about Severability and survival has been added.
Section 22 about future changes to the Cooperation Agreement has been added.
Changed formulations to make it clearer that it is possible to enter into Assignment Agreements across geographical markets.
Clarified that Assignment Agreements are to be annexes to the Cooperation Agreement
The mutual notice period for termination of Assignment Agreements has been removed from the Cooperation Agreement, and moved to the Assignment Agreement. By default, it is set up that only the customer has the right of termination of an Assignment Agreement with a 30 days notice (as in the Norwegian official standard contract, SSA-B). Mutual right of termination can of course be agreed in each Assignment Agreement.
Added “with Consultancy Company’s consent" in section 11.7 “Failure to Pay” where it is stated that Folq has the right to terminate the contract if the customer does not pay.
Clarified the purpose of, and formulations in, the section about the consultancy company’s duty of loyalty (new numbering; section 14.1):
- Added a sentence that describes the purpose of the consultancy company's duty of loyalty.
- Limited Folq's exclusivity to the customer after assignments acquired via the marketplace from 10 months to 6 months, and added "unless Folq has agreed otherwise" in the same section to open up for exemptions.
- Clarified wording so that it becomes clear that the consultancy company is not prohibited from taking on assignments from customers who are in Folq's portfolio solely on the basis that the customer exists in Folq's portfolio.
- Changed wording so that it is more clearly stated that consultants can take on assignments via other third parties who have published the same assignment as Folq.
- Changed the wording about what happens upon termination of the Cooperation Agreement - termination of the cooperation agreement means that the consultancy company will lose access to the marketplace.
- Corresponding changes have been made in section 13.1 about the customer's duty of loyalty so that it reflects the consultancy company's duty of loyalty

Questions and answers

Below are some examples of what the section about the duty of loyalty entails. If you are in doubt, you can always contact us.

The intention of the duty of loyalty to prevent abuse of the marketplace. Folq has no desire or aim to seize consultants' existing customer relationships, and we base our relationship with both customers and consultants on trust. That being said, off-platforming is a well-known issue to most marketplace business models and we see the need of having a mechanism in place that prevents off-platforming and other abuse of the platform.

As long as the customer has not made their need for competence known through the marketplace, you have the option to take on an assignment directly with a customer. For example, if you have an existing relation to a customer who is also in Folq’s customer base and that customer offers you an assignment directly without having made it known via the marketplace, you can take on this assignment directly, without involving Folq.

If you have been contacted by a customer that you have previously acquired one or more assignments for via Folq, you must involve Folq in the assignment if less than 6 months have passed since the latest assignment ended. If more than 6 months has passed since the last assignment ended, you can take on the new assignment directly as long as the customer contacted you directly and has not made their need for competence known via Folq’s marketplace.

If you determine that an assignment inquiry from a customer comes directly to you, and the inquiry is not a consequence of your previous assignment for them through Folq, please contact us to explain the situation. We will then assess the circumstances and collaboratively determine the appropriate course of action. Folq aims to be pragmatic in these cases, and we largely rely on trust between our consultants and customers.

To the Cooperation Agreement

What is the purpose of the Cooperation Agreement?

Changes to the Cooperation Agreement since the first version

Questions and answers

What is the purpose of section 14.1 “The Consultancy Company’s Duty of Loyalty”?

Can I take on assignments directly with customers who are in Folq’s customer portfolio?

Am I obliged to take an assignment via Folq, even if the assignment is also available through other intermediaries?

Can I take on publicly published assignments from customers in the public sector directly?

If I get to know about an assignment via Folq’s marketplace, and I have an existing relationship with the customer, can I take on that assignment without involving Folq?

Do I have to involve Folq in new assignments for customers that I have previously been in assignments with via Folq?