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Portuguese to English translations [PRO] Bus/Financial - Law: Contract(s)
Portuguese term or phrase:Contrato de Serviços de Suporte (Bolsão de Horas)
O objetivo desta proposta é disponibilizar ao CLIENTE um saldo de horas de serviços. Este saldo de horas está detalhado na seção “Escopo” deste documento, especificando as quantidades de horas, tipos de profissionais e tipos de serviço passíveis de utilização durante a vigência deste contrato.
Explanation: Support hours that can be purchased in bulk and can be redeemed for regular preventative maintenance, helpdesk and remote support, priority support escalation and project services.
you have brilliantly defined the terms. Nevertheless, you can always use "contract" and you'll never be wrong, whereas if you use "agreement" in certain situations it would be a mistake.
I agree Mario. I however like to use contract when it is really complete, with specifications, price, all the works, and it refers to services or delivery of goods, in general. However, a promise to buy something is an Agreement. Accords relating to things that could happen and how each party will act is an agreement. I think, in simple terms, that an Agreement leads to a contract, it can be a contract or not. A contract is a contract, and a separate document on keeping confidentiality as regards that contract is an agreement. It all depends really, depends on the situation.
Remember: Contract also tends to be used to mean a binding or "formal agreement".
And I am still consulting the client as to what it really means, this "Bolsão", I will let you all know what they say. Thanks everyone for the help!
I cannot agree with that difference you posted. I've translated numberless documents called "Agreements" which are very formal and binding and involve large amounts of money. Plus, all labor agreements, service agreements and lease agreements, for example, are agreements, rarely ever contracts.
so I didn't see the discussion posts. 1) Verlow: I think it's indeed "banco de horas", so this is a sort of "guarda-chuva" contract. I forgot to translate that part, but I guess it would be a "bank of hours" or "hour bank", because compensatory has to do with overtime, not applicable here. 2) Martin, I'm used to contracts in US, Canada and Australia companies, and service instruments are always agreements. I only see contracts when it refers to large purchases or contractor contracts. Not necessarily a rule.
However, the document I am translating is an Agreement, since it does not even include prices, just the terms of how things should go when using the services and deducting from the hours already paid for.
In common law legal systems, a contract (or informally known as an agreement in some jurisdictions) is an agreement having a lawful object entered into voluntarily by two or more parties, each of whom intends to create one or more legal obligations between them. The elements of a contract are "offer" and "acceptance" by "competent persons" having legal capacity who exchange "consideration" to create "mutuality of obligation."
Contract also tends to be used to mean a binding or formal agreement. Law students study the law of contract, rather than the law of agreements.
Thus: The essential differences between a contract and an agreement are minor. In essence, a contract’s outline is more formal and more rigidly presented than the terms outlined in an agreement.
An agreement usually lacks one or more of the essential elements that are required to be present in order to form a valid contract that will be considered legally enforceable by a court of law.
I see Mario's comment that it should be "agreement" and not "contract". Not having experience of the American legal environment, I have researched this on the Internet in the past. It seems that "agreement" is something a bit less than "contract", often complementary to an existing contract or lacking some of the elements of a contract, and so I tend to use "contract" in translations into English to cover all options. What would you say about the use of these terms?
Explanation: Support hours that can be purchased in bulk and can be redeemed for regular preventative maintenance, helpdesk and remote support, priority support escalation and project services.
MBins Australia Native speaker of: English, Portuguese PRO pts in category: 4
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peer agreement (net): +1
