SOOS Safety Deposit Vaults Renting L.L.C-FZ

Meydan Grandstand, 6th floor, Meydan Road, Nad Al Sheba, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

License No. 2537829.01 | Tel. +971 4 878 2904 | www.gvs-dubai.ae

 

General Terms and Conditions (GTC) of SOOS Safety Deposit Vaults Renting L.L.C-FZ (hereinafter “SOOS Safety Vaults”) for the Storage of Precious Metals (Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium)

UAE Version – Date: 01 October 2026

 

SOOS Safety Vaults, headquartered in Dubai, is an independent precious metals storage company and part of the internationally active GVS Group (Goldvorsorge), a leading provider of international precious metals storage. Storage locations currently include, among others, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Croatia, the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), Singapore, Estonia, Canada, the USA and the Cayman Islands. The services of SOOS Safety Vaults are offered worldwide, typically through branches of the GVS Group. A list of all international branches is available at www.goldvorsorge.at (hereinafter the “GVS Website”).

Your advantages at a glance:

Our storage solutions for precious metals are designed to be customer-friendly. The key advantages for you, such as special protection, transparency and flexibility, are highlighted in these GTC.

1. Formation and Duration of the Agreement

(1) All agreements and other legal transactions between SOOS Safety Vaults and the customer are concluded exclusively by express or implied acceptance by SOOS Safety Vaults. Unless otherwise agreed, the storage agreement is concluded for an indefinite period. The agreement may be concluded either in person at a branch of the GVS Group or by distance communication.

(2) The identity of the customer and, where applicable, of authorised persons shall be verified in accordance with the applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

(3) To ensure clear allocation of the customer as contracting party and entitled party, claims under this storage agreement may only be assigned with the prior consent of SOOS Safety Vaults, unless mandatory law provides otherwise. This ensures that the allocation of the deposited precious metals to the respective claim holder remains unambiguous.

(4) SOOS Safety Vaults provides its services to both consumers and businesses. Where the customer is a consumer, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of the United Arab Emirates shall apply. Mandatory statutory rights of the consumer shall not be excluded or restricted by these GTC.

2. Communications and Agreement Data

(1) Communications, notifications and legally relevant declarations within the business relationship shall be sent to the email address or postal address last provided by the customer. The customer is responsible for ensuring regular access to their email and for keeping their contact details up to date. Written communications shall be deemed received when they have entered the customer’s sphere of control and can reasonably be expected to have been noticed under normal circumstances; a communication by email shall be deemed received no later than the second working day following dispatch, unless there are indications of a delivery disruption. The receipt of electronic declarations shall otherwise be governed by the applicable law.

(2) Where the customer uses the password-protected customer account provided on the GVS Website, communications transmitted to SOOS Safety Vaults via that customer account shall be deemed declarations of intent made by the customer and adequately authenticated, provided that the designated authentication procedures have been properly used. Mandatory statutory form, identification and proof requirements shall remain unaffected. The customer must keep their access credentials confidential. For additional security, the customer may activate two-factor authentication in the customer account, which is expressly recommended. If the customer suspects unauthorised use, they must notify SOOS Safety Vaults immediately.

3. Documented Form and Amendments to the Agreement

(1) All amendments or supplements to the storage agreement, in particular those concerning the stored inventory, powers of attorney, fees, customer data or other contractual arrangements, require a documented declaration. Email, the customer account on the GVS Website and other durable electronic communication forms shall satisfy this requirement, unless the applicable law prescribes a stricter form. Mandatory statutory form requirements as well as requirements for electronic signatures, identification or authentication shall remain unaffected.

(2) Each confirmed amendment shall be documented and traceably updated in the storage agreement. For reasons of discretion, no documents containing customer data shall be issued after deposits or withdrawals. The customer may request an up-to-date storage agreement at any time. An oral or implied amendment is excluded.

4. Duty to Cooperate

(1) SOOS Safety Vaults is subject, within the framework of international business relationships, to the applicable statutory, governmental and regulatory requirements. The customer is obliged, upon request, to provide completely and in a timely manner all documents and declarations necessary for compliance with these provisions.

(2) SOOS Safety Vaults is entitled to suspend or refuse the provision of services until the requested documents have been provided in full and successfully verified. This applies in particular to legally required identity, compliance, sanctions, provenance or other checks, insofar as this is legally permissible or required.

5. Acceptance for Storage

(1) Only standardised, commercially customary investment products made of gold, silver, platinum and palladium in the form of bars and coins shall be accepted for storage, provided they meet the organisational and technical requirements of the storage system of SOOS Safety Vaults. The customer may bring precious metals and commercially customary investment products for storage, regardless of the dealer or provider from whom they were purchased.

(2) Where precious metals are acquired through the GVS Group, they may be deposited directly into the customer’s custody account, provided they were acquired for the same storage location at which the storage takes place. Where precious metals are acquired at a different location, the provisions of Section 9 shall apply to the transport.

(3) Items whose authenticity or conformity with the acceptance criteria cannot be established beyond doubt shall not be accepted for storage. They shall be returned to the customer or made available for collection by arrangement.

6. Custody

(1) SOOS Safety Vaults is, according to its corporate purpose, a pure storage company. It holds and administers the deposited precious metals in the GVS high-security storage system, does not trade in precious metals and holds no own precious metals inventory. The deposited precious metals are held exclusively for the account of the customers and are clearly allocated to the respective customer balances in the storage management system. They are neither pledged nor used as collateral by SOOS Safety Vaults. The customer may at any time request the release of the quantity shown in the storage agreement, subject to Section 8. Ownership and other proprietary rights in the deposited inventory shall be governed by the applicable law.

(2) Coins and bars of the same type shall be held jointly within the framework of collective custody. The customer is entitled to the quantity of the respective item shown in the storage agreement. Upon release, the customer shall receive items of the same type, the same weight and from the same manufacturer. Special years and special mintages shall generally not be given separate consideration. Specific years, mints or special editions shall only be taken into account if this has been expressly agreed and documented accordingly. The inventory shall be recorded item by item and shall be regularly checked and audited in accordance with Section 11.

(3) Individual custody is possible by separate arrangement, shall be clearly marked and stored and administered separately. Individual custody is significantly more complex and is therefore, as a rule, only economically relevant for items of numismatic value or significant individual value.

(4) At certain storage locations, inventory may be held with external storage partners. Such custody shall be carried out in the name of SOOS Safety Vaults for its customers. The storage partners shall not receive any customer data. This shall not affect the rights of the customer under paragraphs 1 and 2.

(5) During the custody period, the customer bears no risk for shortages or damage to the deposited inventory. For shortages and damage, SOOS Safety Vaults shall be liable, either directly or through its insurance in accordance with Section 14. This shall not apply to events of force majeure in accordance with Section 16. Mandatory statutory claims of the customer shall remain unaffected.

(6) There shall be no liability for value-neutral, superficial changes (e.g. milk spots on silver) occurring during the custody period.

7. Powers of Attorney

(1) The customer is entitled to grant a power of attorney to third parties, in writing or in another form recognised by the applicable law, to dispose of the items held under this storage agreement. Unless expressly agreed otherwise, the power of attorney shall in particular include the right to make deposits, withdrawals and to sell the held items to third parties. Such power of attorney shall not authorise the termination, amendment or supplementation of this agreement, nor the granting of sub-powers of attorney.

(2) SOOS Safety Vaults is entitled to refuse or temporarily suspend the recognition of an authorised representative, provided there are objectively justified doubts as to their identity, legal capacity or authority to represent.

(3) A granted power of attorney may be revoked by the customer at any time in documented form. The revocation shall take effect upon receipt of the declaration by SOOS Safety Vaults in accordance with Section 2 of these GTC. SOOS Safety Vaults shall process revocations without delay in the ordinary course of business and shall confirm the deactivation of the power of attorney to the customer in writing upon request.

(4) SOOS Safety Vaults is entitled to rely on the validity of an existing power of attorney as long as it has not been notified of any revocation, restriction or the death of the principal, and there are no circumstances that would require further verification.

(5) Whether and to what extent a power of attorney continues after the death of the principal shall be governed by the applicable law. Upon becoming aware of the death of the principal, SOOS Safety Vaults is entitled to temporarily suspend the exercise of a power of attorney until the authority to dispose has been clarified and to request appropriate evidence of the continuing authority or power of disposal. This shall also apply to a power of attorney designated by the customer as surviving beyond death.

8. Release and Withdrawal

(1) To ensure an orderly process and the completion of all necessary checks, a prior appointment with SOOS Safety Vaults is required for any release, withdrawal or relocation of deposited items. Commercially customary quantities may be released after appointment during regular opening hours at the branch assigned to the storage location. Commercially customary quantities can generally be released at short notice, often on the same day. In individual cases, a lead time of several working days may be necessary. For larger or special quantities, a separate arrangement is required for security reasons.

(2) Release shall take place after successful verification of the identity and authority of the customer or their authorised representative. SOOS Safety Vaults is entitled to request the identity and authorisation documents required for this purpose. Where there are objectively justified doubts as to the identity, the authority to dispose or the authenticity of the documents presented, the release may be temporarily suspended until the matter has been clarified. The same shall apply as long as legally required checks or evidence have not been completed or fully provided. The customer shall examine the released precious metals upon handover for quantity and externally visible condition and confirm receipt.

(3) As a pure storage company, SOOS Safety Vaults does not purchase precious metals. A sale may be made directly to the GVS Group at any time, without collection and without transport costs for the customer. The customer is equally free to sell to other dealers.

9. Relocation and Transport

(1) A change of the storage location or transfer of the deposited items shall be possible at the customer’s request, provided this is legally and organisationally permissible. The organisation of the transport shall be the responsibility of the customer. Accordingly, all costs and risks arising in this context shall be borne by the customer from the time of handover to the transport service provider. SOOS Safety Vaults shall not be liable for damage occurring after the precious metals have been handed over to the transport service provider, subject to mandatory applicable law.

(2) The customer is strongly advised to engage specialised valuables transport companies for the transport and to take out appropriate valuables insurance. At the customer’s request, SOOS Safety Vaults may arrange an insured transport through a specialised valuables logistics company. All costs for transport, insurance and other expenses associated with the withdrawal and transport shall be borne by the customer. Depending on the storage location and the destination country, taxes, customs duties or other charges may apply in the event of withdrawal or change of storage location, in particular VAT on silver, platinum and palladium. These shall be borne by the customer.

(3) In cases of force majeure within the meaning of Section 16, which materially affect the ordinary business operations or access to the storage location or the carrying out of releases, SOOS Safety Vaults is entitled to temporarily suspend or postpone releases, withdrawals or relocations. In such a case, SOOS Safety Vaults shall inform the customer without delay of the situation and the further procedure.

10. Termination and End of the Agreement

(1) The customer may terminate the storage agreement at any time without giving reasons, in documented form. The termination shall take effect at the end of the calendar month, provided that all deposited items have been fully collected, sold to a third party or transferred to another storage facility before the end of the agreement.

(2) SOOS Safety Vaults may terminate the agreement subject to a notice period of three months to the end of a calendar month, insofar as mandatory law does not require a different provision. Fees already paid shall be settled up to the end of the calendar month in which the agreement ends. Each commenced calendar month shall count as a full month. Fees paid in advance for full calendar months after the end of the agreement shall be refunded to the customer.

(3) Upon termination of the agreement, the obligation to pay the storage fees shall continue until the deposited items have been fully collected, sold to a third party or transferred by the customer. The release of the items shall take place in accordance with Section 8.

11. Inventory Verification, Reports and Access Rules

(1) Upon every change of inventory, in particular upon deposit, withdrawal, handover, transport or other inventory movement, the affected bars and coins shall be physically checked, counted, documented and reconciled with the inventory records. Each newly incoming item shall be subjected to an authenticity check before final storage.

(2) For each month, a report on the internal storage audit shall be prepared and published. In this report, the recorded and updated physical precious metals inventory of all countries shall be reconciled, as at the monthly reference date, by precious metal and by fine weight with the total of the customer storage agreement balances.

(3) The internal control system shall be supplemented by audits conducted by economically and personally independent external auditors. These auditors shall, in accordance with a documented, risk-oriented procedure, physically verify selected precious metals inventories and storage locations on a sample basis and reconcile them with the internal audit documentation. The scope, selection and result shall be documented and published in a separate external audit report.

(4) The precious metals inventories shown in the storage agreements are fully physically deposited. The quarterly physical inventory count shall take place at the end of February, May, August and November respectively. During this count, all physical precious metals inventories at all storage locations shall be fully physically counted. This shall also include inventory held with external storage partners. The result shall be published in the report on the internal storage audit for the respective inventory month and in the country reports.

(5) The customer may, for their own storage agreement, request an individual confirmation of the fine weights as at an inventory reference date. The request is not subject to a time limit and may also be submitted after the respective inventory reference date. The fine weights as at the respective inventory reference date shall always be authoritative. Inventory changes after this reference date shall not be subject to the confirmation. For each inventory reference date, a quarterly schedule shall be prepared containing all storage agreement numbers and the associated fine weights by precious metal type. This schedule shall be signed by the management and deposited with an independent body authorised for this purpose. The authorised body shall compare the storage agreement number and the fine weights provided by the customer with this quarterly schedule and document the result in a written confirmation. The confirmation shall relate exclusively to this comparison. The fee shall be stated in the request for individual confirmation and shall be borne by the customer.

(6) Access to the storage areas and vaults shall be restricted exclusively to authorised employees and agents of SOOS Safety Vaults and, where applicable, commissioned auditors. This access rule shall serve the security, discretion and protection of all customer inventory.

(7) Paragraphs 1 to 5 shall not apply to individual custody within the meaning of Section 6 (3).

12. Fees and Remuneration

(1) The storage fee shall be payable annually in advance and shall include insurance costs. The storage fee shall become due upon the first deposit and shall be calculated in advance for 12 months each time. The calculation key for the storage fees shall be set out in the currently valid information sheet for each storage location offered. The information sheets with the applicable fee structure may be viewed at any time on the GVS Website or requested at the branches of the GVS Group.

(2) The following parameters shall be relevant for the level of the fees: type of custody, storage location, precious metal type and value of the deposited items. In the case of individual custody, the fee shall be determined individually.

(3) SOOS Safety Vaults shall inform its customers in good time of upcoming due dates for storage fees and shall endeavour to find a practical solution together with the customer in the event of payment delays in individual cases.

(4) If the due storage fee is not paid despite corresponding information, SOOS Safety Vaults is entitled to assert the consequences of default permitted under the applicable law. To secure all claims under the storage agreement, SOOS Safety Vaults is entitled to withhold the release of individual or all deposited items until the outstanding storage fees and costs have been fully settled. If the storage fee remains unpaid despite a reminder, SOOS Safety Vaults is entitled to take further measures permitted under the applicable law to enforce its due claims. Any enforcement against or sale of deposited precious metals shall take place only to the extent and in accordance with the procedure permitted under the applicable law. Mandatory statutory rights of the customer shall remain unaffected.

(5) Before exercising these rights, SOOS Safety Vaults shall take the best possible account of the circumstances of the individual case and shall, where possible, contact the customer again in order to examine an amicable solution (e.g. modified payment arrangements).

13. Amendment of Fees and General Terms and Conditions

(1) Fee adjustments may occur if market conditions, insurance costs or statutory requirements change materially. Fee changes are rare and shall only be made to a reasonable extent. Changes shall be communicated to the customer at least three months before they take effect on a durable medium (in particular by email) and shall apply from the following billing period. In the event of an increase in the storage volume, value or number of deposited items, the resulting additional storage fee shall be calculated pro rata until the end of the current billing period.

(2) Amendments to these GTC shall apply exclusively to the future and shall be communicated to the customer in good time before they take effect on a durable medium. The customer is entitled to terminate the storage agreement in documented form before the amendments take effect. Where the express consent of the customer is required for an amendment under mandatory law, the amendment shall only take effect after the required consent has been given. Mandatory consumer rights shall remain unaffected.

14. Insurance

(1) SOOS Safety Vaults maintains an all-risk insurance for the storage of precious metals to cover physical damage and physical loss of the deposited items at the respective current commodity value. The reference price shall be the most recently published applicable LBMA price. The insurance shall generally cover all insurable risks (“all-risk coverage”).

(2) In particular, the following shall be excluded: damage resulting from war and war-like events, governmental interventions, as well as damage caused by nuclear, radioactive, chemical, biological or comparable hazards. Damage from certain cyber events, sanctions and terrorism risks shall also be excluded. Market, price, interest, tax or other indirect or consequential damages (including loss of profit) shall not be covered by the insurance.

(3) For shortages and damage to deposited inventory, including theft, SOOS Safety Vaults shall be liable, either directly or through this insurance. This shall also apply to damage that is not insured pursuant to paragraph 2, provided that no event of force majeure within the meaning of Section 16 exists. An exclusion or limitation of insurance coverage shall not automatically mean an exclusion or limitation of any statutory or contractual liability of SOOS Safety Vaults.

15. Liability

(1) SOOS Safety Vaults shall be liable in accordance with the applicable law and the provisions of this agreement.

(2) To the extent permitted by law, liability for indirect damages, consequential damages, loss of profit and purely financial losses arising from market price movements, price fluctuations, interest or taxation shall be excluded.

(3) Liability limitations or exclusions shall not apply where liability may not be excluded or limited under mandatory law. Mandatory consumer rights shall remain unaffected.

(4) For shortages and physical damage to deposited inventory, the special provisions of Section 6 (5) and Section 14 shall take precedence.

16. Force Majeure

(1) Force majeure shall mean extraordinary events beyond the reasonable control of SOOS Safety Vaults, the occurrence or consequences of which cannot be avoided even with the exercise of reasonable care under the circumstances. These shall include in particular war and war-like events, terrorism, political unrest, natural disasters, governmental interventions or orders, sanctions, strikes, as well as nuclear, radioactive, chemical or biological hazards.

(2) Where a shortage, damage, impossibility or delay is directly attributable to an event of force majeure and SOOS Safety Vaults is not responsible for its occurrence or consequences, liability shall be governed by the mandatory applicable law.

(3) SOOS Safety Vaults shall, where practically possible, inform the customer without delay of an event of force majeure that materially affects the custody, access to the storage facilities or the release, and shall take appropriate measures to mitigate the impact.

(4) Otherwise, the liability provisions of Section 15 shall remain unaffected. Mandatory statutory liability and consumer rights shall remain unaffected.

17. Data Protection

(1) SOOS Safety Vaults processes the customer’s personal data in compliance with the applicable data protection regulations of the United Arab Emirates, in particular, where applicable, Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 concerning the Protection of Personal Data, as well as other relevant statutory provisions.

(2) For the performance of this agreement, SOOS Safety Vaults may transmit personal data to other companies of the GVS Group and to external service providers, insofar as this is necessary and such providers are bound to confidentiality and compliance with data protection regulations. For the purpose of the individual confirmation in accordance with Section 11 (5), an extract of the storage agreement numbers with the fine weights shall be provided to the authorised body for each inventory reference date.

(3) Cross-border data transfers shall only take place in accordance with the applicable statutory requirements.

(4) The customer shall, within the framework of the statutory provisions, have the right to information, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, objection to certain processing, and the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, insofar as these rights are granted under the applicable law.

(5) Otherwise, the data protection notices published on the GVS Website shall apply, which supplement the data processing in connection with this storage agreement.

18. Governing Law, Jurisdiction and Language

(1) This storage agreement and all legal relationships arising from or in connection with it shall be governed by the law of the United Arab Emirates, as applicable in the Emirate of Dubai, to the exclusion of conflict-of-laws rules, insofar as such exclusion is legally permissible. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) shall not apply, insofar as it would be applicable to the respective legal relationship at all.

(2) To the extent permitted by law, the courts of the Emirate of Dubai shall have jurisdiction for disputes arising from or in connection with this storage agreement. Mandatory statutory jurisdiction and consumer provisions shall remain unaffected.

(3) These GTC shall be made available in Arabic, English and German, insofar as this is required under the applicable law or provided for by SOOS Safety Vaults. For agreements with consumers, an Arabic version shall be made available in accordance with the mandatory statutory requirements of the United Arab Emirates.

(4) The language versions shall be prepared to be substantively consistent. Where mandatory statutory provisions require a specific language version or, in particular, the Arabic wording to be authoritative for certain purposes, these mandatory statutory requirements shall prevail. Otherwise, interpretation shall be in accordance with the applicable law as referred to in paragraph 1.