General terms of service

Purpose and scope

These general terms govern all services provided by SAIME3i FZ-LLC, a consulting and strategic intelligence firm (the "Firm"), to any individual or legal entity engaging its services (the "Client").

Together with the signed engagement letter, they constitute the entire agreement between the parties. In the event of conflict, the engagement letter prevails over these terms as regards scope, deliverables, timelines and fees for the engagement concerned.

These terms prevail over any Client document, save express written agreement by the Firm.

Areas of practice

The Firm operates across four areas, separately or in combination according to the engagement:

Advisory and strategic intelligence

• Organisational diagnostic and action plan
• Vision structuring and strategic roadmap
• Arbitration between options and governance support
• Partner and counterparty assessment prior to commitment
• Strategic support to non-governmental organisations and institutions

Cybersecurity and digital intelligence

• Digital hygiene audit, for an organisation as for an individual
• Verification of entities, domains, infrastructure and documents
• Reputation monitoring and weak-signal detection
• Assessment of information reliability under the CAMO framework
• Training against manipulation, social engineering and fraud

Artificial intelligence

• Team training and capability building
• Task automation and design of assisted processes
• Establishment of an AI usage policy
• Assisted reporting systems, under deterministic control

Development and market entry

• Market entry study and mapping of decision circuits
• Identification and qualification of counterparts
• Meeting preparation and framing, thirty-day follow-up
• Development support mandate on a territory or sector

Formation of the contract

No proposal is issued without a prior scoping call. The Firm does not issue quotes on the basis of a written request alone.

1. The Client submits a request through the Firm’s contact channels.
2. The Firm acknowledges receipt and proposes time slots within forty-eight business hours.
3. A thirty-minute scoping call is held. It binds neither party.
4. Within twenty-four hours of the call, the Firm delivers a one-page summary note. This note belongs to the Client, whether or not the engagement proceeds.
5. Where appropriate, the Firm issues an engagement letter setting out the context, what the engagement will establish, what falls outside its scope, the sequence, the deliverables and the fees.
6. The contract is formed upon signature of the engagement letter by both parties and receipt of the deposit.

Where the scoping call has been invoiced, its amount is deducted from the fees of the engagement that follows.

The Firm reserves the right to decline any request contrary to applicable law, to these terms, to its separation charter, or likely to cause harm to a third party. It likewise declines engagements it cannot honour within the scope or timeline requested, referring the Client to a third party.

Fees and payment

The Firm does not bill by time spent. Each engagement is subject to fixed fees, firm and final for the scope defined in the engagement letter.

Fees are indexed to the Client organisation’s ability to pay, not to the Firm’s cost of production. No fee schedule is published: the amount is set case by case, following the scoping call.

Terms

• Fifty per cent of fees fall due upon signature of the engagement letter
• The balance falls due upon delivery of the final deliverable
• Recurring engagements are invoiced monthly, in arrears
• Payment is due within fifteen days of the invoice date
• Payment is made by bank transfer, transfer charges remaining payable by the originator

Any request exceeding the scope defined in the engagement letter is subject to a priced amendment, requiring the Client’s prior written agreement.

Beyond fifteen days of late payment, the Firm may suspend work in progress upon written notice, without such suspension constituting a breach.

Mid-point review and right to stop

Any engagement exceeding ten business days includes a mid-point review, the date of which appears in the engagement letter. On that occasion, the Firm delivers a progress statement setting out what has been established at that stage.

Should the Client consider that continuing will not deliver the value announced, the Client may stop the engagement. In that event:

• Only the executed portion falls due, calculated pro rata to the stages completed
• Deliverables produced up to that date remain the Client’s
• No penalty applies, to either party

The Client notifies its decision in writing within five business days of delivery of the progress statement. Absent notification within that period, the engagement continues on the agreed terms.

Obligations of the parties

Firm obligations

• Perform the engagement diligently and in compliance with applicable law
• Use only publicly accessible sources
• Deliver within agreed timelines, or notify without delay of any difficulty
• Distinguish, in each deliverable, what is established from what is recommended
• State what could not be established, and what would be required to establish it
• Maintain confidentiality of Client information under Article 8
• Disclose in advance any connection with the parties concerned, under its separation charter

Client obligations

• Provide accurate and complete information necessary to the engagement
• Warrant that the request is lawful and pursues a legitimate purpose
• Not use deliverables for unlawful, defamatory or fraudulent purposes
• Pay fees within agreed timelines
• Bear full responsibility for decisions taken on the basis of the work delivered

Nature of deliverables

Each deliverable expressly distinguishes three levels, of differing nature and effect:

The analysis

What is established, and what is not. Factual level, governed by the CAMO framework. It is contestable: the Client may revisit the sources and verify the conclusions. The Firm answers for the rigour of establishment.

The recommendation

What the Firm would do in the Client’s position. Reasoned judgement, supported by the analysis but not established. It is debatable without invalidating the work. The Firm answers for its consistency with the preceding analysis.

The decision

It belongs to the Client, exclusively. The Firm does not decide, does not co-decide, and never represents its work as having determined a decision. The Firm does not answer for it.

Each deliverable states what could not be established, together with the reason. Such a statement constitutes neither an accusation, nor a denial, nor a value judgement: it indicates that the element could not be established with the sources available, within the scope and timeline of the engagement.

The Firm’s conclusions are valid as at their date of issue, within the defined scope and with the sources indicated. Their reuse in another context, or at another date, calls for re-examination for which the Firm cannot answer if it has not conducted it.

Confidentiality and publication

The Firm treats as strictly confidential all information communicated by the Client. This undertaking is reciprocal and remains in force for five years from the end of the engagement, without prejudice to information whose confidentiality is protected by law.

• No information concerning the Client’s identity, needs or engagement results is disclosed to any third party
• Deliverables are intended exclusively for the commissioning Client
• The final Client’s identity is not disclosed to affiliates engaged, save operational necessity and under equivalent confidentiality undertakings

Retention and traceability

The Firm retains sources consulted, working papers and deliverables for the period necessary to the traceability of its conclusions, namely the duration of the engagement plus three years. This retention allows every element of a deliverable to be substantiated in the event of challenge, and constitutes a safeguard for the Client as much as for the Firm.

Beyond that period, or upon written request of the Client, data is deleted, subject to statutory retention obligations.

Publication of anonymised cases

The Firm publishes analyses of public objects, with no client involved. Such publications fall outside the scope of this Article.

The Firm may further seek the Client’s agreement to publish an anonymised case based on the engagement performed. No such publication occurs without the Client’s specific prior written consent, the proposed text being submitted before any release. The Client may refuse without reason and withdraw consent at any time.

Intellectual property

Deliverables produced under an engagement — reports, files, notes, action plans, systems developed — become the Client’s property upon full payment of fees. The Client may dispose of them freely, including communicating them to its advisers, governing bodies and funders.

Conversely, the methods, analytical frameworks, models, grids, tools and processes employed remain the exclusive property of the Firm and are not assigned. This applies in particular to the CAMO framework, deliverable templates and the validation architecture employed.

The CAMO framework is published under an open licence. The Client, like any third party, may use it, apply it to its own work and refer to it, under the terms of that licence, which permits use and citation without modification.

Personal data

The Firm processes personal data in the course of the client relationship and, depending on the engagement, in the course of third-party verification. These processing activities are documented in a register kept up to date and available to the Client on request.

Processing concerning third parties is carried out from publicly accessible sources, for the verification purpose defined in the engagement, and communicated to the commissioning Client alone. It seeks no data falling within a special category.

Where an engagement involves processing personal data on behalf of the Client, or where applicable regulation so requires, a data processing agreement is concluded beforehand and annexed to the engagement letter.

Arrangements for exercising data subject rights are set out in the Firm’s privacy policy.

Independence and separation

The Firm applies a separation and independence charter, public and dated, annexed to each engagement letter and forming an integral part of the contract.

Under that charter:

• The Firm never simultaneously holds a development mandate and an independent assessment on the same transaction
• Any connection with a party is disclosed to the Client before acceptance
• The Firm’s remuneration in no way depends on the tenor of its conclusions nor on the outcome of the transaction, where the engagement includes an assessment
• A cooling-off period applies between an independent assessment and any development mandate with the party concerned

Where a conflict arises during performance, the Firm suspends the work concerned, informs the Client within forty-eight hours and delivers what has been established. The Client decides on the way forward; if the engagement is interrupted on that account, only the executed portion falls due.

Use of affiliates

The Firm may engage affiliated analysts and correspondents to perform all or part of an engagement. Such engagement occurs under its full responsibility: the Client remains bound to the Firm alone, which answers for the quality of the work as if performed by itself.

Each affiliate is bound by a contract containing confidentiality and data protection obligations equivalent to those of these terms, together with a declaration of interests established under the separation charter.

The Client may object, in writing and on legitimate grounds, to the use of a particular affiliate.

Limitation of liability

The Firm is bound by a best-efforts obligation, to the exclusion of any obligation of result. It undertakes as to the rigour of its approach and the compliance of its work with these terms, not as to the outcome of the Client’s decision nor the success of a transaction.

The Firm’s liability, on all grounds combined, is limited to the amount of fees actually paid in respect of the engagement concerned.

Indirect damages are excluded from any indemnification, in particular: loss of opportunity, loss of profit, business interruption, reputational harm, or commercial or financial loss consequent upon a Client decision.

• The Firm does not answer for decisions taken by the Client on the basis of its work
• Analyses resting on publicly accessible sources, their completeness depends on the availability and accuracy of those sources at the date of the engagement
• The unavailability of a source, register or contact does not constitute a breach; it is documented as something that could not be established
• The Firm does not answer for use made of its deliverables beyond the scope and date of the engagement

Term, termination, force majeure

One-off engagements end upon delivery of the final deliverable and payment in full. Recurring engagements run for a minimum of one month, renew by tacit agreement, and may be terminated by either party on thirty days' written notice.

In addition to the right to stop under Article 5, either party may terminate in the event of a material breach by the other not remedied within fifteen days of written notice. Services performed remain due.

Neither party shall be liable for a failure resulting from an event of force majeure. The party concerned informs the other without delay; should the impediment exceed thirty days, either party may terminate without indemnity, services performed remaining due.

Governing law and disputes

These general terms are governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates, as applicable in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.

In the event of a dispute, the parties undertake to seek an amicable resolution within thirty days of written notification of the dispute. Failing agreement within that period, the dispute is submitted to the competent courts of the United Arab Emirates.

Any question concerning the application of these terms may be addressed to contact@saime3i.com and receives a written response.

Version 2.1 — August 2026. Any change gives rise to a numbered and dated version. Engagements in progress remain governed by the version applicable at their date of signature.