Scope
PRUFTECHNIK's policy regarding product availability, repair service and support is outlined below. This explanation is intended to give PRUFTECHNIK customers a clear overview as an aid to their future planning in terms of acquisition, training and servicing.

Product Availability
True technological progress must translate into new products that deliver improved functionality while reducing the costs of acquisition, training and user effort. Since by the same virtue, the older products they replace become economically or logistically unfeasible to produce or service, these older products must be withdrawn from the range of available service at some point as their components and technologies become increasingly unavailable. In order to deal with this phenomenon in the most orderly possible fashion, PRUFTECHNIK Ltd has established the following set procedures that determine the discontinuance of products, spare parts, and product accessories from the market.

1.REMOVE FROM SALE: Once PRUFTECHNIK Ltd determines that a product must be discontinued, it circulates a notice of intent to Remove From Sale throughout its entire sales organization including PRUFTECHNIK staff and independent firms that act as authorized PRUFTECHNIK Ltd distributors. This notice sets a specific date, six months or later away, upon which the named product is to be officially Removed From Sale. This six-month lead time lets customers plan their budget spending accordingly, and also allows due consideration for exclusion from forthcoming sales leaflets, catalogs, price lists etc. Any orders received for a product to be Removed From Sale automatically result in immediate customer notification of the specified date for Removal From Sale.

2.LIMITED AVAILABILITY: Three months before the Remove From Sale date arrives, the product is phased out of future production planning so that only those units currently planned, manufactured and in finished stock will be available to fill all remaining new orders. The sales organization is therefore informed of Limited Availability for the product so that delivery time and stock status can be checked before additional new orders are confirmed.

3.STOP SALE: The product is officially removed from the market on or after the announced Remove From Sale date when a Stop Sale notice is distributed throughout the sales organization. Once this notice has been circulated, no further orders can be accepted, and it becomes the responsibility of the sales staff to ensure that no customers are disappointed by product unavailability once the 'Stop Sale' information has been issued.

Repair of Products After Stop Sale
Following the Stop Sale date, PRUFTECHNIK Ltd will maintain sufficient parts inventory to enable repair of all products removed from sale for a duration of 5 years. Only the most recent hardware version can be repaired, which can require that the customer first grant approval for updating the product to the latest version so that repair can be performed. PRUFTECHNIK will make every attempt to perform a repair at reasonable cost whenever the product has considerable useful life remaining. Still, in some cases the repair expense may clearly outweigh the usefulness of the repaired product, so that economic justification is no longer possible. However, the user must recognize that costs for repairs may become excessive, and most likely could not be justified by the user. Moreover, when costly design changes would be required which would jeopardize the official approval of a product (for example, intrinsic safety certification), PRUFTECHNIK cannot assume responsibility for the consequences of such changes and reserves the right to refuse to repair in such cases.

Product support following Stop Sale
For two years following the Stop Sale date, PRUFTECHNIK provides regular training and customer support for the product. While specialized training can be negotiated for older products thereafter, the expense and lead time required to do so may render this an impractical alternative.

Version support
As soon as a Stop Sale notice has been circulated for a product, only the latest hardware version will be accepted for repair. In that case, as noted above, any outdated hardware must be updated to the latest version in order to allow repair. Only the most recent software version will be eligible for support under the terms of service and support agreements, and the customer must order a software update to the latest version in order to receive software support.

Extended Service following Stop Sale
Extended service agreements are no longer offered for hardware nor for software once a Stop Sale notice has been circulated. Existing service agreements will continue to be honored until their expiry date, but they not may be renewed. 'Support Only' contracts may be offered for software, but only for the two-year period following the Stop Sale date.