Conditions of participation and implementation for competitions

(1) The contractual relationship between the City of Idar-Oberstein and the participant in connection with Facebook/Instagram competitions - hereinafter referred to as the competition - shall be governed exclusively by the following terms and conditions of implementation and participation in the version valid at the time of participation. Deviating terms and conditions of the participant will not be recognized unless the organizer expressly agrees to their validity.
(2) The participant is a consumer unless the purpose of participation can be predominantly attributed to his/her commercial or self-employed professional activity. In contrast, an entrepreneur is any natural person, legal entity or partnership with legal capacity that acts in the exercise of its commercial or independent professional activity when participating.

(1) The organizer is solely responsible for the competition.
City of Idar-Oberstein
Georg-Maus-Straße 1
55743 Idar-Oberstein

Authorized representative:
Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf

(2) The competition is in no way connected to Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook Ireland Ltd., Google LLC -Instagram) and is also in no way sponsored, supported or organized by Facebook or Instagram (Meta Platforms, Inc.). Participation does not give rise to any legal claims against Facebook/Instagram or Meta Platforms, Inc. All information about the competition is provided exclusively by the social media editorial team of the Idar-Oberstein city administration.
We ask that questions, comments or complaints are not sent to the social medium, but directly to the press office of the Idar-Oberstein city administration responsible for social media at pressestelle@idar-oberstein.de.
The following conditions of participation apply to the competition on the city's social media pages (Instagram/Facebook: City of Idar-Oberstein).

(1) Only natural persons with full legal capacity who have reached the age of 18 (age of majority) and are resident in the Federal Republic of Germany are eligible to participate in the competitions of the city of Idar-Oberstein.
(2) Employees of the Idar-Oberstein city administration are excluded from participation.
(3) Participation is only possible via the highly personal social media registration (own Instagram/Facebook account). If the organizer becomes aware of technical manipulation or any other violation of these terms and conditions of implementation and participation, it will exclude the participant from the competition. Technical manipulation includes multiple registrations by one person, participation via a competition service or similar automated collective participation services. In such cases, the prize may also be subsequently withdrawn and a replacement winner drawn.

(1) By participating in the competition, the participant expressly accepts these general terms and conditions of implementation and participation.
(2) Participation is free of charge and independent of the purchase of goods or services. The participant will be informed of the specific (further) requirements for participation as part of the competition.
(3) The participant undertakes to provide complete, comprehensible and truthful information when providing the data required for participation in the competition. Multiple participation is generally excluded. The participant also agrees to be notified of their win by direct message via the relevant social media channel.

(1) Personal data (name, user name) is required for the implementation and processing of the competition. For this reason, data will be collected, stored and used for the duration of the competition. Once the competition has ended, the data will be deleted (one month after expiry).
(2) By participating in the competition, participants expressly declare their consent to the transmission and use of their above-mentioned personal data for the implementation and processing of the competition.
(3) The data required to determine the winner (necessary personal data) will be used by the city of Idar-Oberstein for the limited period of the competition.
(4) The above-mentioned data will not be linked by the City of Idar-Oberstein to the participant's social media account.
(5) The participant is free to revoke his/her consent at any time and thus withdraw from participation.
(6) The winner agrees to the publication of his/her name and/or user name. In the event of a win, the city of Idar-Oberstein as the organizer is also entitled to publish the social media profile picture and the name of the winner.
(7) By participating in the competitions, each participant also agrees to our data protection guidelines. Further information on data protection can be found here.

Start and end of the competition:
The start of the competition is the publication time stated on the respective platform. The corresponding acceptance deadline is the same as the end of the competition and is also stated separately for each competition. The prizes will be drawn after the end of the competition in the city administration.
Participation after the specified deadline for awarding the prize is excluded. The electronically logged participation, which can be found in the respective social media post depending on the type of competition, is decisive.
The organizer cannot be held responsible for any technical malfunctions, e.g. any telephone network failures or server malfunctions that prevent timely participation.

The City of Idar-Oberstein reserves the right to cancel or terminate a competition at any time without prior notice. This option may be exercised in particular if, for technical or legal reasons, the proper running of the competition cannot be guaranteed.
This applies in particular to reasons that would disrupt or prevent the competition from running as planned. If such a termination is caused by the behavior of a participant, the city of Idar-Oberstein is entitled to demand compensation from this person for the damage incurred.

The respective method of determining the winner can be found in the corresponding social media post. There are three types of prize determination for competitions of the City of Idar-Oberstein:
(1) Random (lot): Determination of the winner through participation
If it is not necessary to post your own content for the purpose of participation, but the participation action merely consists of, for example, "liking" a post or answering a question, the winner will be determined at random.
(2) Number of likes under a corresponding post
In the case of participation, the winner will be determined by uploading a photo/image or posting a text by the photo with the most "likes" (voting among users).
(3) Jury decision
In the jury decision, a jury (consisting of the employees of the social media editorial department of the Idar-Oberstein city administration) determines the winner from all uploaded images/photos or posted texts etc.
(4) Community decision
The city of Idar-Oberstein conducts votes among social media users to determine a winning entry, e.g. "The photo with the most "Likes" wins".

In order to take part in such competitions, it is necessary for the participant to post a photo/image or text via a municipal social media page beforehand. Additional conditions apply to such postings, as follows:
(1) The uploaded photo/image or the posted text may not infringe any third-party rights. It may therefore only be photos/images or texts that the participant has taken or created themselves. In particular, photos may not depict persons who do not consent to being depicted for this purpose, nor may they depict third-party works (architecture, art, brands, etc.) if copyrights and/or ancillary copyrights exist in this respect and permission to use them for this purpose does not exist.
(2) Uploaded photos/images or posted texts (e.g. poems) may not violate the rights of third parties. Furthermore, uploaded photos/images or posted texts (e.g. poems) may not contain any illegal or immoral content (e.g. pornographic, sexist, inciting, racist or inhuman content) or otherwise violate the terms of use formulated in our netiquette .
(3) In the event of violations of these rules, the participant shall be solely responsible for any legal violations. In this respect, the participant shall indemnify the City of Idar-Oberstein in full against all third-party claims, including the necessary costs of legal defense and prosecution.
(4) By posting the photo/image, the participant agrees that the photo/image may be published on the city's social media pages with the participant's name (or user name). The photo will only be used by the organizer in connection with the competition.
(5) The participant is aware that posted photos/images or posted texts may also be linked via the website of the city of Idar-Oberstein and discussed and linked by third parties in social media.
(6) For the use of the photo by a municipal social media page, the participant transfers free of charge the right to reproduce, distribute and store the photo/image in electronic databases (Facebook, Instagram, Google image search and all services associated with these media), electronic data networks, telephone services, etc., without restriction in terms of time and space. and to make them accessible to a large number of users by means of digital or other storage and transmission technology in such a way that they can access the images on individual demand at short notice using a television, computer, smartphone, including all transmission paths (cable, radio, microwave, satellite) and all methods (GSM, UMTS, etc.) as well as all protocols (e.g., Internet, Internet, Internet).
(7) The City of Idar-Oberstein reserves the right not to publish photos/images or other contributions posted, or to publish them only in a shortened or modified form, provided that this does not distort the meaning or content of the message

(1) The winner agrees that his/her name may be published by the City of Idar-Oberstein as part of the reporting on the competition.
(2) Unless the winner expressly objects, by participating in the competition he/she agrees that any photographs of him/her during the presentation of the prize and, if applicable, during the execution of a trip won, which are taken by the City of Idar-Oberstein or by third parties commissioned by it, may also be published without restriction in terms of time, space and content as part of serious reporting.

(1) The prize will either be stated in the respective competition post or the participants will be notified directly.
(2) Each participant can only draw a maximum of one prize.
(3) Any prize depicted in the competition description is not necessarily identical to the item to be won. Deviations, in particular in model and color, etc. are possible. If necessary, the City of Idar-Oberstein and/or the prize sponsor may select an item of medium type and quality equivalent to the item presented as a prize.
(4) Payment of the prize value in cash or the exchange of a prize is excluded. The claim to the prize is not transferable. The winners will be announced without guarantee.
(5) The winner must provide proof of acceptance of the prize within a period specified in the prize notification. The prizes are to be collected by the participant in person exclusively from the Idar-Oberstein city administration by prior arrangement and in compliance with the opening/visiting hours (no shipping). The participant shall bear any additional costs that may be necessary for this (e.g. travel to and from the venue).
(6) To collect the prize, the participant is obliged to present his/her identity card to confirm his/her identity.
(7) Unless otherwise agreed, the claim to the prize shall expire four weeks after the prize draw if the winner cannot be reached at the contact details provided by him/her or if he/she does not contact the Idar-Oberstein municipal administration within four weeks of the announcement of the prize.

(1) Insofar as prizes are donated by a cooperation partner/prize sponsor, the City of Idar-Oberstein shall not be liable for any material and/or legal defects in the prize. In this case, any claims of the winner exist solely against the cooperation partner / prize sponsor.
(2) In addition, the liability of the City of Idar-Oberstein is limited to damages caused intentionally or through gross negligence. This limitation of liability shall also apply in favor of the employees and vicarious agents of the City of Idar-Oberstein. The limitation of liability does not apply to damages to life, body and/or health of the participants or in the event of a breach of cardinal obligations, the fulfillment of which is essential for the proper execution of the competition and on the fulfillment of which the participant regularly relies and may rely.

(1) Legal recourse is excluded (e.g. for the implementation of the competition, the winning decision and also the payment or distribution of prizes).
(2) The competition is subject exclusively to the law of the Federal Republic of Germany.
(3) Should individual provisions of these terms and conditions be or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining terms and conditions of participation and implementation. The Terms and Conditions of Participation and Implementation shall remain binding in their remaining parts even if individual points are legally invalid.
(4) The Terms and Conditions of Participation and Implementation may be unilaterally amended by the City of Idar-Oberstein at any time without prior notice and without giving reasons. Amendments and ancillary agreements must be made in writing to be effective.
(5) If the participant is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the participation between the participant and the organizer is the registered office of the organizer. The organizer's right to appeal to a court at another legal place of jurisdiction remains unaffected by this.