General Terms and Conditions for Participation in Analytik Jena GmbH+Co. KG’s “Analytik Jena Science Award” Competition

Conditions regulating the contractual relationship between Analytik Jena GmbH+Co. KG and participants in Analytik Jena GmbH+Co. KG’s “Analytik Jena Science Award” (hereinafter AJ Science Award) competition

1. Scope

1.1 Analytik Jena GmbH+Co. KG (hereinafter “AJ GmbH+Co. KG”) is a provider of instruments and products for analytical measuring technology and Life Science. In particular, its portfolio encompasses analysis systems for optical spectroscopy as well as for sum parameter and elemental spectrometry, complete systems for bioanalytical applications in the Life Science industry, services, and device-specific consumables. AJ GmbH+Co. KG organizes the “Analytik Jena Science Award” competition (hereinafter: “AJ Science Award”). The AJ Science Award is a scientific competition for the promotion of scientific information exchange and the development of future-oriented user practices. Participants may submit scientific articles on the use and application of at least one device or product of AJ GmbH+Co. KG in the categories of analytical chemistry or molecular biology. The scientific articles are evaluated by a jury. The best submissions are awarded prizes.

1.2 The following general terms and conditions (hereinafter: “Participation GTCs”) apply to participation in the AJ Science Award in the version applicable at the time of registration for the competition (section 3 of the Participation GTCs) and thus to the legal relationship between AJ GmbH+Co. KG and the participant. The Participation GTCs are an integral component of the agreement with the participant. General terms and conditions of the participant that diverge from this are not valid.

2. Eligibility

2.1 Participation in the AJ Science Award is open to individuals age 18 and older and organizations across industries in business, science, and the public and non-profit sectors..

2.2 Not eligible for participation in the AJ Science Award are: Employees of AJ GmbH+Co. KG or affiliated companies in accordance with section 15 of the German Public Companies Act (AktG) who are tasked with conducting the AJ Science Award; members of the jury; and sponsors of the AJ Science Award.

3. Registration to Participate in the Competition

3.1 Registration to participate in the AJ Science Award takes place electronically through an online form Participants must enter the details requested on the registration form and submit the scientific article through the upload function.

3.2 Registration to participate in the AJ Science Award can be submitted under one's own name as the author of the scientific article or sent in on behalf of the author by a representative; in the event of submission by a representative, both the representative and the person represented must be specified. In the event of participation by a legal person, suitable evidence of the right of representation (e. g. a commercial register extract) must be included.

3.3 The scientific article itself must be clearly labeled with the name of the author. The loss and/or non-adjudication of unlabeled or insufficiently or incorrectly labeled scientific articles is borne by the participant. The onus for proper labeling is on the participant. The costs and all transport risks for transmission of the submitted scientific article are borne exclusively by the participant.

3.4 The scientific article may be submitted in one of the two categories of analytical chemistry and molecular biology. The scientific article must involve the use and application of at least one of AJ GmbH+Co. KG’s devices or products (e. g. devices, kits, consumables) in the categories of analytical chemistry or molecular biology. Participants can also submit their scientific article for both categories simultaneously. Unless specified otherwise in the call for submissions, the submission of a scientific article in a selected category is considered the “first submission,” and submission of the same scientific article in the other category is considered an “additional submission.” Category-specific contextual adjustments to scientific articles in the case of additional submissions are permissible. If an alternative title is selected for an additional submission of the same scientific article, this is considered a first submission. Furthermore, the number of submissions of scientific articles per participant is not limited.

3.5 Previously published scientific contributions, standard operating procedures (“SOPs,” or process specifications describing the key findings), or comparable unpublished findings or scientific contributions (hereinafter “scientific articles”) can be submitted in German or English for participation in the AJ Science Award.

3.6 Only scientific articles which are received by AJ GmbH+Co. KG by the date specified in the call for submissions (“application deadline”) will be considered.

3.7 Only scientific articles written within a period of three (3) years prior to the application deadline will be considered. Participants must provide unprompted suitable evidence of this in the registration.

3.8 AJ GmbH+Co. KG will confirm receipt of the registration for participation in the AJ Science Award via email (confirmation of receipt). The confirmation of receipt does not constitute a confirmation of registration. The registration becomes legally binding upon confirmation of the registration by AJ GmbH+Co. KG to the participant via email. AJ GmbH+Co. KG has the right to reject registrations of participants and/or to exclude them from the AJ Science Award if the provisions of sections 2 and 3.1 through 3.7 of these Participation GTCs are not complied with, if section 8.2 of these Participation GTCs is relevant, or if other major reasons justify rejection or exclusion.

4. Evaluation

4.1 The scientific articles are evaluated by an expert jury in a non-public selection procedure. The jury is comprised of employees of AJ GmbH+Co. KG and representatives from science and/or business. If an employee of a jury member representing science and/or business is a participant in the AJ Science Award, this jury member will abstain from participating in the evaluation of the scientific article of this participant.

4.2 The scientific articles should demonstrate outstanding qualities in the following aspects:

  • Novelty of the findings,
  • Scientific relevance of the findings,
  • Benefit to users,
  • Potential for the expansion of applications,
  • Development of new forms of application,
  • Synergistic effects,
  • Economic viability.

The above sequence does not imply any ranking in importance for the jury’s judging criteria.

4.3 The jury of the AJ Science Award reserves the right to assign submitted scientific articles to a different category if the category selected by the participant is deemed unsuitable.

4.4 The jury will designate one winner in each category. The evaluation and selection of the award is carried out exclusively by the jury and is binding for the participants.

4.5 Participants are informed of whether they are winners of the AJ Science Award by AJ GmbH+Co. KG via email prior to the public announcement of the winners, in accordance with section 6.1 of the Participation GTCs.

5. Award

5.1 Winners of the respective categories receive as their award:

  • a trophy,
  • a certificate,
  • a personal premium to a value of € 1,000 for personal use.

5.2 The awards cannot be transferred to third parties

6. Communication

6.1 The AJ Science Awards ceremony is held with media attention. The winners of the AJ Science Award will be publicly announced and honored at an event corresponding to the competition category in the year in which the competition is announced or in the following year with an award ceremony at which the award will be presented in person.
In case of cancellation of the event, the first public announcement and appreciation of the winners will be made via the initial public announcement and commendation will take place on the AJ GmbH homepage, and the awards will be delivered to the respective participant by post, personally and/or electronically. In the event that is postponed, the presentation of awards in accordance with sentence 2 will take place on a new event date.
AJ GmbH+Co. KG is solely responsible for arranging the nature and scope of the award presentation and the initial public announcement.

6.2 AJ GmbH+Co. KG has the right to publicize the winners, including their names and the titles of their scientific articles, in connection with documentation of and media exploitation regarding the AJ Science Award in basic press work. Publication may take place in print (e. g. AJ GmbH+Co. KG company magazines) or digitally, particularly on the company homepage, as well as through social communications; in social media channels; in press releases for the purpose of public relations; and in the AJ GmbH+Co. KG newsletter. AJ GmbH+Co. KG is solely responsible for deciding on the nature of the arrangement and scope of the publication in accordance with sentence 2 above.

7. Liability

7.1 Unless otherwise specified under these Participation GTCs and the following provisions, the contractual parties are liable in the event of breach of contractual and non-contractual obligations in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions.

7.2 AJ GmbH+Co. KG is liable to pay compensation, for whatever legal reason, only in cases of intent or gross negligence by AJ GmbH+Co. KG. In the event of simple negligence, AJ GmbH+Co. KG is only liable for damages arising from harm to life, body or health, as well as for damages from the breach of a significant contractual obligation whose fulfillment enables the proper implementation of the contract and on which the contractual partner can and does routinely rely, and whose breach jeopardizes the fulfillment of the purpose of the contract. Liability is limited to the replacement of such foreseeable and typical damage. The above limitation of liability does not apply in the event that AJ GmbH+Co. KG maliciously conceals a defect or if a guarantee has been assumed for the quality of the work. The same applies for any claims under product liability law.

7.3 The limitation of liability pursuant to section 7.2 of the Participation GTCs also applies to the liability of the legal representatives and vicarious agents of AJ GmbH+Co. KG.

7.4 The participant may only withdraw or give notice of termination due to a breach of obligations that does not consist of a defect if AJ GmbH+Co. KG is responsible for the breach of obligations. The participant does not have a free right of termination of the contract (particularly pursuant to section 649 of the German Civil Code [BGB]).

8. Rights of Use, Rights of Third Parties

8.1 The participant assures that

  • the scientific articles submitted and registered for participation do not violate any laws, official provisions, other rules or regulations or rights of third parties;
  • the participant is the holder of the necessary rights for participation in the AJ Science Award and grants corresponding rights to AJ GmbH+Co. KG.

If third parties assert a violation of their rights with AJ GmbH+Co. KG, the participant will indemnifyAJ GmbH+Co. KG from all resulting damages and costs at its first request, including court expenses, settlement fees and the costs deemed necessary for legal counsel at the reasonable discretion of AJ GmbH+Co. KG. The participant will support AJ GmbH+Co. KG at its request with the judicial and extrajudicial resolution of such disputes with third parties, whereby the sole right to conduct proceedings as well as the right to conclude judicial and extrajudicial settlements will remain with AJ GmbH+Co. KG.

8.2 Every participant must inform AJ GmbH+Co. KG if there are any pending legal proceedings (particularly disputes under competition law, trademark law, patent law or copyright law which are connected with the registered scientific article) with regard to the submitted scientific article. In the event of pending disputes according to sentence 1 above, or if a legally binding court judgment, ruling, or judicial (temporary) injunction exists (particularly for disputes under competition law, trademark law, patent law or copyright law which are connected with the registered scientific article), or if official regulations or other statutory provisions regarding the submitted scientific article are violated, AJ GmbH+Co. KG has the right to exclude the participant from the competition at any phase of the AJ Science Award. Awards that have already been presented to such participants may be retroactively revoked. Liability for damages, particularly third-party claims which are incurred as a result of violation of the above conditions, lies exclusively with the participant. The participant releases AJ GmbH+Co. KG from all claims at its first request. In all other respects, section 8.1 of the Participation GTCs applies.

9. Data Protection

9.1 The personal data provided by the participant for the purpose of participation in the AJ Science Award will be collected and processed by AJ GmbH+Co. KG exclusively for the purposes established under this agreement in observance of the relevant statutory data protection provisions, particularly the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the new Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). The personal data of participants will not be shared with third parties; an exception to this applies to sharing data with the jury for the performance of the jury evaluation procedure and with third parties engaged for the performance of the agreement (e. g. shipping companies, graphic design/advertising agencies). Any transmission of data pursuant to the above sentence will take place in accordance with the provisions of the relevant data protection regulations, and the scope of transmission will be restricted to the minimum necessary for contract implementation. The personal data of participants will be processed and stored for as long as is necessary for the fulfillment of contractual and statutory obligations. The legal basis for the data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b GDPR (need to fulfill the contract).

9.2 In the event of further questions regarding the handling of personal data, the participant can contact the AJ GmbH+Co. KG data protection officer at

AGOR AG
Justyna Rulewicz, Attorney at Law
Hanauer Landstrasse 151-153
60314 Frankfurt am Main
E-Mail: jrulewicz@agor-ag.com

at any time. Participants can request information on the data stored about them from the address specified above. In addition, they can request the rectification or deletion of their data subject to certain requirements. Participants may also be entitled to restrict the processing of their data as well as to release the data provided in a structured, common, and machine-readable format. Lastly, participants have the option of contacting the data protection officer specified above or a data protection authority with a complaint.

9.3 The AJ Science Award will be handed over at an event (according to point 6.1). This event will be accompanied by photographs.
The taking of professional winner photos with certificate, production of individual winner clips, photos at the events according to point 6.1 as well as the publication taking into account the previous mentioned on our website and in our social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube ) is done for the purpose of public relations, to present the activities of the responsible party, for the purpose of reporting and media self-promotion as well as to increase the level of awareness of the responsible party.
The legal basis for the data collection and data processing is the legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para.1 p.1 lit. f GDPR. The reasons represent our legitimate interest in data processing. You have the right to object at any time, on grounds relating to your situation, to the processing of personal data relating to you which is carried out on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR (data processing on the basis of a balance of interests). The objection should be addressed to our Data Protection Officer, at jrulewicz@agor-ag.com.

10. Miscellaneous, Final Provisions

10.1 There are no fees for participating in the AJ Science Award.

10.2 The contractual relationship is subject to the law of the Federal Republic of Germany to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

10.3 Insofar as the participant is a businessperson, a legal person under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising under contractual relationships between the participant and AJ GmbH+Co. KG is Jena, Germany

10.4 If individual provisions of these Participation GTCs should prove invalid, this will have no effect on the validity of the rest of the agreement. The invalid provisions will be replaced by the corresponding statutory provisions, if available.