Conditions of Participation

EISENaward 2026 powered by ZHH

The EISENaward powered by ZHH will be organized by Koelnmesse GmbH, Messeplatz 1, 50679 Köln (registered at Amtsgericht Köln - Cologne District Court - HRB 952) and ZHH - Zentralverband Hartwarenhandel e.V., Eichendorffstraße 3, 40474 Düsseldorf (referred to hereinafter as the organiser).

1. Eligible companies

Participation is open to all registered EISENWARENMESSE - International Hardware Fair 2026 exhibitors and associated co-exhibitors from whom binding applications for the EISENaward powered by ZHH have been received by the application deadline. By taking part in the competition, participants accept these conditions of participation.

2. Eligible products

Participants can register newly developed or enhanced products that are being presented for the first time at EISENWARENMESSE — International Hardware Fair Cologne 2026 and that are different from items already available on the market in terms of their form, function, appearance, design, material properties, handling, and/or technology. To be eligible for registration, a product has been presented on the market after 07.03.2024.

Prototypes are eligible if the product is presented on the market by 31.05.2026.

Every exhibitor of EISENWARENMESSE — International Hardware Fair Cologne 2026 - can register several products in the three categories "Innovation", “Design/Ergonomics" and "Sustainability".

3. Product delivery

Deadline for online-application is 04.02.2026, 1:00 p.m. The requested product innovations have to arrive at Spedition Schenker by 11.02.2026 in a presentable condition.

All costs incurred for the transport or import of the products (e.g. customs duties) shall be borne by the exhibitor. The organiser reserves the right to accept only products that meet the participation criteria set out in these conditions of participation, are received on time and at no cost to the organiser, and for which all participation documents are complete. Please also note that the packages sent in must not contain any hazardous materials! The participant undertakes to provide products that are technically functional and comply with the safety and quality standards applicable to the products. The products must be provided in a condition suitable for presentation.

Please use the following delivery address:

Schenker Deutschland AG
EISEN 2026 – EISENaward
>Note of the exhibitor's name<
Pfälzischer Ring 105 / Parkplatz P 22
50679 Köln
GERMANY

Contact for delivery questions:
Mr Suat Tokdemir
Tel.: 0049 221 98131-8820
Email: suat.tokdemir(at)dbschenker.com

4. Participation fee

Participation in the EISENaward is free of charge. The shipping costs for the submission, as well as the insurance of the exhibit must be paid by the participating company.

5. Product collection

The products – even the non-nominated - must be collected from the special area in Passage 10/11 by 06.03.2026 at the latest. During the trade fair, participants will receive further information on this topic. Products that are not collected will be delivered to their owners at their expense.

6. Supervision/Security/Insurance

The organisation team will supervise the special area for the nominated products during the entire event. Koelnmesse will ensure that security is provided for the exhibits during the fair.

The nominated companies are requested to include their exhibit(s) at the "Innovation Area" in their exhibition insurance.

7. Presentation, Media and press work

By registering for the EISENaward, the registered person declares that it consents to the publication of the submitted image material and details on the competition entries in accordance with the submitted descriptions by the press and media partners of the organizer from 03.03.2026 onwards. The notifying person assures to be author of the images and products supplied to the organizer and their press and media partners or to own the copyrights of the images and products mentioned above. The organizer and their press-and media partners are protected from third parties- rights resulting from the images.

8. Product selection and layout of the "Innovation Area"/Product Presentation

The selection of the 10 nominated products presented on the "Innovation Area" is based solely on the decision of the independent panel members and the criteria stated under "Eligible Products". Not all of the products submitted for judging will be presented on the area; there is no legal claim to the presentation of products. The decision of the jury is final. Products that are not nominated are stored until they are collected during the fair.

The layout and placement of the product innovations within the "Innovation Area" will be carried out exclusively by the organisation team of the EISENaward powered by ZHH. Advertising displays and banners as well as flyers and brochures cannot be admitted due to the limited space.

9. Liability

9.1 Subject to the regulations below, the organizer is liable — irrespective of the legal basis – for all damages which are due to intentional or grossly negligent actions on the part of its legal representatives, employees, or vicarious agents.

9.2 The organizer is only liable for damages not due to intentional or grossly negligent actions on the part of the organizer, its legal representatives, employees, or agents insofar as an essential contractual
obligation (material obligation) has not been fulfilled. An essential obligation is one which has a special importance for the achievement of the purposes of the contract and on the fulfilment of which the user may rely to a special extent. In such a case, the limitation of liability with respect to the damages to be made good will.

9.3 Insofar as the liability of the organizer is excluded or limited by the preceding paragraphs, the same limitation also applies to the benefit of the employees of the organizer, or the sponsors should the participant claim liability directly.

9.4 The organizer is not liable for the actions and the decisions of the judges.

9.5 The organizer is not liable for damages or loss of the delivered products or other property of the exhibitor or that of individuals working for the exhibitor.

9.6 The afore-mentioned limitations of liability do not apply to liability under the German Product Liability Act.

10. Intellectual property/commercial property rights

The participant guarantees that he or she has unlimited rights of use of the objects, in particular of all product information, photos, picture elements, and other data. The participant ensures that the products he or she registers as well as all associated documents and other data (e.g. photographs, plans, drawings, models) are not subject to property rights of third parties. Objects that infringe on intellectual property/commercial property rights — brand names, registered patterns or designs, patents, copyrights or similar — may not take part in the competition. At the time of registration, each participant must inform the organizer of any pending legal proceedings or lawsuits involving the object — in connection with the registered object and related to regulations and laws governing fair trade and competition, patents or registered trademarks, legal or intellectual property disputes. The same applies to corresponding disputes out of court.

Should the organizer be subject to claims from third parties on the grounds that their rights have been infringed by the participant, the participant shall release the organizer from all such claims. The participant assumes liability for any claims arising from damages caused by infringement of these conditions, in particular claims by third parties, and releases the organizer from all liability for any such claims. This obligation to exempt the organizer applies in particular to any violation of the copyright and trademark law.

Photographs processed by electronic or analog methods may not include any elements that are encumbered with rights or claims of third parties (e.g. image elements from magazines, books, purchased CDs etc.). Here too, any liability is borne solely by the participant.

This obligation to comprehensively exempt the organizer continues to apply even after the affected objects, product information, images, picture elements, etc. have been withdrawn from the competition.

• Important information:
  The organizer is under no obligation to delete the data in the cache of other providers’ websites — in particular those of search engine providers — after corresponding links have been made. Should the organizer be subject to claims from third parties on the grounds that their rights have been infringed by the participant’s data in the cache of other providers’ websites — in particular those of search engine providers — after corresponding links have been made, the participant shall release the organizer from all such claims. The participant assumes liability for any claims arising from damages caused by infringement of these conditions, in particular claims by third parties, and releases the organizer from all liability for any such claims.

11. Usage rights/liability of the participant

The participant gives the organizers the free, non-exclusive right to use the product information, images, and other data without any limitation with regard to place or time. This applies in particular to the following types of use:

• The right to use such items in other media, e.g. advertising films, videos, books, brochures and the Internet.
• The right of reproduction and dissemination, i.e. the right to reproduce and disseminate the image material any number of times.
• The archiving rights, i.e. the right to gather the image material and, if appropriate, to issue the same as a trade fair and/or product-related collection.
• The right to transfer, wholly or in part, the rights granted to the organizer to third parties.
• The right to edit or otherwise modify the image material.

If any third parties have usage rights to the product information, photos, and other data as a result of their having contributed to the development or completion of such items, the participant also transfers these rights to the organizer and independently guarantees that this transfer of rights applies to all of the types of use listed above. The participant has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that such usage rights are validly transferred to the rights of third parties. The participant is liable for rights that cannot be transferred.

The participant releases the organizer from the need to pay any royalties and from all claims of third parties, no matter what the legal grounds.

The participant is otherwise liable in accordance with the legal regulations.

12. Jury / general information about EISENaward 2026

12.1 The decision of the jury is final.

12.2 Koelnmesse Group employees are not eligible to take part.

12.3 The conditions listed here are subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is excluded.

12.4 In the event that individual provisions of this conditions of participation should be or become invalid or unenforceable, the effectiveness of the remaining provisions of this conditions of participation shall remain unaffected thereby. The organizer and the participant undertake to replace the ineffective provision with an effective provision that is legally and economically as close to the ineffective provision as possible.

12.5 These Terms of Use may be changed at any time with appropriate notice.

12.6 The decisions of the panel of judges are legally valid and do not need to be justified. The panel of judges makes its decisions autonomously without any influence of the organisers.

12.7 The German version of these terms and conditions is binding. The English version of the terms and conditions is for information purposes only.

13. Premature termination, exclusion

1. The organizer reserves the right to break off or end the competition at any time without giving notice and without giving reasons. The organizer may especially make use of this provision if proper implementation of the contest cannot be guaranteed due to technical, legal or organizational reasons.

2. The organizer reserves the right to exclude individual participants from participation at its sole discretion. This may especially be the case should participants violate the general conditions of participation or use improper aids or third party services during their participation.

The most important dates at a glance:

04.02.2026 Deadline for application
By 11.02.2026 Delivery of the products to Spedition Schenker
19.02.2026 Judging Session
From 20.02.2026 Announcement of the nominees via e-mail
03.03.2026, 10:00 a.m. Award ceremony of the “EISENaward powered by ZHH” at the EISENforum
03.-06.03.2026 Presentation of the 10 nominated products
By 06.03.2026 Collection of products from the special area