Conditions of participation for the visitors of the International Nature Photography Festival laid down by the GDT (German Society for Nature Photography)

§ 1 General information

(1) The organizer of the International Nature Photography Festival is the German Society for Nature Photography / Gesellschaft für Naturfotografie (GDT) e.V., Körnerstr. 4, 24103 Kiel.
(2) The conditions of participation apply to a free visit to the festival, as well as to the purchase of tickets for lectures, seminars and/or other parts of the event programme for which a fee is charged.
(3) Admission to the festival is free.
(4) The purchase of tickets for lectures, seminars and/or other non-free events of the event programme is only permitted for persons over 18 years of age or with proof of parents’ or guardians’ consent.
(5) The tickets are personalised. However, participants of the Nature Photography Festival (hereinafter: "visitors") may resell their tickets prior to the start of the event if he or she is personally prevented from attending the event (this does not apply to free tickets, see § 3 (5)).

§ 2 Conclusion of contract and payment

(1) The visitor initiates a contact by clicking the so-called “buy button”, i.e. a button clearly labelled according to § 312j par. 3 of the German Civil Code). A contract between the visitor and the organizer only becomes valid when the organizer confirms that the ticket(s) has (have) been purchased. However, if the buyer pays in advance, the contract becomes valid with the successful debiting of the visitor's account with the full payment amount.
(2) The prices for the online purchase of tickets are listed in full. After conclusion of the contract, the visitor will receive a confirmation in text form, containing the content of the concrete contract.
(3) Depending on the event and order modalities, payment is possible through the SEPA Direct Debit Scheme, by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners or Discover), giropay, PayPal, instant transfer and/or prepayment by bank transfer. Prices include VAT as required by law. The total price of the order including all fees is payable immediately when the payment methods credit card, giropay, instant transfer or SEPA direct debiting are used. However, in the case of prepayment, the total price must be transferred in full to the account of the organizer stated during the transaction by the date given.
(4) When ordering online, service and shipping costs may be charged, which may vary depending on the event. These fees are displayed to the visitors in the shopping cart when they place their order; there are no other costs that are not shown.

§ 3 Event cancellation and reimbursement

(1) If the event is cancelled as a whole before it starts, the visitor is only entitled to a refund of the nominal value of the ticket(s) purchased.
The same applies to the cancellation of individual seminars and/or lectures for which a fee is charged; the nominal value of the price of the respective seminar/lecture will be refunded. There is no claim for reimbursement in the event of cancellation of individual lectures that have been booked as part of an entire lecture block, unless the cancelled lecture accounts for a considerable proportion of the entire lecture block and, moreover, no substitute lecture was offered by the organiser.
(2) The event as a whole or individual seminars can be cancelled until the beginning; no reasons need be provided. There is no claim for damages over and beyond the reimbursement as described above.
(3) In particular, the event can be cancelled in case of danger to body and health. In this case, as well as in case of cancellation for other reasons of force majeure, due to official order or court decision, as well as the endangerment of visitors by misconduct of others, there is no reimbursement or compensation claim, unless the organizer can be charged with intent or gross negligence.
(4) If the visitor is not able to attend the event, he or she can return the tickets up to 6 weeks before the start and be refunded the amounts paid. For this purpose, the cancellation must be sent by e-mail or in writing to the organiser's agent specified in each case. The date when the cancellation reaches the agent defines whether the 6-week deadline has been met. The cancellation fee is 4 euro. If the tickets have already been paid, this amount will be retained by the organizer immediately.
(5) Tickets issued free of charge (free tickets) are not entitled to any monetary refund. Resale of free tickets is prohibited.

§ 4 Photographing and filming

In general, recordings of lectures or product presentations of any kind are prohibited without the explicit permission of the organizer or an exhibitor. Please note that the publication of such recordings will be prosecuted.

§ 5 Relocation and rescheduling

(1) The organizer reserves the right to change the location and/or date of the event as long as the change is not unreasonably inconvenient for the visitors and is announced at least one week before the start of the event.
(2) The organizer also reserves the right to change the programme and/or the exhibitors. Cancellations or changes will be announced by the organizer as early as possible, but can, for reasons of importance, still take place after the beginning of the festival.
(3) Changes during the festival will be announced. No claims of any kind can be derived from this on the part of the visitors, unless the organizer acts grossly negligently or with intention.

§ 6 Parking facilities

(1) The organizer shall make every effort to ensure sufficient parking spaces near the event location.
However, visitors are asked to travel primarily by public transport. If the visitor receives the right to park his or her vehicle directly in front of the building or on the premises, he or she does so at their own risk.
(2) The organizer accepts no liability for damage or theft, unless guilty of intent or gross negligence.

§ 7 Lost property

The organizer is not liable for lost or stolen property.

§ 8 Data protection

The organizer collects, processes and uses personal data (name, address and e-mail of the visitor) only to the extent necessary for the establishment, continuation, specification or change of the legal relationship. The procedure is based on Art. 6 par. 1 lit. b of the General Data Protection Regulation, which permits the processing of data for the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures. The collected customer data will be deleted after completion of the order or termination of the business relationship. Legal retention periods remain unaffected.
In addition to this statement, you are welcome to consult the organizer’s data protection declaration: https://www.gdtfoto.de/seiten/site-notice-privacy-policy.html?lang=English

§ 9 Prohibition of commercial acts for festival visitors

No commercial action on the part of the visitors is permitted without prior written consent.

§ 10 Exercise of domiciliary rights

The organizer or third parties commissioned by the organizer exercise domiciliary rights on the entire event site.

§ 11 Consent to the free use of one’s image

By entering the event site, the visitor irrevocably consents to the free use of his or her image for photographs, broadcasts and/or recordings of image and/or sound produced by the organizer or its representatives in connection with the event. The visitor also consents to the subsequent exploitation of these materials in all current and future media (e.g. sound and image carriers and digital distribution such as the internet).

§ 12 Final clauses

(1) Should individual provisions of these Conditions of Participation or of the respective contract be or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The parties shall then endeavour to replace the invalid provision of the contract with an appropriate provision which comes as close as possible to the purpose intended by the invalid provision. The same applies to contractual gaps.
(2) The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply.
Kiel, July 18th 2022

This is a translation of the regulations in German (Teilnahmebedingungen der GDT für die Besucher des Internationalen Naturfotofestivals). In case of doubt, the German regulation is binding.