eKomi Communication Rules

I. Evaluation Conditions and Evaluation Rules for transaction-based Feedback

Thank you for taking the time to share your opinion.

Your opinion helps other consumers to get an idea of the provider or the products and other services. Each evaluation submitted – whether positive or critical – will be included in the evaluation statistics of the evaluated company or of the evaluated products or services and is part of the eKomi trust elements such as certification page, widget and seal, provided that it complies with the evaluation rules mentioned hereafter. By submitting your evaluation you accept to comply with these rules. Positive and negative assessments are treated equally throughout the evaluation process.

As a principle, your opinion must be communicated in a polite and factually constructive manner and must be based on facts. We may take legal action against allegations of untrue facts.

Provider and products evaluations will be displayed and calculated for the Company separately. It is not permitted to combine them.

Opinions must not be influenced and must be given in a non-visible area.

1. Condition for the Submission of Evaluations / Principles

a. An evaluation comprises at least a star rating and an evaluation comment. It can be complemented by images and videos, as far as eKomi provides this functionality. In the conditions hereinafter the term “evaluation” comprises the star rating, the evaluation comment and possibly related image and video material.

b. The prerequisite for the submission of an evaluation is the conclusion of a contract between you and the provider for obtaining products or providing services; this contract entitles you to submit an eKomi evaluation. Given that these requirements are met and you have not received an evaluation link, you can request it from eKomi by proving that you have concluded a contract with the provider as mentioned above.

c. An evaluation can be submitted within six months of receiving the evaluation link; after expiry of six months the evaluation link will no longer be valid.

d. Only the person who has actually had experiences with the provider may give an evaluation.

e. There is no legal entitlement for submitting or publishing an evaluation.

f. In accordance with the legal requirements or eKomi quality criteria, the evaluation will be published at the time of the transaction period and/or the date of the assessment.

g. In accordance with the legal requirements or eKomi quality criteria, the evaluation of a clear Identifier of the evaluator (to prove a personal transaction) is published; this can also be an alias-name.

2. Grant of Rights

a. By submitting the evaluation you are granting eKomi the absolute (non-exclusive) transferable and sub-licensable right to copy, distribute, edit and publicly reproduce (including making the evaluation publicly accessible) the evaluation (see clause 1.a) free of charge.

b. eKomi is entitled to integrate the evaluation in particular into its own websites and to grant third parties, especially its evaluated providers and cooperation partners who are linked to the eKomi evaluations (e.g. Google), the right to reproduce, distribute and publicly display the evaluation online and offline, in particular also for advertising purposes.

3. Inadmissible Contents of Evaluation Comments

The following contents within the evaluation comments are inadmissible:

  • criminal and otherwise illegal contents, in particular insults, disparagement, unlawful threats, defamatory criticism, allegations of untrue facts, contents that are harmful to minors, contents that glorify violence, discrimination, racist contents, etc.
  • contents that may or appear likely to infringe the copyrights, trademark rights, other exclusive rights or personal rights of third parties
  • statements regarding the therapeutic effect and effectiveness of pharmaceutical preparations and devices, medical applications or procedures, therapies, etc.
  • specifically quantified information on prices or other costs (e.g. shipping costs)
  • Person-related and personalizable data (in particular names, addresses, IP addresses, customer numbers, order numbers, bank or -credit card data, sums insured, age, dates of birth) as well as the following company-related data: names of companies, brands, telecommunications data (telephone/fax number, e-mail addresses). Excluded from this are person-related and personalizable data that has been voluntarily released by the data subject or their authorized representatives for use of eKomi within the evaluation process. These data will be maintained by eKomi in accordance with the current data protection regulations and deleted after elimination of the purpose.
  • reproduction of individual communication (e.g. excerpts of a mail communication)
  • (hyper-) links to external contents and scripts
  • contents without any informative value (e.g. senseless sequences of numbers, sequences of letters, symbols)
  • comments which exclusively refer to other evaluations
  • statements on products mentioned in a provider evaluation
  • statements on shops/providers mentioned in a product evaluation
  • direct or indirect references to competitors or to products of competitors of the evaluated provider or of the manufacturer of the evaluated product; general references without mentioning the concrete providers or the products are admissible
  • Evaluations which exclusively refer to other evaluations, other providers or other products

4. Inadmissible Evaluations

The following evaluations are inadmissible:

  • evaluations in which the star rating and the explanations in the comment are contradictory (e.g. 1 star rating and a consistently positive comment)evaluations that are justified by circumstances that are not apparently related to the performance of the evaluated company or to the characteristics of the evaluated product (e.g. poor provider evaluation because the product does not meet expectations; the critical evaluation of the product should have been placed in the product evaluation)
  • product evaluations which were submitted in the scope of a provider evaluation and vice versa. eKomi is allowed to shift them into the correct category
  • evaluations in which star ratings in the evaluation comments are justified by circumstances outside the scope of responsibility of the provider (e.g. delays in delivery due to postal strike) or which were reasonably detectable for the evaluator before conclusion of the contract (e.g. longer delivery times were indicated on the product page)
  • Ratings of persons under 13 years.

5. Transmission of Image and Video Material

a. Clause 3 applies accordingly to transmitted image and video material. The contents mentioned in clause 3 are inadmissible for image and video material.

b. Image and video material may only be communicated to eKomi if and insofar as:

  • you have all rights, in particular copyrights, necessary for the reproduction, distribution and public reproduction of the image or video material and its contents (e.g. texts, photos, music, etc. reproduced therein) and it is free of third-party rights. You must be in possession of the rights which you grant to eKomi in accordance with clause 2 and
  • all persons displayed by this material have given their express consent to being publically displayed in the internet.

6. eKomi’s Handling of the Evaluations

a. eKomi will review all evaluations submitted (both positive and critical) regarding inadmissible contents prior to publishing them.

b. eKomi will usually delete inadmissible contents in the evaluation comments or make them unrecognizable, e.g. by replacement by stars (***), while retaining the star rating and the other contents. The entire evaluation will be deleted if this is appropriate and/or necessary in consideration of the circumstances of each individual case, in particular if a negative star evaluation is recognizably based on facts claimed in the evaluation comment, which prove to be untrue or which are to be treated as untrue.

c. eKomi may completely or partially delete evaluations if:

  • eKomi or the provider are obliged to do so by legal title or administrative order;
  • the provider or the evaluator have undertaken, within the framework of a serious statement of injunction towards a third party, to remove or have removed the contents of the evaluation comments and/or star ratings;
  • eKomi – by total consideration of all circumstances – thinks that it is likely that the evaluation violates the rights of the company and/or the rights of a third party, that it particularly contains assertions of untrue facts or that it is otherwise unlawful;
  • eKomi has reason to believe that the evaluations are based on abusive or manipulative acts or on acts of the client or of third parties intended to cause damage;
  • the reasons for the submission of an evaluation relate to circumstances, that the company can apparently not justify.
  • there are other circumstances which require intervention in a comprehensible manner.

d. Image and video material with inadmissible contents is always completely deleted; the contents are not edited (retouching, shortening, etc.)

e. Product evaluations which are submitted in the scope of a provider evaluation or vice versa may be shifted by eKomi into the correct evaluation category.

f. eKomi may grant the right of a second evaluation to those who submit inadmissible evaluations.

7. Client Dialogue

a. If you have voluntarily indicated your E-Mail address upon submission of the evaluation, the evaluated company or the company manufacturing the evaluated product is allowed to contact you in order to discuss the evaluation.

b. Participation in the client dialogue is voluntary. The dialogue can be stopped anytime without giving reasons.

II. Evaluation Conditions and Rules for non-transaction-based Feedback and Feedback generated by eKomi in its role as a Service Provider for a Client

1. The conditions stipulated under I. “Evaluation Conditions and Rules for transaction-based Feedback” apply accordingly, with the following exceptions:

a. Opinions do not have to be transaction-based and for giving an opinion there is not requirement of concluding a contract between you and the provider on the purchase of products or the provision of services.

b. The way and the purpose of the evaluation inquiry are carried out according to the specifications made by the client. eKomi acts as technical service provider.

c. Although the opinions are reviewed by eKomi regarding possible inadmissibility and treated accordingly, they are not included into the statistics of transaction-based evaluations and they are not part of the eKomi trust elements; instead they are clearly identified and presented as non-transaction-based eKomi opinions.

d. The form of publication of the non-transaction-based feedback shall be in accordance with the instructions of the client.

2. Client as responsible body

The client is responsible for the compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO) and for the adherence to the data protection regulations. Moreover, the company itself is responsible for the following:

a. the way in which the end-users are addressed and informed about the possibility to submit star ratings and evaluations, as well as for obtaining the necessary declarations of consent from the end-users.

b. checking the legal admissibility of advertisements (including their method) regarding the star ratings and comments given for the company and/or its product; special emphasis should be put on aspects of competition and advertising law (e.g. according to the pharmaceutical advertising law); and

c. verifying the legal conditions regarding competition-, data protection- and other laws and obtaining the necessary declarations of consent from the end-users

d. EKOMI CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM A VIOLATION OF THE AFOREMENTIONED OBLIGATIONS.

III. General Communication Rules for all Users of eKomi Services

The following applies for all communications within the services provided by eKomi:

Basically, all communication must be polite, factually constructive and in accordance with facts. Legal action can be taken against untrue allegations of facts.

In case of repeated violation of the eKomi communication rules, eKomi can exclude the users from the further use of eKomi services. This does not discharge the respective users from their contractual obligations towards eKomi.

The following contents are not inadmissible and may be deleted by eKomi:

  • criminal and otherwise illegal contents, in particular insults, disparagement, unlawful threats, defamatory criticism, allegations of untrue facts, contents that are harmful to minors, contents that glorify violence, discrimination, racist contents, etc.
  • contents that may or appear likely to infringe the copyrights, trademark rights, other exclusive rights or personal rights of third parties
  • statements regarding the therapeutic effect and effectiveness of pharmaceutical preparations and devices, medical applications or procedures, therapies, etc.
  • specifically quantified information on prices or other costs (e.g. shipping costs)
  • person-related and personalizable data (in particular names, addresses, IP addresses, customer numbers, order numbers, bank or -credit card data, sums insured, age, dates of birth) as well as the following company-related data: names of companies, brands, telecommunications data (telephone/fax number, e-mail addresses); Excluded from this are person-related and personalizable data that has been voluntarily released by the data subject or their authorized representatives for use of eKomi within the evaluation process. These data will be maintained by eKomi in accordance with the current data protection regulations and deleted after elimination of the purpose.
  • reproduction of individual communication (e.g. excerpts of a mail communication)
  • (hyper-) links to external contents and scripts
  • contents without any informative value (e.g. senseless sequences of numbers, sequences of letters, symbols)
  • comments which exclusively refer to other evaluations
  • statements on products mentioned in a provider evaluation
  • statements on shops/providers mentioned in a product evaluation
  • direct or indirect references to competitors or to products of competitors of the evaluated provider or of the manufacturer of the evaluated product; general references to competitors or to products of competitors of the evaluated provider or of the manufacturer of the evaluated product; general references without mentioning the concrete providers or the products are admissible
  • evaluations which exclusively refer to other evaluations, other providers or other products