Art. 1 Organizer

1.1. The company S.C. WINES OF ROMANIA MA S.R.L., C.U.I. 46799080, Commercial Register number: J40/17740/2022, Unique European Identifier (EUID): ROONRC.J40/17740/2022 Romania, Bucharest, Sector 1, Strada Soldat Gh. Buciumat, Nr. 26, Bloc C-D, Floor 5, staircase 3, Ap. 508D, J40/15250/23.10.2018, Postal Code 014384, info@winesofromania.com from now on referred to as Wines of Romania or the Organizer.

Art. 2 Duration of the competition

2.1. The competition will take place on 2nd of March 2024, in Romania’s territory, aiming to promote local talents in the wine sector.

2.2. Wines of Romania reserves the right to change the starting and ending dates of the competition, and suspend and terminate the contest without compensation, on www.winesofromania.com.

Art. 3 Conditions of participation

3.1. The competition is open to any visitor to the www.winesofromania.com website who meets the following conditions:

– has reached the age of 18 at the date of the competition;

– is domiciled in Romania or is resident in Romania;

– they work or have worked in vineyards registered in SINVV (National Vine and Wine Information System of Romania), respectively in RPV (Register of Vineyards in Romania);

3.2. Employees or collaborators of the Organiser, such as spouses and their relatives up to the fourth degree, will not be entitled to participate.

3.3. Persons who have defamed or harmed the image of Wines of Romania, the group of related companies or individuals connected with Wines of Romania, or its collaborators of any kind are not allowed to enter the Competition.

3.4. One applicant from a legal entity operating in the wine sector in Romania may only apply.
3.5. Horticulture and Agronomy Faculties in Romania can register in the student section a maximum number of three participants, enrolled in the 3rd and 4th year of study.

Art. 4 Protection of personal data

4.1. By participating in the Competition, the participants consent to the Organizer collecting, recording, organizing, storing, retrieving, consulting, using, transferring or processing in any other way, under the applicable legal provisions, the personal data provided by them, to enable the registration of the candidates in the Competition, the possibility for them to be designated winners and the awarding of the Competition Prize as such: first name, surname, telephone number, the e-mail address of all Contest entrants, i.e. first name, surname, date of birth, city, telephone number, e-mail address, home address and copy of the Contest winner’s identity card. Contestants agree that if they are chosen as the winner of the Contest Prize, they will provide this personal data, which the Organizer and its representatives will process to award the prize.
4.2. The awarding of the Contest Prize is conditional upon fulfilling the eligibility conditions mentioned in Articles 3 and 5 of these Rules, namely the provision of the information mentioned above/personal data to validate the winner.

4.3. According to the applicable legislation, the Organizer must make public the name of the winner of this Contest and the Prize awarded.

4.4. Refusal of a declared winner to have their data processed for this Contest or incomplete provision and refusal to have their name included in lists made public by the Organizer shall entitle the Organizer to refuse to award the Prize, the declared winner being automatically disqualified.

4.5. By participating in the competition, the competitor declared the winner; his/her person and image may be used in the means of communication (by any social media channel) used by the Organizer in the framework of the Competition without any payment obligation.

4.6. The Organizer must comply with the legislation protecting personal data during the Contest. So, the Organizer has to keep the personal data of the candidates registered for this Contest and use them under these Rules and the legislation in force.

4.7. Following the legislation on the protection of personal data and their free movement, registered candidates have the following rights:

(i) the right of access to personal data processed;

(ii) the right to request the Organiser to rectify personal data;

(iii) the right to request the Organiser to delete personal data when they are no longer necessary for organizing and running the Competition;

(iv) the right to request the Organiser to restrict the processing;

(v) the right to request the Organiser to transmit their data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format;

(vi) the right to object to processing, including processing for marketing purposes;

4.8. Candidates may contact the Organiser, about any of their rights mentioned above, regarding the Organiser’s use of their data, by sending a written, dated, and signed request to the Organiser’s address (art. 1) or directly to the e-mail address: info@winesofromania.com.

4.9. For more details on the processing and protection of personal data by Wines of Romania, candidates may consult the Wines of Romania Privacy Policy, available at www.winesofromania.com.

Art. 5 Competition procedure

5.1. The competition will occur in the following way: candidates, competitors, judges, observer, volunteers, and representatives of the Organizer who will take pictures of the grapevines after the end of the pruning competition.

5.2. To enter the competition, the candidate must complete the entry form, accessed online at: www.winesofromania.com.

5.3. If the registered candidates have provided incorrect contact details (e-mail address) or cannot be contacted, they will not be registered, and the next candidate will take their place according to the principle used for registration.

5.4. Wines of Romania reserves the right to eliminate from the competition any participant suspected of attempting to fraud the Competition by any means, either by assuming a false identity. False identity includes falsely declaring that they have worked or are working in vineyards registered in SINVV (National Information System of Vine and Wine in Romania), respectively in RPV (Register of Vineyards in Romania);

5.5. For the avoidance of doubt, the Organizer will not consider as a valid entry in the competition any other means of communication to the Organizer other than the one presented above, such as but not limited to: e-mail messages, messages on the social network Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, sms, etc.

5.6. The maximum number of participants in the Competition is 40 (forty) . Their registration in the Competition will be done in order of entries, according to the "first entered = first registered" principle.

5.7. After registration confirmation, competitors will be notified of the date and place of the competition, in order to organize their participation in the best conditions.
5.8. Competitors must bring thick clothing to ensure outdoor activities in winter conditions; appropriate boots/ footwear and thick socks; warm and comfortable gloves; cap; scarf; sunglasses (if applicable).

5.9. Competitors must bring their grapevine pruning shears (possibly sharpening tools too) for practical training and the competition. So that no competitor is put at a disadvantage, it is mandatory that everyone brings their own tools. Only mechanical grapevine shears are accepted; electric, pneumatic, or hybrid pruning tools would not be accepted.

5.10. On the occasion of the training and before the competition, there will be instructions on work protection. An ambulance/ first aid team will always be at the competition site in case of any eventuality.

5.11. Preparation for the competition will be done for a specific type of pruning, which prevents wood diseases and respects the natural sap flow in the grapevine. Even if those registered for the competition are familiar with other types of pruning, the competition will be held and judged exclusively for this type of grapevine pruning, which has been the subject of training before the contest.

5.12. The preparation for the competition and the competition itself will take place in the vineyard, located in the locality of Pietroasele, Buzau County, belonging to the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest – branch of the Didactic Research and Development Station for Viticulture and Pomiculture Pietroasa-Istrita, represented by the General Director, which has expressly agreed to carry out the grapevine pruning under the conditions of these rules, in the plot and on the rows designated by the representatives of Wines of Romania, after consultation and with the consent of the owner. Any extreme events occurring subsequently, which will negatively influence the production in the plot/plots concerned, which were the subject of the training and practical competition test, cannot be held responsible for the Organizer or the competitors, the owner being aware of the risks involved.

5.13. SDCDVP Pietroasa-Istrita will provide several volunteers interested in viticulture and/ or winemaking, who will support the activities related to the competition, under the guidance of the Organizer, through its staff.

5.14. Competitors will have limited time to carry out the pruning work according to the instructions received on a limited number of dormant grapevine plants, individually marked and photographed by the Organiser.

5.15. The distribution of the work front to each competitor will be done by drawing lots. On that occasion, the competitors will receive the competition numbers and the numerical range of the dormant grapevine plants.

5.16. The competitor will carry out the work of pruning the assigned grapevines and will ensure that all the material resulting from this operation is deposited in the middle of the row between the rows of grapevines (leftover wood material on the row may result in a penalty). Also, the fruiting elements kept on the grapevine trunk shall be cleared, and the wood material that may be left hanging on the trunk or binding material shall be removed from the trellis wires (wood material left hanging on the wires may incur a penalty). Care must be taken not to lose the grapevine order number required for judging.

5.17. The contestant who does not complete the pruning job in the allotted time will be excluded from the judging, regardless of how many grapevine plants they processed in the allotted time.

5.18. The preparation of the competitors for the practical test will be done with qualified trainers.

5.19. The jury will be composed of persons with high specialization in viticulture or grapevine physiology.

5.20. Jurors should bring: thick clothing suitable for outdoor activities in winter conditions; boots/ appropriate footwear and thick socks; warm and comfortable gloves; hat; scarf; sunglasses (if applicable).

5.21. The jury will receive the Judging Log, consisting of the images of each dormant grapevine plant marked and photographed by the Organiser. The Judging Journal will constitute the proof of the judging of the competition and will be archived and kept at the Wines of Romania headquarters, according to the law.

5.22. Each juror will individually evaluate the grapevines on which the competitors have carried out the pruning work as instructed. Each juror will give marks from 1 to 5 to each judged grapevine so that a mark of 5 will represent the most correct pruning of what could be obtained from that grapevine compared to the initial state

5.23. The competition Observer will supervise the activities related to the competition to ensure that they are carried out in accordance with the competition rules. Any event exceeding the Rules will be brought to the attention of the Organizer, through volunteers, for prompt correction.

5.24. Immediately after the end of the competition, in parallel with the judging, the Organiser will ensure that all the pruned grapevines are photographed after pruning by the competitors, and the photos will have the same regime as the Judging Journal (archived and kept at the Organizer’s headquarters). The pictures will be taken even if the dormant grapevine plants remain untouched after the competition time has expired.

5.25. Competitors can take their photographs after the competition and judging have been completed, but without interfering with the pruned grapevines

5.26. After the field judging is completed, the judges will compare the individual sheets, declaring the grapevine plants with the highest score from 1 to 5 to be correctly pruned.

5.27. The winner will be declared the contestant with the most correctly pruned grapevines (scored 5), in the allotted time. If there is a tie between competitors, the judging of the grapevines that did not get the maximum score from each judge will be resumed. If the tie still stands, the competitors will be separated after passing a written lightning test against the clock, based on seasonal viticulture.

5.28. Competitors may contest the judging once only, giving reasons in writing for their contestation, in full compliance with the rules and regulations. All appeals shall be resolved on the spot by the Competition Organizer. Competitors assume any errors they may make during the competition as not due to misunderstanding the instructions received during the training by the Wines of Romania trainers.

Art. 6 Prizes

6.1. Prizes may not be exchanged for a cash value.

6.2. Prizes will be announced after the closing of registration.

6.3. The prizes will be handed over to the winners and cannot be transferred to third parties before receipt.

Art. 7 Designation and announcement of winners. Handing over Prizes

7.1. The prize winners will be the top three competitors who completed the required work within the time allowed, and who had the most grapevines pruned and correctly pruned to bear fruit for 2024 and to prepare fruit setting for the 2025 harvest year.

7.2. The criteria for the winners are exclusively the correctness, accuracy, and speed with which they have carried out the pruning in the vineyard within the time allowed.

7.3. Winners will be announced on-site at the jury’s decision and on the website www.winesofromania.com .

7.4. Each prize will be awarded only based on a valid identity card/ passport and a document proving that the award has been handed over to the winner and that the winner has received it (handing over and receipt of the prize).

Art. 8 Responsibility

8.1. The competition organizer has no responsibility and cannot be involved in any disputes related to the accuracy of personal data submitted by participants.

8.2. Prizes will only be awarded to participants who have registered for the competition following the provisions of these rules and who have participated successively and effectively in the training and the contest itself.

8.3. The Organiser is not obliged to correspond with the participants regarding unregistered or invalid entries.

8.4. The Organizer cannot be held responsible for the suspension or termination of the competition at any stage due to force majeure. Furthermore, the Organiser shall not be liable for technical or electronic data transmission problems beyond its control, and candidates waive all claims against the Organiser in this respect.

8.5. Entrants expressly declare that they understand and agree that failure to comply with these rules may result in disqualification from the competition.

Art. 9 Publication of the rules

9.1. The rules will be made available free of charge to any applicant on the website www.winesofromania.com.

9.2. Participation in this competition implies the obligation to comply with the provisions of these rules.

9.3. The Organizer reserves the right to modify these rules, any modification valid from the date of its publication on the Wines of Romania website.

Art. 10 Disputes

10.1. The Organizer shall not be liable for any delay in the schedule or cancellation of the study tours/ wine tours/ events in which participation is ensured, which may be subject to prizes.

10.2. Any disputes arising between Wines of Romania and the participants in the competition will be settled amicably.

10.3. If it is impossible to settle disputes amicably, the parties shall submit the dispute for settlement to the competent courts within the territorial radius of the organizer’s head office.
10.4.  The participant expressly declares that they have read and understood the rules and accepts its terms and conditions.

Organizer
SC Wines of Romania MA SRL

Administrator
Marinela Ardelean