Rules

1. Purpose and organiser

These rules set out the conditions for taking part in the Platinum CBD Cup, a sensory evaluation competition for cannabidiol-based products, organised by the association Platinum CBD (a registered non-profit association under the French law of 1 July 1901, RNA W442027639, SIRET 921 098 497 00016), whose registered office is at 9 rue de Beaulieu, 44340 Bouguenais, France.

Any entry constitutes full and unreserved acceptance of these rules in the version published online on the day of entry.

2. Who may take part

Participation is open to professionals — producers, processors and distributors — who hold a company identification number and lawfully market the products they enter.

Members of the jury, members of the association's board and anyone involved in organising the edition may not enter any product in it. A participant entered in an edition may not sit on the jury of that same edition; this incompatibility is enforced automatically by the platform.

3. Product compliance

The participant guarantees that each product entered complies with the regulations applicable to it in its country of sale, in particular regarding delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol content, the hemp variety used, labelling and marketing claims.

The association carries out no regulatory checks and issues no certificate of compliance. An award recognises a sensory evaluation: it is neither a marketing authorisation, nor a health claim, nor a certificate of legality.

FLOWERS entered MUST be:

- grown by the participant, in the country of participation,

- entered in the category corresponding to their growing method,

- unwashed and not terpene-infused.

HASH MUST be:

- made from trichomes (any addition of distillate and/or terpenes is prohibited).

- produced either:

● by the flower grower themselves,

● in collaboration with a: - hashmaker, for growers who do not process

- grower, for hashmakers who do not grow.

Each product must come with an analysis of its cannabinoid content.

The association reserves the right to exclude at any time, without refund, any product whose compliance is clearly doubtful or whose analysis reveals that the defined thresholds have been exceeded.

4. Entry and fees

Entries are made online, per product, during the entry period indicated on the page of the edition concerned. An entry is only final once the fees have been paid and the sample has been received.

Entry fees amount to €200 per product/category. They are shown before payment is confirmed. As the association is not subject to VAT, the amounts displayed are net and no tax is added. A numbered invoice is issued when payment is confirmed and remains available in the producer area.

Payment is collected by our payment provider Viva.com. No card data passes through our servers.

5. Cancellation and refund

The entry concerns a service linked to an event on a specific date. As such, and since it is a business-to-business relationship, it does not give rise to a right of withdrawal.

Any request for cancellation or refund will nevertheless be considered case by case by the association. Please send it to [email protected], stating the entry reference and the reason. If the association cancels an edition of its own accord, the entry fees are refunded in full.

6. Samples

The participant sends, at their own expense and under their own responsibility, the quantity of sample requested for each product entered, within the deadlines communicated. A sample received late, in insufficient quantity or in damaged packaging may be excluded from the evaluation. The shipping address will be provided once the entry has been validated.

For each category selected, the participating producer undertakes to provide the association Platinum CBD, free of charge, with:

●  120g of loose flowers, sized between 1 g and 1.5 g,

●  40g of hash, cut into portions of 0.5 g,

For the Flowers categories, each participant undertakes to state the name of the variety grown and of the breeder (which will not be disclosed), as well as the trade name under which they wish us to communicate.

For the Hash category, each participant undertakes to state the name of the variety or varieties used and of the breeder (which will not be disclosed), the extraction method (ice-o-lator, pollinator… and the mesh size used) and the production process (pure resin, blend).

Samples are not returned: they are used for the evaluation by the professional jury and the public jury, for laboratory analyses and for the packs given to the participants in each category. Analysed samples are sent to the laboratory under a code, without the name of the product or of the producer.

7. Anonymisation and evaluation

Each product is evaluated by two separate juries: a professional jury (growers, sommeliers, analysts) and a public jury made up of consumers who score the products at home.

As soon as its entry is confirmed, each product receives a different anonymous code for each of the two juries. Each jury evaluates the products under its own code only: it knows neither the brand, nor the producer, nor the price, and cannot link a product to the other jury's evaluation. Only the organisers have access to the correspondence between codes and producers.

Jurors score according to the criteria and weightings specific to each category, published on the edition page. For each juror, a product's score is the average of their scores for each criterion, weighted by the coefficients; the product's final score with a jury is the average of its jurors' scores. Each jury thus produces its own score and its own ranking for each category.

In the event of a tie within the same jury, the ranking favours the product that received the greatest number of evaluations from that jury; failing that, the product entered first. The juries' decisions are final and are not individually justified.

8. Results and publication

The results are published on this website on the date announced for the edition, in the form of two sets of results:

• the professional jury's results, which establish a ranking for each category and award no label;

• the public jury's results, which award the Public Choice Award to the top product in each category, and the Gold, Silver or Bronze labels according to the score obtained, based on thresholds set for each edition and published with its results.

The following are made public: the producer's name, the brand, the product name, its category, its ranking and, for the public jury, the award obtained. The detailed scores for each criterion and the juries' comments are communicated only to the participant concerned.

The results are intended to remain available for consultation on a lasting basis, including after the end of an edition.

9. Use of awards

The winner is authorised to reproduce the award obtained on their communication materials and packaging, free of charge and without time limit, under the following conditions:

• the mention must state the year of the edition, the category, the exact product awarded and the jury that awarded the distinction or established the ranking (“Public jury” or “Professional jury”);

• it may not be extended to another product or another range, nor suggest a higher award than the one obtained, nor attribute to one jury an award granted by the other;

• the award artwork may not be modified, recoloured or recomposed.

Any non-compliant use may lead to the withdrawal of the authorisation and of the award. The participant authorises the association to mention their name, brand and product in communications relating to the competition.

10. Liability

The association implements the means necessary for the competition to run smoothly. It cannot be held liable in the event of force majeure, interruption of the online service, or loss of or damage to a sample in transit.

The participant remains solely responsible for the compliance, quality and safety of the products they enter and market.

11. Personal data

The data processing carried out for the competition is described in the privacy policy.

12. Changes to the rules

The association may amend these rules. The version applicable to an entry is the one published online on the day of that entry. Any substantial change during an edition is notified to participants by email.

13. Disputes

These rules are governed by French law. In the event of a dispute, the parties will seek an amicable solution before taking any legal action. Failing agreement, the dispute falls within the jurisdiction of the competent courts.

For any question about these rules, write to [email protected].