CERCLE V CALENDAR CONTEST RULES OF PROCEDURE

Article 1 – Organizer and Contest Period

Valrhona SAS, with a share capital of €1,539,990 and registered offices at 12 avenue Président Roosevelt 26600 Tain l'Hermitage, France (hereinafter "The Organizer") is organizing a Contest with no purchase necessary which is exclusively available to professional members of the Cercle V program entitled “Cercle V 2026 Calendar Contest” (hereinafter the “Contest”) which will take place from 16/06/2025 to 18/07/2025  (hereinafter the “Contest Period”) in accordance with the terms and conditions outlined in these rules of procedure (hereinafter “Rules of Procedure”),

Article 2 – Acceptance of and compliance with these Rules of Procedure

Participation in this Contest involves irrevocable and unconditional acceptance of these Rules of Procedure in full, as well as the laws, rules and other legislation that applies to Promotional contests in France.

These Rules of Procedure are available at the following address: https://www.valrhona.com/en/cercle-v-calendar-contest-rules-of-procedure 

Any person who contravenes the conditions for participation or any other provision set out in the Rules of Procedure will no longer be permitted to participate in the Contest or to claim a prize, if applicable. The Organizer reserves the right to begin legal proceedings against them in this case.

Likewise, if the Contest is found to be disrupted by third parties and the participant is complicit in this activity, their entry will be considered null and void and the Organizer reserves the right to take legal action.

The Organizer reserves the right to carry out any necessary checks at any time via any method in order to ensure compliance with the Rules of Procedure.

Article 3 – Announcing the Contest

The Contest is announced using the following formats:

• The Organizer’s website: https://www.valrhona.com
• Newsletter sent to all Cercle V customers that are eligible to participate in the Contest
• Valrhona Social Networks
• Cercle V platform : https://www.cercle-v.com 

Article 4 – Participation

4.1. Conditions for participation

Participation in the Contest is open exclusively to professional customers worldwide from the direct (via sales) and indirect network with Cercle V status (Bronze, Silver or Gold) on the day they participate. Each company may provide only one entry and must supply its customer code (for customers from the direct network).

For participants in countries where Valrhona products are sold by distributors, the Marketing Manager that is responsible for the area will authenticate the customer’s Cercle V program membership.

4.2. Purpose of the Contest

This Contest aims to select the best recipes submitted by participants related to the topic “ Iconic Valrhona couverture chocolates”.

4.3. Rules for participation

In order to participate in the Contest, the Participant must do the following during the Contest Period:

• Complete the registration form on the website https://www.valrhona.com/en/cercle-v-competition, providing:
  • establishment contact 
  • customer code  
  • a description of the recipe composition (inspirations, details of Valrhona products used and tools)  
  • a high-definition portrait-format image of the creation on a neutral background  
  • the name of the creation
• Approve their registration by accepting the Rules of Procedure

The customer must have Cercle V status (Bronze, Silver, or Gold) when registering their creation in order to participate.

The customer must use at least one of the references from the Iconic range in the creation presented in order for their participation to be validated. The exhaustive list of products available in the Iconic range is as follows : Guanaja 70%, Caraïbe 66%, Manjari 64%, Hukambi 53%, Jivara 40%, Blond Dulcey 35% and Opalys 33%.

The image of the creation must include the following parts: the result of the recipe set up on a neutral-colored table without any other items apart from the creation (no third party brands, items covered by intellectual property rights or copyright covering images or text, or items of a violent, offensive or defamatory nature, or that incite hatred or that are illegal in any other way). The Organizer may refuse permission to participate if the photograph includes any of these prohibited items.

Rights to the photograph will be transferred to the Organizer in order for the latter to publish the photograph as part of this Contest.

Complete compliance with the participation process described above shall result in permission given to the Participant to participate, and involves unconditional acceptance of these Rules of Procedure, which are available on the Website.

Any entry which does not strictly comply with the entry processes as described above or that includes missing, incorrect, incomplete, erroneous or inaccurate information, as well as any entry which is registered after the Contest Period or which is stopped while it is being approved (including due to Internet connection issues) will be considered null and void and will not be taken into account.

Any use of different addresses or identifiers for the same entry will be considered to be attempted fraud, and the Participant will be permanently removed.

All entry fees are payable exclusively by the Participant.

Article 5 – Selection of the winners

After the validation of all entries, a first selection stage will be carried out in each zone by Valrhona's community to elect the most beautiful creations. This initial stage will take place from July 25 to July 31, 2025. The photos that have received the most votes will be the finalist photos (total number of votes accumulated by July 31, 2025, at 11:59 PM) which will be submitted to a jury of experts.

Each zone will be able to submit the following number of finalists to a jury of experts, in order to represent the entire Cercle V community:

The jury of experts, composed of pastry chefs from the Valrhona School in Tain l'Hermitage and members of the Maison, will meet between August 4 and August 7 and will select the 24 most remarkable creations among those favored during the first stage, as follows:

Each winner will be asked to provide one or more photographs of themselves for the posting of their portrait.

Article 6 – Prizes

Each winner will receive the following Prize:

• A photograph of the winner’s creation and it's portrait will be showcased and placed into a calendar which will then be printed and given to every member of the Cercle V program (two winning creations per month, with the choice of order being made at the Organizer’s discretion).
• 50 copies of the calendar sent by post to the address on the customer file,
• The photograph of the winner and their creation will be published on our social media accounts in 2026.
• A short feature story will be written for each winner, introducing their career background and their creation.

The Organizer chooses the month when the photo is published as well as the month on which the photo appears in the calendar at their own discretion.

If the winner’s contact details change, he/she will need to inform the Organizer without delay in order to ensure they receive the Prize.

Only one prize will be given per participant and per customer code (with the same surname, first name, mailing address and/or email address).

The winners will be notified individually in advance and then announced in a newsletter and on Valrhona social networks.

The Prizes are in the winner’s names, are non-marketable and are not for resale.

In the event of force majeure or of any other reason outside of their control, the Organizer reserves the right to substitute the Prize won with a prize of equivalent nature and value.

Prizes given cannot give rise to disputes from Participants regarding replacements or exchange thereof for any reason.

No compensation or financial equivalent to the Prizes may be requested by the Participants and the Organizer will not provide any other service or guarantee beyond delivering the Prizes.

Additional fees may be incurred by the winners, which are not explicitly established by the Rules of Procedure and which would be payable exclusively by the winners.

The Organizer reserves the right not to give the Prize to a winner if it seems that the latter has committed fraud or has not complied with the conditions within the Rules of Procedure, without the Organizer incurring any liability and without any compensation of any kind required to be paid.

Article 7 – Liability

The Contest and the promotion thereof are not managed or sponsored by Facebook. The Organizer thus releases Instagram from all liability regarding all matters related to the Contest and the organization and promotion thereof. The Organizer cannot be held liable for any outcomes resulting from the collection or distribution of data or information via Facebook or Instagram or more generally from the use of these platforms by Participants.

The Organizer will not incur any liability if, in the event of force majeure, events outside of its control or justified necessity, it has to shorten, extend, delay, modify or cancel the Contest at any time should the circumstances require it. In this case, the Participants will be duly informed.

Article 8 – Guaranties

The Participant guarantees that their creation is original, and that they have not added anything that may result in a claim from a third party, irrespective of the grounds on which it is based. To this end, the Participant guarantees the Organizer against any proceedings that may be brought by third parties with regard to the distribution of the Participant’s photograph and its use within this Contest.

The winners authorize the Organizer to use their surnames, first names and photographs for advertising purposes, without providing them with any remuneration, benefits or anything else beyond the appropriate prize.

The Participants relinquish the copyright to their creation and their photograph that they sent as part of their Contest entry to be used and developed by the Organizer to conduct and promote the Contest and Valrhona Products worldwide using every type of format (print media, posters, leaflets, etc.) or media (Internet, television, radio).

This authorization is valid for a period of 24 months from the start of the Contest

The Winners also commit to allowing a short feature story to be written about them to promote the Contest and to send photographs to be used to introduce them.

Article 10 – Internet

The Organizer reminds Participants of the internet’s specific characteristics and limitations, and refuses all responsibility related to Participants’ connections to this network.

The Organizer refuses all liability should one or more Participant(s) be unable to connect to our website due to technical faults or any other issue, especially problems linked to network congestion.

The Organizer declines all liability in the event of computer misuse or an incident in connection with the use of a computer (more specifically, the Organizer will not be held liable for any damages, whether material or non-material caused to participants, their computer equipment and to data stored on these, or for any consequences that may result that impact their personal, professional or commercial activity), Internet access, telephone access or any other technical connection.

The Organizer cannot be held liable for any delays or errors when sending emails or private messages (or issues with spam filters).

Article 11 – Personal data

Participant personal data collected by the Organizer is the data which was collected while they participated in the Contest, as well as while the Prize was organized and sent, if applicable.

This data is only used to manage and promote the Contest. This data is sent to the Organizer, who may also disclose it to third parties for the exclusive purpose of managing the Contest.

Subject to the Participants’ explicit consent, collected Participant data may be used by the Organizer to more effectively assist them and inform them about its new products and offers that they may find interesting.

The data protection offer may be contacted at the following address: dpo@savencia.com.

Participants are informed that they have a right to access, rectification, portability and erasure of their data, as well as a right to restrict and object to the processing of their personal data.

Participants may exercise these rights by sending a request in writing to: Valrhona, service communication, 315 Allée du BERGERON, 26600 Mercurol-Veaunes, France

Participants also have the right to contact the competent authority regarding personal data (the French Data Protection Authority - CNIL).

Data collection is a requirement in order to participate in the Contest. As a result, Participants who exercise the right to erase their personal data before the end of the Contest will be considered to have withdrawn their entry.

Article 12 – Modification and cancellation of the Contest

The Organizer reserves the right to shorten, postpone, modify, extend, stop or simply cancel the Contest without being held liable for this and without needing to pay any kind of compensation.

Article 13 – Access to and modification of the Rules of Procedure

These Rules of Procedure are available online on the Website at the following address

https://www.valrhona.com/en/cercle-v-calendar-contest-rules-of-procedure 

Article 14 – Claims and agreement regarding proof

Any claims regarding the interpretation and application of these Rules of Procedure and/or cases that are not covered by these should be sent to the following address: Valrhona, service communication, 315 Allée du BERGERON, 26600 Mercurol-Veaunes, France

No disputes or claims will be considered after a period of 1 month following the end date of the Contest.

The data that the Organizer has stored on its servers or those of its partners will be regarded as valid in the event of any disputes, to which the Participant expressly agrees.

Article 14 – Applicable law

These Rules of Procedure, as well as the whole of the Contest and the relationships between the Organizer and the participants are subject to French law.