Judges
Are there any particular requirements in relation to judges or judging for skills competitions?

Argentina
There are no legal requirements in relation to judges and judging in skill competitions. However, the judging criteria should be clearly stated within the Rules and it´s advisable to include the list of judges.

Australia
No.
However, for the ACT and NSW, skill competitions may include judges who are qualified in a field relevant to the event or competition but this is not obligatory.

Austria
The applicable laws on prize promotions do not include a provision regarding the selection of judges or judging for skill competitions.
Nevertheless the conditions for skill competitions and prize draws have to be transparent and easily accessible for participants (Art. 6 Sec 1 Cif 4 ECG).

Belgium
There is no formal requirement to involve an external jury, judge or panel to select the winners, but doing so may reduce the risk of disputes afterwards.

Brazil
There is no provision in this regard under Brazilian Law.

Canada
There are no specific requirements for judging, except that:
- The judging must be done fairly; and
- The criteria and method of selection must be disclosed clearly in all rules, advertisements, and point of purchase materials.

Chile
Not applicable.

China
No.
Note: This is a broad comment in relation to general commercial prize promotions and does not apply to all skill competitions such as large-scale competitions including sports competitions and singing contests on TV which may have specific rules for judges and/or judging.

Colombia
Competitions where the selection of winners is determined by skill, are not regulated by Colombian law. In this regard, such activities must be in accordance with the Consumer Protection Law, which states that all terms and conditions must be previously posted and completely informed to consumers.

Czech Republic
No, there are no particular requirements in relation to judges or judging for skills competitions, but any judging process has to be communicated in the associated terms and conditions of the respective competition in a clear and unambiguous manner before entering the competition, so that the participants are not misled about the judging process.

Denmark
No.

Finland
No.

France
No, although it is recommended that judges have sufficient capability to judge a skill competition and more generally be independent from the participants and objective.

Germany
No, there are no particular requirements in relation to judges or judging for skills competitions, but:
- Any judging process has to be communicated in the associated terms and conditions of the respective competition in a clear and unambiguous manner before entering the competition, so that participants are not misled about the judging process
- If the skill competition falls under s.661 BGB, some additional requirements apply, e.g. that the judges have to select the winner competently and adhere to the rules of the skills competition.

Hong Kong, SAR
There are no particular requirements in relation to judges or judging for skills competitions.

Hungary
No, there are no particular requirements in relation to judges (other than the presence of a notary public in the case of prize draws) or judging for skills competitions.

India
There are no specific regulations in relation to judges or judging for skills competitions. However, for the sake of good practice the panel of judges must be independent, competent, with set standards/criterion for judgment. Further, the criteria and mechanism for judging entries must be made known before, or at time of, entry.

Ireland
There are no specific requirements under Irish law. The ASAI Code (which is binding only on ASAI members) includes requirements in respect of judges and the judging for skills competitions. These requirements include the following:
- If the selection of winning entries is open to subjective interpretation, an independent judge, or a panel including one member who is independent of the competition’s promoters and intermediaries, should be appointed.
- Those appointed to act as judges should be competent to judge the subject matter of the competition. ASAI members are required to make available to the ASAI on request the identity of judges.

Italy
No, there are no particular requirements in relation to the judges or judging for skills competitions. However, it is highly advisable for the terms and conditions of the competition to be as clear as possible, providing a clear overview of both the criteria for participation in the promotion and the mechanic of the judging process.

Japan
This is not regulated under the AAUPMR or any other relevant guidelines or notices. Methods can be determined at the discretion of the retailer/promoter.

Luxembourg
No, under the previous applicable law.
It is uncertain whether such conditions remain applicable given the current status of the law (see Governing law). A number of operators on the Luxembourg market nonetheless continue to apply the principles of the previously applicable law as good practice.

Mexico
There is no regulation relating to judges and judging in skill competitions.

Netherlands
The conditions for awarding the prizes must be transparent for participants and the award of such prizes must be conducted in an impartial manner.

New Zealand
Competitions that are entirely skilled based have no requirements for judges or judging.

Nigeria
Promotions must specify, before or at the time of entry, the criteria for judging entries. If the selection of winning entries is open to subjective interpretation, an independent judge, or a panel including one member who is independent of the competition’s promoters and intermediaries, shall be appointed. Those appointed to act as judges shall be competent to judge the subject matter of the competition. The full names of the judges shall be available on request.

Norway
There are no specific legal requirements, however, the company must follow any rules that they have set for the competition, and be able to prove they have followed these rules. This follows general contract and marketing law. This implies also that the judges must be independent when judging a competition.

Poland
There are no particular requirements in relation to judges or judging in skills competitions. The evaluation of whether and which work or act deserves the reward is made at the competition organiser's' discretion unless the T&C's of the competition (the "reward promise" under the Polish Civil Code) stipulate otherwise. The criteria and mechanism for judging must be notified to the participants before they enter the promotion.

Portugal
Skill competitions, where the selection of winning entries is open to subjective interpretation, should be judged by an independent judge, or a panel. Those appointed to act as judges should be competent to judge the subject matter of the competition. The full names of judges should be made available on request.

Romania
There are no particular requirements in relation to judges or judging for skills competitions.

Russia
There are no legal requirements in relation to judges or judging for skills competitions. This is entirely determined by the organizer. However, the criteria and procedure of assessment of results must be announced by the organizer of the competition.

Saudi Arabia
No, the ACFR does not stipulate any requirements in relation to judges or judging specifically for skills competitions (eg a minimum number of judges, independence, qualifications, etc). The competent authorities will likely, as part of granting a licence for undertaking the competition, require details of the criteria and mechanism for judging entries.

Singapore
There are no such statutory requirements.

South Korea
There are no regulations concerning judges and judging for skills competitions.

Spain
No. Judges can even be employees of the sponsor. However, appointing judges with at least a minimum knowledge of the matters to be assessed is strongly recommended. This is because otherwise the authorities could find that the competition is based on chance.

Sweden
The criteria and mechanism for judging entries must be made known before, or at the time of, entry. Furthermore, the composition of the judging panel should be made known before, or at the time of, entry.

Thailand
There are no such requirements in relation to skill competitions.

Turkey
There are no specific requirements in relation to skill competitions.

Ukraine
No particular requirements on judges or judging for skills competitions are established by the law. According to the Civil Code of Ukraine, a winner of a skill competition shall be defined according to the criteria set out by a competition organizer in its terms and conditions.
Also, the Civil Code of Ukraine provides that the winner of the skill competition is the person who achieved the best result.
Based on results of the skill competition, the competition founder may approve a decision on the following:
- Award all prizes, provided by the terms and conditions of the competition
- Award specific prizes, if several of them were envisioned
- Refuse the awarding of prizes, if none of the entries meets the requirements of the competition, or
- Award an encouragement prize
The results of the skill competition may be disputed by an interested party in court.
No other requirements are established by the law.

United Arab Emirates - Dubai
There are no set qualifications in relation to judges for skill competitions. However, the attendance of a DED representative is compulsory at the time of selecting winners.

United Kingdom
Skill competitions where the selection of winning entries is open to subjective interpretation must be judged by a demonstrably independent judge or a panel with at least one independent member. Those judging must be competent.
The criteria and mechanism for judging entries must be made known before, or at time of, entry.

United States
Overall Summary
There are no statutory requirements. However, the key is making sure that bona fide skill determines the outcome and entrants are clearly notified of the standard of skill required (ie criteria by which the winner will be determined). Skill competitions where the selection of winning entries is open to subjective interpretation must be judged by a demonstrably independent judge or a panel with at least one independent member. Those judging must be competent.