General accreditation guidelines for journalists

As an organizer of trade fairs, we wish to give journalists easy access to information about our events and our company by means of accreditation. Accreditation is effected exclusively for the purpose of journalistic reporting.

Those eligible for media accreditation:

Persons from Germany or abroad who can provide proof of their journalistic (incl. photojournalistic) activities (with reference to the subject of the trade fair) as follows:

a. by presenting authored articles which are not older than six months at the time of the event;
b. by presenting an imprint, masthead or site notice which is not older than three months at the time of the event and in which they are named as editors, permanent members of the editorial staff or authors;
c. by presenting the original copy of a written order—with reference to the current trade fair—from a supra-regional or regional newspaper with its own editorial content;
d. by means of a web link to an online publication which is established in the industry community and has an appropriate audience. In this case, advance accreditation is necessary due to the increased effort required for verification. Online media such as these must be in existence for at least three months, must have regular entries and the last text with reference to the subject of the trade fair must not be older than three months. (In individual cases, there can be separate and more extensive accreditation rules for bloggers and a separate status for these);
e. by presenting a document not older than six months which verifies that they work for a student newspaper/magazine, or by presenting a valid membership card issued by a youth press organization, or by presenting written confirmation from the school acknowledging their editorial activities on behalf of the student newspaper/magazine;
f. as holders of a valid press card issued by a journalists’ association from Germany or abroad.

We would like to point out that presenting a press card is generally not the sole basis for accreditation. The trade-fair organizer reserves the right to request further proof to verify the journalistic activities according to points a – f above.

Credentials should be presented in German or English. In individual cases, the trade-fair organizer also reserves the right to demand presentation of a valid personal identity document with a photograph,
There is no right to accreditation. Should the situation arise, the trade-fair organizer may exercise its domiciliary rights.

The following groups of persons are not accredited:

• Persons without journalistic credentials, e.g. customer advisers, sales managers, advertising managers or webmasters and PR consultants as well as private, accompanying persons.
• Germans residing in Germany who present a press card from abroad.
• Persons who present a written order from a freelance journalist.
• Persons who are active in social networks in a private capacity.

1. December 2018