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Contract reading

What EEX legally published, but does not want you to read

Every clause below is published by EEX itself, on its own website, today. The finding is not that the text exists. It is the distance between what a client is shown and what a client agreed to. Read from its own documents on .

Contracting entity: European Energy Exchange AG

market data licencesole discretionhidden feetrainingliability capcancellation feecarbonjurisdictionaccess expiryaudit rights

EEX is not a retail broker. European Energy Exchange AG runs a German regulated market, and its own webshop says the products are not sold to private individuals. The sharpest clauses sit in the commercial contracts around the exchange, not in the trading rules. EPEX SPOT SE can raise data fees on five grounds of its own, and nothing you already paid comes back if you leave. Every English rulebook says only the German version is legally binding.

Back to EEX

Contract risk

Harder than average
3.5/10

Where this contract sitsHow far this contract goes, overall. Under 2 is nothing beyond the ordinary; 6 to 9 means several clauses put money you have already earned at risk; 9 and above reads as designed to make payout refusable.

0510
CriticalClauses that can cost you money you have already earned or deposited, or that remove your ability to challenge it.
0
FlaggedEvery clause worth knowing about, at all three severities. Ordinary terms that every broker has are not counted.
27
DocumentsHow many of the broker's own legal files this reading is based on. Each one was downloaded and hashed on the date shown.
111
ContradictionsPlaces where a promise the broker makes in public is not kept by the clause that governs it.
1

How the 27 break downThe same flagged clauses, split by how much each one can cost you. Severity is our reading of the clause, not the broker's label.

Critical0
Warning23
Notice4

section 25 of 26is where the deepest clause sits, 96% of the way into the document it is in

The numbers in this contractFigures taken from this broker's own clauses, so the labels differ from broker to broker. The four in the panel above are the same on every report.

60 daysFee you were not shown. Jump to the clause this comes from.Data fees can rise on grounds that block your exit5 daysTime to complain. Jump to the clause this comes from.EEX can cancel a course five days out24Account limit. Jump to the clause this comes from.Minimum order for Baltic gas rises twenty-four-fold

What the documents say

27 clauses worth knowing about, worst first, each quoted from EEX's own files

01

Every English rulebook EEX publishes carries a line on its cover saying the English is for information only and the German version is legally binding. That covers the contract specifications you trade against and the carbon sell-off terms of use.

Why this matters

The text you read, quote and plan around is not the text that decides a dispute. If the two versions differ on a delivery time or a settlement price, the German wording wins, and you may never have read it.

Exhibit 1WarningStandard wording

The English version is for information purposes only. The German version is legally binding.
Quoted in Contract Specifications, p.1
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
02

EPEX SPOT can raise what you pay for market data on its own, with 60 days notice. Clause 4.2.3.6 lists five grounds for doing it, and one of them is matching what other exchanges charge.

In plain words

Remuneration means payments it receives.

Why this matters

You only get a right to terminate when an increase falls outside those five grounds. Because one ground is competitor pricing, almost any rise can be placed inside them, and you stay on at the new price.

Exhibit 2WarningHarder than usual60 days

The remuneration specified in the Market Data Agreement may be amended by EPEX SPOT unilaterally, without limitation, in the following cases:
Clause 4.2.3.6 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.14
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
Set against a regulated standard: ESMA (EU)

Trading venues under ESMA's market data rules must publish the price of their data together with the cost of producing it, and must offer it on a reasonable commercial basis. This contract names the fee level of other international exchanges as a ground for raising the price.

EEX is not licensed by this regulator, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

  • Worse together with Exhibit 7The fee can rise on grounds that remove your right to leave, and nothing already paid comes back if you go anyway.
03

If the EU postpones the first ETS2 auctions, EEX closes every open position you hold in the affected EEX EU ETS2 futures and reopens it in a later year. The clause sits in footnote 2 of the contract specifications.

Why this matters

A hedge you put on for one compliance year can be crystallised and reopened for a different one. The cash settlement is priced on a day the exchange announces, not a day you choose.

Exhibit 3WarningHarder than usual

In the event of a postponement of the auctions pursuant to Article 30k of the EU ETS Directive or for other reasons, all open positions in the affected maturities of the EEX EU ETS2 Futures will be closed and corresponding positions in the corresponding maturities of the EEX EU ETS2 Futures of the calendar year in which the auction first takes place will be opened (position transfer)
Clause A.2.1.1.1 in Contract Specifications, p.20
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 21The exchange can move the dates of a contract you hold and, for ETS2, replace the position outright.
04

The Management Board of the Exchange can cancel a purchase you have already concluded, after the sell-off period has ended. Clause 12 lets it do that where the reason lies in the person of the buyer, or to keep the sale orderly.

Why this matters

A trade you believe is done can be undone, and a short payment unwinds the purchase on its own under clause 9. What you get against a cancellation is the statutory objection procedure, not an appeal to the exchange.

Exhibit 4WarningStandard wording

The Management Board of the Exchange may cancel purchase offers and purchase agreements during and after the end of the sell-off period
Clause 12 (1) in nEHS - Terms of Use of EEX, p.7
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Buried at section 25 of 26 in the nEHS - Terms of Use of EEX, 96% of the way through.

05

Data you calculate from EPEX SPOT prices is still its Information Product if the original figures can be worked back out, or if your result can be used instead of them. Where there is doubt, the definitions clause gives EPEX SPOT sole discretion to decide.

Why this matters

Whether your own analytics count as licensed data, and so become billable and auditable, is a call EPEX SPOT makes alone. The test sits in the definitions at the front of the document, not in the section about fees.

Exhibit 5WarningHarder than usual

In case of doubt, EPEX SPOT determines at its sole discretion whether such data is Information Product within the meaning of (i) and/or (ii) above.
Clause 1 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.3
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
06

The price table in the sell-off terms runs from 2021 to 2025 and ends at 55 euros a certificate. If you are buying in 2026 the price is not in the document, and clause 13 expires the whole thing at midnight on 31 December 2026.

Why this matters

A buyer looking for what a certificate costs this year will not find it in the terms that govern the sale. The costs clause calls the use free of charge and then preserves charges by EEX AG that it never names.

Exhibit 6WarningStandard wording$55

in the period from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025: 55 euros
Clause 8 (1) in nEHS - Terms of Use of EEX, p.5
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Buried at section 22 of 26 in the nEHS - Terms of Use of EEX, 85% of the way through.

What happens, and when

The stages this clause runs through, taken from the broker's own document
TriggerWhat the broker may then doClause
2021A certificate costs 25 euros.8 (1)
2022A certificate costs 30 euros.8 (1)
2024A certificate costs 45 euros.8 (1)
2025A certificate costs 55 euros, and the table ends here.8 (1)

The costs that matter sit in EPEX SPOT's data conditions, not on the shop page

EPEX SPOT can raise a market data fee on five grounds of its own, and one of them is matching what rival exchanges charge. Fall inside those grounds and you lose the right to terminate over the rise. Nothing already paid comes back, a late invoice carries interest at three times the statutory rate, and an audit can bill you an estimate built from another company's figures.

Cost disclosure4 clauses flagged

You pay the fee before EPEX SPOT delivers the data, and the subscription renews itself every year. Clause 5.1.8 says none of it is refundable if you terminate, and getting out needs 60 days notice before the end date.

Why this matters

A price shown as 60 euros a month is a 720 euro commitment once the year is invoiced. Cancel in month two and you still pay the year, and you pay it again if your notice misses the window.

Exhibit 7WarningHarder than usual

The Fee is not refundable upon termination of the Market Data Agreement by the Contracting Party for any reason or in case of breach of the Market Data Agreement.
Clause 5.1.8 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.18
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
Our own capture of webshop.eex-group.com, taken on Oct 14, 2026The claim, on Repeated under every product on the EEX Group webshop store page, beneath a price shown as a monthly rateVisit this page on the broker's siteDownload the full size image file

If your usage reports are late or wrong, EPEX SPOT can invoice an estimate built from what comparable companies report. Where it decides the error was deliberate, clause 4.2.4.9 lets it add a second charge of up to 100% of the back-payment.

Why this matters

You can receive an invoice for data use that nobody measured, built from another company's figures. If EPEX SPOT treats the gap as deliberate, the bill is the arrears, the interest, and then the arrears again.

Exhibit 8WarningHarder than usual100%

preliminarily estimate the remuneration to be paid (including remuneration to be paid retroactively for the past) based on appropriate criteria (e.g. reports of comparable other companies) in accordance with its reasonably exercised discretion and to invoice the remuneration so estimated
Clause 4.2.4.2 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.14
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

What happens, and when

The stages this clause runs through, taken from the broker's own document
TriggerWhat the broker may then doClause
By the 15th of the next monthYou must send EPEX SPOT the monthly usage figures.4.2.4.4
Report lateEPEX SPOT can charge interest for the whole period of delay, with no reminder.4.2.4.4
Still no report a month laterEPEX SPOT can invoice an estimate in advance, suspend the data, or make you pay for an audit.4.2.4.6
Deliberate misreportingEPEX SPOT can add an exceptional fee of up to the whole back-payment again.4.2.4.9
  • Worse together with Exhibit 5EPEX SPOT decides what counts as its data and then audits you against that decision.

Interest on a late data invoice runs at three times the statutory rate, for every day after your invoice falls due. Clause 4.2.3.4 adds it by right, with no reminder and no formal notice to pay, plus a flat 40 euro recovery fee.

Why this matters

You can be charged the triple rate before anyone tells you the invoice was missed. The interest runs from the day after the due date, not from the day you are chased for it.

Exhibit 9WarningHarder than usual$40

recovery fee of forty (40) Euros and any additional recovery costs
Clause 4.2.3.4 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.13
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Cancel a seminar inside the final two weeks and clause 8.2.1 charges you 50% of the fee plus VAT. Not turning up at all costs the full price plus VAT, and a third rebooking costs 100 euros per person.

Why this matters

The document's own wording on the free window reads two ways, so the safe assumption is that any late cancellation costs you half. For an in-house course, dropping below five participants is treated as cancelling the whole thing.

Exhibit 10WarningStandard wording50%

a) Within 14 days prior to the commencement of said seminar: free of charge. b) Afterwards: 50 % of the seminar fee (plus VAT) c) In the event of non-participation without prior cancellation: full seminar price (plus VAT).
Clause 8.2.1 in General Terms and Conditions Training and Education, p.5
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

What happens, and when

The stages this clause runs through, taken from the broker's own document
TriggerWhat the broker may then doClause
Up to 14 days beforeThe document makes cancellation free of charge.8.2.1
After thatHalf the seminar fee plus VAT.8.2.1
No show, no cancellationThe full seminar price plus VAT.8.2.1
Third rebookingEEX charges 100 euros per participant.8.3
In-house group below fiveThe seminar counts as cancelled and the same fees apply.8.4

Emission rights leave quickly, but you never held named units

Allowances bought on EEX are held in escrow by ECC AG, and what you own is a share of a total stock rather than specific units. You cannot demand allowances from a particular trading period. The transfer out is fast, because the demand is executed at the latest on the first ECC business day after you make it.

Getting assets out1 clause flagged

Emission rights you buy are held in escrow by ECC AG, not in a registry account of your own. Clause D.3.1.3.2 makes your holding a share of a total stock, and clause D.3.1.5 says you cannot demand allowances from any particular trading period.

Why this matters

You hold a claim on a pool rather than named units, which is an exposure to ECC AG as well as to the market. The transfer out is quick: the demand is executed at the latest on the first ECC business day after you make it.

Exhibit 11WarningStandard wording

Each exchange Participant is entitled to demand the transfer of Emission Rights, held in escrow for them, in the respective accounts of ECC AG at the registry, to a registry account specified by them. There is no entitlement to transfer of EU allowances of a particular trading period, provided that the respective EU allowances transferred can be used to meet the requirements of the EU ETS Directive at the time of transfer. The demand is executed at the latest on the first ECC Business Day after it is made.
Clause D.3.1.5 in Contract Specifications, p.41
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

EEX can change a contract's terms while you are holding it

Open EEX EU ETS2 positions can be closed and reopened in a later year if the EU postpones its auctions, with the cash settlement priced on a day the exchange announces. From 23 November 2026 the minimum order for Finnish, Baltic and French PEG gas futures rises from one contract to 24. Carbon options are exercised automatically against EEX's own fixing, and manual exercise is not allowed.

Changes you cannot refuse6 clauses flagged

From 23 November 2026, if you trade a Finnish, Lithuanian, Latvian-Estonian or French PEG gas future through the order book, you need 24 contracts, not one. The change sits in a footnote to the lot-size clause.

Why this matters

A position you can build one lot at a time today will need twenty-four lots in a single order. For a small supplier hedging a modest book, the order book stops being usable.

Exhibit 20WarningHarder than usual24

Expected to be effective as of 23 November 2026. Until that time, the minimum lot size for FIN, LTU, LVA-EST, and PEG futures will continue to be 1 contract or a multiple thereof.
Clause A.1.2.5 in Contract Specifications, p.16
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

EEX exercises your EUA and UKA options automatically against an intraday fixing price it determines itself, and clause 4.7.2 says manual exercise by the participant is inadmissible. Power options on the same exchange do allow a contrary instruction.

Why this matters

You cannot decline to exercise a carbon option that is barely in the money, even where taking the futures position is the wrong outcome for you. The exchange can also move the last trading day and change which option series exist.

Exhibit 21WarningHarder than usual

Manual exercise by the trading participant is inadmissible.
Clause A.4.7.2 in Contract Specifications, p.28
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

EPEX SPOT can interrupt or suspend the data at any time for technical reasons. Clause 4.1.1.3 also lets it reduce or suspend your access without any prior notification where it judges that necessary for continuity or security.

Why this matters

A feed you built a trading or billing process on can stop without warning. The clause promises only that EPEX SPOT will tell you as soon as possible afterwards.

Exhibit 22WarningStandard wording

We reserve the right to interrupt or suspend the provision of the Information Product, at any time, due to technical reasons. We also reserve the rights to temporarily reduce or suspend your access to the Information Product without any prior notification, provided that we have legitimate grounds to deem such action necessary to ensure the continuity and/or security of our services and activity or in case of exceptional circumstances.
Clause 4.1.1.3 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.10
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

Where you pass data to users who have no direct contract with EPEX SPOT, you assess and collect its fees, interest, damages and penalties from them on its behalf. Clause 4.2.1 includes sums arising from those users' contracts with you.

Why this matters

You become the debt collector against your own customers, for money owed to someone else. Money your customer owes you can be routed to EPEX SPOT under the same clause.

Exhibit 23WarningHarder than usual

on behalf of EPEX SPOT, the Contracting Party will assess and collect from any User that does not have a direct agreement with EPEX SPOT, any fees, interest, damages and penalties to be due to EPEX SPOT
Clause 4.2.1 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.11
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 8You collect EPEX SPOT's money from your customers, and the audit right reaches into their sites to check the figures.

An e-learning access code runs for six to twelve months, and clause 4.2 then lets EEX delete the module or block your code. Clause 8.5 makes the public-course cancellation fees apply as soon as you have used the login once.

Why this matters

The document does not say which customers get six months and which get twelve. Logging in once turns a cost-free cancellation into the full fee, and for two named courses the whole training fee falls due.

Exhibit 25WarningHarder than usual

After this period, EEX is entitled to delete the E-learning Module or to block the participant's access code.
Clause 4.2 in General Terms and Conditions Training and Education, p.3
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

If you want to use the data to train, fine-tune, validate or improve any AI system, machine learning model or algorithmic process, you need EPEX SPOT's prior written consent. The same ban appears twice, in the licence grant and again in the data-protection clause.

Why this matters

A forecasting model built on historic EPEX SPOT prices needs written permission first. The conditions do not say how that consent is asked for, how long it takes, or what it costs.

Exhibit 24NoticeStandard wording

validation or enhancement of any artificial intelligence ("AI") system, machine learning model, algorithmic process, whether proprietary or not, without the prior written consent of EPEX SPOT.
Clause 4.3.4 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.16
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

EEX Group limits what it owes you across its contracts

EPEX SPOT's total liability stops at one year of fees, while your data-protection indemnity has no ceiling at all. It accepts no liability for the accuracy of the data you pay for. On the training side EEX caps liability at the course fee, does not warrant the material is correct, and can cancel five days out while excluding your travel costs.

In plain words

Indemnities are money it says you owe it.

Exit routes6 clauses flagged

EPEX SPOT's total liability to you cannot exceed one year of the fees it collected. Your indemnity for data-protection claims has no ceiling, and clause 4.3.3 puts it expressly outside that limit.

Why this matters

If a data subject sues EPEX SPOT over personal data you passed it, you cover every cost, charge and loss with no ceiling. Your own recovery against EPEX SPOT stops at twelve months of fees.

Exhibit 12WarningHarder than usual

shall not exceed the total amount of the Fee collected by us over a one-year period.
Clause 4.5.5 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.17
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 13The cap limits what you can recover and the accuracy exclusion removes most of the grounds for recovering anything.

EPEX SPOT accepts no liability for the accuracy, completeness, correctness or timeliness of the data you pay for. Clause 4.5.9 extends that to data it buys from third parties, which it says it has no chance to check.

Why this matters

You pay for numbers whose accuracy nobody stands behind. A trading or billing decision made on a wrong price is your loss, and the contract says so before you even reach the liability cap.

Exhibit 13WarningStandard wording

Without prejudice to other provisions of the Market Data Agreement, we (a) do not accept any liability for the accuracy, the completeness, correctness and timeliness of the Information Product, including partial or complete unavailability of the Trading System or the access to the Test Market Data and (b) cannot guarantee that the Information Product will be provided without interruption and with complete availability.
Clause 4.5.2 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.17
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

If fewer than ten people book a public seminar, EEX can withdraw and tell you five days before the start. You get the fee back. Clause 8.1 excludes your travel, your accommodation and your lost work.

Why this matters

You can be five days from a course with flights and a hotel booked, and recover only what the course cost. Clause 7.7 does the same for a relocation, a postponement or a change of trainer.

Exhibit 14WarningHarder than usual5 days

In this case EEX shall notify the customer within five (5) days prior to the commencement of the seminar.
Clause 8.1 in General Terms and Conditions Training and Education, p.5
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference
  • Worse together with Exhibit 10You pay half the fee to cancel late, while EEX can cancel on five days' notice and owes you nothing beyond the fee.

EEX does not warrant the correctness or accuracy of its training materials. Clause 7.1 also caps its liability at the amount of the training fee you paid.

Why this matters

You can act on an exchange compliance course that turns out to be wrong and recover only what the course cost. The materials come with no promise that they are right.

Exhibit 15WarningHarder than usual

However EEX does not warrant for content correctness and accuracy of the materials.
Clause 7.6 in General Terms and Conditions Training and Education, p.4
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

A private customer's two-week revocation right cannot start before the contract is signed, says clause 10.2. The next sentence starts the clock one day after you send the registration form, which is before EEX has confirmed anything.

Why this matters

Your cooling-off period can be read as already running before the contract exists. Clause 10.5 then ends the right early if EEX has delivered the training inside the window.

Exhibit 16Warning

This right shall apply for a period of two weeks and, in case of services, cannot commence before the contract is signed. The two-week revocation period shall commence one day after sending the registration form.
Clause 10.2 in General Terms and Conditions Training and Education, p.7
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

The clause that preserves your right to go to a court for urgent relief begins by excluding Section 6.4.2. No clause 6.4.2 exists in the document, and the arbitration clause it was meant to name is 6.5.2.

Why this matters

The one route to a court instead of a Paris arbitration rests on a reference to a clause that is not there. Arguing about what the drafter meant is a cost you carry before the dispute even starts.

Exhibit 19Notice

Nothing in Section 6.4.2 shall preclude the Parties from applying for interim or conservatory measures or any other injunctive relief in summary proceedings before the competent courts.
Clause 6.5.3 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.20
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

The English rulebooks EEX publishes are not the ones that decide a dispute

Every English version of an EEX rulebook says on its cover that only the German text is legally binding. Which forum you get then depends on which company sold to you: French law and arbitration in Paris for EPEX SPOT data, German law and the courts in Leipzig for an EEX training course. EPEX SPOT can also transfer the whole agreement to a third party and be released from it.

Which law, which language2 clauses flagged

Buy EPEX SPOT market data and French law applies, with disputes going to arbitration at the CMAP in Paris. Book an EEX training course and clause 11.2 sends you to the courts in Leipzig under German law.

Why this matters

Two purchases from the same group put you in two different legal systems. You can end up funding a Paris arbitration over a data subscription that costs sixty euros a month.

Exhibit 17WarningHarder than usual

The Market Data Agreement is governed by French law, to the exclusion of the conflict of law provisions thereof.
Clause 6.5.1 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.20
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

EPEX SPOT can transfer the whole agreement, with all its rights and obligations, to any third party. Clause 6.2.3 then releases it from everything it owed you, while clause 6.2.1 needs its written consent before you can transfer anything.

Why this matters

Your data supplier can become a company you never chose, and the one you contracted with is released. You get no consent right, no notice period and no matching exit.

Exhibit 18WarningHarder than usual

EPEX SPOT shall be entitled to transfer this Market Data Agreement with all rights and obligations deriving from it to any third party and EPEX SPOT shall therefore be released from all its obligations under this Market Data Agreement.
Clause 6.2.3 in General Conditions of Data Use applicable to EPEX SPOT Information Products, p.19
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference

EEX AG produces the index that settles the futures EEX lists

The final settlement price of an EEX power future is a spot market index EEX AG determines itself, and EEX AG is also the registry operator that guarantees of origin move through. The arrangement is disclosed rather than hidden, and the specifications point to EEX AG's published Benchmark Statement for the method. That is the ordinary shape for an exchange listing futures on its own indices.

Who sets the price1 clause flagged

The final settlement price of an EEX power future you hold comes from a spot market index EEX AG determines itself. EEX AG is also the registry operator that guarantees of origin are transferred to and from.

Why this matters

The company running the market also produces the number that decides what your contract pays. EEX points to its own published Benchmark Statement for how the indices are built, which is where to check the method.

Exhibit 26NoticeStandard wording

The final settlement price is based on the respective spot market index as determined by EEX AG for the respective market area. Further information on the spot market indices is contained in the Benchmark Statement of EEX AG.
Clause D.2.2.1.2 in Contract Specifications, p.36
Downloaded from the broker's site on Open the reference
Set against a regulated standard: ESMA (EU)

Benchmark administrators under ESMA's rules must publish a benchmark statement and keep governance arrangements that manage conflicts of interest. These specifications name EEX AG as the determining party and point to its Benchmark Statement for the method.

EEX is not licensed by this regulator, so this is a comparison of practice, not a finding of any breach.

European Energy Exchange AG is a German regulated market, not a retail broker

EEX AG operates the exchange in Leipzig, the Management Board of the Exchange issues the rules as administrative acts under the German Exchange Act, ECC AG clears the trades and holds the assets, and EPEX SPOT SE in Paris sells the market data. Admission needs equity of at least 25,000 euros and clearing membership at ECC AG, and the webshop says the products are not sold to private individuals. Where the EEX specifications and ECC's clearing conditions conflict, ECC's conditions prevail.

Who you contract with1 clause flagged

EEX AG operates the exchange, the Management Board of the Exchange issues the rules as administrative acts, ECC AG clears and holds the assets, and EPEX SPOT SE in Paris sells the data. Whichever of them you deal with, where the specifications and ECC's clearing conditions disagree, clause D.1.3 says ECC's conditions win.

Why this matters

The rulebook you read is subordinate to a document another company publishes. Which company you can hold to anything depends on which of the four you dealt with.

Exhibit 27NoticeStandard wording

European Energy Exchange AG ("EEX AG"), the operating company of the European Energy Exchange ("EEX"), has been commissioned by the Federal Republic of Germany
Clause Preamble (A) in nEHS - Terms of Use of EEX, p.3
Read from the broker's site on Open the reference

Where the marketing and the contract disagree

A promise made in public, set against the clause that governs it

01

The shop tells a buyer that the yearly consequence is renewal and an invoice, and never mentions that nothing already paid is refundable.

Said in public, in English

Conditions: The subscription is tacitly renewed and invoiced every year.

Repeated under every product on the EEX Group webshop store page, beneath a price shown as a monthly rate

We took a picture of this page. It is shown once, with the finding it belongs to. See our capture of webshop.eex-group.com

In the contract · clause 5.1.8

The Fee is not refundable upon termination of the Market Data Agreement by the Contracting Party for any reason or in case of breach of the Market Data Agreement.

The documents this reading is based on

111 files, all published by EEX. Each shows when we read it and a fingerprint of its wording.

WIKILIX keeps the copy of each file it read, and does not republish it: what is published is the fingerprint of its wording. Download the file yourself and hash its text, lowercased with runs of whitespace collapsed, and a matching fingerprint means the wording quoted above is still the wording EEX publishes.

How this reading was done

Every clause above was read out of a document EEX publishes itself

This reading was published on .

Documents
3 of 111downloaded from the broker's site of the 114 we found, and 3 read in full
Pages opened
80pages walked to find those documents, footer links included
Marketing pages
11public pages set against what the contract says
Position measured
2clauses whose position was counted: which numbered section of the document holds them, out of how many

Who the contract is with

European Energy Exchange AG

European Energy Exchange AG is the operating company of the European Energy Exchange, a German regulated market in Leipzig. It is not a retail trading firm and it does not hold client money. Admission as a buyer in the carbon sell-off needs proof of equity capital of at least 25,000 euros and participation in the clearing at European Commodity Clearing AG. The EEX Group webshop states that its products are not available to private individuals or students. Three other companies stand behind what looks like one brand. EEX AG runs the market. The Management Board of the Exchange issues the rules as administrative acts under the German Exchange Act. ECC AG clears the trades and holds the assets. EPEX SPOT SE in Paris sells the market data and operates the webshop under French law.

Quotations are copied verbatim from the documents named above, with the clause number and the page each one came from. Where a clause is quoted in another language, the original is shown first and the English is a translation.

The plain-language parts, what a clause means for a client, how ordinary it is, and how it reads against a regulated standard, are WIKILIX's analysis and are labelled as such on every card. This is a reading of public documents, not legal advice and not an allegation of wrongdoing.

In fairness, and what we could not check

A reader who knows the edges of the work can trust the middle of it

EEX publishes more than almost any venue we have read. Every rulebook comes in a clean version and a track-changes version side by side. A participant can see exactly which words moved and when. The contract specifications carry a release number and a date on every page. Measures taken by the Management Board of the Exchange come with a statutory objection route under German administrative law. That is a real appeal, not an internal review. The published documents contain no dormancy fee and no bonus mechanics.

EEX publishes well over a hundred rule and legal documents. This review covers eight. Three in full: the nEHS Terms of Use, the Training and Education General Terms and Conditions, and the EEX Transparency glossary. Five in part: the EPEX SPOT general conditions for market data, and the contract specifications in English and German, both the clean and the track-changed files. Every quotation here comes from those eight. Three documents that matter most to a trading participant would not open. Those are the EEX Exchange Rules, the EEX Trading Conditions and the EEX Admission Rules. We also did not read the DataSource Service Agreement, the two privacy notices or the cookie policy. The same goes for the code of conduct, the settlement price procedures and about sixty key information documents for individual products. No earlier version of any document is available for comparison. The only marketing page we could price-check was the EEX Group webshop store.

How to check any of this yourself

Every quote above links to the EEX file it came from. This is what to do with it.

Open the three stepsFind the words in the source, work out the fingerprint, and read what a difference does and does not prove.

Open the source and search for the words

Every quote has a link under it. Open the file, or the web page, and search it for the words we quote. The clause number next to the quote tells you where to look.

If the words are not there any more, the source may have changed after we read it. That is worth knowing too. We keep the date we read it, and a code worked out from its wording, so the quote stays checkable.

What a fingerprint is

A fingerprint is a code worked out from what a source says. Change one word and the code changes completely. We keep two codes for every file we read, and the panel on each source shows both.

The first is the code of the exact file we downloaded. The second is the code of its wording alone, with capital letters lowered and runs of spaces collapsed. When the same words are saved as a new file, the first code changes and the second one stays the same.

Only the first code can be worked out on your own computer. Save the file, then run one of these, putting the name of the file you saved where the example is. The panel on each source prints the command with that source's real file name already in it.

macOS or Linux:
  shasum -a 256 the-file-you-saved.pdf

Windows:
  certutil -hashfile the-file-you-saved.pdf SHA256

The two codes are different from each other, and they are not meant to match. Comparing one against the other proves nothing.

What a difference means, and what it does not

A different file code on its own proves nothing. A PDF saved again with a new date inside it is a new file saying exactly the same thing.

A different wording code means the words themselves changed. That is the one that matters, and it is why we keep it.

Even then, a change is not proof of bad faith. Companies update their documents. What this report says is what the document said on the day we read it, and every quote carries that date.

A source that is a web page and not a file has no file to save, so only the code of its wording is shown.

How this report is made

Every clause quoted above comes from a document EEX publishes on its own website, downloaded and hashed on the date shown, with the clause number and page recorded so any reader can check it. We do not allege anything the documents do not say, and we do not judge EEX on anything other than its own published terms and its own public marketing. Where a clause has a qualifier that softens it, the report says so. Last read Oct 14, 2026.

If you represent EEX and a clause has changed, been withdrawn, or is being read out of context, tell us and we will re-read the documents and update this page. Corrections from the broker are welcome and are published with the reading they change. Contact us.

This is a reading of a contract, not legal advice and not a ruling on EEX. Whether its licence is real and current is a separate check on the broker profile.

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