The European Product Evaluation Institute (EPEI) is a private, independent, commercial product assessment service operated by smartzone GmbH, Neuötting, Germany (see the Imprint). It is not a public authority, not affiliated with the European Union and holds no governmental accreditation.
Our commitments:
- A published, versioned benchmark methodology. Every assessable product is evaluated under the published methodology and a versioned category benchmark. The benchmark defines price classes, mandatory gates, expected market-median features, additional-value features and negative features. Broad categories without an active benchmark are classification only and cannot produce an award.
- A deterministic decision. The rule engine—not an AI judgement—applies the published formula. Identical verified evidence, methodology version and benchmark version produce the same result. AI may support evidence research and extraction, but it cannot decide the award.
- Evidence for every claim. Every scored feature is linked to a stored source, retrieval date and excerpt. Manufacturer submissions are clearly labelled and take precedence over manufacturer publications, retailers and other web sources. Where required evidence cannot be verified, the record says “not assessable” rather than guessing.
- Market-relative, not hand-picked. The score is calibrated to the category and verified price class. It does not depend on hand-picked individual rivals. Methodology 2026.07 starts at 70 points, deducts six points for each missing or unverified expected feature, caps additional-value points at 15 and transparently records every further adjustment.
- Fees are disclosed—and never buy a result. The assessment itself is free of charge for everyone. Only after a passed assessment may manufacturers choose a paid licence for commercial use of the seal. Payment never influences the score. See Pricing.
- Permanent public verification. Every published award has a public record showing product, score, methodology and benchmark versions, dates and current status (valid, expired, suspended, revoked or under reassessment). See Verify.
- Corrections remain visible. We investigate every substantiated error report, rerun the deterministic calculation when evidence changes and show the award’s current status truthfully. See Complaints & Corrections.