Data Protection

Privacy Policy

We have written this privacy policy (version 10.06.2021-111761286) to provide you with information in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 as well as to explain what information we collect, how we use data and what choices you have as a visitor to this website.

Privacy policies usually sound very technical. However, this version should describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible. Moreover, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly manner whenever possible. We would also like to convey that we only collect and use information via this website if there is a corresponding legal basis for it. This is certainly not possible if you give very brief technical explanations, as are often standard on the Internet when it comes to data protection. We hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative. Maybe you will also find some information that you did not know yet.
Should you still have questions, we kindly ask you to follow the existing links to see further information on third-party websites, or to simply write us an email. You can find our contact information in our website’s imprint.

Contact details of the data protection controller

If you have any question about data protection, please find the contact details of the body or person responsible for data protection below:

MMag. Amra Causevic

Permanent office of the EUROPEAN FORUM
Maison Européenne de la Protection Sociale
rue d’Arlon 50
B-1000 Brussels

E-Mail: info@europeanforum.org

Company details: https://www.europeanforum.org/imprint

Rights in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation

You are granted the following rights in accordance with the provisions of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG):

  • right to rectification (article 16 GDPR)
  • right to erasure (“right to be forgotten“) (article 17 GDPR)
  • right to restrict processing (article 18 GDPR)
  • righ to notification – notification obligation regarding rectification or erasure of personal data or restriction of processing (article 19 GDPR)
  • right to data portability (article 20 GDPR)
  • Right to object (article 21 GDPR)
  • right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing – including profiling – (article 22 GDPR)

If you think that the processing of your data violates the data protection law, or that your data protection rights have been infringed in any other way, you can lodge a complaint with your respective regulatory authority. For Austria this is the data protection authority, whose website you can access at https://www.data-protection-authority.gv.at/.

Automatic Data Retention

Every time you visit a website nowadays, certain information is automatically created and stored, just as it happens on this website. This data should be collected as sparingly as possible, and only with good reason. By website, we mean the entirety of all websites on your domain, i.e. everything from the homepage to the very last subpage (like this one here). By domain we mean example.uk or examplepage.com.

Even while you are currently visiting our website, our web server – this is the computer this website is stored on, usually automatically retains data such as the below – for reasons such as operational security or for creating access statistics etc.

  • the full address (URL) of the accessed website (e. g. https://www.examplepage.uk/examplesubpage.html/)
  • browser and browser version (e.g. Chrome 87)
  • the operating system used (e.g. Windows 10)
  • the address (URL) of the previously visited site (referrer URL) (z. B. https://www.examplepage.uk/icamefromhere.html/)
  • the host name and the IP-address of the device the website is accessed from (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
  • date and time
  • in so-called web server log files.

Generally, these files are stored for two weeks and are then automatically deleted. We do not pass these data to others, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be looked at by the authorities in case of illegal conduct.

In short: your visit is logged by our provider (company that runs our website on servers), but we do not pass on your data!

Cookies

Our website uses HTTP-cookies to store user-specific data.
For your better understanding of the following Privacy Policy statement, we will explain to you below what cookies are and why they are in use.

What exactly are cookies?

Every time you surf the internet, you use a browser. Common browsers are for example Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text-files in your browser. These files are called cookies.

What should not be dismissed, is that cookies are very useful little helpers. Nearly all websites use cookies. More accurately speaking these are HTTP-cookies, since there are also different cookies for other uses. http-cookies are small files which our website stores on your computer. These cookie files are automatically put into the cookie-folder, which is like the “brain” of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. Moreover, to define a cookie, one or multiple attributes must be specified.

Cookies save certain parts of your user data, such as e.g. language or personal page settings. When you re-open our website, your browser submits these “user specific” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the settings you are familiar to. In some browsers every cookie has its own file, in others such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in one single file.

There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, while third-party cookies are created by partner-websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Every cookie is individual, since every cookie stores different data. The expiration time of a cookie also varies – it can be a few minutes, or up to a few years. Cookies are no software-programs and contain no computer viruses, trojans or any other malware. Cookies also cannot access your PC’s information.

This is an example of how cookie-files can look:

name: _ga
value: GA1.2.1326744211.152111761286-9
purpose: differentiation between website visitors
expiration date: after 2 years

A browser should support these minimum sizes:

  • at least 4096 bytes per cookie
  • at least 50 cookies per domain
  • at least 3000 cookies in total

Which types of cookies are there?

What exact cookies we use, depends on the used services. We will explain this in the following sections of the Privacy Policy statement. Firstly, we will briefly focus on the different types of HTTP-cookies.

There are 4 different types of cookies:

Essential Cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure the basic function of a website. They are needed when a user for example puts a product into their shopping cart, then continues surfing on different websites and comes back later in order to proceed to the checkout. Even when the user closed their window priorly, these cookies ensure that the shopping cart does not get deleted.

Purposive Cookies
These cookies collect info about the user behaviour and record if the user potentially receives any error messages. Furthermore, these cookies record the website’s loading time as well as its behaviour within different browsers.

Target-orientated Cookies
These cookies care for an improved user-friendliness. Thus, information such as previously entered locations, fonts or data in forms stay saved.

Advertising Cookies
These cookies are also known as targeting-Cookies. They serve the purpose of delivering individually adapted advertisements to the user. This can be very practical, but also rather annoying.

Upon your first visit to a website you are usually asked which of these cookie-types you want to accept. Furthermore, this decision will of course also be saved in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

You yourself take the decision if and how you want to use cookies. Thus, no matter what service or website cookies are from, you always have the option to delete, deactivate or only partially allow them. Therefore, you can for example block cookies of third parties but allow any other cookies.

If you want change or delete cookie-settings and would like to determine which cookies have been saved to your browser, you can find this info in your browser-settings:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge

If you generally do not want to allow any cookies at all, you can set up your browser in a way, to notify you whenever a potential cookie is about to be set. This gives you the opportunity to manually decide to either permit or deny the placement of every single cookie. The settings for this differ from browser to browser. Therefore, it might be best for you to search for the instructions in Google. If you are using Chrome, you could for example put the search phrase “delete cookies Chrome” or “deactivate cookies Chrome” into Google.

How is my data protected?

There is a “cookie policy” that has been in place since 2009. It states that the storage of cookies requires the user’s consent. However, among the countries of the EU, these guidelines are often met with mixed reactions. In Austria the guidelines have been implemented in § 96 section 3 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG).

If you want to learn more about cookies and do not mind technical documentation, we recommend https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) called “HTTP State Management Mechanism”.

Email-Marketing

Of course, we want to stay in contact with you and keep you in the loop of the most important news about our company. For this, we use email marketing, which is an essential part of our online marketing. If you agree to this or if it is permitted by law, we will send you newsletters, emails or other notifications. When the term “newsletter” is used in the following text, it mainly refers to emails that are sent regularly.

How can you register for our Email-Marketing?

If you want to participate in our email marketing (usually via newsletter), you usually have to register with your email address only. You will simply have to fill an online form and submit it. However, we may also ask you to fill in your title and name so we will be able to address you more personally.

Generally, the registration for newsletters is carried out with the so-called “double opt-in procedure”. After registering for our newsletter on our website, you will receive an email for you to confirm the newsletter registration. This will ensure that you own your email address and that no one registers with an email address that is not owned by them. Every single registration is stored either by us or by a notification tool we use. This is necessary for us to ensure that registration processes are legally correct. Therefore, the time of your registration, the time of confirmation of your registration and your IP address are usually retained. It will also be logged if you make changes to your stored data.

How long can we store your email address?

If you unsubscribe from our email/newsletter distribution list, we may store your address for up to three years on the basis of our legitimate interests, so that we can still prove your consent at the time. We are only allowed to process this data if we have to defend ourselves against any claims.

However, if you confirm that you have given us your consent to subscribe to the newsletter, you can submit an individual request for deletion at any time. Should you object to your consent permanently, we reserve the right to save your email address in a blacklist. We will of course keep your email address for as long as you are voluntarily subscribed to our newsletter.

On what legal basis do we operate email marketing?

Our newsletter is sent on the basis of your consent. This means that we are only allowed to send you a newsletter if you have actively registered for it beforehand. If consent is not required, newsletters will be sent on the basis of the legitimate interest in direct marketing, provided it is legally permitted. Should we commission a service provider, this will be done on the basis of our legitimate interest also. We record your registration process for the purpose of using it as proof that it is in compliance with our laws.

What is in our newsletters?

Of course, we do not want to bother you with our newsletter in any way. Therefore, we really strive to offer only relevant and interesting content, such as more information about our company, our services or our products. Since we are continuously improving our offers, our newsletter will always update you on any news or special offers and lucrative promotions.

If we commission a service provider with a professional mailing tool for our email marketing, we do this in order to be able to offer you our newsletter fast and securely.

Which data are retained?

If you subscribe to our newsletter via our website, you will confirm your membership in our email list via an email that we will send to you. In addition to your IP address and email address, your name, address and telephone number may also be saved. However, this will only be done if you agree to this data retention. Moreover, information about your device or the type of content you prefer on our website may also be stored. In the “Automatic data storage” section you can find out more about how your data is stored when you visit a website.

You can find information on special email marketing services in the following sections, provided the information you are looking for is available.

How can I cancel my subscription?

You have the option to cancel your newsletter subscription at any time. All you have to do is revoke your consent to the newsletter subscription. This usually only takes a few minutes or a few clicks. Most of the time you will find a link directly in our newsletter, with which you will be able to cancel the subscription. Should you not be able to find the link in the newsletter, you can contact us by email and we will cancel your newsletter subscription for you.

BorlabsCookie Datenschutzerklärung

Wir verwenden auf unserer Website BorlabsCookie, unter andere ein Tool zur Speicherung Ihrer Cookie-Einwilligung. Dienstanbieter ist das deutsche Unternehmen Borlabs – Benjamin A. Bornschein, Rübenkamp 32, 22305 Hamburg, Deutschland. Mehr über die Daten, die durch die Verwendung von BorlabsCookie verarbeitet werden, erfahren Sie in der Privacy Policy auf https://de.borlabs.io/datenschutz/.

All texts are copyrighted.

Source: Created with the Datenschutz Generator by AdSimple