The collection and storage of personal data and the nature and purpose of its use

a) Visits to the website

Visiting our website at https://metropolregion-rheinland.de causes the browser software installed on your terminal to automatically send information to the server of our website. This information is temporarily stored in a log file. The following information is recorded without any further action on your part and is stored until it is automatically deleted:

IP address of the computer requesting the web page
Date and time of the access
Name and URL of the requested file
Website from which the access occurs (referrer URL),
Browser used and possibly the operating system of your computer and the name of your access provider.

The data listed are processed by us for the following purposes:

Guaranteeing the smooth establishment of a connection to the website,
Guaranteeing the convenient use of our website,
Evaluation of the system security and stability, and
for further administrative purposes.

The legal basis of the data processing is Article 6 (1) sentence 1 (f) GDPR. Our legitimate interests result from the purposes of the data processing listed above. In no case do we use the data collected to draw conclusions about your person.

In addition, we use cookies and analysis services when you visit our website. You will find a more detailed explanation of this under items 4 and 5 of this privacy statement.

b) If you use our contact forms and newsletters

In the event of questions of any nature, we provide you with the option of contacting us via the contact form on this website. This requires the input of a valid e-mail address so that we know who made the enquiry and so that we are able to provide an answer.

The data processing for the purpose of establishing contact with us is carried out pursuant to Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 (a) GDPR on the basis of your freely given consent.

The personal data that we collect for the use of the forms are automatically deleted after your enquiry has been dealt with.

In addition, personal data are collected when you subscribe to our e-mail newsletter. These data are used by us for the purpose of our own information in the form of our e-mail-newsletter insofar as you have freely given your express consent as follows:

“Yes, I would like to subscribe to the newsletter!”

You can cancel your subscription to the newsletter at any time by using the link provided for this purpose in the newsletter or by sending a corresponding message to us. After cancellation, your e-mail address will be deleted from our newsletter distribution list without delay.

Transfer of data

Your personal data will not be transferred to third parties for purposes other than those set out below.

We only transfer your personal data to third parties when:

You have given your express consent to the transfer pursuant to Article 6 (1) sentence 1 (a) GDPR
The transfer pursuant to Article 6 (1) sentence 1 (f) GDPR is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims and there is no reason to suppose that you have an overriding legitimate interest in your data not being transferred
In the event that the transfer pursuant to Article 6 (1) sentence 1 (c) GDPR is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation
The legally permissible transfer pursuant to Article 6 (1) sentence 1 (b) GDPR is necessary for the performance of a contract to you are party

Cookies

We use cookies on our website. Cookies are small files that are automatically generated by your browser and stored on your terminal (laptop, tablet, smartphone etc.) when you visit our site. Cookies do not cause any damage to your terminal, and they do not contain any viruses, trojans or other malware.

Cookies store information arising from the connection with the specific terminal being used. However, this does not mean that we receive direct knowledge of your identity.

Cookies are used, on the one hand, to improve your experience of our website as a user. We use session cookies in this way in order to recognize that you have already visited individual pages of our website. These cookies are automatically deleted after you leave our site.

In addition, we also use temporary cookies in order to optimize the user-friendliness of our site. These cookies remain stored on your terminal for a specific fixed period. If you revisit our site in order to take advantage of our services, your previous visit is automatically recognized along with any entries and settings that you made so that you do not need to make them once again.

On the other hand, we use cookies in order to statistically record and evaluate usage statistics for our website in order to optimize our offer for you (see item 5). These cookies enable us to automatically recognize that you have already visited us on a subsequent visit to our site. These cookies are automatically deleted after an individually defined period.

The data processed by means of cookies are necessary to safeguard the stated purposes of our legitimate interests and those of third parties pursuant to Article 6 (1) sentence 1 (f) GDPR.

Most browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you can also configure your computer in such a way that cookies are no longer stored on your computer or that a message is always displayed before a new cookie is stored. The complete deactivation of cookies can, however, lead to you being unable to use all of the functions of our website.

Analysis tools

a) Tracking tools

The tracking measures listed below and used by us are carried out on the basis of Article 6 (1) sentence 1 (f) GDPR. We use these tracking measures in order to ensure a needs-based design and the continuing optimization of our website. We also use these tracking measures in order to record usage statistics for our website and in order to optimize our offer for you. These are legitimate interests in the meaning of the regulation referred to above.

For the respective data-processing purposes and data categories please refer to the corresponding tracking tools.

b) Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics for the purposes of needs-based design and continuous optimization of our website. Google Analytics is a Web analysis service from Google Inc. (https://www.google.com/intl/en/about/) (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; in the following “Google”). In this context we make use of pseudonymized user profiles and Cookies (see under item 4). The information created by the cookie concerning your use of this website such as the

browser type / version,
operating system used,
referrer URL (the previously visited site),
host name of the accessing computer (IP address),
time of the server query,

are transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. This information is used to evaluate the use of the website, to create reports on the website activities, and to provide additional services connected with the use of the website and the Internet for the purposes of market research and the needs-based design of these Internet pages. If applicable, Google will also transfer this information to third parties, insofar as this is legally prescribed, or insofar as third parties process this information under contract. Your IP address will not under any circumstances be connected with other information stored by Google. The IP addresses are anonymized so that an attribution is not possible (IP masking).

You can prevent the installation of the cookies by carrying out a corresponding setting in your browser software; however, we point out that you may not be able to use the full scope of all of the features of this website in this case.

You can also avoid the collection, by Google, of the data generated by the cookie regarding your use of the website (including your IP address) and Google’s processing of this data by downloading and installing the browser plugin that is available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en).

As an alternative to the browser plugin, especially in the case of browsers on mobile terminals, you can prevent recording by Google Analytics by clicking on this button: Revoke consent. This results in the setting of an opt-out cookie that prevents the future recording of your data when you visit this website. The opt-out cookie is only valid in this browser and only for our website and is stored on your device. Should you delete the cookies in this browser, you must set the opt-out cookie again.

You can find further information on data protection in connection with Google Analytics in the Google Analytics Help (https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en).

Social plugins

Our services can contain social plugins (“plugins”) from various social networks. You can use these plugins to help you share content or recommend products, for example. The plugins are deactivated as standard and thus do not transfer any data. You can activate the plugins by clicking the corresponding button (e.g. “Activate social media “). The plugins can also be deactivated again with a single click. When the plugins are activated, your web browser establishes a direct connection to the web servers of the respective social network. The social network directly transmits the plugin’s content to your web browser, which then incorporates it into our website. Due to the integration of the plugin, the social network is informed that you have called up the corresponding page of our website, and can record data on your device and your access. If you are logged in to the social network, this can also associate the visit with your account on the respective social network. Should you interact with the plugins (e.g. click on the Facebook “Like” button or post a comment), the corresponding information is transmitted from your browser directly to the social network and stored there. To find out more about the purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing and use of the data by social networks and your corresponding rights and what settings you can use to protect your privacy please consult the data protection notice (privacy policy) of the respective social networks and/or websites. You will find the links for this purpose below. Websites with active social media plugins can transfer data to the network even when you are not registered with the network. An active plugin places a cookie with an ID every time a website is viewed. As your web browser transmits this cookie during every connection with a server unasked, the social network could, in principle, use this to build up a profile of which websites the user associated with this ID has visited. It would then be possible to use this ID at a later date — for example, in the event of subsequent registration with the social network — to assign this ID to a person again.

Social plugins from Facebook

On some own websites we use plugins from the social networking site facebook.com, which is operated by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (“Facebook”). The link to Facebook’s Data Policy is to be found here: Facebook’s Data Policy

Social plugins from Twitter

On some websites we use plugins from the social networking site Twitter, which is operated by Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA (“Twitter”). The link to Twitter’s Privacy Policy is to be found here: Twitter Privacy Policy

Social plugins from Pinterest

On some websites we use plugins from the social networking site Pinterest, which is operated by Pinterest Inc., 635 High Street, Palo Alto, CA, USA (“Pinterest”). The link to Pinterest’s Privacy policy is to be found here: Pinterest’s Privacy policy.

Rights of the data subjects

You have the right:

pursuant to article 15 GDPR to obtain information about the personal data concerning you that we process. In particular, you have the right to obtain information as to the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned, the categories of recipient to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed, the envisaged period for which the personal data will be stored, the existence of the right to request rectification, erasure, restriction of processing or to object to such processing, the existence of the right to lodge a complaint, the source of your data insofar as it was not collected by us, and as to the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, and, at least in those cases, meaningful information about the details thereof.
Pursuant to Article 16 GDPR you have the right to the rectification without undue delay of incorrect or incomplete personal data that we store;
Pursuant to Article 17 GDPR you have the right to obtain the erasure of your personal data stored by us, insofar as the processing is not necessary for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
Pursuant to Article 18 GDPR you have the right to obtain restriction of processing of your personal data, insofar as the accuracy of the personal data is contested by you, the processing is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of the personal data and we longer need the personal data, but they are required by you for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or you have objected to the processing pursuant to Article 21 GDPR;
Pursuant to Article 20 GDPR you have the right to receive the personal data concerning yourself, which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to require the transmission of those data to another controller.
Pursuant to Article 7 (3) GDPR you have the right to withdraw your consent as provided by you to us at any time. This has the consequence that the data processing that is based on this consent may no longer be carried out in future.
Pursuant to Article 77 GDPR you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. As a rule, you can lodge the complaint with the supervisory authority of your place of habitual residence, place of work or of our registered office.

Right to object

Insofar as your personal data is being processed on the basis of legitimate interests pursuant to Article 6(1) sentence 1 (f) GDPR, you have the right pursuant to Article 21 GDPR to object to the processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation or where the data are being processed for direct marketing purposes. In the latter case, you have a general right to object which we will implement without you needing to refer to a particular situation.

Should you wish to exercise your right to withdraw consent or object, it is sufficient to send an e-mail to info@metropolregion-rheinland.de

Data security

During visits to our website we use the widespread SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol in connection with the highest level of encryption supported by your browser. As a rule, this is a 256-bit encryption. In the event that your browser does not support 256-bit encryption, we will fall back on 128-bit v3 technology. You can recognize whether an individual page of our website is being transmitted in encrypted form by the closed representation of a key or a lock symbol in the status bar of your browser.

In addition, we utilize suitable technical and organizational security measures in order to protect your data from accidental or deliberate manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against unauthorized access by third parties. Our security measures are continually improved in line with the technological development.

Topicality and changes to this privacy policy

This privacy policy is currently valid and is as of 22 May 2018.

It may become necessary to change this privacy policy due to the further development of our website and offers or due to changes in legal or regulatory requirements. You can view the respective current privacy policy on the website at any time under https://metropolregion-rheinland.de/datenschutz/

1 Data protection authorities require that a contract data processing agreement is concluded if the use of Google Analytics is to be permissible. Corresponding information is available from Google under https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3379636