Data Protection Information

Data Protection Information

QualDeEPC is a project coordinated by the Wuppertal Institut, aiming to increase the capacity of regional and local policy makers and stakeholders to structure their bioeconomy and to support the emergence of a thriving bio‐based sector.

The party responsible for the data processing (controller) is EPC gGmbH. We process the personal data collected via our website and store them for the period, which is required to achieve the specified purpose and to comply with the statutory requirements. The following text informs you of the data we collect and the way we process the collected data. We also inform you on your data privacy rights as they pertain to the use of our website.

Pursuant to Article 4 No. 1 GDPR, personal data are all data referring to a specific or identifiable natural person.

1. Scope of this Agreement

This data protection information shall apply to the project website located at www.qualdeepc.eu and all services we offer in context with this project as web services or mobile app providing, we refer to this data protection information.

2. Name and contact information of the person who signs responsible for processing and the appointed data security officer

Controller as defined in Article 4 No. 7 GDPR:

EPC gGmbH
Potsdamer Platz 1,
10785 Berlin [Germany]

(in the following referred to as E-P-C)

You can reach the controller at the above address, here or info@e-p-c.de.

Please feel free to contact the controller directly at any time with your questions concerning your data protection rights and / or your rights as affected person.

3. Processing of Personal Data and Purposes of the Data Processing

During Your Website Visit

You have the choice to access our website without revealing your identity. In this case, the active browser on your computing device sends nothing but the automatic information about itself to the server of our website to enable the connection. This includes the browser type and version and the date and time of access. Included in the transmitted data is also the IP address of your device. Our server stores this IP address in a log file and deletes it automatically after thirty (30) days.

We process the IP address for technical and administrative purposes when we establish a stable connection between your device and our server. This ensures the security and functional reliability of our website. In the event an attacker tries to harm our system, the stored data allow us to trace the illegitimate activity.

The legal foundation for processing the IP address is Article 6 para. 1. lit. f GDPR. We have legitimate interests in maintaining the security of our website and in providing trouble-free website services as outlined above.

Processing the IP address of the requesting device in our log file does not allow us to draw direct conclusions on the identity of the website visitor.

Furthermore, we use cookies and analytical services when visitors access our website. We explain the use of cookies and analytical services in Sections 5 and 6 of this data protection statement.

Registration to the in-house Newsletter

Only if you have explicitly agreed to it pursuant to 6 para. 1, page 1 lit. a GDPR, we will use your email address to send our newsletters to you. The newsletters contain information on the project QualDeEPC, related research and events.

After you have subscribed to our newsletter, we will email a subscription confirmation to you. You must confirm the receipt of this email to receive our newsletter. This procedure is known as double opt-in procedure. For us, your email response serves as confirmation that you are in fact the person who subscribed to our newsletter.

You may opt out of receiving our newsletter at any time. At the end of each newsletter, you will find an unsubscribe link, which makes opting out easy. Alternatively, feel free to send your unsubscribe request by email: click here

Once we have received your cancellation of the newsletter subscription, we will immediately delete your email address from our newsletter distribution list.

Using Contact Forms

We offer you the opportunity to communicate with us via a form on our website. Sending us this form you are asked to enter the following information:

  • Your name and
  • Your email address
  • Your Organisation

We ask for these data to learn who sent us the enquiry and have the means to answer you properly.

You start the communication when you send us the filled-out form. In return, we process the personal data you provided in the contact form so that we can respond to your enquiry. Therefore, the data processing is in our legitimate interest according to Article 6 para. 1, page 1, lit f GDPR.

At the end of our web form-based communication with you, our web application automatically deletes the no longer needed collected data.

4. Transfer of Personal Data to Third Persons

We transfer your personal data to third parties only under the following circumstances:

  • You have consented to the transfer explicitly as prescribed in Article 6 para. 1, page 1, lit. a GDPR.
  • We entered into a contract with you, and the transfer is necessary to execute the contract as prescribed in Article 6 para. 1, page 1, lit b GDPR.
  • According to Article 6 para. 1, page 1, lit. c GDPR and according to applicable law, we are obligated to transfer the data to a specific third party.

The third party / third parties shall use the transferred data for the specified purpose exclusively.

The transmission/transfer of personal data to a country outside the EU or to an international organisation is prohibited.

5. Cookies

We use server-side cookies. Cookies are small files, which are automatically created by the browser of the user device and stored in your device (PC, laptop, tablet, smart phone or similar device) when you visit our website. Cookies do not harm your computer, and they do not contain viruses, Trojans or other malware.

Cookies contain information pertaining to the specific device, which accessed our website. However, this does not give us direct knowledge of your identity.

One reason for us to use cookies is making the use of our website more convenient for you. We use session cookies to recognise that you have already visited certain pages of our website.

We also use temporary cookies to optimise the user-friendliness of our website. Your device stores these cookies temporarily for a specific time. The next time you visit our website, our server recognises your device as prior visitor and remembers your settings and preferences. You will not have to enter these parameters again.

We also use cookies to gather data for our website statistics. This helps us to evaluate and optimise our web offerings (see Section 6). These cookies allow us to recognise repeat visits from your device. These cookies will be deleted automatically after a specific time.

The data obtained with the help of cookies serve our legitimate interests and the legitimate interests of third parties according to Article 6 para. 1, page 1 lit. f GDPR.

Most browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you are able to configure your browser in such a way that the application does not store cookies on your computer or always shows an alert before storing new cookies. However, the complete exclusion of cookies may prevent you from using all functions on our website.

6. Web Analysis by Google Analytics (with anonymisation function)

On this website, the controller has integrated the component of Google Analytics (with the anonymizer function). Google Analytics is a web analytics service. Web analytics is the collection, gathering, and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. A web analysis service collects, inter alia, data about the website from which a person has come (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages were visited, or how often and for what duration a sub-page was viewed. Web analytics are mainly used for the optimization of a website and in order to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of Internet advertising.

The operator of the Google Analytics component is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, United States.

For the web analytics through Google Analytics the controller uses the application “_gat. _anonymizeIp”. By means of this application the IP address of the Internet connection of the data subject is abridged by Google and anonymised when accessing our websites from a Member State of the European Union or another Contracting State to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

The purpose of the Google Analytics component is to analyse the traffic on our website. Google uses the collected data and information, inter alia, to evaluate the use of our website and to provide online reports, which show the activities on our websites, and to provide other services concerning the use of our Internet site for us.

Google Analytics places a cookie on the information technology system of the data subject. The definition of cookies is explained above. With the setting of the cookie, Google is enabled to analyse the use of our website. With each call-up to one of the individual pages of this Internet site, which is operated by the controller and into which a Google Analytics component was integrated, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the data subject will automatically submit data through the Google Analytics component for the purpose of online advertising and the settlement of commissions to Google. During the course of this technical procedure, the enterprise Google gains knowledge of personal information, such as the IP address of the data subject, which serves Google, inter alia, to understand the origin of visitors and clicks, and subsequently create commission settlements.

The cookie is used to store personal information, such as the access time, the location from which the access was made, and the frequency of visits of our website by the data subject. With each visit to our Internet site, such personal data, including the IP address of the Internet access used by the data subject, will be transmitted to Google in the United States of America. These personal data are stored by Google in the United States of America. Google may pass these personal data collected through the technical procedure to third parties.

The data subject may, as stated above, prevent the setting of cookies through our website at any time by means of a corresponding adjustment of the web browser used and thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Such an adjustment to the Internet browser used would also prevent Google Analytics from setting a cookie on the information technology system of the data subject. In addition, cookies already in use by Google Analytics may be deleted at any time via a web browser or other software programs.

In addition, the data subject has the possibility of objecting to a collection of data that are generated by Google Analytics, which is related to the use of this website, as well as the processing of this data by Google and the chance to preclude any such. For this purpose, the data subject must download a browser add-on under the link https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout and install it. This browser add-on tells Google Analytics through a JavaScript, that any data and information about the visits of Internet pages may not be transmitted to Google Analytics. The installation of the browser add-ons is considered an objection by Google. If the information technology system of the data subject is later deleted, formatted, or newly installed, then the data subject must reinstall the browser add-ons to disable Google Analytics. If the browser add-on was uninstalled by the data subject or any other person who is attributable to their sphere of competence, or is disabled, it is possible to execute the reinstallation or reactivation of the browser add-ons.

Further information and the applicable data protection provisions of Google may be retrieved under https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/ and under http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html. Google Analytics is further explained under the following Link https://www.google.com/analytics/.

7. Social Plug-ins

We use social plug-ins (media buttons, media boxes) on our website. These are small box-like buttons. Click on them to place the content of our website under your profile in social network sites.

If you click on such a button, a link will be established between our website and the social network to which you subscribe. Aside from the respective content, the social network provider will receive other personal information. This includes the information that you visit our website at that time.

For the integration of the social plug-in, we use the Shariff Solution. This solution by c’t and Heise prevents your device from creating a link to the social network merely because you visit a website featuring a social plug-in button without clicking on it. This means, our website transmits information to the social network site only after you have clicked on the media button.

We use the following social media plug-ins:

Twitter Sharing by the Twitter International Company

Sometimes, information is transmitted to the parent company Twitter Inc. with its domicile in the USA. Twitter complies with the Data Protection Regulations of ‘US Privacy Shield’ and is registered with the US Privacy Shield Program of the US Department of Trade.

For further information on the data protection provided by Twitter please read the Twitter Data Protection Statement.

LinkedIn by LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company

For further information on the data protection provided by LinkedIn please read the LinkedIn Privacy Policy.

8. YouTube

Based on the agreement according to Article 6 Para. 1, page 1 lit. f GDPR, we use components (videos) of YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Avenue, 94066 San Bruno, CA (USA) (in the following referred to as ‘YouTube’), a company of Google Inc., Amphitheatre Parkway, 94043 Mountain View (USA), (in the following referred to as ‘Google’).

In the process, we use the ‘extended data protection mode’ option provided by YouTube.

Upon requesting an Internet page with embedded video, our website connects to the YouTube servers and renders the content on the Internet page using your browser.

According to the information provided by YouTube, in the ‘extended data protection mode’, your data will be transmitted to the US YouTube servers only while you watch the video. The transmitted data include the Internet page you just viewed and device-specific data including your IP address. By clicking ‘run’ on the video, you agree to this mode of transmission.

Should you be logged into your YouTube account at the same time, YouTube will associate these collected data with your member account. You are able to prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

Google complies with the Data Protection Regulations of ‘US Privacy Shield’ and is registered with the US Privacy Shield Program of the US Department of Trade.

For further information on the data protection provided by Google in connection with the use of YouTube, please read the Google Data Protection Statement.

9. Your Rights as Affected Person

  • According to Article 7 para. 3 GDPR, you have the right to revoke any consent declaration at any time, which you have given to us before. This has the consequence that we are no longer privileged to continue the respective activity.
  • According to Article 15 GDPR, you have the right to demand information on your personal data, which we have processed. In particular, you have the right to information on the following: Purposes of the data processing – The categories of personal data – the categories of recipients to which we transmitted/disclosed or will transmit your data – the planned storage periods of data – the existence of the right to correction, deletion, restriction of processing and objection – the right to appeal – the right to know the origin of data in the event that we did not collect these data – the right to meaningful and detailed information on the existence of automated decision-making including profiling.
  • According to Article 16 GDPR, you have the right to the correction of incorrect and/or the completion of incomplete personal data in storage at E-P-C.
  • According to Article 17 GDPR, you have the right to the deletion of your personal data providing the deletion does not interfere with the execution of the right to the free expression of opinions and with the compliance with legal obligations, providing the deletion is not against public interest and providing the deletion does not hamper the enforcement, execution or defence of legal claims.
  • According to Article 18 GDPR, you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data if you contest or challenge the accuracy of these data, the processing of the data is illegal but you reject the deletion of these data and we no longer need the data while you still need the data to enforce, execute or defend legal claims or you have raised an objection against the data processing according to Article 21 GDPR.
  • According to Article 20 GDPR, you have the right to receive the personal data you provided to us in a structured, well-established and machine-readable format or to demand the transmission to another authority and
  • According to Article 77 GDPR, you have the right to complain to a superior authority. As a rule, you may find such authority at your place of residence, your workplace or our company domicile.

Information on your Right of Objections according to Article 21 GDPR

You have the right to object at any time against the processing of your personal data, based on Article 6 para. 1, lit. f GDPR (data processing in the public interest) and Article 6, para. 1, lit. e GDPR (data processing based on fair balancing) for reasons, which arise from your specific situation. This shall also apply to the profiling as prescribed by Article 4 No. 4 GDPR, which is supported by this provision.

Once you file an objection, we will no longer process your personal data, unless we can establish compelling evidence, which is worthy of protection and outweighs your interests, rights and privileges, or unless the processing serves the enforcement, exercise or defence of legal claims.

To the extent that your objection addresses the processing of data for direct advertising, we will stop the processing immediately. In this case, citing a special situation is not required. This shall also apply to profiling in as far as it relates to such direct advertising.

If you like to claim your right to object, an email using the contact form will suffice.

10. Data Security

We transmit all your personal data using the generally used and secure encryption standard TLS (Transport Layer Security). The TLS protocol is a proven and secure standard. Bankers use the standard for online banking transactions. You recognise a secure TLS connection by the s following the http (https://…) in your browser URL or by the lock symbol in the lower section of your browser.

By the way, we use suitable technical and organisational safety procedures to protect your data against inadvertent or wilful manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against the unauthorised access by third parties. We constantly improve these security measures as the technology advances.

11. Amendments to the Data Security Information and its Timeliness

This data protection information as amended on December 2018 is currently applicable.

Due to improvements of our website and website offers or based on statutory or government standard, it may become necessary to amend this data protection information.