Privacy Policy
The protection and safeguarding of personal data are top priorities for us. We therefore stringently comply with the provisions of Germany’s (new) Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Below, you will find information on the type of data we collect and the purposes for which it is collected.
General privacy policy
You can visit our pages without disclosing any personal information. For the purposes of system security and to improve our services, we log only non-personal access data, such as your anonymised IP address, the date and time of the website access, the volume of data transmitted, notification of successful access, the browser type and version, your operating system, the page from which you came to us (referrer) or the name of the file/page requested; this data is stored in a server log file for a period of six months. Nothing regarding you personally can be inferred from this data.
Privacy policy with respect to cookies
Our website uses cookies. These are small text files that allow specific, user-related information to be logged in the user’s browser while they use the website and make it possible for the user to be recognised if they visit the website again within a year. In particular, cookies make it possible to determine how often pages are visited and by how many people and to analyse people’s usage behaviour, and also to make our pages more user-friendly and make the page contents match the user’s preferences or be optimally rendered on the device they use.
The content management system (CMS) we use, WordPress, uses a so-called “session cookie” for the purpose of optimised presentation. This technically necessary cookie identifies a “session” – i.e. a visit to our website – and is valid until the browser window is closed (name of the cookie: “PHPSESSID”).
The web analytics platform we use, Matomo (see below), uses two cookies for page use analysis: a session cookie (cookie name: “_pk_ses.xxx”) with a validity of half an hour and a cookie that remains stored beyond the end of a browser session (cookie name: “_pk_id.xxx”) and which can be retrieved when the page is visited again. This enables us to track the frequency of use of our website over a period of 13 months.
When you first visit our website, a so-called “cookie notice” appears, bringing your attention to the use of cookies on the website. The notice window gives you the option of specifying the cookie settings for this website. There you can either allow the recording and analysis of your visit on the website nachhaltigkeitsrat.de using Matomo by clicking on “Accept all cookies (including Matomo)”. You might as well prevent the Matomo tracking by clicking on the button “Only accept technically necessary cookies”.
In order to save the cookie settings you have selected, a cookie which is valid for three months is set (name of the cookie: “cookie_notice_accepted”) to prevent the small notice window from being shown again during this time. After the three months have passed, you will be asked to re-edit your cookie settings when you visit the website again.
If you decide against tracking by Matomo in the cookie settings, the recording and analysis of your website visit will be deactivated and the Matomo code will be removed from the source code of our website for three months. As technically necessary cookies, only the short-term session cookie (“PHPSESSID”) will then be stored until the browser window is closed, as well as the settings cookie “cookie_notice_accepted” for three months as described above.
If the ‘Do Not Track’ option is activated in your browser, no Matomo cookies will be installed generally and your website visit will not be registered and analysed by Matomo. The technical “Do Not Track” option will be respected regardless of your decision made in the cookie settings.
All cookies used on our website are so-called “first party cookies”. They are therefore set exclusively by our domain www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de and can only be used by the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE). No “third party cookies” from third party providers are used.
You can change the cookie settings you selected in the information window at any time. By clicking on the following link, the cookie notice appears again at the bottom of the screen with the corresponding selection options.
Please note that your chosen cookie settings will also be removed if you delete cookies in your browser program in the meantime. The information window would then appear again the next time you visit the website.
If you do not want cookies to be used, you should adjust your Internet browser settings so that cookies are rejected, either generally or for a specified period. Please note that under these circumstances the cookie notice will appear every time you visit one of the pages of our website.
Privacy policy with respect to the web analytics services Matomo and Webalizer
For the purposes of analysing website usage and to optimise its services, the RNE uses the open-source programs Matomo and Webalizer on this website. These make it possible to evaluate website usage – so-called tracking (Matomo) – and statistically process the server log files (Webalizer) in a manner compliant with data privacy regulations. For tracking, Matomo uses temporary cookies – small text components that are saved in the user’s browser – to allow the RNE to perform an exact, however never personally attributable analysis of a given website visit. The legal basis for use of Matomo is Sect. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR. An explanation of the cookies used by Matomo and their storage duration can be found above under the item “Privacy policy with respect to cookies”.
The user information Matomo collects via its cookies, including the user’s IP address, is stored temporarily on the RNE’s/GIZ’s server in anonymised form, where it is evaluated and subsequently deleted. It is not used for any other purpose and is not transferred to third parties.
In addition, Matomo respects your browser’s ‘Do Not Track’ option on this website, which you can activate in your browser to prevent the analysis of your website visit. If desired, the usage of cookies can also be prohibited entirely or on a case-by-case basis in the browser settings.
Use of Webalizer
The version of the Webalizer web statistics program we use does not collect its own data. Rather, it analyses data from the log files on the web server. The last three digits of IP addresses are truncated before they are used for the analysis of usage behaviour, making it impossible for your identity to be determined and preserving your anonymity as a user. The anonymised data records are stored on our web server and are analysed exclusively for internal statistical purposes. At no time is this data shared with any third parties.
Privacy policy with respect to social media plug-ins such as Instagram and LinkedIn
Social media plug-ins such as the Instagram or LinkedIn button usually result in the IP address of a visitor to a website immediately being recorded and their online activities being logged by these services. This is the case even if the website visitor does not click on a social media button. The social media buttons on this website feature the recognised system Shariff to protect your data. This ensures that there is no direct contact with the chosen social media network until you actively click on a share button.
Changes to this privacy policy
We will update these guidelines from time to time in order to protect your personal data. You should review these guidelines occasionally in order to remain up to date regarding how we protect your data and how we are constantly improving the contents of our website. If we make significant changes to how we collect, use and/or share the personal data made available to us by you, we shall bring this to your attention by means of an unambiguous and clearly visible notice on the website. By using the website, you consent to the conditions of these guidelines regarding the protection of your personal data.
If you have any questions regarding this privacy policy, please contact the controller listed above.
Personal data shall only be collected if voluntarily submitted by you while registering to order informational materials, via the contact form or when subscribing to our newsletter. We shall use the data provided by you solely to satisfy your enquiry or process your order. No data shall be shared with any third parties without your consent.
The website uses SSL encryption (https) in accordance with Sect. 13 Para. 7 of Germany’s Telemedia Act (TMG). As such, data submitted to the server in a form (log-in, registration, project processing, etc.) is protected to the latest technological standards.
Privacy policy with respect to personal data
Safeguarding personal data
All the available technical and organisational safety measures are applied to ensure that the personal data you provide us with is safeguarded from being accessed by unauthorised third parties. A limited number of employees of the RNE and of the website’s system administrator have access to your personal data. You will find detailed data protection information regarding our newsletter below.
We store your data on secure servers in Germany. Access to the servers is only afforded to a handful of authorised persons who are responsible for overseeing them technically. We take precautions to ensure that your personal data is secure. Your data is diligently protected from loss, destruction, falsification, manipulation and unauthorised access or disclosure.
Use, storage and deletion of personal data
The personal data provided by you in our contact form, when ordering informational materials or when subscribing to the newsletter is stored on our server and is used exclusively for correspondence and for use of the website.
Postal addresses and email addresses that are provided within the scope of requesting or ordering informational materials are used exclusively for correspondence purposes and for sending the requested documents.
Personal data is routinely deleted, at the latest after six months, when it is no longer needed for the processing of enquiries and orders, when the persons in question have not granted their specific approval of their data being kept and when the statutory record retention obligations and periods do not prescribe extended data retention.
Notifications when new features are released
The web platform Joint Action for Sustainable Development is continuously being developed and new features will continue to be added. People who have registered with the Joint Action for Sustainable Development will be notified by email when new features are released. If you would like to unsubscribe from these notifications please write an email to gemeinschaftswerk@nachhaltigkeitsrat.de.
Registration for events
Personal data requested for registration for events via the Joint Action for Sustainable Development using a registration form (name, email address, organisation, function) will be stored exclusively for internal purposes of participant management, passed on to co-organisers of the respective event and stored on GIZ's internal servers for a period of 10 years. By registering for events via the Joint Action for Sustainable Development, you agree that you may be contacted by the Joint Action for Sustainable Development team and the respective co-organisers regarding event details. Furthermore, you agree that video recordings and photographs of you may be taken and used in the public relations work of the RNE in connection with the event (e.g. brochures, presentations, websites). The video recordings and photos will not be used commercially. The granted permission to use the personal data can be revoked at any time. The lawfulness of the processing until the time of revocation is unaffected. In case of revocation, participation in the respective event is not possible. Please give the revocation by email to: gemeinschaftswerk@nachhaltigkeitsrat.de.
Newsletter
The personal data collected for the newsletter mailing list is used for processing purposes. Your data is not shared with any third parties. Your data is not processed or used for the purposes of advice, advertising or market research. When you unsubscribe from the newsletter, all your personal data is deleted from our database.
This website uses CleverReach for newsletter distribution. The provider is CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG, Mühlenstraße 43, 26180 Rastede, Germany. CleverReach is a service used to organise and analyse newsletter distribution. The data you provide in order to receive the newsletter (e.g. email address) is stored on CleverReach’s servers in Germany or Ireland.
The newsletters we distribute with CleverReach allow us to analyse the behaviour of newsletter recipients. Among other things, we can analyse how many recipients open a newsletter message and how frequently which links within a newsletter are clicked on. You will find more information on newsletter data analysis with CleverReach at: https://www.cleverreach.com/en/features/reporting-tracking/.
Your data is processed on the basis of your consent (Sect. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). You may revoke your consent at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter. Your revocation does not affect the lawfulness of the data processing performed in the past.
If you do not wish for your data to be analysed by CleverReach, you must unsubscribe from the newsletter. We include an appropriate link for this in every newsletter.
The data you submit to us in order to receive the newsletter is stored by us until you are removed from the newsletter mailing list and is deleted from the CleverReach servers following cancellation of your newsletter subscription. This does not affect data stored by us for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the members’ area).
For more details, please refer to CleverReach’s data security policy at: https://www.cleverreach.com/en/data-security/.
We have concluded a contract data processing agreement with CleverReach and implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities in full with regard to our use of CleverReach.
Your rights
You have the right to request information about the personal data stored about you, the right to have it amended if desired and the right to limit its processing or demand its deletion.
Insofar as there are no reasons necessitating contract data processing, you may at any time revoke the consent you previously granted to your personal data being stored in writing (e.g. by email or fax) with immediate effect. Your data shall be deleted without undue delay and at the latest within five working days.
The lawfulness of the processing of the data up until the time permission is revoked shall remain unaffected.
Should you have any questions or complaints regarding this data privacy notice or the processing of your data, please contact the GIZ Data Protection Officer at the following email address: datenschutzbeauftragte@giz.de.
You have the right to address your complaint to the relevant data protection authority. This is the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI).