Privacy Policy

The European Climate Initiative (EUKI) takes the protection of personal data very seriously.

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and for the protection of the transmission of confidential content, such as the inquiries you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection in your browser’s address line when it changes from “http://” to “https://” and the lock icon is displayed in your browser’s address bar. If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transfer to us cannot be read by third parties.

For users to be able to use our website fully, it is necessary to collect certain information when they visit our website. With this privacy policy statement, we are informing users about which data we collect, how we use that data and about their rights as users of our website.

I. Controller pursuant to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
Scharnhorststr. 34-37
10115 Berlin
Postal address: 11019 Berlin
Email: info@bmwk.bund.de
Website: www.bmwi.de
Phone: +49 (0)30 18615 0

II. Name and contact details of data protection officer

If you have any specific questions about the protection of your data at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, please contact the Ministry’s Data Protection Officer:

Data Protection Officer for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
Scharnhorststr. 34-37
10115 Berlin
Email: datenschutzbeauftragte@bmwk.bund.de

III. Which information is collected and for what purpose?

1. Visits to website

1.1 general Information

Every visit to our website is stored on a protocol file to ensure data security. To this end, the following data is stored for a maximum of 7 days:

  • date and time of access
  • volume of data transferred
  • notice whether data was successfully accessed
  • pseudonymized IP address of the user or provider
  • Internet address of website visited directly before (referrer)
  • information about the programme retrieving the data (user agent)

The European Climate Initiative (EUKI) is not able to directly link IP addresses to users and rules it out.

IP addresses are only analysed in cases of attacks against our website, breaches of public order or other cases of illegal actions in connection with the website. An analysis of the IP address to reveal the identity of the user can only be conducted with the help of the user’s provider and only in connection with investigations by the police or public prosecutors.

This data is not used for statistical purposes. We do not pass on this data to third parties for commercial or non-commercial use.

1.2 Cookies policy

The use of cookies is not required for this website.

Cookies are short text files that store information from a website or domain on your computer for a period of time and send it back to the server when the site is visited again.

Most browsers are set up to automatically accept cookies. Users can deactivate or reset this function so that cookies are only stored for the time of the particular session.

Some website functions do require the use of cookies to work properly:

Cookies in forms

A registration an login is required to send us a project idea via form in our call for project ideas plattform. Therefore session cookies are used to save your data during your browser session.

Cookies for statistical purposes

Your visit to our website is registered through Matomo, formerly known as Piwik, a cookie used for web analysis. The information generated by the cookie is used exclusively for statistical purposes and the improvement of the internet presence and server. No personal data is stored or passed on to third parties.

Users can choose to reject tracking by Matomo at any time.

Important information

Internet Explorer users can deactivate Matomo by navigating to Tools → Internet Options → Privacy → Advanced, putting a check mark next to “Override Automatic Cookie Handling” and then clicking the “OK” button.

Third-party cookies

This website includes videos from YouTube. When loading a page with embedded YouTube video, YouTube and other Google services cookies are loaded.

We cannot take responsibility for what information YouTube or Vimeo retrieve and how they protect your information. Information on this can be found on the websites of these providers. You can disable third-party cookies by adjusting your browser settings accordingly.

Our site includes functions of the Twitter service. These functions are provided by Twitter Inc, 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. By using Twitter and the “Re-Tweet” function, the websites you visit are linked to your Twitter account and made known to other users. Data is also transmitted to Twitter. We would like to point out that, as the provider of the site, we are not aware of the content of the data transmitted or how it is used by Twitter. For more information, please see Twitter’s privacy policy at: https://twitter.com/de/privacy.

The Twitter plugin is used on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a justified interest in the widest possible visibility in the social media.

You can change your Twitter privacy settings in your account settings at https://twitter.com/account/settings.

2. Filling out forms with personal data

Some information offers on our website provide the option of filling out forms with personal data. For example, if users subscribe to our newsletter or register at our Call for Project Ideas plattform, they will need to provide their email address.

Users are free to decide whether they wish to submit this data. Only the data needed to deliver the requested service is asked of users. Data is treated as confidential and is only used for the purpose for which it was requested.

If the storage of personal data is required to provide a certain service, the data is only stored for the time period necessary to handle the request or to fulfil the offer or task of the European Climate Initiative for which the data was requested.

Once users unsubscribe to such a service or it is terminated by the ministry, personal data is irretrievably deleted after a maximum of 6 weeks.

3. Email communication

If users send us a message by email at info@euki.de the data they submit will be used to communicate with them.

Security gaps can occur in email communication. Emails sent to staff of the European Climate Initiative E-Mails may be intercepted and read by experienced Internet users. If users send an email to us, we assume that we are authorised to reply to the email address used. If users do not want this, it may be advisable to consider using another channel of communication, for example regular mail.

4. Communication via regular mail

If users send us a message by regular mail the data they submit will be used to communicate with them.

5. Links to websites of other providers and social media

Our website contains links to websites of other providers and social media. We would like to expressly point out that these websites process personal data in accordance with their own privacy policies. The European Climate Initiative has no influence on the compliance of other providers with data protection regulations.

6. Photos for press and public relations work

In connection with our press and public relations work, during events and meetings photos will be taken in which you may be identifiable. You may object to such photos being taken and/or published. Please use the contact details above for such objections.

IV. How do we protect children and young people (protection of minors)?

Persons under the age of 18 should not submit personal information to us without the consent of their parent or legal guardian. We do not request personal data from children or young people without the consent of their parents or legal guardian. We do not knowingly collect such data, and we do not pass it on to third parties.

V. Why do we store personal data?

Generally, submitting personal data is not required when using our website. If we store personal data on our website, it is only done with the users’ consent, which can be withdrawn at any time (for example, newsletter subscriptions pursuant to Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR).

In any other case, we only process personal data when legally required to do so (pursuant to Article 6 (1) (c) GDPR), when processing is necessary for performing the tasks of the European Climate Initiative, when it is in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority (pursuant to Article 6 (1) (e) GDPR in conjunction with Article 3 of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG).

VI. Who do we pass data on to?

We operate our website in cooperation with external service providers. Where personal data is processed (for example, for sending newsletters or for coordinating an project idea), we have put in place organisational and technical measures to ensure that our external service providers comply with data protection regulations.

Unless otherwise specified, data stored by our website is processed by our main service provider cosmoblonde GmbH and the Web Hoster Hetzner, which are located in the Federal Republic of Germany. If personal data is passed on to third parties, the respective page is labelled accordingly.

VII. What are the rights of users of our website?

With regard to the processing of personal data, visitors of the website of the European Climate Initiative enjoy the rights stipulated in Articles 12 to 22 GDPR:

  • Right of access pursuant to Articel 15 GDPR
    This right grants full access to relevant personal data and other important criteria such as purposes of processing or storage period. The exemptions specified in Article 34 BDSG apply.
  • Right to rectification pursuant to Articel 16 GDPR
    This right gives users the possibility to rectify inaccurate personal data concerning them.
  • Right to erasure pursuant to Articel 17 GDPR
    This right gives users the possibility to have data deleted. For data to be deleted, it is necessary that the personal data is no longer required, was unlawfully processed or that the consent has been withdrawn. The exemptions specified in Article 35 BDSG apply.
  • Right to restriction of processing pursuant to Articel 18 GDPR
    This right gives users the possibility to provisionally prevent further processing of the relevant personal data. This applies, in particular, in a review phase of the user establishing, exercising or defending other legal claims.
  • Right to data portability pursuant to Articel 20 GDPR
    This provision gives users the right to obtain relevant personal data in a commonly used, machine-readable format, for example pdf, from the controller in order to pass it on to other controllers where necessary.
  • Right to object pursuant to Articel 21 GDPR
    This right provides users with the possibility to object, on grounds relating to their particular situation, to processing relevant personal data where this is justified with a view to performing public tasks or lies in the public or private interest. Pursuant to Article 36 BDSG, this provision does not apply where an official authority is legally obligated to process the data.
  • Right to withdraw consent pursuant to Articel 7 (3) GDPR
    Users have the right to withdraw their consent for the future at any time. An option to withdraw consent is available to users on the website where the consent was given before.

Exercising these rights is free of charge and is provided in line with the user’s information rights. For more information, please contact the data protection officer at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

VIII. Right to submit complaints to supervisory authority

In cases where the ministry processes personal data, users have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority for data protection. The competent supervisory authority is:

Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
Husarenstraße 30
53117 Bonn – Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 228 99 7799-0
E-Mail: poststelle@bfdi.bund.de
Internet: www.bfdi.bund.de