Data Protection

1. Introduction

ICLEI Europe is hosting and running this website. All data collection and management carried out through this website and associated communication products is done in full accordance with ICLEI Europe's own data protection policy. This can be read in full below.

ICLEI Europe respects the privacy of our members and other contacts and seeks to ensure that any personal data that we collect is processed in a secure, responsible manner. ICLEI Europe only collects personal data that we need in order to provide our services.

The personal information you provide to ICLEI Europe will be used and stored as follows:

2. Data collection and use

ICLEI Europe collects personal information to deliver the services requested based on ICLEI Europe’s legitimate interest in keeping you updated about ICLEI Europe’s activities and/or based on the (membership) contract established between you and ICLEI Europe. ICLEI Europe strives to limit the amount of personal information collected.

The personal information collected could be used to contact you in response to a specific enquiry via email, telephone or postal mail.

We do not collect any sensitive data (political opinion, religious beliefs, health, etc.) unless it is expressly needed and, in this case, on the basis of your explicit consent.

This policy explains how we process personal data related to our services.

This policy was last updated: November 2022.

3. Cookies

Cookies are tiny text files stored on your browser. EU legislation states that all websites should let you know when they are using cookies 

3.1 Necessary cookies

These cookies are needed for our website to function. Therefore they are always on but they do not contain personally identifiable information (PII).

3.2 Analytics

This site uses Google Analytics which is one of the most widespread analytics solutions on the web. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the site and the pages that you visit so we can continue to produce engaging content. We have made sure no personally identifiable information (PII) is sent by anonymizing IP addresses. You can opt out the Google Analytics cookies at any time by clicking here.

Google Analytics set the following cookies:

_ga (cookie used to distinguish individual users on your domain, expires after 2 years)

_gid (cookie used to distinguish individual users on your domain, expires after 24 hours)

_gat (cookie used to limit amount of user requests in order to maintain your website’s performance, expires after 1 minute)

AMP_TOKEN (cookie containing a unique ID assigned to each user on your domain, expires somewhere between 30 seconds and 1 year)

_gac_<property-id> (cookie containing a unique ID that makes Google Analytics and Ads work together, expires after 90 days)

3.3 Cookie usage

ICLEI Europe uses cookies to help us see which pages our customers like and which ones are not working so well, meaning we can make improvements to the website and improve their experience. The cookies we are using do not tell us who you are or give us any personal details about you.

4. What personal data we collect and why

The mandatory field for subscribing to the e-newsletter is the email address. First name, last name and type of organization are not mandatory, but would help us understand your interests and track and improve our activities. If you receive a news alert about an event that you register for, details about data protection will be included on the registration form.

Other contacts: We collect information from you through information that you provide to us through business cards, through project partnerships that we jointly work on, and through events that you have signed up for.

5. How long do we keep your personal data?

We will not retain your personal information for longer than required. We will keep your personal information:

- For as long as required by law

- Until we no longer have a valid reason for keeping it

- Until you request us to stop using it. Any such requests can be sent to our data protection officer at data [dot] protection [dot] europe [at] iclei [dot] org

or at our postal address, with reference to „Data Protection Officer“:

ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH

Represented by Managing Director Wolfgang Teubner

Leopoldring 3

79098 Freiburg, Germany

In addition, all our mailings contain an unsubscribe button. Duration is linked to your subscription. If you unsubscribe, your personal data will be deleted permanently. Details of how to unsubscribe are provided in each newsletter.

6. How we protect your data

At ICLEI Europe we implement technical and organisational measures to secure your personal data against hacking, malware, ransomware, malicious websites, etc.

Our server environment fulfils all modern security requirements for protecting your personal data. This includes software and systems to prevent hacking and to fight malware, ransomware or any other intrusion from potentially malicious websites. All our data are stored on a dedicated and secure server environment.

7. Your rights concerning your personal data

To ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability, you are invited to exercise the following rights, free of charge, whenever you think it is appropriate.

Right to review, update, and correct your personal data

You have the right to review and update, correct or remove any of your personal data by sending a request to data [dot] protection [dot] europe [at] iclei [dot] org

By requesting access to your personal data, you will obtain:

• A list of personal data about you held by ICLEI Europe;
• An explanation of the purpose for which your personal data is being processed;
• Details of anyone to whom your personal data may have been disclosed (note: we only disclose your personal information if required to by law).

The right to withdraw your consent to the processing

We process your personal data on the basis of your freely given consent. You have the right to revoke this consent at any time for any reason. To do so, please contact data [dot] protection [dot] europe [at] iclei [dot] org

. After your request has been received, your personal data will be removed from mailing lists and/or deleted entirely from our database within one month (your data may be stored, but not further processed, in order to comply with possible audits or checks from funding bodies, e.g. the European Commission).

The right to lodge a complaint

In case of any complaint, please contact ICLEI Europe immediately to resolve the problem. However, please note that you have (at all times) the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority. In general, you can refer to the data protection supervisory authority responsible for the location where your place of residence or work is located, or that of our organisation (https://www.baden-wuerttemberg.datenschutz.de).

8. Changes to this policy

This privacy policy is reviewed and updated periodically. Any changes to this policy will be communicated to you either via email or on our website.