Privacy & Data Policy

The European Party Funding Observatory is a project by the European Democracy Consulting Stiftung.

This privacy policy will explain how the European Party Funding Observatory uses the personal data we collect from you when you use our website.

What data do we collect?

For its functioning, the European Party Funding Observatory collects the following data:

  • IP address
  • Browser User Agent

If you use the contact form, write to us by email or subscribe for our data updates, we also collect the optional information you provide, such as your email address and other data.

How do we obtain your data?

By connecting to our website and using its functionalities, you directly provide all the data we collect. We collect data and process data when you:

  • Use or view our website; and
  • Voluntarily provide feedback or questions via our contact form or by email, or subscribe to our data updates.

We do not indirectly collect data about you.

How will we use your data?

The European Party Funding Observatory collects your data so that we can:

  • Operate our website and better understand its users and their interests;
  • Respond to your message when you write to us (should you provide your contact details); and
  • Send you our data updates if you subscribe.

Server

Our website is hosted by our processor STRATO AG.

Connection data are processed to provide and to deliver the website. Data are not stored beyond access for the mere purpose of delivery and provision of the website. However, our processor keeps connection data for security purposes. The duration of processing for security purposes varies and ends with the necessity of the security measures. Furthermore, our processor anonymizes collected data immediately after such data were collected and provides us with statistics for analysis containing anonymous data. We use these statistics for debugging and the sophistication of our website.

The legal basis of processing is the absolute technical necessity to provide and deliver the "website" service which you have explicitly requested according to § 165 Abs. 3 TKG 2021 by visiting the website.

Company information:

CDN

We use the services of a Content Delivery Network (CDN). A CDN stores and delivers content, including images and fonts, on behalf of a website to reduce loading time and allow the website’s server to handle more requests. When files are retrieved from a CDN, data from the user’s end device is also transmitted to the CDN operator. This is not technically possible otherwise, and includes the IP address and the browser user agent of the end device, which are regarded as personal data by the General Data Protection Regulation.

CDN services are provided by our processor BunnyWay.

Company information:

Analytics

We use Matomo, a privacy-minded, analytics software, for the collection and analysis of user data. Matomo On-Premise is installed on our Strato servers, in Germany, and your data are therefore not stored on or transfered to Matomo or other servers.

Matomo is configured to anynomise and aggregate user data, so that it may not be tied to users but only provide statistics about the website's use.

Data privacy and retention for data stored in Matomo:

  • the last bytes of visitors IP addresses are anonymised (192.168.xxx.xxx);
  • the URL from which you come to our website (referrer) has its query parameters deleted;
  • data collection does not use cookies;
  • all visits and actions raw data are deleted after 90 days; and
  • all aggregated reports are deleted after 12 months.

Company information:

Contact form and data updates

You can contact us by using a contact form provided on our website or by email. While using the contact form, you may be requested to confirm you are a human being via an automated process.

We will store the information provided in the form, but you are under no obligation to provide personal information. If you wish for a reply, a contact email will be necessary.

You can also subscribe to automated data update notification and be notified whenever we update the Observatory's data. Data updates are also available as an RSS feed.

We use Brevo, a GDPR-compliant customer relationship management platform, to manage the contact form and to deliver data updates to those who subscribed.

In order to receive our data updates, you need to provide us with a valid e-mail address. Any other information is optional.

Company information:

How do we store your data?

We store the above data on the servers of our processors STRATO, Brevo, and BunnyWay.

STRATO is a German company and exclusively stores its data in its own data centres in Germany.

Brevo is a French company based in Paris and stores its data in its own data centres in France, close to Paris.

BunnyWay is a Slovenian company. By nature of a CDN, BunnyWay spreads its data across data centres, in order to serve users with data as close to them as possible. However, by set up, all these centres are located in the European Union.

Marketing

The European Party Funding Observatory does not use, share or sell visitors’ data for marketing purposes.

What are your data protection rights?

While we do not collect any identifiable information, we would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights.

Every user is entitled to the following:

  • The right to access – You have the right to request that the European Party Funding Observatory provide copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
  • The right to rectification – You have the right to request that the European Party Funding Observatory correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that the European Party Funding Observatory complete the information you believe is incomplete.
  • The right to erasure – You have the right to request that the European Party Funding Observatory erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that the European Party Funding Observatory restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the European Party Funding Observatory’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to data portability – You have the right to request that the European Party Funding Observatory transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at our email: data-protection@epfo.eu.

Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org.

We do not use cookies, either for the functioning of the Observatory or for analytics purposes via Matomo.

For better privacy, we also encourage you to use a privacy-respecting browser, such as Firefox.

Privacy policies of other websites

The European Party Funding Observatory contains links to other websites. Our privacy policy applies only to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, you should read their privacy policy.

Changes to our privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and place any update on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated on 21 October 2023.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about the European Party Funding Observatory’s privacy policy, the data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us using our contact form or by email at data-protection@epfo.eu.

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