Data Privacy Policy

The City of Passau operates the touristic website under the domain name tourismus.passau.de.

The City of Passau places great importance on protecting citizens' data and telecommunication confidentiality. Your data are collected within the scope of data protection legislation. We have adopted technical and organizational measures that ensure that the regulations regarding privacy and data protection are observed by us. Our website contains links to websites of third parties. We have no influence on whether their operators act in compliance with data protection provisions.

The purpose of the following Privacy Statement is to inform you as to the nature, extent and purpose of the collection and use of personal data (e.g. name, address, e-mail address) by the website operator.

 

Name and contact data of the party responsible for distribution of information and of the Data Protection Officer

This information regarding data privacy applies to data processing by the

City of Passau
Rathausplatz 2
94032 Passau, Germany
E-mail: poststelle (at) passau.de
Phone: +49 851- 396 0

The Data Protection Officer of the City of Passau (Stephanie Betz) can be contacted at the above address or at datenschutz (at) passau.de.

 

Collection and storage of personal data as well as nature and purpose of use

1. When accessing the website

Basically, our website is available to all users without disclosing personal data. You do not need to register in order to be able to the use the services provided by our website. Personal data are only collected for personalized services (such as newsletters). For further details, see 2. b)

When you access our website tourismus.passau.de, the browser used on your terminal device automatically transmits information to our website's server. Such information is temporarily stored as a web server log. The following information is gathered and stored until manual deletion:

• IP address
• date and time the request was made
• time zone difference to GMT
• content of the request (concrete page)
• access status/HTTP status code
• respective volume of data transmitted
• website from which the request is made
• browser
• operating system and its interface
• language and version of the browser software.

The same data are also visible following login by employees of the City of Passau who are entitled to do so for the purpose of firewall audit, however it is not logged in the case of permitted access (port 80 and 443/tcp). Only unauthorized access is logged and recorded until manual deletion. To the extent necessary, we use your access data exclusively for purposes of technical administration of the website, to respond to your requests or to provide you with access to specific information or offers. Such data are used by us for, including but not limited to, the following purposes:

• to ensure smooth establishment of a connection to the website,
• to ensure comfortable use of our website,
• to evaluate system security and stability and
• for further administrative purposes.

The legal basis of data processing is Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. Our legitimate interest is a consequence of the data collection purposes listed above. In no event will we use the collected data to draw conclusions as to you as an individual.

When our website is visited, we also make use of analytics services. Please refer to items 4 and 5 of this Privacy Statement for further information.

 

2. When using our contact form

On our homepage, you can contact us via contact form. Your name and a valid e-mail address are required so that we can assign the request and send you an answer. Further data can be provided voluntarily. Your data are exclusively processed by municipal staff and not transferred to a third party. You can rest assured that your data are used solely for the stated purpose. No addresses will be sold to third parties or used for any other marketing purposes.

Provided that you have expressly given your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 lit. a GDPR, we will use your data to contact you. Your data will only be used to treat your request and will be deleted right afterwards.

 

3. When using the online booking tool by Bayern Reisen & Service GmbH

Fort the possibility of booking your accommodation online, our website uses the online booking tool (in the following „OBT“) by OBS OnlineBuchungService GmbH, Im Gewerbepark D 33, 93059 Regensburg (www.online-buchung-service.de, in the following „OBS“). OBS is processing data responsibly for OBT. Find terms and conditions in the GDPR of OBS/OBT  - click here.

 

Disclosure of data

Your personal data is not passed on to third parties except in the cases listed below.

We will only transmit your personal data to third parties if:

• you have expressly given your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 lit. a GDPR,
• transmission pursuant to Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 lit. f GDPR is necessary for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims and there is no reason to believe that you have an overriding and legitimate interest in the non-disclosure of your data,
• there is a statutory obligation to disclose data for transmission pursuant to Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 lit. c GDPR and
• it is permitted by law and necessary for processing the contractual relationship with you.

  

Cookies

We use cookies on our website. These are small files which are automatically created by your browser and stored on your terminal device (laptop, tablet, smartphone or similar) when you visit our website. Cookies do not damage your terminal device, and contain no viruses, Trojan horses or other malware. Information arising in association with the specific terminal device used is stored in the cookie. This does not mean, however, that such storage gives us direct knowledge regarding your identity.

The use of cookies serves in part to make your use of our services more convenient. We use so-called session cookies to tell that you have already visited individual pages of our website. These are automatically deleted when you leave our website.

To optimise user-friendliness, we also use temporary cookies, which are stored on your terminal device for a certain established period of time. If you re-visit our website to make use of our services again, this will allow the website to know that you have visited the site before and which entries and settings you made, so you do not have re-enter them.

We also use cookies to compile statistics on the use of our website and to evaluate them with the purpose of optimising our offer (see item 5). These cookies allow us to recognise that you have visited our site before. Such cookies are automatically deleted after a defined period of time.

Such data processed by cookies for the purposes mentioned above are required to safeguard our own legitimate interests, as well as the legitimate interests of third parties, pursuant to Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 lit. a GDPR.

Most browsers accept cookies automatically. You can, however, configure your browser in such a way that no cookies will be stored on your computer, or that you will be asked for permission before cookies are created. If you deactivate cookies, however, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.

 

Analysis tools

This website uses MATOMO (formerly Piwik), an open source software for the statistical evaluation of visitor accesses. MATOMO uses so-called "cookies", text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by us.

The information regarding your use of this internet offer created by the cookie is stored on the server of the City of Passau. Immediately after it is processed and before it is stored, the IP address is anonymised. IP addresses are shortened by the two latter octets before possible use for analysis of usage behaviour. It is therefore no longer possible to identify a particular individual. Furthermore the IP address is only used in shortened form (and thus without personal reference) for approximate geo-localisation. Here the country of origin and the access provider ("internet access provider") are determined and stored.

If you do not agree with the storage and evaluation of these data from your visit, you may subsequently revoke the storage and utilisation via mouse click at any time. In this case, a so-called opt-out cookie is filed in your browser, with the result that MATOMO does not collect any session data.

Warning: If you delete your cookies, the opt-out cookie will also be deleted and might have to be reactivated by you.

The storage of MATOMO-cookies takes place in accordance with Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the analysis of user behaviour to optimise their web offer.

MATOMO uses the following cookies:

The cookies "_pk_id", "_pk_ref" and "_pk_ses" provide anonymised tracking data. The information is used to improve the website by evaluating the results. All data are collected anonymously and include parameters such as page impressions of the pages you visit (system web analytics and tracking management).

The cookie "_pk_id" is deleted after 12 months, the cookie "_pk_ref" after 6 months, and the cookie "_pk_ses" after 30 minutes.

 

Facebook and Instagram fan page

1. Responsible party:

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has decided in their verdict on June 5, 2018 that the operator of a Facebook page and Facebook itself are responsible for the processing of personal data.

Joint responsible parties for the operation of a Facebook page are, in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation as well as further data protection regulations, as follows:

Facebook Ireland Ltd. (following „Facebook“)

4 Grand Canal Square
Grand Canal Harbour
Dublin 2
Irland

and

Town of Passau
Rathausplatz 2
94032 Passau, Germany
phone: +49(0)851/396-0
Email: poststelle (at) passau.de

2. Purpose of the page and of the data processing, legal basis:

The City of Passau operates this page to draw attention to the city and its events and to give impressions of the city through pictures and videos.  Furthermore, with the page, visitors and users shall be given the opportunity to contact the City of Passau.

The City of Passau as the operator of a Facebook page only has a minor interest in collecting and further processing of your individual personal data.  The operation of the Facebook page serves as a public relations of the City of Passau above all.

The statistical evaluations of personal data are, however and furthermore, important for the purpose of analyses and marketing. Data collection and processing are also necessary to guarantee the contemporary and supporting information and interaction possibilities for and with the users and visitors of our website, the proper operation of the website, the security and an easily operable user interface on the page (more detailed under item 4).

The operation of this Facebook page, taking into account the processing of personal data of the user, occurs on the basis of our legitimate interest according to article 6, clause 1, lit. f) of the GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation.

3. Processing of personal data by Facebook:

The City of Passau knows that Facebook mainly processes the data of the user for the following purposes:

▪ Advertisement (analysis, preparation of personalized ads)

▪ Creation of user profiles

▪ Market research.

Facebook uses Cookies for saving and further processing of these information, this means small text files that are stored on the different terminal devices of the users. If the user has a Facebook profile and is logged in, the storage and analysis also occur across devices.

Facebook’s data privacy statement contains further information on data processing:

https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/

Possibilities to object (so-called opt-outs) can be set here or following this link: www.youronlinechoices.com.

Facebook Inc., the US-American parent company of Facebook Ireland Ltd., is certified by the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and confirms that they comply with European data protection guidelines.  Further information to the Privacy Shield status of Facebook can be found under this link.

The City of Passau as the operator of the page cannot exclude the transmission and further processing of personal data of the users in third countries, such as the United States of America, as well as the involved possible risks for the users.

4. Statistical data:

With the so-called “insights” of the Facebook page, statistical data of different categories for the City of Passau can be retrieved.  These statistics are produced and provided by Facebook. As the operator, we do not have any influence on the production and presentation. We cannot turn off this function nor prevent the production and processing of the data. For a selectable period of time, we are provided with the following data by Facebook that relates to our Facebook page for the categories fans, subscribers, reached persons and interactive persons:

Total number of page views, “Likes”, page activities, page previews, page visits, recommendations, responsiveness, events, activity on the page, post interactions, range, views on videos, range of posts, commentary, shared content, replies, female and male proportion, origin based on country and city, language. Furthermore, data is provided of the Facebook groups linked to our Facebook page. Because of the constant development of Facebook, the availability and the processing of data changes, so that we would like to reference to the above-mentioned data protection statement of Facebook for further information.

The City of Passau uses the data provided in an aggregated form to make posts and activities on our Facebook page more attractive for our users. Therefore, we use, for example, the distribution of age and gender for an adapted address and the users’ preferred visiting times for a perfect temporal planning of our posts. Information on the type of devices used by the users helps us in adjusting the posts visually and creatively.  Corresponding to Facebook’s terms of use that all users agreed to during the process of creating a Facebook profile, we can identify the subscribers and fans of the page and their profiles as well as look at further information shared by them.

5. Instagram

For the data protection guidelines for the Instagram page “Passau gefällt mir” that we keep analogous to our Facebook page, please click here.

 

YouTube plug-in

Our website uses plug-in from YouTube that is operated by Google. Operator of the pages is YouTube, LLC, 901, Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. If you visit one of our pages that is equipped with a YouTube plug-in, a connection is made to the servers of YouTube. By doing so, the YouTube server is informed which of our page is visited.

If you are logged into your YouTube account, you enable YouTube to match your surfing habits directly to your personal profile. You can prevent this from happening by logging out of your YouTube account.

Further information on the handling of user data can be found in YouTube’s data protection statement under this link.

 

Rights of persons affected

You reserve the right:

• to receive information on your personal data processed by us, pursuant to Art. 15 GDPR. In particular, you are entitled to request information regarding the processing purposes, the category of personal data, the categories of recipients to whom your personal data were or are disclosed, the duration of storage of the data, the existence of a right or rectification, deletion, limitation of processing or objection, the existence of a right of complaint, the source of your data, insofar as such data were not collected by us, as well as regarding the existence of an automated decision-making including profiling and, if applicable, meaningful information regarding the details thereof;
• to demand correction or completion of your personal data stored with us pursuant to Art. 16 GDPR;
• to demand deletion of your personal data stored with us where processing is not necessary for exercising the right to freedom of expression or the right to information, for complying with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims pursuant to Art. 17 GDPR;
• to demand restriction of the processing of your personal data, insofar as the correctness of such data is contested by you, the processing is unlawful but you refuse deletion and we no longer need the data, but that you require such data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or have objected to processing pursuant to Art. 21 GDPR;
• to receive, in a structured, conventional, machine-readable format, the personal data you have provided to us or to demand its transmission to another person responsible pursuant to Art. 20 GDPR;
• to revoke your consent given to us at any time pursuant to Art. 7 (3) GDPR. As a result, we are not permitted to continue in the future the data processing that was based on such consent, and
• to complain to the Bavarian Data Protection Commissioner (supervisory authority) pursuant to Art. 77 GDPR.

 

Right of objection

Insofar as your personal data are processed on the basis of legitimate interests pursuant to Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 lit f GDPR, you reserve the right pursuant to Art. 21 GDPR to object to the processing of your personal data, provided that there are reasons for such an objection resulting from your particular situation or that the objection involves direct advertising. In the latter case, you have a general right of objection that is implemented by us without indication of any specific situation.

If you would like to exercise your right of revocation or objection, please send an e-mail to datenschutz@passau.de.

 

Data security

For security reasons and to protect transmission of confidential content, such as requests that you send us as site operator, this website uses SSL encryption. You can tell that a connection is encrypted when the address bar of your browser changes from "http://" to "https://" and a small lock symbol appears in the browser.

If SSL encryption is enabled, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Please note that if you send a non-encrypted e-mail to the City of Passau, unauthorised access or corruption of information during data transmission cannot be ruled out. When we receive an e-mail from you, we assume that you are authorised to reply via e-mail.

We also apply appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data stored with us against manipulation, partial or full loss, and unauthorised access by third parties. Our security measures are continuously improved in accordance with the development of technical standards.

 

Validity of and alterations to this Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement is currently valid and was last revised in November 2023.

Due to further development of our website and offers relating to it or due to changed statutory and/or government requirements, it may be necessary to change this Privacy Statement.