General information

The Deutsche Bundesbank attaches great importance to protecting your personal data and maintaining privacy. The following information outlines how it collects and uses personal data on its website. As we develop our website further, implement new technologies and improve the services that we provide, it may be necessary to change our privacy policy. We therefore recommend that you re-read this policy from time to time. 

Data collection, processing, use and possible disclosure of personal data to third parties

We do not usually require you to provide any personal data when you access the Bundesbank's website. Some data are saved in a log file (see chapter "Cookies") and only used to optimise our internet service and for statistical purposes.

Data submitted in e-mail enquiries are only used to answer such enquiries and, once processed, are saved for a maximum of two years.

When you register for an event via e-mail or by filling out a contact form, your data are processed for this sole purpose and are deleted six months after the event at the latest. Should it be necessary to pass on your registration data for certain events, for instance to the Federal Police as they are responsible for maintaining the security of the grounds, you will be explicitly informed of this.

If you order information materials, newsletters or brochures or request to be informed of events, we will ask you to provide your name and other personal details required to send these items/this information. These data will be used only by the Bundesbank and, where applicable, by the company commissioned to distribute the material. You can opt out of receiving information at regular intervals at any time, upon which your data will be deleted.

Special conditions that apply for certain areas can be found in the relevant regulations (eg terms of use of the Bundesbank’s newsletter).

We do not disclose your data to third parties without your express consent unless this is required by law, owing to a court decision or in connection with legal or criminal proceedings following an attack on the Bundesbank’s internet infrastructure. Data are not disclosed for other non-commercial or commercial purposes.

In cases where the Bundesbank appoints third parties, as outlined in this privacy policy, they must also undertake to observe the relevant data protection provisions.

Deletion and blocking of data

We adhere to the principles of data avoidance and data minimisation and thus store your personal data for only as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes listed here or in accordance with the various data retention periods provided by law. After the respective purpose ceases to apply, or after these retention periods have expired, the corresponding data are routinely deleted or blocked in accordance with the legal provisions.

Data protection notice regarding an appointment

The branches of the Deutsche Bundesbank process the personal data solely for the purpose of allocating appointments in the context of retail banking operations. The Bundesbank uses an appointment application of Terminland GmbH for the booking of appointments. Terminland GmbH acts a data processor for the Deutsche Bundesbank and processes your personal data for this purpose. The legal basis for this processing is Article 6(1) letter (e) of the GDPR in conjunction with Section 3 of the German Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz – BDSG).

Your personal data collected for the purpose of arranging an appointment will be stored for no longer than one month after the conclusion of the retail transaction following from the appointment and then deleted.

If a Deutsche Bundesbank branch has an obligation to record, process and, where necessary, pass on personal data for contact tracing in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, it does so in accordance with the state-specific regulations to contain the pandemic that apply for that branch. In such cases, the personal data named in the applicable regulation will be recorded and processed at the branch. Once the purpose of processing ceases to apply, these data are deleted on site in accordance with the respective legal provisions. Specific data protection information is provided on site by the branches.

Cookies

The Bundesbank’s website has been designed without the use of cookies as far as possible. Cookies are small text files that are stored in the visitor’s local browser cache.

Most browsers have been set up to accept cookies automatically. However, you can deactivate the "Save cookies" function at any time, or change your browser settings so that cookies are saved only for the time that you are connected to the internet.

SSL encryption

To ensure the security of your data during transmission, we use state-of-the-art encryption algorithms (eg SSL) via HTTPS.

Data collection using Matomo

The Deutsche Bundesbank uses the open source tool "Matomo" to statistically evaluate its website and to analyse usage data. With your consent, we don´t use cookies to analyse this data.

The data generated by Matomo is processed and stored exclusively on Deutsche Bundesbank servers and is therefore subject to strict German and European data protection acts and standards. The data is used exclusively to analyse the use of the website.

Data processing is performed on the legal basis of Article 6 (1) letter f (legitimate interest) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR). The optimisation of the Bundesbank’s online presence and website constitutes a legitimate interest. The IP addresses are anonymised so that no assignment to individual persons is possible. They are not used in any other way, merged with other data or passed on to third parties.

Further information on Matomo's data protection can be found at https://matomo.org/privacy .

Displaying social media content (“Flockler”)

The Bundesbank’s social media feeds are automatically collated and displayed on the Bundesbank’s online newsroom bundesbank.de/news. Here you can access all social media content without having to log into or open the respective platform. At present, the Bundesbank is active on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn.

To display social media content in the newsroom, the Bundesbank uses a service called Flockler, which is operated by Flockler Oy at Rautatienkatu 26 B 32 in 33100 Tampere, Finland. Flockler aggregates relevant social media channels and feeds this information into the Bundesbank’s newsroom.

When an item is called up, a connection is established with Flockler’s servers and the user’s IP address is transmitted. While the content is loading, data are also transmitted to the individual social media providers. This also applies if users are not logged in on the social media platform or if they have no account with them. Please note that the Bundesbank as the host of the newsroom website has no knowledge of the content of the transmitted data or how these are used by the social media providers. Further information can be found in the providers’ data policies.

The use of the Flockler plugin is governed by Article 6 (1) letter (f) of the GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in being as visible as possible on social media platforms.

Flockler’s data protection provisions and further information on this service provider can be found at flockler.com/privacy-policy.

Protection of minors

Persons under 18 years of age should not transmit any personal data to us without the consent of their parents or legal guardians. We do not request personal data from children or young people. We do not knowingly collect such data or disclose them to third parties.

Links to external websites

Our website contains links to external sites which are not covered by our privacy policy. We cannot control whether these websites comply with data protection regulations.

Disclaimer

We hereby refer explicitly to the relevant conditions contained in our disclaimer, which is included in the "Terms of Use", section "Conditions for the general use of the website".

If you have any questions about your personal data held on file, please contact the Bundesbank's Data Protection Officer.

Official Data Protection Officer, data protection notice, rights of those affected

The Bundesbank processes your personal data in accordance with the relevant data protection provisions.

The contact details of the official Data Protection Officer can be found in the adjacent contact box, or, in the mobile view, in the contact box below.

The Bundesbank only processes your personal data to fulfil the purposes for which they are collected. These data are deleted as soon as they are no longer required for such purposes.

You have the right to obtain information concerning which data of yours are being processed. Furthermore, you may demand that incorrect personal data be corrected or your data be deleted once the reason for which they were processed no longer applies.

Should you have questions regarding your rights or the handling of your personal data, you may address them to the official Data Protection Officer.

If you feel that the processing of your personal data by the Bundesbank represents a violation of your rights, you have the option of contacting the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). The contact details of the BfDI can be found at the link below.