The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action takes the protection of your personal data very seriously. We want you to know what data we collect, when we collect it, and how we use it. We have taken technical and organisational measures to ensure that both we as well as external service providers comply with the provisions governing data protection.

The Ministry uses a web tracking tool to obtain anonymous data about user visits to our websites. These data can be used to produce user profiles under a pseudonym. The cookies placed on your computer are solely used to draw conclusions about the user patterns on the Ministry's websites and to regularly review the information service we provide to the users. No personal data are retained or passed on to their parties. It is possible to withhold or withdraw consent to the future collection and storage of data at any time.

Personal data

Personal data is information that can be used to identify you. This includes such information as your name, e-mail address, postal address and telephone number. It does not include information that is not related to your identity (such as the number of site users). In general, you can use our online services without disclosing your identity.

If you order informational materials or brochures, subscribe to newsletters, or register for a forum or database operated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, we will ask for your name and other personal data. You are free to decide whether or not to provide this information. We store these data on secure servers in Germany. Only a very limited number of specially authorised individuals - who are involved with the technical, commercial or editorial management of the servers - have access to these data.

We store certain data from every visit to our server for statistical and security purposes. Only the following information is stored, and for a limited time only: the IP address of your internet service provider; the date and time of access; and the pages of our website that you accessed. These data are analysed solely for the purpose of optimising our internet service and are not traceable to you. In cases of serious violations of our terms of use and in cases of unauthorised access or attempted access to our servers, we reserve the right to make use of certain data sets for the purpose of locating personal data.

Disclosure of data to third parties

When you order informational materials from our website, your personal data are used only by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the companies commissioned to distribute the material. We will not transmit your data to third parties without your express consent. If required by law or court decision, we will transmit your data to authorities authorised to receive such information.

Protection of minors

Children and 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 or collect personal data from children and do not transmit these data to third parties.

Disclaimer

We have exercised the greatest possible care in compiling and activating the contents of this website and the special websites associated with it. Nevertheless, processing errors cannot be ruled out. Please submit comments and corrections here (contact). Despite the care we exercise in operating our online services, we assume no liability for the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of these websites. In particular, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action assumes no liability whatsoever for damages or consequences that may result from the direct or indirect use of the content provided. As content provider, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is responsible under general legislation for the proprietary content that it makes available for use. This proprietary content is to be distinguished from external links to content made available by other providers. This third-party content does not originate from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and it is not possible for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action to influence the content of third-party websites. The content of third-party websites to which we provide links does not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action but rather serves to provide information and additional context. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action assumes no liability for the third-party content to which it provides links as described above. The responsibility for this third-party content lies solely with the respective content provider.