Expats Club Germany (“we”, “our”, or “us”) is committed to protecting your personal data in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and German data protection laws.

1. Who We Are

This website is operated by Expats Club Germany. Our website address is: https://expatsclubgermany.com.

If you have any questions about this policy, you can contact us at: https://expatsclubgermany.com/contact/

2. What Personal Data We Collect and Why

Comments

When visitors leave comments, we collect the data shown in the form, the visitor’s IP address, and browser user agent to help detect spam. An anonymized string (hash) may be sent to the Gravatar service. Gravatar’s privacy policy.

Media

If you upload images, avoid including location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors can download and extract this data.

Cookies

If you leave a comment, you may opt to save your name, email, and website in cookies for convenience. These last one year.

If you have an account and log in, a temporary cookie checks if your browser accepts cookies. It contains no personal data and is discarded when the browser closes.

Login cookies last 2 days, or 2 weeks with “Remember Me”. Logout removes them. Editing or publishing a post creates a cookie that stores the post ID and expires after 1 day.

Embedded Content

Articles may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images). It behaves like visiting the source site. These may collect data, use cookies, track interaction, and monitor behavior if logged in.

3. Who We Share Your Data With

If you request a password reset, your IP will be included in the reset email.

4. How Long We Retain Your Data

Comments and metadata are retained indefinitely. Registered users can view, edit, or delete their information at any time (username cannot be changed). Administrators can also access and edit it.

5. Your Rights Over Your Data

You have the right to:

  • Access your personal data
  • Request corrections
  • Request deletion (unless required by law)
  • Request data portability
  • Object to or restrict processing in certain cases

To exercise your rights, contact us at info@expatsclubgermany.com.

6. Where Your Data Is Sent

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

7. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your data based on:

  • Your consent
  • Contract performance
  • Legal obligations
  • Legitimate interests (e.g., user experience, security)

8. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized access, misuse, or loss.

9. Changes to This Policy

This policy may be updated. Changes will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.