Disclaimer and Privacy Policy

General information

The media occasionally report about viruses that are sent using fake sender addresses. Very often big companies and public authorities that internet users generally trust are affected by this. We would like to point out that the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) never sends attachments with ".exe" or ".com" extensions.

1. Website content

The author accepts no responsibility for the up-to-dateness, accuracy, completeness or quality of the information provided. The author cannot be held liable in any way for material or immaterial damage incurred or suffered as a result of the use or non-use of the information provided on this website or the use of incorrect or incomplete information unless the author has acted intentionally or in a grossly negligent manner. The content of this website is subject to change and non-binding. The author expressly reserves the right to alter, amend or remove pages, wholly and in part, without prior notice or to temporarily or permanently discontinue publication.

2. References and links

In the case of direct and indirect references (hyperlinks) to third-party internet pages or other documents on the internet the author is not responsible for, the author can only be held liable if the author was aware of the content of the website or if it would have been reasonable and technically feasible to prevent the use of websites with illegal content. The author hereby explicitly declares that, at the time the link was created, there was no evidence of illegal content on the respective website. The author has no influence on the current or future design, content or copyright of the linked website. Therefore, the author explicitly dissociates himself from all changes to the contents of linked pages that were made after the link was created. This statement is valid for all links and references within the website created by the author as well as for entries in guest books, discussion forums, lists of links and mailing lists. The provider of the linked page is solely responsible for illegal, incorrect or incomplete content and in particular for damage resulting from the use or non-use of the information provided on the linked page. The author referring to the page via a link shall not be liable for any of the above.

3. Copyright and acknowledgement of sources

The author will endeavour to observe the copyright of any graphic, audio document, video sequence or text in all publications, to use his own graphics, audio documents, video sequences or texts or to make use of licence-free graphics, audio documents, video sequences or texts. All trademarks and brands mentioned on the website, including those protected by third parties, are without limitation subject to the respective labelling law and the rights of possession of the registered copyright holder. The mere mentioning of a trademark on this website should not lead to the assumption that it is not protected by the rights of a third party!

The author of the website has the exclusive copyright to all published objects created by himself. The reproduction or use of any such graphics, audio documents, video sequences or texts in other electronic or printed publications is prohibited without the author's express consent.

4. Data Protection

On some pages you have the possibility of entering personal or business data (e.g. email addresses, names, postal addresses). The disclosure of this data is voluntary. If technically feasible and where reasonable, all services offered can be used without disclosing personal information or by using anonymised data or aliases. Third parties are prohibited from sending unsolicited information to mailing addresses, phone or fax numbers or email addresses published on the imprint page or similar pages. We reserve the right to take legal action against anyone violating this prohibition by sending spam mails.

5. E-mail Communication

Security gaps can occur in email communication. An email sent to the RETech Initiative staff can be intercepted and read by experienced internet users. If you send an email to the RETech Initiative’s contact point (e.g. by completing the contact form), we will assume that we are authorised to reply by email. If you do not wish to receive an email, we kindly ask you to consider alternative means of communication, for example    regular mail.

6. Privacy Policy

Each access to the BMU's website will be stored on the web server in a log file for a maximum of two hours and exclusively for the purpose of data security. After this time the data will be anonymised using a randomised alphanumerical code and will then be stored in an archive for a maximum of six months. The server log files include the following data:

  • files accessed
  • date and time of access
  • volume of data transferred
  • notice whether data was successfully accessed
  • IP address of the user or provider
  • Internet address of last Internet page visited (referrer)
  • information about the programme recalling data (user agent)

The data stored will not be used for statistical purposes. We do not pass on this data to third parties either for commercial or for non-commercial use. The RETech Initiative’s website does not use cookies (see also 7. Cookies) or other technologies for tracing users' access habits. Data from the server log files will not be combined with data collected from other pages on our website for which disclosure of personal information is requested.

It is not possible or permitted to identify you by the IP number from the server log file. An IP address will only be analysed in the event of an attack against the BMU's internet infrastructure, in case of an offence against public morals or in other instances of illegal actions in connection with use of the website. It is only possible to draw conclusions regarding who you are from the IP address via your provider through investigation proceedings initiated by the police of public prosecution office.

Where personal data are requested on this website, for example when registering to use the RETech notice board, this is always done openly. Only those data are requested that are relevant in each instance. We treat these data as confidential and only use them for the purposes for which they were requested within the framework of data protection law. Where it is necessary to store your personal data (e.g. name, address, email address) for the information service you have used, your data will only be stored for as long as necessary to provide the BMU's information service and to fulfil the tasks for which the data were requested. Once an offer ends or a user unsubscribes to the information service (e.g. mailing list) or the user or provider deletes the user account on the RETech bulletin board, the personal data are irrevocably deleted after a maximum of six weeks.

Should you register to use the RETech bulletin board, data such as your given name, family name, email address, password and, where necessary, web address and place of residence may possibly be stored in a profile. This profile is linked to your contributions in various forums. A large part of this profile is publicly accessible. You can partly yourself determine which data are publicly visible via the profile settings.

We do not analyse your data, for instance to compile user profiles.

7. Cookies

You can access the website and make full use of it without accepting cookies. We do not use cookies or other technologies to retrace your access. You need to activate cookies in your browser in order to retain personal font settings.

These data are not combined with other stored data arising when accessing the website and when accessing other pages requiring the entry of personal data. These data are not analysed for statistical purposes. The selected references are retained for a maximum of six weeks. After the expiry of that time limit the data linked to the entry are deleted.

A session cookie is created to safeguard your access to the secure area of the RETech bulletin board. This is deleted after you log out of the secure area or at the latest when you close the browser.

You can de-activate cookies in your browser. If you do so, disruptions in functionality may, however, arise.

8. User's right to information

Pursuant to sections 19 - 20 of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG), as a user of the BMU's website you have the right to request information at any time on the kind and volume of data stored during your visit to the website. On request, information will be provided to you based on the information you are interested in. This service is provided free of charge. Please contact the    RETech Initiative’s contact point .

9. Legal effect of disclaimer

This disclaimer forms part of the website linked to this page. If parts of this text or certain phrases are not, no longer or not completely in line with applicable legislation, this does not affect the remainder of the document in terms of content or validity.

Should you have further questions or require further information concerning data protection, the   RETech Initiative’s contact point will be glad to assist you.