Data Protection

RWE privacy policy

Thank you for your interest in our company. Your privacy is important to us, and you should always feel safe and comfortable when visiting our website. That’s why we have put both technical and organizational measures in place to ensure we observe the relevant legislation at all times. This document describes the information we may gather and what we do with it.

Responsible for the content and services made available on this website is:

RWE Aktiengesellschaft
RWE Platz 1
45141 Essen
Germany
T +49(0)201-51790
F +49(0)201-51795005

E-mail RWE Aktiengesellschaft

If you have any questions about data protection at RWE AG, contact the responsible for data protection at:

RWE AG
 Datenschutzbeauftragter (Data Protection Officer)
RWE Platz 6
45141 Essen
Germany

E-mail dataprotection@rwe.com

Personal data

You alone decide whether or not to provide us with your personal data, e.g. as part of a registration process or contact enquiry. In general we will use your personal data to help us answer your enquiry, process your order, or give you access to special information, products or services.

When you register, submit a contact enquiry, etc., you may voluntarily make personal data available to us. This may mean we have to communicate your data to a Group member company. Your data is not shared with third parties outside the Group unless this is expressly required under the terms of your enquiry or the product or service you request. You will be advised of this at the appropriate point. If you wish, you can also provide us with personal data via applications incorporated in our platform (e.g. contact forms or services for which you need to set up a user account). The use of these applications may be subject to conditions that differ from this Privacy Information. We will expressly draw your attention to this by way of additional privacy clauses. Art. 6 para 1 (b) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) serves as the legal basis for the processing of personal data for the performance of a contract to which you are a party. Cases in which we need to obtain the consent of the data subject to process his or her personal data are governed by Art. 6 para 1 (a) GDPR.

General information

If you access our websites or view a file, data relating to this process will be stored in a log file on our web server. Apart from your IP address, this data is not linked to you personally. We therefore cannot identify which user viewed which data. But if you access our website, data transmitted to us by your browser is automatically gathered and stored.

This involves the following data:

  • The domain name of the website you came from
  • The websites that you visited in our system 
  • The names of the files you viewed
  • The date and time you viewed a file
  • The name of your Internet Service Provider
  • And your PC operating system and browser version, as appropriate
  • The host name of the accessing computer
  • Language settings

This data is collected for security and/or statistical purposes and to optimize our Internet presence. This data is not attributed to specific people, and is not associated with other data sources. Data is saved for six months and then deleted. Your data is not disclosed to third parties. In exceptional cases we may be obliged to release personal data only when ordered to do so by the competent authorities, if required in order to avert a risk, for law enforcement purposes or for other reasons as determined by the law.

IP addresses

We deliberately avoid logging IP addresses in clear text when you use our websites. Before being saved in our web server log file, your IP address is pseudonymized using a process that complies with privacy requirements. We use the pseudonymized IP addresses to identify and counter attacks, for example, or to draw up web statistics.

Web analysis and web optimization using Cookies and tracking pixels

We use Cookies and tracking technologies on our websites. These are used to optimize our website, to refine our services and for marketing purposes. The following describes these technologies and how they work.

When you visit one of our websites, we store information on your computer in the form of a cookie, which we automatically recognize on your next visit. Cookies are text files that are stored either in your web browser, or by your web browser on your computer. Viewing a website may store a cookie on your operating system. This cookie contains a characteristic sequence of characters that enable the browser to be clearly identified when the website is viewed again.

Using cookies helps us to give you unrestricted use of our website. They let us ensure your visit to our website is as convenient as possible. For example, they help us to adapt a website to your interests, or save your username to avoid the need to enter it again every time you visit.

We also use tracking pixels on our website. Tracking pixels are small graphics on websites that enable log files to be recorded and analyzed. When you visit a website, tracking pixels record information in the cookie file in your browser. Using pixels lets us show you targeted information and content.

Our websites give you the option of viewing and adjusting our cookie and pixel settings here. Please note that certain cookies and pixels are required for technical reasons to ensure our website continues to function correctly.

We make use of processors as per Art. 4 no. 8 GDPR for the operation and use of cookies. In some circumstances the processors may have access to your personal data that is gathered and processed using cookies and pixels. See here for a detailed overview of this data.

See here for an overview of the cookies and pixels used on our websites, the data processed in each case and the relevant recipients.

RWE uses cookies and pixels in the following categories:

Children

Unless they have permission from their parents or guardians, children should not submit personal details to RWE websites. RWE recommends that all parents/guardians instruct their children about how to deal safely and responsibly with personal details on the Internet. In any case, RWE will not deliberately collect personal details of children or in any way use or disclose such information to third parties without authorization.

Security

RWE has procedures in place to guarantee the security of your personal data. All efforts are made to protect your data against loss, destruction, forgery, manipulation, unauthorized access and unauthorized disclosure.

Links to other websites

RWE websites contain links to other websites. As the provider of our websites, we are solely responsible for the content of our own online presence. Our own content must be distinguished from content created by other providers, for which we cannot assume responsibility or ownership. We have no control over whether the linked website operators comply with the relevant privacy regulations. This Privacy Information therefore does not apply to websites of other providers, even if you view them via links on our website. Your attention is drawn to the privacy provisions of the other providers in each case. No liability on our part will be assumed for the content of third-party websites. Please advise us if you discover any relevant violations. We will inspect the links and remove them as appropriate.

Contact Form

You have the possibility to contact us via our contact form. To be able to process your request we collect the following information:

  • Salutation
  • Title
  • Name, Surname
  • E-Mail
  • Address
  • Phone Number
  • Company

In addition, you can use a free text to provide us with further information. We need the data so that we know who sent us an inquiry and to answer this inquiry. Personal data that you provide us with when filling out our contact form will be treated confidentially. We use your data exclusively for the purpose of processing your inquiry. The legal basis for processing is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a) GDPR, which you give by sending the request. We pass on your data within the group to the group company responsible for your request. In certain cases, we also use service providers who can also receive your data.

The data will be stored for as long as is necessary to answer your request. In addition, your data will be stored within the statutory retention periods.

For the RWE Renewables Japan G.K contact form provided in this website responsible is:

Naoki Iwabuchi, Country Chair & President
 5F Marunouchi Trust Tower Main
1-8-3 Marunouchi,
Chiyoda-ku 
Tokyo, 100-0005 Japan

For the RWE Supply and Trading Japan Inc. contact form provided in this website responsible is:

Data Protection Officer
 5F Marunouchi Trust Tower Main
1-8-3 Marunouchi,
Chiyoda-ku 
Tokyo, 100-0005 Japan

Social media channels

We have set up and maintain corporate websites and channels on various social networks and process your personal data to actively communicate with you and provide you with additional information about us.

The social media portals and channels are not run by us, but by the respective operators under their own responsibility in the meaning of data protection regulations. Therefore we have no influence on the data collected and processed by the operator, nor are we aware of the full scope of data processing, its purposes of processing or storage periods.

In certain cases we process your data with the operator of the social medium in joint controllership pursuant to Art. 26 GDPR. 

We draw your attention to the fact that, when using social media, your data may be processed outside the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) (in the so-called "third countries"), where the level of data protection does not correspond to that in the EU. This may result in certain risks as, for example, it may be more difficult for you to exercise your rights.

For detailed information on the processing activities conducted by the operators of the social media as well as the opt-out options, we kindly refer to their data protection policies and statements:

As far as we have information about the data processing activities that concern you, we inform you about it in the following:

1. Which of your personal data is used by us?

In the following a listing of the data which may be processed: inventory data (e. g. names, addresses), contact data (e. g. e-mail, telephone numbers), content data (e. g. entries in online forms), usage data (e. g. websites visited, interest in content, access times), meta/communication data (e. g. device information, IP addresses, time stamps, consent status).

We would also like to point out that social media operators generally collect data about your usage behavior and interests.

2. What are the sources of the data?

The data usually originates from you. Whether and in which cases the social media operators also process your data from other sources is beyond our knowledge.

3. What do we process your data for and on what legal basis?

By presenting our company in social media, we would like to actively communicate with you and offer you the opportunity to inform yourself about our products and services in this way. This constitutes our legitimate interest, which also serves as the legal basis for the processing of your data pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR.

The social media operators will commonly use your data for market research and advertising purposes.

4. To whom will your data be passed on?

We pass the data on to other companies within the RWE Group. We do not pass on data to third parties. However, we do not have any information about who the respective social network may pass on your personal data to.

5. How long will your data be stored?

The storage duration of your data with the social media operators for their own purposes is beyond our knowledge.

6. Is there an obligation to provide your data?

There is no obligation to provide the data. However, if you do not provide the data, you may in certain cases not be able to take full advantage of our offer on social media.

Questions and comments

You have the right to obtain information from us without charge regarding your saved personal data, and to object to the processing or use of your data. You can also assert your rights to have your personal data blocked, deleted or corrected. Contact us at dataprotection@rwe.com if you have any questions or suggestions regarding privacy.

You have the right to object at any time to the processing of your data on the basis of a balancing of interests or the public interest, if your particular situation provides grounds for objection. This also applies any profiling based on this provision.

If you file an objection, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can prove imperative grounds for processing worthy of protection which outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims.

Objections can be made informally and should be addressed where possible to:

RWE AG, RWE Platz 6, 45141 Essen,

E-Mail dataprotection@rwe.com

You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority. You are free to contact the competent supervisory authority of the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information North Rhine-Westphalia (Postfach 20 04 44, 40102 Düsseldorf) on data protection issues.

If you are accessing the website in Japan

You can consult the Personal Information Protection Commission (Kasumigaeski Common Gate West Tower 32nd Floor, 3-2-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) and/or consumer affairs centers at various regions.

As the Internet continues to develop, our data protection strategy may need to be adjusted accordingly. We will advise of any changes in good time via this site.