Effective Date: April 13, 2026
Welcome to the website www.gnews.cz (hereinafter referred to as the "Website"). This Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you visit our website, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) and the ePrivacy Directive (Directive 2002/58/EC, as amended by Directive 2009/136/EC), often referred to as the "Cookie Law."
By accessing or using our website, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the terms of this policy and that you agree to them. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not use our website.
1. Data Controller
The entity responsible for processing your personal data on this website is:
Czech Media Center, Ltd.
Bermanova 1009/12, Prague 9, 196 00, Czech Republic
generalnews@gnews.cz
We are registered with registration number L 79146, held by the Municipal Court in Prague, Czech Republic, VAT ID: 21633100.
If you have any questions, requests, or complaints regarding your personal data or this policy, please contact us using the contact information provided above.
2. What Personal Data We Collect
When you use our website, we collect two types of personal data: personal data (information that may directly or indirectly identify you) and non-personal data (information that cannot identify you).
2.1 Personal Data
Depending on your interaction with the website, we may collect the following personal data from you:
– Contact Information: For example, your name, email address, phone number, or mailing address, if you provide it voluntarily (e.g., when subscribing to our newsletter, contacting our support team, or submitting a comment).
– Browsing and Usage Data: Information about how you use our website, such as the pages you visit, the time you spend on each page, the links you click, and your IP address (which may be used to identify your approximate location).
– Other Voluntarily Provided Data: Any other personal data that you choose to share with us, such as comments, feedback, or information provided in forms on the website.
2.2 Non-Personal Data
We also collect non-personal data, which includes aggregate or anonymized information that cannot be used to identify you. This may include:
– Browser type and version
– Operating system
– Device type
– Referral source (how you found our website)
– Aggregate browsing behavior data (e.g., the number of users who visited a particular page)
Non-personal data is used to improve the performance of the website, analyze trends, and enhance the user experience. It is not linked to any personal data and is processed in accordance with applicable laws.
3. Legal Basis for Processing Your Personal Data
In accordance with the GDPR, we process your personal data only when we have a valid legal basis for doing so. We rely on the following legal bases:
– Consent: We process your personal data when you have given us your explicit consent (e.g., when you agree to subscribe to our newsletter or accept optional cookies). You can withdraw your consent at any time (see section 7 for details).
– Contractual Necessity: We process your personal data in order to fulfill our obligations under a contract with you (e.g., if you create an account with us or purchase a service, we need to process your contact and payment information in order to provide you with the service).
– Legal Obligation: We may process your personal data to comply with a legal obligation (e.g., maintaining records for tax or regulatory purposes).
– Legitimate Interests: We process your personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or the legitimate interests of a third party), provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Our legitimate interests include:
– Improving and maintaining our websites
– Analyzing user behavior to improve the user experience
– Preventing fraud and ensuring the security of our websites
– Promoting our services (unless it conflicts with your rights)
For each processing activity, we ensure that the legal basis is clearly documented and that we process data only to the extent necessary for the specified purpose.
4. How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes, based on the legal bases mentioned above:
– Operating and maintaining our websites: To ensure the proper functioning of our websites, resolve technical issues, and provide you with access to our content and services.
– Communicating with you: Responding to your inquiries, sending updates, newsletters, or marketing communications (if you have given consent), and informing you about changes to our services or these policies.
– Improving our websites: Analyzing user behavior, identifying trends, and improving the design, content, and functionality of our websites.
– Ensuring security: Detecting and preventing fraud, unauthorized access, and other security threats, and protecting our websites and our users.
– Complying with legal obligations: Fulfilling our legal, tax, or regulatory requirements (e.g., maintaining records of transactions, responding to legal requests).
– Personalizing your experience: Tailoring the content and services we offer to your preferences (e.g., displaying news articles relevant to your interests based on your browsing history).
We will not use your personal data for any purpose that is not described in these policies without first informing you and, where necessary, obtaining your consent.
5. Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies (e.g., web beacons, pixels) on our websites to improve your user experience, analyze behavior patterns, and provide personalized content. In this section, we explain what cookies are, how we use them, and how you can manage them, in accordance with the ePrivacy Directive and the GDPR.
5.1 What are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device (computer, smartphone, tablet) when you visit a website. They allow websites to recognize your device and remember certain information about your preferences or activity while browsing. Cookies can be "temporary" (which are deleted when you close your browser) or "persistent" (which remain on your device for a specified period or until you delete them).
5.2 Types of Cookies We Use
We use the following types of cookies on our websites, categorized by their purpose:
1. Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for the proper functioning of the website. They enable basic functions such as navigation, access to secure areas, and remembering your cookie preferences. We do not require your consent to use these cookies because they are essential for providing the service you have requested. Examples include cookies that remember your cookie consent preferences or allow you to log in to certain areas of the website. Legal basis: contractual necessity and legitimate interests (ensuring that the website functions as intended).
2. Functional Cookies: These cookies allow the website to remember your preferences and provide enhanced, personalized features. For example, they may remember your language preference, articles you have saved, or your login details (if you choose the "remember me" option). These cookies do not collect personal data for marketing purposes and are solely used to improve your user experience. Legal basis: Consent (unless they are essential for providing the service, in which case we rely on contractual necessity).
3. Analytics/Performance Cookies: These cookies are used to collect information about how you use the website, such as which pages you visit most often, how long you spend on each page, and whether you encounter any errors. This data is aggregated and anonymized, meaning it cannot be used to identify you. We use this information to analyze trends, improve website performance, and understand how users interact with our content. We may use third-party analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics) to collect this data. These tools may store their own cookies on your device. You can find more information about how third-party analytics tools process your data in their privacy policies.
4. Marketing/Targeting Cookies: These cookies are used to provide personalized marketing content, both on our website and on third-party websites. They may track your activity across multiple websites to create a profile of your interests and display relevant advertisements. We may share the data collected by these cookies with third-party advertisers or marketing platforms. Legal basis: Explicit consent (you must consent to the use of these cookies before they are used).
You have the right to decide which cookies are used on your device. You can manage your cookie preferences in the following ways: – Cookie consent banner: When you first visit our website, you will see a banner asking for your consent to use cookies. – Browser settings: You can configure your web browser to block or delete cookies. Most browsers allow you to do this in the "Settings" or "Preferences" menu. Please note that blocking essential cookies may affect the functionality of the website and may prevent you from accessing certain features. – Third-party tools: For marketing cookies, you can also opt out of tracking by third parties using tools such as the European Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) opt-out page or the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) opt-out page. Please note that if you clear or block cookies, some website features may not function properly, and we may not be able to provide you with a full user experience. 6. Sharing Your Personal Information with Third Parties We may share your personal information with third parties under the following circumstances, in accordance with the GDPR: – Service Providers: We may share your personal information with external service providers who help us operate the website, provide our services, or process data on our behalf. Examples include website hosting providers, analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics), email marketing platforms, and payment processors (where applicable). These service providers may only process your data in accordance with our instructions and are obligated to protect your personal information. – Legal and Regulatory Authorities: We may share your personal information if required by law, a court order, or a regulatory authority (e.g., in response to a request from a data protection authority or a law enforcement agency). – Organizational Transfer: If we sell, merge, or transfer our entire non-profit organization or a portion of it to another company, we may share your personal information with the acquiring company, provided that they agree to protect your data in accordance with these principles and applicable laws. – With Your Consent: We may share your personal information with third parties if you have given us explicit consent to do so (e.g., sharing your contact information with a partner organization for a joint cultural event). We will never sell your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes without your explicit consent. All third parties with whom we share your data are obligated to comply with the GDPR and other applicable data protection laws, and we take reasonable steps to ensure that your data is protected. 7. Your Data Protection Rights Under the GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal information. We will respond to any request to exercise these rights within one month (in complex cases, within three months, and we will inform you if we need to extend the deadline). – Right of Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and information about how we process it. – Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you. – Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): You have the right to request that we erase your personal data if: – it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected; – you withdraw your consent (and there is no other legal basis for processing). – you object to the processing (and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for processing). – the data has been processed unlawfully. – we are required to erase it in order to comply with a legal obligation. – Right to Restriction of Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data (e.g., if you contest the accuracy of the data or if the processing is unlawful, but you do not want the data to be erased). – Right to Data Portability: You have the right to request that we provide you with your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, or to transmit it directly to another controller (where technically feasible). – Right to Object: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data if we are relying on a legitimate interest (or the legitimate interest of a third party) as the legal basis. We will stop processing your data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or if the processing is necessary for legal reasons. – Right to withdraw consent: If we process your data based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before you withdrew it. – Right to lodge a complaint: If you are not satisfied with how we process your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority. In the Czech Republic, this authority is the Office for Personal Data Protection, and you can find its contact details at https://www.uoou.cz/. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided in section 1. We may ask you to provide proof of identity to verify your request, to ensure that we do not provide personal data to unauthorized individuals. 8. Data Retention We will retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or to comply with legal obligations. The retention period varies depending on the type of data and the purpose of processing: – Essential cookies: These are retained for the duration of your session (session cookies) or until you delete them (persistent cookies). – Functional, analytical, and marketing cookies: We retain these for 12 months from your last visit, unless you delete them earlier or withdraw your consent. – Contact and account information: This is retained for as long as you have an account with us, or until you request its deletion. After your account is deleted, we may retain some data for a reasonable period to comply with legal obligations (e.g., tax records) or to prevent fraud. – Usage and browsing data: We retain this in aggregated, anonymized form for 24 months to improve our website, after which it is deleted or anonymized. Once your personal data is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymize it so that it can no longer be used to identify you. 9. Data Security We take the security of your personal data seriously and have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect it from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include: – Data encryption both in transit (using the HTTPS protocol) and at rest. – Secure storage of data on servers protected by passwords. – Regular security audits and updates to our systems. – Restriction of access to personal data to authorized employees only. – Training of our employees on data protection and best practices in security. Although we take all reasonable steps to protect your personal data, no internet transmission or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data, but we will always act in accordance with applicable laws to minimize risks. 10. International Data Transfers If we ever transfer your personal data to a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we will ensure that this transfer is in compliance with the GDPR. This may include: – Transferring data to a country that the European Commission has determined to provide an adequate level of data protection (e.g., Canada, Japan, New Zealand). – Using standard contractual clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission, which set out the obligations of the receiving party to protect your data. – Using other legally valid mechanisms for international transfers (e.g., binding corporate rules, where applicable). If you would like more information about international data transfers, please contact us using the details provided in section 1. 11. Children's PrivacyOur website is not intended for children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 16. If we discover that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 16 without the consent of a parent or legal guardian, we will promptly delete that information. If you are a parent or legal guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and request that it be deleted. 12. Changes to These Policies We may update these Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in applicable laws, in our data processing activities, or in the features of the website. If we make changes, we will update the "Effective Date" at the top of these policies and will notify you as follows: – By posting a notice on the homepage of the website. – By sending you an email (if you have provided us with your email address and have consented to marketing communications); – By updating the policies on the website (the most recent version will always be available at the bottom of the website). We encourage you to review these policies regularly to stay informed about how we protect your personal information. By continuing to use the website after the effective date of any changes, you are agreeing to the updated policies. 13. Contact Us If you have any questions, requests, or complaints regarding these Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy or the processing of your personal information, please contact us at: Czech Media Center, Inc. Bermanova 1009/12, Prague 9, 196 00, Czech Republic generalnews@gnews.cz Last updated: April 13, 2026