Cookie Policy
INTRODUCTION
The European Space Agency (herein the “Agency” or “ESA”) is an intergovernmental organisation established by its Convention opened for signature in Paris on 30 May 1975 having its headquarters located at 24 rue du Général Bertrand, CS 30798, 75345 Paris Cedex 07, France.
Protection of Personal Data is of great importance for ESA, therefore this Cookie Notice aims to ensure lawfulness and transparency by explaining the cookies and similar technologies that we use in the website , what they do, what your choices regarding their use are and how you can contact us.
In the following cookie policy:
- ‘Platform‘ means the https://gssc.esa.int/ web portal, its content and associated services.
- ‘Content’ means all pages, screens, information and materials included in or accessible throughout the platform.
- ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘yours’ means you, the person(s) accessing our Platform and related services, and the party on whose behalf you are doing so.
- ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ means the European Space Agency (ESA).
WHAT ARE COOKIES?
A cookie is a small text file that a website may save on your device, for instance mobile device or computer, upon your visit to the website. Cookies may allow a website to recognise an individual’s device and store some information about the user.
WHY DO WE USE COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES?
Cookies do a lot of different jobs, such as remember that you are logged in, letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences and generally improving the user experience.
DO WE USE COOKIES FOR MARKETING, TARGETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA?
Yes. Our website uses cookies and similar technologies that may be classified as marketing, targeting, or social media cookies. These cookies may be placed by third parties and can be used to track users across websites, enable social media features, measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and personalize content or advertising.
The information collected through these cookies may be shared with third parties and, in some cases, transferred outside the European Economic Area, in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
DO WE USE ANY COOKIES FROM THIRD PARTY COMPANIES?
Yes. Our website uses cookies and similar technologies provided by third parties to ensure the proper functioning of the website, enhance security, prevent spam and automated abuse, and improve the overall user experience.
These third-party providers may process certain technical and usage-related information, such as IP address, device and browser characteristics, pages visited, interactions with website features, and timestamps. This processing may involve the use of cookies or comparable technologies and is carried out in accordance with applicable data protection regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Some third-party services are used for essential purposes such as basic security measures, spam prevention mechanisms (for example, CAPTCHA-based solutions), performance monitoring, or service optimization. Depending on the provider, personal data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside the European Economic Area. Where required, appropriate safeguards are applied in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
Up-to-date and detailed information about the third-party cookies and technologies in use, including their purposes, legal bases, and retention periods, is available in our cookie declaration, which is managed through our consent management platform and may be updated as third-party services are added, modified, or removed.
WHAT TYPES OF COOKIES ARE THERE AND WHICH ONES DO WE USE?
A cookie can be classified by its lifespan and the domain to which it belongs. By lifespan, a cookie is either a:
- Session cookie which is erased when the user closes the browser or;
- Persistent cookie which remains on the user’s computer/device for a pre-defined period of time;
We use both session and persistent cookies on our Portal.
As for the domain to which it belongs, there are either:
- First-party cookies which are set by the web server of the visited page and share the same domain;
- Third-party cookies stored by a different domain to the visited page’s domain. This can happen when the webpage references a file, such as JavaScript, located outside its domain.
WHICH COOKIES DO WE USE?
Strictly Necessary or Essential cookies: Strictly necessary cookies are required for the basic functioning of the website and to enable core features such as user authentication, session management, security, and access control. Without these cookies, the services requested by the user cannot be provided.
These cookies do not require user consent and are set automatically when you access certain features of the website, such as logging into your user account. They also include cookies used to store and manage your cookie consent preferences, ensuring that your choices regarding optional cookies are respected. To ensure privacy by default, when optional cookies are rejected, the website operates using only strictly necessary cookies required for core functionality and consent management.
Functional cookies: Functional cookies are used to store technical preferences requested by the user. These cookies do not perform tracking or profiling and are considered necessary for the proper functioning of certain features of the portal and their only purpose is to improve usability of the portal and support the correct operation of certain interface features.
For this purpose, the following cookies may be used:
| Source | First Party or Third Party cookie? | Cookie Name | Session or Persistent cookie? | Type of personal data collected | Purpose | Expires |
| Complianz | First | cmplz_banner-status | Persistent | Consent preference flag | Stores whether the cookie consent banner has been dismissed or displayed to the user | 12 months |
| Complianz | First | cmplz_consented_services | Persistent | Consent preference flag | Records which third-party services the user has consented to | 12 months |
| Complianz | First | cmplz_functional | Persistent | Consent preference flag | Stores the user’s consent choice for functional cookies and, therefore, they are set as “Always active”. | 12 months |
| Complianz | First | cmplz_marketing | Persistent | Consent preference flag | Stores the user’s consent choice for marketing cookies | 12 months |
| Complianz | First | cmplz_policy_id | Persistent | Consent preference flag | Stores the ID of the cookie policy accepted by the user to ensure the correct version is applied | 12 months |
| Complianz | First | cmplz_preferences | Persistent | Consent preference flag | Stores the user’s consent preferences for preference cookies | 12 months |
| Complianz | First | cmplz_statistics | Persistent | Consent preference flag | Stores the user’s consent choice for statistical/analytics cookies | 12 months |
As these cookies are essential for the operation of the consent mechanism and for demonstrating compliance with legal obligations, they are exempt from the requirement to obtain prior consent.
Analytics cookies: Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website by collecting and reporting information about usage patterns.
We use analytics tools (such as Matomo Web analytics developed by Piwick) to measure and analyse navigation on the website. The information collected is processed in an aggregated and anonymised manner and is used solely to improve the structure, navigation, and content of the website.
Analytics cookies are only placed if you have provided your prior consent.
Cookie declaration: A complete and up-to-date overview of all cookies used on this website, including their purpose, provider, retention period, and legal basis, is available in the cookie declaration generated and maintained via our consent management platform.
We use strictly necessary cookies to store users’ consent preferences regarding the use of cookies on our websites. These cookies are required to manage and apply consent choices in accordance with the GDPR, the ePrivacy Directive and the ESAPDP Policy. They do not contain personal data and are used solely to record consent decisions.
As these cookies are essential for the operation of the consent mechanism and for demonstrating compliance with legal obligations, they are exempt from the requirement to obtain prior consent.
HOW DO YOU WITHDRAW YOUR CONSENT AND/OR DELETE THE COOKIES?
- Cookie consent banner: When you visit our website for the first time, a cookie consent banner is displayed, allowing you to accept, reject, or configure the use of non-essential cookies.
- If you choose to reject optional cookies, only strictly necessary cookies and functional cookies will be placed. You can change or withdraw your consent at any time through the cookie settings available on the website.
- Managing cookies via your browser: You can also delete or block cookies through your browser settings. Each browser provides different ways to manage cookies, usually found under the “Help”, “Settings”, “Tools”, or “Preferences” menus.
- Please note that disabling or deleting cookies may affect the proper functioning of certain features of the website. Strictly necessary cookies are required for core functionalities such as security and user authentication and blocking them may result in limited or unavailable services.
CHANGES TO OUR COOKIES NOTICE
All future changes we make to our Cookie Notice will be posted on this website.
CONTACT
In case of any question, you can contact ESA DPO, as first point of contact, by sending an email to: dpo@esa.int
RELATED PRIVACY PUBLICATIONS
Please note that alongside this Cookie Policy, we also publish our GSSC Portal Terms And Conditions.