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Privacy statement

Protecting your personal data is of great importance to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH). We want our users to know what personal data the BMLEH is processing, when it is doing so and for what purpose.
In case of the website www.nap-pflanzenschutz.de the Federal office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) is acting as a processor of personal data on behalf of BMLEH.
The BMLEH provides content on the Internet in order to inform the public about the ministry's activities. We do not process personal data beyond what is necessary. What personal data we process at what time, for what purpose and on which legal basis will depend greatly on the type of service you are using.

We have taken technical and organisational measures to ensure that both we and our external service providers comply with the provisions governing data protection.

The processing of personal data at the ministry or the BLE as processor is handled in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and the Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz/BDSG).

1. Basic information

1.1 Responsibility and Data Protection Officer

Responsibility for the processing of personal data lies with the

Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity

Addresses:

Bonn Office

  • Visitor's address:Rochusstraße 1, 53123 Bonn
  • Postal address: P.O. Box 14 02 70, 53107 Bonn

Berlin Office

  • Visitor's address: Wilhelmstraße 54, 10117 Berlin
  • Postal address: 11055 Berlin

If you have any specific questions about the protection of your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity: 

1.2 Personal Data

‘Personal data’ comprise any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. An identifiable natural person is someone who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, and/or an online identifier.

1.3 Legal basis for the processing of personal data

The BMLEH or the BLE as designated processor processes personal data as it carries out tasks of public interest within its capacity as a public authority. These duties include in particular public relations work, which entails providing information to the public via this website. The processing of personal data in this context is based on Article 6 (1) (e) and Article 6 (3) (b) of the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (hereafter: GDPR) in conjunction with Section 3 of the Federal Data Protection Act.

Insofar as the processing of personal data is required in order to fulfil a legal obligation, the legal basis is formed by Article 6 (1) (c) and Article 6 (3) (b) of the GDPR in conjunction with the relevant legal provision under which the legal obligation arises.

Where the consent of data subjects to process their personal data is required, the basis for this lies in Article 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR.

The processing of personal data is required for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party is based on Article 6 (1) (b) of the GDPR. This also applies to processing operations necessary to carry out measures necessary to conclude a contract.

In the event that the vital interests of the data subject or another natural person make it necessary to process personal data, the basis for this is found in Article 6 (1) (d) of the GDPR.
The Ministry or the BLE as processor does not engage in automated decision-making processes.

2. Data processing in connection with visits to this website

2.1 Data capturing

Whenever a user accesses our website and whenever a file is accessed, data relating to this is temporarily processed in a log file. More specifically, the following data are stored for every single access/download:

  • Date and time (time stamp) as well as the IP address of the device or server used;
  • Details of the request and target address (log version, HTTP method, referrer, user-agent string);
  • Name of the file accessed, volume of data transferred (URL including query string, file size in byte), and
  • notification as to whether the request was successful (HTTP status code).

We are obliged under Article 6 (1) (e) EU GDPR, in conjunction with Section 5 of the Act on the Federal Office for Information Security, to store data that are necessary to protect the ministry’s Internet infrastructure and the federal communications technology system from attack; data must be stored beyond the time of your visit. This data is analysed and may be used for legal and criminal proceedings in the event of an attack on the communications technology system. The data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer needed for the intended purpose.

Data collected from visits to the ministry’s website and stored on log files are transmitted only to evaluate the use of our website and tailor it to meet user’s needs (see “web analysis” below), and only when required by law, or if attacks on the federal communications technology system make it necessary to forward such data for purposes of legal action or criminal prosecution. Data will not be transferred for any other reason. The ministry, or the BLE as processor, does not compile these data with data from other sources.

2.2  Cookies

A cookie is a short entry in a specific data file on your computer. Its purpose is to facilitate the exchange of information between computer programmes or the archiving of information for a limited period of time. Cookies cannot execute programmes or plant viruses on your computer. Their purpose is to make the website more user-friendly and effective.

When visiting our website, cookies will be stored on your computer. Article 6 (1) (e) EU GDPR, in conjunction with Section 3 Federal Data Protection Act, provides the legal basis for using cookies as part of the ministry's PR activities, which are designed to meet the demand for information about the ministry’s work.

Whenever a user accesses our website, a technically required cookie is set. The purpose is to help prevent manipulation by third parties during your visit to the website, which might use so-called Cross-Site Request Forgery or CSRF attacks to manipulate i.a. your entries in forms.

You can adjust the settings on your browser so that cookies are only stored for the duration of the respective Internet session. You can also completely disable the storage of cookies in the browser settings. In this case, you might no longer be able to fully use all features our website offers.

2.3 Web analysis

The BLE as the ministry’s processor uses the “Matomo” (formerly “PIWIK”) web analysis service for statistical analysis and to provide demand-oriented information. Matomo is an open source tool for web analysis. When visiting our website, Matomo is deactivated. We only collect information on your use of our website in anonymous form after you have actively consented (‘statistics’).

Matomo uses cookies, i.e. text files, which are stored on your computer and which enable the BLE as the ministry’s processor to analyse the use of its website. For this purpose, the usage information obtained by the cookie is transmitted and stored so that your user behaviour can be evaluated. It runs exclusively on the servers of our web provider Informationstechnikzentrum Bund (ITZBund). Your IP address will be abbreviated and then anonymised; you will thus remain an anonymous user. The usage information obtained by the cookie will not be passed on to a third party.

The exclusive purpose of this web analysis is to optimise our online presence. Your personal data will neither be analysed nor used for profiling or passed on to a third party.
You can decide whether a web analysis cookie may be stored in your browser to enable the ministry to collect and analyse statistical data.

2.4 Cookie Settings

No tracking cookies have been set.

3. Processing of personal data of those using the contact form

You can contact the Secretariat for the National Action Plan on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products (NAP) via the ministry's website www.nap-pflanzenschutz. This service is operated by the Federal Office of Agriculture and Food (BLE) on behalf of the BMLEH. When you contact us, the personal data transmitted by you (e.g.: surname, first name, address, e-mail address), along with the information you transmit for the purpose of contacting us and processing your request, will be stored at the BLE in accordance with the time limits of the Registry Directive, which complements the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries (GGO).

Please note that the processing of this personal data is based on Article 6 (1) (e) EU GDPR in conjunction with Section 3 Federal Data Protection Act. Processing of the personal data provided by you is necessary for the purpose of processing your request. If we receive a message via the contact form or an e-mail from you, we assume that we are entitled to reply by e-mail. Otherwise, please expressly point out to us another way of communication.

4. Processing of personal data as part of our newsletter service

We offer a newsletter, with which you can inform yourself about current developments on the National Action Plan on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products (NAP). We use software provided by CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG, Mühlenstr. 43, 26180 Rastede, to send our newsletters and manage our mailing list.

An e-mail address is mandatory if you wish to use the newsletter service. We use the so-called double opt-in procedure for newsletter subscriptions. This means that after you provide your email address, we will send a confirmation email to the address you provided, asking you to confirm that you wish to receive the newsletter. If you do not confirm this, your registration will be automatically deleted after a maximum of six months. If you confirm your subscription to the newsletter, we will store your email address until you unsubscribe from the newsletter. This data is stored solely for the purpose of sending you the newsletter. Furthermore, upon registration and confirmation, we store your IP addresses and the time the first email was sent to prevent misuse of your personal data.

The processing of this data is based on your consent in accordance with Article 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR. You may revoke your consent to receive the newsletter at any time. Revoking your consent does not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of your consent up until the time of revocation. You can revoke your consent by clicking the link provided in every newsletter email or by using the unsubscribe form on our website. The data you provide will not be shared with third parties.

Please note that we analyze your user behavior when sending the newsletter. Specifically, we measure whether recipients open the newsletter (“open rate”) and whether they click on links within the newsletter (“click-through rate”).
For this analysis, the emails we send contain so-called web beacons, also known as tracking pixels. These are single-pixel image files that link to specific websites, thereby enabling us to analyze your user behavior. This is done by collecting the data specified in Section 2 (using a truncated IP address) as well as web beacons that are assigned to your email address and linked to a unique ID. Links received in the newsletter also contain this ID. The newsletter provider stores the information collected in this manner on its server within the European Economic Area.

Tracking the “open rate” in this way is not possible if you have disabled the display of images by default in your email program. In this case, however, the newsletter will not be displayed entirely and you may not be able to use all of its features. If you manually enable the display of images, the tracking described above will take place.

5. Processing of personal data as part of social media use

The ministry is active on Instagram, Threads, X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky, LinkedIn and YouTube. We expressly point out that these networks store the personal data of their users (e.g. personal information, IP address etc.) in accordance with their data usage guidelines and use them for business purposes. The ministry has no influence on the collection and use of data by social networks. We are unable to ascertain the extent, the location and the duration of the data capture, the extent to which the networks meet obligations to delete data, what evaluations and links pertaining to the data are made, and to whom data are forwarded. Click here for the respective terms of use of the networks:

6. Your rights

You have the following rights vis-à-vis the BMLEH with regard to the personal data concerning your person:

  • Right of access, Article 15 EU GDPR and Section 34 BDSG: The right of access confers on data subjects a comprehensive right of access to the data concerning their person and to certain important information-related criteria, such as the purposes for which it is processed or the duration for which it will be stored. The exceptions to this right regulated in Section 34 Federal Data Protection Act apply.
  • Right to rectification, Art. 16 EU GDPR: The right of rectification includes the possibility for data subjects to have inaccurate personal data corrected.
  • Right to erasure, Art. 17 EU GDPR and Section 35 BDSG: The right to erasure includes the possibility for data subjects to have data deleted by the party responsible. However, this is only possible if the personal data concerning their person is no longer needed, is processed unlawfully or if the relevant consent has been revoked. The exceptions to this right regulated in Section 35 Federal Data Protection Act apply.
  • Right to restriction of processing, Article 18 EU GDPR: The right to restrict the processing includes the possibility for data subjects to prevent further processing of personal data concerning their person for the time being. A restriction particularly occurs pending verification of the exercise of other rights of the data subjects.
  • Right to data portability, Article 20 EU GDPR: The right to data portability includes the possibility for data subjects to obtain the personal data concerning their person from the person responsible in a standard, machine-readable format, in order to be able to forward them to another person responsible if necessary. According to Article 20 (3) sentence 2 EU GDPR, however, this right does not apply if the data processing serves the performance of public tasks.
  • Right to object to processing, Article 21 (1) EU GDPR and Section 36 BDSG: The right to object includes the possibility for data subjects to object, in a particular situation, to the further processing of their personal data, insofar as this is justified by the exercise of public functions or of public or private interests. The exceptions to this right regulated in Section 36 Federal Data Protection Act apply.
  • Right to revoke consent: If personal data are processed on the basis of consent, data subjects may revoke such consent at any time for the purpose for which it was given. The lawfulness of the processing undertaken on the basis of this consent remains unaffected until receipt of the revocation.

You can assert the aforementioned rights in writing using the contact details set out in the section on 'Responsibility and Data Protection Officer'.
If you wish to lodge a complaint against the ministry’s processing of your data, you can appeal to the data protection supervisory authority: the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). You can contact her using these details:

Contact details of the BfDI

Die Bundesbeauftragte für den 
Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit 
Graurheindorfer Str. 153
53117 Bonn
E-mail: poststelle(at)bfdi.bund(dot)de

Last modification of this page on 31.08.2026