Privacy Policy

The content of this page, set below, represents the privacy policy (hereinafter the “policy”), which explains how and for what purpose we use your personal and non-personal data generated on the platform Balkanea.com   (“our website”) that are property of  VIA EGNATIA ltd Skopje (“we”, “us”, “ours”, ” Balkanea.com  “). This policy additionally regulates the right to privacy and security of personal data for processing. This applies to Balkanea.com and applies to all our domains and subdomains and appears at the bottom of the website (platform), where it is available to every visitor.

By using the platform, you agree to the provisions of this privacy policy. All subsequent provisions and announcements subject to this policy may be changed from time to time, and any changes will be recorded and posted on this platform. We reserve the right to change this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. For this purpose, we point out to you the need to periodically visit the privacy policy published on the platform, so that you can be properly informed about the latest changes that are relate to the use of your personal and non-personal data. Any changes to the privacy policy will not be made in order to provide less protection, without your consent, i.e. the consent of the users, being requested.

 

DATA COLLECTED BY Balkanea.com

We collect two types of data from our users, depending on your level of interaction with the platform and all related services such as user support, e-mail notifications and any other type of communication. This means that we collect your Personal Data as well as Non-Personal Data whenever you interact with us. Concrete examples are listed below:

  • Do you use our platform and website?
  • Create a profile, I.e. register on the platform?
  • Get in touch with our contact form, and/or customer support service?
  • Do you open or respond to e-mail messages, as well as messages on social networks?
  • Are you visiting any site or platform that displays our ads or content?
  • Are you subscribed or connected to Balkanea.com via social networks or other online user profiles?

Balkanea.com  has the right to collect and use these data for users.

It is important to note that the personal data that Balkanea.com  collects are data that can be used to identify you as the end user. Sometimes such data will be requested from you, when using certain functionalities of the platform such as creating a profile, filling out a questionnaire, or responding to a message in written or verbal communication in order to resolve problems that arise with the user experience, cancel on subscriptions and other types of communication that you voluntarily access. It is important to note that it is not mandatory to engage in any activity that requires your or someone else’s identification, i.e. personal id.

When registering on our platform, we may ask you for your e-mail address, name or alias with which you would like to log in to the platform, as well as the gender and age of the user on the platform.

Balkanea.com  stores certain personal and non-personal data, as well as part of the data related to billing. It is important to mention that at the moment you make a subscription to Balkanea.com , the payment data that will be requested from you, and which you have entered on the platform Balkanea.com , are data that we do not keep in their entirety, nor do we process them. Such data are processed through a secure https connection and SSL encryption intended precisely for this use, and through the payment processing system of UNI Bank Skopje and the cPay system of Casys. At the same time, some of the data details will be required from you in order to participate in a certain activity on the Balkanea.com  platform, such as the ability to log in and view the content, and if you do not provide this data details, you will not be able to use the Balkanea.com  platform services, i.e. engage in these activities.

The only data Balkanea.com  has access to, keeps and processes when making a payment, is the name on your payment card, the last 4 (four) digits of the card number with which the payment was made, as well as the amount paid. The rest of the information is securely encrypted and available on the payment processing system of UNI Bank Skopje and the cPay system of Casys.

The personal data you submit to the Balkanea.com  platform is used by our country in order to provide a better user experience, as well as a better service overall. Additionally, we use such data for marketing and various other promotional efforts, as well as improving current content and services, or when developing new functionalities, content and services. Sometimes, your data is used by us to analyze the performance of the platform and the trends that occur when it is used by you and other users.

If, when communicating with you, we decide that the content of that communication is suitable for our company to use for marketing purposes, we will ask for your consent via electronic means (e-mail) to publish your name and a certain part of the content of the communication. We will do this before publishing the content, and we will publish it only if you respond positively to the request by giving full consent.

Your personal data may be used by us for the resolution of any disputes, administrative tasks, as well as contact with you, and of by all means, for the implementation of mutual agreements, such as this privacy policy, in accordance with the relevant legal provisions.

It is important to note that non-personal data collected by Balkanea.com  is all data that does not identify the end user, and often includes data collected by us and/or third parties using web and communication technologies such as “cookies”, tag pixels and log file creation. Such data includes the Universal Resource Locator (URL), of the website you visited before accessing our platform, or the URL of the website you visited immediately after accessing our platform. Such data includes the type of browser you use and your Internet Protocol address, so-called IP address. It is important to note that we and/or authorized third parties may automatically collect this data whenever you visit our platform.

In addition, Balkanea.com  also collects a number of other non-personal data that are automatically collected and that we save in our log files. Such information includes IP addresses, geographic identifiers such as country, city and population, device and operating system from which it is accessed, URL addresses of the countries from which it is accessed, as well as the time of the visit, the pages visited on our domain, certain user activities such as clicks of certain websites etc. The log files also save part of the activities that users perform within our domain, and especially the platform, in order to personalize the contents and the way they are displayed. An example of this is saving the progress that the user has made when consuming certain content, so that the platform would be able to “remember” which part of the content is open, and at the same time give the user information about his progress. In this way, users will be able to continue consuming content where they left off, regardless of whether they have logged out of the user profile, accessed through a different device, IP address, and so on.

Such non-personal data are not linked to your personal data, but represent an aggregate that is processed as a whole or from which certain categories of information or certain user experiences are separated separately, for statistical processing, internal administrative tasks, sending trends, gathering demographic information for our visitor and user base. The only case in which we will attempt to link such data with your personal data, both for identification of you or other users, is in case of violation of the terms of use and/or privacy policy by the end user, as well as official requests from the relevant authorized legislative and executive bodies.

 

USING YOUR DATA

Balkanea.com reserves the right to disclose and share your data with the relevant legislative and executive bodies, if this is required by law, request of authorized institutions, or in the protection of our rights, proceeding with a court order, procedure, or taking a dispute to a court of law.

In addition, Balkanea.com  has access to all information that you provide manually (such as your e-mail address, Username and Password), but also informations that are collected automatically and saved in our log files, stated above in this file.

All these data are used for:

  • improving user experience;
  • responding to your questions and requests;
  • detection of potential misuse of our site and/or platform;
  • sending notifications, promotions, greetings and reminders;
  • conducting analyzes and researches;
  • implementation and administration of prize games, activities, events, etc.;
  • administrative work.

 

E-MAIL COMMUNICATION & NOTIFICATIONS

When you join the platform Balkanea.com , it uses your personal data (such as your email address), to contact you, by sending notifications about logging in and using the platform.

Your e-mail address will be used to send promotional materials from our country to you, a service you will be able to cancel it at any time, that is, to adjust the communication options, by logging out via the “unsubscribe” link, located at the bottom of every e-mail message sent from our country.

It is important to note that your logging out ot unsubscribe from receiving these contents only applies to promotional and advertising materials and contents, and not to other important notices related to renewing your subscription, terminating your subscription or other notifications about using the platform, technical problems, or misuse of the system and terms of use as well as the privacy policy listed here.

 

PROTECTION OF YOUR USER PROFILE

Your user profile is secured using a secure password. Outside of our administrative technical capabilities, this password is the only key to your profile, and it must be known only to you. The password must be different from the name or alias you use when logging in to your user profile on the platform Balkanea.com . If you believe that your password has been known, found out by unwanted parties or compromised in any way, it is advised to change your password immediately and/or contact us, so that we can help you.

 

 

SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

Balkanea.com  does not share, rent, sell or in any other way disclose your information to other institutions, individuals or legal entities, except in certain cases which are listed below:

  • When collaborating with third companies that perform various web, administrative and payment functions in our name. Such functions include processing online card payments, analyzing user information and data, hosting content, and sending emails. The relevant third parties that perform these functions on our behalf, have access to a certain amount of your data, and are also responsible for its protection, storage and handling. Examples of the companies and services we use, from these third companies are Google Analytics, Mailchimp, cPay from CaSys, the payment processing system of UNI Bank Skopje and cPay, the Facebook advertising system (Meta). If you have certain questions regarding the sharing of information, please do not hesitate to contact us, or consult the privacy policy on each of these companies/services.

When transferring or selling to a business, another company or person, your information, together with the information of all other users, is also transferred. In that case, the last published privacy policy before the transfer/sale of the business remains valid, so that your data is properly protected according to it.

Certainly, if the relevant and authorized legal entities and executive bodies requires, our obligation is to act in accordance with the laws and their requirements, whereby your information might be shared partially or as a whole.

Your information can be known by these legal entities also in case of any legal proceedings, related to Balkanea.com , the intellectual property of the platform and the protection of our rights, the rights of the users and the violation of the terms of use.

Your non-identifying or non-personal data may be shared with marketing companies and other companies in order to improve our platform, promotional activities and other administrative operations.

COOKIE POLICIES

This website, as well as the platform Balkanea.com  located on the same web domain, use cookies to provide you with a better user experience. Explained simply, cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer or any device you use when visiting the Balkanea.com  platform. They are saved during one or more sessions (internet visits), and they do not save personal data such as your name, address, or e-mail address. Balkanea.com , in its operation, uses necessary cookies, statistical cookies and other cookies for marketing purposes and others. Such cookies contribute to the improvement of the website, the platform, and the service we offer you, as the end user. They are useful for collecting information such as the type of web browser, the operating system through which it is accessed, the type of device, your time spent on our web domain, and the use of the site from your country.

When you first access the platform Balkanea.com  , a web window will appear informing you that we use cookies. If you press “Accept”, you agree to the use of all cookies, and at the same time you declare that you understand and accept our cookie policy.

Your right and possibility is to visit the “cookies settings” to further control the cookies we use during your visit, expressing your consent where you consider it appropriate. In case you accept only part of the offered cookies, there is a possibility of some functionality and content on the website and the platform, user and marketing experience not to work properly or may not be displayed to you. It is important to note that it is not mandatory to accept cookies, and consent to their use can be revoked at any time. The option to recall or delete all or certain cookies is available through the settings on your web browser. Below are links to web resources for the relevant search engine/browser, where you can get detailed information about setting cookies.

  • Google Chrome
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Safari

 

FOR WHAT PURPOSES WE USE COOKIES?

Balkanea.com  uses cookies to improve the user experience, websites and platforms that are part of the Balkanea.com  domain. Those cookies that are set on our site are called first-party cookies, while those set on third parties are called third-party cookies.

These cookies are stored in your web browser only with your consent. Third-party cookies do not reveal personal data, that is, the identity of the user is not known nor can it be discovered. Balkanea.com  has no control over cookies from third parties, nor the manner in which they are stored and used by relevant third parties.

THE TYPE OF COOKIES WE USE

Balkanea.com uses necessary cookies to obtain consent to the cookie policy. These cookies are used for other features and settings from the platform towards you, such as language selection, etc. In addition to the necessary cookies, our platform as well as our website use statistical cookies that allow us to access information such as the duration of the visit, the web pages visited, the geographical location from which it is accessed, the device and the operating system from which Part of the activities that the user is concerned about within the framework of our web domain and others. This information is collected anonymously and used to analyze statistical trends related to users and user experience, as well as to improve our service, website and platform. It is important to note that statistical cookies are not necessary and do not affect your user experience.

CHANGING THE COOKIE POLICY

The cookie policy, as part of the privacy policy, can also be changed at any time. With each change, it will be indicated in the privacy policy as well as in the cookie policy, the home page of the Balkanea.com  platform and other appropriate places. Our recommendation to you is to look at the published changes at each visit to the website.

 

SAFETY OF YOUR INFORMATION

It is important to note that no company is able to completely exclude security risks related to the storage and protection of user data. Therefore, the use of our platform and website, as well as all web, security and communication technologies with which our country has and cooperates with, is at your own risk. The various industry standards we use that reasonably reduce this risk include security passwords, firewalls, SSL certificates (advanced data encryption) and others.

 

THIRD PARTIES 

Some of the third parties with which Balkanea.com  cooperates are listed above in this privacy policy, and which collect and process your data on your or our behalf. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and activities of third parties, and therefore we invite you to familiarize yourself with the privacy policies and protection of personal data by visiting the websites of the relevant and listed third parties.

This category also includes social networks where the content you publish, in interaction with our social profiles on the same networks, is publicly available and subject to the terms of use of the specific platforms such as Facebook (Meta), Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube and others.

 

LAST CHANGE TO THE PRIVACY POLICY

The last change was made in June, 2023.