Cookie Policy
Declaration on cookies
Version 1.0 – Date 8/8/2022
Content
3 – Which cookies require my authorisation, and how can I give it?
4 – What cookies are used by the Consumer Mediation Service ?
4.1 Strictly necessary cookies.
5 – How can I manage my cookie preferences?
7 – What if I still have questions?
The Consumer Mediation Service (hereinafter “we” or “us”) uses cookies and similar technologies on its website. The purpose of this Cookie Statement is to inform you, the visitor, about how we use cookies on our website. The cookie statement applies to our website. www.consumerombudsman.be
In addition to this Cookie Statement, the Consumer Mediation Service also provides a Privacy Statement, of which this Cookie Statement forms an integral part, which you can view at the following address (link**). In this privacy statement, we clarify (1) the personal data we may collect through the use of cookies, (2) the legal basis for the use of cookies, and (3) the general purposes of our use of cookies. For the above information, as well as further information about the processing of your personal data in general and your rights in this regard, please refer to this Privacy Statement.
Cookies are small information files that are stored by the web browser on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or use a (mobile) application. They function as a kind of reminder for a website. Thanks to cookies, our website can easily track specific information about our visitors and their browsing behavior. The term “cookies” also includes technologies similar to cookies, such as pixels, plug-ins and certain scripts, as they can also collect data about you.
Cookies may be set by the Consumer Mediation Service itself (“first-party cookies”) or by third parties (“third-party cookies”). Third-party cookies ensure that certain information resulting from your visit to or use of our website is transmitted to the third party that has set the cookies.
Cookies are sometimes placed for the duration of your browser session (“session” cookies, which are deleted when you close the browser) and sometimes for a longer period (“persistent” cookies, which remain until they expire or until you delete them).
3 – Which cookies require my authorisation, and how can I give it?
The Consumer Mediation Service distinguishes between the following types of cookies in the provision of its website: (1) strictly necessary cookies, and (2) analytical cookies.
The use of strictly necessary cookies does not require your consent as a visitor and is necessary for the proper functioning of our website, or where applicable, to provide you with the services you have expressly requested. Consequently, you cannot refuse these cookies.
Before placing any other cookies on your device, we ask for your prior consent via our cookie banner. You can give your consent by clicking on ‘Accept’ in the cookie banner. At present, only analytical cookies are used on our website, in addition to the strictly necessary cookies. Once you have given your consent to the use of these additional cookies, you may withdraw your consent at any time. Section 5 explains how to do this in practice.
4 – What cookies are used by the Consumer Mediation Service?
As mentioned above, the Consumer Mediation Service uses the following types of cookies: (1) strictly necessary cookies, and (2) analytical cookies.
Below is a general description of these two types of cookie.
For each type of cookie, we also provide below a list of the specific cookies enabled on our website that are covered, together with their specific purposes and technical characteristics.
- Strictly necessary cookies
Strictly necessary cookies include technically essential cookies and functional cookies.
Technically essential cookies are necessary for purely technical reasons to enable communication between your device and our website.
Functional cookies ensure that the basic functions of our website function correctly. These cookies are only placed after you, as a visitor, have performed a certain action on our website (for example, clicking on the accept button on the cookie banner).
You may not refuse the use of technically essential and functional cookies, as they are necessary for the security and proper operation of the basic functions of our website. In any case, these cookies are only stored on your device to perform the functions mentioned above, which means that the impact on your privacy is minimal.
| Name | For life | Domain | Objective |
| a_js | Session | Part One | Set by Drupal Core to indicate whether the visitor’s browser has JavaScript enabled. |
- Analytical cookies
Analytical cookies enable us to learn more about how you, as a visitor, interact with and react to the content of our website. This enables us to make our website even more attractive and user-friendly. The information in question is used to create and analyze statistics on the use of our website at an aggregate level.
| Name | For life | Domain | Objective |
| _ga | 2 years | Part One | Provides statistics to the Consumer Mediation Service about who visits the website and how, including the number of unique visitors, how visitors arrive at the website, the pages visited, the browsers used and the locations from which the website is visited. This service is offered to the Consumer Mediation Service by Google Analytics. |
| All | 1 day | Part One | |
| _gid | 1 min | Part One |
5 – How can I manage my cookie preferences?
The following paragraphs explain how you can manage your cookie preferences. Strictly necessary cookies, as listed above, are essential for the operation of our website and cannot be deactivated. However, they can always be deleted manually via your browser (see section 5.2), but they will be replaced on your next visit to the website or when you use the functions for which they are required.
- Via the website
You can withdraw your consent to the use of non-urgent cookies at any time by clicking on the “Confidentiality settings” button at the bottom of the screen, then on “Revoke”.
In addition, the 100-day cookies banner will reappear to renew your consent, or to confirm that you have not consented.
- Via your browser
In addition, you can adjust your cookie preferences via your browser. In this way, you can indicate whether certain cookies can be set and you can configure the browser so that it displays a message when a cookie is set. You can also delete cookies manually using the option that allows you to delete your browsing history. You can find more information on this subject on the pages below, depending on the browser you are using:
- Chrome (link is external)
- Firefox (link is external)
- Internet Explorer (link is external)
- Safari (Mac)(link is external) or Safari (iOS)(link is external).
Deleting or deactivating cookies may mean that certain applications on our website and additional services do not function optimally.
We reserve the right to unilaterally modify our Cookie Statement at any time. Each amended version is published online and can be consulted on our website. As soon as it is published, the amended cookie declaration is immediately applicable. If we have implemented new cookies on our website, we will ask for your permission again if necessary. The date on which our Cookie Statement was last amended can be found at the top of this page.
7 – What if I still have questions?
If you have any questions about our Cookie Statement, you can always contact us using the details below:
Consumer Mediation Service
Avenue du Roi Albert II 8 bus 1
1000 Brussels
For general information on your rights and the possibility of lodging a complaint with your data protection supervisory authority or bringing an action before the competent court, please refer to the explanations in sections 10 and 11 of our privacy statement (link is external).
