A "cookie" is a small set of data that a web page may store on your computer or mobile phone. The cookie allows the site to "remember" your actions as you browse it. Although the majority of browsers, like for example Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Opera, support the use of cookies, nevertheless the user can configure his browser not to accept cookies or delete them afterwards.

Usefulness of cookies

Cookies can perform many functions and are mainly used to measure the traffic of a website as a whole or of only specific subpages. Indicatively, they can track the number of visitors live or per hour of the day, their geographical origins, their operating system and the analysis of their computer screen, the page from which they came (through a search engine, a link from another page or direct entry), the keyword used in the search engine etc. Other cookies can remember, to the user’s benefit, the language selection or his search results in a website. Others may record the failed attempts of a user to enter a website, in order for them (the websites) to require, after a certain number of failed attempts to enter, a further intersection of his personal data, such as for example with the entry of an additional code which is sent by SMS on his mobile phone.

Use of cookies

The website under the domain name "nomikosodigos.info", hereinafter called "the website", stores cookies on visitors' terminal equipment to improve their browsing thereon as well as for measuring its traffic. These cookies do not pose a risk to the privacy and sensitive personal data of the users.

1. Joomla CMS cookies

The website is designed based on the Joomla! Content Management System (CMS), which by default stores cookies on the user's computer to improve his browsing on the page. These cookies are the following:

Session Cookies

The session cookie allows for the recognizing of users when they browse a website so that their various options can be memorized and transferred from subpage to subpage. The most common example of this function is the shopping cart on e-stores. When you add products to your cart, the session cookie remembers your choices, in order for the products you chose to be on there, when you are ready to pay. Without the session cookie the page will not remember exactly which products you added to your cart, so when you press "checkout" your cart would be empty.

Although our site does not perform product sales, the session cookies it uses function in exactly the same way. In particular, our website stores two session cookies: one that remembers the selection of the page browsing language and one for memorizing all other user options. Both session cookies are automatically deleted from the user's computer after the end of his session, which occurs fifteen minutes after his last action within the page. These cookies are first party cookies, i.e. they are placed and read from our page domain.

2. Universal Analytics Cookies

Google Universal Analytics uses cookies to report on user interactions on Google Analytics customers’ websites. These cookies are used to store non-personally identifiable information. The cookies of Google Analytics service, stored through our page on the user's terminal equipment, are the following:

A cookie with the name “_ga” used to identify unique visitors to our website and has a shelf life of two years since the user’s last visit on the website.
A cookie with the name “_gat” used for the anonymous monitoring of the visitor’s behaviour during his browsing on the site and has a lifetime of ten minutes from the user’s visit on the website. Indicatively, it identifies the entry and exit subpage of the visitor from the website, his retention time in each subpage etc.

It is noted that the lifetime of these cookies may be changed by Google without prior notice.

3. Cookiesdirective Cookie

Once you have given your consent to accept cookies from this site in accordance with the procedure described below, in a cookie called “cookiesdirective” is stored on your terminal equipment which remembers this consent of yours, and has a lifetime of one year from the granting of the consent. The practical value of the installation of this cookie is to prevent the trouble for granting the same consent each time you visit the site.

Obligatoriness of consent to store cookies

The installation and use of “cookies” is regulated specifically by paragraph 5 of article 4 of N. 3471/2006 (which transposed Directive 2002/58/EC into the Greek law) according to which the installation and use of the “cookie” is permitted only with the consent of the user. A website can install such a “cookie” only if each user has given his consent after a clear and comprehensive information for that installation, the purpose of the processing, the right of access and any recipients of the data. This consent may be given through appropriate settings in your web browser or through another application.

Receiving consent from visitors

Given that the cookies of the Google Universal Analytics service are third party cookies with respect to our page and do not fall into the category of traffic analysis cookies in the exception of par. 5 of article 4 of N. 3471/2006, our page receives the consent of the visitor before storing the cookies in his terminal equipment. The user may at any time delete the cookies which the current pages stored in his browser, through its settings.

In particular, the site uses a special plugin, which prevents the cookies from being stored in the terminal equipment of the visitor, if his consent is not received first through the touch of an acceptance button. In the vicinity of a link acceptance button, leading to the present cookies use policy of the website, where the user can read all the necessary information that will enable him to take a decision to grant consent or not for accepting cookies.

Control and deletion of cookies

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, see www.aboutcookies.org. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work.

Athanasios Rozou

Karina Pogkosian

Polyxeni Sakellari