Privacy Policy

1. Data Controller

PĂTRAȘCU ȘTEFAN-FLORENTIN PERSOANĂ FIZICĂ AUTORIZATĂ ("we," "us," or "our") is the data controller responsible for the processing of your personal data through this website.

This Privacy Policy is drafted in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the General Data Protection Regulation — "GDPR"), Romanian Law no. 190/2018 implementing the GDPR, and Law no. 506/2004 regarding the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector.

2. Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

• Contact Data: If you use our contact form, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your message. Providing this data is voluntary — you are not obligated to fill in the contact form, but we cannot respond to your inquiry without it.
• Technical Data: Through Google Analytics (only after you give your consent), we collect anonymized data such as: IP address (anonymized), browser type and version, device type, operating system, pages visited and time spent on site, referral source, and geographic location at the country level.
• Cookie Data: Information stored in cookies as detailed in Section 9 below.
• Anti-Spam Data (Google reCAPTCHA v3): When you interact with our contact form, Google reCAPTCHA v3 automatically collects and analyzes certain technical and behavioral data to determine whether the interaction is from a human or an automated bot. This data may include: your IP address, browser type and settings, device information (operating system, screen resolution, installed plugins), mouse movements and scroll behavior, keypress timing patterns, time spent on the page, and previously set Google cookies. This data is transmitted to and processed by Google Ireland Limited / Google LLC for risk scoring. reCAPTCHA v3 operates invisibly — there is no checkbox or visual challenge.

3. Purposes of Processing

We use the collected data for the following purposes:

• Communication: To respond to your inquiries sent via the contact form.
• Website Analytics: To analyze traffic patterns, understand user behavior, and improve the user experience (via Google Analytics, only with your consent).
• Website Functionality: To remember your language preference, theme selection, and cookie consent choice.
• Security: To protect our website against unauthorized access, abuse, or malicious activity.
• Spam & Bot Protection: To protect the contact form from automated spam submissions using Google reCAPTCHA v3, which analyzes user behavior in the background and assigns a risk score — without requiring any visual interaction from the user.
• Email Notifications & Message Storage: We use Google Workspace to deliver contact form notification emails. Received messages are stored in the website's secure database to enable their management. The data is accessible exclusively to the site administrator, is used strictly for the purpose of resolving your inquiries, and is retained for the duration necessary for their processing.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (Art. 6 GDPR)

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, we process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): For analytics cookies (Google Analytics). You provide consent via the cookie consent banner. You can withdraw your consent at any time — see Section 8.
• Legitimate Interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): For responding to your contact form inquiries, for website security, for strictly necessary/functional cookies that enable core website functionality, and for Google reCAPTCHA v3 spam protection. reCAPTCHA v3 processes technical and behavioral data to distinguish genuine human interactions from automated bots — this processing is necessary to protect the integrity of our contact form and does not require prior consent, as it serves a legitimate interest in preventing abuse (Recital 47 GDPR). An attribution notice is displayed on the contact form, linking to Google's Privacy Policy and Google's Terms of Service.

5. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected:

• Contact Form Messages: Retained for a maximum of 12 months from receipt, or from the date the inquiry was last actioned (whichever is later), then permanently deleted.
• Google Analytics Data: Retained for 14 months according to Google's default retention policy, after which it is automatically deleted.
• Cookie Data: See the cookie table in Section 9 for the specific duration of each cookie.

6. Third-Party Service Providers & Data Processors

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes. We use the following service providers (data processors) who may process personal data on our behalf:

7. International Data Transfers

Some of our service providers are based in the United States or may process data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Where such transfers occur, they are safeguarded by:

• The EU-US Data Privacy Framework (for Google LLC — Analytics and reCAPTCHA — certified participant), or
• Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission (for Vercel Inc.).

These mechanisms ensure an adequate level of data protection as required by GDPR Art. 44–49.

8. Your Rights Under GDPR

Under the GDPR and Romanian Law no. 190/2018, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of Access (Art. 15): You have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether or not your personal data is being processed and, if so, to access a copy of such data.
• Right to Rectification (Art. 16): You have the right to request the correction of inaccurate personal data.
• Right to Erasure (Art. 17): You have the right to request the deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten") when it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or when you withdraw consent.
• Right to Restriction of Processing (Art. 18): You have the right to request the restriction of processing in certain circumstances.
• Right to Data Portability (Art. 20): You have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and to transmit it to another controller.
• Right to Object (Art. 21): You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data based on legitimate interest.
• Right to Withdraw Consent (Art. 7(3)): Where processing is based on consent (e.g., analytics cookies), you may withdraw that consent at any time. To withdraw cookie consent, you can delete the __sp_cookieConsent cookie from your browser settings, or clear your browser cookies — the consent banner will reappear on your next visit, allowing you to make a new choice. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint (Art. 77): You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Romanian supervisory authority — Autoritatea Națională de Supraveghere a Prelucrării Datelor cu Caracter Personal (ANSPDCP).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at . We will respond within 30 days of receiving your request. This period may be extended by a further 60 days for complex or numerous requests; we will inform you of any such extension within the initial 30-day period.

Supervisory Authority

9. Cookies

This website uses cookies — small text files stored on your device by your browser — to ensure proper functionality and, with your consent, to analyze how the site is used.

In accordance with Law no. 506/2004 and the GDPR, strictly necessary and functional cookies (language preference, theme, consent state, maintenance access) are set without prior consent as they are essential for the website to operate. Analytics cookies (Google Analytics) are set only after you explicitly consent via the cookie consent banner. Security cookies (Google reCAPTCHA) are set without prior consent based on our legitimate interest in protecting the contact form from spam and automated abuse.

We use the following cookies:

Note on Google reCAPTCHA cookies: In addition to the _GRECAPTCHA cookie listed above, Google reCAPTCHA may also read or set cookies on the google.com domain (such as NID or CONSENT) if they already exist from prior interactions with Google services. These cookies are managed by Google and are subject to Google's Privacy Policy. We have no control over these third-party cookies.

How to Manage Cookies

You can manage or delete cookies at any time through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to view, delete, and block cookies. Please note that disabling functional cookies may affect the website's functionality (e.g., language preference will not be saved).

To withdraw your analytics cookie consent, you can delete the __sp_cookieConsent cookie from your browser. When you revisit the website, the consent banner will reappear and you can make a new choice.

10. Children's Privacy

This website is not directed at individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has submitted personal data to us, please contact us at and we will promptly delete such data.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable legislation. Any changes will be published on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date. For significant changes that materially affect how we process your personal data, we will make reasonable efforts to provide prominent notice on the website. We recommend reviewing this page periodically.

12. Contact Information

For any privacy-related questions, requests, or to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at .