Privacy Policy

The Austrian Insurance Association (Verband der Versicherungsunternehmen Österreichs, VVO) processes personal data in the course of its activities as a representative of private insurance companies operating in Austria. Our data processing is based on legal provisions, particularly the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG), and the Austrian Telecommunications Act (TKG 2021). We handle personal data with care. Below, we inform you about essential aspects of data processing when using our websites and when contacting us or applying for a position.

Responsible for Data Processing:

Austrian Insurance Association
Schwarzenbergplatz 7
1030 Vienna
T +43/1/711 56-0
E datenschutz@vvo.at

Authorized Representatives:

President: Chairman of the Board Mag. Gregor Pilgram
Secretary General: Mag. Christian Eltner

Contact Details of the Data Protection Officer:

You can reach our Data Protection Officer Jonas Wagner (EFS Unternehmensberatung GesmbH) through our data protection team at datenschutz@vvo.at.

Scope of Our Data Processing – General

To fulfill our association’s purpose – the protection and promotion of the common interests of our member companies – it is essential to process personal data. The term „personal data“ includes all information that relates directly or indirectly to natural persons. We process contact details such as names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers of our members, business partners, employees, applicants, and individuals who make general inquiries to us. This data is treated confidentially and not processed for other purposes. In certain cases, such as complaints, it is necessary to share data with third parties (mainly insurance companies). We do not engage in automated decision-making, including profiling. The retention period for personal data depends on legal retention obligations and limitation periods. We process personal data exclusively in data centers in Austria.

… and in detail

Your Application at VVO

We appreciate your interest in working with VVO. The data you provide to us as part of your application will be processed for (pre-)contractual communication in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR. This data will be treated confidentially and will not be shared with third parties. After the application process is completed, we will retain your data for seven months.

Contacting Us / Information and Complaint Office

You have the option to contact us for general inquiries via our contact form on the website vvo.at or directly by email at vvo@vvo.at. Additionally, you can contact our information and complaint office directly via a contact form on our website if you have questions about your insurance contract or problems with an insurance company. The data you provide will be used exclusively for the purpose of processing your inquiry or complaint ((pre-)contractual communication in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR). The fields marked with (*) are mandatory. Without this information, your inquiry or complaint may not be processed. Additional information in optional fields helps us better identify you. Your data will be treated confidentially and will only be shared with third parties (mainly insurance companies) if necessary to process your request. After your inquiry is resolved, your data will be retained for the statutory retention period – in the case of a complaint, for three years.

Motor Vehicle Accident Report

Through the online report form „Motor Vehicle Accident Report with Foreign Involvement,“ personal data (name, email address, phone number), accident details (date, location, country), as well as information about involved persons and documents can be submitted. The fields marked with (*) are mandatory. Without this information, your inquiry may not be processed. Additional information in optional fields helps us better identify you. The data will be used exclusively for the purpose of processing claims with a foreign connection in accordance with the statutory tasks of VVO. They may be shared with other recipients (insurance companies, claims settlement offices, lawyers, etc.), possibly also in third countries. At VVO, your data can be retained for up to 30 years for the purpose of processing the claim.

Vehicle Insurance Information Service

Through the vehicle insurance information service, personal data (vehicle registration number) can be entered to obtain information about the vehicle’s liability insurer. The data will be used exclusively for this purpose and will not be permanently stored. The information is provided based on § 31a KHVG.

Orders via Our Shop

Certain publications can be ordered for a fee through our shop on the website vvo.at. The data you provide in the order form will be used exclusively for processing the order ((pre-)contractual communication in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR). The fields marked with (*) are mandatory. Without this information, your order may not be processed. Additional information in optional fields helps us better identify you. Your data will be treated confidentially and only shared if necessary (e.g., for shipping). Your payment data may be shared with our payment service provider (Hobex). After your order is completed, your data will be retained for a statutory retention period of seven years. In the event of an aborted purchase process, no data will be retained.

Login VVOnet / Vehicle Registration Application / Small Associations

To use our services accessible through the login areas, personal login data is required. This data will be stored only for the duration of the valid authorization and deleted after the access authorization expires.

Additionally, log data is automatically collected when using the login areas. This includes IP addresses and the time of the server request, which are used to ensure system security, error analysis, and, if necessary, to trace security-relevant events. Log data is retained for up to seven years.

VVO – Information

With our newsletters, we regularly inform our member companies about current developments. For sending the newsletters, we use a newsletter tool from CleverReach. The opening and click behavior is recorded. Specifically, the following information is tracked: time of delivery, time of opening, duration of opening, IP address of opening, email program used (mail client), which link was clicked, and the time of the click. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the newsletter or by sending your cancellation to the following email address: vvo@vvo.at. The data you provide for the purpose of receiving the newsletter will be stored by us until you unsubscribe from the newsletter and will be deleted from our servers and the servers of CleverReach after you unsubscribe. For more information, please refer to the CleverReach privacy policy at: www.cleverreach.com/de-de/datenschutz/. Based on our legitimate interest in informing our members about the events of the Society for Insurance Knowledge (Gesellschaft für Versicherungsfachwissen, GVFW), data of our members may be shared with GVFW.

Use of Our Websites (vvo.at)

SSL or TLS Encryption

For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or inquiries that you send to us as the site operator, our website uses SSL or TLS encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from „http://“ to „https://“ and by the lock symbol in your browser line. When SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Access Data

Each time a user accesses our website and each time a file is retrieved or attempted to be retrieved from the server, data about this process is stored in a log file. It is not immediately apparent to us which user has retrieved which data. We also do not attempt to collect this information. This would only be possible in legally regulated cases and with the help of third parties (e.g., internet service providers). Specifically, the following data sets are stored for each retrieval: hostname and IP address of the accessing computer, time of the server request. Additionally, we process your personal data in special cases based on our legitimate interests or those of third parties in legal prosecution or by order of legally authorized authorities or courts. We store data for 3 to 12 months to ensure the security of our homepage, depending on the service. Longer storage is only carried out if necessary to investigate detected attacks on our website or to pursue legal claims. For the above-mentioned purposes, we have your personal data collected by our site provider, internex GmbH, Lagerstraße 15, 3950 Gmünd, Austria.

Cookies

So-called cookies are used to operate websites. These are small text files that are stored on your device with the help of the browser. They do not cause any damage. Cookies are used to make the offer more user-friendly. Some cookies remain stored on your device until you delete them. They allow us to recognize your browser the next time you visit. If you do not want this, you can set up your browser to inform you about the setting of cookies and only allow this in individual cases. If cookies are deactivated, the functionality of websites may be limited. Our website vvo.at uses cookies that are necessary for the proper functioning of the website – based on our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR).

Name	Purpose	Recipient	Duration
wordpress_test_cookie	Used on websites created with WordPress. Tests whether the browser has cookies enabled or not.	Owner of the website	Session duration

Additionally, certain content such as videos and maps can be retrieved via external media and third-party providers. However, this requires your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). By default, content from video platforms and social media platforms is blocked. If cookies from external media are accepted, access to this content no longer requires manual consent. Note: These websites may collect data, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking services, and record your interaction with this content if you have an account and are logged in to the respective website. For more information, please refer to the privacy policies of the respective providers. The following media are considered:

Name	Purpose	Duration	Recipient	Privacy policy	Host	Cookie Name
YouTube	Unlocking YouTube content	6 months	Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland	https://policies.google.com/privacy	youtube.com	VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA, YSC, _Secure-ROLLOUT_TOKEN

Disclaimer for Hyperlinks

The internet addresses to which we have set hyperlinks have been checked and are regularly checked. Nevertheless, it applies to all links on our website that we have no influence on the design and content of the linked pages. Should the respective providers change their content after our review in such a way that it constitutes an „illegal activity“, we hereby expressly distance ourselves from these contents. This declaration applies to all external links set on our website and the content of the linked pages. Furthermore, we ask you to inform us of any „illegal content“ on the websites we have linked to.

Your Rights

In connection with the processing of your personal data, you have the right to information, correction, deletion, restriction of processing, objection to processing, and the right to data portability. To exercise these rights and for questions about data protection, please contact datenschutz@vvo.at (The use of the linked forms is not mandatory). If we process personal data based on your consent, you have the right to revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future. If you believe that the processing of your personal data is not lawful, you can lodge a complaint with the Austrian Data Protection Authority – reachable at www.dsb.gv.at, Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna, email: dsb@dsb.gv.at.