To make the website work properly, we sometimes place small data files called cookies on your device.
What are cookies?
A cookie is a small text file that a website stores on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site.
- First party cookies are cookies set by the website you are visiting. Only that website can read them. In addition, a website might potentially use external services, which also set their own cookies, known as third-party cookies.
- Persistent cookies are cookies saved on your computer and that are not deleted automatically when you quit your browser, unlike a session cookie, which is deleted when you quit your browser.
The purpose is to enable the site to remember your preferences (such as user name, language, etc.) for a certain period of time.
That way, you do not have to re-enter them when browsing around the site during the same visit.
Cookies can also be used to establish anonymised statistics about the browsing experience on our sites.
How do we use cookies?
This website mostly use first-party cookies. These are cookies set and controlled by the European Commission, not by any external organisation.
The 3 types of first-party cookie we use are to:
- store visitor preferences
- make our websites operational
- gather analytics data (about user behaviour).
1. Visitor preferences
These are set by us and only we can read them. They remember:
- if you have agreed to (or refused) this site’s cookie policy
Visitor preferences cookies are:
Name: event_filter
Service: GitLab UI
Purpose: Remembers filter preferences in the event list
Cookie type and duration: First party session cookie
Name: preferred_language
Service: GitLab UI
Purpose: Stores the user interface language preference
Cookie type and duration: First party session cookie
Name: super_sidebar_collapsed
Service: GitLab UI
Purpose: Remembers whether the user collapsed the sidebar
Cookie type and duration: First party persistent cookie
Name: cck1
Service: Cookie consent kit
Purpose: Stores your cookie preferences (so you won’t be asked again)
Cookie type and duration: First-party persistent cookie, 6 months
2. Operational cookies
There are some cookies that we have to include in order for certain web pages to function. For this reason, they do not require your consent. In particular:
Name: _gitlab_session
Service: GitLab
Purpose: Maintains the user session after login
Cookie type and duration: First party session cookie, deleted when browser is closed
Name: AWSALBAPP-#
Service: AWS Application Load Balancer
Purpose: Ensures that requests from the same client are routed consistently to the same backend (sticky session)
Cookie type and duration: First party session cookie, 7 days
3. Analytics cookies
We use these purely for internal research on how we can improve the service we provide for all our users.
The cookies simply assess how you interact with our website – as an anonymous user (they data gathered does not identify you personally).
Also, this data is not shared with any third parties or used for any other purpose. The anonymised statistics could be shared with contractors working on communication projects under contractual agreement with the European Commission.
However, you are free to refuse these types of cookies – either via the cookie banner you will see on the first page you visit or at Europa Analytics.
Analytics cookies are:
Name: _pk_id#
Service: Corporate web analytics service
Purpose: Recognises website visitors (anonymously – no personal information is collected on the user)
Cookie type and duration: First-party persistent cookie, 13 months
Name: _pk_ses#
Service: Corporate web analytics service
Purpose: Identifies the pages viewed by the same user during the same visit. (anonymously – no personal information is collected on the user)
Cookie type and duration: First-party persistent cookie, 30 minutes
Name: _sp_id.#
Service: Snowplow analytics
Purpose: Stores unique visitor identifiers for traffic analytics
Cookie type and duration: First party persistent cookie, 13 months
Name: _sp_ses.#
Service: Snowplow analytics
Purpose: Tracks the current session
Cookie type and duration: First party session cookie, 30 minutes
How can you manage cookies?
Removing cookies from your device
You can delete all cookies that are already on your device by clearing the browsing history of your browser. This will remove all cookies from all websites you have visited.
Be aware though that you may also lose some saved information (e.g. saved login details, site preferences).
Managing site-specific cookies
For more detailed control over site-specific cookies, check the privacy and cookie settings in your preferred browser.
Blocking cookies
You can set most modern browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g. profile logging-in).
Managing our analytics cookies
You can manage your preferences concerning cookies from Europa Analytics on the dedicated Europa Analytics page.