Privacy Policy

European Living (european-living.live) is operated by Terrell C Lombardi, Untere Burggasse 4, 71063 Sindelfingen, Germany ("we", "us", "our"). This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over it — including rights under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

1. Information We Collect

We collect information you provide directly to us, including when you:

• Select your military base or location preference
• Submit a business listing through the Submit Your Business form
• Contact us through the contact form, email, or WhatsApp
• Sign up for travel tips or email updates

We also automatically collect limited technical information when you visit the site, such as your IP address (anonymized), browser type, device type, and pages visited, via Google Analytics (see Section 3).

2. Service Providers Who Process Your Data

We use the following third-party service providers to operate the site. Each processes data on our behalf under their own privacy and security terms:

• Supabase — database and image storage for site content and business listings.
• Vercel — website hosting and content delivery.
• Formspree — processes contact form submissions and forwards them to our email.
• Google Analytics (GA4) — anonymized website usage analytics. See Section 3 for details.
• Sentry — error monitoring to help us identify and fix technical issues. Sentry may incidentally log technical data (browser, URL) at the time of an error.
• ImprovMX — forwards email sent to our info@european-living.live address to our personal inbox.

We do not sell your personal data to any third party. Some of these providers may process data on servers located outside the European Economic Area (EEA), including in the United States. Where this occurs, the provider relies on an approved data transfer mechanism, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, to ensure your data remains protected.

3. Cookies and Tracking

Necessary Cookies

Required for the website to function properly. These do not require consent under GDPR and include:

• Your selected military base or location preference
• Your cookie consent choice itself, so we don't ask again

Analytics Cookies

With your consent, we use Google Analytics (GA4) to understand how visitors use the site — which pages are popular, how people navigate, and general traffic patterns. We have enabled IP anonymization. This data is used in aggregate and is not used to personally identify you.

Marketing Cookies

We do not currently use any marketing, advertising, or retargeting cookies. If this changes in the future, this Privacy Policy will be updated and you will be asked for renewed consent through our cookie banner before any such cookies are set.

You can change your cookie preferences at any time using the "Cookie Settings" link in the site footer, which reopens the consent banner and lets you update your choices.

4. Data Retention

We retain personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy:

• Contact form messages: retained for up to 24 months, then deleted
• Business listing submissions: retained for as long as the listing remains active, plus 12 months
• Analytics data: retained according to Google Analytics' default retention settings (currently 14 months)

You may request earlier deletion of your data at any time — see Section 5.

5. Your Rights (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, you have the following rights under the GDPR:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete data
• Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten")
• Object to or restrict certain processing of your data
• Receive your data in a portable format
• Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting prior lawful processing
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 7. We will respond within one month as required by the GDPR.

6. Children's Privacy

European Living is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us so we can delete it.

7. Contact Us

For privacy-related questions or to exercise your GDPR rights, contact:

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. Material changes affecting how we use your data will be accompanied by a renewed cookie consent prompt where required.