Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for the "SCANDICDEV" digital services in cooperation with LEGIER BETEILIGUNGS GmbH

Effective 1 January 2026

Introduction

SCANDIC FINANCE GROUP LIMITED, HK/PRC, operates numerous online services and mobile applications in cooperation with LEGIER BETEILIGUNGS GmbH, Berlin – Federal Republic of Germany. This privacy policy applies to all websites of SCANDIC FINANCE GROUP LIMITED in cooperation with LEGIER BETEILIGUNGS GmbH, as well as the mobile applications of LEGIER NEWS (hereinafter "our services").

These include, in particular, the online portals and apps of LEGIER WORLD NEWS, which provide independent news and background reports. The LEGIER Media Group publishes over 115 daily newspapers across all continents and is thus one of the world's largest media networks within the SNC Group, utilising "SCANDICDEV". The services are aimed at users in more than 40 countries; we therefore strictly ensure compliance with regional data protection laws.

The countries in which our own daily newspapers are published include, amongst others: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, China, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region), Japan, South Korea, Monaco, as well as other countries such as Qatar, Oman, Nigeria, Ghana, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. Each of these jurisdictions imposes specific requirements regarding the use of personal data. We adhere strictly to the most stringent data protection regulations and use geolocation to ensure that we always provide you with the appropriate consent and opt-out options.

I. General

1. Data Controller

Unless otherwise stated in this privacy policy, SCANDIC FINANCE GROUP LIMITED, represented by Scandic Banking Hong Kong, Room 10, Unit A, 7/F Harbour Sky, 28 Sze Shan Street, Yau Tong, Hong Kong SAR, is the data controller within the meaning of Article 4(7) of the GDPR. LEGIER BETEILIGUNGS GmbH, Kurfürstendamm 14, 10719 Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany (Berlin Commercial Register HRB 57837), acts solely as a service provider and is responsible in particular for IT-related content and customer services. All responsible activities are carried out by SCANDIC FINANCE GROUP LIMITED, Hong Kong/PRC.

Contact details:

Telephone HQ Switzerland – Zurich: +41 44 7979 99 85

Email: Office@ScandicFinance.Global

Telephone LEGIER BETEILIGUNGS GmbH (Berlin): +49 (0) 30 9921134 69

Email: Office@LegierGroup.com

2. Data Protection Officer

For questions regarding data protection and the exercise of your rights, you can contact our Data Protection Officer at LEGIER BETEILIGUNGS GmbH at:

LEGIER BETEILIGUNGS GmbH

Kurfürstendamm 14

10719 Berlin

Email: Info@ScandicDev.com

For joint processing within the meaning of Article 26 of the GDPR, you may contact either of the controllers.

3. Accessing our services

When you access our websites or the LEGIER News app, we only store data without your consent that is strictly necessary to provide the service you have requested (Section 25(2) TDDDG). This includes:

•technical information about your device and software

•the date and time of access

•your IP address

We process this data to ensure the functionality and security of our services. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR in conjunction with Section 25(2) of the TDDDG (for device-specific information). For security purposes, our servers also store your IP address for up to 14 days. The legal basis for this is Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, as we have a legitimate interest in defending against attacks and fraud attempts. You can find more details on the 'strictly necessary' categories in the Consent Manager of our services.

If you download our app via an app store (Apple App Store or Google Play), the respective store processes your data on its own responsibility. We only receive the data necessary for the installation and use of the app (e.g. order number, device type). The legal basis for this is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR.

4. Access permissions and tracking

Provided you give us your consent during the installation or use of our app, we will access the advertising identifier assigned to your device (for Apple: IDFA; for Android: Google Advertising ID) and, where applicable, location data. We use these identifiers exclusively to enable the refinancing of our free service through advertising and to display regional news to you – if you agree. The legal basis for this access is Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR. You may withdraw your consent at any time via your device's privacy settings.

5. Place of processing and international data transfers

We process personal data both within the European Economic Area (EEA) and in third countries, in particular in Hong Kong (registered office of SCANDIC FINANCE GROUP LIMITED), the USA, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and in countries where our newspapers and partners are based. Many of these countries do not provide a level of data protection equivalent to that of the GDPR. This may lead to limited enforcement of data subjects' rights or government access. If there is no adequacy decision by the European Commission for a third country, we base data transfers on appropriate safeguards such as the standard contractual clauses pursuant to Article 46(2)(c) of the GDPR or obtain your explicit consent on a case-by-case basis. In countries with data localisation requirements (e.g. China or Russia), we operate regional servers or engage local partners to meet the legal requirements.

6. Retention period

We process personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy or as required by statutory retention obligations. We store data required for the performance of a contract (e.g. billing data) for up to ten years in accordance with tax and commercial law requirements. We generally store usage and consent data (e.g. consent IDs) until you withdraw your consent or until the purpose no longer applies.

II. Your rights as a data subject

1. Right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction and the right to be forgotten

You have the right to obtain information about your personal data processed by us at any time, free of charge, and to request a copy of this data. Furthermore, you may request the rectification of inaccurate data, the completion of incomplete data, and the erasure or restriction of processing, provided that this does not conflict with any statutory retention obligations. Please use the relevant form in our Consent Manager for your enquiry or contact our Data Protection Officer.

2. Data portability

If the processing is based on your consent or on a contract and is carried out by automated means, you may request that we provide your data to you or to another controller in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (Art. 20 GDPR). This does not apply if the processing is carried out in the public interest or for the exercise of official authority.

3. Withdrawal and objection

You may withdraw your consent to the processing of personal data at any time with effect for the future. You can withdraw your consent via the 'Withdraw Tracking and Cookies' link on our websites or by contacting our Data Protection Officer. If we process data on the basis of a legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), you may object to the processing on grounds relating to your particular situation (Art. 21 GDPR). This applies in particular to processing for the purposes of direct marketing.

4. Right to lodge a complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority regarding the processing of your personal data. The competent authority is generally that of your place of residence or the place where the data protection breach occurs.

5. Automated decision-making

We do not use automated decision-making, including profiling, which would produce legal effects or significantly affect you (Art. 22 GDPR).

III. Use of our services with tracking and cookies (SNC LEGIER World News)

1. Basic principles

Our services are predominantly ad-supported. If you decide against a paid subscription, you can opt for free use by giving your consent to the use of cookies and tracking in the SNC LEGIER World News consent banner. In this case, content and advertising from third parties will be integrated alongside our own content. We use cookies and similar technologies to show you personalised content and advertising, to measure reach and to improve our services. The legal basis for this is your consent in accordance with Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR or – where only essential cookies are used – Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR in conjunction with Section 25(2) of the TDDDG. You can use the consent banner to decide on a granular basis for which purposes you give your consent (e.g. statistics, marketing, personalisation, third-party content). Without your consent, non-essential cookies and similar technologies will not be set, and you will only see context-related content.

2. Storage of or access to information on the end device

With your consent, we and the third-party providers we use store cookies or similar identifiers (e.g. device IDs, randomly generated user IDs) on your device or read them from it. These identifiers are necessary to recognise your device during repeat visits, to control the frequency of adverts and to provide you with content tailored to your interests.

Examples of purposes for which cookies are set:

Use of reduced data to select advertisements: Use of contextual information such as device type, browser identifier or approximate location data to display suitable advertisements in an appropriate size.

Creating profiles for personalised advertising: Creating pseudonymous usage profiles based on your activities, interests, visited pages or applications to determine your presumed interests.

Use of profiles to select personalised advertising and content: Displaying advertisements or editorial content selected on the basis of the profile created.

Measuring advertising and content performance: Tracking whether and how adverts or content were displayed, clicked on or viewed, in order to assess effectiveness.

Target group research, development and improvement of our offerings: Aggregated analyses to gain insights into target groups, optimise features and develop new products.

The duration of the cookies used is limited to a maximum of one year, unless otherwise stated in the consent banner. You can withdraw your consent at any time via the Consent Manager.

3. LEGIER user identifiers and ID stabilisation

If you consent, we will store a pseudonymous LEGIER user ID in a cookie and read it when you visit again. We link the user ID to information about your activities on our platforms in order to display personalised advertising and optimise our services. The legal basis for this is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; Section 25(1) TDDDG). For ID stabilisation, we may combine various pseudonyms (e.g. LEGIER user ID, UTIQ signals, netID identifiers) to identify your usage behaviour across different LEGIER services and enable personalised advertising. The legal basis for this is Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR (legitimate interest in reach financing). You may object to ID stabilisation at any time; we will then no longer use your identifiers for this purpose.

4. Advertising and Real-Time Bidding (RTB)

We finance our free content through advertising. If you give your consent, we use real-time bidding (RTB) procedures, in which our advertising spaces are auctioned off to advertisers in real time. In the process, pseudonymous usage profiles, interests and contextual information (e.g. current page, device type) are transmitted to auction participants. We use the OpenRTB protocol, a recognised industry standard. For the display of advertisements, we cooperate with various marketing agencies and technology providers (e.g. DSPs and SSPs). You can find a current list of these third-party providers in the Consent Manager on our websites. Some of these service providers act as data processors (Art. 28 GDPR), others as independent data controllers (Art. 4(7) GDPR). We have appropriate contracts or agreements in place with all partners regarding joint responsibility in accordance with Art. 26 GDPR.

5. Use and disclosure of user identifiers for advertising purposes

With your consent, we pass on your LEGIER user identifiers and the associated pseudonymous data to selected marketers so that they can display personalised advertising and measure its performance. Recipients include, amongst others, media partners of SCANDIC FINANCE GROUP LIMITED, demand-side platforms and advertising networks. Processing is carried out on the basis of joint responsibility, about which you will be informed in the Consent Manager. You may object to this sharing at any time.

6. Measurement of advertising and content performance, audience research

For analytical purposes, we use services that measure whether and how adverts and content are viewed, clicked on or consumed. The results are summarised in anonymised reports. Third-party providers carrying out these measurements receive only pseudonymous data and act as data processors or independent controllers. Further information can be found in the Consent Manager.

7. Third-party content and social media

Some of our services incorporate third-party content, such as videos (YouTube), audio (SoundCloud), social media posts (Facebook, Instagram, X Corp.), maps or widgets. When you activate such content or click on 'Show', your browser establishes a direct connection to the third-party provider's servers. In doing so, your IP address is transmitted and cookies from the third-party provider may be set. We only embed this content if you have given your prior consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). The third-party providers process your data on their own responsibility; you can find information on this in their privacy policies, which are linked in the Consent Manager.

8. In-house product and sales development

Provided you have consented to the use of cookies and tracking, we may use pseudonymous usage data for internal analysis and development purposes. This includes reach measurements, usage analyses and the promotion of our own products (e.g. paid subscriptions). No data is passed on to third parties in this context. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR.

9. Technically necessary cookies and exceptions without consent

Regardless of your consent, we use cookies and similar technologies where they are technically necessary to provide a service you have expressly requested (Section 25(2) TDDDG). These include:

Session cookies to manage the browser session and prevent errors

Security cookies to protect against misuse, fraud or DDoS attacks

Preference cookies, insofar as they are necessary to save your language, region or display settings

Login cookies to maintain your login status

Consent cookies (Consent ID) to record your choices

These cookies can be deleted in your device settings, but this may result in restrictions on the use of our services.

IV. Special Services

1. Registration and user account

Registration is required for certain content or services, such as personalised articles or comment functions. We use our cross-portal service myPass for this purpose. During registration, we collect your username, email address, password and, optionally, further data. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR (performance of a contract). The use of myPass is subject to its own terms of use and a separate privacy policy.

2. Subscription and paid services

If you take out a paid subscription or use other paid services, we process the personal data provided when concluding the contract (e.g. name, address, payment details) for the purposes of contract performance and billing. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR. To fulfil legal obligations (e.g. tax retention), we also process your data in accordance with Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR. We transfer your data to payment service providers and, where applicable, delivery service providers, insofar as this is necessary for the provision of the service. We offer various payment methods via third-party providers (e.g. credit card, Klarna, Sofortüberweisung, PayPal, Stripe). Payment processing is carried out by the respective service providers, who bear their own responsibility under data protection law. Please refer to the providers' privacy policies.

3. Push notifications

If you enable push notifications via the LEGIER News app, we will send you messages containing editorial content at regular intervals. We use a service provider as a data processor for this purpose. To subscribe, your browser or device must consent to receiving push notifications. We store the time of registration and a device ID to be able to verify your consent. We also analyse, on a pseudonymous basis, whether push notifications have been displayed or clicked on, in order to optimise the service. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR; you can withdraw your consent to the notifications at any time in the system settings.

4. Location data

Provided you give us your consent via your device, we may use location data to display regional news and weather information to you. Location tracking is carried out via GPS, Wi-Fi or mobile networks and is limited to the necessary level of accuracy. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR. You can disable access to location data at any time in your device settings.

5. Comment function and surveys

Our services occasionally offer the opportunity to leave comments or take part in surveys. In doing so, we process the data you provide (e.g. comment text, username, email address) for the purposes of publication and moderation. We use moderation tools to check comments for compliance with our netiquette. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR (performance of a contract) or Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR (legitimate interest in fair discourse).

6. Contacting us

When you contact us (e.g. by email or via the contact form), we process your details to handle your enquiry and store them for as long as is necessary to resolve it. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR (legitimate interest in communicating with users). In the case of specific contact forms that are transmitted directly to third parties (e.g. external partners' customer service), their privacy policies apply.

7. Competitions and special promotions

If you take part in a competition, we process your data solely for the purpose of running the competition and notifying the winners. The terms and conditions of participation and a supplementary privacy notice are available separately for each competition.

V. Regional Specifics and Applicable Legal Systems

As LEGIER WORLD NEWS operates in more than 40 countries, we are subject to numerous national regulations in addition to the GDPR. We always comply with the strictest requirements in each case. Below you will find examples of specific provisions:

European Union/EEA: We comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Directive. Countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Germany have supplementary laws (e.g. the TDDDG in Germany). Opt-in consent is required unless cookies are technically necessary.

United Kingdom: The UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) apply. We provide clear opt-in options and equivalent accept/decline buttons.

Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland: These countries have their own data protection laws, which are based on the GDPR. In Switzerland, the revised Federal Act on Data Protection applies.

Eastern Europe and Russia: Countries such as Ukraine, Russia and Turkey additionally require data localisation or permits subject to notification.

Middle East/North Africa: Countries such as the United Arab Emirates (PDPL), Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Egypt require explicit consent for cookies and impose strict reporting obligations.

Africa: In South Africa (POPIA), Nigeria (NDPR) and Ghana, opt-in rules and extensive information obligations apply.

America: US states (e.g. California with CCPA/CPRA) provide for an opt-out model; we offer the link "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" for this purpose. Canada (PIPEDA, Law 25), Brazil (LGPD), Argentina (Ley 25.326), Mexico (LFPDPPP), Colombia (Ley 1581) and Peru (Ley 29733) require consent and clear information on data use.

Asia-Pacific: Countries such as China (PIPL), Hong Kong (PDPO), Japan (APPI), South Korea (PIPA), Singapore (PDPA), Malaysia (PDPA 2010) and India (IT Rules 2011/Digital Personal Data Protection Act) have strict requirements regarding consent, data transfers and security measures. In Australia and New Zealand, the Privacy Act 1988 and the Privacy Act 2020 apply respectively; a reform in Australia could in future require explicit consent for tracking.

Other countries: Monaco, Qatar, Oman, Uruguay, Costa Rica and other states have their own data protection laws. We monitor legal developments and adapt our processes accordingly.

VI. Conclusion

We appreciate your trust in our independent journalistic content. As a globally operating media company, we are committed to the highest standards of transparency and the protection of your privacy. This privacy policy is updated regularly to reflect legal changes and technical developments.

Date: 1 January 2026