The protection of your personal data and compliance with applicable national and European data protection regulations, in particular the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Rhineland-Palatinate State Data Protection Act (LDSG), is an important concern for the Mainz Fire Department as part of the state capital of Mainz. The following information explains how the state capital of Mainz handles personal data when operating the Mainz Fire Department's WhatsApp channel and how this information is used.

Please note that you use the Mainz Fire Department's WhatsApp channel and its functions at your own risk. This applies in particular to the use of interactive functions (e.g., reactions to content). Alternatively, you can also access all the information offered on this page on our website at www.mainz.de/feuerwehr (opens in a new tab).

You can access the comprehensive privacy policy of the state capital of Mainz at the following link:

The responsible authority is:

State Capital Mainz
City Hall Große Bleiche, Große Bleiche 46/Löwenhofstraße 1, 55116 Mainz
Phone: 06131 115
Email: oberbuergermeisterstadt.mainzde

You can contact the data protection officer of the State Capital Mainz here:

When you use the WhatsApp service, your data will always be processed for WhatsApp's own purposes by WhatsApp Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland ("WhatsApp"), a Meta Platforms Inc. company, USA. For more information about data processing for WhatsApp's purposes, please refer to WhatsApp's Privacy Policy:

If you follow the Mainz Fire Department's WhatsApp channel, WhatsApp will process your personal data. This applies in particular to the following categories of personal data:

• Technical usage data (in particular IP address, date and time of access, information about your device)
• Data about your interactions on the WhatsApp channel (for example, when you click on links or respond to posts)
• Information about your WhatsApp profile (e.g., your phone number, profile name, or profile picture)

We may be able to see some of your interactions (in particular your reactions to posts) and your profile name, as well as your profile picture, depending on how you have set your privacy settings. The state capital of Mainz does not receive any information about your phone number from WhatsApp (unless you add the Mainz Fire Department to your contacts) and cannot and will not send you any direct messages. 

This information is not visible to other subscribers to the WhatsApp channel, meaning that other users cannot see your profile information or your interactions on the WhatsApp channel.

The state capital of Mainz operates the WhatsApp channel of the Mainz Fire Department in order to provide its citizens and other interested parties with additional information about the work of the Mainz Fire Department and the Mainz Fire Department itself. The channel thus serves to fulfill a public function of the state capital of Mainz, namely the fulfillment of its information obligations.

The legal basis for the processing of your data by the state capital of Mainz in connection with the operation of the Mainz Fire Department's WhatsApp channel is Art. 6 (1) (e) GDPR in conjunction with § 3 LDSG, the fulfillment of public duties of the state capital of Mainz (informing the population). 

Information about the purposes and legal basis for the processing of your personal data by WhatsApp can be found in WhatsApp's privacy policy:

The state capital of Mainz processes and uses personal data in its services in accordance with the provisions of data protection regulations.

The state capital of Mainz processes and uses your personal data outside of its services only to the extent necessary for the fulfillment of tasks falling within the responsibility of the state capital of Mainz, or if required by law, or if you have given your consent. The relevant legal bases are Art. 6 (1) (c), (e) GDPR, § 3 LDSG (State Data Protection Act) and Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR. The state capital of Mainz does not pass on the data to non-public bodies.

Information about the processing and storage of personal data by WhatsApp can be found in WhatsApp's privacy policy: 

Within the state capital of Mainz, your data will be shared with those entities that require it to fulfill our contractual and legal obligations. As a matter of principle, we do not pass on data to non-public entities. 

Please note that WhatsApp also transfers your data to countries outside the EU, in particular to the USA, for its own purposes. For data transfers to the US, there is an adequacy decision (EU-US Data Privacy Framework) by the EU Commission, which states that the processing of personal data by certain certified companies in the US offers a level of protection comparable to that offered by the processing of this data in the EU. Both WhatsApp and its parent company, Meta Platforms, Inc., are certified.

In addition, WhatsApp has stated that it has concluded EU standard contractual clauses with recipients to protect data in third countries outside the EU and the EEA. WhatsApp users can request a copy of these EU standard contractual clauses at this link:

However, personal data transferred to the United States (and other third countries outside the EU and the EEA) may be subject to risks relating to possible government access.

For more information about WhatsApp's processing of personal data, please see WhatsApp's Privacy Policy:

Insofar as the state capital of Mainz processes your personal data, you are entitled to a number of data protection rights, in particular a

• right to information (Art. 15 GDPR),
• right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR),
• right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR),
• right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR),
• right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR),
• Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR).

The data protection officers of the state capital of Mainz and the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of Rhineland-Palatinate are available to you as contact persons.

Further information on your data protection rights and how you can exercise them can be found in our detailed information notice pursuant to Articles 13, 14, and 21 GDPR, which you can find at the following link:

If you have any questions about the content of the Mainz Fire Department's WhatsApp channel, please contact the editorial team:

Mainz Fire Department
Administration
Fire Station 1
Jakob-Leischner-Straße 11
55128 Mainz
Phone: 06131 12-4501
Email: puma.feuerwehrstadt.mainzde

Further information about WhatsApp and other social networks and how you can protect your data can also be found at youngdata.de.