Legal - Data Protection Policy

1. Identification of the web proprietor

Pursuant to the stipulations of the Spanish Law of Information Society Services, Instituto de Crédito Oficial (hereinafter "ICO"), proprietor of the www.ico.es website, wishes to inform you that its full corporate name is "Instituto de Crédito Oficial", its registered office is Paseo del Prado 4, 28014 Madrid, and its tax identification number ("CIF") is Q-2876002-C.

You can contact us by e-mail at comunicacion@ico.es or on the phone numbers in the "Contact us" section of this website.

2. General conditions for use of the website

2.1. Access to and utilisation of the www.ico.es web page and all its subdomains and directories (hereinafter referred to together as "website") are subject to the terms set forth in this Legal Notice.

2.2. The purpose of the website is to provide customers and/or visitors with information in connection with its corporate activities and the services it offers.

ICO wishes to provide a useful service on this website, and therefore it welcomes any suggestions from users. However, if you do not agree with any of the conditions set forth in this legal notice, you must refrain from using ICO website. Access to the website entails acceptance of these conditions with no reservations. The utilisation of certain services offered on this website, moreover, will be governed by the specific conditions established in each case, and utilisation of these services will be understood as acceptance of the aforementioned conditions.

2.3. For the purposes of this legal notice, "website" is understood as information displayed and/or transmitted (including, although the following list is for information purposes only, texts, comments, press releases, videos, audio material, image clips, images, databases, multimedia products, photographs, artistic performances or functions, productions and, in general, other creations or contents expressed in any tangible or intangible media and/or supports either currently existing or invented in the future, irrespective of whether or not they are protected by prevailing laws with respect to intellectual or industrial property rights or similar rights, collectively known as the "Contents") that, through its selection or provision, constitutes an intellectual creation eligible for protection pursuant to Article 12 of the Spanish Law governing Intellectual Property ("Ley de Propiedad Intelectual"), as amended.

2.4. Any access to, utilisation of or browsing on this website or its contents will entail acceptance of these conditions of use. ICO may amend these conditions of use at any time. ICO may amend this website and its contents at any time with no need for any prior notification, and will update it on a regular basis.

2.5. Users expressly accept, with no exceptions, that they access and use this website and its contents on their sole and exclusive responsibility vis-à-vis ICO and any third parties.

2.6. Access to this website is unrestricted, with the exception of certain restricted areas, and also free, and viewing and using the website do not require any prior subscription, registration or prior contracts.

2.7. Users undertake to use the website in a diligent and proper fashion. Users also undertake not to use the website: (i) to carry out activities that infringe the law, public decency, generally accepted proper customs or the established public order and activities (ii) for purposes or with effects that are unlawful, prohibited or infringe the rights and interests of third parties, and ICO accepts no liability that may arise therefrom.

2.8. ICO takes no responsibility for the opinions expressed by third parties through any tools it provides or may provide in the future on its website, nor does it take responsibility for the contents of websites connected by means of such tools.

2.9. ICO will ensure that the contents of this website are not of a pornographic, xenophobic, discriminatory or racist nature, and that they do not encourage violence.

2.10. This website may not be altered by users with respect to any of its contents, such as connections, links or similar items.

2.11. Users acknowledge that ICO does not assign or transfer any rights to them in connection with the website or the contents, or to any Registered Trademarks appearing therein, including any property of third parties. ICO authorises access to and utilisation of these items only in accordance with the terms stipulated in this legal notice. Specifically, ICO authorises users to access and browse the website and to access any Contents added to the website.

2.12. Users will not be authorised to copy, distribute (including e-mails and Internet), transmit, communicate, modify, alter, transform, assign or in any other way carry out activities that entail commercial or unlawful use of the website or of the contents or items of which it is composed, either partially or totally.

2.13. The information disclosed herein is for informative purposes only, and ICO reserves the right to eliminate or suspend disclosure totally or partially, and to modify the structure and contents of the portal with no prior notification, and may also limit or refuse to permit access to this information.

The aim is to maintain the quality and updating of the information, and to prevent and minimise any errors caused by technical faults. However, ICO does not guarantee that access cannot be interrupted or affected by such faults. ICO reserves the right to modify and update the information on this website or its configuration and presentation at any time, with no need for any prior notification.

3. Links

3.1. This website may contain connections or links to other portals or websites that are not administered by ICO. ICO declares that it has no control whatsoever over these portals or websites, and that it is not responsible for their contents. Any links this website may contain will only be provided as informative references the purpose of which is to facilitate access to other contents deemed to be of interest.

3.2. ICO accepts no direct or indirect responsibility in connection with the lawfulness, veracity, utility, quality or reliability of any contents that are not directly administered or controlled by ICO, even if they may be accessed through its website.

4. Intellectual and Industrial Property

4.1. ICO reserves the website's intellectual property rights in respect of items that make up the visual appearance, graphic imaging and other sensorial stimuli of the web pages making up the website; browsing architecture; web page source codes; photographs, recorded material, computer programmes (hereinafter the "Software"), databases, technology, know-how, trademarks, distinctive signs and logos.

4.2. ICO contents and items reproduced on this website belonging to ICO are protected by intellectual property laws. Total or partial reproduction of these is not permitted, notwithstanding any duly authorised scenarios and restrictions.

This means that the website's own contents are subject to the following conditions: (i) Personal non-commercial utilisation of contents belonging to ICO is authorised for information purposes only. Users must in any case quote the author and the source of the materials used for authorised personal and educational use, and must specifically state the URL address of this website. The utilisation of this page and of its contents as authorised herein is free of charge; (ii) Users are expressly authorised to see the information and items it contains, and to download these or reproduce them privately on their IT systems, unless expressly stipulated otherwise. (iii) Users accessing this website are not authorised to assign, distribute or disseminate by any means, totally or partially, items on this web page that are the property of ICO, or to send them by e-mail for purposes other than those authorised in this legal notice, or to modify or alter them in any way whatsoever. (iv) ICO will furnish the material and legal means necessary to prevent the undesirable incorporation in this web page of any items that may be added to the page by third parties unrelated to ICO contrary to this legal notice and to authorised usage. (v) ICO may refuse access to this page to any users adding contents that are unauthorised, that are illegal or may be illegal, and in this regard it also reserves the right to take appropriate legal action, including prior withdrawal, subsequent withdrawal, or moderation and/or publication. ICO will in any case cooperate with the authorities for the purposes of identifying any parties that add or attempt to add such contents. (vi) ICO is solely and exclusively responsible for contents of this website that have been created by ICO, and under no circumstances for any contents that may have been added by unauthorised third parties. (vii) ICO reserves exclusive exercise of rights to its intellectual property in connection with this web page in any of their formats, especially reproduction, distribution, public communication and transformation rights, without prejudice to any rights to which the authors of works reproduced on this page may be entitled.

4.3. With respect to quotes of products and/or services provided by third parties, ICO acknowledges the industrial and intellectual property rights of their owners, and any mentions or appearances of these on the website do not entail the existence of any rights to or responsibility for them, or endorsement, sponsoring or recommendation, unless this is expressly specified.

4.4. Users acknowledge and accept that, on the website, rights are protected by the laws applicable to intellectual property, industrial property, rights to the commercial and advertising value of image and other similar rights.

4.5. Unauthorised utilisation of the information on this website and infringements of ICO's Intellectual or Industrial Property rights will give rise to the liabilities laid down in law.

4.6. ICO is entitled to exclusive exercise of these rights in any of their formats, especially reproduction, distribution, public communication (in any way) and transformation rights to any contents belonging to it.

5. Limitation of Liability

5.1. ICO accepts no liability whatsoever as the result of connection or contents of links of third parties or/and created by third parties referred to on the website.

5.2. Access to this website and any use that may be made of the information therein are the exclusive responsibility of the users.

5.3. ICO does not accept liability for any errors that may arise, or any damage that may be caused to users' IT systems (hardware and software), files or documents stored in these systems, as a result of viruses in the computers of users that are employed to connect to the website contents, improper operation of the browser or usage of non-updated browser versions. ICO will not guarantee the non-existence of errors in access to this website or its contents, or that they have been updated, although it will do its best to prevent, rectify or update these.

5.4. ICO does not accept liability for any damage and/or losses of any kind that may be incurred by users or third parties as a result of the following: (i) lack of availability, maintenance or proper functioning of the website or of its contents; (ii) lack of utility, veracity, suitability or validity of the website or of its contents to meet the needs or expectations of users; (iii) the risk that a third party, in breach of the security measures implemented, will use the website or its contents to transmit viruses, or will carry out unauthorised processing of the data stored; (iv) in general, any use of the website or of its contents that may be made by users or third parties, contrary to the conditions of access and utilisation of same established herein.

6. Personal data protection

Following the application of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) has modified its Privacy Policies that govern the processing of your personal data as part of your relationship with ICO.

We ask that you read the basic information on Data Protection below carefully. Should you require further information, please access our Data Protection Policy

7. Laws applicable and jurisdiction

These General Conditions are governed by Spanish law.

For the purposes of resolving all controversies or issues in connection with this website or the activities carried out therein, ICO and Users, with an express waiver of any other rights, accept Spanish law as the system governing these conditions, and agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the Courts and Tribunals of the city of Madrid (Spain) for the purposes of resolving any controversies or disputes that may arise.

Following the application of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) has modified its Privacy Policies that govern the processing of your personal data as part of your relationship with ICO.

We ask that you read the basic information on Data Protection below carefully. Should you require further information, please access our Data Protection Policy

1. Definition

A cookie is a file that is stored in your computer when you access certain web pages. Among other operations, cookies enable a web page to store and retrieve information on the browsing habits of users or their computers and, depending on the information they contain and the way in which computers are used, they may be used to recognise the user.

Depending on the party serving them, cookies may be categorised as first-party cookies, served by this page, and third-party cookies served by other websites or services.

2. Types of cookies

Classification depending on the purpose for which the data obtained through them are processed:

• Technical cookies: these enable users to browse a website, platform or application and use the various options or services therein, including controlling traffic and data communication, identifying the session, entering restricted areas, remembering items in an order, carrying out the purchasing process for an order, filling out a registration application or request to participate in an event, using security items while browsing, storing content to disseminate video or sound files, or sharing content over social networks.
• Functionality cookies: these enable users to access the service with certain general features predefined on user terminals based on a series of criteria, such as language, type of browser used to access the service, regional configuration where the service is accessed etc.
• Analytic cookies: these enable those responsible for them to track and analyse the behaviour of users of websites to which they are related. The data gathered by this type of cookie is used to gauge the activity of websites, applications or platforms and to create a browsing profile for users of the websites, applications and platforms in order to make improvements in accordance with analysis of the way in which users avail themselves of the service.
• Advertising cookies: these are used for best possible management of any advertising space the publisher has added to a website, application or platform from which the service requested is provided, on the basis of criteria such as the contents published or the frequency with which adverts are displayed.
• Behaviour-targeted advertising cookies: these are used for best possible management of any advertising space the publisher has added to a website, application or platform from which the service requested is provided. They store behavioural information of users obtained through continuous observation of their browsing habits, to create a specific profile in order to display advertising tailored to these habits.

Classification by periods of time:

• Session cookies: session cookies last only for the period of time spent by users browsing the web page, and are deleted subsequently.
• Persistent cookies: these cookies remain stored on users' terminals for a longer period of time, giving more control over the preferences selected, with no need to repeat certain parameters every time users visit the website.

3. Third-party cookies

Some of our cookies are used to generate advertising on third-party networks or to conduct analyses, using tools that are external to ICO. The cookies used are for the exclusive use of ICO, and no trading is carried out with them.

4. How to disable cookies

As an additional guarantee to the procedures explained above, registration of our cookies may be subject to cookie acceptance by users during installation or updating of the browser used, and acceptance may be withdrawn at any time using the setting options for contents and privacy.

It is normally possible to curtail acceptance of browser cookies, or to curtail acceptance of cookies for a specific service. All modern browsers enable cookie settings to be changed. The changes are normally found in 'Options' or 'Preferences' in your browser menu.

Users will find the steps to gain access to the cookie configuration menu and, where applicable, for private browsing on each of the main browsers at the following addresses and URLs:

Internet Explorer: Tools -> Internet options -> Privacy -> Settings. For further information, consult the Microsoft support service or the browser's Help facility.

Firefox: Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> History -> Customised settings. For further information, consult the Mozilla support service or the browser's Help facility.

Chrome: Settings -> Show advanced options -> Privacy -> Content settings. For further information, consult the Google support service or the browser's Help facility.

Safari: Preferences -> Security. For further information, consult the Apple support service or the browser's Help facility.

These browsers are subject to updates or modifications, and thus there can be no guarantee that they will be fully compatible with your browser version. It is also possible that another browser may be used that is not included in these links, such as Konqueror, Arora, Flock etc. To prevent any malfunctions, you can use your browser options for direct access, generally in the Options menu, under "Privacy" (see your browser's Help facility for further information).