Cookie Policy

1. What Cookies Are

Cookies are small text records that a website or related service can store in a browser. Similar technologies include local storage and session storage. They can support a requested function, remember a choice, measure aggregated use, or help protect a form. A cookie usually includes a name, a value, a domain, a path, and an expiry rule; it does not automatically reveal a person’s identity.

This website follows a consent-first approach for non-essential categories. Necessary technologies may operate because the website cannot remember a privacy choice or provide some core protections without them. Analytics and preference categories stay off until the visitor makes an affirmative selection.

2. Necessary Cookies

Necessary cookies and local storage support essential functions. They may remember that the cookie banner has been answered, store the categories selected in Manage Preferences, keep a contact form session stable, reduce immediate duplicate submissions, and help distinguish ordinary requests from automated misuse. These functions do not create advertising profiles.

A consent record is normally kept for up to six months so that the banner does not appear on every page. A contact-form session record is normally temporary and expires when the session ends or according to the hosting configuration. Security records may last longer when reasonably required to investigate abuse.

3. Analytics Cookies

Analytics cookies are optional. If enabled in the future and accepted by the visitor, they may count page views, approximate session length, navigation paths, broad device categories, and technical errors. Reports should be configured to emphasise aggregated information rather than identification. We do not activate analytics through the default reject or necessary-only choice.

Analytics providers, if used, must be assessed for data-protection terms, retention, security, and international transfer arrangements. An analytics identifier would normally be configured with a limited lifetime, and associated reporting data would ordinarily be retained for no longer than fourteen months unless a shorter period is practical.

4. Preference Cookies

Preference cookies are also optional. They may remember a reader-selected display setting, an expanded interface choice, or another convenience that is not required to read the content. The current website uses browser storage mainly for the cookie choice itself; optional preferences are activated only when selected.

Preference information is kept on the device and can be removed through the Manage Preferences controls or browser settings. Refusing this category may mean that an optional display choice needs to be made again, but it does not prevent access to the articles, navigation, or legal pages.

5. Cookies We Do Not Use

The website is not an online shop and does not use shopping-cart, payment, or checkout cookies. We do not use cookies to sell products, build a health profile, make medical inferences, deliver behavioural advertising, or follow visitors across unrelated websites. We do not request account-login cookies because visitors do not need an account to read the material.

Embedded social feeds, autoplay video, and remote advertising widgets are not part of the core experience. If a future feature would introduce a new non-essential technology, the category information and consent controls will be updated before that technology is enabled for visitors who have not agreed.

6. Your Three Main Controls

Accept All permits necessary, analytics, and preference categories. Reject Non-Essential keeps only necessary functions active. Manage Preferences opens category controls so analytics and preferences can be chosen separately. A disabled necessary checkbox shows that the core category cannot be turned off through the banner.

The choices have equal access to the main content. Rejecting non-essential cookies does not reduce the educational information shown. The design avoids preselected optional categories. The website records the selection locally and applies it on later pages until it expires or is cleared.

7. Change Your Choice

You can reopen the preference panel with the button below. Saving a new choice replaces the earlier local record. You can also clear site data in the browser or use browser controls to block, delete, or limit cookies. Browser menus differ, so consult the help information for the browser and device being used.

Clearing browser storage will cause the banner to appear again. Blocking all storage can prevent the choice from being remembered and may affect form security or duplicate-submission protection, although article content remains available.

8. Third Parties and Transfers

When an optional provider is used, it may set or read its own cookies after consent. Such providers act under their own technical arrangements and, depending on the service, may be a processor or separate controller. We review the stated purpose and aim to disclose the provider and cookie details in this policy before activation.

If information connected with a cookie is transferred outside the European Economic Area, the transfer must use a lawful mechanism such as an adequacy decision or standard contractual clauses, with supplementary measures where appropriate. The Privacy Policy gives more information about recipients and rights.

9. Retention and Review

Necessary choice storage is normally kept for six months. Session cookies ordinarily end when the browser session ends, while security-related server records may be held for up to twelve months. Optional preference cookies should not exceed six months without a clear reason. Optional analytics identifiers should be limited and associated reports normally retained for no longer than fourteen months.

We review the cookie inventory when code, hosting, analytics, or interface functions change. The review checks the category, purpose, provider, duration, and consent state. Technologies that are no longer needed should be removed rather than left dormant.

10. Contact and Updates

This policy may change when cookie functions, providers, or legal requirements change. The date at the top shows the current version. Material changes to optional tracking will be reflected in the banner or preference panel so that a new decision can be made where required.

Questions can be emailed to [email protected], posted to ul. Długa 17, 31-147 Kraków, Poland, or discussed by telephone at +48 12 881 52 40. Please do not include health information when asking a cookie or privacy question.