Cookie policy

We want to ensure that you enjoy browsing our website and have a performant experience. Therefore this website places “cookies” onto your computer to collect information about your use of our site.

 

1. WHAT ARE COOKIES?

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie.

 

Cookies allow our systems to recognise the user’s device and make any presettings immediately available. As soon as a user accesses the platform, a cookie is sent to the hard disk of the respective user’s computer.

 

2. WHY ARE COOKIES USEFUL?

Cookies are useful because they:

 

    • allow a website to recognise a user’s device and to target the content displayed to the user’s interests

 

    • help us to improve our website offer you a better service more tailored to your requirements

 

    • enable us to recognise your device when you return to our website

 

    • store information about your favourite activities on the website, thereby allowing us to tailor our website to your individual interests. Where permitted, this may, for example, include advertising according to your personal interests and accelerate the rate at which we can deal with your queries

 

By using our website you agree that, unless you have set your computer’s browser to reject them, we can place the types of cookies set out below on your device and use that data in accordance with this policy.

 

You can find more information about cookies at: www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.eu for a video about cookies visit www.google.co.uk/goodtoknow/data-on-the-web/cookies/.

 

3. TYPES OF COOKIES

There are two broad types of cookies – ‘first party cookies’ and ‘third party cookies’:

 

First party cookies are cookies that are served directly by the website operator to your computer, and are often used to recognise your computer when it revisits that site and to remember your preferences as you browse the site. Basically, these are our cookies.

 

Third party cookies are served by a service provider on behalf of the website operator, and can be used by the service provider to recognise your computer when you visit other web sites. Third party cookies are most commonly used for web site analytics or advertising purposes.

 


 

4. USE OF COOKIES

This table explains the cookies we use and why:

 

Name Purpose Expires after
_icl_current_language Used by SYNLAB to detect user’s language 24 hours
PHPSESSID used by SYNLAB to store the user’s session data No timed expiry
_utma Used by Google Analytics to collect data about unique users, unique sessions, throttle request rate and store information about users’ sessions and campaigns 118 days
_utmb Used by Google Analytics to collect data about unique users, unique sessions, throttle request rate and store information about users’ sessions and campaigns No timed expiry
_utmc Used by Google Analytics to collect data about unique users, unique sessions, throttle request rate and store information about users’ sessions and campaigns 1 year
_utmt Used by Google Analytics to collect data about unique users, unique sessions, throttle request rate and store information about users’ sessions and campaigns No timed expiry
_utmz Used by Google Analytics to collect data about unique users, unique sessions, throttle request rate and store information about users’ sessions and campaigns No timed expiry

 

SYNLAB does not govern the publication of third-party cookies. Please visit the relevant third parties’ website if you want to understand more about these cookies.

 

If you do not want to use cookies, you can set your browser so that the storage of cookies is not accepted.

 

If you only want to accept our own cookies but not the cookies of our service providers and partners, select the “block third-party cookies” (or similar setting in your browser).

 

5. USE OF GOOGLE ANALYTICS

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 (“Google”).

 

Google Analytics also uses “cookies”, text files that are stored on your device, to help analyse how you use the website.

 

Information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the United States and stored there.

 


 

In the event of activated IP anonymization on this website, however, your IP address is initially truncated by Google within member states of the European Union or in other member states of the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases is a full IP address transmitted to a Google server in the United States and truncated there.

 

On our behalf, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, compile reports about website activities, and provide further services related to website and internet usage to us. The IP address transferred from    your browser by Google Analytics will not be linked with any other data held by Google.

 

You can prevent the storage of cookies by setting your browser software appropriately; in this case, however, please  note that you might not be able to fully use all functions offered by this website. You can prevent data generated by  the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including Your IP address) from being collected and processed by Google, by downloading and  installing a browser plug-in from the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

 

6. CHANGING YOUR COOKIE PREFERENCES

Most web browsers allow some control over cookies through browser settings (e.g. notifications of new cookies, disabling cookies and deleting cookies). Find out more at www.allaboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.