Supplementary Privacy Notice

for the online form “Request to the Aachen City Archives”

In addition to the General Privacy Notice regarding the use of online forms, we provide the following information about the specific processing of your personal data in connection with your online inquiry to the Aachen City Archives

1. Purpose of Data Processing

Your personal data is collected and processed for the following purposes:

• Review and Processing of the Request for Access: Determining the factual and legal requirements for processing your request within the selected category (e.g., civil status inquiries/family history research, historical research, access to building records, literature research, student inquiries/archival education, or other inquiries).
• Verification of Access and Application Eligibility: Verification of the applicant’s legal authority—particularly in the case of archival materials subject to retention periods, civil status searches, or access to building records (e.g., through proof of ownership or powers of attorney) – as well as the validation of the uploaded supporting documents.
• Research, Fact-Finding, and Resource Provision: Unambiguous identification of the individuals, buildings, events, or collections you are seeking, based on the information you provide, to facilitate targeted source searches, the provision of information, or the preparation of reproductions (scans), reading stations, and certifications.
• Ensuring communication with government agencies: Contacting you regarding technical inquiries, to coordinate schedules (particularly for archive tours and educational programs), or to define the exact scope of the research.
• Handling of the fee and charge process: Determining, preparing, and issuing fee or charge notices for the use of City Archives services based on the applicable bylaws and fee regulations.

2. Legal Basis for Processing

Your personal data is processed on the following legal grounds:

• Art. Article 6(1)(c) and (e) of the GDPR in conjunction with Section 3 of the Data Protection Act of North Rhine-Westphalia (DSG NRW), as well as the provisions of the North Rhine-Westphalia Archives Act (ArchivG NRW) and the bylaws and fee schedule of the Aachen City Archives (in conjunction with the KAG NRW): These provisions govern the City of Aachen’s legal obligation to perform a task in the public interest. The processing of application and research data is necessary to properly fulfill the City Archives’ statutory duties—in particular, the permanent preservation, cataloging, making available, and provision of the City of Aachen’s archival records, as well as the handling of the associated administrative procedures.

• Art. 6(1)(e) of the GDPR in conjunction with § 3 of the DSG NRW and § 26 of the VwVfG NRW (principle of investigation): The processing of information provided voluntarily (such as telephone or fax numbers, free-text comments, or supplementary attachments) serves to expedite, facilitate, and ensure the purpose-oriented handling of the administrative procedure.
  
  

Note on the Collection of Voluntary Data: The submission of optional information takes place as part of the administrative procedure for determining the facts of the case (Section 26 of the Administrative Procedure Act of North Rhine-Westphalia (VwVfG NRW)). A separate declaration of consent (e.g., via a checkbox pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR) is neither required by law nor necessary for this purpose.

3. Categories of Data Processed

As part of the online inquiry process, the following categories of personal data are collected and processed to handle your request:

• Personal and contact information of the person making the inquiry: title, first name, last name, company name (if applicable), street address, ZIP code, city, country, and email address (for the digital transmission of confirmations and responses).
• Optional contact information: Phone number and fax number (if provided by you in the quick contact form).
• Specific details depending on the selected inquiry category:
  
  
  • Civil Status Inquiry / Genealogy: Information about the person you are searching for and the desired registry entry (e.g., birth, marriage, or death dates, locations, certificate numbers, information on spouses or relatives), as well as details and supporting documentation regarding the intended use (private, official, commercial, with or without a court order, deadline checks).
  • Historical Research / Literature Review: Information regarding the archival or library materials you are seeking, the topic, and a detailed description of your historical research or literature review project.
  • Access to Building Files: Detailed property information (street, house number, additional address details, historical address, parcel or lot number, and other relevant information), as well as any uploaded proof of ownership or powers of attorney, if applicable.
  • Student Inquiries / Archives Education: Name and location of the school or institution, grade level, name of the supervising teacher, type of project (e.g., research paper), class or group size, module selection, preferred dates, time slots, and descriptions of the content for the planned lessons or guided tours.
• Research materials, supporting documents, and supplementary information (attachments): Documents uploaded voluntarily or as required (e.g., site plans, photos, certificates, official documents, existing family trees, teaching materials), as well as your free-text comments and notes regarding the inquiry.

4. Recipients or Categories of Recipients of the Data

Within the Aachen City Administration and to external entities, your data will be transferred or made available exclusively within the scope of statutory authority or as part of a strictly instruction-based data processing arrangement:

• Responsible Department (Aachen City Archives): The organizational unit responsible internally for reviewing, researching, and responding to your request for access or research.
• Financial Accounting for the Cultural Organization: The organizational unit within the City of Aachen’s cultural organization responsible for determining, recording, and processing any fees or charges that may arise, based on the applicable bylaws and fee regulations.
• Other municipal departments (as needed): If absolutely necessary to clarify the facts of the case—for example, the Building Inspection Division or the Geodata Management and Real Estate Cadastre Division for the purpose of official data verification in connection with a request to inspect building files.
• IT Service Provider (Data Processor): regio iT GmbH (Lombardenstraße 24, 52070 Aachen) acts as a data processor bound by instructions pursuant to Article 28 of the GDPR in connection with the technical operation, secure hosting, and system maintenance of the online form server.

5. Retention Period & Deletion

Your data will be stored only for as long as is strictly necessary to fulfill the respective purpose or in accordance with statutory retention periods:

• In the online form system (temporary storage): The application data you enter in the online form, as well as the uploaded documents, will be deleted fully automatically from the servers of regio iT GmbH’s online data collection system no later than six months after the successful completion of the transmission process. This time limit serves solely to ensure the technical traceability of the transmission channel and to resolve any transmission errors.
• In the Aachen City Archives’ specialized process (processing and retention): After the data has been transferred to the Aachen City Archives’ specialized system, the storage and retention periods are determined in accordance with the relevant laws and municipal regulations:
  • User and Research Records: Records pertaining to the provision of information, consultations, and the use of the archives are maintained for the duration of the processing and resolution of the matter. Upon completion of the process, these documents are reviewed for archival value in accordance with the provisions of the North Rhine-Westphalia Archives Act (ArchivG NRW) and are either permanently archived in the public interest or destroyed in compliance with data protection regulations.
  • Fee and Charge Procedures: Documents and supporting evidence used to determine, issue, and substantiate fee or charge notices are retained for a period of 10 years in accordance with the retention periods under budgetary law as set forth in Section 44 of the North Rhine-Westphalia Municipal Budget Ordinance (GemHVO NRW).

6. Duty to Cooperate (Duty to Provide)

As part of this online process, you must provide the personal data that is strictly necessary for processing your request or for fulfilling our legal obligations:

• Required Information: The information that is absolutely necessary for processing your request is clearly marked as required fields (with an asterisk “*”) in the online form. The legal obligation to provide identity, contact, and factual information arises from the general duty to cooperate in administrative and application procedures pursuant to Section 26 of the Administrative Procedure Act for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (VwVfG NRW).

• Consequences of Failure to Provide Information: Without the provision of this mandatory information (such as name, address, and the minimum details required to narrow the scope of the search), the Aachen City Archives is unable to review the underlying facts in a legally sound manner. As a result, your request may not be processed or, in some cases, may be denied.
• Optional Information: Information regarding additional contact details (such as a phone number or fax number), as well as information about third parties (such as the teacher in charge for inquiries from students), the inclusion of supplementary attachments, and free-form comments are expressly optional.

Note Regarding the Transfer of Third-Party Data: If you transfer personal data belonging to third parties (e.g., the supervising teacher), please ensure that the data subjects are informed about the transfer of their data to the Aachen City Archives (Art. 14 of the GDPR).

If you choose not to provide this optional information, you will not face any legal disadvantages as a result. Please note, however, that the process may be delayed if technical questions arise due to the lack of direct communication channels.

7. Your Rights and Contact Information

You have the right to request from the controller access to your personal data (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16 GDPR), erasure (Art. 17 of the GDPR), restriction of processing (Art. 18 of the GDPR), and the right to object to processing (Art. 21 of the GDPR). In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection supervisory authority (State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of North Rhine-Westphalia – LDI NRW).

Data Controller (Art. 13(1)(a) of the GDPR)

City of Aachen – represented by the MayorDepartment
: Aachen City
ArchivesReichsweg 30, 52068
AachenEmail:
stadtarchiv@mail.aachen.deTelefon: +49 241 432-4972

Government Data Protection Officer (Art. 13(1)(b) of the GDPR)

City of Aachen –
Data Protection Officer, Aureliusstraße 2, 52064 Aachen
, Email:
datenschutz@mail.aachen.deTelefon: +49 241 432-1471

Notice of Use: In addition to the rights listed in this document, the General Privacy Notice for the Use of Online Forms by the City of Aachen applies in full.