COOKIE POLICY

Last updated: 22th March 2023

The General Soft Drinks Company Limited (“us”, “we”, or “our”) uses cookies on the website https://gsd.com.mt (the “Website”) and we are committed to respect the privacy of visitors using our Website.

Our Cookies Policy (the “Policy”) explains what cookies are, how we use cookies, how third parties we may partner with may use cookies on the Website, your choices regarding cookies and further information about cookies.

Learn more about who we are, how you can contact us, how we process personal data and your data subject rights in our Website Privacy Notice.

What are cookies

A cookie is a small text file (typically numbers and letters) that is downloaded onto ‘terminal equipment’ (e.g. your computer or smartphone) when the user accesses a website using that device. Cookies are then sent back to originating website on each subsequent visit – and they are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device and store some information about your preferences or past actions.  Additionally, we use ‘Local Shared Objects’ i.e. Flash Cookies. These cookies are stored locally and are available to all browsers you may use.

Neither cookies nor flash cookies available on our Website can be used to access or use other information on your computer, other than information related to your usage of the Website. Cookies help us monitor traffic to the site, improve our services and make it easier and/or more relevant for your use. We use flash cookies and third-party cookies to help us show you more relevant and desirable advertisements.

Cookies are separated in the following categories:

  • First-party cookies – as the name implies, first party cookies are put on your devices directly by the website you are visiting i.e. the URL displayed in the browser’s address bar.
  • Third-party cookies – these are the cookies that are place on your device, not by the website you are visiting, but by a third party. This usually occurs when the website incorporates elements from other websites, such as images, social media plugins or advertising. When the browser or other software fetches these elements from the other websites, they can set cookies as well.

Some cookies are needed for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network – others may be necessary for the provision of a service over the internet, in which case they have to be used. These are termed as ‘strictly necessary’. Other cookies may be desirable to improve your experience, such as performance/statistic and marketing cookies, in which case we will ask you for your consent to use them.

How we use cookies

We use cookies to improve your user experience, enable certain functions of the Website, such as, navigation and access to secure areas of the Website, aggregate statistics about the number of visitors to the Website and obtain data about how the Website is being used. This data enables us to develop and optimise the Website.

We also use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We may share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you have provided to them or that they have collected from your use of their services.

Cookies may either be deleted automatically when the user closes their web browser (so-called “session cookies”) or stored on the user’s computer to facilitate future visits to the Website (so-called “permanent cookies”). Permanent cookies will also be automatically deleted after a specified period of time as provided below. Flash cookies are a type of permanent cookie.

What cookies do we use?

We use the following types of cookies that are placed on the Website: Strictly Necessary Cookies, Statistics Cookies and Marketing Cookies. To better understand their provider, their purpose and how long data collected by cookies are kept, please see our cookie banner. The below provides further information regarding the cookies used on our website (please note that the names of the cookies may change over time):

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These Cookies are essential to enable you to navigate and use the features of the Website. Without these Cookies, you may not be able to take full advantage of our services or features, and the Website will not perform as smoothly for you as we would like. By law we do not need to obtain your consent in order to use these cookies.

Statistics Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular, see how visitors move around the site, and whether they clicked on a link. This lets us know where we are doing well, and where we can improve, as well as making sure the pages load quickly and display properly. Information collected includes, for example, the Internet browsers and operating systems used, the domain name of the Website previously visited, the number of visits, average duration of visit, and pages viewed. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not consent to these cookies we will not know when you have visited our Website and will not be able to monitor its performance and enhance your experience.

Marketing Cookies

Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to deliver advertisements that we believe are relevant to you and your interests. For example, we may use Marketing Cookies to customise the advertising content, to conduct interest-based advertising, to limit the number of times you see the same advertisement and to conduct market research.

Links to other Websites

When using our Website, you may be directed to other websites for activities or to view content hosted on those websites. These websites may use their own cookies. We do not have control over the placement of cookies by other websites you visit, even if you are directed to them from our Website.

Our Website contains links to other offerings (including our presence on Facebook and LinkedIn). These are not social plugins (i.e. buttons which enable the operator of the offering in question to collect information on our Website’s users when the Website is called). However, please note that when you click and access the other offering, information (possibly including personal data) on your visit may be collected by the operator of the other offering. You can find more information in the website privacy notice and the cookie policy of the operators of the offering.

What are your choices regarding cookies?

When you visit the Website, you will be requested to accept, reject or manage your cookie settings. We can store cookies on the user’s device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this Website, however, for all other types of cookies, we need to obtain the consent of the user.

Please note that you may change your mind at any time and may delete cookies or refuse to accept them. If you delete or refuse cookies you might not be able to use all of the features we offer, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our pages might not display properly.

How can I change cookie preferences?

Apart from setting cookie preferences from the Cookie Banner on our Website, you can control and/or delete cookies as you wish from your browser settings.

For details on how to control and/or delete cookies using your browser settings, please see:

Delete Cookies in Microsoft Internet Explorer

Delete Cookies in Mozilla Firefox browser

Delete Cookies in Google Chrome browser

Delete flash cookies (all browsers)

To change your cookie preferences through our Cookie Banner please click the below link:

Change Consent

You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit the site, and some services and functionalities may not work.

Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. If we make significant changes to this Policy, we will let you know accordingly. However, it is advisable to regularly check this Policy to ensure you are aware of the most updated version.