Cookie policy

Effective from 9 October 2026

This policy describes what the bluecrossbg.com website stores on your device, when it does so and how you can change your choice. It supplements the Privacy policy, which describes how the clinic processes personal data from phone calls and clinic visits.

In brief

• Without your consent, the site does not set any cookies.
• In your browser’s local storage the site keeps only your cookie choice and whether you have hidden the ‘Contents’ panel in the encyclopedia. These entries never leave your device.
• Google Analytics is loaded and sets cookies only if you click ‘Accept’ in the cookie banner.
• Google Maps is loaded, and may set cookies, only if you click ‘Open the map’.
• The site does not use advertising cookies.
• If you decline, the site works without restrictions.

Who is responsible for the website

The bluecrossbg.com website belongs to Blue Cross Veterinary Clinic. The controller of the personal data processed through it is SIN KRUST OOD („СИН КРЪСТ“ ООД), UIC 175072858, entered in the Commercial Register at the Registry Agency. Registered office, management address and address for correspondence: 1 Chereshova Gradina St., Detski Grad residential area, Pancharevo district, 1137 Sofia. The Sofia clinic is at the same address. For questions about cookies and personal data, you can write to info@bluecrossbg.com or call 0898 361 903 every day from 8:00 to 22:00.

What cookies and local storage are

A cookie is a small text file that a website stores in your browser. Your browser sends it back with later requests to the site. Local storage (localStorage) is a space in your browser where a website keeps short entries. Unlike cookies, these entries stay on your device and are not sent to the server.

Local storage entries

The site makes 2 entries in local storage. Other websites cannot access them.

• ‘sk-consent’ keeps your choice in the cookie banner (‘Accept’ or ‘Decline’) and the date until which it is valid. It is saved when you click either of the two buttons. This entry is strictly necessary: without it the site cannot respect your choice. Duration: 12 months. After that, your choice is no longer valid and the banner appears again.
• ‘wiki-toc’ records whether you have hidden the ‘Contents’ panel in the articles of the veterinary encyclopedia. It is saved when you click ‘hide’ or ‘Contents’. Duration: until you delete the site’s data from your browser.

Google Analytics – only with your consent

If you click ‘Accept’, the site loads Google Analytics 4, a service provided by Google Ireland Ltd. We use it for aggregate statistics: which pages are opened, on which devices and browsers, roughly from which locations, and which buttons and links are clicked. For example, we count how many times the clinic’s phone numbers and email addresses, the ‘Open the map’ button, the links to Google reviews and the share buttons are clicked. We also record the answers to the question ‘Was this article helpful?’.

Google works out the approximate location from the IP address, but Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses. Google Analytics tells your device apart by a random number in the ‘_ga’ cookie. The site does not collect your name, phone number or email address, so they do not reach Google Analytics.

Until you click ‘Accept’, your browser does not load Google Analytics and does not send any data to Google Analytics. Your consent allows statistics only. Advertising cookies and personalised ads remain switched off.

If you have given consent, Google Analytics sets 2 cookies on the bluecrossbg.com domain. They also apply to its subdomains, for example pacs.bluecrossbg.com:

• ‘_ga’ distinguishes individual devices by a random number. Provider: Google Ireland Ltd. Duration: 2 years after your last visit (the period is renewed with every visit).
• ‘_ga_7YE8Q5NK3M’ stores when your current visit started and its sequence number (first visit, second visit and so on). Provider: Google Ireland Ltd. Duration: 2 years after your last visit.

Google describes these cookies at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11397207?hl=en.

Google Analytics keeps the data linked to your device’s ‘_ga’ cookie for no more than 14 months and then deletes it automatically. The standard reports keep only aggregate figures, such as the number of visits to a page, which are not linked to any individual device. If you withdraw your consent, the data already collected remains until this period ends, unless you ask us to delete it (see ‘Your rights’).

We do not use Google Analytics data for automated decision-making or profiling. Under Article 25c of the Personal Data Protection Act (Закон за защита на личните данни), if you are under 14, consent for Google Analytics can only be given by your parent or guardian.

Google Maps – only if you open the map

The map on the site does not load by itself. Until you click ‘Open the map’, the clinic’s address is shown in its place and your browser does not connect to Google Maps.

When you click the button, the map loads directly from Google. Google therefore receives your IP address and information about your browser. It may also set or read its own cookies, for example ‘NID’ (according to Google, for up to 6 months after last use). These cookies are on Google’s domains and we have no access to them. Google decides their purpose and duration. They are described in Google’s cookie policy: https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies?hl=en.

We are jointly responsible with Google for the transfer of this data to Google when the map loads. Only Google is responsible for what Google does with the data after that.

Transfers of data outside the European Economic Area

Google may also process data from Google Analytics and Google Maps outside the European Economic Area, including in the USA. Google LLC is certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework. The European Commission has adopted an adequacy decision for this framework: Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1795 of 10 July 2023, under Article 45 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the General Data Protection Regulation). For Google Analytics, Google’s data processing terms also include standard contractual clauses as an additional safeguard.

The ‘Listen’ feature

The ‘Listen’ button in encyclopedia articles reads the text aloud. If there is an audio recording for the article, it is loaded from our server. If not, the text is read with the voice built into your browser. Some browsers, such as Google Chrome, voice the text through their maker’s servers. In that case the article text and your IP address reach the browser maker and are subject to its rules. This happens only if you click the button.

Links to other websites

The social media and sharing buttons, the ‘Directions’ links to Google Maps and the links to Google reviews are ordinary links. They do not load anything from Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, Viber or Telegram until you click them. When you move to another website, that website’s own rules apply to its cookies. This also applies to the diagnostic imaging results portal pacs.bluecrossbg.com. We maintain it together with an external company. The portal is a separate system with its own terms, which apply when you use it. This policy does not cover it.

How to accept, decline or change your choice

• On your first visit, a banner with ‘Accept’ and ‘Decline’ buttons appears at the bottom of the screen. Until you click one of the two buttons, Google Analytics is not loaded and the banner appears on every page.
• Your choice is valid for 12 months. After that, the banner appears again.
• You can change your choice at any time with the ‘Cookies’ button at the bottom of every page, next to the ‘Cookie policy’ link. The button opens the banner again.
• To withdraw your consent, click ‘Cookies’ and then ‘Decline’. From the next page you open, Google Analytics is not loaded. The ‘_ga’ and ‘_ga_7YE8Q5NK3M’ cookies set before then remain in your browser until they expire or you delete them.
• Withdrawing your consent does not affect the lawfulness of the statistics collected before you withdrew it.
• In your browser settings you can delete the site’s data, including cookies, and block cookies from other websites, such as Google Maps. If you delete the site’s data, you will also delete the ‘sk-consent’ entry. The banner will then appear again.
• If your browser does not keep data between visits, for example in incognito mode, the banner appears on every new visit.

If you decline

The site works without restrictions: all pages, the phone numbers, the map and the encyclopedia are available. The only difference is that we do not collect statistics about your visit.

Server logs

Regardless of your choice in the cookie banner, every time a page is opened, the server of our hosting provider SuperHosting.BG OOD („СуперХостинг.БГ“ ООД) in Sofia records technical data: IP address, date and time, the page opened and the browser. The purpose is to keep the site secure and to fix technical problems. The legal basis is our legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679). The logs are kept by the hosting provider for the period it sets. You can object to this processing as described in ‘Your rights’.

Legal basis

Google Analytics is loaded only if you click ‘Accept’. This way you receive the information in advance and can refuse, as required by Article 4a(1) of the Electronic Commerce Act (Закон за електронната търговия). The legal basis for processing data in Google Analytics is your consent (Article 6(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679).

The ‘sk-consent’ and ‘wiki-toc’ entries do not require consent, because they are needed for something you have asked for yourself: remembering your choice in the banner and keeping the ‘Contents’ panel hidden, respectively (Article 4a(4), item 2 of the Electronic Commerce Act).

Google Maps is loaded only if you click ‘Open the map’. By clicking, you agree to Google receiving your IP address and setting its own cookies, as described in the Google Maps section (Article 4a(1) of the Electronic Commerce Act and Article 6(1)(a) of the Regulation). Your choice is not remembered: the next time you open a page, the map again does not load by itself.

Your rights

You can withdraw your consent at any time, as described above. You also have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, objection and data portability under Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Send your request to info@bluecrossbg.com. We reply free of charge within 1 month of receiving it. For complex requests, we may extend this period by a further 2 months. In that case, we will let you know within the first month.

The site does not collect names or contact details. That is why we can look up the data for your device in Google Analytics only if you send us the value of the ‘_ga’ cookie. You can find it in your browser’s settings for the bluecrossbg.com site. Without it, we cannot link the statistics to you (Article 11 of the Regulation).

If you believe your rights have been infringed, you can lodge a complaint with the Commission for Personal Data Protection (Комисия за защита на личните данни): 2 Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov Blvd., 1592 Sofia, www.cpdp.bg, kzld@cpdp.bg. The complaint must be lodged within 6 months of your becoming aware of the infringement, but no later than 2 years after it was committed (Article 38(1) of the Personal Data Protection Act). You can also challenge our actions in court (Article 39(1) of the same Act).

The Commission for Consumer Protection (Комисия за защита на потребителите), www.kzp.bg, supervises compliance with the Electronic Commerce Act, including the rules on cookies.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy whenever we change what the site stores on your device. If we add a service that requires consent, it will be switched on only after you agree to it. That is why the cookie banner will appear again after such a change. The current version and the date from which it is effective are on this page.