Privacy and Personal Data Processing Policy

About this translation

This English translation is provided for convenience, including for publication in application stores. The legally binding version is the Russian version available at gdebenz.ru/privacy. In case of any discrepancy between the two versions, the Russian version prevails. Edition of 15 July 2026.

1. General Provisions

1.1. This Privacy and Personal Data Processing Policy (the "Policy") defines the procedure for processing and protecting information, including personal data, of users of the GdeBenz service available at https://gdebenz.ru (the "Service").

1.2. The Policy has been developed in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Federal Law No. 152-FZ of 27 July 2006 "On Personal Data" ("Law 152-FZ"), Federal Law No. 149-FZ of 27 July 2006 "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection", and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation in the field of personal data processing and protection.

1.3. The Service is a neutral information platform (an aggregator of user-generated content) — a crowdsourced map of fuel availability at petrol stations in the Russian Federation, where users (drivers) themselves leave subjective marks about the situation at stations. The Service is not a mass medium and is not an official source of information.

1.4. The Operator does not verify, confirm or refute the accuracy of user marks; the accuracy of information is not guaranteed. The use of user content and the allocation of responsibility are governed by the User Agreement (public offer) available at gdebenz.ru/terms.

1.5. This Policy applies to all information that the Operator may obtain about users while they use the Service. Using the Service constitutes the user's consent to this Policy; if you do not agree, you must stop using the Service.

1.6. This Policy is published in open access in fulfilment of the operator's obligation under Part 2 of Article 18.1 of Law 152-FZ.

2. Personal Data Operator and Contact Details

2.1. The personal data operator is:

Individual Entrepreneur Chudov Evgeny Sergeevich
Taxpayer Identification Number (INN): 745117199046
State Registration Number of Individual Entrepreneur (OGRNIP): 325745600060251
E-mail for personal data enquiries: info@gdebenz.ru
Additional communication channel: Telegram — @gdebenzru

(the "Operator").

2.2. All enquiries, requests and demands relating to the processing of personal data shall be sent to the e-mail address specified in clause 2.1.

3. Terms and Definitions

In this Policy, terms are used in the meaning established by Law 152-FZ:

• Personal data — any information relating to a directly or indirectly identified or identifiable natural person (personal data subject).
• Personal data processing — any operation or set of operations performed on personal data, with or without automated means, including collection, recording, systematisation, accumulation, storage, updating, retrieval, use, transfer, anonymisation, blocking, deletion and destruction.
• Operator — the person who, alone or jointly with others, organises and (or) carries out the processing of personal data and determines the purposes and scope of processing. For the purposes of this Policy — the person specified in Section 2.
• Personal data subject (User) — a natural person using the Service to whom the processed personal data relates.
• Anonymisation — actions as a result of which it becomes impossible, without additional information, to attribute personal data to a specific subject.
• Cookie — a small piece of data stored on the user's device that the Service (or third-party services) may receive on subsequent visits.
• Technical device identifier — a random anonymous identifier generated by the browser on first use and stored in its memory. It does not identify the user. It is used to recognise the device and prevent manipulation.

4. Categories of Data Processed

4.1. The Operator follows the data minimisation principle: the basic functions of the Service (the map, viewing and adding marks) are available without registration or accounts, and processing is designed so as not to store direct personal identifiers. For the comments feature, a voluntary sign-in via third-party identification services is provided (see below). The Operator processes and stores only the following data:

• IP address hash — an irreversible pseudonymised value of the IP address. The original (raw) IP address is not saved in the Service databases; short-lived technical web-server logs (access logs) are rotated and automatically deleted within a short period. The hash is used to protect against automated manipulation, to limit request frequency and to ensure the security of the Service.
• Technical device identifier — a random anonymous identifier in the browser's memory. On the Operator's side the identifier is stored linked to marks and to the "My Stations" data. It does not allow the user to be identified. It is used to recognise the device, link marks, operate the "My Stations" feature and prevent manipulation under the "one device — one vote per station" rule.
• User-Agent (browser/device information) — the string transmitted by the user's browser (browser type and version, operating system), used for compatibility, diagnostics and abuse prevention.
• Geodata of an "on-site" mark — when a user voluntarily leaves a mark with geolocation enabled, the device coordinates are processed at the moment of the mark (in transit): to calculate the distance to the station and to protect against geolocation spoofing. Raw GPS coordinates are not saved on the Service servers; what is stored are derived indicators (the distance to the station and the on-site flag) necessary for the operation and protection of the Service. Access to geolocation is requested only with the user's permission and can be disabled in the device settings.
• Content of user marks and their status — information entered by the user about the situation at a station (fuel available / no fuel / queue / low; fuel grade; text comments), the status assigned to the mark, and its link to a specific station. A mark may also include the fuel price indicated by the user and sale conditions (volume limits, payment methods).
• Timestamps — service time marks of actions, required for the operation of the Service, updating of aggregated data and abuse prevention.
• Cookies and analytics data — data collected via cookies and the Yandex.Metrica web analytics system (including anonymised data on visits, on-site actions, device type, referral source, approximate region). Yandex.Metrica uses its own cookies; the scope and procedure of such processing are additionally governed by the Yandex.Metrica terms.
• Data processed in connection with voluntary donations — full payment data (bank card details, etc.) are processed by the payment service (see Section 8), not by the Operator. The Operator does not collect or store card details; it may receive from the payment service only limited or anonymised information about the fact, amount and status of a payment.
• Data provided in enquiries — information the user voluntarily provides when contacting the Operator (by e-mail or via Telegram).
• Anonymised advertising interaction data — facts of ad display, clicks and closures are recorded in anonymised form using a random identifier that does not allow the user to be identified. This data is used to limit ad display frequency, to confirm placement volumes to advertisers and to submit mandatory aggregated advertising reports (ERIR). Users' personal data is not transferred to advertisers. Where advertising is served via advertising networks, the respective network may process anonymised technical data as an independent operator (see Section 8).
• Account data and comments (when using the comments feature) — the comments feature in station cards is available after a voluntary sign-in via third-party Russian identification services: Yandex ID or the MAX messenger. Upon sign-in, the Operator receives from the chosen identification service, with the user's consent, the minimum necessary data: display name (nickname), account identifier and, where available, profile image (avatar). Session authorisation data (cookie), the content of comments and reactions, and timestamps are also processed. Passwords are not transferred to or processed by the Operator; the Service does not create its own accounts. Comments are public: they are displayed to other users together with the author's display name and profile image. Viewing comments does not require sign-in.
• Saved stations ("My Stations") and contribution counter — the list of stations saved by the user and an anonymised counter of the usefulness of their marks are stored on the user's device and duplicated on the server linked to the technical device identifier — to enable list recovery. This data does not allow the user to be identified.

4.2. Data the Operator does not collect and does not store: the original (raw) IP address in the Service databases (short-lived web-server logs are rotated and automatically deleted — see 4.1.1); raw GPS coordinates (processed only at the moment of a mark and not saved on the Service servers); surname, name and patronymic, e-mail address and phone number (except for the display name (nickname) voluntarily provided via an identification service when using the comments feature); its own user accounts and passwords (the Service does not create its own accounts; sign-in for comments is performed via third-party identification services); passport or other documentary data; bank card details or other full payment data (these are processed by the payment service). The approximate region is determined without storing the original IP address.

4.3. The Operator does not collect or store special categories of personal data (race, ethnicity, political, religious or other beliefs, health, intimate life) or biometric personal data.

4.4. Although the processed data is minimal and pseudonymised, the combination of technical identifiers (device identifier, IP hash) and geolocation/activity data may, under certain conditions, relate to an indirectly identifiable natural person. The Operator therefore treats such data as personal data and applies the requirements of Law 152-FZ to its processing, processing only the data necessary for the stated purposes.

4.5. The Service is not addressed to children. The Operator does not knowingly collect personal data of minors; where consent to the processing of a minor's data is required, it is given by their legal representative (Article 9 of Law 152-FZ).

5. Purposes of Processing

5.1. The Operator processes data for the following purposes:

• operation of the Service, display of the map and user marks, linking marks to stations, providing users with information based on other users' subjective marks;
• protection of the Service and users against manipulation, automated actions (bots), knowingly false or coordinated manipulative marks, scraping and other abuse; ensuring the integrity of aggregated information; detecting and preventing violations of the User Agreement;
• statistics and analytics of Service usage, Service improvement, diagnostics and troubleshooting, information security;
• accepting and accounting for voluntary donations via the payment provider;
• handling user enquiries, exercising data subjects' rights, complying with the legislation of the Russian Federation, and interacting with authorised state bodies in cases established by law;
• operation of the comments feature: user authorisation via third-party identification services, display of comments and reactions to other users, and comment moderation;
• serving advertising, including via advertising networks, and fulfilling advertising labelling and reporting obligations.

5.2. The Operator does not process personal data for purposes incompatible with the above and does not take decisions producing legal consequences for the user based solely on automated processing to the extent requiring separate consent under Article 16 of Law 152-FZ. Automated anti-abuse measures (including down-weighting, hiding or blocking marks and devices) are not such decisions and may be appealed by contacting the Operator.

6. Legal Grounds for Processing

6.1. The legal grounds for processing are: the data subject's consent (item 1, part 1, Article 6 of Law 152-FZ), expressed as described in Section 9; performance of a contract (offer) to which the user is a party (item 5, part 1, Article 6) — to the extent necessary to provide the Service functionality; legitimate interests of the Operator or third parties (item 7, part 1, Article 6) — ensuring the security, operability and integrity of the Service and protection against manipulation, bots and abuse, provided the rights and freedoms of the data subject are not violated; compliance with obligations imposed on the Operator by the legislation of the Russian Federation (item 2, part 1, Article 6).

6.2. Data collected in anonymised or technical form (including the IP hash, cookies and analytics data) is processed for the purposes listed in Section 5 and to the extent permitted by law.

7. Processing Procedure and Retention Periods

7.1. Personal data is processed with and (or) without automated means.

7.2. All processing (recording, systematisation, accumulation, storage, updating and retrieval) of personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation is carried out using databases located in the Russian Federation (part 5, Article 18 of Law 152-FZ). Data is stored on servers located in the Russian Federation. No data is processed outside the Russian Federation (see also Section 8).

7.3. Retention periods:

• the content of user marks, their status and related timestamps are stored for the period necessary for the operation of the Service and to keep aggregated data current, after which they are deleted or converted into anonymised aggregated indicators (station statuses, statistics);
• technical data (IP hash, device identifier, User-Agent, distance, on-site flag) and anti-abuse service data are stored for the period necessary for security purposes, as a rule no longer than 12 months from the last action, unless a longer period is required to investigate abuse or comply with the law;
• analytics data (Yandex.Metrica) is stored in accordance with the terms and settings of the analytics system;
• information about donations (to the extent available to the Operator) is stored for as long as necessary for accounting; full payment data is stored by the payment service under its own terms and applicable law;
• user enquiries and related correspondence are stored for the period necessary to handle the enquiry and resolve possible disputes;
• data used to determine the approximate region is not saved to the database;
• the content of comments and related data (the author's display name and profile image, reactions) is stored until the comment is deleted by the user or through moderation, or until consent is withdrawn; session authorisation data — for the duration of the session;
• snapshots of station status created by the "Share the situation" feature are stored for up to 30 days.

7.4. Personal data is destroyed or anonymised when the processing purposes are achieved, when consent is withdrawn (unless another legal ground exists), and in other cases provided by law.

8. Transfer of Data to Third Parties. Cross-Border Transfer

8.1. The Operator does not sell personal data and does not transfer it to third parties except as provided in this Policy and by law.

8.2. The following parties are engaged in the processing of certain data (all are Russian organisations processing data in the Russian Federation), to the extent necessary for the respective purposes: YANDEX LLC (Yandex.Metrica) — anonymised usage statistics; the donation payment service CloudPayments (including CloudTips, pay.cloudtips.ru) — accepting voluntary donations (full payment data is entered directly on the payment service side and processed by it as an independent operator); the map CDN provider — delivery of map tiles within the Russian Federation; hosting and infrastructure providers in the Russian Federation; authorised state bodies — in cases and in the manner provided by law; identification services — Yandex ID (YANDEX LLC) and the MAX messenger (a Russian service) — voluntary user identification for the comments feature: with the user's consent they transfer to the Operator the display name (nickname), account identifier and profile image, and process user data as independent operators under their own privacy policies; Yandex Advertising Network (YAN, YANDEX LLC) — selection and display of advertising in the Service (may process anonymised technical data — IP address, device type, cookies, identifiers and on-page behaviour — as an independent operator on its own terms, within the Russian Federation); DDoS protection service — processes network technical data (including the IP address) at the network edge before it reaches the Service servers, solely to filter malicious traffic, within the Russian Federation.

8.3. Engaged parties process data on the basis of the Operator's instructions and (or) their own legal grounds and are obliged to ensure the confidentiality and security of data.

8.4. Donations. Donations are accepted via the CloudTips payment service; donations are not payment for goods, works or services. Payment-related personal data (including full payment details) is processed by the payment service; the Operator does not collect or store such details.

8.5. No cross-border transfer of personal data takes place. All processing is carried out exclusively within the Russian Federation. The Operator does not transfer personal data outside the Russian Federation and does not engage foreign parties in processing. The payment service, analytics system and map CDN provider used are Russian and process data within the Russian Federation. Should a cross-border transfer become necessary in the future, it will be carried out only in compliance with Article 12 of Law 152-FZ, including after notifying the authorised body, with this Policy updated in advance.

9. Consent to Processing and Its Withdrawal

9.1. The core processing necessary for the operation of the Service (displaying the map, linking marks to the device, the "My Stations" feature) is based on the contract (offer), and anti-abuse protection — on the Operator's legitimate interest (Section 6); such processing does not require separate consent. Where consent is the legal basis, it is given by the user freely, of their own will and in their own interest, and is expressed by a separate affirmative action: granting geolocation access via the browser/device — with respect to geodata; ticking a non-pre-ticked checkbox or pressing a corresponding button in the interface; signing in via an identification service — with respect to account data for the comments feature.

9.2. Consent is valid until the processing purposes are achieved or until withdrawn by the user.

9.3. Withdrawal of consent. The user may withdraw consent at any time by sending a request to the e-mail address specified in Section 2. The request must make it possible to identify the requesting person and the data relating to them (for example, include the technical device identifier or information about marks).

9.4. Upon receipt of a withdrawal, the Operator stops processing and destroys (or anonymises) the personal data within no more than 30 days, except where processing may continue on another legal ground (in particular, to protect the rights of the Operator and third parties, ensure security, or comply with the law).

9.5. Withdrawal of consent and (or) disabling geolocation and cookies may make certain functions of the Service unavailable.

10. Rights of the Personal Data Subject

10.1. The user has the right to: receive information concerning the processing of their personal data (Article 14 of Law 152-FZ); demand rectification, blocking or destruction of personal data that is incomplete, outdated, inaccurate, unlawfully obtained or unnecessary for the stated purpose; withdraw consent (Section 9); demand cessation of processing in cases established by law; appeal against the Operator's actions or omissions to the authorised body for the protection of data subjects' rights (Roskomnadzor) or in court; and protect their rights and legitimate interests, including claiming damages and (or) compensation for moral harm in court.

10.2. Procedure. The user sends a request using the contact details in Section 2. The request must contain information enabling identification of the requester and the data relating to them, and the substance of the demand. The Operator responds within the time limits established by Law 152-FZ: as a general rule, within 10 business days (extendable by no more than 5 business days in cases provided by law).

10.3. The Operator may refuse a demand in cases provided by law (in particular, where processing is necessary for security purposes, protection of rights or compliance with the law), giving reasons for the refusal.

11. Personal Data Protection Measures

11.1. The Operator takes the necessary and sufficient legal, organisational and technical measures to protect personal data against unlawful or accidental access, destruction, alteration, blocking, copying, provision, dissemination and other unlawful actions, including: storing data in the minimum necessary scope, hashing sensitive technical data (in particular IP addresses), refusing to store raw IP addresses in the databases and to collect names; access restriction and differentiation of access rights; information security tools, backups and integrity control; locating the infrastructure in the Russian Federation; and responding to information security incidents and preventing abuse.

11.2. The Operator ensures the confidentiality of personal data and does not disclose it to third parties without a legal ground.

12. Cookies and Analytics (Cookie Policy)

12.1. The Service uses cookies and similar technologies, including browser local storage, to operate the Service, save user settings, recognise the device (including storing the technical device identifier), prevent abuse and collect anonymised statistics, and also to limit ad display frequency and remember ad blocks closed by the user. The technical device identifier is stored in the user's browser and is not placed on third-party servers.

12.2. The Service uses the Yandex.Metrica web analytics system (YANDEX LLC), which sets its own cookies and uses them to collect anonymised data on user behaviour (visits, on-site actions, device type, referral source, approximate region) for analysis and improvement of the Service. Yandex.Metrica processes data within the Russian Federation in accordance with the Yandex terms and privacy policy.

12.3. The user may restrict or disable cookies in their browser settings and delete the saved site data. Disabling cookies or deleting site data may make certain functions of the Service unavailable or incorrect.

12.4. Continued use of the Service after being notified of the use of cookies constitutes the user's consent to the use of cookies in accordance with this Policy.

13. Changes to the Policy

13.1. The Operator may amend this Policy. The new edition takes effect from the moment it is published in the Service at https://gdebenz.ru, unless the new edition provides otherwise.

13.2. The current edition is always available in the Service. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes the user's consent to the new edition.

13.3. Users are advised to review the current edition of the Policy periodically.

14. Final Provisions

14.1. This Policy and all relations connected with personal data processing are governed by the law of the Russian Federation.

14.2. All disputes are resolved in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

14.3. Invalidity of any provision of this Policy does not affect the validity of its remaining provisions.

Publication date of this edition: 15 July 2026. The legally binding Russian version: gdebenz.ru/privacy.

Обновлено: 15 июля 2026 г.