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Legal notice and privacy

Last updated: 2026-10-21

1. Legal notice

Hourglass OÜ
Katusepapi tn 6, Lasnamäe, Tallinn 11412, Estonia
Estonian Business Register code: 14230838
VAT number: EE102005738
Management board member: Kaspars Kļaviņš
Email: team@hourglasshq.eu
Phone: +371 26 18 27 88

Hourglass OÜ provides AI-assisted translation and localization services reviewed by human experts.

2. Privacy notice

This notice applies to everyone who visits this website, contacts us or is contacted by us, wherever in the world you are. Section "Additional information by region" adds details for the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil and other countries.

Controller

The controller for personal data processed on this website, in outreach and in client projects is Hourglass OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia (contact details above). You can reach us about any privacy matter at team@hourglasshq.eu.

Visiting this website

This website does not use cookies, advertising or analytics tools, and it does not load fonts or scripts from third-party servers. It is delivered from a server that we operate in a Hetzner data centre in Germany. Like every web server, it records technical connection data in access logs (IP address, date and time, requested page, response status, browser and referring page). We use this data only to deliver the website, keep it secure and find errors, and we keep it only for a limited time. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in a secure and reliable website (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Contacting us

If you use the contact form, we receive the details you enter (name, email address, company, languages, a description of your text, an optional website address, notes) and the files you attach. A script on our own server checks the submission and passes it by email to our own mailbox at team@hourglasshq.eu. The form sets no cookies, and we do not keep a separate database of submissions. If you send us an email or call us, we process the data you provide (for example name, email address, phone number and the content of your message) to answer your enquiry. Legal basis: steps prior to entering into a contract and our legitimate interest in answering enquiries (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR). We keep this data for as long as needed to handle your enquiry and for the retention periods required by law.

Client projects

If you become a client, we process the files and content you send us in order to deliver the agreed translation or localization services (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Files are stored on servers in a Hetzner data centre in Frankfurt, Germany. AI translation is carried out on EU servers only. Files are permanently deleted no later than 7 days after project completion. Client content is not used to train AI models. Details, including a data processing agreement where required, are provided on request.

Business contacts and outreach (B2B)

We contact companies and professionals who may be interested in our services. If we have not received your data from you directly, the following applies (Art. 14 GDPR).

Purpose: business-to-business outreach about our translation and localization services, and follow-up on replies.

Categories of data: name, job title, business email address, company, LinkedIn profile, and the history of our contact with you (for example whether you replied).

Source: the business contact database Apollo.io (Apollo.io, Inc., USA) and publicly available professional sources such as company websites and professional profiles.

Legal basis: our legitimate interest in business development and in addressing relevant business contacts (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We carry out a balancing test, and a copy of our legitimate interest assessment is available on request. We follow the rules on direct electronic marketing of the country where the recipient is located, and we contact you only if those rules allow it. Every message identifies us and offers a simple way to opt out.

Retention: we delete prospect data 12 months after our last contact if you have not replied or shown interest. If you object or ask us to stop, we keep only the minimum needed to make sure we do not contact you again (your email address on a suppression list), because we are obliged to honour your objection.

Recipients

We use the following service providers to operate the website, deliver our services and carry out outreach, and they process personal data on our behalf:

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We may disclose data to authorities, courts or advisers where the law requires it or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Transfers outside your country

We are established in the EU, so data you give us is processed in the EU. Some providers, in particular Apollo.io and Anthropic, are based in or process data in the USA. Such transfers from the EU, the EEA and Switzerland rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (and its Swiss and UK extensions) where the provider is certified, and otherwise on the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission, with the UK addendum where UK data is concerned (Art. 46 GDPR). You can request a copy of the safeguards from us.

Automated decisions

We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have the right to access your data, have it corrected or erased, restrict its processing, receive it in a portable format, and withdraw any consent you have given. To exercise these rights, email team@hourglasshq.eu. We respond within one month, and we may need to verify your identity first. You will not be treated differently for exercising your rights. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority: in Estonia the Data Protection Inspectorate (Andmekaitse Inspektsioon, www.aki.ee), or the authority in your country of residence or workplace.

Your right to object

You can object at any time to the processing of your data for direct marketing, including outreach by email or LinkedIn. If you object, we will no longer use your data for this purpose. You can also object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to any other processing that we base on our legitimate interests (Art. 21 GDPR). To object, reply "unsubscribe" to any of our messages or email team@hourglasshq.eu.

Additional information by region

United Kingdom. The UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations apply to UK residents. The rights above apply, and you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO, ico.org.uk).

Switzerland. The Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection applies to Swiss residents. The rights above apply, and you can contact the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC, www.edoeb.admin.ch).

United States. If you live in a US state with a privacy law, such as California, you may ask us what personal information we hold about you, request correction or deletion, and opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. In the past 12 months we have collected identifiers (name, email address), professional information (job title, company, LinkedIn profile) and the content of messages, for the purposes described above. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you.

Canada. PIPEDA and applicable provincial laws apply. You may access and correct your data and withdraw consent. Our commercial electronic messages identify us and include a working unsubscribe option, as required by Canada's anti-spam legislation. You can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (www.priv.gc.ca).

Australia. The Privacy Act 1988 and the Spam Act 2003 apply. You may access and correct your data and unsubscribe at any time. You can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC, www.oaic.gov.au).

Brazil. The LGPD applies. You have the rights listed above, including confirmation of processing, anonymisation or deletion of unnecessary data, and information about the sharing of your data. You can contact the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD).

Other countries. If you are located elsewhere, local law may give you additional rights. Contact us at team@hourglasshq.eu and we will handle your request in line with the law that applies to you.

Changes to this notice

We update this notice when our processing changes. The date of the latest version is shown at the top of this page.