Privacy policy

Introduction

With the following privacy policy, we would like to explain to you what types of your personal data (hereinafter also referred to as »data«) we process, for what purposes and to what extent. The privacy policy applies to all processing of personal data carried out by us, both in the context of the provision of our services and in particular on our websites, in mobile applications and within external online presences, such as our social media profiles (hereinafter collectively referred to as »online offer«).

The terms used are not gender-specific.

Status: 27.05.2021

Overview of processing

The following overview summarises the types of data processed and the purposes of their processing and refers to the data subjects.

Types of data processed

  • Inventory data (e.g. names, addresses)
  • Content data (e.g. entries in online forms)
  • Contact details (e.g. e-mail, telephone numbers)
  • Meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses)
  • Usage data (e.g. websites visited, interest in content, access times)

Categories of affected persons

  • Communication partners
  • Users (e.g. website visitors, users of online services)

Purposes of the processing

  • Provision of our online services and user-friendliness
  • Contact enquiries and communication

Relevant legal bases

Below you will find an overview of the legal bases of the GDPR on the basis of which we process personal data. Please note that in addition to the provisions of the GDPR, national data protection regulations may apply in your or our country of residence or domicile. Should more specific legal bases also apply in individual cases, we will inform you of these in the privacy policy.

  • Consent (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a. GDPR) - The data subject has given their consent to the processing of their personal data for one or more specific purposes.
  • Contract fulfilment and pre-contractual enquiries (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b. GDPR) - Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract.
  • Legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f. GDPR) - Processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data.

Safety measures

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures in accordance with the legal requirements, taking into account the state of the art, the implementation costs and the nature, scope, circumstances and purposes of the processing as well as the different probabilities of occurrence and the extent of the threat to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, in order to ensure a level of protection appropriate to the risk.

The measures include, in particular, safeguarding the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data by controlling physical and electronic access to the data as well as the access, input, disclosure, safeguarding of availability and its separation. Furthermore, we have established procedures that ensure the exercise of data subject rights, the deletion of data and responses to data threats. Furthermore, we already take the protection of personal data into account during the development and selection of hardware, software and processes in accordance with the principle of data protection, through technology design and data protection-friendly default settings.

Transmission of personal data

As part of our processing of personal data, the data may be transferred to other bodies, companies, legally independent organisational units or persons or disclosed to them. The recipients of this data may include, for example, service providers commissioned with IT tasks or providers of services and content that are integrated into a website. In such cases, we observe the legal requirements and in particular conclude corresponding contracts or agreements with the recipients of your data that serve to protect your data.

Data processing in third countries

If we process data in a third country (i.e. outside the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA)) or if the processing takes place in the context of the use of third-party services or the disclosure or transfer of data to other persons, bodies or companies, this will only take place in accordance with the legal requirements.

Subject to express consent or contractually or legally required transfer, we only process or have the data processed in third countries with a recognised level of data protection, contractual obligation through so-called standard protection clauses of the EU Commission, in the presence of certifications or binding internal data protection regulations (Art. 44 to 49 GDPR, information page of the EU Commission: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/international-dimension-data-protection_de).

Use of cookies

Cookies are text files that contain data from websites or domains visited and are stored by a browser on the user's computer. A cookie is primarily used to store information about a user during or after their visit to an online service. The information stored may include, for example, the language settings on a website, the login status, a shopping basket or the location where a video was watched. The term »cookies« also includes other technologies that fulfil the same functions as cookies (e.g. when user information is stored using pseudonymous online identifiers, also known as »user IDs«).

A distinction is made between the following cookie types and functions:

  • Temporary cookies (also: session cookies): Temporary cookies are deleted at the latest after a user has left an online service and closed their browser.
  • Permanent cookies: Permanent cookies remain stored even after the browser is closed. For example, the login status can be saved or favourite content can be displayed directly when the user visits a website again. The interests of users who are used for reach measurement or marketing purposes can also be stored in such a cookie.
  • First-Party-Cookies: First-party cookies are set by us.
  • Third-party cookies: Third-party cookies are mainly used by advertisers (so-called third parties) to process user information.
  • Necessary (also: essential or absolutely necessary) cookies: Cookies may be absolutely necessary for the operation of a website (e.g. to save logins or other user input or for security reasons).
  • Statistics, marketing and personalisation cookies: Cookies are also generally used to measure reach and when a user's interests or behaviour (e.g. viewing certain content, using functions, etc.) on individual websites are stored in a user profile. Such profiles are used, for example, to display content to users that corresponds to their potential interests. This process is also referred to as »tracking«, i.e. tracking the potential interests of users. If we use cookies or »tracking« technologies, we will inform you separately in our privacy policy or when obtaining consent.

Notes on legal bases: The legal basis on which we process your personal data using cookies depends on whether we ask for your consent. If this is the case and you consent to the use of cookies, the legal basis for processing your data is the consent you have given. Otherwise, the data processed using cookies will be processed on the basis of our legitimate interests (e.g. in the business operation of our online offering and its improvement) or, if the use of cookies is necessary to fulfil our contractual obligations.

Storage duration: If we do not provide you with explicit information on the storage period of permanent cookies (e.g. as part of a so-called cookie opt-in), please assume that the storage period can be up to two years.

General information on cancellation and objection (opt-out): Depending on whether the processing is based on consent or legal permission, you have the option at any time to revoke your consent or to object to the processing of your data by cookie technologies (collectively referred to as »opt-out«). You can initially declare your objection using your browser settings, e.g. by deactivating the use of cookies (although this may also restrict the functionality of our online offering). An objection to the use of cookies for online marketing purposes can also be declared using a variety of services, especially in the case of tracking, via the https://optout.aboutads.info and https://www.youronlinechoices.com websites. You can also obtain further information on how to object in the context of the information on the service providers and cookies used.

Processing of cookie data on the basis of consent: We use a cookie consent management procedure in which the user's consent to the use of cookies or the processing and providers named in the cookie consent management procedure can be obtained, managed and revoked by the user. The declaration of consent is stored so that it does not have to be requested again and the consent can be proven in accordance with the legal obligation. The consent can be stored on the server and/or in a cookie (so-called opt-in cookie or with the help of comparable technologies) in order to be able to assign the consent to a user or their device. Subject to individual information on the providers of cookie management services, the following information applies: Consent may be stored for up to two years. A pseudonymous user identifier is created and stored with the time of consent, information on the scope of consent (e.g. which categories of cookies and/or service providers) as well as the browser, system and end device used.

  • Processed data types: Usage data (e.g. websites visited, interest in content, access times), meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses)
  • Persons concerned: Users (e.g. website visitors, users of online services)
  • Legal basis: Consent (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a. GDPR), Legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f. GDPR)

Provision of the online offer and web hosting

In order to provide our online offering securely and efficiently, we use the services of one or more web hosting providers from whose servers (or servers managed by them) the online offering can be accessed. For these purposes, we may utilise infrastructure and platform services, computing capacity, storage space and database services as well as security services and technical maintenance services.

The data processed as part of the provision of the hosting service may include all information relating to the users of our online service that is generated during use and communication. This regularly includes the IP address, which is necessary in order to be able to deliver the content of online offers to browsers, and all entries made within our online offer or from websites.

Collection of access data and log files: We ourselves (or our web hosting provider) collect data on every access to the server (so-called server log files). The server log files may include the address and name of the web pages and files accessed, date and time of access, data volumes transferred, notification of successful access, browser type and version, the user's operating system, referrer URL (the previously visited page) and, as a rule, IP addresses and the requesting provider.

The server log files can be used for security purposes, e.g. to avoid overloading the servers (especially in the case of abusive attacks, so-called DDoS attacks) and to ensure the utilisation of the servers and their stability.

  • Processed data types: Content data (e.g. entries in online forms), usage data (e.g. websites visited, interest in content, access times), meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses)
  • Persons concerned: Users (e.g. website visitors, users of online services)
  • Purposes of the processing: Provision of our online services and user-friendliness
  • Legal basis: Legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f. GDPR)

Contacting us

When contacting us (e.g. by contact form, e-mail, telephone or via social media), the data of the enquiring persons will be processed insofar as this is necessary to answer the contact enquiries and any requested measures.

The response to contact enquiries in the context of contractual or pre-contractual relationships is carried out to fulfil our contractual obligations or to respond to (pre)contractual enquiries and otherwise on the basis of the legitimate interests in responding to the enquiries.

  • Processed data types: Inventory data (e.g. names, addresses), contact data (e.g. e-mail, telephone numbers), content data (e.g. entries in online forms)
  • Persons concerned: Communication partners
  • Purposes of the processing: Contact enquiries and communication
  • Legal basis: Contract fulfilment and pre-contractual enquiries (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b. GDPR), Legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f. GDPR)

Deletion of data

The data processed by us will be deleted in accordance with the legal requirements as soon as the consent given for processing is revoked or other authorisations cease to apply (e.g. if the purpose of processing this data no longer applies or it is not required for the purpose).

If the data are not deleted because they are required for other and legally permissible purposes, their processing is restricted to these purposes. This means that the data is blocked and not processed for other purposes. This applies, for example, to data that must be retained for commercial or tax law reasons or whose storage is necessary for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims or to protect the rights of another natural or legal person.

Our data protection notices may also contain further information on the retention and deletion of data, which apply primarily to the respective processing operations.

Amendment and updating of the privacy policy

We ask you to inform yourself regularly about the content of our privacy policy. We will adapt the privacy policy as soon as changes to the data processing carried out by us make this necessary. We will inform you as soon as the changes require your cooperation (e.g. consent) or other individual notification.

If we provide addresses and contact information of companies and organisations in this privacy policy, please note that the addresses may change over time and please check the information before contacting us.

Rights of the data subjects

As a data subject, you are entitled to various rights under the GDPR, which arise in particular from Art. 15 to 21 GDPR:

  • Right of objection: You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, at any time to processing of personal data concerning you which is based on point (e) or (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR, including profiling based on those provisions. If the personal data concerning you are processed for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object at any time to the processing of personal data concerning you for such marketing, which includes profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing.
  • Right of cancellation for consents: You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
  • Right to information: You have the right to request confirmation as to whether the data in question is being processed and to request information about this data as well as further information and a copy of the data in accordance with the legal requirements.
  • Right to rectification: In accordance with the legal requirements, you have the right to request the completion of data concerning you or the correction of incorrect data concerning you.
  • Right to erasure and restriction of processing: In accordance with the legal requirements, you have the right to demand that data concerning you be deleted immediately or, alternatively, to demand that the processing of the data be restricted in accordance with the legal requirements.
  • Right to data portability: You have the right to receive data concerning you that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format in accordance with the legal requirements or to request its transmission to another controller.
  • Complaint to the supervisory authority: Without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if you consider that the processing of personal data relating to you infringes the provisions of the GDPR.

Definitions of terms

This section provides you with an overview of the terms used in this privacy policy. Many of the terms are taken from the law and are defined above all in Art. 4 GDPR. The legal definitions are binding. The following explanations, on the other hand, are primarily intended to aid understanding. The terms are listed in alphabetical order.

  • Personal data: »Personal data« means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter »data subject«); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier (e.g. cookie) or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
  • Person responsible: The »person responsible« is the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.
  • Processing: »Processing« means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data, whether or not by automated means. The term is broad and encompasses practically every handling of data, whether it is collecting, analysing, storing, transmitting or deleting.

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