Data Protection
Contents
With the following privacy policy, we would like to inform you about the types of 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 providing 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 offering’).
The terms used are not gender-specific.
The following overview summarises the types of data processed and the purposes for which they are processed, and refers to the data subjects.
Types of processed files
- Inventory data (e.g. names, addresses).
- Content data (e.g. entries in online forms).
- Contact details (e.g. email address, telephone numbers).
- Meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses).
- Usage data (e.g. websites visited, interest in content, access times).
Categories of data subjects
- Communication partner.
- Users (e.g. website visitors, users of online services).
Purposes of processing
- Contact requests and communication.
Below, we share the legal basis of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on which we process personal data. Please note that, in addition to the provisions of the GDPR, the national data protection regulations in your or our country of residence may apply. If, in individual cases, more specific legal bases are applicable, 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 consent to the processing of personal data concerning him or her 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.
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of protection that is appropriate to the risk, in accordance with legal requirements, taking into account the state of the art, the costs of implementation and the nature, scope, context and purposes of the processing, as well as the likelihood and severity of the risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons.
These measures include, in particular, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data by controlling physical and electronic access to the data as well as access to, input, transfer, availability and separation of the data. Furthermore, we have established procedures to ensure that the rights of data subjects are exercised, data is deleted and responses are made to threats to data. Furthermore, we take the protection of personal data into account during the development and selection of hardware, software and procedures in accordance with the principle of data protection, through technical design and data protection-friendly default settings.
If we process data in a third country (i.e. outside the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA)) or if 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 be done in accordance with the legal requirements.
Subject to express consent or transfer required by contract or law, we only process or have the data processed in third countries with a recognised level of data protection, contractual obligations 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 ).
Cookies are text files that contain data from visited websites or domains 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 offering. The information stored may include, for example, language settings on a website, login status, a shopping basket or the location where a video was viewed. We also include other technologies that perform the same functions as cookies (e.g. when user information is stored using pseudonymous online identifiers, also known as ‘user IDs’) under the term ‘cookies’.
The following types of cookies and functions are distinguished:
- Temporary cookies (also known as session cookies): Temporary cookies are deleted at the latest after a user leaves an online offer and closes their browser.
- Persistent cookies: Persistent cookies remain stored even after the browser is closed. This allows, for example, the login status to be saved or preferred content to be displayed directly when the user revisits a website. Similarly, the interests of users, which are used for reach measurement or marketing purposes, can 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 strictly necessary) cookies: Cookies may be strictly necessary for the operation of a website (e.g. to store logins or other user entries or for security reasons).
- Statistics, marketing and personalisation cookies: Cookies are also generally used for reach measurement and when a user’s interests or behaviour (e.g. viewing certain content, use of functions, etc.) are stored in a user profile on individual websites. Such profiles are used, for example, to display content that corresponds to the user’s potential interests. This process is also known 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 your consent.
Information 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 applies and you consent to the use of cookies, the legal basis for processing your data is your declared consent. Otherwise, the data processed using cookies will be processed on the basis of our legitimate interests (e.g. in the commercial operation of our online offering and its improvement) or, if the use of cookies is necessary to fulfil our contractual obligations.
Storage duration: Unless we provide you with explicit information about the storage duration of permanent cookies (e.g. in the context of a so-called cookie opt-in), please assume that the storage duration can be up to two years.
General information on revocation and objection (opt-out): Depending on whether the processing is based on consent or legal permission, you have the option of revoking your consent at any time or objecting to the processing of your data by cookie technologies (collectively referred to as ‘opt-out’). You can initially declare your objection via 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 via a variety of services, especially in the case of tracking, via the websites https://optout.aboutads.info and https://www.youronlinechoices.com/. In addition, you can obtain further information on objection rights in the information on the service providers and cookies used.
Processing of cookie data based on consent: We use a cookie consent management procedure in which users’ consent to the use of cookies, or the processing and providers specified in the cookie consent management procedure, is obtained and can be managed and revoked by users. The declaration of consent is stored so that it does not have to be requested again and so that consent can be proven in accordance with legal requirements. The storage can take place on the server side and/or in a cookie (so-called opt-in cookie, or using comparable technologies) in order to be able to assign the consent to a user or their device. Subject to individual information about the providers of cookie management services, the following information applies: The duration of the storage of the consent can be up to two years. A pseudonymous user identifier is created and stored together with the time of consent, information on the scope of consent (e.g. which categories of cookies and/or service providers) and the browser, system and end device used.
- Types of data processed: Usage data (e.g. websites visited, interest in content, access times), meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses).
- Affected persons: 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).
In order to provide our online services securely and efficiently, we use the services of one or more web hosting providers whose servers (or servers managed by them) can be used to access the online services. For these purposes, we may use infrastructure and platform services, computing capacity, storage space and database services, as well as security services and technical maintenance services.
The data processed in connection with the provision of the hosting service may include all information relating to users of our online service that is generated during use and communication. This regularly includes the IP address, which is necessary to deliver the content of online services to browsers, and all entries made within our online service or on websites.
Email delivery and hosting: The web hosting services we use also include the sending, receiving and storage of emails. For these purposes, the addresses of the recipients and senders, as well as other information relating to the sending of emails (e.g. the providers involved) and the content of the respective emails, are processed. The aforementioned data may also be processed for the purpose of detecting spam. Please note that emails sent over the Internet are generally not encrypted. As a rule, emails are encrypted during transmission, but (unless a so-called end-to-end encryption method is used) not on the servers from which they are sent and received. We therefore cannot accept any responsibility for the transmission of emails between the sender and the recipient on our server.
Collection of access data and log files: We (or our web hosting provider) collect data about every access to the server (so-called server log files). The server log files may include the address and name of the websites and files accessed, the date and time of access, the amount of data 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 prevent server overload (especially in the event of malicious attacks, known as DDoS attacks) and to ensure server utilisation and stability.
- Types of data processed: 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).
- Affected persons: Users (e.g. website visitors, users of online services).
- Legal basis: Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
When you contact us (e.g. via the contact form, email, telephone or social media), the information provided by the person making the enquiry will be processed to the extent necessary to respond to the enquiry and any requested measures.
We respond to contact requests within the scope of contractual or pre-contractual relationships in order to fulfil our contractual obligations or to respond to (pre-)contractual enquiries and, in all other cases, on the basis of our legitimate interest in responding to such enquiries.
- Types of data processed: Inventory data (e.g. names, addresses), contact details (e.g. email addresses, telephone numbers), 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 affected: Communication partners.
- Purposes of processing: Contact requests 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).
The data we process will be deleted in accordance with legal requirements as soon as the consent for processing is revoked or other permissions no longer apply (e.g. if the purpose for which the data was processed no longer applies or if it is no longer necessary for that purpose).
Unless the data is deleted because it is required for other and legally permissible purposes, its processing will be restricted to these purposes. This means that the data will be blocked and not processed for other purposes. This applies, for example, to data that must be retained for commercial or tax reasons or whose storage is necessary for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims or for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person.
Further information on the deletion of personal data can also be found in the individual data protection notices in this privacy policy.
We kindly ask you to regularly review the content of our privacy policy. We will amend the privacy policy as soon as changes to the data processing we carry out make this necessary. We will inform you as soon as the changes require action on your part (e.g. consent) or other individual notification.
Where we provide addresses and contact information for companies and organisations in this privacy policy, please note that addresses may change over time and check the details before contacting them.
As a data subject, you have various rights under the GDPR, which arise in particular from Articles 15 to 21 GDPR:
- Right to object: You have the right to object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to the processing of personal data concerning you which is based on Article 6(1)(e) or (f) of the GDPR; this also applies to profiling based on these provisions. If the personal data concerning you is 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; this also applies to profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing.
- Right of withdrawal for consent: You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
- Right to information: You have the right to request confirmation as to whether relevant data is being processed and to obtain 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 legal requirements, you have the right to request that your data be completed or that any inaccurate data concerning you be corrected.
- Right to erasure and restriction of processing: In accordance with legal requirements, you have the right to request that data relating to you be deleted immediately or, alternatively, to request that the processing of the data be restricted in accordance with legal requirements.
- Right to data portability: You have the right to receive data relating to you that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format in accordance with legal requirements, or to request that it be transferred to another controller.
- Complaint to a supervisory authority: You also have the right, in accordance with legal requirements, 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 believe that the processing of your personal data violates the GDPR.
This section provides an overview of the terms used in this privacy policy. Many of the terms are taken from the law and are defined in Article 4 of the GDPR. The legal definitions are binding. The following explanations are intended primarily to aid understanding. The terms are listed in alphabetical order.
- Personal data: ‘Personal data’ is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter referred to as ‘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. a cookie) or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental or social identity of that natural person. can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by association with an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier (e.g. cookie) or one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
- Responsible party: The ‘responsible party’ refers to the natural or legal person, authority, institution or other body that alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data.
- Processing: ‘Processing’ means any operation or set of operations performed on personal data, whether or not by automated means. The term is broad and covers virtually all handling of data, whether it is collection, evaluation, storage, transmission or deletion.