Privacy Policy

Introductory Remarks

With the following data protection declaration we would like to inform you which types of your personal data (hereinafter also referred to as “data”) we process for which purposes and to what extent. The data protection declaration applies to all processing of personal data carried out by us, both within the framework 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”).

Status: August 8, 2019

Table of contents

  • Introductory remark
  • Overview of processing operations
  • Applicable legal bases
  • Safety precautions
  • Transmission and disclosure of personal data
  • Data processing in third countries
  • Contact us
  • Provision of online services and web hosting
  • Deletion of data
  • Modification and updating of the data protection declaration
  • Rights of data subjects
  • Definitions of terms

Overview of processing operations

The following table 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. text entries, photographs, videos)
  • Contact data (e.g. e-mail, telephone numbers)
  • Meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses)
  • Usage data (e.g. visited websites, 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

Applicable legal bases

In the following we inform you about the legal basis of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), on the basis of 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 and domicile may also apply.

  • Performance of contract 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 a party or for the implementation of pre-contractual measures which are taken at the request of the data subject.
  • Legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f. GDPR) – Processing is necessary to safeguard the legitimate interests of the data controller or of a third party, unless the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject, which require the protection of personal data, prevail.

National data protection regulations in Germany: In addition to the data protection regulations of the General Data Protection Regulation, national regulations apply to data protection in Germany. In particular, this includes the Act on Protection against Misuse of Personal Data in Data Processing (Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz) – BDSG). In particular, the BDSG contains special provisions on the right of information, the right of deletion, the right of objection, the processing of special categories of personal data, processing for other purposes and transmission as well as automated decision-making in individual cases, including profiling. Furthermore, it regulates data processing for the purposes of the employment relationship (Sect. 26 BDSG), in particular with regard to the establishment, execution or termination of employment relationships as well as the consent of employees. Furthermore, state data protection laws of the individual federal states may apply.

Security measures

We shall take appropriate technical and organisational measures in accordance with the statutory requirements, taking into account the state of the art, the implementation costs and the nature, extent, 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.

Measures shall include, in particular, safeguarding the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data by controlling physical and electronic access to, and access to, input, disclosure, securing and separation of data. In addition, we have established procedures to ensure the exercise of data subjects’ rights, the deletion of data and responses to data threats. Furthermore, we take the protection of personal data into account as early as the development or selection of hardware, software and procedures in accordance with the principle of data protection, through technology design and through data protection-friendly default settings.

SSL encryption (https): We use SSL encryption to protect your data transmitted via our online service. You can recognize such encrypted connections by the prefix https:// in the address line of your browser.

Transmission and disclosure of personal data

As part of our processing of personal data, it may happen that the data is transferred to other offices, companies, legally independent organisational units or persons or that it is disclosed to them. Recipients of this data may include, for example, payment institutions within the framework of payment transactions, service providers commissioned with IT tasks or providers of services and content that is 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 which 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 the processing takes place in the context of the use of services of third parties or the disclosure or transfer of data to other persons, bodies or companies, this is only done in accordance with the legal requirements.

Subject to express consent or transfer required by contract or law, we will only process or have the data processed in third countries with a recognised level of data protection, which includes US processors certified under the “Privacy Shield”, or on the basis of special guarantees, such as a contractual obligation through so-called standard protection clauses of the EU Commission, the existence 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 ).

How to contact us

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

Contact enquiries within the framework of contractual or pre-contractual relationships are answered in order to fulfil our contractual obligations or to answer (pre)contractual enquiries and otherwise on the basis of legitimate interests in answering the enquiries.

  • Processed data types: inventory data (e.g. names, addresses), contact data (e.g. e-mail, telephone numbers), content data (e.g. text input, photographs, videos)
  • Data subjects: Communication partner
  • Purposes of processing: contact requests and communication
  • Legal basis: Performance of contract and pre-contractual enquiries (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b. GDPR), legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f. GDPR)

Provision of online services and web hosting

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

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

E-mail dispatch and hosting: The web hosting services we use also include the dispatch, receipt and storage of e-mails. For these purposes, the addresses of the recipients and senders as well as further information regarding the sending of e-mails (e.g. the providers involved) and the contents of the respective e-mails are processed. The aforementioned data may also be processed for SPAM detection purposes. Please note that e-mails on the Internet are generally not sent in encrypted form. As a rule, e-mails are encrypted during transport, but not on the servers from which they are sent and received (unless a so-called end-to-end encryption method is used). Therefore, we cannot assume any responsibility for the transmission path of the e-mails between the sender and the reception on our server.

Collection of access data and log files: We ourselves (or our web hosting provider) collect data on each access to the server (so-called server log files). Server log files may include the address and name of the web pages 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 page visited previously) 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 server (especially in the case of abusive attacks, so-called DDoS attacks) and to ensure server utilization and stability.

  • Processed data types: Content data (e.g. text input, photographs, videos), usage data (e.g. websites visited, interest in content, access times), meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses)
  • Data subjects: Users (e.g. website visitors, users of online services)
  • Legal basis: 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 statutory provisions as soon as their consent permitted for processing is revoked or other permissions lapse (e.g. if the purpose of processing this data has lapsed or it is not necessary for the purpose).

If the data are not deleted because they are required for other and legally permissible purposes, their processing will be limited 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 stored for commercial or tax reasons or whose storage is necessary to assert, exercise or defend legal claims or to protect 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 of this data protection declaration.

Modification and updating of the data protection declaration

We ask you to inform yourself regularly about the content of our data protection declaration. We will adapt the data protection declaration as soon as the 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.

Rights of the persons concerned

Under the GDPR, they are entitled to various rights as affected parties, which result in particular from Articles 15 to 18 and 21 of the GDPR:

  • Right of objection: You have the right, for reasons arising from your particular situation, to object at any time to the processing of personal data concerning you on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. e or f GDPR; this also applies to profiling based on these provisions. If the personal data concerning you are processed for the purpose of direct advertising, you have the right to object at any time to the processing of the personal data concerning you for the purpose of such advertising; this also applies to profiling insofar as it is connected with such direct advertising.
  • Right of withdrawal for consents: You have the right to revoke your consent at any time.
  • Right of access: You have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether the data in question will be processed and to obtain access to such data, as well as further information and a copy of the data in accordance with the provisions of the law.
  • Right of rectification: You have the right, in accordance with the law, to request the completion of the data concerning you or the rectification of inaccurate data concerning you.
  • Right to cancellation and limitation of processing: You have the right, in accordance with the statutory provisions, to demand that the data relating to you be deleted immediately or, alternatively, to demand that the processing of the data be restricted in accordance with the statutory provisions.
  • Right to data transfer: You have the right to receive data concerning you which you have made available to us in a structured, common and machine-readable format in accordance with the legal requirements or to demand its transfer to another responsible person.
  • Complaint to supervisory authority: You also have the right, in accordance with the statutory provisions, to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the member state of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the presumed infringement, if you are of the opinion that the processing of your personal data violates the GDPR.

Definitions of terms

This section provides an overview of the terms used in this privacy statement. Many of the terms are taken from the law and defined above all in Art. 4 GDPR. The legal definitions are binding. The following explanations, on the other hand, are primarily intended to help you understand them. The terms are sorted alphabetically.

  • Personal data: “Personal data” means 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 specific characteristics that are an expression of the physical, physiological, genetic, psychological, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
  • Data controller: a “data controller” is a 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 carried out with or without the aid of automated processes and which is linked to personal data. The term is broad and covers practically all handling of data, be it collection, analysis, storage, transmission or erasure.

Created with Datenschutz-Generator.de by Dr. jur. Thomas Schwenke

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