Privacy Policy

1. An overview of data protection

General

 

The following gives a simple overview of what happens to your personal information when you visit our website. Personal information is any data with which you could be

personally identified. Detailed information on the subject of data protection can be found in our

privacy policy found below.

 

Data collection on our website

 

Who is responsible for the data collection

on this website?

The data collected on this website are processed by the website operator. The operator's contact details can be found in the website's required legal

notice.

How do we collect your data?

Some data are collected when you provide it to us. This could, for example, be data you enter on a contact form.

 

 

Other data are collected automatically by our IT systems when you visit the website. These data are primarily technical data such as the browser and operating system you are using or

when you accessed the page. These data are collected automatically as soon as you enter our

website.

What do we use your data for?

Part of the data is

collected to ensure the proper functioning of the website. Other data can be used to analyze how

visitors use the site.

What rights do you have regarding your

data?

You always have the right to request information about your stored data,

its origin, its recipients, and the purpose of its collection at no charge. You also have the right to

request that it be corrected, blocked, or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the

address given in the legal notice if you have further questions about the issue of privacy and data

protection. You may also, of course, file a complaint with the competent regulatory

authorities.

 

Analytics and third-party tools

 

When visiting our website, statistical analyses may

be made of your surfing behavior. This happens primarily using cookies and analytics. The

analysis of your surfing behavior is usually anonymous, i.e. we will not be able to identify you

from this data. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. Detailed

information can be found in the following privacy policy.

You can object to this analysis.

We will inform you below about how to exercise your options in this regard.

 

2. General information and mandatory information

Data protection

 

The operators of this website take the protection of your personal

data very seriously. We treat your personal data as confidential and in accordance with the

statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy.

If you use this website,

various pieces of personal data will be collected. Personal information is any data with which you

could be personally identified. This privacy policy explains what information we collect and what

we use it for. It also explains how and for what purpose this happens.

Please note that

data transmitted via the internet (e.g. via email communication) may be subject to security

breaches. Complete protection of your data from third-party access is not possible.

 

Revocation of your consent to the processing of your data

 

Many data processing

operations are only possible with your express consent. You may revoke your consent at any

time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed

before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

 

Right to file complaints with regulatory authorities

 

If there has been a breach of

data protection legislation, the person affected may file a complaint with the competent regulatory

authorities. The competent regulatory authority for matters related to data protection legislation is

the data protection officer of the German state in which our company is headquartered. A list of

data protection officers and their contact details can be found at the following link: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_linksnode.html.

 

Right to data portability

 

You have the right to have data which we process based

on your consent or in fulfillment of a contract automatically delivered to yourself or to a third party

in a standard, machine-readable format. If you require the direct transfer of data to another

responsible party, this will only be done to the extent technically feasible.

 

SSL or TLS encryption

 

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons

and for the protection of the transmission of confidential content, such as the inquiries you send

to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection in your browser's address

line when it changes from "http://" to "https://" and the lock icon is displayed in your browser's

address bar.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transfer to us cannot be

read by third parties.

 

Information, blocking, deletion

 

As permitted by law, you have the right to be

provided at any time with information free of charge about any of your personal data that is stored

as well as its origin, the recipient and the purpose for which it has been processed. You also have

the right to have this data corrected, blocked or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the

address given in our legal notice if you have further questions on the topic of personal data.

 

Opposition to promotional emails

 

We hereby expressly prohibit the use of contact

data published in the context of website legal notice requirements with regard to sending

promotional and informational materials not expressly requested. The website operator reserves

the right to take specific legal action if unsolicited advertising material, such as email spam, is

received.

 

3. Data collection on our website

Cookies

 

Some of our web pages use cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer

and do not contain any viruses. Cookies help make our website more user-friendly, efficient, and

secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your

browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called "session cookies." They are

automatically deleted after your visit. Other cookies remain in your device's memory until you

delete them. These cookies make it possible to recognize your browser when you next visit the

site.

You can configure your browser to inform you about the use of cookies so that you

can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept or reject a cookie. Alternatively, your

browser can be configured to automatically accept cookies under certain conditions or to always

reject them, or to automatically delete cookies when closing your browser. Disabling cookies may

limit the functionality of this website.

Cookies which are necessary to allow electronic

communications or to provide certain functions you wish to use (such as the shopping cart) are

stored pursuant to Art. 6 paragraph 1, letter f of DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate

interest in the storage of cookies to ensure an optimized service provided free of technical errors.

If other cookies (such as those used to analyze your surfing behavior) are also stored, they will be

treated separately in this privacy policy.

 

Server log files

 

The website provider automatically collects and stores information

that your browser automatically transmits to us in "server log files". These are:

 

  • Browser type and browser version
  • Operating system used
  • Referrer URL
  • Host name of the accessing computer
  • Time of the server request
  • IP address

 

These data will not be combined with data from other sources.

The

basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO, which allows the processing of data to fulfill a

contract or for measures preliminary to a contract.

 

Contact form

 

Should you send us questions via the contact form, we will collect the

data entered on the form, including the contact details you provide, to answer your question and

any follow-up questions. We do not share this information without your permission.

We

will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6

(1)(a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time. An informal email making this request

is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally

processed.

We will retain the data you provide on the contact form until you request its

deletion, revoke your consent for its storage, or the purpose for its storage no longer pertains

(e.g. after fulfilling your request). Any mandatory statutory provisions, especially those regarding

mandatory data retention periods, remain unaffected by this provision.

 

Registration on this website

 

You can register on our website in order to access

additional functions offered here. The input data will only be used for the purpose of using the

respective site or service for which you have registered. The mandatory information requested

during registration must be provided in full. Otherwise, we will reject your registration.

To

inform you about important changes such as those within the scope of our site or technical

changes, we will use the email address specified during registration.

We will process the

data provided during registration only based on your consent per Art. 6 (1)(a) DSGVO. You may

revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is

sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

 

 

We will continue to store the data collected during registration for as long as you remain

registered on our website. Statutory retention periods remain unaffected.

 

Leaving comments on this website

 

If you use the comment function on this site,

the time at which you created the comment and your email address will be stored along with your

comment, as well as your username, unless you are posting anonymously.

 

 

Storage of the IP address

Our comment function stores the IP

addresses of those users who post comments. Since we do not check comments on our site

before they go live, we need this information to be able to pursue action for illegal or slanderous

content.

 

 

Subscribing to the comment feed

As a user of this site, you can

sign up to receive the comment feed after registering. Your email address will be checked with a

confirmation email. You can unsubscribe from this function at any time by clicking the link in the

emails. The data provided when you subscribed to the comments feed will then be deleted, but if

you have submitted this data to us for other purposes or elsewhere (such as subscribing to a

newsletter), it will be retained.

 

 

How long comments are stored

The comments and the associated

data (e.g. IP address) are stored and remain on our website until the content commented upon

has been completely deleted or the comments are required to be removed for legal reasons

(slander, etc.).

 

 

Legal basis

The comments are stored based on your consent per

Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal

email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may

still be legally processed.

 

4. Social media

Facebook plugins (Like & Share buttons)

 

Our website includes plugins for the

social network Facebook, Facebook Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. The

Facebook plugins can be recognized by the Facebook logo or the Like button on our site. For an

overview of Facebook plugins, see https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/.

When you visit our

site, a direct connection between your browser and the Facebook server is established via the

plugin. This enables Facebook to receive information that you have visited our site from your IP

address. If you click on the Facebook "Like button" while you are logged into your Facebook

account, you can link the content of our site to your Facebook profile. This allows Facebook to

associate visits to our site with your user account. Please note that, as the operator of this site,

we have no knowledge of the content of the data transmitted to Facebook or of how Facebook

uses these data. For more information, please see Facebook's privacy policy at https://dede.facebook.com/policy.php.

 

 

If you do not want Facebook to associate your visit to

our site with your Facebook account, please log out of your Facebook account.

 

Twitter plugin

 

Functions of the Twitter service have been integrated into our

website and app. These features are offered by Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San

Francisco, CA 94103, USA. When you use Twitter and the "Retweet" function, the websites you

visit are connected to your Twitter account and made known to other users. In doing so, data will

also be transferred to Twitter. We would like to point out that, as the provider of these pages, we

have no knowledge of the content of the data transmitted or how it will be used by Twitter. For

more information on Twitter's privacy policy, please go to https://twitter.com/privacy.

Your privacy preferences with Twitter

can be modified in your account settings at https://twitter.com/account/settings.

 

5. Analytics and advertising

Google Analytics

 

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service. It is

operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

 

 

Google Analytics uses so-called "cookies". These are text files that are stored on your

computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated

by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA

and stored there.

Google Analytics cookies are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO.

The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its

website and its advertising.

IP anonymization

We have

activated the IP anonymization feature on this website. Your IP address will be shortened by

Google within the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic

Area prior to transmission to the United States. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address

sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. Google will use this information on behalf

of the operator of this website to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website

activity, and to provide other services regarding website activity and Internet usage for the

website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not

be merged with any other data held by Google.

 

 

Browser plugin

You can prevent these cookies being stored by

selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. However, we wish to point out that doing so

may mean you will not be able to enjoy the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent

the data generated by cookies about your use of the website (incl. your IP address) from being

passed to Google, and the processing of these data by Google, by downloading and installing the

browser plugin available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

Objecting

to the collection of data

You can prevent the collection of your data by Google

Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set to prevent your data from

being collected on future visits to this site: Disable Google

Analytics.

For more information about how Google Analytics handles user data, see

Google's privacy policy: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.

 

g>Outsourced data processing

We have entered into an agreement with

Google for the outsourcing of our data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of

the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

 

 

Demographic data collection by Google Analytics

This website

uses Google Analytics' demographic features. This allows reports to be generated containing

statements about the age, gender, and interests of site visitors. This data comes from interestbased

advertising from Google and third-party visitor data. This collected data cannot be

attributed to any specific individual person. You can disable this feature at any time by adjusting

the ads settings in your Google account or you can forbid the collection of your data by Google

Analytics as described in the section "Refusal of data collection".

 

6. Newsletter

Newsletter data

 

If you would like to receive our newsletter, we require a valid email

address as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the specified

email address and that you agree to receive this newsletter. No additional data is collected or is

only collected on a voluntary basis. We only use this data to send the requested information and

do not pass it on to third parties.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the

contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You can revoke consent to the

storage of your data and email address as well as their use for sending the newsletter at any

time, e.g. through the "unsubscribe" link in the newsletter. The data processed before we receive

your request may still be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the

newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said

data will be deleted. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the

members area) remain unaffected.

 

MailChimp

 

This website uses the services of MailChimp to send newsletters. This

service is provided by Rocket Science Group LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Suite 5000,

Atlanta, GA 30308, USA.

MailChimp is a service which organizes and analyzes the

distribution of newsletters. If you provide data (e.g. your email address) to subscribe to our

newsletter, it will be stored on MailChimp servers in the USA.

MailChimp is certified

under the EU-US Privacy Shield. The Privacy Shield is an agreement between the European

Union (EU) and the US to ensure compliance with European privacy standards in the United

States.

We use MailChimp to analyze our newsletter campaigns. When you open an

email sent by MailChimp, a file included in the email (called a web beacon) connects to

MailChimp's servers in the United States. This allows us to determine if a newsletter message

has been opened and which links you click on. In addition, technical information is collected (e.g.

time of retrieval, IP address, browser type, and operating system). This information cannot be

assigned to a specific recipient. It is used exclusively for the statistical analysis of our newsletter

campaigns. The results of these analyses can be used to better tailor future newsletters to your

interests.

If you do not want your usage of the newsletter to be analyzed by MailChimp,

you will have to unsubscribe from the newsletter. For this purpose, we provide a link in every

newsletter we send. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter directly on the website.

 

 

Data processing is based on Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time

by unsubscribing to the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still

be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used

to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted from

our servers and those of MailChimp. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email

addresses for the members area) remains unaffected.

For details, see the MailChimp

privacy policy at https://mailchimp.com/legal/terms/.

 

 

Completion of a data processing agreement

We have entered into

a data processing agreement with MailChimp, in which we require MailChimp to protect the data

of our customers and not to disclose said data to third parties. This agreement may be viewed at

the following link: https://mailchimp.com/legal/forms/data-processingagreement/sample-agreement/.

 

7. Plugins and tools

Google Web Fonts

 

For uniform representation of fonts, this page uses web fonts

provided by Google. When you open a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into your

browser cache to display texts and fonts correctly.

For this purpose your browser has to

establish a direct connection to Google servers. Google thus becomes aware that our web page

was accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web fonts is done in the interest of a

uniform and attractive presentation of our website. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to

Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO.

If your browser does not support web fonts, a standard font is used

by your computer.

Further information about handling user data, can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google's privacy policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

 

Google Maps

 

This site uses the Google Maps map service via an API. It is

operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

 

 

To use Google Maps, it is necessary to save your IP address. This information is generally

transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. The provider of this site has no

influence on this data transfer.

The use of Google Maps is in the interest of making our

website appealing and to facilitate the location of places specified by us on the website. This

constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO.

Further information about

handling user data, can be found in the data protection declaration of Google at https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/.