Data protection policy

3. Why does this website use cookies?

We use cookies to design the navigation and use of our websites to be as user-friendly as possible. Cookies are smaller files with text information, which are filed on your hard drive when the website is called up. Cookies are used for the temporary storage of information – for example for statistical analysis or to control the connection during the visit to a website. Cookies are also used to store the preferences of the visitors. Thus, we can match the contents of our website specifically to your requirements and therefore improve our service for you. We are unable to create any references to users with the cookies.

You can deactivate the option to store these cookies at any time in the system settings of your browser and delete existing cookies. Every user can also view the website without cookies. If you do not accept any cookies, this can, however, lead to a restriction in the functionality of our website.

Some of the cookies used by us are automatically deleted from your hard drive (session cookies) after the end of the browser session (end of session). In addition, we also use cookies, which remain on your hard drive for a specific time beyond the browser session. These persistent cookies are stored on your hard drive and deleted by the browser after the specified time. The cookies can also be from third-party service providers.

Cookies required to carry out the electronic communication process or to provide specific functions you requested (e.g. use of the shopping basket), are stored on the basis of Art. 6, Para. 1 f. The operator of the website has a legitimate interest in storing cookies for the purpose of the technically smooth and optimised provision of its services. Insofar as other cookies (e.g. cookies for the analysis of surfing habits) are stored, these are dealt with separately in this privacy statement in the following section.

4. Use of cookies and similar technologies for the purpose of analysis

We also use cookies and similar technologies for advertising purposes. Some of the access data accruing during the use of our website is used for interest-based advertising. Analysis and evaluation of this access data enables us to present personalised advertisements on our website and on the websites of other providers. This means advertisements corresponding to your actual interests and needs.

The legal basis for the data processing described in the following section is Art. 6, Para 1, Sentence 1 f GDPR, based on our legitimate interest to present personalised advertisements to you.
In the following section we would like to explain to you these technologies and the service providers deployed for this purpose in more detail.

The collected data can include the following data, in particular:

• The IP address of the device
• The date and time of the access
• The identification number of a cookie
• The device identification of mobile devices
• Technical information on the browser and the operating system.

The data collected is, however, stored only pseudonymously, so that it is not possible to make any direct conclusion as to the individuals.

In the following descriptions of the technologies we use, you will find information on the options for objection regarding our analysis and advertising measures by way of a so-called opt-out cookie. Please note that after the deletion of all cookies in your browser or the later use of another browser and/or profile, another opt-out cookie must be placed.

Below, are the options for objection regarding your analysis and advertising measures. Alternatively, you can raise your objection via corresponding settings on the websites Truste, NAI, DAA or Your Online Choices, where options for objecting are provided by many advertisers combined. This page permits the listed service provides to deactivate all advertisements at once, by way of opt-out cookies, or alternatively, to handle the setting for each provider individually.

Google (Universal) Analytics
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA („Google“). Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to enable the analysis and improvement of our website, based on your usage habits. The data arising in this connection can be transmitted by Google to a server in the USA and stored there, for the purpose of evaluation. When personal data is transmitted to the USA, Google has subjected itself to the EU-US Privacy Shield. However, your IP address is abbreviated prior to the evaluation of the usage statistics, so that it is not possible to draw any direct conclusions as to your identity. For this purpose, Google Analytics has been expanded on our website, to include the code “anonymizeIP”, to ensure an anonymised capture of IP addresses.

Google will process the information obtained by the cookies to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on the website activities for the website operators, and to provide other services connected to the website use and internet usage.

As shown above, you can configure your browser in such a way that it rejects cookies, or you can prevent the capture of the data generated by cookies and related to your use of our website in the cookie settings of the privacy statement by Google. Alternatively, you can also prevent the processing of such data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser add-on provided by Google (the latter does not work with mobile terminal devices).
Further information to that end can be found in the Privacy statement by Google Analytics.

Google Analytics cookies are stored on the basis of Art. 6, Para. 1 f GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analysing the user habits to optimise its website as well as his advertising.

Campaign Manager (formerly Doubleclick)
This website also uses the online marketing tool Campaign Manager by Google. Campaign Manager uses Cookies to display ads relevant to users, improve campaign performance reports, or to prevent a user from seeing the same ads more than once. Google uses a cookie ID to track which ads are displayed in which browser and to prevent them from being displayed more than once. In addition, Campaign Manager may use cookie IDs to collect conversions related to ad requests. This is the case, for example, when a user sees a Campaign Manager ad and later visits the advertiser’s website with the same browser and buys something there. According to Google, Campaign Manager cookies do not contain any personal information.

Your browser automatically establishes a direct connection to the Google server once visiting our website. We have no influence on the extent and the further use of the data collected by Google through the use of this tool and therefore inform you according to our level of knowledge: By integrating Campaign Manager, Google receives the information that you have called the corresponding part of our Internet presence or clicked on an advertisement from us. If you are registered with a Google service, Google may associate your visit with your account. Even if you are not registered with Google or have not logged in, it is possible that the providers may obtain and store your IP address.

In addition to that, Campaign Manager (DoubleClick Floodlight) cookies allow us to understand whether you complete certain actions on our website(s) after viewing one of our display/video ads on Google or other platforms through Campaign Manager or clicking through one (conversion tracking). Campaign Manager uses this cookie to understand the content with which you have interacted on our website(s) in order to be able to send you targeted advertising later.

You can prevent your participation in this tracking process in various ways: a) by setting your browser software accordingly, in particular by suppressing third-party cookies, you will not receive any ads from third-party providers; b) by deactivating cookies for conversion tracking, by setting your browser so that cookies are blocked by the domain www.googleadservices.com, https://www.google.de/settings/ads, this setting being deleted when you delete your cookies; c) by deactivating the interest-based ads of the providers that are part of the “About Ads” self-regulation campaign via the link http://www.aboutads.info/choices, this setting being deleted when you delete your cookies; d) by permanently deactivating Firefox, Internet Explorer or Google Chrome in your browsers under the link http://www.google.com/settings/ads/plugin or e) by setting your cookie preferences accordingly (click here). Please note that in this case you may not be able to use all functions of this offer in full.

In addition, you can prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookies and relating to your use of the websites and the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plugin available under “Display settings”, “Extension for Campaign Manager deactivation” at https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/142293?hl=en.

Further information on Campaign Manager by Google is available at https://www.google.de/doubleclick, as well as for data processings in general at Google: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy; alternatively, you will also find more information on the website of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) at http://www.networkadvertising.org. Google has submitted itself to the EU-US Privacy Shield, https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.

Used Cookies: Type C. For further information, see Cookie Section.

Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) a GDPR.

Use of social plugins
On our website we offer you the possibility of using so-called “Social-Media-Buttons”. These buttons are only included on the website as a graphic containing a link to the corresponding website of the button provider. By clicking on the graphic you will be forwarded to the services of the respective provider. Only then will your data be sent to the respective providers. If you do not click on the graphic, there is no exchange between you and the providers of the social media buttons. Information about the collection and use of your data in the social networks can be found in the respective terms of use of the respective providers.

We have integrated the social media buttons of the following companies on our website:
Facebook Inc. (1601 p. California Ave – Palo Alto – CA 94304 – USA)
Twitter Inc. (795 Folsom St. – Suite 600 – San Francisco – CA 94107 – USA)
Youtube/Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway – Mountain View – CA 94043 – USA)
Pinterest Inc. 635 High Street, Palo Alto, CA, USA
Instagram Inc, 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA

5. Use of functions of further providers

Conversion reading and website custom audiences with the Facebook pixel
We are use the Facebook pixel or visitor promotion pixel of Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (hereinafter: Facebook) on our websites. By calling-up this pixel via your browser, Facebook can subsequently see if a Facebook advertisement was successful. This is, for example, the case when a purchase has been made on a website. For this purpose, we receive exclusively statistical and anonymised data from Facebook, without reference to a specific person. This enables us to record the effectiveness of Facebook advertisements for statistical and market research purposes and to improve our services.

We also use the Facebook pixel for the “Website Custom Audiences” function. We would like to point out that, as provider of the websites, we do not have any knowledge of the contents of the transmitted data, nor their utilisation by Facebook. We can merely choose which segment of Facebook users (such as age, interests) should be shown our advertisement. For this purpose, we use one of two procedures of custom audiences, where no data sets, in particular no e-mail addresses of our users – whether encrypted nor unencrypted – can be transmitted to Facebook.

Via the pixel graphics, Facebook receives, inter alia, the information from your browser that our page has been retrieved by your terminal. If your browser permits cookies and you are not participating in the opt-out procedure, Facebook creates a cookie to enable it to recognise you . If you are logged into Facebook or log in later, the data can be assigned to your Facebook account, whereby personal data is processed.

In particular, if you are registered with Facebook, for further information refer to their data protection information https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/. Please click here, if you would like to revoke your consent to the Facebook pixel.
Facebook pixel is stored on the basis of Art. 6, Para. 1 f GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in inserting offers tailored to the user, against the background of user-relevant advertising.

Use of Google Maps
Our website uses the map service Google Maps, by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google“). To ensure that the Google map data used by us can be integrated and shown in your web browser, when calling up the contact page, your web browser must connect to a Google server, which can also be located in the USA. When personal data is transmitted to the USA, Google has subjected itself to the EU-US Privacy Shield. Google hereby receives the information that the contact page of our website has been called up by the IP address of your device. The legal basis is Art. 6, Para. 1, Sentence 1 f GDPR, based on our legitimate interest in the integration of a map service to establish contact.

If you are calling up the Google map service on our website while you are logged into your Google profile, Google is also able to link this event to your Google profile. If you do not want this link to your Google profile to be made, you need to log out of Google before calling up our contact page. Google stores your data and uses it for the purposes of advertising, market research and personalised presentation of Google Maps. You can object to the collection of this data by Google.
Further information for this purpose can be found in the privacy statement by Google and the additional terms and conditions of use for Google Maps.

6. When will your data be deleted?

In principle, we store personal data only as long as this is required for the fulfilment of contractual or legal obligations which are the reason for the collection of the data. After that, we delete the data immediately, unless we require the data until the expiry of the legal limitation periods for the purposes of evidence in civil claims or due to statutory retention requirements.

For evidentiary purposes, we have to retain contract data for three years after the end of the year the business relationship with you ends. According to statutory limitation periods, potential claims become time-barred no earlier than at this point in time.
After that, we still have to store part of your data for accounting purposes. We have an obligation to do so due to legal documentation requirements, which can arise from the Commercial Code, the Tax Code, the Banking Act, the Money Laundering Act and the Securities Trading Act. The retention periods for documents specified in the above legislation are two to ten years.

7. What are your data protection rights?

You have the right at any time to request information on the processing of your personal data by us. We will explain the data processing to you within the course of providing this information and furnish you with an overview of your stored personal data.
If data stored by us should be incorrect or no longer up-to-date, you have the right for this data to be corrected.

You can also request the deletion of your data. Should the deletion exceptionally not be possible due to other legal provisions, then the data is blocked, so that it is only available for this legal purpose.
Furthermore, you can restrict the processing of your data, e.g. if you are of the opinion that the data stored by us is not correct. You also have the right to data portability, in other words, upon your request, we forward a digital copy to you, containing the personal data that you have provided.

In order to assert the rights described here, you may contact us at any time, via the above-mentioned contact details. This also applies if you wish to receive copies of guarantees for evidence of a reasonable level of data protection.
Furthermore, you have the right to object to the data processing, which is based on Art. 6, Para. 1 e or f GDPR. Finally, you have the right to lodge a complaint at the data protection supervisory authority responsible for us. You can exercise this right at a supervisory authority in the member state of your residence, your employment or the place of the suspected breach.

8. Right of revocation and objection

You have the right, in accordance with Article 7, Para. 3 GDPR, to revoke consent once granted to us, at any time. As a consequence, we shall in future no longer continue to process the data that is the object of the consent. The revocation of the consent does not affect the lawfulness of the processing based on the consent up to the time of the revocation.

Insofar as we are processing your data on the basis of legitimate interests in accordance with Art. 6, Para. 1, Sentence 1 f GDPR, you have the right in accordance with Art. 21 GDPR, to raise an objection against the processing of your data, insofar as there are grounds for this, which arise from your special situation or where the objection is directed against direct advertising. In the latter case, you have a general right of objection, which we shall implement also without the need for you to give reasons.

If you wish to use your right to revoke or your right of objection, an informal notification to the above-mentioned contacts is sufficient

9. Data security

We maintain current technical measures to safeguard data security, in particular for the protection of your personal data against risks during data transmissions as well as against third parties acquiring knowledge of your personal data. These are correspondingly adjusted to the current state of the art. To secure the personal data specified by yourself on our website, we use Transport Layer Security (TLS) which encrypts the information you enter.

10. Amendment of the Privacy Statement

We occasionally update this Privacy Statement, for example when we are adjusting our website or if the legal or official requirements change.