Privacy policy

2. Processing of personal data; purposes of processing

a. Informational use of the website

If you only use the website for information purposes, i.e., if you do not actively transmit information to us, we do not collect any personal data, with the exception of the data that your browser automatically transmits to enable you to visit the website. This includes, for example:

• Date and time of the request
• Time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
• Content of the request (specific page)
• Access status/HTTP status code

We do not assign this data to specific persons. The aforementioned processing of data is only carried out for the purpose of enabling the use of the website (establishing connection; technical session control). Insofar as the processing of the aforementioned data is personal data, the corresponding processing of this data is based on article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter f of the GDPR (legitimate interest; the legitimate interest follows from the aforementioned purpose – enabling the offering and retrieval of the website) in conjunction with section 25 paragraph 2 no. 2 of the TTDSG.

b. Making contact  

If you contact us (e.g., by email or using a contact form on the website), the data you provide in this context will be used to process your request. Contacting us, e.g., by email, involves the following data in particular:

• Name
• Email address
• Content of the message

The aforementioned data is used exclusively for the purpose of processing the corresponding contact request. The legal basis for the processing of the aforementioned personal data is, depending on the individual case, either article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter b of the GDPR (contract or pre-contractual measures) or article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter f of the GDPR (legitimate interests; the legitimate interest arises from the fact that the action requested by the user (e.g., answering inquiries) can only be carried out by processing the data accordingly) or article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter a of the GDPR (consent). 

c. Conclusion or initiation and execution of contracts

We process personal data if you conclude a contract (with us) on or in connection with the website or if such a contract is initiated in connection with the website. The purpose of data processing is the initiation, conclusion, execution and processing of contracts with you. The legal basis for the corresponding processing of personal data is article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter b of the GDPR (contract or pre-contractual measures). 

If you do not provide all relevant personal data when initiating a contract, a corresponding contract will generally not be concluded.

d. NewsletterIf a user consents to receiving newsletters or similar advertising information, we use the data to which the corresponding consent relates (e.g., the email address when sending newsletters) on the basis of article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter a of the GDPR (consent) in order to be able to provide the user with the corresponding information. If a user requests a newsletter on the website, they will receive a confirmation or authorisation email from us, in which they are asked to click the link contained in this email and thus confirm to us that they actually wish to receive the newsletter. Only after this confirmation will we send the user the corresponding newsletter (this is the so-called double opt-in procedure). The user can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using (i) the (unsubscribe) link provided for this purpose, which is included in every newsletter, or (ii) the input form provided for unsubscribing on the website. 

We would like to point out that we evaluate your user behaviour when sending the newsletter. For this evaluation, the emails sent contain so-called web beacons or tracking pixels, which are one-pixel image files stored on our website. For the evaluations, we link the data mentioned in section 1 and the web beacons with your email address and an individual ID. Links received in the newsletter also contain this ID. We use the data obtained in this way to create a user profile in order to tailor the newsletter to your individual interests. We record when you read our newsletters and which links you click in them and deduce your personal interests from this. We link this data to actions you take on our website. You can object to this tracking at any time by clicking the dedicated link provided in every email or by informing us via another contact channel. The information will be stored for as long as you have subscribed to the newsletter. After unsubscribing, we store the data purely statistically and anonymously.

e. Cookies and other (analysis) tools
aa. Cookies

We use cookies on the website. Cookies are small text files that are stored in the browser's cache. 

When you access individual pages of the website, we may use so-called technically necessary cookies to enable you to move around the website, use basic functions and ensure the security of the website; these cookies do not collect information about you for marketing purposes, nor do they store which web pages you have visited. The legal basis for the use of these technically necessary cookies is article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter f of the GDPR (legitimate interest; the legitimate interest follows from the above-mentioned purposes, in particular session control, optimisation of website use and ensuring the security of the website) in conjunction with section 25 paragraph 2 no. 2 of the TTDSG.

If and to the extent that we also use other, non-technically necessary cookies in relation to your visit to the website, we will always obtain your consent (via a consent management tool) to these cookies on the website in advance. Unless you give your consent, these cookies will not be used in relation to your visit to the website. The legal basis for the processing of personal data associated with such cookies is article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter a of the GDPR (consent) in conjunction with Section 25 paragraph 1 sentence 1 of the TTDSG. 

You can configure most browsers so that no cookies are stored. However, deactivating cookies may mean that you cannot use all the functions of our website (in full or without disruption).
 

bb. Matomo (formerly PIWIK)

On this website we use the tool Matomo (a web analysis service by InnoCraft Ltd, 150 Willis St, 6011 Wellington, New Zealand) to analyse and check the use of our website. We can use the statistics obtained to improve our offer and make it more interesting for you as a user.
When you use Matomo, your IP address and information such as time stamps, websites visited and your language settings are recorded in order to analyse website usage. We store the information collected in this way on our server.

This website uses Matomo with the AnonymizeIP extension. As a result, IP addresses are further processed in abbreviated form and direct personal references are generally excluded. The IP address transmitted by your browser via Matomo is not merged with other data collected by us. The legal basis for the use of Matomo is article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter a of the GDPR (consent) in conjunction with section 25 paragraph 1 sentence 1 of the TTDSG.

You have the option of preventing the actions you take here from being analysed and linked. This will protect your privacy but will also prevent the owner from learning from your actions and improving usability for you and other users.

4. Duration of storage of your personal data.

Insofar as no other storage period results from the other provisions of this data protection notice, your personal data will generally only be stored for as long as is necessary to process your inquiries to us or to achieve the particular processing purpose, and thereafter only to the extent and insofar as we are obliged to do so due to mandatory statutory storage obligations. If we no longer need your data for the purposes described above, it will only be stored for the applicable statutory retention period and will not be processed for other purposes.

6. Contact

You can contact us using the contact details provided in section 1. For all questions on the subject of data protection (including the assertion of rights in accordance with section 5), you can also contact our data protection officer named in section 1 directly.

You can find more information about Matomo here: matomo.org/privacy, matomo.org/gdpr-analytics