Privacy Policy of Netcetera Software Services GmbH

 

 

 

Privacy notices (information on data protection regarding our data processing according to Articles 13, 14, and 21 of the General Data Protection Regulation) for our Website. 

We’re glad you’re visiting our website and are interested in our company. Protecting your personal data is very important to us. 

Below, we will inform you, in accordance with Articles 13, 14, and 21 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), about how we handle your personal data when you use our website (hereinafter referred to as the “Website”).

 

 

I. Controller

Netcetera Software Services GmbH

Vitalisstraße 67

50827 Cologne

 

II. Data Protection Officer 

Vitalisstraße 67 

50827 Cologne 

You can reach out Data Protection Officer via E-Mail: datenschutz@netcetera-de.com 

 

III. Purposes and legal basis of data processing when using the website

1. Informational use of the website

You can visit our website without providing any personal information. If you only use our website for informational purposes, meaning you don’t register, place an order, or otherwise share personal information with us, we do not process any personal data, except for the data your browser sends to enable your visit to the website and information that is transmitted to us through cookies used.

1. Technical setup of the website

To technically provide the website, our system (i.e., the web server) automatically collects information from your browser every time you visit the website. The temporary storage of your IP address by our system is necessary to deliver the website to your computer. 

For this, the user's IP address must inevitably be stored for the duration of the session. Storing the IP address in the log files is done to ensure the functionality of our website. Additionally, this data is used to optimize the website and to ensure the security of our information technology systems (e.g., attack detection). 

Also, the data is analyzed for marketing purposes in connection with the tools mentioned under section III. 1 c) Analysis and Tracking. 

The following information is collected:

• IP addresses
• Browser-type/ -version
• Browser language
• Used operating system
• Internal resolution of the browser window
• Screen resolution
• Javascript activation 
• Java on/off
• Cookies on/off
• Color depth
• Time of access
• The previous website from which you reached us 

We also use cookies to make our website available for you. Cookies are text files that are stored in your web browser or by your web browser on your computer when you visit a website. A cookie contains a unique string of characters that allows the browser to be identified when you visit the website again. 

We use these cookies, among other things, to provide you with our website and its technical features. Some features of our website cannot be offered without the use of cookies.

The following information is stored in the cookies and transmitted to us:

• the language you selected on our website,
• an identification code from the service providers we use so that you can be recognized when you visit our website again.

To enable you to use our login area, we also set the session cookie “Session CMS System.” This cookie transmits the user’s login status, stores language settings and access rights, as well as the language. Only your login status is processed here. This cookie is created by a PHP-based application. The purpose of this cookie is to identify the user. The actual use of cookies can be determined by the website provider.

We process your personal data to technically provide our website based on the following legal grounds:

• to provide our website according to § 25 para. 2 no. 2 TDDDG, as processing the aforementioned data is necessary to allow you to use our website as you wish (i.e., with or without cookies).
• to fulfill a contract or to carry out pre-contractual measures according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR, as far as you visit our website to learn about our products.
• to protect our legitimate interests according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR, so that we can make the website available to you technically and securely.

1. Cookie Consent Manager CCM19

On our website, we use the consent manager CCM19 from Papoo Software & Media GmbH, Auguststr. 4, 53229 Bonn (“CCM19”), to get your consent for certain data processing activities that require it (e.g., analysis, tracking, or similar). By using it, we can inform you about the individual cookies and tools we use. Through the consent manager, you can choose which cookies and tools you want to allow or reject, either individually or by category. This lets you make an informed decision about sharing your data and allows us to use cookies and tools in a privacy-compliant, transparent, and documented way.

The consent management provider CCM19 processes your personal data to record your choice about allowing cookies and tools and to save it for a return visit to our website. This includes the relevant cookie with your consent decision as well as other usage data, like your IP, the browser you use, language and country, and the page you visit. Your personal data is only stored and processed within the European Economic Area (EEA).

We process your personal data to technically provide our website based on the following legal grounds:

• for the technical provision of consent management according to § 25 para. 2 no. 2 TDDDG, as the processing of the aforementioned data is necessary to allow you to use our website as you explicitly wish (with or without cookies).
• to protect our legitimate interests under Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR, in order to technically make the website available to you.
• to fulfill a legal obligation under the GDPR according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR, which lies in providing the possibility to give consent and document your decision. 

You can find more information about how CCM19 uses data in CCM19's privacy policy at: https://www.ccm19.de/datenschutzerklaerung.html

1. Analysis and Tracking

For analyzing and tracking the use of our website, we or the service providers working for us use cookies that allow us to evaluate your browsing behavior. This enables us to improve the quality of our website and its content. We learn how the website is used and can continuously optimize our offerings. You can find detailed information in the following explanations as well as in our cookie banner.

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• With your consent under § 25 para. 1 TDDDG regarding the initial storage and reading of data;
• With your consent according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR for further data processing (e.g., provision of functionalities, analysis, tracking, optimization, etc.).

You can withdraw your consent at any time for the future through our Consent Manager. You can access the Consent Manager from any page by clicking the checkmark icon in the bottom left corner of the website, adjust your settings, and withdraw your consent.

1. Google Translate 

On our website, we use Google Translate (operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) to give you the option to use our website in another language. Google Translate is disabled by default. When you click on the Google Translate widget at the top right of our website, the 'Select Language' screen opens. Only when you choose one of the suggested languages is Google Translate activated and data is transmitted to Google. This includes your IP address and the URL of the page you visit. The information Google collects about the use of this website is generally transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• your consent according to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. Consent can be withdrawn at any time.

For more information about data usage by Google, visit www.google.com/intl/de_de/policies/privacy/

Please note that the computer-generated translation regularly only roughly matches the original text.

1. Matomo

We use Matomo Analytics, an analytics program from InnoCraft, 7 Waterloo Quay PO625, 6140 Wellington, New Zealand, which allows us to analyze user flows on our website (e.g., number of visits, pages visited, duration of stay on individual pages, etc.). We use Matomo to further improve our products, online offerings, and services and to tailor them to user needs. In doing so, we collect statistical data about user behavior; personal data is not collected or is only collected anonymized or pseudonymized in accordance with data protection regulations. For this purpose, we use our own statistics server based on Matomo (formerly Piwik), which is operated according to the recommendations of the ‘Independent Centre for Privacy Protection Schleswig-Holstein’ dated March 15, 2011. We use Matomo for statistical data collection, and you can disable Matomo through the cookie settings.

You can set your browser so that you are informed when cookies are set and only allow them on a case-by-case basis, block cookies for specific cases or altogether, and enable automatic deletion of cookies when you close your browser. If you disable cookies, some or even all of the website’s functionality may be limited. Please note that deleting cookies in your browser may also require you to opt in again (cookie notice banner) or opt out again (see Matomo statistics above).

1. Google Maps 

We embed maps from the Google Maps service provided by Google LLC., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. In order to make the map material available, technically necessary data is processed by Google for this purpose. Google LLC. is responsible for this processing. For more information on how Google handles your personal data, please visit: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

The integration of Google Maps is necessary to design our website according to needs. This also represents our legitimate interest in data processing under Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. If a corresponding consent has been obtained, processing is carried out exclusively based on Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25(1) TDDDG, insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information on the user's device (e.g., device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TDDDG. Consent can be revoked at any time.

The company holds a certification under the "EU-US Data Privacy Framework" (DPF).

1. TrustCaptcha (CAPTCHA Service)

We use "TrustCaptcha" (www.trustcomponent.com) on our website to protect ourselves and our online services from unwanted, automated access and spam. TrustCaptcha is a service provided by Trustcaptcha GmbH, Munich, Germany.

TrustCaptcha helps us distinguish between normal interactions and abusive use. When you interact with a part of our website that is protected by TrustCaptcha, your device receives a computational task that is automatically solved in the background. As part of the protection mechanism, TrustCaptcha also calculates a trust score for each request by analyzing technical and device-specific data (e.g., IP address, device information) as well as behavioral data (e.g., mouse movements, clicks). This score evaluates the likelihood that a request comes from a human or a bot (malicious script), based on technical and behavioral indicators. TrustCaptcha does not set or use its own cookies. However, depending on the user's settings, cookies automatically transmitted from the user's device may be collected. The actual data depends on the device's settings and permissions. TrustCaptcha only uses the data to reliably distinguish between human and automated behavior and then to improve threat detection algorithms and enhance system security. If TrustCaptcha collects personal data, it is automatically deleted or anonymized after a maximum of 90 days. The legal basis for using and processing data by TrustCaptcha is our legitimate interest in the security of our website and protection against automated access, spam, and other forms of abuse, pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR.

1. Active use of the website

In addition to simply using our website for information, you can also actively use it to order one of our products, use our online offerings and products or services, download information, listen to our podcast, sign up for a newsletter or an event, or get in touch with us. In addition to the processing of your personal data for purely informational use described above, we also process other personal data from you, for example, what we need to handle your order.

1. User Inquiries

To handle and respond to your inquiries, such as through the contact form or to our email address, we process the personal data you provide in this context. This always includes your name and email address so that we can send you a response.

We process your personal data to respond to user inquiries based on the following legal grounds:

• to protect our legitimate interests according to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest lies in properly responding to customer inquiries and, if necessary, forwarding your request;
• if the inquiry is aimed at concluding a contract, the additional legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR

Inquiries About Products and Services

On our website, you can find a wide range of different products and services (e.g., in the areas of banking, payments, trusted solutions, business support). If you are interested in our products or services and want us to offer you a personalized solution, you can contact us via our contact form. In our contact form, you can specify which product areas and services interest you. We also ask for your contact details so that we can get back to you. The required information includes the following contact details:

• First and last name
• Email address
• Your personal message/inquiry.

If you would like us to call you back, please indicate on the contact form that you want to be called back before submitting the form.

Submitting the contact form serves the purpose of concluding a contract with us as the provider of the product. The data processing is therefore for the conclusion, execution, and/or termination of your contract with us.

In addition, data processing also takes place for communication with you in case of inquiries (see section III. 2 a)).

We process your data for the above purpose on the basis of the following legal grounds:

• for the fulfillment of a contract or the carrying out of pre-contractual measures according to Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. for the protection of our legitimate interests according to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest lies in properly responding to and handling customer inquiries.

1. Creating and Using a User Account

To use some services on our website (e.g., BV Forms and the IBAN Converter/BIC Picker), you need your own user account. You can request the creation of a user account through a user request (see Section III. 2. a) aa)). For setting up your user account, we will need the following information from you:

• Company name
• First and last name
• Address
• Email address

After our staff have created your user account, you will receive your login details (especially your username) via email. The email contains a confirmation link that takes you to our website. You will automatically be directed to a page where you can set your own password. You are required not to share your password with any unauthorized third party.

Your login details (username, password) are processed so that you can log in to our respective services in the login area and use them.

At the time of login, the following data is also recorded:

• The user's IP address,
• Date and time of the login.

We process your data for the purposes mentioned above based on the following legal grounds:

• to fulfill a contract or pre-contractual measures according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR;
• to protect our legitimate interests according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR; our legitimate interest is based on our interest in being able to provide you with our services safely.

1. Job Applications

We process your personal data as part of your application, provided you give it to us – for example, via email or mail. You can find details about this in the privacy policy for applicants.

1.  Marketing Purposes, like Newsletters, Document Downloads

With your consent, we use your data for marketing purposes, such as sending our newsletter, providing information via download links or whitepapers, marketing surveys, sending product information, inviting you to events that might interest you, follow-ups, status updates, or using your data for market research. We collect mandatory information, like your email address, as well as information you provide voluntarily. We use the information to continuously improve our customer relationship.

If you have provided us with your email address in connection with the purchase of goods or services, we may subsequently use it to send you a newsletter. In such a case, the newsletter will only include direct advertising for our own similar goods or services.

We use the program from CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG, Schafjückenweg 2, 26180 Rastede, for personalizing our advertising messages to you, sending newsletters, creating anonymized statistical reports in this context (e.g., delivery success, click or bounce rates), and managing newsletter unsubscribes. CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG acts as a data processor.

We process your data for the purpose of sending newsletters, surveys, etc., and personalizing our communications with you on the following legal bases:

• if you have given us your consent, in accordance with Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR;
• if we collect and analyze your response to our emails to protect our legitimate interests pursuant to Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR; Our legitimate interest is our business interest in carrying out promotional activities and target-group-oriented advertising, analyzing your response to our communications, and optimizing those communications to continuously adapt their quality and content—and thus our marketing—to your preferences, thereby enabling us to send you more relevant communications.
• if you have provided us with your email address in connection with the purchase of products or services, or if we send you personalized advertising, to protect our legitimate interests pursuant to Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR in conjunction with Section 7(3) of the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG); Our legitimate interest is based on our economic interests in carrying out advertising measures and target-group-oriented advertising.

Right to Object to Use in Connection with the Conclusion of a Contract:

If we receive your email address in connection with the conclusion of a contract and the provision of our products or services, and you have not objected to this, we reserve the right to periodically send you offers for similar products or services from our portfolio via email. You may object to this use of your email address at any time by sending a message to the contact information provided below or by using the link provided for this purpose in the newsletter email, without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs according to standard rates.

Right to withdraw consent:

You may withdraw your consent at any time during or after the event without suffering any disadvantages. The lawfulness of the processing carried out up until the withdrawal remains unaffected in the event of withdrawal. If you do not want us to take photos of you during the events, you can inform the photographer and/or the event organizer at any time and ask that we not take photos of you. You may also avoid the areas where photography is taking place. If you wish to withdraw your consent after the event, you can contact us using the contact information provided in Section II. Upon receipt of your withdrawal, the images covered by the withdrawal will no longer be displayed on our website or published on social media or removed within a reasonable period. Otherwise, the recordings will be deleted promptly after receiving the withdrawal, subject to legal or regulatory retention obligations. If we have shared them with third parties, the recipients will be informed accordingly.

1.  Compliance with Legal Regulations

Like anyone involved in economic activities, we are also subject to a variety of legal obligations. Primarily, these are statutory requirements (such as, but not limited to, commercial and tax laws), but they may also include regulatory or other official requirements. The purposes of processing may include identity and age verification, fraud and money laundering prevention, preventing, combating, and clarifying terrorism financing and financially endangering crimes, fulfilling tax compliance and reporting obligations, data archiving, processing for data protection and data security purposes, as well as audits by tax and other authorities. In addition, the disclosure of personal data may be necessary as part of official/judicial measures for purposes such as evidence collection, law enforcement, or enforcement of civil claims.

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• to fulfill a legal obligation, we are subject to under Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR in connection with commercial, trade, or tax law, insofar as we are required to record and keep your data or other laws and regulations. 

1.  Legal enforcement

We also process your personal data to assert our rights and enforce our legal claims. We also process your personal data to be able to defend ourselves against legal claims. Finally, we process your personal data to the extent necessary to prevent or pursue criminal offenses.

We process your personal data for this purpose based on the following legal grounds: to protect our legitimate interests under Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, as far as we assert legal claims or defend ourselves in legal disputes or prevent or investigate criminal offenses.

1. Company Sale/Merger, etc.

We may process your personal data to facilitate a (partial) company sale or merger (or similar transactions, such as an acquisition as part of liquidation, insolvency, dissolution, etc.) with another company. In the event that another company acquires or intends to acquire the assets/capital, which may include your personal data, from Netcetera Software Services GmbH, or if Netcetera Software Services GmbH carries out or plans a merger with another company, we may need to grant that company access to your personal data stored with us or transfer it for the purpose of reviewing and executing the company sale/merger (e.g., to determine the company value, business risks, etc.).

We process your personal data on the following legal basis:

• to protect our legitimate interests according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR, in order to plan and carry out a planned company sale or a planned merger.

 

IV. Links

Some sections of our website include links to third-party websites. These websites have their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for their operation, including how they handle data. If you provide information to or through such third-party sites, you should check their privacy policies before giving them any information that can be linked to you.

 

V. Purposes and Legal Bases for Data Processing When Using Social Media

We use social media platforms from providers like LinkedIn and Xing ("providers") to present our company and communicate directly with you. Through these platforms, we manage our presence (e.g., through company and employee profiles) and process your data.

1.  Joint Responsibility

If data is collected on our profile that both the provider and we process and use for joint purposes (e.g., for analysis or advertising), the provider and we are jointly responsible. Often, this feature cannot be disabled by us. Therefore, you can contact both the respective provider and us with your concerns. Currently, we use the following providers:

LinkedIn (including LinkedIn Sales Navigator) of LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland; XING of the provider New Work SE, Dammtorstraße 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany; 

Below you can find the links to the privacy policies and information of the respective providers: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy?_l=de_DE

Xing: https://privacy.xing.com/de/datenschutzerklaerung 

 

1.  Data Protection Officers of the providers 

In addition to our Data Protection Officer (see section I of this privacy policy), you can also contact the following Data Protection Officers of the respective providers:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/ask/TSO-DPO

Xing: https://privacy.xing.com/de/ihre-ansprechpartner 

 

1.  Purposes and Legal Bases of Data Processing 
2.  Informational Use of the Profile 

You can visit our profile without providing any personal information. If you only use our profile for informational purposes, meaning you do not register or provide us with any information about yourself, we do not process any personal data, except for the data collected by the provider through cookies it uses and transmits to us (see also Section IV. 3. b)). 

1. Analysis and Tracking 

For the purpose of analyzing and tracking the use of its social media platform (hereinafter "Platform") and our profile, the provider uses cookies that allow the evaluation of your surfing behavior. This can help improve the quality of the platform and profile and their content. We find out how the platform and the appearance are being used, which allows us to continuously optimize our appearance, we have no influence over the data collected or data processing activities, nor do we know the full extent of the data collection, the exact purposes of processing, or the storage periods. We also do not have any information about the deletion of the data collected by the platform provider.

Web analytics is the collection, gathering, and analysis of data about the behavior of visitors to websites. A web analytics service records, among other things, data about which website a person came from (so-called referrers), which subpages of the website were accessed, and how often and for how long a subpage was viewed. Web analytics is regularly used to optimize a website and to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of online advertising.

It can also happen that the information obtained during the analysis and tracking of our presence is combined with your other data collected while using the platform. If you register on the platform, the provider could link data about your platform activities with your personal information (including name/email address) based on your consent, thus collecting it as personal data and informing you individually and specifically about topics you prefer.

Regarding the statistics provided to us by the platform provider, we can only influence them to a limited extent and cannot disable them. However, we make sure that no additional optional statistics are provided to us.

We process your personal data based on the following legal basis:

• your consent according to § 25 para. 1 TDDDG regarding the initial storage and reading of data, as well as
• your consent according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR, which you gave to the provider when registering for the respective social media platform.

1.  Active use of our profile

In addition to purely informational use of our profile, you can also actively use our profile to get in touch with us. In addition to the processing of your personal data described above for purely informational use, we also process other personal data from you that we may need, for example, to handle your request. This also applies in cases where we actively use the profile ourselves, for example for initiating contact or establishing business relationships with you.

1. Sharing, Posting, and Interacting with Posts, Reviews, Photos, etc.

You can comment on, share, or otherwise interact with posts, photos, videos, etc. created by us on the provider's platform and on our presence (like, recommend, review, etc.). If applicable, we may share your content on our presence if this is a feature of the provider's platform and communicate with you via the platform. Public messages, etc., may be published by the provider but will at no time be used or processed by us for other purposes.

In the case of reviews, we allow ourselves to, if necessary, publish a response (e.g., to clarify a problem, goodwill actions, etc.) to your message and encourage you to get in touch further. This may involve processing the personal data you voluntarily published in the review.

Incidentally, we only reserve the right to delete content if this should become necessary.

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• To protect our legitimate interests according to Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR. The data processing takes place in the interest of our public relations and communications.

1. User inquiries

In order to handle your inquiries to us, e.g., via contact forms, a chat, or our email address, to respond to them specifically, and to provide you with the requested information, we process the personal data you provide to us in this context. This includes your contact details so that we can reply to you or ask any necessary follow-up questions, as well as any other information you provide to us in this context.

If you send us an inquiry through the platform, we may, depending on the type of response required, also refer you to other secure communication channels that guarantee confidentiality. You always have the option to send confidential inquiries to the address stated in our imprint or in this privacy policy. Depending on the inquiry and what is appropriate, our contact may take place electronically, by phone, or by mail.

We process your personal data to respond to user inquiries, requests for materials, etc., based on the following legal grounds:

• to protect our legitimate interests under Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest lies in properly responding to or handling customer inquiries;
• If the inquiry aims at concluding a contract, the additional legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

 

VI. Categories of Recipients

We generally only share your data with third parties if this is legally permitted or required, or if you have given your consent. We also share your data with the service providers we work with to the extent necessary to provide our services. We limit the sharing of data to what is necessary for us to deliver our services to you. Some of our service providers use your data as processors and are then strictly bound by our instructions on how to handle your data. In other cases, the recipients handle your data independently, which we provide to them.

Below, we list the categories of recipients of your data:

• Photographers who take pictures at our events, 
• Service providers who help us deliver our (online) products, 
• Payment service providers and banks to collect outstanding payments from accounts or to pay out refunds, 
• Call centers and claims processors to receive and handle your inquiries and complaints, 
• Agencies, printing companies, and lettershops that support us in carrying out advertising campaigns, competitions, promotions, etc., 
• Providers of video conferencing systems and training to make relevant eLearning programs available (e.g., Microsoft and GoTo Technologies Ireland Unlimited Company), 
• IT service providers who, among other things, store data, assist with system administration and maintenance, as well as file archivers and destroyers, 
• Credit agencies when retrieving a credit report, 
• Companies that acquire assets/capital from Netcterea Software Services GmbH (e.g., in a business purchase, merger, liquidation/insolvency/dissolution, etc.), 
• debt collection agencies and legal advisors when asserting our claims, 
• public authorities and institutions as far as we are legally required to.

 

VII. Transfer to Third Countries

We use service providers that are, among others, based in the USA, like Google. In the context of using cookies and similar applications, we transfer, for example, your IP address, or your shortened IP address, as well as possibly other data to countries outside the European Union ("EU") or the European Economic Area ("EEA"), so-called "third countries." Your data may also be transferred to third countries when using social media. We have no influence over this. More information about transfers in the context of social media can be found in the privacy policies of the providers linked under section V.

Apart from that, data transfers to third countries only occur if this is necessary for the execution of our contractual relationships or legally required (e.g., tax reporting obligations), if you have given us consent, or within the scope of order processing.

When transferring data to third countries, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are implemented to guarantee an adequate level of data protection in accordance with Articles 44 et seq. of the GDPR.

If service providers in third countries are used and we can influence them, they are obliged (possibly in addition to instructions) to comply with the EU level of data protection through the agreement of the EU standard contractual clauses. Alternatively, we transfer data based on Binding Corporate Rules or an adequacy decision. For more information, you can contact our Data Protection Officer.

Otherwise, we do not transfer your personal data to countries outside the EU or EEA, or to international organizations.

 

VIII. Duration of Storage

1.  Informational Use of the Website / Social Media Presence

When using our website purely for informational purposes, we store your personal data on our servers only for the duration of your visit to our website. After you leave our website, your personal data will be deleted within seven days.

When using our social media presence purely for informational purposes, the provider stores your personal data on their servers. Personal data and installed cookies are generally deleted by the provider. However, we do not know the exact storage and deletion periods, but they can possibly be found in the respective privacy policies linked under Section IV.1.

1. Active Use of the Website / Social Media Presence 

When you actively use our website or social media presence, we initially store your personal data for the duration of responding to your inquiry or for the duration of our business relationship. This also includes the potential future and actual initiation of a contract (pre-contractual legal relationship) as well as the execution of a contract. The log files for login (see section III. 2. b)) are stored for 90 days for security reasons and support requests and are then deleted. We process your data for as long as you subscribe to our newsletter or customer magazine, or until you withdraw your consent to receive them.

In addition, we will then store your personal data until any legal claims arising from our relationship with you expire, so that we can possibly use them as evidence. The statute of limitations is usually between 1 and 3 years but can be up to 30 years.

Once the statute of limitations has expired, we will delete your personal data, unless there is a legal obligation to retain it, for example under the Commercial Code (§§ 238, 257 para. 4 HGB) or the Fiscal Code (§ 147 paras. 3, 4 AO). These retention obligations can range from two to ten years. 

 

IX. Your Rights as a Data Subject

If personal data about you is being processed, you are a "data subject" under the DSGVO (GDPR). You have the following rights toward us as the controller, which you can exercise.

Your data subject rights are as follows:

• Right of access: You can request information about whether we process personal data about you. If this is the case, you have the right to access this personal data as well as other information related to the processing (Art. 15 GDPR). Please note that this right of access may be limited or excluded in certain cases.
• Right to rectification: If personal data about you is not (or no longer) accurate or is incomplete, you can request the correction and, if necessary, completion of this data (Art. 16 GDPR). 
• Right to deletion or restriction of processing: If the legal conditions are met, you can request the deletion of your personal data (Art. 17 GDPR) or the restriction of the processing of this data (Art. 18 GDPR). However, the right to deletion under Art. 17(1) and (2) GDPR does not apply, among other cases, if the processing of personal data is necessary to fulfill a legal obligation (Art. 17(3)(b) GDPR). 
• Right to object: For reasons arising from your particular situation, you can also object to the processing of personal data concerning you by us at any time (Art. 21 GDPR). If the legal conditions are met, we process in d
• Right to data portability: You have the right, under the conditions of Art. 20 GDPR, to request that we provide you with the personal data concerning you that you have given us, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format. 
• Right to withdraw your data protection consent: You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. The withdrawal only applies to the future; that is, the lawfulness of processing based on the consent up to the time of withdrawal is not affected. 

• Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: Without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, you (the data subject) have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority – in particular in the Member State of your residence – if you believe that our processing of your personal data violates the GDPR.

   

The supervisory authority responsible for us is:

Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen

Kavalleriestr. 2-4

40213 Düsseldorf

Phone: 0211/38424-0

Fax: 0211/38424-10

Email: poststelle@ldi.nrw.de

However, we recommend that you first always direct any complaints to our data protection officer.

Your requests to exercise your rights should, if possible, be addressed in writing or electronically to the address given above under section I or directly to our data protection officer.

 

X. Scope of Your Duties to Provide Data

Basically, you are not required to provide us with your personal data. However, if you choose not to, we may, among other things, only be able to provide you with our services and our platform to a limited extent, may not respond to your inquiries, may not send you information, etc., and may not enter into a contract with you.

 

XI. Profiling / Automated Decision-Making

Due to legal requirements, we are obligated to prevent money laundering and fraud. Data evaluations are also carried out in this context. These measures also serve to protect you.

Otherwise, we do not carry out profiling and do not use fully automated decision-making processes in accordance with Article 22 of the GDPR. If we should use additional procedures in individual cases in the future, we will inform you separately about this.

Right to Object, Article 21 GDPR

You have the right to object at any time to the processing of your data that is carried out based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (data processing based on a balancing of interests) or Article 6(1)(e) GDPR (data processing in the public interest), if there are reasons arising from your particular situation. This also applies to profiling based on this provision within the meaning of Article 4(4) GDPR. 

If you object, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.

We also process your personal data in individual cases to carry out direct marketing. If you do not wish to receive advertising, you have the right to object at any time; this also applies to profiling as far as it is related to such direct advertising. We will respect this objection in the future.

We will no longer process your data for direct marketing purposes if you object to processing for these purposes.

You can make your objection informally and it should preferably be sent to the address mentioned under Section I.

 

XII. Changes

We adjust this privacy policy from time to time, for example, when there are changes to data processing or legal requirements. Therefore, please check this privacy policy regularly to view the current version.