Data Privacy Policy

Sect. 1 General

We will process your personal data (e.g. title, name, address, e-mail address, phone number) solely in accordance with the provisions of the German data protection law and the data protection law of the European Union (EU). The following provisions will inform you, besides the information about the processing purposes, recipients, legal bases and storage periods, also about your rights and the controller for your data processing. This privacy policy applies only to our websites. If you are directed to other sites via links on our pages, please familiarise yourself with the respective use of your data there.

Sect. 2 Contact us

(1) Purpose of data processing

Your personal data you provide us by e-mail, contact form etc., will be processed to answer your inquiries. You are not obliged to provide us with your personal data but we would not be able to answer your inquiries sent by e-mail without your e-mail address.

(2) Legal basis

a) If your explicit consent is given for the processing of your data, the legal ground for this processing is set out in Art. 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR.

b) If your personal data is processed for the purpose of contract performance, the legal ground for this processing is set out in Art. 6 (1) (b) of the GDPR.

c) The legal ground for all other cases (especially when using a contact form) is set out in Art. 6 (1) (f) of the GDPR.

(3) Legitimate interest

Our legitimate interest in data processing is to communicate with you in a timely manner and to answer your queries cost-effectively. If you provide us with your address, we reserve the right to use it for direct postal marketing. You can protect your interest in data protection by transferring of data efficiently (e.g. using a pseudonym).

(4) Recipient categories

Provider of hosting, service provider for direct marketing

(5) Duration of storage

Your data will be deleted if it can be inferred from the circumstances that your queries or questions have been completely clarified.

However, if a contract is concluded, the data required by commercial and tax law will be retained by us for the periods as required by law, i.g. generally for ten years (cf. § 257 HGB, § 147 AO).

(6) Right of revocation

You have the right to revoke your consent for processing at any time in compliance with your consent.

Sect. 3 Newsletter

(1) Subscription and purpose of processing

When you subscribe to our newsletter, we process your first name, surname and e-mail address in order to send you the newsletter and address you personally. Without your e-mail address, we cannot send you the newsletter. The processing for newsletter delivery is based on your consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR.

(2) Double opt-in and proof of consent

After submitting the subscription form, you will receive an e-mail containing a confirmation link. We will not send you the newsletter until you have confirmed your subscription by using this link (double opt-in).

To document the subscription and your consent, we record the IP address, date and time, browser identification string (user agent) and the exact wording of the consent displayed to you, both when the subscription form is submitted and when the confirmation link is used. The record enables us to demonstrate consent in accordance with Art. 7 (1) GDPR and to prevent or investigate unauthorised subscriptions. The legal basis for this record is Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in demonstrating a legally compliant newsletter subscription and protecting the subscription process against misuse.

The consent wording used for the subscription is:

(3) Recipient and processor

We use STRATO GmbH, Otto-Ostrowski-Straße 7, 10249 Berlin, Germany, as a processor for hosting the newsletter data and for technical e-mail delivery. STRATO processes the data on our instructions and on the basis of a data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR.

(4) Duration of storage

We store the data required for delivery for as long as your newsletter subscription remains active. Unconfirmed subscriptions are deleted regularly as soon as the data is no longer required to complete the double opt-in process or to investigate a possible misuse of an e-mail address.

After you unsubscribe, your data will be removed from the active newsletter distribution list. Data required to prove consent previously given may be retained beyond that point if and for as long as this is necessary to comply with our accountability obligations or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. The legal basis for this limited retention is Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in demonstrating that the newsletter was sent lawfully. These records will be used only for the stated purposes and deleted as soon as they are no longer required for them.

(5) Withdrawal of consent

You may withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future, in particular by using the unsubscribe link contained in every newsletter or by contacting us using the controller's contact details set out below. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out on the basis of your consent before its withdrawal. After withdrawing your consent, you will no longer receive the newsletter.

Sect. 4 Your rights as a data subject

If your personal data is being processed, you are the ‘data subject’ in terms of GDPR and you have the following rights towards us, the controller:

1. Right to information

You may request us to provide information about your personal data processed by us under Article 15 of the GDPR.

2. Right to rectification

If your personal data provided to us is not up to date or not accurate you have the right to ask for modifications to your personal data under Article 16 of the GDPR. You also have the right to request us to complete an incomplete data.

3. Right to erasure

You have the right to have your personal data erased and ask for deletion of your data under Article 17 of the GDPR.

4. Right to restriction of processing

You have the right to restrict the processing your personal data under Article 18 of the GDPR.

5. Right to data portability

You have the right referred to in Article 20 of the GDPR to receive your personal data provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to another controller.

6. Right to revoke the consent given under data protection law

You have the right referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 7 to withdraw your given consent based on the data protection provisions at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of the processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

7. Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

If you consider that the processing of personal data relating to you infringes the GDPR, you have the right referring to in Article 77 of the GDPR to complain to the supervisory authority against the processing of your personal data (in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement ).

Responsible for data processing: