Privacy Policy

We respects any concerns regarding the protection of the security and privacy of personal data.
Therefore, we processes your personal data in compliance with applicable laws on data protection and data security and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Scope of personal data processing

As a general rule we do not process our users' personal data unless it is necessary to enable us to present a functioning website and our content and services. As a matter of course, our users' personal data is not processed without the user's consent. One exception would be cases in which it is not possible to obtain the consent beforehand for practical reasons, and/or if processing of the data is permitted by legal provisions.
In particular, your data is processed for the following purposes:
The online services offered on our Websites (e.g., newsletter, contact form, etc.) are specifically designed to help us reach our business objectives. To this end, we need to continuously optimise the services we provide online (customer satisfaction, security, user friendliness, etc.).
The main reason we process data is if it is needed to substantiate the legal relationship, or to design or amend the content thereof.
To send you information, including advertising materials (e.g., the newsletter).
To lend our Websites still greater appeal; to identify points of particular interest and also publicise usage-based online advertising.
To analyse and evaluate visitor access events and also to detect any technical problems and respond to them in good time.

Legal basis for processing personal data

If we obtain consent from the data subject to carry out processing operations on personal data, our activities are governed by GDPR as the legal basis therefor.
If it is necessary to process personal data in order to fulfil a contract to which the data subject is a contracting party, our activities are governed by GDPR as the legal basis. This also applies for processing activities essential for pre-contractual arrangements, in response to enquiries about our products or services, for example.
If we need to process personal data to comply with a legal obligation to which our company is subject, (e.g., tax obligations), the legal basis for this is GDPR.
If it is essential to process personal data to protect the vital interests of the data subject or another natural person, the legal basis therefor is GDPR.
If such processing is essential in order to safeguard the legitimate interests of our company or of a third party and these interests are not outweighed by the interests, basic rights and basic freedoms of the data subject, GDPR serves as the legal basis therefor. This applies e.g. to collections and analyses for statistical purposes, which we carry out to optimise our web offerings.

Retention period and erasure of personal data

We only process and store your personal data for the period necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it is stored. When its purpose has been fulfilled or ceases to exist, your personal data is erased or blocked. It can be stored for longer than this if such provisions appear in the European or national legislatures in legally binding ordinances, laws or other regulations of the European Union to which the controller is subject. The data is also blocked or erased when a retention period stipulated in the aforementioned norms expires, unless there is a pressing need for continued retention of the data to enable the conclusion or fulfilment of a contract.

Providing Websites and compiling log files

Every time they are accessed, our Websites automatically capture a range of general data and information, which is stored temporarily in a server's logfiles. In this context, the following data may be captured:

  • Access to the Website (date and time)
  • How you came to the Website (previous page, hyperlink etc.)
  • Quel navigateur (et version) vous utilisez
  • The operating system you use
  • Which Internet service provider you use
  • Your IP address, which is assigned to your computer by your Internet service provider for when you connect to the Internet

In rare cases, this (technical) data in the logfiles may be personal data. The temporary storage of the IP address by the system is necessary to enable the Website to be delivered to the user's computer. To allow this, the user's IP address has to remain stored for the duration of the session. As a rule, however, we only use this data if it is absolutely necessary for technical reasons to ensure operation and protect our Websites from attacks and misuse; in pseudonymised or anonymised form it is also used for purposes of advertising, market research and to help us design our services to meet current needs. This is why users' IP addresses are stored as a technical precaution for a period not exceeding 7 days. They may be stored for longer. In this case, the users' IP addresses are erased or masked so that it is no longer possible to make a connection to the accessing client. This data is not stored together with any of the user's personal data. The legalbasis for temporary storage of the data and logfiles is GDPR. The capture of the data in order to deliver the Website and storage of the data in logfiles are both essential for enabling operation of the Website. Consequently, the user has no right of objection in this case.

Data security on the Internet

The Worldwide Web is a publicly accessible system. If personal data is divulged online, this data is transmitted at the user's risk. The data can be lost in transit or may fall into the hands of unauthorised third parties. We have adopted measures to guarantee the confidentiality and security of your personal data. Your data is protected conscientiously from being lost, destroyed, falsified, manipulated or exposed to unauthorised access or unauthorised disclosure e.g., by the following methods:

  • If you transmit your personal data to us via our Website or in an email, it will only be used for the purpose stated before.
  • Our employees are bound individually to observe a duty to confidentiality and are obliged to observe the principles of data secrecy.
  • Our security measures reflect the current state-of-the-art as far as reasonably possible.
  • The security of our systems is checked regularly, so that we can permanently protect the data entrusted to us from any damage, loss or access.
  • The data protection officer works continuously to ensure that the provisions of the law are maintained.

Recommendations for improving your personal data security

You can configure your browser so that you are informed as soon as cookies are to be set, so that you can accept them globally or on a case by case basis, or reject them globally You can see whether an Internet connection is secure, among other things, from the address. If the address begins with https, this indicates that the connection is secure (e.g. https://....de). We are making every effort to convert all of our Websites to https where this has not yet been done. Another indicator is the symbol of a locked padlock in the bottom icon tray of your browser. We will never ask you to communicate confidential data such as a PIN number or your password by email, over the phone or by SMS, nor will we ask you to return or specify this data or enter access data directly.

Updating of this Data Protection Statement

It may be necessary (e.g., in the light of changes to the law) to update our Data Protection Statement. We therefore reserve the right to amend or supplement this Data Protection Statement whenever necessary. We will publish the change here. We therefore recommend that you review this Data Protection Statement regularly to ensure that your knowledge is up to date.