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Data protection declaration

Responsible according to article 4 paragraph 7 DSGVO

Dr. Stefan Heinze – Notary Public Administrator Dr. Wagner
Gereonshof 2
50670 Cologne
T +49 221 179360
F +49 221 120014
Email: info@schmitzheinze.de

Data protection officer

Mr. Dipl.-Inform. Olaf Tenti
GDI Society for Data Protection and Information Security mbH
Körnerstrasse 45, 58095 Hagen

Phone: +49 (0)2331/356832-0
E-mail: datenschutz@gdi-mbh.eu
Internet: www.gdi-mbh.eu

Security and protection of your personal data

We consider it our primary responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of the personal data you provide and to protect it from unauthorized access. Therefore, we apply the utmost care and state-of-the-art security standards to ensure maximum protection of your personal data.

As a company under private law, we are subject to the provisions of the European Basic Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO) and the regulations of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). We have taken technical and organisational measures to ensure that the regulations on data protection are observed both by us and by our external service providers.

Definitions of terms

The legislator requires that personal data are processed lawfully, fairly and in a way that is comprehensible to the data subject (“lawfulness, fairness, transparency”). To ensure this, we inform you about the individual legal definitions that are also used in this data protection declaration:

1. personal data

“personal data’ shall mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter referred to as ‘data subject’); an identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, a location data, an on-line identifier, or one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person

2. processing

“Processing” means any operation or set of operations, performed upon personal data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection, recording, organisation, organisation, filing, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

3. restriction of processing

“Restriction of processing” means the marking of stored personal data with a view to limiting their processing in the future.

4. profiling

“profiling” means any automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular with a view to analysing or predicting aspects relating to the performance of work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, conduct, location or movement of that natural person

5. pseudonymisation

“pseudonymisation” means the processing of personal data in such a way that the personal data cannot be traced back to a specific data subject without the inclusion of additional information, provided that this additional information is kept separately and is subject to technical and organisational measures which ensure that the personal data cannot be traced back to an identified or identifiable natural person

6. file system

“‘filing system’ means any structured collection of personal data accessible according to specific criteria, whether centralised, decentralised or organised according to functional or geographical criteria

7. responsible person

“controller’ shall mean any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or national law, provision may be made for the controller or for the specific criteria for his or her designation in accordance with Union or national law

8. processor

“processor” means any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller

9. recipient

“‘recipient’ means any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body to whom personal data are disclosed, whether or not that person is a third party However, authorities which may receive personal data in the course of a specific investigation carried out pursuant to Union law or the law of the Member States shall not be considered as recipients; the processing of such data by those authorities shall be carried out in accordance with the applicable data protection rules and in compliance with the purposes of the processing.

10. third parties

“third party” means any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body, other than the data subject, the controller, the processor and the persons who, under the direct authority of the controller or the processor, are authorized to process the personal data

11. consent

The data subject’s “consent” shall mean any freely given specific, informed and unequivocal expression of his or her wishes in the form of a declaration or other unequivocal affirmative act by which the data subject signifies his or her agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her.

Lawfulness of the processing

The processing of personal data is lawful only if there is a legal basis for the processing. Pursuant to Article 6 (1) lit. a – f DSGVO, the legal basis for processing may be, in particular

  • The data subject has given his consent to the processing of personal data relating to him for one or more specific purposes;
  • processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
  • the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject;
  • processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person;
  • the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;
  • the processing is necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the controller or of a third party except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require the protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.

Information on the collection of personal data

(1) In the following we inform about the collection of personal data when using our website. Personal data are e.g. name, address, e-mail addresses, user behaviour.

(2) If you contact us by e-mail or contact form, the data you provide (your e-mail address, your name and telephone number, if applicable) will be stored by us to answer your questions. We delete the data arising in this connection after storage is no longer necessary, or processing is restricted if there are legal obligations to retain data.

Collection of personal data when visiting our website

When using the website for informational purposes only, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise provide us with information, we only collect the personal data that your browser sends to our server. If you wish to view our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display our website and to ensure stability and security (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f DSGVO):

  • IP address
  • date and time of request
  • time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
  • content of the request (specific page)
  • Access status/HTTP status code
  • each transferred data quantity
  • Website from which the request comes
  • Browser
  • operating system and its interface
  • language and version of the browser software.

Use of cookies

(1) In addition to the data mentioned above, cookies are stored on your computer when you use our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your hard drive in accordance with the browser you are using and through which certain information flows to the site that sets the cookie. Cookies cannot execute programs or transfer viruses to your computer. They serve to make the Internet offer altogether more user-friendly and effective.

(2) This website uses the following types of cookies, the scope and function of which are explained below:

  • Transient Cookies (dazu a.)
  • persistent cookies (for this purpose b.).
  • Transient cookies are automatically deleted when you close the browser. This includes in particular session cookies. These store a so-called session ID, with which various requests from your browser can be assigned to the shared session. This allows your computer to be recognized when you return to our website. The session cookies are deleted when you log out or close the browser.
  • Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a preset period of time, which can vary depending on the cookie. You can delete the cookies in the security settings of your browser at any time.
  • You can configure your browser settings according to your wishes and
    z. e.g. refuse to accept third party cookies or all cookies. So-called “third party cookies” are cookies that were set by a third party, i.e. not by the actual website on which you are currently located. We would like to point out that by deactivating cookies you may not be able to use all the functions of this website.
  • We use cookies to be able to identify you for subsequent visits if you have an account with us. Otherwise you would have to log in again for each visit.
  • The Flash cookies used are not registered by your browser, but by your Flash plug-in. Furthermore we use HTML5 storage objects, which are stored on your device. These objects store the required data regardless of the browser you use and do not have an automatic expiration date. If you do not want Flash cookies to be processed, you must install a corresponding add-on, e.g. “Better Privacy” for Mozilla Firefox (https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/) or the Adobe Flash Killer cookie for Google Chrome. You can prevent the use of HTML5 storage objects by setting your browser to private mode. We also recommend that you regularly delete your cookies and browser history manually.

Additional functions and offers of our website

(1) In addition to the purely informative use of our website, we offer various services which you can use if you are interested. For this purpose, you will generally have to provide additional personal data which we use to provide the respective service and to which the aforementioned data processing principles apply.

(2) In some cases we use external service providers to process your data. These have been carefully selected and commissioned by us, are bound by our instructions and are checked regularly.

(3) Furthermore, we may pass on your personal data to third parties if we offer campaigns, competitions, the conclusion of contracts or similar services together with partners. You will receive more detailed information on this when you provide your personal data or in the description of the offer below.

(4) If our service providers or partners are based in a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we will inform you of the consequences of this in the description of the offer.

Children

Our offer is basically aimed at adults. Persons under 18 years of age should not transmit personal data to us without the consent of their parents or legal guardians.

Use of Google Analytics

(1) This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. However, in the event that IP anonymisation is activated on this website, your IP address will be shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before this happens. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transferred to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on the website activities and to provide further services to the website operator in connection with the use of the website and the internet.

(2) The IP address transmitted by your browser within the framework of Google Analytics is not combined with other data from Google.

(3) You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the collection of the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) to Google and the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

(4) This website uses Google Analytics with the extension “_anonymizeIp()”. This allows IP addresses to be further processed in a shortened form, thus excluding the possibility of personal references. If the data collected about you contains a personal reference, this is immediately excluded and the personal data is immediately deleted.

(5) We use Google Analytics to analyse and regularly improve 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. For the exceptional cases in which personal data is transferred to the USA, Google has subjected itself to the EU-US Privacy Shield, https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework. The legal basis for the use of Google Analytics is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f DSGVO.

(6) Third party information: Google Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, Fax: +353 (1) 436 1001. terms of use:

http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html, overview of data protection: http://www.google.com/intl/de/analytics/learn/privacy.html, and the data protection declaration: http://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.

(7) This website also uses Google Analytics for a cross-device analysis of visitor flows, which is carried out via a user ID. You can deactivate the cross-device analysis of your usage in your customer account under “My Data”, “Personal Data”.

Rights of the person concerned

(1) Revocation of consent

If the processing of personal data is based on a granted consent, you have the right to revoke this consent at any time. Revocation of consent does not affect the lawfulness of the processing that has taken place on the basis of the consent until revocation.

You can contact us at any time to exercise your right of revocation.

(2) Right to confirmation

You have the right to request confirmation from the data controller as to whether we are processing personal data concerning you. You can request such confirmation at any time by contacting us at the contact details given above.

(3) Right to information

If personal data is processed, you can request information about this personal data and about the following information at any time:

  • the processing purposes;
  • the categories of personal data processed;
  • the recipients or categories of recipients to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed, in particular to recipients in third countries or international organisations;
  • if possible, the planned duration for which the personal data will be stored or, if this is not possible, the criteria for determining this duration;
  • the existence of a right of rectification or erasure of personal data concerning you or of a right to have the processing limited by the controller or to object to such processing;
  • the existence of a right of appeal to a supervisory authority;
  • if the personal data are not collected from the data subject, all available information on the origin of the data;
  • the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, in accordance with Article 22(1) and (4) of the DPA and, at least in these cases, meaningful information on the logic involved and the scope and intended impact of such processing on the data subject.

If personal data are transferred to a third country or to an international organisation, you have the right to be informed of the appropriate guarantees in accordance with Article 46 FADP in connection with the transfer. We will provide a copy of the personal data that is the subject of the processing. For any further copies that you personally request, we may charge you a reasonable fee based on the administrative costs. If you make the request electronically, the information shall be provided in a standard electronic format, unless the request states otherwise. The right to receive a copy under paragraph 3 shall not prejudice the rights and freedoms of others.

(4) Right of rectification

You have the right to ask us to correct incorrect personal data concerning you without delay. Taking into account the purposes of the processing, you have the right to request the completion of incomplete personal data, including by means of a supplementary declaration.

(5) Right of deletion (“right to be forgotten”)

You have the right to request the controller to delete personal data relating to you immediately and we are obliged to delete personal data immediately if any of the following reasons apply:

  • The personal data are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed.
  • The data subject withdraws the consent on which the processing was based pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) or Article 9(2)(a) of the DPA and there is no other legal basis for the processing.
  • The data subject lodges an objection to the processing in accordance with Article 21 paragraph 1 DPA and there are no legitimate legitimate grounds for processing, or the data subject lodges an objection to the processing in accordance with Article 21 paragraph 2 DPA.
  • The personal data were processed unlawfully.
  • The deletion of personal data is necessary to comply with a legal obligation under Union law or the law of the Member States to which the controller is subject.
  • The personal data was collected in relation to information society services offered in accordance with Article 8 paragraph 1 of the DSGVO.

Where the controller has made the personal data public and is obliged to delete them in accordance with paragraph 1, he shall take reasonable measures, including technical measures, taking into account available technology and implementation costs, to inform data controllers who process the personal data that a data subject has requested them to delete all links to those personal data or to delete copies or replications of those personal data.

The right of cancellation (“right to be forgotten”) does not apply insofar as the processing is necessary:

  • to exercise the right to freedom of expression and information;
  • in order to comply with a legal obligation to which the processing is subject under Union or national law or in order to perform a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;
  • on grounds of public interest in the field of public health in accordance with Article 9(2)(h) and (i) and Article 9(3) of the DSGVO;
  • for archiving, scientific or historical research purposes in the public interest or for statistical purposes pursuant to Article 89 paragraph 1 DSGVO, insofar as the law referred to in paragraph 1 is likely to render impossible or seriously prejudice the attainment of the objectives of such processing, or
  • to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.

(6) Right to restrict processing

You have the right to ask us to limit the processing of your personal data if one of the following conditions is met:

  • the accuracy of the personal data is disputed by the data subject, for a period of time that allows the controller to verify the accuracy of the personal data,
  • the processing is unlawful and the data subject refuses the deletion of personal data and instead requests the restriction of the use of personal data;
  • the controller no longer needs the personal data for the purposes of the processing, but the data subject needs them in order to exercise or defend his rights, or
  • the data subject has lodged an objection to the processing pursuant to paragraph 1 DSGVO, as long as it is not yet clear whether the legitimate reasons of the controller outweigh those of the data subject.

Where processing has been restricted in accordance with the above conditions, such personal data, apart from being stored, shall only be processed with the consent of the data subject or for the purpose of pursuing, exercising or defending legal claims or protecting the rights of another natural or legal person or on grounds of an important public interest of the Union or a Member State.

In order to exercise the right to limit the processing, the data subject may at any time contact us at the contact details given above.

(7) Right to data transferability

You have the right to receive the personal data concerning you that you have provided us in a structured, common and machine-readable format and you have the right to transfer this data to another person in charge without interference from the person in charge to whom the personal data was provided, provided that:

  • the processing is based on a consent pursuant to paragraph 1 letter a or Article 9 paragraph 2 letter a or on a contract pursuant to Article 6 paragraph 1 letter b DSGVO and
  • the processing is carried out by means of automated procedures.

When exercising the right to transfer data in accordance with paragraph 1, you have the right to obtain that the personal data be transferred directly from one controller to another controller, as far as technically feasible. Exercising the right to data transferability shall not affect the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”). This right shall not apply to processing necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

(8) Right of objection

You have the right to object at any time, for reasons arising from your particular situation, to the processing of personal data relating to you that is carried out on the basis of Article 6(1)(e) or (f) FADP, including profiling based on these provisions. The controller no longer processes the personal data unless he can demonstrate compelling legitimate reasons for processing which outweigh the interests, rights and freedoms of the data subject, or unless the processing is for the purpose of asserting, exercising or defending legal claims.

Where personal data are processed for the purpose of direct marketing, you have the right to object at any time to the processing of personal data relating to you for the purpose of such marketing, including profiling, where it is linked to such direct marketing. If you object to processing for the purposes of direct marketing, your personal data will no longer be processed for those purposes.

In the context of the use of information society services, and notwithstanding Directive 2002/58/EC, you may exercise your right to object by means of automated procedures using technical specifications.

You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to the processing of personal data concerning you which is carried out for the purposes of scientific or historical research or for statistical purposes as referred to in Article 89(1), except where such processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.

You may exercise the right of objection at any time by contacting the controller concerned.

(9) Automated decisions in individual cases including profiling

You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, that has legal effect on you or significantly affects you in a similar manner. This shall not apply if the decision:

  • is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract between the data subject and the controller,
  • is authorised by Union or national legislation to which the controller is subject and that legislation provides for adequate measures to safeguard the rights and freedoms and legitimate interests of the data subject, or
  • with the express consent of the person concerned.

The controller shall take appropriate measures to safeguard the rights and freedoms and legitimate interests of the data subject, which shall include at least the right to obtain the intervention of the controller, to express his point of view and to challenge the decision.

The data subject may exercise this right at any time by contacting the person responsible.

(10) Right to appeal to a supervisory authority

They shall also have, without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, the right to complain to a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State in which they are resident, in their place of employment or in the place where the alleged infringement occurred, if the data subject considers that the processing of personal data relating to him or her is being carried out in breach of this Regulation.

(11) Right to an effective judicial remedy

Without prejudice to any available administrative or extrajudicial remedy, including the right to appeal to a supervisory authority in accordance with Article 77 DSGVO, they shall have the right to an effective judicial remedy if they consider that their rights under this Regulation have been infringed as a result of their personal data being processed in breach of this Regulation.

Google reCAPTCHA

We use “Google reCAPTCHA” (hereinafter “reCAPTCHA”) on our websites.provider is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”).
The purpose of reCAPTCHA is to check whether the data input on our websites (e.g. in a contact form) is done by a human being or by an automated program. For this purpose, reCAPTCHA analyses the behaviour of the website visitor on the basis of various characteristics. This analysis starts automatically as soon as the website visitor enters the website. For analysis purposes, reCAPTCHA evaluates various information (e.g. IP address, time spent on the website or mouse movements made by the user). The data collected during the analysis is forwarded to Google.

The reCAPTCHA analyses run completely in the background. Website visitors are not informed that an analysis is taking place.

The data processing is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in protecting his web offers from abusive automated spying and from SPAM.

Further information on Google reCAPTCHA and Google’s privacy policy can be found in the following links: https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/ and https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/android.html.

Google Web Fonts

This site uses so-called web fonts, which are provided by Google, for the uniform display of fonts. When you call up a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into its browser cache in order to display texts and fonts correctly.

To do this, the browser you are using must connect to Google’s servers. This enables Google to know that our website has been accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web Fonts is in the interest of a uniform and attractive presentation of our online offers. This represents a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO.

If your browser does not support Web Fonts, a standard font from your computer will be used.

Further information on Google Web Fonts can be found under https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in the Google data protection declaration: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

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Social media

Twitter Plugin

Functions of the service Twitter are integrated on this website. These functions are offered by Twitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07, Ireland. By using Twitter and the “Re-Tweet” function, the websites you visit are linked to your Twitter account and made known to other users. In the process, data is also transferred to Twitter. We would like to point out that we, as the provider of the pages, have no knowledge of the content of the transmitted data or its use by Twitter. For more information, please refer to the privacy policy of Twitter at: https://twitter.com/de/privacy.

The use of the Twitter plugin is based on Art. 6 (1) lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the widest possible visibility in social media. If a corresponding consent has been requested, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 (1) lit. a DSGVO; the consent can be revoked at any time.

The data transfer to the USA is based on the standard contractual clauses of the EU Commission. Details can be found here: https://gdpr.twitter.com/en/controller-to-controller-transfers.html.

You can change your privacy settings on Twitter in your account settings at https://twitter.com/account/settings.

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