Privacy statement

1. Data protection at a glance
General information

The following notes provide a simple overview of what happens to your personal information when you visit our website. Personal information is any information that personally identifies you. For more detailed information on data protection, please refer to our privacy policy listed below this text.

Data collection on our website

Who is responsible for data collection on this website?

The data processing on this website is carried out by the website operator. Their contact data can be found in the imprint of this website.

How do we collect your data?

On the one hand, your data is collected by you communicating it to us. This may, for example, involve data that you enter in a contact form.

Other data is automatically collected by our IT systems when you visit the website. These are mainly technical data (e.g. Internet browser, operating system or time of the page call). This data is collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

What do we use your data for?

Some of the data is collected in order to ensure that the website is error-free. Other data may be used to analyse your user behaviour.

What rights do you have with regard to your data?

You have the right at any time and free of charge to obtain information about the origin, recipient and purpose of your stored personal data. You also have the right to demand the correction, blocking or deletion of this data. You can contact us at any time at the address given in the imprint for this and other questions on the subject of data protection. Furthermore, you have the right to appeal to the responsible supervisory authority.

2. Analysis Tools and Tools from Third-Party Providers

When you visit our website, your surfing behaviour can be statistically evaluated. This is done primarily with cookies and so-called analysis programs. The analysis of your surfing behaviour is usually anonymous; the surfing behaviour cannot be traced back to you. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. Detailed information on this can be found in the following privacy statement.

You can object to this analysis. We will inform you about the possibilities of objection in this data protection declaration.

General information and mandatory information
data protection

The operators of these pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and according to the legal data protection regulations as well as this data protection explanation.

If you use this website, various personal data will be collected. Personal data is data with which you can be personally identified. This data protection declaration explains which data we collect and for what purpose we use it. It also explains how and for what purpose this is done.

We would like to point out that data transmission over the Internet (e.g. communication by e-mail) can be subject to security gaps. A complete protection of the data against access by third parties is not possible.

Revocation of your consent to data processing

Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You can revoke any consent you have already given at any time. For this purpose, an informal e-mail notification to us is sufficient. The legality of the data processing carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

Right of appeal to the responsible supervisory authority

In the event of breaches of data protection law, the person concerned has the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority. The responsible supervisory authority for data protection issues is the data protection officer of the federal state in which our company is based. A list of data protection officers and their contact details can be found at the following link: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_links-node.html.

Right to data transferability

You have the right to have data which we process automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfilment of a contract handed over to you or to a third party in a common, machine-readable format. If you request the direct transfer of the data to another responsible person, this will only be done as far as it is technically feasible.

SSL or TLS encryption

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or enquiries that you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser of “http://” to “https://” and the lock symbol in your browser line.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Information, blocking, deletion

Within the framework of the applicable legal provisions, you have the right at any time to free information about your stored personal data, their origin and recipient and the purpose of data processing and, if applicable, a right to correction, blocking or deletion of this data. You can contact us at any time at the address given in the imprint for this and other questions on the subject of personal data.

3. Data collection on our website
Cookies

Some of the Internet pages use so-called cookies. Cookies do not damage your computer and do not contain viruses. Cookies serve to make our offer more user-friendly, more effective and safer. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called “session cookies”. They are automatically deleted at the end of your visit. Other cookies remain stored on your end device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognize your browser during your next visit.

You can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and only allow cookies in individual cases, accept cookies for certain cases or generally exclude and activate the automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. If cookies are deactivated, the functionality of this website may be restricted.

Cookies that are required to carry out the electronic communication process or to provide certain functions you require (e.g. shopping basket function) are stored on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a justified interest in the storage of cookies for the technically error-free and optimised provision of its services. Insofar as other cookies (e.g. cookies for analysing your surfing behaviour) are stored, these are dealt with separately in this data protection declaration.

Server log files

The provider of these pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:

Browser type and browser version
used operating system
Referrer URL
Hostname of the accessing computer
Time of the server request
IP address
These data will not be merged with other data sources.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO, which permits the processing of data for the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures.

Contact form

If you send us enquiries via the contact form, your details from the enquiry form including the contact data you provided there will be stored by us for the purpose of processing the enquiry and in the event of follow-up questions. These data will not be passed on without your consent.

The processing of the data entered in the contact form is therefore carried out exclusively on the basis of your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke this consent at any time. For this purpose, an informal e-mail notification to us is sufficient. The legality of the data processing operations carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

The data entered by you in the contact form will remain with us until you request deletion, revoke your consent to storage or the purpose for data storage no longer applies (e.g. after your request has been processed). Mandatory legal provisions – in particular retention periods – remain unaffected.

Registration with Facebook Connect

Instead of registering directly on our website, you can use Facebook Connect to register. This service is provided by Facebook Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland.

If you decide to register with Facebook Connect and click on the “Login with Facebook” / “Connect with Facebook” button, you will automatically be redirected to the Facebook platform. There you can log in with your usage data. This links your Facebook profile to our website or services. This link gives us access to your data stored on Facebook. These are above all:

Facebook name
Facebook profile and cover picture
Facebook cover picture
E-mail address stored on Facebook
Facebook ID
Facebook friend lists
Facebook Likes (“Gradient-mir” information)
Birthday
sex
country
Language
This information is used to set up, provision and personalize your account.

Further information can be found in the Facebook Terms of Use and the Facebook Privacy Policy. These can be found at: https://de-de.facebook.com/about/privacy/ and https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/.

4. Social media
Google+ plugin

Our pages use functions of Google+. Provider is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Collection and sharing of information: You can use the Google+ button to publish information worldwide. The Google+ button provides you and other users with personalized content from Google and our partners. Google stores both information that you gave +1 for an item of content and information about the page you viewed when you clicked +1. Your +1 may be displayed as a clue along with your profile name and photo in Google services, such as search results or your Google profile, or elsewhere on websites and ads on the Internet.

Google records information about your +1 activity to improve Google services for you and others. To use the Google+ button, you must have a globally visible, public Google profile that includes at least the name you choose for the profile. This name is used in all Google services. In some cases, this name may also replace another name you used when sharing content through your Google Account. The identity of your Google profile may be displayed to users who know your email address or have other identifying information about you.

Use of Information Collected: In addition to the uses described above, the information you provide will be used in accordance with applicable Google privacy policies. Google may publish or share aggregated statistics about users’ +1 activity with users and partners, such as publishers, advertisers, or affiliates.

Instagram Plugin

On our pages functions of the service Instagram are integrated. These functions are provided by Instagram Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.

If you are logged into your Instagram account, you can link the contents of our pages to your Instagram profile by clicking the Instagram button. This allows Instagram to assign the visit to our pages to your user account. We would like to point out that, as the provider of the pages, we do not have any knowledge of the content of the transmitted data or of its use by Instagram.

For more information, please refer to Instagram’s Privacy Policy: https://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/.

5. Analysis Tools and Advertising
Google Analytics

This website uses functions of the web analysis service Google Analytics. The provider is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Google Analytics uses so-called “cookies”. These are text files which are stored on your computer and which enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will generally be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

Google Analytics cookies are stored on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analysing user behaviour in order to optimise both its website and its advertising.

IP anonymisation

We have enabled the IP Anonymization feature on this website. As a result, 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 prior to transmission to the USA. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address transmitted 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 website activity and to provide other services related to website activity and internet usage to the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics is not combined with other data from Google.

Browser Plugin

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. In addition, you can prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) as well as Google from processing this data by using the form and download and install the available browser plugin by clicking on the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

Opposition to data collection

You can prevent Google Analytics from collecting your information by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie is used to prevent your data from being collected on future visits to this website: Disable Google Analytics.

For more information on how Google Analytics uses user data, please refer to Google’s privacy policy: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.

Order data processing

We have concluded a contract with Google for order data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

Demographic characteristics of Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics’ “demographic features” feature. This allows reports to be generated that contain statements about the age, gender, and interests of site visitors. This data comes from interest-related advertising by Google and visitor data from third parties. This information cannot be associated with any specific individual. You can deactivate this function at any time via the ad settings in your Google Account or generally prohibit the collection of your data by Google Analytics as described under “Objection to data collection”.

Facebook Pixel

Our website uses the visitor action pixel of Facebook, Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (“Facebook”) to measure conversion.

This allows us to track the behavior of site visitors after they are redirected to the provider’s Web site by clicking on a Facebook ad. This allows the effectiveness of Facebook advertisements to be evaluated for statistical and market research purposes and future advertising measures to be optimized.

The data collected is anonymous to us as the operator of this website and we cannot draw any conclusions about the identity of the users. However, the data is stored and processed by Facebook so that a connection to the respective user profile is possible and Facebook can use the data for its own advertising purposes in accordance with the Facebook data usage guidelines. This may allow Facebook to serve advertisements on Facebook pages and outside Facebook. This use of information cannot be influenced by us as a site operator.

See Facebook’s Privacy Notice for more information about protecting your privacy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/.

You can also disable the remarketing feature “Custom Audiences” in the Advertisement Settings section of https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. You must be logged in to Facebook to do this.

If you do not have a Facebook account, you can disable Facebook’s usage-based advertising on the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance website: http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/.

6. Newsletter
Newsletter data

If you would like to receive the newsletter offered on the website, we require an e-mail address from you as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the e-mail address provided and that you agree to receive the newsletter. Further data will not be collected or will only be collected on a voluntary basis. We use these data exclusively for the dispatch of the requested information and do not pass these on to third parties.

The data entered in the newsletter registration form will be processed exclusively on the basis of your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke your consent to the storage of data, e-mail address and their use for sending the newsletter at any time, for example via the “Unsubscribe” link in the newsletter. The legality of the data processing operations that have already taken place remains unaffected by the revocation.

The data that you have stored with us for the purpose of subscribing to the newsletter will be stored by us until you unsubscribe from the newsletter and deleted after you cancel the newsletter. This does not affect data that we have stored for other purposes (e.g. e-mail addresses for the member area).

MailChimp

This website uses the services of MailChimp for sending newsletters. Provider is Rocket Science Group LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Suite 5000, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA.

MailChimp is a service that can be used, among other things, to organize and analyze the sending of newsletters. If you enter data for newsletter subscription purposes (e.g. e-mail address), it will be stored on MailChimp’s servers in the USA.

MailChimp is certified according to the “EU-US Privacy Shield”. The “Privacy Shield” is an agreement between the European Union (EU) and the USA that is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards in the USA.

MailChimp enables us to analyse our newsletter campaigns. When you open an e-mail sent with MailChimp, a file contained in the e-mail (so-called web beacon) connects to the servers of MailChimp in the USA. In this way it can be determined whether a newsletter message has been opened and which links have been clicked. In addition, technical information is collected (e.g. time of access, IP address, browser type and operating system). This information cannot be assigned to the respective newsletter recipient. It is used exclusively for the statistical analysis of newsletter campaigns. The results of these analyses can be used to better adapt future newsletters to the interests of the recipients.

If you do not want an analysis by MailChimp, you must unsubscribe from the newsletter. For this purpose, we provide a corresponding link in every newsletter message. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter directly on the website.

Data processing is based on your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke this consent at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter. The legality of the data processing operations that have already taken place remains unaffected by the revocation.

The data you have deposited with us for the purpose of subscribing to the newsletter will be stored by us until you unsubscribe from the newsletter and will be deleted from our servers as well as from the MailChimp servers after unsubscribing from the newsletter. This does not affect data stored by us for other purposes (e.g. e-mail addresses for the member area).

You can find more details in the privacy policy of MailChimp at: https://mailchimp.com/legal/terms/.

7. Plugins and Tools
YouTube

Our website uses plugins from the YouTube page operated by Google. The site is operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.

When you visit one of our pages equipped with a YouTube plug-in, a connection is established to YouTube’s servers. This will tell the YouTube server which of our pages you have visited.

If you are logged in to your YouTube account, you can allow YouTube to associate your surfing behaviour directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

YouTube is used in the interest of an appealing presentation of our online offers. This constitutes a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO.

Further information on the handling of user data can be found in YouTube’s data protection declaration at: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.

Google Web Fonts

This page uses so-called web fonts provided by Google for the uniform display of fonts. When you access a page, your browser loads the web fonts you need into its browser cache to display text and fonts correctly.

For this purpose, the browser you are using must connect to Google’s servers. This gives Google knowledge that our website has been accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web Fonts is in the interest of a uniform and appealing presentation of our online services. This constitutes 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 will be used by your computer.

Further information on Google Web Fonts can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google’s privacy policy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

Google Maps

This page uses the Google Maps map service via an API. Provider is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

To use the features of Google Maps, it is necessary to store your IP address. This information is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. The provider of this site has no influence on this data transfer.

The use of Google Maps takes place in the interest of an appealing presentation of our online offers and at an easy findability of the places indicated by us on the website. This constitutes a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO.

You can find more information on the handling of user data in Google’s data protection declaration: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/.