Legal Notice & 
Privacy Policy
Legal Notice
Information in accordance with the duty to inform pursuant to §5 of the E-Commerce Act, §14 of the Austrian Commercial Code, §63 of the Industrial Code and the duty to disclose pursuant to §25 of the Media Act.
APEX Stabilizations GmbH
Josef Perger Strasse 4, A, 
3031 Rekawinkel, 
Österreich
Object of the company: Mechatronik
VAT-Number: ATU74541089
GLN: 9110027598648
GISA: 31998413
Corporate register number: FN 514741y
Corporate register court: Landesgericht St.Pölten
Company location: Rekawinkel
Phone: 
+43 18923970
Email: office@apex-g.systems
Member of: 
WKO, Landesinnung der Mechatroniker
Laws re. professions: Gewerbeordnung: www.ris.bka.gv.at
Supervisory/Trade authority: Bezirkshauptmannschaft St. Pölten
Job title: Mechatroniker
Awarding country: Österreich
Chief executive 
Thomas Schindler
Ownership structure 
BALU Gmbh 90%, Joachim Hildemann 10%
Contact details of the data protection controller 
If you have any question about data protection, please find the contact details of the body or person responsible for data protection below:

Apex Stabilisations GmbH
Josef Perger Strasse 4
3031 Rekawinkel
E-Mail: office@apex-g.systems 
Phone: +43 18923970
EU Dispute Resolution

We would like to inform you about the Online Dispute Resolution platform (ODR platform) in accordance with the regulation on Online Dispute Resolution in consumer matters (ODR Regulation).
Consumers have the option of submitting complaints to the European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/main/?event=main.home2.show.
You will find the necessary contact details in our imprint above.
However, we would like to note, that we are not willing or obliged to participate in dispute settlement procedures before a consumer arbitration board.
Liability for the Contents of this Website

We are constantly developing the content of this website and strive to provide correct and up-to-date information. Unfortunately, we cannot accept liability for the accuracy of any content on this website. This especially includes content provided by third parties. As a service provider, we are neither obliged to monitor any information you transmit or store, nor to investigate any circumstances that indicate illegal activity.
Due to court- or official orders under the general law, our obligations to remove information or to block the use of information remain unaffected, even if we are not responsible.
If you notice any problematic or illegal content, please contact us immediately so we can remove the illegal content. You will find our contact details in the imprint.
Liability for Links on this Website

Our website contains links to other websites for which we are not responsible. We are not liable for any linked websites, since we have had no knowledge of illegal activities. If we ever become aware of any illegal activity, we will remove any links in question immediately.
If you notice illegal links on our website, please contact us. You will find our contact details in the imprint.
Copyright Notice

All contents of this website (pictures, images, photos, texts, videos) are subject to copyright. Please ask us before distributing, reproducing or using the contents of this website – such as republishing them on other websites. If necessary, we will prosecute the unauthorised use of our website’s content.
If you find content on this website that violates copyright, please contact us.
Picture Credits

The pictures, images and graphics on this website are protected by copyright.
All texts are copyrighted.
Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy Introduction and Overview
We have written this privacy policy (version 23.12.2022-122367080) in order to explain to you, in accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws, which personal data (data for short) we as the controller – and the processors commissioned by us (e.g. providers) – process, will process in the future and what legal options you have. The terms used are to be considered gender-neutral.
In short: We provide you with comprehensive information about any of your personal data we process.
Privacy policies usually sound very technical and use legal terminology. However, this privacy policy is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. So long as it aids transparency, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly manner, links to further information are provided and graphics are used. We are thus informing in clear and simple language that we only process personal data in the context of our business activities if there is a legal basis for it. This is certainly not possible with brief, unclear and legal-technical statements, as is often standard on the internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative. Maybe you will also find some information that you have not been familiar with.
If you still have questions, we kindly ask you to contact the responsible body named below or in the imprint, follow the existing links and look at further information on third-party sites. You can of course also find our contact details in the imprint.
Scope
This privacy policy applies to all personal data processed by our company and to all personal data processed by companies commissioned by us (processors). With the term personal data, we refer to information within the meaning of Article 4 No. 1 GDPR, such as the name, email address and postal address of a person. The processing of personal data ensures that we can offer and invoice our services and products, be it online or offline. The scope of this privacy policy includes:
• all online presences (websites, online shops) that we operate
• Social media presences and email communication
• mobile apps for smartphones and other devices
In short: This privacy policy applies to all areas in which personal data is processed in a structured manner by the company via the channels mentioned. Should we enter into legal relations with you outside of these channels, we will inform you separately if necessary.
Legal bases
In the following privacy policy, we provide you with transparent information on the legal principles and regulations, i.e. the legal bases of the General Data Protection Regulation, which enable us to process personal data.
Whenever EU law is concerned, we refer to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of April 27, 2016. You can of course access the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU online at EUR-Lex, the gateway to EU law, at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679.
We only process your data if at least one of the following conditions applies:
1. Consent (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR): You have given us your consent to process data for a specific purpose. An example would be the storage of data you entered into a contact form.
2. Contract (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. b GDPR): We process your data in order to fulfill a contract or pre-contractual obligations with you. For example, if we conclude a sales contract with you, we need personal information in advance.
3. Legal obligation (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. c GDPR): If we are subject to a legal obligation, we will process your data. For example, we are legally required to keep invoices for our bookkeeping. These usually contain personal data.
4. Legitimate interests (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR): In the case of legitimate interests that do not restrict your basic rights, we reserve the right to process personal data. For example, we have to process certain data in order to be able to operate our website securely and economically. Therefore, the processing is a legitimate interest.
Other conditions such as making recordings in the interest of the public, the exercise of official authority as well as the protection of vital interests do not usually occur with us. Should such a legal basis be relevant, it will be disclosed in the appropriate place.
In addition to the EU regulation, national laws also apply:
• In Austria this is the Austrian Data Protection Act (Datenschutzgesetz), in short DSG.
• In Germany this is the Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz), in short BDSG.
Should other regional or national laws apply, we will inform you about them in the following sections.
Contact details of the data protection controller
If you have any questions about data protection, you will find the contact details of the responsible person or controller below:
Apex Stabilisations GmbH
Josef Perger Strasse 4
3031 Rekawinkel
Storage Period
It is a general criterion for us to store personal data only for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. This means that we delete personal data as soon as any reason for the data processing no longer exists. In some cases, we are legally obliged to keep certain data stored even after the original purpose no longer exists, such as for accounting purposes.
If you want your data to be deleted or if you want to revoke your consent to data processing, the data will be deleted as soon as possible, provided there is no obligation to continue its storage.
We will inform you below about the specific duration of the respective data processing, provided we have further information.
Rights in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation
In accordance with Articles 13, 14 of the GDPR, we inform you about the following rights you have to ensure fair and transparent processing of data:
According to Article 15 DSGVO, you have the right to information about whether we are processing data about you. If this is the case, you have the right to receive a copy of the data and to know the following information:
• for what purpose we are processing;
 • the categories, i.e. the types of data that are processed;
• who receives this data and if the data is transferred to third countries, how security can be guaranteed;
• how long the data will be stored;
• the existence of the right to rectification, erasure or restriction of processing and the right to object to processing;
• that you can lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (links to these authorities can be found below);
• the origin of the data if we have not collected it from you;
• Whether profiling is carried out, i.e. whether data is automatically evaluated to arrive at a personal profile of you.
You have a right to rectification of data according to Article 16 GDPR, which means that we must correct data if you find errors.
You have the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) according to Article 17 GDPR, which specifically means that you may request the deletion of your data.
According to Article 18 of the GDPR, you have the right to restriction of processing, which means that we may only store the data but not use it further.
According to Article 20 of the GDPR, you have the right to data portability, which means that we will provide you with your data in a standard format upon request.
According to Article 21 DSGVO, you have the right to object, which entails a change in processing after enforcement.
• If the processing of your data is based on Article 6(1)(e) (public interest, exercise of official authority) or Article 6(1)(f) (legitimate interest), you may object to the processing. We will then check as soon as possible whether we can legally comply with this objection.
• If data is used to conduct direct advertising, you may object to this type of data processing at any time. We may then no longer use your data for direct marketing.
• If data is used to conduct profiling, you may object to this type of data processing at any time. We may no longer use your data for profiling thereafter.
According to Article 22 of the GDPR, you may have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (for example, profiling).
You have the right to lodge a complaint under Article 77 of the GDPR. This means that you can complain to the data protection authority at any time if you believe that the data processing of personal data violates the GDPR.
In short: you have rights – do not hesitate to contact the responsible party listed above with us!
If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can complain to the supervisory authority. For Austria, this is the data protection authority, whose website can be found at https://www.dsb.gv.at/. In Germany, there is a data protection officer for each federal state. For more information, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). The following local data protection authority is responsible for our company:
Austria Data protection authority
Manager: Mag. Dr. Andrea Jelinek 
Address: Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Wien 
Phone number.: +43 1 52 152-0 
E-mail address: dsb@dsb.gv.at 
Website: https://www.dsb.gv.at/
Data transfer to third countries
We only transfer or process data to countries outside the EU (third countries) if you consent to this processing, if this is required by law or if it is contractually necessary. In any case, we generally only do so to the permitted extent. In most cases, your consent is the most important reason for data being processed in third countries. When personal data is being processed in third countries such as the USA, where many software manufacturers offer their services and have their servers located, your personal data may be processed and stored in unexpected ways.
We want to expressly point out, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfer to the USA. Data processing by US services (such as Google Analytics) may result in data processing and retention without the data having undergone anonymisation processes. Furthermore, US government authorities may be able to access individual data. The collected data may also get linked to data from other services of the same provider, should you have a user account with the respective provider. We try to use server locations within the EU, whenever this is offered and possible.
We will provide you with more details about data transfer to third countries in the appropriate sections of this privacy policy, whenever applicable.
Communications

Communications Overview 
👥 Affected parties: Anyone who communicates with us via phone, email or online form
📓 Processed data: e. g. telephone number, name, email address or data entered in forms. You can find more details on this under the respective form of contact
🤝 Purpose: handling communication with customers, business partners, etc.
📅 Storage duration: for the duration of the business case and the legal requirements
⚖️ Legal basis: Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR (consent), Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR (contract), Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interests)
If you contact us and communicate with us via phone, email or online form, your personal data may be processed.
The data will be processed for handling and processing your request and for the related business transaction. The data is stored for this period of time or for as long as is legally required.
Affected persons
The above-mentioned processes affect all those who seek contact with us via the communication channels we provide.
Telephone
When you call us, the call data is stored in a pseudonymised form on the respective terminal device, as well as by the telecommunications provider that is being used. In addition, data such as your name and telephone number may be sent via email and stored for answering your inquiries. The data will be erased as soon as the business case has ended and the legal requirements allow for its erasure.
Email
If you communicate with us via email, your data is stored on the respective terminal device (computer, laptop, smartphone, …) as well as on the email server. The data will be deleted as soon as the business case has ended and the legal requirements allow for its erasure.
Online forms
If you communicate with us using an online form, your data is stored on our web server and, if necessary, forwarded to our email address. The data will be erased as soon as the business case has ended and the legal requirements allow for its erasure.
Legal bases
Data processing is based on the following legal bases:
• Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent): You give us your consent to store your data and to continue to use it for the purposes of the business case;
• Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR (contract): For the performance of a contract with you or a processor such as a telephone provider, or if we have to process the data for pre-contractual activities, such as preparing an offer;
• Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests): We want to conduct our customer inquiries and business communication in a professional manner. Thus, certain technical facilities such email programs, Exchange servers and mobile network operators are necessary to efficiently operate our communications.
Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
In this section, we would like to explain what a Data Processing Agreement is and why it is needed. As the term “Data Processing Agreement” is quite lengthy, we will often only use the acronym DPA here in this text. Like most companies, we do not work alone, but also use the services of other companies or individuals. By involving different companies or service providers, we may pass on personal data for processing. These partners then act as processors with whom we conclude a contract, the so-called Data Processing Agreement (DPA). Most importantly for you to know is that any processing of your personal data takes place exclusively according to our instructions and must be regulated by the DPA.
Who are the processors?
As a company and website owner, we are responsible for any of your data that is processed by us. In addition to the controller, there may also be so-called processors involved. This includes any company or person who processes your personal data. More precisely and according to the GDPR’s definition, this means: Any natural or legal person, authority, institution or other entity that processes your personal data is considered a processor. Processors can therefore be service providers such as hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers or large companies such as Google or Microsoft.
To make the terminology easier to comprehend, here is an overview of the GDPR’s three roles:
Data subject (you as a customer or interested party) → Controller (we as a company and contracting entity) → Processors (service providers such as web hosts or cloud providers)
Contents of a Data Processing Agreement
As mentioned above, we have concluded a DPA with our partners who act as processors. First and foremost, it states that the processor processes the data exclusively in accordance with the GDPR. The contract must be concluded in writing, although an electronic contract completion is also considered a “written contract”. Any processing of personal data only takes place after this contract is concluded. The contract must contain the following:
• indication to us as the controller
• obligations and rights of the controller
• categories of data subjects
• type of personal data
• type and purpose of data processing
• subject and duration of data processing
• location of data processing
Furthermore, the contract contains all obligations of the processor. The most important obligations are:
• ensuring data security measures
• taking possible technical and organisational measures to protect the rights of the data subject
• maintaining a data processing record
• cooperation with the data protection authority upon request
• performing a risk analysis for any received personal data
• subprocessors may only be appointed with the written consent of the controller
You can see an example of what a DPA looks like at https://gdpr.eu/data-processing-agreement/. This link shows a sample contract.
Cookies

Cookies Overview 
👥 Affected parties: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: depending on the respective cookie. You can find out more details below or from the software manufacturer that sets the cookie.
📓 Processed data: depends on the cookie used. More details can be found below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.
📅 Storage duration: can vary from hours to years, depending on the respective cookie
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What are cookies?
Our website uses HTTP-cookies to store user-specific data.
In the following we explain what cookies are and why they are used, so that you can better understand the following privacy policy.
Whenever you surf the Internet, you are using a browser. Common browsers are for example, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text-files in your browser. These files are called cookies.
It is important to note that cookies are very useful little helpers. Almost every website uses cookies. More precisely, these are HTTP cookies, as there are also other cookies for other uses. HTTP cookies are small files that our website stores on your computer. These cookie files are automatically placed into the cookie-folder, which is the “brain” of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. Moreover, to define a cookie, one or multiple attributes must be specified.
Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you re-open our website to visit again, your browser submits these “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the settings you are familiar to. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file, while in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in one single file.
The following graphic shows a possible interaction between a web browser such as Chrome and the web server. The web browser requests a website and receives a cookie back from the server. The browser then uses this again as soon as another page is requested.

There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, while third-party cookies are created by partner-websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. The expiry time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, trojans or other malware. Cookies also cannot access your PC’s information.
This is an example of how cookie-files can look:
Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.1326744211.152122367080-9
Purpose: Differentiation between website visitors
Expiry date: after 2 years
A browser should support these minimum sizes:
At least 4096 bytes per cookie
At least 50 cookies per domain
At least 3000 cookies in total
Which types of cookies are there?
The exact cookies that we use, depend on the used services, which will be outlined in the following sections of this privacy policy. Firstly, we will briefly focus on the different types of HTTP-cookies.
There are 4 different types of cookies:
Essential cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure the basic functions of a website. They are needed when a user for example puts a product into their shopping cart, then continues surfing on different websites and comes back later in order to proceed to the checkout. These cookies ensure the shopping cart does not get deleted, even if the user closes their browser window.
Purposive cookies
These cookies collect information about user behaviour and whether the user receives any error messages. Furthermore, these cookies record the website’s loading time as well as its behaviour in different browsers.
Target-orientated cookies
These cookies ensure better user-friendliness. Thus, information such as previously entered locations, fonts sizes or data in forms stay stored.
Advertising cookies
These cookies are also known as targeting cookies. They serve the purpose of delivering customised advertisements to the user. This can be very practical, but also rather annoying.
Upon your first visit to a website you are usually asked which of these cookie-types you want to accept. Furthermore, this decision will of course also be stored in a cookie.
If you want to learn more about cookies and do not mind technical documentation, we recommend https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) called “HTTP State Management Mechanism”.
Purpose of processing via cookies
The purpose ultimately depends on the respective cookie. You can find out more details below or from the software manufacturer that sets the cookie.
Which data are processed?
Cookies are little helpers for a wide variety of tasks. Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell which data is generally stored in cookies, but in the privacy policy below we will inform you on what data is processed or stored.
Storage period of cookies
The storage period depends on the respective cookie and is further specified below. Some cookies are erased after less than an hour, while others can remain on a computer for several years.
You can also influence the storage duration yourself. You can manually erase all cookies at any time in your browser (also see “Right of objection” below). Furthermore, the latest instance cookies based on consent will be erased is after you withdraw your consent. The legality of storage will remain unaffected until then.
Right of objection – how can I erase cookies?
You can decide for yourself how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies originate from, you always have the option of erasing, deactivating or only partially accepting cookies. You can for example block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies.
If you want to find out which cookies have been stored in your browser, or if you want to change or erase cookie settings, you can find this option in your browser settings:
If you generally do not want cookies, you can set up your browser in a way to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This gives you the opportunity to manually decide to either permit or deny the placement of every single cookie. This procedure varies depending on the browser. Therefore, it might be best for you to search for the instructions in Google. If you are using Chrome, you could for example put the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “deactivate cookies Chrome” into Google.
Legal basis
The so-called “cookie directive” has existed since 2009. It states that the storage of cookies requires your consent (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR). Within countries of the EU, however, the reactions to these guidelines still vary greatly. In Austria, however, this directive was implemented in Section 96 (3) of the Telecommunications Act (TKG). In Germany, the cookie guidelines have not been implemented as national law. Instead, this guideline was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the Telemedia Act (TMG).
For absolutely necessary cookies, even if no consent has been given, there are legitimate interests (Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR), which in most cases are of an economic nature. We want to offer our visitors a pleasant user experience on our website. For this, certain cookies often are absolutely necessary.
This is exclusively done with your consent, unless absolutely necessary cookies are used. The legal basis for this is Article 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR.
In the following sections you will find more detail on the use of cookies, provided the used software does use cookies.
Customer Data

Customer Data Overview 
👥 Affected parties: Customers or business and contractual partners
🤝 Purpose: Performance of a contract for the provision of agreed services or prior to entering into such a contract, including associated communications.
📓 Data processed: name, address, contact details, email address, telephone number, payment information (such as invoices and bank details), contract data (such as duration and subject matter of the contract), IP address, order data
📅 Storage period: the data will be erased as soon as they are no longer required for our business purposes and there is no legal obligation to process them.
⚖️ Legal bases: Legitimate interests (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR), Contract (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b GDPR)
What is customer data?
In order to be able to offer our services and contractual services, we also process data from our customers and business partners. This data always includes personal data. Customer data is all information that is processed on the basis of contractual or pre-contractual agreements so that the offered services can be provided. Customer data is therefore all the information we collect and process about our customers.
Why do we process customer data?
There are many reasons why we collect and process customer data. The main reason is that we simply need specific data to provide our services. Sometimes for example your email address may be enough. But if you purchase a product or service, we may e. g. also need data such as your name, address, bank details or other contract data. This data will subsequently be used for marketing and sales optimisation so that we can improve our overall service for our customers and clients. Another important reason for data processing is our customer service, which is very important to us. We want you to have the opportunity to contact us at any time with questions about our offers. Thus, we may need certain data such as your email address at the very least.
What data is processed?
Exactly which data is stored can only be shown by putting them in categories. All in all, it always depends on which of our services you receive. In some cases, you may only give us your email address so that we can e. g. contact you or answer your questions. In other instances, you may purchase one of our products or services. Then we may need significantly more information, such as your contact details, payment details and contract details.
Here is a list of potential data we may receive and process:
• Name
• Contact address
• Email address
• Phone number
• Your birthday
• Payment data (invoices, bank details, payment history, etc.)
• Contract data (duration, contents)
• Usage data (websites visited, access data, etc.)
• Metadata (IP address, device information)
• How long is the data stored?
We erase corresponding customer data as soon as we no longer need it to fulfill our contractual obligations and purposes, and as soon as the data is also no longer necessary for possible warranty and liability obligations. This can for example be the case when a business contract ends. Thereafter, the limitation period is usually 3 years, although longer periods may be possible in individual cases. Of course, we also comply with the statutory retention requirements. Your customer data will certainly not be passed on to third parties unless you have given your explicit consent.
Legal Basis
The legal basis for the processing of your data is Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter a GDPR (consent), Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter b GDPR (contract or pre-contractual measures), Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter f GDPR (legitimate interests) and in special cases (e. g. medical services) Art. 9 (2) lit. GDPR (processing of special categories).
In the case of protecting vital interests, data processing is carried out in accordance with Article 9 Paragraph 2 Letter c. GDPR. For the purposes of health care, occupational medicine, medical diagnostics, care or treatment in the health or social sectors or for the administration of systems and services in health or social sectors, the processing of personal data takes place in accordance with Art. 9 Para. 2 lit. h. GDPR. If you voluntarily provide data of these special categories, the processing takes place on the basis of Article 9 Paragraph 2 lit. a GDPR.
Web hosting
Web hosting Overview 
👥 Affected parties: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: professional hosting of the website and security of operations
📓 Processed data: IP address, time of website visit, browser used and other data. You can find more details on this below or at the respective web hosting provider.
📅 Storage period: dependent on the respective provider, but usually 2 weeks
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What is web hosting?
Every time you visit a website nowadays, certain information – including personal data – is automatically created and stored, including on this website. This data should be processed as sparingly as possible, and only with good reason. By website, we mean the entirety of all websites on your domain, i.e. everything from the homepage to the very last subpage (like this one here). By domain we mean example.uk or examplepage.com.
When you want to view a website on a screen, you use a program called a web browser. You probably know the names of some web browsers: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari.
The web browser has to connect to another computer which stores the website’s code: the web server. Operating a web server is complicated and time-consuming, which is why this is usually done by professional providers. They offer web hosting and thus ensure the reliable and flawless storage of website data.
Whenever the browser on your computer establishes a connection (desktop, laptop, smartphone) and whenever data is being transferred to and from the web server, personal data may be processed. After all, your computer stores data, and the web server also has to retain the data for a period of time in order to ensure it can operate properly.
Illustration:

Why do we process personal data?
The purposes of data processing are:
1. Professional hosting of the website and operational security
2. To maintain the operational as well as IT security
3. Anonymous evaluation of access patterns to improve our offer, and if necessary, for prosecution or the pursuit of claims.li>
Which data are processed?
Even while you are visiting our website, our web server, that is the computer on which this website is saved, usually automatically saves data such as
• the full address (URL) of the accessed website (e. g. https://www.examplepage.uk/examplesubpage.html?tid=122367080)
• browser and browser version (e.g. Chrome 87)
• the operating system used (e.g. Windows 10)
• the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL) (e. g. https://www.examplepage.uk/icamefromhere.html/)
• the host name and the IP address of the device from the website is being accessed from (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
• date and time
• in so-called web server log files
How long is the data stored?
Generally, the data mentioned above are stored for two weeks and are then automatically deleted. We do not pass these data on to others, but we cannot rule out the possibility that this data may be viewed by the authorities in the event of illegal conduct.
In short: Your visit is logged by our provider (company that runs our website on special computers (servers)), but we do not pass on your data without your consent!
Legal basis
The lawfulness of processing personal data in the context of web hosting is justified in Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (safeguarding of legitimate interests), as the use of professional hosting with a provider is necessary to present the company in a safe and user-friendly manner on the internet, as well as to have the ability to track any attacks and claims, if necessary.
Webhosting Other
Contact data for our Webhosting:
Adobe Portfolio
https://www.adobe.com/privacy/privacy-contact.html
You can learn more about the data processing at this provider in their Privacy Policy.
Web Analytics
Web Analytics Privacy Policy Overview 
👥 Affected parties: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information to optimise the website.
📓 Processed data: Access statistics that contain data such as access location, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. You can find more details on this from the respective web analytics tool directly.
📅 Storage period: depending on the respective web analytics tool used
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What is Web Analytics?
We use software on our website, which is known as web analytics, in order to evaluate website visitor behaviour. Thus, data is collected, which the analytic tool provider (also called tracking tool) stores, manages and processes. Analyses of user behaviour on our website are created with this data, which we as the website operator receive. Most tools also offer various testing options. These enable us, to for example test which offers or content our visitors prefer. For this, we may show you two different offers for a limited period of time. After the test (a so-called A/B test) we know which product or content our website visitors find more interesting. For such testing as well as for various other analyses, user profiles are created and the respective data is stored in cookies.
Why do we run Web Analytics?
We have a clear goal in mind when it comes to our website: we want to offer our industry’s best website on the market. Therefore, we want to give you both, the best and most interesting offer as well as comfort when you visit our website. With web analysis tools, we can observe the behaviour of our website visitors, and then improve our website accordingly for you and for us. For example, we can see the average age of our visitors, where they come from, the times our website gets visited the most, and which content or products are particularly popular. All this information helps us to optimise our website and adapt it to your needs, interests and wishes.
Which data are processed?
The exact data that is stored depends on the analysis tools that are being used. But generally, data such as the content you view on our website are stored, as well as e. g. which buttons or links you click, when you open a page, which browser you use, which device (PC, tablet, smartphone, etc.) you visit the website with, or which computer system you use. If you have agreed that location data may also be collected, this data may also be processed by the provider of the web analysis tool.
Moreover, your IP address is also stored. According to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), IP addresses are personal data. However, your IP address is usually stored in a pseudonymised form (i.e. in an unrecognisable and abbreviated form). No directly linkable data such as your name, age, address or email address are stored for testing purposes, web analyses and web optimisations. If this data is collected, it is retained in a pseudonymised form. Therefore, it cannot be used to identify you as a person.
The following example shows Google Analytics’ functionality as an example for client-based web tracking with JavaScript code.

The storage period of the respective data always depends on the provider. Some cookies only retain data for a few minutes or until you leave the website, while other cookies can store data for several years.
Duration of data processing
If we have any further information on the duration of data processing, you will find it below. We generally only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary to provide products and services. The storage period may be extended if it is required by law, such as for accounting purposes for example for accounting.
Right to object
You also have the option and the right to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data processing by cookies by managing, deactivating or erasing cookies in your browser.
Legal basis
The use of Web Analytics requires your consent, which we obtained with our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a of the GDPR (consent), this consent represents the legal basis for the processing of personal data, such as by collection through Web Analytics tools.
In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analysing the behaviour of website visitors, which enables us to technically and economically improve our offer. With Web Analytics, we can recognise website errors, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f of the GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use these tools if you have given your consent.
Since Web Analytics tools use cookies, we recommend you to read our privacy policy on cookies. If you want to find out which of your data are stored and processed, you should read the privacy policies of the respective tools.
If available, information on special Web Analytics tools can be found in the following sections.
Adobe Analytics Privacy Policy
On our website, we use Adobe Analytics, a web analysis tool. The provider of this service is the American company Adobe Inc. The responsible entity for the European region is the Irish company Adobe Systems Software Ireland Companies, 4-6 Riverwalk, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, Ireland.
Adobe Analytics also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.
Adobe Analytics uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Adobe Analytics to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847
You can find out more about Adobe Analytics’ data processing in their privacy policy at https://www.adobe.com/de/privacy.html . 
Adobe Audience Privacy Policy
We use Adobe Audience, a web analysis tool, on our website. The provider of this service is the American company Adobe Inc. The responsible entity for the European region is the Irish company Adobe Systems Software Ireland Companies, 4-6 Riverwalk, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, Ireland (hereinafter: “Adobe”).
Adobe also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.
Adobe uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as the basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (i. e. outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and thus especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are legal templates provided by the EU Commission. Their purpose is to ensure that your data complies with European data privacy standards, even if your data is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). With these clauses, Adobe commits to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data, even if it is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the standard contractual clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
You can find more information about the standard contractual clauses and the data that is processed by Adobe in their Privacy Policy at https://www.adobe.com/uk/privacy.html . 
Adobe Launch (Tag Manager) Privacy Policy
We use Adobe Launch, a web analysis tool, on our website. The provider of this service is the American company Adobe Inc. The responsible entity for the European region is the Irish company Adobe Systems Software Ireland Companies, 4-6 Riverwalk, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, Ireland.
Adobe also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.
Adobe uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as the basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (i. e. outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and thus especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are legal templates provided by the EU Commission. Their purpose is to ensure that your data complies with European data privacy standards, even if your data is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). With these clauses, Adobe commits to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data, even if it is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the standard contractual clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
You can find more information about the standard contractual clauses and the data that is processed by Adobe in their Privacy Policy at https://www.adobe.com/uk/privacy.html . 
Google Analytics Privacy Policy
Google Analytics Privacy Policy Overview 
👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information to optimise the website.
📓 Processed data: Access statistics that contain data such as the location of access, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. You can find more details on this in the privacy policy below.
📅 Storage period: depending on the properties used
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What is Google Analytics?
We use the tracking and analysis tool Google Analytics (GA) of the US-American company Google LLC (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). Google Analytics collects data on your actions on our website. Whenever you click a link for example, this action is saved in a cookie and transferred to Google Analytics. With the help of reports which we receive from Google Analytics, we can adapt our website and our services better to your wishes. In the following, we will explain the tracking tool in more detail, and most of all, we will inform you what data is saved and how you can prevent this.
Google Analytics is a tracking tool with the purpose of conducting data traffic analysis of our website. For Google Analytics to work, there is a tracking code integrated to our website. Upon your visit to our website, this code records various actions you perform on your website. As soon as you leave our website, this data is sent to the Google Analytics server, where it is stored.
Google processes this data and we then receive reports on your user behaviour. These reports can be one of the following:
Target audience reports: With the help of target audience reports we can get to know our users better and can therefore better understand who is interested in our service.
Advertising reports: Through advertising reports we can analyse our online advertising better and hence improve it.
Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports provide us helpful information on how we can get more people enthusiastic about our service.
Behaviour reports: With these reports, we can find out how you interact with our website. By the means of behaviour reports, we can understand what path you go on our website and what links you click.
Conversion reports: A conversion is the process of leading you to carry out a desired action due to a marketing message. An example of this would be transforming you from a mere website visitor into a buyer or a newsletter subscriber. Hence, with the help of these reports we can see in more detail, if our marketing measures are successful with you. Our aim is to increase our conversion rate.
Real time reports: With the help of these reports we can see in real time, what happens on our website. It makes us for example see, we can see how many users are reading this text right now.
Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?
The objective of our website is clear: We want to offer you the best possible service. Google Analytics’ statistics and data help us with reaching this goal.
Statistically evaluated data give us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimise our page in a way, that makes it easier to be found by interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to get a better understanding of you as our visitor. Therefore, we can very accurately find out what we must improve on our website, in order to offer you the best possible service. The analysis of that data also enables us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures in a more individual and more cost-effective way. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services exclusively to people who are interested in them.
What data is stored by Google Analytics?
With the aid of a tracking code, Google Analytics creates a random, unique ID which is connected to your browser cookie. That way, Google Analytics recognises you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognised as a “recurring” user. All data that is collected gets saved together with this very user ID. Only this is how it is made possible for us to evaluate and analyse pseudonymous user profiles.
To analyse our website with Google Analytics, a property ID must be inserted into the tracking code. The data is then stored in the corresponding property. Google Analytics 4-property is standard for every newly created property. An alternative however, is the Universal Analytics Property. Depending on the property that is being used, data are stored for different periods of time.
Your interactions on our website are measured by tags such as cookies and app instance IDs. Interactions are all kinds of actions that you perform on our website. If you are also using other Google systems (such as a Google Account), data generated by Google Analytics can be linked with third-party cookies. Google does not pass on any Google Analytics data, unless we as the website owners authorise it. In case it is required by law, exceptions can occur.
The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:
Name: _ga
Value:2.1326744211.152122367080-5
Purpose: By deafault, analytics.js uses the cookie _ga, to save the user ID. It generally serves the purpose of differentiating between website visitors.
Expiration date: After 2 years
Name: _gid
Value:2.1687193234.152122367080-1
Purpose: This cookie also serves the purpose of differentiating between website users
Expiration date: After 24 hours
Name: _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id>
Value: 1
Verwendungszweck: It is used for decreasing the demand rate. If Google Analytics is provided via Google Tag Manager, this cookie gets the name _dc_gtm_ <property-id>.
Expiration date: After 1 minute
Name: AMP_TOKEN
Value: No information
Purpose: This cookie has a token which is used to retrieve the user ID by the AMP Client ID Service. Other possible values suggest a logoff, a request or an error.
Expiration date: After 30 seconds up to one year
Name: __utma
Value:1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: With this cookie your behaviour on the website can be tracked and the site performance can be measured. The cookie is updated every time the information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: After 2 years
Name: __utmt
Value: 1
Purpose: Just like _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id> this cookie is used for keeping the requirement rate in check.
Expiration date: Afer 10 minutes
Name: __utmb
Value:3.10.1564498958
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions. It is updated every time new data or information gets sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: After 30 minutes
Name: __utmc
Value: 167421564
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions for recurring visitors. It is therefore a session cookie, and only stays stored until you close the browser again.
Expiration date: After closing the browser
Name: __utmz
Value: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/
Purpose: This cookie is used to identify the source of the number of visitors to our website. This means, that the cookie stored information on where you came to our website from. This could be another site or an advertisement.
Expiration date: After 6 months
Name: __utmv
Value: No information
Purpose: The cookie is used to store custom user data. It gets updated whenever information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: After 2 years
Note: This list is by no means exhaustive, since Google are repeatedly changing the use of their cookies.
Below we will give you an overview of the most important data that can be evaluated by Google Analytics:
Heatmaps: Google creates so-called Heatmaps an. These Heatmaps make it possible to see the exact areas you click on, so we can get information on what routes you make on our website.
Session duration: Google calls the time you spend on our website without leaving it session duration. Whenever you are inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically.
Bounce rate If you only look at one page of our website and then leave our website again, it is called a bounce.
Account creation: If you create an account or make an order on our website, Google Analytics collects this data.
IP-Address: The IP address is only shown in a shortened form, to make it impossible to clearly allocate it.
Location: Your approximate location and the country you are in can be defined by the IP address. This process is called IP location determination.
Technical information: Information about your browser type, your internet provider and your screen resolution are called technical information.
Source: Both, Google Analytics as well as ourselves, are interested what website or what advertisement led you to our site.
Further possibly stored data include contact data, potential reviews, playing media (e.g. when you play a video on our site), sharing of contents via social media or adding our site to your favourites. This list is not exhaustive and only serves as general guidance on Google Analytics’ data retention.
How long and where is the data stored?
Google has servers across the globe. Most of them are in America and therefore your data is mainly saved on American servers. Here you can read detailed information on where Google’s data centres are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=en
Your data is allocated to various physical data mediums. This has the advantage of allowing to retrieve the data faster, and of protecting it better from manipulation. Every Google data centre has respective emergency programs for your data. Hence, in case of a hardware failure at Google or a server error due to natural disasters, the risk for a service interruption stays relatively low.
The data retention period depends on the properties used. When using the newer Google Analytics 4-properties, the retention period of your user data is set to 14 months. For so-called event data, we have the option of choosing a retention period of either 2 months or 14 months.
Google Analytics has a 26 months standardised period of retaining your user data. After this time, your user data is deleted. However, we have the possibility to choose the retention period of user data ourselves. There are the following five options:
Deletion after 14 months
Deletion after 26 months
Deletion after 38 months
Deletion after 50 months
No automatical deletion
Additionally, there is the option for data to be deleted only if you no longer visit our website within a period determined by us. In this case, the retention period will be reset every time you revisit our website within the specified period.
As soon as the chosen period is expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to any of your data which is linked to cookies, user identification and advertisement IDs (e.g. cookies of the DoubleClick domain). Any report results are based on aggregated information and are stored independently of any user data. Aggregated information is a merge of individual data into a single and bigger unit.
How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?
Under the provisions of the European Union’s data protection law, you have the right to obtain information on your data and to update, delete or restrict it. With the help of a browser add on that can deactivate Google Analytics’ JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js), you can prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download this add on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en-GB. Please consider that this add on can only deactivate any data collection by Google Analytics.
If you generally want to deactivate, delete or manage all cookies (independently of Google Analytics), you can use one of the guides that are available for any browser:
Legal basis
The use of Google Analytics requires your consent, which we obtained via our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a of the GDPR (consent) , this is the legal basis for the processing of personal data when collected via web analytics tools.
In addition to consent, we have legitimate interest in analysing the behaviour of website visitors, in order to technically and economically improve our offer. With Google Analytics, we can recognise website errors, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f of the GDPR (legitimate interests) . Nevertheless, we only use Google Analytics if you have given your consent.
Google also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.
Google uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Google to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847
The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which reference the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/en/adsprocessorterms/.
We hope we could provide you with the most important information about data processing by Google Analytics. If you want to find out more on the tracking service, we recommend these two links: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/gb/ and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.
Email-Marketing
Email Marketing Overview 
👥 Affected parties: newsletter subscribers
🤝 Purpose: direct marketing via email, notification of events that are relevant to the system
📓 Processed data: data entered during registration, but at least the email address. You can find more details on this in the respective email marketing tool used.
📅 Storage duration: for the duration of the subscription
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What is Email-Marketing?
We use email marketing to keep you up to date. If you have agreed to receive our emails or newsletters, your data will be processed and stored. Email marketing is a part of online marketing. In this type of marketing, news or general information about a company, product or service are emailed to a specific group of people who are interested in it.
If you want to participate in our email marketing (usually via newsletter), you usually just have to register with your email address. To do this, you have to fill in and submit an online form. However, we may also ask you for your title and name, so we can address you personally in our emails.
The registration for newsletters generally works with the help of the so-called “double opt-in procedure”. After you have registered for our newsletter on our website, you will receive an email, via which you can confirm the newsletter registration. This ensures that you own the email address you signed up with, and prevents anyone to register with a third-party email address. We or a notification tool we use, will log every single registration. This is necessary so we can ensure and prove, that registration processes are done legally and correctly. In general, the time of registration and registration confirmation are stored, as well as your IP address. Moreover, any change you make to your data that we have on file is also logged.
Why do we use Email-Marketing?
Of course, we want to stay in contact with you and keep you in the loop of the most important news about our company. For this, we use email marketing – often just referred to as “newsletters” – as an essential part of our online marketing. If you agree to this or if it is permitted by law, we will send you newsletters, system emails or other notifications via email. Whenever the term “newsletter” is used in the following text, it mainly refers to emails that are sent regularly. We of course don’t want to bother you with our newsletter in any way. Thus, we genuinely strive to offer only relevant and interesting content. In our emails you can e.g. find out more about our company and our services or products. Since we are continuously improving our offer, our newsletter will always give you the latest news, or special, lucrative promotions. Should we commission a service provider for our email marketing, who offers a professional mailing tool, we do this in order to offer you fast and secure newsletters. The purpose of our email marketing is to inform you about new offers and also to get closer to our business goals.
Which data are processed?
If you subscribe to our newsletter via our website, you then have to confirm your membership in our email list via an email that we will send to you. In addition to your IP and email address, your name, address and telephone number may also be stored. However, this will only be done if you agree to this data retention. Any data marked as such are necessary so you can participate in the offered service. Giving this information is voluntary, but failure to provide it will prevent you from using this service. Moreover, information about your device or the type of content you prefer on our website may also be stored. In the section “Automatic data storage” you can find out more about how your data is stored when you visit a website. We record your informed consent, so we can always prove that it complies with our laws.
Duration of data processing
If you unsubscribe from our e-mail/newsletter distribution list, we may store your address for up to three years on the basis of our legitimate interests, so we can keep proof your consent at the time. We are only allowed to process this data if we have to defend ourselves against any claims.
However, if you confirm that you have given us your consent to subscribe to the newsletter, you can submit an individual request for erasure at any time. Furthermore, if you permanently object to your consent, we reserve the right to store your email address in a blacklist. But as long as you have voluntarily subscribed to our newsletter, we will of course keep your email address on file.
Withdrawal – how can I cancel my subscription?
You have the option to cancel your newsletter subscription at any time. All you have to do is revoke your consent to the newsletter subscription. This usually only takes a few seconds or a few clicks. Most of the time you will find a link at the end of every email, via which you will be able to cancel the subscription. Should you not be able to find the link in the newsletter, you can contact us by email and we will immediately cancel your newsletter subscription for you.
Legal basis
Our newsletter is sent on the basis of your consent (Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR). This means that we are only allowed to send you a newsletter if you have actively registered for it beforehand. Moreover, we may also send you advertising messages on the basis of Section 7 (3) UWG (Unfair Competition Act), provided you have become our customer and have not objected to the use of your email address for direct mail.
If available – you can find information on special email marketing services and how they process personal data, in the following sections.
Messenger & Communication Introduction
Messenger & Communication Privacy Statement Overview 
👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: for contact requests and general communications between yourself and us
📓 Processed data: Data such as name, address, email address, telephone number, general content data, plus IP address if applicable
You can find more details on this under the respective tools used.
📅 Storage duration: depends on the messenger & communication functions
⚖️ Legal bases: Article 6 paragraph 1 letter a GDPR (consent), Article 6 paragraph 1 letter f GDPR (legitimate interests), Article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 letter b. GDPR (contractual or pre-contractual obligations)
What are Messenger & Communication functions?
We offer you various options on our website to communicate with us (e.g. messenger and chat functions, online or contact forms, email, telephone). With the use of these functions, your data will be processed and stored insofar as it is necessary to answer your inquiry and conduct any of our subsequent measures.
In addition to classic means of communication such as email, contact forms or telephone, we also use chats or messengers. The most commonly used messenger function at the moment is WhatsApp, but of course, there are many different providers who offer messenger functions for websites. If content is end-to-end encrypted, it will be indicated in our individual privacy policies or in the privacy policy of the respective provider. End-to-end encryption means that the content of a message is not visible to the provider themselves. However, information about your device, location settings and other technical data can still be processed and stored.
Why do we use Messenger & Communication functions?
The ability to communicate with you is very important to us. After all, we want to keep the conversation with you going and answer any questions you may have about our service as best we can. Needless to say, smooth communication is an important part of our service. With our practical messenger & communication functions, you always have the option to choose the ones you prefer most. In exceptional cases, however, we may not be able to answer certain questions via chat or messenger. This may be the case for internal contractual matters, for example. For matters like these, we recommend you to use other communication options such as email or telephone.
We generally assume our responsibility under data protection law, even if we use the services of any social media platform. However, the European Court of Justice has decided that in certain cases the operator of the social media platform be jointly responsible alongside us in the scope of Art. 26 GDPR. Should this be the case, we will point it out separately and work on the basis of a relevant agreement. You will find the essence of the agreement for the respective platforms below.
Please note that when using our integrated elements, your data may also be processed outside the European Union, since many providers, such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, are American companies. As a result, you may not be able to claim or enforce your rights in relation to your personal data as easily.
Which data is processed?
Exactly which data is retained and processed depends on the respective messenger & communication function provider. In general, it is data such as your name, address, telephone number, email address and content data such as any information you enter into a contact form. In most cases, information about your device and IP address are also stored. Moreover, data that are transmitted via a messenger & communication function are also stored on the providers’ servers.
If you want to know exactly which data is stored and processed by the respective providers and how you can object to the data processing, you please carefully read the respective privacy policy of the company in question.
How long is data stored?
How long data is processed and stored depends primarily on the tools we use. Below you can find out more about the data processing of individual tools. The providers’ privacy policies usually state exactly which data is stored and processed and for how long. In general, we only process personal data for as long as necessary to provide our services. When data is stored in cookies, the storage period varies greatly. Data may e.g. be deleted immediately after leaving a website, or they may be stored for several years. Therefore, you should study each individual cookie in detail if you want to know more about data storage. In most cases, you will also find helpful information about individual cookies in the privacy policies of the individual providers.
Right to object
You also have the right and the option to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers at any time. This can be done either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection by cookies by managing, deactivating or deleting the cookies in your browser. For more information, we recommend you to read the Consent section.
Since cookies may be in use with messenger & communication functions, we recommend you to read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly which of your data is stored and processed, please read the privacy policies of the respective tools.
Legal Basis
If you have consented to the data processing and storage by integrated messenger & communication functions, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). We process your request and manage your data within the framework of contractual or pre-contractual relationships in order to fulfill our pre-contractual and contractual obligations or to answer inquiries. The basis for this is Art. 6 Para. 1 section 1 lit. b GDPR. In general, if you have given your consent, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in quick and smooth communication with you or other customers and business partners.
HubSpot Customer Service Privacy Policy
We use HubSpot on our website, which is a customer service tool among other things. The provider of this service is the American company HubSpot, Inc., 25 First St 2nd Floor Cambridge, MA, USA. The company also has headquarters in Ireland at 1 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, Ireland.
HubSpot also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.
HubSpot uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as the basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (i. e. outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and thus especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are legal templates provided by the EU Commission. Their purpose is to ensure that your data complies with European data privacy standards, even if your data is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). With these clauses, HubSpot commits to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data, even if it is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the standard contractual clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
Their Data Processing Agreement, which corresponds to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://legal.hubspot.com dpa.
You can find out more about the data that is processed by using HubSpot in their Privacy Policy at https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy.
Data Processing Agreement (DPA) HubSpot Customer Service
In accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we have entered into a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with HubSpot. What exactly a DPA is and especially what must be included in a DPA, you can read in our general section “Data Processing Agreement (DPA)”.
This contract is required by law because HubSpot processes personal data on our behalf. It clarifies that HubSpot may only process data they receive from us according to our instructions and must comply with the GDPR. You can find the link to the Data Processing Agreement (DPA) under https://legal.hubspot.com/dpa.
Audio & Video
Audio & Video Privacy Policy Overview 
👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: service optimisation
📓 Processed data: Data such as contact details, user behaviour, device information and IP addresses can be stored.
You can find more details in the Privacy Policy below.
📅 Storage period: data are retained for as long as necessary for the provision of the service
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What are audio and video elements?
We have integrated audio and video elements to our website. Therefore, you can watch videos or listen to music/podcasts directly via our website. This content is delivered by service providers and is obtained from the respective providers’ servers.
Audio and video elements are integrated functional elements of platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo or Spotify. It is usually free of charge to use these portals, but they can also contain paid content. With the integrated elements, you can listen to or view any of their content on our website.
If you use audio or video elements on our website, your personal data may get transmitted to as well as processed and retained by service providers.
Why do we use audio & video elements on our website?
We of course want to provide you with the best offer on our website. And we are aware that content is no longer just conveyed in text and static images. Instead of just giving you a link to a video, we offer you audio and video formats directly on our website. These are entertaining or informative, but ideally they are both. Our service therefore gets expanded and it gets easier for you to access interesting content. In addition to our texts and images, we thus also offer video and/or audio content.
Which data are retained by audio & video elements?
When you visit a page on our website with e.g. an embedded video, your server connects to the service provider’s server. Thus, your data will also be transferred to the third-party provider, where it will be stored. Certain data is collected and stored regardless of whether you have an account with the third party provider or not. This usually includes your IP address, browser type, operating system and other general information about your device. Most providers also collect information on your web activity. This e.g. includes the session duration, bounce rate, the buttons you clicked or information about the website you are using the service on. This data is mostly stored via cookies or pixel tags (also known as web beacons). Any data that is pseudonymised usually gets stored in your browser via cookies. In the respective provider’s Privacy Policy, you can always find more information on the data that is stored and processed.
Duration of data processing
You can find out exactly how long the data is stored on the third-party provider’s servers either in a lower point of the respective tool’s Privacy Policy or in the provider’s Privacy Policy. Generally, personal data is only processed for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services or products. This usually also applies to third-party providers. In most cases, you can assume that certain data will be stored on third-party providers’ servers for several years. Data can be retained for different amounts of time, especially when stored in cookies. Some cookies are deleted after you leave a website, while others may be stored in your browser for a few years.
Right to object
You also retain the right and the option to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers at any time. This can be done either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. You can e.g. also prevent data retention via cookies by managing, deactivating or erasing cookies in your browser. The legality of the processing up to the point of revocation remains unaffected.
Since the integrated audio and video functions on our site usually also use cookies, we recommend you to also read our general Privacy Policy on cookies. You can find out more about the handling and storage of your data in the Privacy Policies of the respective third party providers.
Legal basis 
If you have consented to the processing and storage of your data by integrated audio and video elements, your consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). Generally, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in maintaining fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. We only use the integrated audio and video elements if you have consented to it.
Vimeo Privacy Policy
Vimeo Privacy Policy Overview 
👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: optimising our service
📓 Processed data: Data such as contact details, data on user behaviour, information about your device and IP address may be stored.
You can find more details on this in privacy policy below.
📅 Storage period: data are generally stored for as long as is necessary for the purpose of the service
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What is Vimeo?
On our website, we use videos of the company Vimeo. This video portal is operated by Vimeo LLC, 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA. With the help of a plug-in, we can display interesting video material directly on our website. Consequently, some of your data may be transmitted to Vimeo. In this privacy policy we want to explain to you what data this is, why we use Vimeo and how you can manage your data or prevent data transmission.
Vimeo is a video platform that was founded in 2004 and introduced video streaming in HD quality in 2007. Since 2015 it has been possible to stream in 4k Ultra HD. The use of the portal is free of charge, but it also contains certain paid content. Compared to the market leader YouTube, Vimeo attaches great importance to valuable content in good quality. On the one hand, the portal offers a lot of artistic content such as music videos and short films. On the other hand, it also offers useful documentaries on a broad spectrum of topics.
Why do we use Vimeo on our website?
The aim of our website is to provide you the best possible content, in the easiest and most accessible way we can. We will only be satisfied with our service, once we have reached that goal. The video service Vimeo supports us in achieving this goal. Vimeo gives us the opportunity to present high quality content to you directly on our website. Instead of us merely giving you a link to an interesting video, you can watch the video here with us. This extends our service and makes it easier for you to access interesting content. Therefore, in addition to our texts and images, we can also offer video content.
What data is stored on Vimeo?
When you open a site on our website that has a Vimeo video embedded to it, your browser will connect to Vimeo’s servers, and a data transmission will take place. The data are then collected, stored and processed on Vimeo’s servers. Regardless of whether you have a Vimeo account or not, Vimeo collects data about you. This includes your IP address, technical information about your browser type, your operating system or very basic device information. Furthermore, Vimeo store information on what website you use their service on and which actions (web activities) you carry out on our website. These web activities include e.g. session duration, bounce rate or which button you clicked on our site that contains a Vimeo function. Vimeo can track and store these actions using cookies and similar technologies.
If you are logged in as a registered member of Vimeo, more data may be collected, since a bigger number of cookies may already have been set in your browser. Furthermore, your actions on our website are directly linked to your Vimeo account. To prevent this, you must log out of Vimeo while “surfing” our website.
Below we will show you an array of cookies Vimeo sets when you are on a website containing an integrated Vimeo function. This list is not exhaustive and assumes that you do not have a Vimeo account.
Name: player
Value: “”
Purpose: This cookie saves your settings before you play an embedded Vimeo video. This will ensure you to receive your preferred settings again next time you watch a Vimeo video.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: vuid
Value: pl1046149876.614422590122367080-4 
Purpose: This cookie collects information about your actions on websites that have a Vimeo video embedded to them. 
Expiry date: after 2 years
Note: These two cookies are set every time as soon as you are on a website that has a Vimeo video embedded to it. If you watch the video and click a button such as “share” or “like”, additional cookies will be set. These can also be third-party cookies such as _ga or _gat_UA-76641-8 from Google Analytics or _fbp from Facebook. The exact cookies that are set depends on your interaction with the video.
The following list will show a selection of cookies that could be placed when you interact with a Vimeo video:
Name: _abexps
Value: %5B%5D 
Purpose: This Vimeo cookie helps Vimeo to remember your settings. For example, this can be a pre-set language, a region or a username. The cookie generally stores data on how you use Vimeo. 
Expiry date: after one year
Name: continuous_play_v3
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie is a first-party cookie from Vimeo. The cookie collects information on how you use Vimeo’s service. For example, the cookie stores details on when you pause a video and resume it.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.1522249635.1578401280122367080-7
Purpose: This cookie is a third-party cookie from Google. By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Thus, it serves to differentiate between website visitors.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: _gcl_au
Value: 1.1.770887836.1578401279122367080-3
Purpose: This third-party cookie from Google AdSense is used to improve the efficiency of ads on websites.
Expiry date: after 3 months
Name: _fbp
Value: fb.1.1578401280585.310434968
Purpose:This is a Facebook cookie. It is used to display adverts or advertising products from Facebook or other advertisers.
Expiry date: after 3 months
Vimeo use this data to improve their own service, to communicate with you and to implement their own targeted advertising measures. On their website they emphasise that only first-party cookies (i.e. cookies from Vimeo itself) are used for embedded videos, provided you do not interact with the video.
How long and where is the data stored?
Vimeo is headquartered in White Plains, New York (USA). However, their services are offered worldwide. For this, the company uses computer systems, databases and servers in the United States and other countries. Thus, your data may also be stored and processed on servers in America. Vimeo stores the data until the company no longer has an economical reason for keeping it. Then the data will be deleted or anonymised. Vimeo correspond to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and are therefore allowed to collect and use information from users within the EU, and to transfer this data to the USA.
How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?
You always have the option to manage cookies in your browser. If you do not want Vimeo to set cookies and collect information about you for example, you can delete or deactivate cookies in your browser settings at any time. These settings vary a little depending on the browser. Please note that after deactivating/deleting cookies, various functions may no longer be fully available. The following instructions show how you can manage or delete cookies in your browser.
If you are a registered Vimeo member, you can also manage cookies in Vimeo’s settings.
Legal basis
If you have consented to the processing and storage of your data by integrated Vimeo elements, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR) . Generally, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) to maintain fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use integrated Vimeo elements if you have given your consent. Vimeo also sets cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend you to read our privacy policy on cookies carefully and to take a look at the privacy policy or the cookie policy of the respective service provider.
Vimeo also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.
Vimeo uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Vimeo to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847
You can find out more about the use of cookies at Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/cookie_policy. Furthermore, you can find more information on privacy at Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/privacy.
YouTube Privacy Policy
YouTube Privacy Policy Overview 
👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: optimising our service
📓 Processed data: Data such as contact details, data on user behaviour, information about your device and IP address may be stored.
You can find more details on this in the privacy policy below.
📅 Storage period: data are generally stored for as long as is necessary for the purpose of the service
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What is YouTube?
We have integrated YouTube videos to our website. Therefore, we can show you interesting videos directly on our site. YouTube is a video portal, which has been a subsidiary company of Google LLC since 2006. The video portal is operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. When you visit a page on our website that contains an embedded YouTube video, your browser automatically connects to the servers of YouTube or Google. Thereby, certain data are transferred (depending on the settings). Google is responsible for YouTube’s data processing and therefore Google’s data protection applies.
In the following we will explain in more detail which data is processed, why we have integrated YouTube videos and how you can manage or clear your data.
On YouTube, users can watch, rate, comment or upload videos for free. Over the past few years, YouTube has become one of the most important social media channels worldwide. For us to be able to display videos on our website, YouTube provides a code snippet that we have integrated to our website.
Why do we use YouTube videos on our website?
YouTube is the video platform with the most visitors and best content. We strive to offer you the best possible user experience on our website, which of course includes interesting videos. With the help of our embedded videos, we can provide you other helpful content in addition to our texts and images. Additionally, embedded videos make it easier for our website to be found on the Google search engine. Moreover, if we place ads via Google Ads, Google only shows these ads to people who are interested in our offers, thanks to the collected data.
What data is stored by YouTube?
As soon as you visit one of our pages with an integrated YouTube, YouTube places at least one cookie that stores your IP address and our URL. If you are logged into your YouTube account, by using cookies YouTube can usually associate your interactions on our website with your profile. This includes data such as session duration, bounce rate, approximate location, technical information such as browser type, screen resolution or your Internet provider. Additional data can include contact details, potential ratings, shared content via social media or YouTube videos you added to your favourites.
If you are not logged in to a Google or YouTube account, Google stores data with a unique identifier linked to your device, browser or app. Thereby, e.g. your preferred language setting is maintained. However, many interaction data cannot be saved since less cookies are set.
In the following list we show you cookies that were placed in the browser during a test. On the one hand, we show cookies that were set without being logged into a YouTube account. On the other hand, we show you what cookies were placed while being logged in. We do not claim for this list to be exhaustive, as user data always depend on how you interact with YouTube.
Name: YSC
Value: b9-CV6ojI5Y122367080-1
Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video that was viewed.
Expiry date: after end of session
Name: PREF
Value: f1=50000000
Purpose: This cookie also registers your unique ID. Google receives statistics via PREF on how you use YouTube videos on our website.
Expiry date: after 8 months
Name: GPS
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie registers your unique ID on mobile devices to track GPS locations.
Expiry date: after 30 minutes
Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Value: 95Chz8bagyU
Purpose: This cookie tries to estimate the user’s internet bandwith on our sites (that have built-in YouTube videos).
Expiry date: after 8 months
Further cookies that are placed when you are logged into your YouTube account:
Name: APISID
Value: zILlvClZSkqGsSwI/AU1aZI6HY7122367080-
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile on your interests. This data is then used for personalised advertisements.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: CONSENT
Value: YES+AT.de+20150628-20-0
Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user’s consent to the use of various Google services. CONSENT also provides safety measures to protect users from unauthorised attacks.
Expiry date: after 19 years
Name: HSID
Value: AcRwpgUik9Dveht0I
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile on your interests. This data helps to display customised ads.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: LOGIN_INFO
Value: AFmmF2swRQIhALl6aL…
Purpose: This cookie stores information on your login data.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: SAPISID
Value: 7oaPxoG-pZsJuuF5/AnUdDUIsJ9iJz2vdM
Purpose: This cookie identifies your browser and device. It is used to create a profile on your interests.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: SID
Value: oQfNKjAsI122367080-
Purpose: This cookie stores your Google Account ID and your last login time, in a digitally signed and encrypted form.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: SIDCC
Value: AN0-TYuqub2JOcDTyL
Purpose: This cookie stores information on how you use the website and on what advertisements you may have seen before visiting our website.
Expiry date: after 3 months
How long and where is the data stored?
The data YouTube receive and process on you are stored on Google’s servers. Most of these servers are in America. At https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=en you can see where Google’s data centres are located. Your data is distributed across the servers. Therefore, the data can be retrieved quicker and is better protected against manipulation.
Google stores collected data for different periods of time. You can delete some data anytime, while other data are automatically deleted after a certain time, and still other data are stored by Google for a long time. Some data (such as elements on “My activity”, photos, documents or products) that are saved in your Google account are stored until you delete them. Moreover, you can delete some data associated with your device, browser, or app, even if you are not signed into a Google Account.
How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?
Generally, you can delete data manually in your Google account. Furthermore, in 2019 an automatic deletion of location and activity data was introduced. Depending on what you decide on, it deletes stored information either after 3 or 18 months.
Regardless of whether you have a Google account or not, you can set your browser to delete or deactivate cookies placed by Google. These settings vary depending on the browser you use. The following instructions will show how to manage cookies in your browser:
If you generally do not want to allow any cookies, you can set your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be set. This will enable you to decide to either allow or permit each individual cookie.
Legal basis
If you have consented processing and storage of your data by integrated YouTube elements, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). Generally, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) to maintain fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use integrated YouTube elements if you have given your consent. YouTube also sets cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend you to read our privacy policy on cookies carefully and to take a look at the privacy policy or the cookie policy of the respective service provider.
YouTube also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of the data processing.
YouTube uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR) as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (which are outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) or for data transfer there. These clauses oblige YouTube to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847
Since YouTube is a subsidiary company of Google, Google’s privacy statement applies to both. If you want to learn more about how your data is handled, we recommend the privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.
Web Design Introduction
Web Design Privacy Policy Overview 
👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: improvement of user experience
📓 Processed data: depends heavily on the services used. Usually, data such as IP address, technical data, language settings, browser version, screen resolution and browser name are processed. You can find more details directly with the respective web design tools.
📅 Storage duration: depends on the tools used
⚖️ Legal bases: Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What is web design?
We use various tools on our website for the purpose of our web design. Contrary to common belief, web design is not just about making our website look nice, but rather also about functionality and performance. But of course, a good-looking website is also a major goal of professional web design. Web design is a part of media design and deals with the visual as well as the structural and functional design of a website. Our aim with our web design is to improve your experience on our site. In web design jargon, this is called User Experience (UX) and usability. User Experience entails all impressions and experiences that website visitors come across on a website. What is more, usability is part of the User Experience, as it determines how user-friendly a website is. This includes the clear structuring of content, subpages or products, along with how quickly and easily the website enables you to find what you are looking for. In order to offer you the best possible experience on our website, we also use so-called third-party web design tools. Therefore, all tools and services that help improve our website’s design are classified under the category “web design”. This may, for example, include fonts, various plugins or other integrated web design functions.
Why do we use web design tools?
The way you absorb information on a website depends very much on its structure, functionality and visual perception. Therefore, good and professional web design has become increasingly important for us. We are constantly working on improving our site as a way of further extending our services for you as a website visitor. Furthermore, a beautiful and functioning website also has economic advantages for us. Needless to say, you will only visit it and take advantage of our offers if you feel completely at ease.
What data is stored by web design tools?
When you visit our website, any web design elements integrated into our pages may process your data. The exact data that is processed depends on the tools used. Below you can see exactly which tools we use for our website. For more information about data processing, we recommend you also read the respective privacy policy of the respective tools. There you can usually find out which data is processed, whether cookies are used and how long the data is stored. Moreover, fonts such as Google Fonts, for example, also automatically transmit information such as your language settings, IP address, browser version, browser screen resolution and browser name to Google’s servers.
Duration of data processing
Data processing times are very individual and depend on the web design elements used. For example, when cookies are used, the retention period can be as little as a minute, but it may also be a few years. Please make yourself familiar with this topic. You may for example read our general section on cookies as well as the Privacy Policies of the tools used. There you can likely find out exactly which cookies are used and what information is stored there. For example, Google Font files are stored for one year, in order to improve the loading speed of a website. In principle, data is only kept for as long as is necessary to provide the service. But legal requirements may require data to be stored for longer.
Right to object
You also retain the right and the option to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers at any time. You can do this either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. You can also prevent cookies from collecting your data by managing, deactivating or deleting the cookies in your browser. However, among web design elements (typically fonts) there is also data that cannot be erased easily. This is the case whenever data is automatically collected as soon as a page is accessed and then directly transmitted to a third party (e.g. Google). In these cases, please contact the support of the respective provider. In the case of Google, you can reach support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de.
Legal Basis
If you have consented to the use of web design tools, this consent serves as the legal basis for the relevant data processing. According to Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR (consent), your consent represents the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as it may occur when it is collected by web design tools. We also have a legitimate interest in web design to improve on our website. After all, only then can we provide you with a beautiful and professional web offer. The corresponding legal basis for this is Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interests). However, we strongly want to emphasise once more that we only use web design tools if you have given your consent.
You can find information on different web design tools – if available – in the following sections.
Typekit Fonts (Adobe) Privacy Policy
We use Adobe’s Typekit fonts on our website, which is a web font hosting service. The provider of this service is the American company Adobe Inc. The Irish company Adobe Systems Software Ireland Companies, 4-6 Riverwalk, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, Ireland, is responsible for the European region.
Adobe also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.
Adobe uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as the basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (i. e. outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and thus especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are legal templates provided by the EU Commission. Their purpose is to ensure that your data complies with European data privacy standards, even if your data is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). With these clauses, Adobe commits to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data, even if it is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the standard contractual clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
For more information on the Standard Contractual Clauses at Adobe, see https://www.adobe.com/uk/privacy/eudatatransfers.html.
You can find out more about the data that is processed by Adobe in their Privacy Policy at https://www.adobe.com/uk/privacy.html.
Google Fonts Privacy Policy
Google Fonts Privacy Policy Overview 
👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: service optimisation
📓 Processed data: data such as IP address, CSS and font requests
You can find more details on this in the Privacy Policy below.
📅 Storage period: Google stores font files for one year
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What are Google Fonts?
On our website we use Google Fonts, by the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA).
To use Google Fonts, you must log in and set up a password. Furthermore, no cookies will be saved in your browser. The data (CSS, Fonts) will be requested via the Google domains fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. According to Google, all requests for CSS and fonts are fully separated from any other Google services. If you have a Google account, you do not need to worry that your Google account details are transmitted to Google while you use Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) as well as the utilised fonts and stores these data securely. We will have a detailed look at how exactly the data storage works.
Google Fonts (previously Google Web Fonts) is a directory with over 800 fonts that Google provides its users free of charge.
Many of these fonts have been published under the SIL Open Font License license, while others have been published under the Apache license. Both are free software licenses.
Why do we use Google Fonts on our website?
With Google Fonts we can use different fonts on our website and do not have to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important element which helps to keep the quality of our website high. All Google fonts are automatically optimised for the web, which saves data volume and is an advantage especially for the use of mobile terminal devices. When you use our website, the low data size provides fast loading times. Moreover, Google Fonts are secure Web Fonts. Various image synthesis systems (rendering) can lead to errors in different browsers, operating systems and mobile terminal devices. These errors could optically distort parts of texts or entire websites. Due to the fast Content Delivery Network (CDN) there are no cross-platform issues with Google Fonts. All common browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera) are supported by Google Fonts, and it reliably operates on most modern mobile operating systems, including Android 2.2+ and iOS 4.2+ (iPhone, iPad, iPod). We also use Google Fonts for presenting our entire online service as pleasantly and as uniformly as possible.
Which data is stored by Google?
Whenever you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded by a Google server. Through this external cue, data gets transferred to Google’s servers. Therefore, this makes Google recognise that you (or your IP-address) is visiting our website. The Google Fonts API was developed to reduce the usage, storage and gathering of end user data to the minimum needed for the proper depiction of fonts. What is more, API stands for „Application Programming Interface“ and works as a software data intermediary.
Google Fonts stores CSS and font requests safely with Google, and therefore it is protected. Using its collected usage figures, Google can determine how popular the individual fonts are. Google publishes the results on internal analysis pages, such as Google Analytics. Moreover, Google also utilises data of ist own web crawler, in order to determine which websites are using Google fonts. This data is published in Google Fonts’ BigQuery database. Enterpreneurs and developers use Google’s webservice BigQuery to be able to inspect and move big volumes of data.
One more thing that should be considered, is that every request for Google Fonts automatically transmits information such as language preferences, IP address, browser version, as well as the browser’s screen resolution and name to Google’s servers. It cannot be clearly identified if this data is saved, as Google has not directly declared it.
How long and where is the data stored?
Google saves requests for CSS assets for one day in a tag on their servers, which are primarily located outside of the EU. This makes it possible for us to use the fonts by means of a Google stylesheet. With the help of a stylesheet, e.g. designs or fonts of a website can get changed swiftly and easily.
Any font related data is stored with Google for one year. This is because Google’s aim is to fundamentally boost websites’ loading times. With millions of websites referring to the same fonts, they are buffered after the first visit and instantly reappear on any other websites that are visited thereafter. Sometimes Google updates font files to either reduce the data sizes, increase the language coverage or to improve the design.
How can I erase my data or prevent it being stored?
The data Google stores for either a day or a year cannot be deleted easily. Upon opening the page this data is automatically transmitted to Google. In order to clear the data ahead of time, you have to contact Google’s support at https://support.google.com/?hl=en-GB&tid=122367080. The only way for you to prevent the retention of your data is by not visiting our website.
Unlike other web fonts, Google offers us unrestricted access to all its fonts. Thus, we have a vast sea of font types at our disposal, which helps us to get the most out of our website. You can find out more answers and information on Google Fonts at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=122367080. While Google does address relevant elements on data protection at this link, it does not contain any detailed information on data retention.
It proofs rather difficult to receive any precise information on stored data by Google.
Legal basis
If you have consented to the use of Google Fonts, your consent is the legal basis for the corresponding data processing. According to Art. 6 Paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent) your consent is the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as can occur when it is processed by Google Fonts.
We also have a legitimate interest in using Google Font to optimise our online service. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Font if you have given your consent to it.
Google also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.
Google uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Google to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847
You can find more information on which data is generally retained by Google and what this data is used at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB.
Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy
On our website we use Google Fonts, by the company Google Inc. The responsible entity for the European area is Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland). We have integrated Google fonts locally, i.e. on our web server and not on Google’s servers. This means that no connection to Google’s servers and therefore no data transfer or retention take place.
What are Google Fonts?
Google Fonts was previously called Google Web Fonts. It is an interactive list with over 800 fonts which Google offer for free use. With the use of Google Fonts, it is possible to utilise fonts without uploading them to your own server. In order to prevent any transfer of information to Google’s servers, we downloaded the fonts to our own server. This way we can comply with data privacy and do not transmit any data to Google Fonts.
Online Map Services Introduction
Online Map Services Privacy Policy Overview 

👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: Improvement of user experience
📓 Processed data: the data that is processed depends heavily on the services used. Usually, it is your IP address, location data, search queries and/or technical data. You can find more details on this under the respective tools used.
📅 Storage duration: depends on the tools used
⚖️ Legal bases: Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What are Online Map Services?
We also use online map services for our website as an extended service. Google Maps is probably the service you are most familiar with. But there are also other providers out there that specialise in creating digital maps. These services allow the display of locations, route maps or other geographical information directly via our website. Thanks to an integrated map service, you no longer have to leave our website to e. g. view the route to a location. In order to ensure that the online map can run on our website, we have integrated map sections within our HTML code. This way the services can display street maps, the earth’s surface, or aerial or satellite imagery. If you use the built-in map service, your data will be transferred to the tool used, where it will be retained. This may also include your personal data.
Why do we use Online Map Services on our website?
Generally speaking, it is imperative for us to offer you a pleasant time on our website. Of course, we know that you will most likely only enjoy your time here if you can easily find your way around and find all the information you need quickly and easily. Therefore, we decided that an online map system may be a significant optimisation of our website’s service. After all, you can use the map system to easily view route descriptions, locations or any other points of interest – without leaving our site. Needless to say, it is certainly also very practical that you can easily see where our company headquarters are so that you can find us quickly and safely. As you can see, there are just a lot of advantages – and we clearly consider online map services on our website to be part of our customer service.
What data is stored by Online Map Services?
If you open a page on our website with an online map function installed, your personal data may be transmitted to the relevant service, where it may be stored. This usually includes your IP address, which may also be used to determine your approximate location. In addition to your IP address, data such as the search terms you entered, as well as your longitude and latitude coordinates will be stored. If you e. g. enter an address for route planning, this data will also be stored. This data is not stored by us but instead on the servers of the integrated tools. You can think of it like this: You may be on our website, but when you interact with a mapping service, that interaction is actually happening on their website. Moreover, in order for the service to function properly, at least one cookie is usually set in your browser. As an example, Google Maps also uses cookies to record user behaviour, with which it can optimise its own service and offer personalised advertising. You can find out more about cookies in our “Cookies” section.
How long and where is the data stored?
Every online map service processes different user data. Provided we have further information, we will inform you about the duration of data processing in the corresponding sections on the individual tools below. Generally, personal data is only retained for as long as is necessary to provide the service. Google Maps e. g. stores certain data for a specified period of time, but you must erase other data yourself. At Mapbox, for example, your IP address is stored for 30 days after which it is deleted. As you can see, each tool stores data for different lengths of time. We thus recommend you take a closer look at the privacy policies of the tools used.
The providers may use cookies to store data on your user behaviour in relation to their map services. You can find more information about cookies in our “Cookies” section, but in the individual providers’ privacy policies you can most probably also find out which cookies may be used. In most cases, however, this is only an indicative list and is not exhaustive.
Right to object
You always have the possibility and the right to access your personal data and to object to its use and processing. You can also revoke the consent you gave to us at any time. This is usually easiest through the cookie consent tool. However, there are other opt-out tools that you can use. You can also manage, erase or deactivate any cookies set by the used providers yourself with just a few mouse clicks. However, this may lead to some service functions stopping to work as usual. It also depends on your browser how you can manage cookies there. In our “Cookies” section you will find links to instructions of the most popular browsers.
Legal Basis
If you have agreed to the use of an online map service, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. (consent) this consent is the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur when collected by an online map service.
We also have a legitimate interest in using an online map service to optimise our service on our website. The corresponding legal basis for this is Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interests). However, we only use an online map service if you have given your consent. We definitely wanted to stress this point once again.
You can find information on specific online map services – if available – in the following sections.
Google Maps Privacy Policy
Google Maps Privacy Policy Overview 
👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: service optimisation
📓 Processed data: data such as entered search terms, IP address as well as latitude and longitude coordinates.
You can find more details on this in the Privacy Policy below.
📅 Storage duration: depending on the retained data
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What is Google Maps?
On our website we use Google Maps of the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). With the use of Google Maps, we can show you locations in a better way and can therefore adjust our service to your needs. Due to the utilisation of Google Maps, data gets transferred to Google and is saved on Google’s servers. In the following, we want to explain in detail what Google Maps is, why we use this Google service, what data is stored and how you can prevent this.
Google Maps is an internet maps service of the company Google Inc. With Google Maps you can search for exact locations of cities, sights, accommodations or businesses online via a PC, a tablet or an app. If businesses are represented on Google My Business, the respective location as well as other information about the company are shown there. In order to show route directions, a location’s map sections can be integrated in a website through a HTML-code. Google Maps depicts the earth’s surface as either a road map or as air and satellite images. Due to the street view and high-quality satellite images, it is possible for exact representations to be made.
Why do we use Google Maps on our website?
The efforts we make on this page have the goal of giving you a useful and meaningful experience on our website. Through the integration of Google Maps, we can offer you essential information on various locations. Therefore, you can spot our office address with one glance. Furthermore, the route directions always show you the best and fastest way to us. You can retrieve the route directions for traveling either by car, by public transport, on foot or by bike. The integration of Google Maps is a part of our customer service.
What data is stored by Google Maps?
For Google Maps to offer its full services, the company must collect and store your data. This includes your entered search terms, your IP-address as well as your longitude and latitude coordinates. When you use the route-planner function, the entered start address is stored also. However, this data retention happens on Google Maps‘ websites. We can only inform you about it but cannot influence it in any way. Since we have included Google Maps on our website, Google will set at least one cookie (Name: NID) into your browser. This cookie saves data on your user behaviour. Google primarily uses this data to optimise ist own services and to provide you with individual, personalised advertisements.
The following cookies are set in your browser due to the integration of Google Maps:
Name: NID
Value: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ122367080-5
Purpose: Google uses NID in order to adjust advertisments to your Google searches. With the cookie’s help Google “remembers“ your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. That way you always receive customised adertisments. The cookie contains a unique ID, wich Google uses to collect your personal settings for advertising porposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months
Note: We cannot guarantee completeness of the information on saved data. This is, because especially concerning the use of cookies, changes can happen anytime. To identify the cookie NID, a test page was created, to which Google Maps was included.
How long and where is the data stored?
There are Google servers in data centres across the entire planet. However, most servers are in America. For this reason, your data is widely stored in the USA. Here you can read in detail about where the Google servers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=en
Google distributes data to various data carriers. This makes it possible to retrieve the data faster and to better protect it from possible attempted manipulations. Every server has emergency programs. Thus, should for example a problem with Google’s hardware occur or should a natural disaster impact the servers, any data will quite certainly stay protected.
Moreover, Google saves some data for a specified period. With some other data on the other hand, Google only offers the opportunity for deleting it manually. Furthermore, the company anonymises information (e.g. advertising data) in server logs, by deleting a part of the IP-address and cookie information after 9 to 18 months.
How can I erase my data, or prevent data retention?
Due to the automatic delete function for location and activity data, which was introduced in 2019, information that is used for determining your location and web or app activity is saved for either 3 or 18 months, depending on your preferred decision, and is deleted thereafter. Furthermore, it is possible to delete this data manually from your browser history via your Google account anytime. If you want to prevent the determination of your location altogether, you must pause the category “Web and app activity” in your Google account. Click on “Data and personalisation” and then choose the option “Activity controls”. Here you can switch the activities on or off.
Moreover, in your browser you can deactivate, delete or manage individual cookies. This function can differ a little, depending on what browser you are using. The following instructions will show you how to manage cookies in your browser:
If you generally do not want to permit any cookies, you can set up your browser in a way that ensures you get informed whenever a cookie is about to be placed. That way you can decide to either permit or refuse every single cookie.
Please note, that when using this tool, your data may also be stored and processed outside the EU. Most third countries (including the USA) are not considered secure under current European data protection law. Data to insecure third countries must not simply be transferred to, stored and processed there unless there are suitable guarantees (such as EU Standard Contractual Clauses) between us and the non-European service provider.
Legal basis
If you have consented to the use of Google Maps, your consent is the legal basis for the corresponding data processing. According to Art. 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (consent) this consent is the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as can occur when processed by Google Maps.
We also have a legitimate interest in using Google Maps to optimise our online service. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Maps if you have given your consent to it.
Google also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.
Google uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Google to comply with the EU‘s level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847
The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which reference the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/en/adsprocessorterms/.
If you want to find out more about Google’s data processing, we recommend you to read the company’s own Privacy Policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB.
OpenStreetMap Privacy Policy
OpenStreetMap Privacy Policy Overview 
👥 Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: service optimisation
📓 Processed data: data such as IP address, browser information, operating system, content of the request, restricted location data and usage data
You can find more details on this in the privacy policy below.
📅 Storage period: the IP address will be erased after 180 days
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)
What is OpenStreetMap?
We have included map sections of the online map tool “OpenStreetMap” to our website. It is a so-called open source mapping, which we can access via an API (interface). This feature is offered by OpenStreetMap Foundation, St John’s Innovation Center, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, United Kingdom. By using this map function, your IP address will be forwarded to OpenStreetMap. In this privacy policy we will explain why we use the functions of the OpenStreetMap tool, where which data is stored and how you can prevent data storage.
The OpenStreetMap project was launched in 2004. Its aim is to create a free world map. Users all around the world have been collecting data about buildings, forests, rivers and roads. Therefore, an extensive digital world map has been created by users over the years. Of course, the map is not complete, but it contains a lot of data for most regions.
Why do we use OpenStreetMap on our website?
The primary intention of your website is to be helpful to you. We think this can only be the case when information can be found quickly and easily. On the one hand, of course, this concerns our services and products. On the other hand, there should also be other helpful information available to you. That is why we also use OpenStreetMap’s map service. Thanks to this, we can for example show you exactly how to find our company. The map shows you the best way to get to us and makes your journey very smooth and easy.
What data is stored by OpenStreetMap?
When you visit one of our websites that include OpenStreetMap, your user data is transmitted to the service where it is stored. OpenStreetMap collects information about your interactions with the digital map, your IP address, your browser, device type, operating system and on which day and at what time you used the service. Tracking software is also used to record user interactions. For this regard, the company specifiies the “Piwik” analysis tool in its own privacy policy.
The collected data are then accessible to the relevant employee groups of the OpenStreetMap Foundation. According to the company, personal data will not be passed on to other people or companies, unless it is legally required. The third-party provider Piwik stores your IP address, but in a shortened form.
The following cookies may be set in your browser if you inerace with OpenStreetMap on our website:
Name: _osm_location
Value: 9.63312%7C52.41500%7C17%7CM
Purpose: This cookie is required to unlock OpenStreetMap’s contents.
Ablaufdatum: after 10 years
If you want to view the map in full screen, you will be linked to OpenStreetMap’s website. There, the following cookies may be stored in your browser:
Name: _osm_totp_token
Value: 148253122367080-2
Purpose:This cookie is used to ensure the operation of the map section.
Expiry date:after one hour
Name: _osm_session
Value: 1d9bfa122e0259d5f6db4cb8ef653a1c
Purpose: With the help of this cookie, session information (i.e. user behavior) can be stored.
Expiry date: after end of session
Name: _pk_id.1.cf09
Value: 4a5.1593684142.2.1593688396.1593688396122367080-9
Purpose:This cookie is set by Piwik to save or measure user data such as click behavior.
Expiry date: after one year
How long and where are the data stored?
The API servers, databases, and servers of auxiliary services are currently located in the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and the Netherlands. Your IP address and user information, which are saved in an abbreviated version by the web analysis tool Piwik, will be deleted after 180 days.
How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?
You have the right to both access your personal data and to object to its use and processing at any time. You can also always manage, delete, or deactivate cookies that may be set by OpenStreetMap in your browser. As a result, however, the service may no longer work to their full extent. The management, deletion or deactivation of cookies works differently in every browser. Below you will find links to the instructions of the most popular browsers:
Legal basis
If you have consented that OpenStreetMap may be used, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 Paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), your consent represents the legal basis for personal data processing, as can occur when collected by OpenStreetMap.
We also have a legitimate interest in using OpenStreetMap to optimise our online services. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests). We only use OpenStreetMap if you have given your consent to it.
For more information on OpenStreetMap’s data processing, we recommend the company’s privacy policy at https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_Policy.
Explanation of the terminology used
We always strive to make our privacy policy as clear and comprehensible as possible. However, this is not always easy, especially when it comes to technical and legal matters. It is often sensible to use legal terms (such as ‘personal data)’ or certain technical terms (such as ‘cookies’ or ‘IP address’). But we don’t want to use such terms without any explanation. This is why you will find an alphabetical list of important terms used below. These are terms we may not yet have sufficiently explained in the privacy policy. In case we have adopted any of these terms from the GDPR which are definitions, we will also list the GDPR texts here and add our own further explanations if necessary.
Processor

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:
“processor” means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller;
Explanation: As a company and a website owner, we are responsible for all your data we process (i. e. the ‘controller’). In addition to the controller, there may also be so-called processors. This includes any company or person who processes personal data on our behalf. In addition to service providers such as tax consultants, processors can also be hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers or large companies such as Google or Microsoft.
Consent
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:
“consent” of the data subject means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her;
Explanation: With websites, such consent is usually given via a cookie consent tool. You’ve most certainly come across these. Whenever you visit a website for the first time, you will usually be asked via a banner whether you agree or consent to the data processing. You can usually also make individual settings and thus decide for yourself which level of data processing you want to allow. If you do not give your consent, no personal data may be processed. Consent can of course also be given in writing, i.e. not via a tool.
Personal Data
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:
“personenal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;
Explanation: Personal data is all data that can identify you as a person. This is usually data such as:
• name
• address
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• birthday
• identification numbers such as social security number, tax identification number, ID card number or matriculation number
• banking data such as account number, credit information, account balances and more.
According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), your IP address is also personal data. IT experts can use your IP address to determine at least the approximate location of your device and subsequently your location as the connection owner. Therefore, storing an IP address also requires a legal basis within the scope of the GDPR. There are also so-called “special categories” of personal data, which are particularly worthy of protection. These include:
• racial and ethnic origin
• political opinions
• religious or ideological beliefs
• Union membership
• genetic data such as data obtained from blood or saliva samples
• biometric data (this is information about psychological, physical or behavioural characteristics that can identify an individual).
health Data
• Data relating to sexual orientation or sex life
Profiling
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:
“Profiling” means any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements;
Explanation: Profiling collects various personal data about an individual in order to learn more about that individual. On the internet, profiling is often used for advertising purposes or for credit checks. Web and advertising analysis programs e. g. collect data about your behaviour and interests on a website. This results in a special user profile that can be used to target advertising to specific target groups.

Closing Remarks

Congratulations! If you are reading these lines, you have most likely familiarised yourself with our entire Privacy Policy – or at least scrolled down here. As you can see from the scope of our Privacy Policy, we do not take the protection of your personal data lightly.
We find it important to inform you about the processing of your personal data to the best of our abilities. In doing so, we not only want to tell you which data is processed but also explain to you why we use various software programs. In general, Privacy Policies have very technical and legal jargon. However, since most of you are not web developers or solicitors, we wanted to take a different approach and explain the facts in simple and clear language. Of course, this is not always possible due to the subject matter. Therefore, you can also find a more detailed explanation of the most important terms at the end of the Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions about data protection on our website, please do not hesitate to contact us or the responsible body. We wish you all the best and hope to soon welcome you to our website again.
All texts are copyrighted.
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