Privacy and data protection
This data protection declaration informs you about the type, scope and purpose of the processing of personal data (hereinafter referred to as “data”) within our online offer and the associated websites, functions and contents as well as external online presences, such as our social media profile. (hereinafter jointly referred to as “online offer”). With regard to the terms used, such as “processing” or “controller”, we refer you to the definitions in article 4 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The name and address of the controller for the processing within the meaning of the GDPR other data protection laws applicable in the Member States of the European Union and other provisions of a data protection nature is:
benevit van Clewe GmbH & Co. KG
Loikumer Straße 18a
46499 Dingden
HRB 19211
Managing directors:
Dorothée van Clewe, Xenia van Clewe
+49 (0) 2852-96001-0
info@bene-vit.de
Name and address of data protection officer.
The data protection officer responsible for the processing is:
Tim Pollmann
van Clewe validData GmbH
Loikumer Straße 18a
46499 Hamminkeln
Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 2852- 96529-13
Website: www.validdata.de
For all questions and suggestions regarding data protection, any person concerned can contact our data protection officer directly at any time.
Types of data processed:
– Inventory data (for example, names, addresses).
– Contact data (e.g., e-mail, telephone numbers).
– Content data (e.g., text entries, photographs, videos).
– Contract data (e.g., subject matter of the contract, duration, Customer category).
– Payment data (e.g., bank details, payment history).
– Usage data (e.g., websites visited, interest in content, access times).
– Meta/communication data (e.g., device information, IP addresses).
Processing of special categories of data (Article 9 para. 1 GDPR):
No special categories of data will be processed.
Categories of data subjects involved in the processing:
– Customers, interested parties, visitors and users of the online offer, business partners.
– Visitors and users of the online offer.
In the following, we will refer to the persons concerned collectively as “users”.
Purpose of the processing:
– Provision of the online offer, its contents and shop functions.
– Provision of contractual services, service and Customer care.
– Answering contact enquiries and communicating with users.
– Marketing, advertising and market research.
– Security measures.
Last updated: September 2019.
1. Terms used
1.1 ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter ‘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 (e.g. a cookie) or to one or more particular characteristics which express the physical, physiological, genetic, psychological, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
1.2 “Processing” means any operation or set of operations carried out with or without the aid of automated processes relating to personal data. The term is broad and covers practically every handling of data.
1.3. A ‘controller’ is a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other bodies which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.
2. Applicable legal bases
Following article 13 GDPR we inform you about the legal basis of our data processing. If the legal basis is not mentioned in the data protection declaration, the following applies: The legal basis for obtaining consent is article 6 para. 1 lit. a and article 7 GDPR the legal basis for processing to fulfil our services and carry out contractual measures as well as answer inquiries is article 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR, the legal basis for processing to fulfil our legal obligations is article 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR and the legal basis for processing in order to safeguard our legitimate interests is article 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. In the event that vital interests of the data subject or another natural person make the processing of personal data necessary, article 6 para. 1 lit. d GDPR serves as the legal basis.
3. Changes and Updates to the Privacy Policy
We ask you to inform yourself regularly about the content of our data protection declaration. We will adapt the data protection declaration as soon as the changes to the data processing carried out by us make this necessary. We will inform you as soon as the changes require your cooperation (e.g. consent) or other individual notification.
4. Safety precautions
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures in accordance with article 32 GDPR taking into account the state of the art, the implementation costs and the nature, extent, circumstances and purposes of the processing as well as the different probability of occurrence and severity of the risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, to ensure a level of protection appropriate to the risk; these measures include in particular safeguarding the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data by controlling the physical access to the data as well as the access to, inputting, passing on, safeguarding the availability and separation of the data concerning them. In addition, we have established procedures to ensure the exercise of data subjects’ rights, the deletion of data and the response to data threats. Furthermore, we take the protection of personal data into account as early as the development or selection of hardware, software and processes, following the principle of data protection through technology design and data protection-friendly default settings (article 25 GDPR).
4.2 The security measures include in particular the encrypted transmission of data between your browser and our server.
5. Disclosure and transmission of data
5.1 If we disclose data to other persons and companies (contract processors or third-parties) in the course of our processing, transfer them to them or otherwise grant them access to the data, this shall only take place on the basis of legal permission (e.g. if the data is transferred to third-parties, such as payment service providers, in accordance with article 6 Para. 1 lit. b GDPR), you have consented, a legal obligation provides for this or on the basis of our legitimate interests (e.g. when using agents, hosting providers, tax, business and legal advisors, Customer care, accounting, billing and similar services that allow us to efficiently and effectively fulfil our contractual obligations, administrative tasks and duties).
5.2 If we entrust third-parties with the processing of data based on a so-called “order processing contract”, this is done based on article 28 GDPR.
6. Transfers to third countries
If we process data in a third country (i.e. outside the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA)) or if this is done in the context of the use of third-party services or disclosure or transfer of data to third-parties, this will only occur if it is done to fulfil our (pre)contractual obligations, on the basis of your consent, a legal obligation or on the basis of our legitimate interests. Subject to legal or contractual permissions, we process or have the data processed in a third country only if the special requirements of article 44 ff. GDPR are met. This means that the processing takes place, for example, on the basis of special guarantees, such as the officially recognised determination of a data protection level corresponding to the EU (e.g. for the USA by the “Privacy Shield”) or compliance with officially recognised special contractual obligations (so-called “standard contractual clauses”).
7. Rights of data subjects
7.1 You have the right to request confirmation as to whether the data in question will be processed and to obtain information about such data and further information and a copy of the data in accordance with article 15 GDPR.
7.2 Following article 16 GDPR, you have the right to request the completion of data concerning you or the correction of incorrect data affecting you.
7.3. Following article 17 GDPR, you have the right to demand that the relevant data be deleted immediately or, alternatively, to demand a restriction on the processing of the data in accordance with article 18 GDPR.
7.4. You have the right to demand that we receive the data concerning you which you have provided to us in accordance with article 20 GDPR and to demand that it be transferred to other responsible parties.
7.5 According to article 77 GDPR, you also have the right to file a complaint with the competent supervisory authority.
8. Right of withdrawal
You have the right to revoke consents granted according to Article 7 (3) GDPR with effect for the future.
9. Right of objection
You may object at any time to the future processing of the data concerning you in accordance with article 21 GDPR. In particular, you may object to the processing of your data direct marketing.
10. Cookies and right to object to direct advertising
10.1 “Cookies” are small files that are stored on users’ computers. Different data can be stored within the cookies. A cookie is primarily used to store information about a user (or the device on which the cookie is stored) during or after the user’s visit to an online service. Temporary cookies, or “session cookies” or “transient cookies”, are cookies that are deleted after a user leaves an online offer and closes his browser. The content of a shopping basket in an online shop or a login status, for example, can be stored in such a cookie. Cookies are referred to as “permanent” or “persistent” and remain stored even after the browser is closed. For example, the login status can be saved if users visit it after several days. The interests of the users who are used for range measurement or marketing purposes can also be stored in such a cookie. Third-party cookies” are cookies from providers other than the person responsible for operating the online service (otherwise, if they are only their cookies, this is referred to as “first-party cookies”).
10.2 We use temporary and permanent cookies and explain this in our privacy policy.
If users do not wish cookies to be stored on their computer, they are asked to deactivate the corresponding option in the system settings of their browser. Stored cookies can be deleted in the system settings of the browser. The exclusion of cookies can lead to functional restrictions of this online offer.
10.3 A general objection to the use of cookies for online marketing can be raised for a large number of services, particularly in the case of tracking, via the US website http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or the EU website http://www.youronlinechoices.com/. In addition, cookies can be saved by deactivating them in the browser settings. Please note that in this case not all functions of this online offer can be used.
11. Deletion of data
11.1 The data processed by us shall be deleted or their processing restricted in accordance with article 17 and 18 GDPR. Unless expressly stated in this data protection declaration, the data stored by us will be deleted as soon as they are no longer required for their intended purpose and there are no legal obligations to retain them. If the data are not deleted because they are required for other and legally permissible purposes, their processing will be restricted. This means that the data will be blocked and not processed for other purposes. This applies, for example, to data that must be stored for commercial or tax reasons.
11.2. Germany: Following legal requirements, the documents are stored in particular for 6 years in accordance with § 257 para. 1 HGB (commercial books, inventories, opening balance sheets, annual financial statements, commercial letters, accounting vouchers, etc.) and for 10 years following § 147 para. 1 AO (books, records, management reports, accounting vouchers, commercial and business letters, documents relevant for taxation, etc.).
11.3. Austria: Following legal requirements, the storage shall take place in particular for 7 years in accordance with § 132 para. 1 BAO (accounting documents, receipts/invoices, accounts, receipts, business papers, statement of income and expenditure, etc.), for 22 years in connection with real estate and for 10 years for documents in connection with electronically provided services, telecommunications, radio and television services which are provided to non-entrepreneurs in EU member states and for which the Mini-One-Stop-Shop (MOSS) is used.
12. Order processing in the online shop and Customer account
12.1 We process the data of our Customers within the framework of the order processes in our online shop in order to enable them to select and order the selected products and services, as well as their payment and delivery, or execution.
12.2 The data processed shall include inventory data, communication data, contract data, payment data and the persons concerned, our Customers, interested parties and other business partners. Processing is carried out to provide contractual services within the framework of operating an online shop, billing, delivery and Customer services. We use session cookies to store the contents of the shopping basket and permanent cookies to store the login status.
12.3 Processing shall take place based on article 6 para. 1 lit. b (execution of order processes) and c (legally required archiving) GDPR. Thereby the information marked as necessary is necessary for the justification and fulfilment of the contract. We disclose the data to third-parties only within the scope of delivery, payment or within the scope of the statutory permits and obligations to legal advisors and authorities. The data will only be processed in third countries if this is necessary for the fulfilment of the contract (e.g. at the Customer’s request upon delivery or payment).
12.4 Users may optionally create a user account, in particular by viewing their orders. Within the scope of registration, the required mandatory information will be communicated to the users. The user accounts are not public and cannot be indexed by search engines. If users have terminated their user account, their data will be deleted concerning the user account, subject to its retention for commercial or tax reasons according to article 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR. Data in the Customer account shall remain until it is deleted with subsequent archiving in the event of a legal obligation. It is the responsibility of the users to back up their data before the end of the contract in the event of termination.
12.5 In the process of registration and re-registration as well as the use of our online services, we store the IP address and the time of the respective user action. The storage is based on our legitimate interests, as well as the user’s protection against misuse and other unauthorized use. These data will not be passed on to third-parties unless it is necessary to pursue our claims or there is a legal obligation according to article 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR.
12.6 Deletion shall take place after expiry of statutory warranty and comparable obligations. The necessity of data retention is reviewed every three years; in the case of statutory archiving obligations, the deletion takes place after their expiration (end of commercial (6 years) and tax (10 years) retention obligation); information in the Customer account remains until its deletion.
13. Economic analyses and market research
13.1 In order to run our business economically, to identify market trends, Customer and user wishes, we analyse the data available to us regarding business transactions, contracts, enquiries, etc.. We process inventory data, communication data, contract data, payment data, usage data, metadata on the basis of article 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR, whereby the persons concerned include Customers, interested parties, business partners, visitors and users of the online offer. The analyses are carried out for economic evaluations, marketing and market research. We can consider the profiles of the registered users with information, e.g. on their purchase transactions. The analyses serve us to increase the user-friendliness, the optimization of our offer and the business economy. The analyses serve us alone and are not disclosed externally unless they are anonymous analyses with summarized values.
13.2 If these analyses or profiles are personal, they will be deleted or made anonymous with the termination of the user, otherwise after two years from the conclusion of the contract. In all other respects, the macroeconomic analyses and general trend definitions shall be prepared anonymously as far as possible.
2. A Customer’s creditworthiness may be checked if there is otherwise a risk of payment default, i.e. if the goods are delivered without payment having been received (i.e. if the Customer chooses to purchase on account). However, there is no risk of payment default if, for example, the Customer chooses the prepayment option or makes the payment via third-party providers, such as PayPal.
It should also be noted that obtaining automatic creditworthiness information constitutes an “automated decision in individual cases” according to article 22 GDPR, i.e. a legal decision without human participation. This is permitted if the Customer has consented or if this decision is necessary for the conclusion of the contract. Whether the decision is necessary has not yet been conclusively clarified, but is often represented as given, including by the author of this model. If, however, you wish to exclude any risk, you should obtain consent.
Consent is also required if the creditworthiness information is already used to decide at all whether the option “on account” should be shown. Because it could have been that the Customer would have decided anyway for the prepayment or PayPal and the credit investigation would not have been necessary.
Such consent could, for example, read as follows:
I agree that a check of creditworthiness may be carried out to decide in an automated procedure (article 22 GDPR) whether the option of purchase on account will be offered. Further information on checking creditworthiness, the credit agencies used and the procedure, as well as the possibilities for objection, can be found in our [Link]Privacy Policy[/Link].
14. Creditworthiness information
14.1 Insofar as we make an advance payment (e.g. in the case of purchase on account), we reserve the right, in order to safeguard legitimate interests, to obtain identity and creditworthiness information for assessing the credit risk on the basis of mathematical-statistical procedures from service companies (credit agencies) specialised in this area.
14.2 As part of the information on creditworthiness, we transmit the following personal data of the Customer (name, postal address, date of birth, details of the type of contract, bank details to the following credit agencies:
Please indicate here the credit agencies, e.g.:] SCHUFA-Gesellschaft (SCHUFA Holding AG, Kormoranweg 5, 65201 Wiesbaden), data protection information: https://www.schufa.de/de/ueber-uns/daten-scoring/.
14.3 The information received from credit agencies on the statistical probability of non-payment is processed by us within the framework of an appropriate discretionary decision on the establishment, execution and termination of the contractual relationship. In the event of a negative result of the check of creditworthiness, we reserve the right to refuse payment on account or any other advance payment.
14.4 The decision as to whether we shall make advance payment shall be made in accordance with article 22 GDPR solely based on an automated decision in the individual case, which our software makes based on the information provided by the credit agency.
14.5 If we obtain explicit consent from you, the legal basis for the creditworthiness information and the transmission of the data of the Customer to the credit agencies is the consent according to article 6 para. 1 lit. a, 7 GDPR. If no consent is obtained, our legitimate interests in the reliability of your payment claim are the legal basis according to article 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR.
15. Contact and Customer Service
15.1 When establishing contact with us (via contact form or e-mail), the data of the user will be used for the processing of the contact request and its execution according to article 6 para. 1 lit. b) GDPR.
15.2 User information may be stored in our Customer Relationship Management System (“CRM System”) or similar inquiry management system.
15.3 We will delete the requests if they are no longer necessary. We review the requirement every two years; requests from Customers who have a Customer account are stored permanently and refer to the Customer account details for deletion. Furthermore, the statutory archiving obligations apply.
Note: If not already done: Please ask the respective web host for a so-called “Order Processing Agreement” (or “Data Processing Agreement”). This is required by law because the internet hosting service collects personal data of the website visitors for you.
16. Collection of access data and log files
16.1 Based on our legitimate interests within the meaning of article 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR, we collect data on each access to the server on which this service is located (so-called server log files). The access data includes the name of the website accessed, file, date and time of access, amount of data transferred, notification of successful access, browser type and version, the user’s operating system, referrer URL (the previously visited page), IP address and the requesting provider.
16.2 Log file information is stored for a maximum of seven days for security reasons (e.g. to clarify misuse or fraud) and then deleted. Any data whose further storage is necessary for evidence purposes shall be excluded from deletion until the respective incident has been finally clarified.
17. Online presences in social media
17.1 We maintain online presences within social networks and platforms on the basis of our legitimate interests within the meaning of article 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR in order to communicate with Customers, interested parties and users active there and to inform them about our services. When accessing the respective networks and platforms, the terms and conditions and data processing guidelines of their respective operators apply.
17.2 Unless otherwise stated in our Privacy Policy, we process the data of users who communicate with us within social networks and platforms, e.g. by posting on our websites or by sending us messages.
If the “Remarketing” or “Google Analytics Audiences” functions are used, the following passage to these functions must be added as a second point:
17.2 We use Google Analytics to display ads placed by Google and its affiliates within our advertising services only to users who have expressed an interest in our online services or who have specific characteristics (e.g. interests in specific topics or products identified by the websites they visit) that we transmit to Google (known as “remarketing” or “Google Analytics Audiences”). With the help of remarketing audiences, we would also like to ensure that our ads correspond to the potential interest of the users and do not appear annoying.
18. Google Analytics
18.1 We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC (“Google”), on the basis of our legitimate interests (i.e. interest in the analysis, optimisation and economic operation of our online offering within the meaning of article 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR). Google uses cookies. The information generated by the cookie about the use of the website by users is generally transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.
18.2 Google is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, thereby providing a guarantee of compliance with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active).
18.3 Google will use this information on our behalf in order to evaluate the use of our online offer by users, to compile reports on the activities within this online offer and to provide us with further services associated with the use of this online offer and the use of the Internet. Thereby pseudonymous usage profiles of the users can be created from the processed data.
18.4 We use Google Analytics only with IP anonymisation enabled. This means that the IP address of the user is shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to and truncated by Google on servers in the United States.
18.5 The IP address transmitted by the user’s browser will not be merged with any other data held by Google. Users may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on their browsers. Furthermore, users can prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and related to their use of the online service and Google from processing this data by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.
18.6. Further information on the use of data by Google, setting and objection possibilities can be found on the websites of Google: https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/partners (“Google’s use of data when you use the websites or apps of our partners”), https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads (“Use of data for advertising purposes”), https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated (“Manage information that Google uses to display advertisements to you.”)
19. Google-Re/Marketing-Services
19.1 On the basis of our legitimate interests (i.e. interest in the analysis, optimisation and economic operation of our online services within the meaning of article 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR), we use the marketing and remarketing services (hereinafter referred to as “Google Marketing Services”) of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, (“Google”).
19.2 Google is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, thereby providing a guarantee of compliance with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active).
19.3 The Google Marketing Services allow us to display advertisements for and on our website in a more targeted manner in order to present users only with advertisements that potentially match their interests. For example, if a user sees ads for products that interest him or her on other websites, this is referred to as “remarketing”. For these purposes, when you visit our and other websites on which Google marketing services are active, Google directly executes a code from Google and incorporates (re)marketing tags (invisible graphics or code, also known as “web beacons”) into the website. With their help, an individual cookie, i.e. a small file, is stored on the user’s device (comparable technologies can also be used instead of cookies). The cookies can be set by various domains, including google.com, doubleclick.net, invitemedia.com, admeld.com, googlesyndication.com or googleadservices.com. In this file it is noted which websites the user visits, which contents he is interested in and which offers he has clicked, furthermore technical information about the browser and operating system, referring websites, visiting time as well as further information about the use of the online offer. The IP address of the user is also recorded, whereby we inform within the scope of Google Analytics that the IP address within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area is truncated and only in exceptional cases is completely transmitted to a Google server in the USA and truncated there. The IP address is not merged with User data within other Google services. Google may also combine the above information with such information from other sources. If the user subsequently visits other websites, the ads tailored to the user’s interests may be displayed.
19.4 The data of the users are processed pseudonymously within the scope of the Google marketing services. This means, for example, that Google does not store and process the name or e-mail address of the user, but processes the relevant data cookie-related within pseudonymous user profiles. This means that, from Google’s point of view, the ads are not administered and displayed for a specifically identified person, but for the cookie holder, regardless of who this cookie holder is. This does not apply if a user has expressly permitted Google to process the data without this pseudonymisation. The information Google Marketing Services collects about users is transmitted to Google and stored on Google’s servers in the United States.
19.5 One of the Google marketing services we use is the online advertising program “Google AdWords”. In the case of Google AdWords, each AdWords Customer receives a different “conversion cookie”. Cookies can therefore not be tracked via the websites of AdWords Customers. The information collected through the cookie is used to generate conversion statistics for AdWords Customers who have opted for conversion tracking. AdWords Customers see the total number of users who clicked on their ad and were redirected to a page with a conversion tracking tag. However, they will not receive personally identifiable information.
19.6 We may use the Google marketing service “DoubleClick” to include advertisements from third-parties. DoubleClick uses cookies to enable Google and its partner sites to serve ads based on users’ visits to this site or other sites on the Internet.
19.7 We may use the Google marketing service “AdSense” to include advertisements from third-parties. AdSense uses cookies to enable Google and its partner sites to serve ads based on users’ visits to this site or other sites on the Internet.
19.8 We may also use the “Google Optimizer” service. Google Optimizer allows us to track the effects of various changes to a website (e.g. changes to input fields, design, etc.) within the framework of so-called “A/B-Testing’s”. For these test purposes, cookies are stored on the user’s devices. Only pseudonymous user data is processed.
19.9 We may also use the “Google Tag Manager” to integrate and manage the Google analytics and marketing services on our Website.
19.10. More information about Google’s use of data for marketing purposes can be found on the overview page: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads, die
19.11. If you wish to opt-out of interest-based advertising through Google Marketing Services, you may use the setting and opt-out options provided by Google: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.
Furthermore, when using the Facebook pixel, we use the additional function “advanced matching” (here data such as telephone numbers, e-mail addresses or Facebook IDs of the users) for the formation of target groups (“Custom Audiences” or “Look Alike Audiences”) is transmitted to Facebook (encrypted). Further information on “advanced matching”: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/611774685654668).
We also use the “Custom Audiences from File” procedure of the social network Facebook, Inc. In this case, the e-mail addresses of the newsletter recipients are uploaded to Facebook. The upload process is encrypted. The upload is used solely to determine the recipients of our Facebook ads. We want to ensure that the ads are only displayed to users who are interested in our information and services.
Note about Opt-Out: Please note that Facebook does not offer an Opt-Out at the time of creating this feature and you have to implement it yourself. If you do not, you must remove this passage. This can be done, for example, using Javascript (setting the opt-out link) and loading the page via PHP (which checks whether the opt-out cookie has been set and only loads the Facebook pixel if the result is negative). If a user visits the website, it must be checked whether the opt-out cookie has been set. If yes, the “Facebook pixel” must not be loaded.
In the case of your own opt-out, please include the following addition:
To prevent the collection of your data by means of the Facebook pixel on our website, please click the following link: Facebook Opt-Out Note: When you click the link, an opt-out cookie is stored on your device. If you delete the cookies in this browser, you must click the link again. Furthermore, the opt-out only applies within the browser you are using and only within our web domain on which the link was clicked.
20. Facebook, Custom Audiences and Facebook Marketing Services
20.1. Due to our legitimate interests in the analysis, optimisation and economic operation of our online service, the so-called “Facebook pixel” of the social network Facebook, which is operated by Facebook Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA, or if you are resident in the EU, Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland (“Facebook”), is used within our online service.
20.2 Facebook is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, thereby providing a guarantee of compliance with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC&status=Active).
20.3 With the help of the Facebook pixel, Facebook is able on the one hand to determine the visitors of our online offer as the target group for the presentation of advertisements (so-called “Facebook ads”). Accordingly, we use the Facebook pixel to display the Facebook ads placed by us only to Facebook users who have shown an interest in our online offering or who have certain characteristics (e.g. interests in certain topics or products that are determined on the basis of the websites visited) that we transmit to Facebook (so-called “custom audiences”). With the help of Facebook pixels, we also want to ensure that our Facebook ads correspond to the potential interest of users and do not appear annoying. Using Facebook pixels, we can also track the effectiveness of Facebook ads for statistical and market research purposes by seeing if users have been referred to our site after clicking on a Facebook ad (called “conversion”).
20.4 Facebook processes the data in accordance with the Facebook Data Usage Policy. Accordingly, general information on the presentation of Facebook ads is provided in the Data Usage Policy of Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/policy.php. Special information and details about Facebook pixels and how they work can be found in the Facebook help section: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/651294705016616.
20.5 You may opt-out of Facebook pixel collection and use of your information to display Facebook Ads. To set what types of ads you see within Facebook, you can go to the page set up by Facebook and follow the instructions on how to set up usage-based ads: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads. The settings are platform-independent, i.e. they are adopted for all devices, such as desktop computers or mobile devices.
20.6 You may also opt-out of the use of cookies to measure reach and for advertising purposes via the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page (http://optout.networkadvertising.org/) and additionally via the US website (http://www.aboutads.info/choices) or the European website (http://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/your-ad-choices/).
21. Facebook Social Plugins
21.1 We use social plugins (“Plugins”) of the social network facebook.com, which is operated by Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland (“Facebook”), on the basis of our legitimate interests (i.e. interest in the analysis, optimisation and economic operation of our online services within the meaning of article 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR). The plugins can display interaction elements or content (e.g. videos, graphics or text contributions) and are recognizable by one of the Facebook logos (white “f” on a blue tile, the terms “like” or a “thumbs up” sign) or are marked with the addition “Facebook Social Plugin”. The list and appearance of the Facebook Social Plugins can be viewed here: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/.
21.2 Facebook is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, thereby providing a guarantee of compliance with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC&status=Active).
21.3 If a user calls a function of this online service that contains such a plugin, his device establishes a direct connection with Facebook’s servers. The content of the plugin is transmitted directly from Facebook to the user’s device and integrated into the online service by the user. Thereby user profiles can be created from the processed data. We, therefore, have no influence on the extent of the data that Facebook collects with the help of this plugin and therefore inform the user according to our state of knowledge.
21.4 By integrating the plugins, Facebook receives the information that a user has called up the corresponding page of the online offer. If the user is logged in to Facebook, Facebook can assign the visit to his Facebook account. When users interact with the plugins, e.g. by clicking the Like button or commenting, the corresponding information is transferred directly from your device to Facebook and stored there. If a user is not a member of Facebook, it is still possible for Facebook to find out his or her IP address and store it. According to Facebook, only an anonymous IP address is stored in Germany.
21.5 The purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing and use of the data by Facebook as well as the related rights and setting options to protect the privacy of users can be found in Facebook’s data protection information: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/.
21.6 If a user is a Facebook member and does not want Facebook to collect information about him or her through this Online Service and link it to his or her Member Data stored on Facebook, he or she must log out of Facebook and delete his or her cookies before using our Online Service. Further settings and objections to the use of data for advertising purposes are possible within the Facebook profile settings: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads or via the US-American website http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or the European website http://www.youronlinechoices.com/. The settings are platform-independent, i.e. they are adopted for all devices, such as desktop computers or mobile devices.
23. Communication by post, e-mail, fax or telephone
23.1 We use means of distance communication, such as post, telephone or e-mail, for business transactions and marketing purposes. We process inventory data, address and contact data as well as contract data of customers, participants, interested parties and communication partners.
23.2 Processing takes place on the basis of article 6 para. 1 lit. a, Article 7 GDPR, article 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR in conjunction with legal requirements for advertising communications. Contact will only be established with the consent of the contact partners or within the scope of the legal permissions, and the processed data will be deleted as soon as they are not required and otherwise with objection/revocation or the discontinuation of the authorization bases or legal archiving obligations.
Note: Please indicate the contents of the newsletter and the evaluation of the opening and clicking behaviour already during the registration process, i.e. in the registration form, e.g.:
Our newsletter contains information about our products, offers, promotions and our company. Information on data protection, revocation, logging and the measurement of success covered by the consent can be found in our [LINK]Privacy Policy[/Link].
If you use a mailing service provider, you must supplement information on these and can use these examples as a guideline (use of a service provider from the EU and one from a third country):
Mailing service provider: The newsletter is sent by CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG, Mühlenstr. 43, 26180 Rastede, Germany, hereinafter referred to as the “Mailing Service Provider”.
You can view the data protection regulations of the mailing service provider here: https://www.cleverreach.com/de/datenschutz/.
Mailing service provider: The newsletter is sent via “MailChimp”, a newsletter mailing platform of the US provider Rocket Science Group, LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE #5000, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA. You can view the data protection regulations of the mailing service provider here: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/. The Rocket Science Group LLC d/b/a MailChimp is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement and thus offers a guarantee of compliance with the European level of data protection (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TO6hAAG&status=Active).
Note on the legal basis: Please select the variant for Germany or Austria in the information on the legal basis.
Please note that due to a provision of the E-Commerce Act (ECG) in Austria, the so-called “ECG list” must be taken into account. This list is maintained by the Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Broadcasting (RTR-GmbH): https://www.rtr.at/de/tk/TKKS_Spam. It contains the e-mail addresses to which no e-mails may be sent.
24. Newsletter
28.1 With the following information we inform you about the contents of our newsletter as well as the registration, sending and statistical evaluation procedures and your rights of objection. By subscribing to our newsletter, you declare your agreement with the receipt and the described procedures.
24.2 Content of the newsletter: We send newsletters, e-mails and other electronic notifications containing advertising information (hereinafter referred to as “newsletter”) only with the consent of the recipient or a legal permission. If the contents of the newsletter are specifically described within the scope of registration, they are decisive for the consent of the user. In addition, our newsletters contain information on our products, offers, promotions and our company.
24.3 Double-Opt-In and logging: The registration to our newsletter takes place in a so-called Double-Opt-In procedure. This means that you will receive an e-mail after registration asking you to confirm your registration. This confirmation is necessary so that nobody can register with external e-mail addresses. The registrations for the newsletter are logged in order to be able to prove the registration process according to the legal requirements. This includes the storage of the registration and confirmation time, as well as the IP address. Also, the changes of your data stored by the mailing service provider will be logged.
24.4 Mailing service provider: The newsletters are sent via “MailChimp”, a newsletter mailing platform of the US provider Rocket Science Group, LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE #5000, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA. You can view the privacy policy of the mailing service provider here: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/. The Rocket Science Group LLC d/b/a MailChimp is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement and thus offers a guarantee of compliance with the European level of data protection (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TO6hAAG&status=Active).
24.5 If we use a mailing service provider, the mailing service provider may, according to its own information, use this data in pseudonymous form, i.e. without allocation to a user, to optimise or improve its own services, e.g. for technical optimisation of the mailing and the presentation of the newsletter or for statistical purposes in order to determine from which countries the recipients come. However, the mailing service provider does not use the data of our newsletter recipients to write to them itself or pass them on to third-parties.
24.6. Registration data: To subscribe to the newsletter, it is sufficient to enter your e-mail address. Optionally, we ask you to enter a name in the newsletter to address you personally.
24.7 Performance measurement – The newsletters contain a so-called “web beacon”, i.e. a file the size of a pixel, which is retrieved from our server when the newsletter is opened or if we use a mailing service provider, from whose server it is retrieved. Within the scope of this retrieval, technical information, such as information about the browser and your system, as well as your IP address and time of retrieval are first collected. This information is used to technically improve the services on the basis of technical data or target groups and their reading behaviour on the basis of their retrieval locations (which can be determined with the help of the IP address) or access times. Statistical surveys also include determining whether newsletters are opened, when they are opened and which links are clicked. For technical reasons, this information can be assigned to the individual newsletter recipients. It is, however, neither our endeavour nor, if used, that of the mail-order service provider to observe individual users. The evaluations serve us much more to recognise the reading habits of our users and to adapt our content to them or to send different content according to the interests of our users.
24.8. Germany: The mailing of the newsletter and the performance measurement are carried out on the basis of the consent of the recipients according to article 6 para. 1 lit. a, article 7 GDPR in conjunction with § 7 para. 2 no. 3 UWG or on the basis of the legal permission according to § 7 para. 3 UWG.
24.9. Austria: The dispatch of the newsletter and the performance measurement are based on the consent of the recipients according to article 6 Para. 1 lit. a, article 7 GDPR in conjunction with § 107 para. 2 TKG or on the legal consent according to § 107 para. 2 and 3 TKG.
24.10. The registration procedure is recorded on the basis of our legitimate interests according to article 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR and serves as proof of consent to receive the newsletter.
24.11. Recipients of our newsletters can cancel their subscription at any time, i.e. revoke their consent. You will find a link to cancel the newsletter at the end of each newsletter. At the same time, your consent to the measurement of your success will expire. A separate revocation of the performance measurement is unfortunately not possible; in this case, the entire newsletter subscription must be cancelled. With the cancellation of the newsletter, the personal data will be deleted, unless their retention is legally required or justified, in which case their processing is limited only to these exceptional purposes. In particular, we may store the deleted e-mail addresses for up to three years on the basis of our legitimate interests before we delete them to send the newsletter in order to be able to prove that we have previously given our consent. The processing of this data is limited to the purpose of a possible defence against claims. An individual deletion request is possible at any time, provided that the former existence of a consent is confirmed at the same time.
25. Integration of third-party services and content
25.1 Within our online offer, we use content or service offers from third-parties on the basis of our legitimate interests (i.e. interest in the analysis, optimisation and economic operation of our online offer within the meaning of article 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in order to integrate their content and services, such as videos or fonts (hereinafter uniformly referred to as “content”). This always presupposes that the third-party providers of this content perceive the IP address of the user since they would not be able to send the content to their browser without the IP address. The IP address is therefore required for the presentation of this content. We make every effort to use only those contents whose respective providers merely use the IP address to deliver the contents. Third-party providers may also use so-called pixel tags (invisible graphics, also known as “web beacons”) for statistical or marketing purposes. The “pixel tags” can be used to evaluate information such as visitor traffic on the pages of this website. The pseudonymous information may also be stored in cookies on the user’s device and may contain, among other things, technical information about the browser and operating system, referring web pages, visit times and other information about the use of our online offering, as well as may be linked to such information from other sources.
25.2 The following presentation provides an overview of third-party providers and their contents, together with links to their data protection declarations, which contain further information on the processing of data and, in some cases already mentioned here, possibilities for objection (so-called opt-out)
– If our Customers use the payment services of third-parties (e.g. PayPal or Sofortüberweisung), the terms and conditions and the privacy policy of the respective third-parties, which are available within the respective websites or transaction applications, apply.
– External fonts from Google, LLC, https://www.google.com/fonts (“Google Fonts”). The integration of the Google Fonts takes place by a server call with Google (usually in the USA). Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy, Opt-Out: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.
– Maps are provided by the “Google Maps” service of the third-party provider Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Privacy Policy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/, Opt-Out: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/.
– Videos from the “YouTube” platform of third-party provider Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Privacy Policy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/, Opt-Out: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/.
– Within our online offer, functions of the Google+ service are integrated. These functions are offered by the third-party provider Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. If you are logged in to your Google+ account, you can link the contents of our pages to your Google+ profile by clicking the Google+ button. This enables Google to assign the visit to our pages to your user account. We would like to point out that, as the provider of these pages, we do not have any knowledge of the content of the transmitted data or its use by Google+. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy, Opt-Out: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.
– Within our online offer, functions of the Instagram service are integrated. These functions are offered by Instagram Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA. If you are logged in to your Instagram account you can link the contents of our pages to your Instagram profile by clicking the Instagram button. This allows Instagram to assign the visit to our pages to your user account. We would like to point out that as the provider of the pages, we do not have any knowledge of the content of the transmitted data or its use by Instagram. Privacy policy: http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/.
– We use social plugins of the social network Pinterest, which is operated by Pinterest Inc., 635 High Street, Palo Alto, CA, 94301, USA (“Pinterest”). If you access a page that contains such a plugin, your browser will connect directly to Pinterest’s servers. The plugin transmits protocol data to the server of Pinterest in the USA. This log data may include your IP address, the address of the websites visited, which also contain Pinterest functions, browser type and settings, date and time of the request, your use of Pinterest and cookies. Privacy Policy: https://about.pinterest.com/de/privacy-policy.
– Within our online offer, functions of the service or the platform Twitter can be integrated (hereinafter referred to as “Twitter”). Twitter is an offer of Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. The functions include the presentation of our contributions within Twitter within our online offer, the link to our profile on Twitter and the possibility to interact with the contributions and the functions of Twitter, as well as to measure whether users reach our online offer via the advertisements placed by us on Twitter (so-called conversion measurement). Twitter is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement and thus offers a guarantee of compliance with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TORzAAO&status=Active). Privacy policy: https://twitter.com/de/privacy, Opt-Out: https://twitter.com/personalization.