Data Protection

Data protection

1. Information concerning the collection of personal data

(1) In the following we would like to inform you about the collection of personal data when using our website. Personal data are all data which refer specifically to you personally, e.g. name, address, email addresses, user conduct.

(2) We appoint the company named in the legal notice with its contact data as responsible entity according to Section 4 paragraph 7 EU -General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

 (3) On taking up contact with us per email or via a contact form, the data you transmit to us (your email address, in some cases also your name and your telephone number will be stored by us in order to respond to your questions. We will delete the data which are collected in this connection when storage is no longer necessary, or restrict the processing if there is a statutory obligation to keep such data stored.

(4) In case we resort to commissioned service providers for individual functions of our offer or would like to use your data for advertising purposes, we will inform you below in detail about the respective processes. In this context we will also state the stipulated criteria for the duration of storage.

2. Your rights

(1) You have the following rights vis-à-vis us concerning personal data relating to your person:

• right to information,
• right to correction or deletion,
• right to restriction of the processing,
• right to object to the processing,
• right to transferability of data.

(2) In addition, you have the right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority about processing by us of your personal data.
The competent supervisory authority is:

The State Officer for Data Protection in Lower Saxony
Prinzenstr. 5
30159 Hannover
Telephone: 0049 (0) 511 120 45 00
Telefax: 0049 (0) 511 120 45 99
Email: poststelle(at) lfd.niedersachsen.de

3. Collection of personal data when visiting our website

(1) If you only use our website for information purposes, i.e. if you do not register or do not transfer information to us in any other way, we only collect the personal data which your browser transmits to our server. If you would like to observe our website, we collect the following data, which are technically necessary for us to show you our website and to guarantee its stability and security (legal basis Section 6, paragraph 1, p. 1 lit. f, GDPR):

• IP address
• Date and time of enquiry
• Time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
• Content of the request (specific page)
• Access status/HTTP status code
• Quantity of data transferred in each case
• Website from which the request comes
• Browser
• Operating system and its interface
• Language and version of the browser software.

(2) In addition to the data mentioned above cookies are stored on your computer when you use our website. Cookies are small text files which are stored on your hard disk and attributed to the browser which you use, and by means of which certain information is transmitted to the point which sets the cookie (in this case it is us). Cookies cannot execute programmes or transfer viruses to your computer. They serve the purpose of making the internet offer more user-friendly and more effective overall.

(3) Use of cookies:
This website uses the following types of cookies, the scope and method of functioning of which are explained in the following:

• Transient cookies (see a on this)
• Persistent cookies (see b on this).

a) Transient cookies are automatically deleted when you close the browser. These include, in particular, the session cookies. Such cookies store a so-called session ID, by means of which different enquiries via your browser can be allocated to the joint session. In this way your computer can be recognised again when you return to our website. The session cookies are deleted when you log yourself out or close the browser.
b) Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a pre-set duration which can vary according to the cookie. You can delete the cookies at any time in the safety settings of your browser.

You can configure your browser setting as you wish. This also enables you to stipulate whether you only want to permit the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or generally. You can configure your browser setting as you wish and, for example, decline to accept third party cookies or all cookies. We would like to point out that you may not be able to use all functions of this website.

4. Further functions and offers of our website

(1) In addition to using our website for exclusively informative purposes, we offer a variety services which you can use if you are interested. For this purpose you usually have to indicate additional personal data which we use for the provision of the respective service and to which the above-mentioned basic principles on data processing apply.

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

(3) Furthermore, we can pass your personal data on to third parties if participation in sales promotions, competitions, conclusions of contracts or similar services is offered by us in collaboration with partners. You will receive further information on this when you enter your personal data, or below in the description of the offer.

(4) In so far as our service providers or partners have their head office in a state outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we shall inform you about the consequences of this situation in the description of the offer.

5. Objection to or revocation of the processing of your data

(1) If you have granted consent to the processing of your data, you are entitled to revoke this at any time. After informing us of such a revocation, this influences permissibility of the processing of your personal data.

(2) In so far as we base the processing of your personal data on the weighing up of interests, you are entitled to raise an objection to the processing. This is the case, in particular, if the processing is not necessary for the fulfilment of a contract with you. This is described by us in each case in the ensuing description of the functions. If you submit such an objection, we would request you to explain the reasons why we should not process your personal data in the way we have been doing. In the case of an objection indicating reasons, we check the circumstances of the case and will either stop or adjust the data processing or explain to you our compelling legitimate grounds on the basis of which we continue to process the data.

(3) Naturally you are entitled, at any time, to object to the processing of your personal data for the purposes of advertising and data analysis. You can inform us about your objection to advertising via the contact data stated in the Legal notice .

6. Use of Google Analytics

(1) This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses so-called "cookies", text files, which are stored on your computer and which make it possible to analyse the way you use the website. The information generated by the cookie relating to your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. On this website we have activated the function IP anonymisation. (Google Analytics with the extension "_anonymizeIp()"). In this way IP addresses are further processed in an abbreviated form and any reference to a person can thus be ruled out. In so far as a personal reference can be accorded to the data collected about you, this is therefore excluded immediately and the personal data are deleted immediately.

Consequently, however, your IP address is abbreviated in advance by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contractual states of the Treaty on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases is the complete IP address transmitted to a Google server in the USA and abbreviated there. Google, commissioned by the operators of this website, will use this information in order to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports about the website activities and to provide further services linked to the website use and the internet use vis-à-vis the website operator. Google will also transfer this information, if necessary, to third parties in so far as this is prescribed by law or in so far as third parties process these data on behalf of Google.

(2) The IP address sent from your browser in the framework of Google Analytics will not be linked up with other Google data.

(3) You can prevent the storage of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser software. However, please note that if you do so, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent Google from capturing data generated by cookies and data related to your use of the website (incl. your IP address), as well as the processing of this data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available via this link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

(4) We use Google Analytics so that we can analyse the use of our website and improve it regularly. Via the statistics acquired, we can improve our offer and make the design more interesting for you as a user. For the exceptional cases in which personal data are transmitted to the USA Google is subject to the EU-US Privacy Shield, www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework. The legal basis for the use of Google Analytics is Section 6, paragraph 1, p. 1 lit. f, GDPR.

(5) The third-party supplier is registered according to the EU-US data transfer agreement Privacy Shield: www.privacyshield.gov/list. Information of the third-party supplier: Google Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd., Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, Fax: +353 (1) 436 1001. Conditions of use: www.google.de/intl/de/policies/terms/regional.html, overview of data protection: www.google.com/intl/de/analytics/learn/privacy.html, and also the data protection declaration: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

(6) In addition, this website uses Google Analytics for an inter-device analysis of visitor flows, which is carried out via a user-ID. In your customer account you can de-activate the inter-device analysis of your use under "My data", "Personal data".

7. Use of social media plug-ins

(1) At present we use the following social media plug-ins: Facebook, Xing and LinkedIn. Here we use the so-called two-click solution. This means that if you visit our website in the first instance, as a fundamental principle, no personal data are passed on to the suppliers of the plug-ins. You can recognise the supplier of the plug-in from the marking on the box above his initial letters or the logo. We open up the possibility for you to communicate directly with the supplier of the plug-in via the button. Only if you click on the marked field and activate it in this way does the supplier of the plug-in receive the information that you have called up the corresponding website of our online offer. In addition, the data stated under paragraph 3 of this declaration are transmitted. In the case of Facebook and Xing the IP address is anonymised immediately after it has been collected according to information of the respective suppliers in Germany. Thus, by activating the plug-in, personal data are transmitted by you to the respective plug-in supplier and stored there (in the case of United States suppliers in the USA). Since the plug-in supplier carries out the data collection in particular via cookies, we recommend that you delete all cookies via the security settings of your browser before clicking on the logo.

(2) We do not have any influence on the data collected and data processing steps nor are we aware of the complete extent of the data collection, the purposes of the processing and the storage periods. We have also no information on the deletion of the data collected by the plug-in supplier.

(3) The plug-in supplier stores the data collected about you as user profiles and uses these for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or designing of his website in line with requirements. Such an evaluation takes place especially (also for users who are not logged in) for the showing of needs-oriented advertising and in order to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have a right to object to the formation of these user profiles. In order to exercise this right, however, you must approach the respective plug-in supplier. Via the plug-ins we offer you the possibility of interacting with the social networks and other users, so that we can improve our offer and make the design more interesting for you as a user. The legal basis for the use of the plug-ins is Section 6, paragraph 1, p. 1 lit. f, GDPR.

(4) Passing on the data takes place irrespective of whether you have an account with the plug-in supplier and are logged in there. When you are logged in at the plug-in supplier your data which we have collected will be attributed directly to your plug-in supplier. If you press the activated button and, for example, link the page, the plug-in supplier also stores this information in your user account and imparts it publicly to your contacts. We recommend that you log out regularly after use of a social network, but particularly before activation of the button, because in this way you can avoid any allocation to your profile with the plug-in supplier.

(5) You can obtain further information on the purpose and scope of the data collection and the processing of such by the plug-in supplier in the data protection declarations of these suppliers included in the following. There you can also obtain further information on your rights in this regard and setting possibilities for the protection of your privacy.

(6) Addresses of the respective plug-in suppliers and URL with corresponding data protection information:
a) [Facebook Inc., 1601 S California Ave, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA; www.facebook.com/policy.php; further information on data collection: www.facebook.com/help/186325668085084, www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info-on-other and also www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info. Facebook is subject to the EU-US privacy shield, www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.
b) Xing AG, Gänsemarkt 43, 20354 Hamburg, DE; www.xing.com/privacy.
c) LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, California 94043, USA; www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy. LinkedIn is subject to the EU-US-Privacy-Shield, www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.

8. Integration of YouTube videos

(1) We have integrated YouTube videos into our online offer, which are stored on www.YouTube.com and can be played directly from our website. [These are all integrated in the "extended data protection mode" i.e. no data about you as a user are transferred to YouTube if you do not play the videos. The data mentioned in paragraph 3 are only transferred if you play the videos. We have no influence on this data transfer.]

(2) By visiting the website YouTube receives the information that you have called up the corresponding sub-page of our website. In addition, the data stated under paragraph 3 of this declaration are transmitted. This takes place irrespectively of whether YouTube makes a user account available via which you are logged in, or not. When you are logged in at Google, your data are attributed directly to your account. If you do not wish to have the association with your profile at YouTube, you must log out before activating the button. YouTube stores your data as user profiles and uses these for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or designing of its website in line with requirements. Such an evaluation takes place especially (also for users who are not logged in) for developing of needs-oriented advertising and in order to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have a right to object to the formation of these user profiles.  In order to exercise this right, however, you must approach YouTube directly.

(3) You can obtain further information on the purpose and scope of the data collection and the processing of such by YouTube in the data protection declaration. There you can also obtain further information on your rights in this regard and setting possibilities for the protection of your privacy: www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy. Google also processes your personal data in the USA and is subject to the EU-US-Privacy-Shield, www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.

9. Integration of Google Maps

(1) On this website we use the offer of Google Maps. In this way we can show you interactive maps directly in the website and enable convenient use of the map function for you.

(2) By visiting the website Google receives the information that you have called up the corresponding sub-page of our website. In addition, the data stated under paragraph 3 of this declaration are transmitted. This takes place irrespectively of whether Google makes a user account available via which you are logged in, or not. When you are logged in at Google, your data are attributed directly to your account. If you do not wish to have the association with your profile at Goggle, you must log out before activating the button. Google stores your data as user profiles and uses these for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or designing of its website in line with requirements. Such an evaluation takes place especially (also for users who are not logged in) for developing of needs-oriented advertising and in order to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have a right to object to the formation of these user profiles.  In order to exercise this right, however, you must approach Google directly.

(3) You can obtain further information on the purpose and scope of the data collection and the processing of such by the plug-in supplier in the data protection declarations of the suppliers. There you can also obtain further information on your rights in this regard and setting possibilities for the protection of your privacy: www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy. Google also processes your personal data in the USA and is subject to the EU-US-Privacy-Shield, www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.