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Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy Introduction and Overview
We have written this privacy policy (version 04.02.2025-112440704) 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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:Dr. Matthias Schmidl
Address: Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Wien
Phone number.: +43 1 52 152-0
E-mail address:
[email protected]
Website:
https://www.dsb.gv.at/
Security of data processing operations
In order to protect personal data, we have implemented both technical and organisational measures. We encrypt or pseudonymise personal data wherever this is possible. Thus, we make it as difficult as we can for third parties to extract personal information from our data.
Article 25 of the GDPR refers to “data protection by technical design and by data protection-friendly default” which means that both software (e.g. forms) and hardware (e.g. access to server rooms) appropriate safeguards and security measures shall always be placed. If applicable, we will outline the specific measures below.
TLS encryption with https
The terms TLS, encryption and https sound very technical, which they are indeed. We use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) to securely transfer data on the Internet.
This means that the entire transmission of all data from your browser to our web server is secured – nobody can “listen in”.
We have thus introduced an additional layer of security and meet privacy requirements through technology design Article 25 Section 1 GDPR). With the use of TLS (Transport Layer Security), which is an encryption protocol for safe data transfer on the internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential information.
You can recognise the use of this safeguarding tool by the little lock-symbol , which is situated in your browser’s top left corner in the left of the internet address (e.g. examplepage.uk), as well as by the display of the letters https (instead of http) as a part of our web address.
If you want to know more about encryption, we recommend you to do a Google search for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure wiki” to find good links to further information.
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.
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: GA1.2.1326744211.152112440704-9
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:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge
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 165 (3) of the Telecommunications Act (2021). 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), which has been replaced by the Digital Services Act (DSA) since May 2024.
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.
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:
- Professional hosting of the website and operational security
- To maintain the operational as well as IT security
- 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=112440704)
- 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.
raidboxes Privacy Policy
We use the web hosting provider raidboxes for our website. The provider of this service is the German company Raidboxes GmbH, Hafenstraße 32, 48153 Münster, Germany.
You can find out more about the data that is processed by using raidboxes in their Privacy Policy at hhttps://raidboxes.io/en/legal/privacy/.
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.
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 and click behaviour. You can find more details on this in the privacy policy below. 📅 Storage period: Customizable, GA4 stores data for 14 months by default. ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
What is Google Analytics?
On our website, we use the analytics tracking tool Google Analytics in the Google Analytics 4 (GA4) version provided by the American company Google Inc. For the European region, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Analytics collects data about your actions on our website. By combining various technologies such as cookies, device IDs, and login information, you can be identified as a user across different devices. This allows your actions to be analyzed across platforms as well.
For example, when you click on a link, this event is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. With the reports we receive from Google Analytics, we can better tailor our website and service to your needs. In the following, we will provide more information about the tracking tool and specifically inform you about the data processed and how you can prevent it.
Google Analytics is a tracking tool used for website traffic analysis. The basis for these measurements and analyses is a pseudonymous user identification number. This number does not include personally identifiable information such as name or address but is used to assign events to a device. GA4 utilizes an event-based model that captures detailed information about user interactions such as page views, clicks, scrolling, and conversion events. Additionally, GA4 incorporates various machine learning features to better understand user behavior and certain trends. GA4 employs modeling through machine learning capabilities, meaning that based on the collected data, missing data can be extrapolated to optimize the analysis and provide forecasts.
In order for Google Analytics to function properly, a tracking code is embedded in the code of our website. When you visit our website, this code records various events that you perform on our website. With GA4’s event-based data model, we, as website operators, can define and track specific events to obtain analyses of user interactions. This allows us to track not only general information such as clicks or page views but also specific events that are important for our business, such as submitting a contact form or making a purchase.
Once you leave our website, this data is sent to and stored on Google Analytics servers.
Google processes the data, and we receive reports on your user behavior. These reports can include, among others, the following:
- Audience reports: Audience reports help us get to know our users better and gain a more precise understanding of who is interested in our service.
- Advertising reports: Advertising reports make it easier for us to analyze and improve our online advertising.
- Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports provide helpful information on how we can attract more people to our service.
- Behavior reports: Here, we learn about how you interact with our website. We can track the path you take on our site and which links you click on.
- Conversion reports: Conversion refers to an action you take as a result of a marketing message, such as going from being a website visitor to becoming a buyer or newsletter subscriber. Through these reports, we gain insights into how our marketing efforts resonate with you, with the aim of improving our conversion rate.
- Real-time reports: With real-time reports, we can see what is currently happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are currently reading this text.
In addition to the above-mentioned analysis reports, Google Analytics 4 also offers the following functions:
- Event-based data model: This model captures specific events that can occur on our website, such as playing a video, making a purchase, or subscribing to our newsletter.
- Advanced analytics features: With these features, we can gain a better understanding of your behavior on our website or certain general trends. For example, we can segment user groups, conduct comparative analyses of target audiences, or track your path on our website.
- Predictive modeling: Based on the collected data, missing data can be extrapolated through machine learning to predict future events and trends. This can help us develop better marketing strategies.
- Cross-platform analysis: Data collection and analysis are possible from both websites and apps. This enables us to analyze user behavior across platforms, provided you have consented to data processing.
Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?
Our goal with this website is clear: we want to provide you with the best possible service. The statistics and data from Google Analytics help us achieve this goal.
The statistically evaluated data gives us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On one hand, we can optimize our site to make it more easily found by interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us better understand you as a visitor. We know exactly what we need to improve on our website in order to provide you with the best possible service. The data also helps us conduct our advertising and marketing activities in a more personalized and cost-effective manner. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested in them.
What data is stored by Google Analytics?
With the help of a tracking code, Google Analytics creates a random, unique ID associated with your browser cookie. This way, Google Analytics recognizes you as a new user, and a user ID is assigned to you. When you visit our site again, you are recognized as a “returning” user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID, making it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles.
To analyze our website with Google Analytics, a property ID must be inserted into the tracking code. The data is then stored in the corresponding property. For each newly created property, the default is Google Analytics 4 Property. The data storage duration varies depending on the property used.
Through identifiers such as cookies, app instance IDs, user IDs, or custom event parameters, your interactions, if you have consented, are measured across platforms. Interactions encompass all types of actions you perform on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google account), data generated through Google Analytics can be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not disclose Google Analytics data unless we, as website operators, authorize it, except when required by law.
According to Google, IP addresses are not logged or stored in Google Analytics 4. However, IP address data is used by Google for deriving location data and is immediately deleted thereafter. All IP addresses collected from users in the EU are deleted before the data is stored in a data center or on a server.
Since GA4 focuses on event-based data, the tool uses significantly fewer cookies compared to previous versions such as Google Universal Analytics. However, there are still some specific cookies used by GA4. These can include:
Name: _ga
Value: 2.1326744211.152112440704-5
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. It is used to distinguish website visitors.
Expiration: After 2 years
Name: _gid
Value: 2.1687193234.152112440704-1
Purpose: This cookie is also used to distinguish website visitors.
Expiration: After 24 hours
Name: gat_gtag_UA Value: 1
Purpose: Used to reduce the request rate. If Google Analytics is deployed via Google Tag Manager, this cookie will be named dc_gtm .
Expiration: After 1 minute
Note: This list cannot claim to be exhaustive, as Google may change their choice of cookies from time to time. GA4 aims to improve data privacy and offers several options for controlling data collection. For example, we can determine the storage duration ourselves and control data.
Here we provide an overview of the main types of data collected by Google Analytics:
Heatmaps: Google creates heatmaps to show the exact areas you click on. This provides us with information about your interactions on our site.
Session Duration: Google refers to session duration as the time you spend on our site without leaving. If you are inactive for 20 minutes, the session automatically ends.
Bounce Rate: Bounce rate refers to when you view only one page on our website and then leave.
Account Creation: If you create an account or place an order on our website, Google Analytics collects this data.
Location: IP addresses are not logged or stored in Google Analytics. However, location data is derived shortly before the IP address is deleted.
Technical Information: Technical information includes your browser type, internet service provider, and screen resolution, among others.
Source of Origin: Google Analytics is interested in the website or advertisement that brought you to our site.
Additional data may include contact information, reviews, media playback (e.g., if you play a video on our site), sharing of content via social media, or adding to favorites. This list is not exhaustive and serves only as a general guide to the data storage by Google Analytics.
Where and how long are the data stored?
Google has servers distributed worldwide. You can find precise information about the locations of Google data centers at: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=en
Your data is distributed across multiple physical storage devices. This ensures faster access to data and better protection against manipulation. Each Google data center has emergency programs in place for your data. In the event of hardware failure or natural disasters, the risk of service interruption at Google remains low.
The retention period of data depends on the properties used. The storage duration is always set separately for each individual property. Google Analytics offers us four options for controlling the storage duration:
- 2 months: This is the shortest storage period.
- 14 months: By default, data is stored in GA4 for 14 months.
- 26 months: Data can also be stored for 26 months.
- Data is only deleted manually.
In addition, there is also the option for data to be deleted only if you do not visit our website within the selected time period. In this case, the retention period is reset every time you revisit our website within the defined time frame.
Once the defined period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to data linked to cookies, user identification, and advertising IDs (e.g., cookies from the DoubleClick domain). Report results are based on aggregated data and are stored independently of user data. Aggregated data is a combination of individual data into larger units.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?
Under the data protection laws of the European Union, you have the right to access, update, delete, or restrict your data. By using the browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics JavaScript (analytics.js, gtag.js), you can prevent Google Analytics 4 from using your data. You can download and install the browser add-on at: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en Please note that this add-on only disables data collection by Google Analytics.
If you want to disable, delete, or manage cookies in general, you can find the respective instructions for the most common browsers in the “Cookies” section.
Legal basis
The use of Google Analytics requires your consent, which we obtained through our cookie popup. According to Art. 6(1)(a) of the GDPR, this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data that may occur during the collection by web analytics tools.
In addition to consent, we also have a legitimate interest in analyzing the behavior of website visitors to improve our offering technically and economically. By using Google Analytics, we can identify website errors, detect attacks, and improve efficiency. The legal basis for this is Art. 6(1)(f) of the GDPR (legitimate interests). However, we only use Google Analytics if you have given your consent.
Google processes data from you, among other things, in the USA. Google is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. More information can be found at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Additionally, Google uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template clauses provided by the EU Commission and are designed to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards, even when transferred and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Google commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed, and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual Clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
You can find the Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which refer to the Standard Contractual Clauses, at: https://business.safety.google/intl/en/adsprocessorterms/
We hope we have provided you with the most important information regarding the data processing by Google Analytics. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend the following links: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/en/ and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en
If you want to learn more about data processing, you can refer to the Google Privacy Policy at: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.
Data Processing Agreement (DPA) Google Analytics
In accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we have entered into a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with Google Analytics. 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 Google Analytics processes personal data on our behalf. It clarifies that Google Analytics 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 Terms under https://business.safety.google/intl/en/adsprocessorterms/.
Google Analytics Reports on demographic characteristics and interests
We have turned on Google Analytics’ functions for advertising reports. These reports on demographic characteristics and interests contain details about age, gender and interests. Through them we can get a better picture of our users – without being able to allocate any data to individual persons. You can learn more about advertising functions at auf https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=en&%3Butm_id=ad.
You can terminate the use of your Google Account’s activities and information in “Ads Settings” at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated via a checkbox.
Google Analytics IP Anonymisation
We implemented Google Analytics’ IP address anonymisation to this website. Google developed this function, so this website can comply with the applicable privacy laws and the local data protection authorities’ recommendations, should they prohibit the retention of any full IP addresses.
The anonymisation or masking of IP addresses takes place, as soon as they reach Google Analytics’ data collection network, but before the data would be saved or processed.
You can find more information on IP anonymisation at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=en.
Google Tag Manager Privacy Policy
Google Tag Manager Privacy Policy Overview
👥 Affected parties: website visitors 🤝 Purpose: Organisation of individual tracking tools 📓 Processed data: Google Tag Manager itself does not store any data. The data record tags of the web analytics tools used. 📅 Storage period: depending on the web analytics tool used ⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
What is Google Tag Manager?
We use Google Tag Manager by the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) for our website.
This Tag Manager is one of Google’s many helpful marketing products. With it, we can centrally integrate and manage code sections of various tracking tools, that we use on our website.
In this privacy statement we will explain in more detail, what Google Tag Manager does, why we use it and to what extent your data is processed.
Google Tag Manager is an organising tool with which we can integrate and manage website tags centrally and via a user interface. Tags are little code sections which e.g. track your activities on our website. For this, segments of JavaScript code are integrated to our site’s source text. The tags often come from Google’s intern products, such as Google Ads or Google Analytics, but tags from other companies can also be integrated and managed via the manager. Since the tags have different tasks, they can collect browser data, feed marketing tools with data, embed buttons, set cookies and track users across several websites.
Why do we use Google Tag Manager for our website?
Everybody knows: Being organised is important! Of course, this also applies to maintenance of our website. In order to organise and design our website as well as possible for you and anyone who is interested in our products and services, we rely on various tracking tools, such as Google Analytics.
The collected data shows us what interests you most, which of our services we should improve, and which other persons we should also display our services to. Furthermore, for this tracking to work, we must implement relevant JavaScript Codes to our website. While we could theoretically integrate every code section of every tracking tool separately into our source text, this would take too much time and we would lose overview. This is the reason why we use Google Tag Manager. We can easily integrate the necessary scripts and manage them from one place. Additionally, Google Tag Manager’s user interface is easy to operate, and requires no programming skills. Therefore, we can easily keep order in our jungle of tags.
What data is stored by Google Tag Manager?
Tag Manager itself is a domain that neither uses cookies nor stores data. It merely functions as an “administrator“ of implemented tags. Data is collected by the individual tags of the different web analysis tools. Therefore, in Google Tag Manager the data is sent to the individual tracking tools and does not get saved.
However, with the integrated tags of different web analysis tools such as Google Analytics, this is quite different. Depending on the analysis tool used, various data on your internet behaviour is collected, stored and processed with the help of cookies. Please read our texts on data protection for more information on the articular analysis and tracking tools we use on our website.
We allowed Google via the account settings for the Tag Manager to receive anonymised data from us. However, this exclusively refers to the use of our Tag Manager and not to your data, which are saved via code sections. We allow Google and others, to receive selected data in anonymous form. Therefore, we agree to the anonymised transfer of our website data. However, even after extensive research we could not find out what summarised and anonymous data it is exactly that gets transmitted. What we do know is that Google deleted any info that could identify our website. Google combines the data with hundreds of other anonymous website data and creates user trends as part of benchmarking measures. Benchmarking is a process of comparing a company’s results with the ones of competitors. As a result, processes can be optimised based on the collected information.
How long and where is the data stored?
When Google stores data, this is done on Google’s own servers. These servers are located all over the world, with most of them being in America. At https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=en you can read in detail where Google’s servers are.
In our individual data protection texts on the different tools you can find out how long the respective tracking tools store your data.
How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?
Google Tag Manager itself does not set any cookies but manages different tracking websites’ tags. In our data protection texts on the different tracking tools you can find detailed information on how you can delete or manage your data.
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 must not be transferred, stored and processed to insecure third countries, unless there are suitable guarantees (such as EU standard contractual clauses) between us and the non-European service provider.
Legal basis
The use of the Google Tag Manager requires your consent, which we obtained via our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), this consent is the legal basis for personal data processing, such as when it is collected by web analytics tools.
In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analysing the behaviour of website visitors and thus technically and economically improving our offer. With the help of Google Tag Managers we can also improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). We only use Google Tag Manager if you have given us your consent.
Google processes data from you, among other things, in the USA. Google is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. More information can be found at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Additionally, Google uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template clauses provided by the EU Commission and are designed to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards, even when transferred and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Google commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed, and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual Clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
You can find the Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which refer to the Standard Contractual Clauses, at: https://business.safety.google/intl/en/adsprocessorterms/
If you want to learn more about Google Tag Manager, we recommend their FAQs at https://support.google.com/tagmanager/?hl=en#topic=3441530.
Hotjar Privacy Policy
Hotjar Privacy Policy Overview
👥 Affected parties: website visitors 🤝 Purpose: To evaluate visitor information for optimising user experience. 📓 Processed data: Access statistics that contain data such as access location, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. 📅 Storage period: the data will be deleted after one year ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
What is Hotjar?
We use Hotjar of the company Hotjar Limited (Level 2, St Julian’s Business Centre, 3, Elia Zammit Street, St Julian’s STJ 1000, Malta) on our website, to statistically evaluate visitor data. Hotjar is a service which analyses the behaviour and feedback of you as a user of our website by combining analysis and feedback tools. We receive reports as well as visual displays from Hotjar, which show us how you move on our site. Personal data is anonymised automatically and never reaches Hotjar’s servers. This means you as the website user are not personally identified, while we can still learn much about your user behaviour.
As mentioned in the above paragraph, Hotjar helps us analyse the behaviour of our site visitors. Some of the tools Hotjar offers are e.g. heatmaps, conversion funnels, visitor recording, incoming feedback, feedback polls and surveys (you can find more information about it at https://www.hotjar.com/). Therewith, Hotjar helps us to provide you a better user experience as well as an improved service. On the one hand it offers good analysis of online behaviour and on the other hand it gives us good feedback on our website’s quality. Besides the analytical aspects we of course also want to know your opinion about our website. This is possible thanks to the feedback tool.
Why do we use Hotjar on our website?
Within the last years the importance of websites’ user experience has gained in importance. And justifiably so – a website should be structured in a way that makes the user feel comfortable and is easy to navigate. Thanks to Hotjar’s analysis and the feedback tools, we can make our website and our offer more attractive. To us, Hotjar’s Heatmaps has proven particularly valuable, as it helps with presenting and visualising data. In that sense, Hotjar’s Heatmaps e.g. helps us see what you like to click on and where you scroll to.
What data is stored by Hotjar?
Hotjar automatically collects information on your user behaviour while you surf our website. In order to be able to collect this information, we implemented a tracking code. We integrated a tracking code, to be able to collect this information. The following data can be gathered via your computer or your browser:
- Your computer’s IP address (is collected and saved in an anonymous format)
- Screen size
- Browser information (which browser and version etc.)
- Your location (but only the country)
- Your language preference
- Visited websites (subpages)
- Date and time of access to one of our subpages (websites)
Moreover, cookies also save data that have been placed on your computer (mostly your browser), although no personal data is collected. Generally, Hotjar does not pass collected data to third parties. However, Hotjar explicitly emphasises that it is sometimes necessary to share data with Amazon Web Services. _ parts of your information is saved on its servers. Nonetheless, Amazon is bound to a confidentiality obligation and cannot disclose these data.
Only a limited number of people (employees of Hotjar) have access to the stored information. Furthermore, Hotjar’s servers are protected by firewalls and IP restrictions (only authorised IP addresses have access). Firewalls are security systems which protect computers from unwanted network accesses. They serve as barriers between Hotjar’s secure internal network and the internet. Moreover, Hotjar also uses third-party companies for their services, such as Google Analytics or Optimizely. These firms can also save information that your browser sends to our website.
The following cookies are used by Hotjar. Since we refer to the cookie list in Hotjar’s privacy statement at https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/cookie-information, not every cookie has a sample value. The list shows examples of utilised Hotjar cookies and does not claim to be exhaustive.
Name: ajs_anonymous_id
Value: %2258832463-7cee-48ee-b346-a195f18b06c3%22112440704-5
Purpose: This cookie is generally used for analysis purposes and helps with counting our website’s visitors by tracking whether they have been to the website before.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: ajs_group_id
Value: 0
Purpose: This cookie collects data on user behaviour. Based on the similarities between website visitors, the data can then be assigned to a specific visitor group.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: _hjid
Value: 699ffb1c-4bfb-483f-bde1-22cfa0b59c6c
Purpose: This cookie is used to maintain a Hotjar user ID, which is unique for the website in the browser. That way, upon the next website visits, the user behaviour can be assigned to the same user ID.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: _hjMinimizedPolls
Value: 462568112440704-8
Verwendungszweck: Every time you minimise a feedback poll widget, Hotjar sets this cookie. It ensures that the widget stays minimised when you surf our sites.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: _hjIncludedInSample
Value: 1
Purpose: This session cookie is used to inform Hotjar if you are part of the selected individuals (sample), who are used for the creation of funnels.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: _hjClosedSurveyInvites
Purpose: This cookie is set when you see an invitation to a feedback poll in a popup window. It is used to ensure that this invitation appears to you only once.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: _hjDonePolls
Purpose: This cookie is set in your browser whenever you finish a round of questions for feedback in a poll widget. Therewith, Hotjar prevents you from receiving the same polls in the future.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: _hjDoneTestersWidgets
Purpose: This cookie is used when you enter your data in the “recruit user tester” widget. With this widget we want to engage you as a tester. The cookie is used to prevent the form from reappearing repeatedly.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: _hjMinimizedTestersWidgets
Purpose: This cookie is set to keep the “recruit user tester“ widget minimised accross all our pages. The cookie is set upon you minimising this widget once.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: _hjShownFeedbackMessage
Purpose: This cookie is set if you minimise or amend the given feedback. This is done so the feedback is instantly loaded as minimised when you navigate to another page, on which it is displayed.
Expiry date: after one year
How long and where is the data stored?
We integrated a tracking code to our website, which is transmitted to Hotjar’s servers in Ireland (EU). This tracking code contacts Hotjar’s servers and sends a script to your computer or any terminal device with which you are accessing our website. The script collects certain data concerning your interaction with our website. Then, the data is sent to Hotjar’s servers for processing. Moreover, Hotjar imposed a limit of retaining data for up to 365 days on itself. This means that all data collected by Hotjar which is over one year old are deleted automatically.
How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?
Hotjar saves none of your personal data for its analysis. The company even advertises with the slogan “We track behaviour, not individuals“. In addition, it is always possible for you to prevent the collection of your data. For this you simply need to visit Hotjar’s “Opt-out page“ and click on “deactivate Hotjar”. Please note that deleting cookies, using your browser’s private mode or utilising a different browser will result in the collection of data again. Furthermore, you can activate the “Do Not Track” button in your browser. To do this in Chrome for example, you must click on the three bars and select “Settings”. In the section “Data Protection“ you will find the option “Send a ‘Do Not Track’ request with your browsing traffic”. Finally, you must click on this button and no data will be collected by Hotjar.
Legal basis
The use of Hotjar requires your consent, which we obtained via our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent) , this consent represents the legal basis for personal data processing , such as when it is collected by web analytics tools.
In addition to consent, we have legitimate interest in analysing the behaviour of website visitors, and thus technically and economically improving our offer. With the help of Hotjar, we can recognise website errors, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Hotjar if you have given us your consent.
You can find more details on the privacy policy and on what data Hotjar uses and how it is utilised at https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy?tid=112440704.
Meta-Pixel Privacy Policy
We use Facebook’s Meta pixel on our website. For that, we have implemented a code on our website. The Meta pixel is a segment of a JavaScript code, which, in case you came to our website via Facebook ads, loads an array or functions that enable Facebook to track your user actions. For example, if you buy a product on our website, the Facebook pixel is triggered and stores your actions on our website in one or more cookies. These cookies enable Facebook to match your user data (customer data such as IP address, user ID) with the data of your Facebook account. After that, Facebook deletes your data again. The collected data is anonymous as well as inaccessible and can only be used for ad placement purposes. If you are a Facebook user and you are logged in, your visit to our website is automatically assigned to your Facebook user account.
We exclusively want to show our products or services to persons, who are interested in them. With the aid of the Meta pixel, our advertising measures can get better adjusted to your wishes and interests. Therefore, Facebook users get to see suitable advertisement (if they allowed personalised advertisement). Moreover, Facebook uses the collected data for analytical purposes and for its own advertisements.
In the following we will show you the cookies, which were set on a test page with the Meta pixel integrated to it. Please consider that these cookies are only examples. Depending on the interaction that is made on our website, different cookies are set.
Name: _fbp
Value: fb.1.1568287647279.257405483-6112440704-7
Purpose: Facebook uses this cookie to display advertising products.
Expiration date: after 3 months
Name: fr
Value: 0aPf312HOS5Pboo2r..Bdeiuf…1.0.Bdeiuf.
Purpose: This cookie is used for Meta pixels to function properly.
Expiration date: after 3 months
Name: comment_author_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062112440704-3
Value: Name of the author
Purpose: This cookie saves the text and name of a user who e.g. leaves a comment.
Expiration date: after 12 months
Name: comment_author_url_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062
Value: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.testseite…%2F (URL of the author)
Purpose: This cookie saved the URL of the website that the user types into a text box on our website.
Expiration date: after 12 months
Name: comment_author_email_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062
Value: email address of the author
Purpose: This cookie saves the email address of the user, if they provided it on the website.
Expiration date: after 12 months
Note: The above-mentioned cookies relate to an individual user behaviour. Moreover, especially concerning the usage of cookies, changes at Facebook can never be ruled out.
If you are registered on Facebook, you can change the settings for advertisements yourself at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. If you are not a Facebook user, you can manage your user based online advertising at https://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/your-ad-choices. You have the option to activate or deactivate any providers there.
Facebook processes data from you, among other things, in the USA. Facebook respectively Meta Platforms is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. More information can be found at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Additionally, Facebook uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template clauses provided by the EU Commission and are designed to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards, even when transferred and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Facebook commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed, and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual Clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
The Facebook Data Processing Term, which references the Standard Contractual Clauses, can be found at https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/dataprocessing.
If you want to learn more about Facebook’s data protection, we recommend you the view the company’s in-house data policies at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.
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.
HubSpot Email Privacy Policy
We also use the email marketing tool HubSpot Email. The provider of this service is the American company HubSpot Inc., 25 First Street, Cambridge, MA 02141, USA.
HubSpot processes data from you, among other things, in the USA. HubSpot is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. More information can be found at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Additionally, HubSpot uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template clauses provided by the EU Commission and are designed to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards, even when transferred and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, HubSpot commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed, and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission.
You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual Clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
You can learn more about the data and Standard Contractual Clauses processed through the use of HubSpot Email in the privacy policy at https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy.
Mailjet Privacy Policy
Mailjet Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subjects: Newsletter subscribers 🤝 Purpose: Direct email advertising, notification of relevant events 📓 Processed data: Entered data during registration, at least the email address 📅 Storage duration: Data is deleted after the purpose is fulfilled ⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR (Consent), Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR (Legitimate interests) |
What is Mailjet?
We use Mailjet, a service for our email marketing, on our website. The service provider is the German company Mailjet GmbH, Alt-Moabit 2, 10557 Berlin, Germany.
Mailjet was founded in 2010 by Julien Tartarin, Wilfried Durand, and Thibaud Elzière to provide companies with the ability to send, receive, and track emails. Since its inception, the company has continued to grow, offering features such as creating appealing email templates, segmenting target audiences, and measuring campaign performance.
By using Mailjet, personal data such as IP addresses, geographic data, or contact details may be collected, stored, and processed. In this privacy policy, we provide detailed information about data processing by Mailjet to ensure you are well-informed.
Why do we use Mailjet on our website?
Primarily, we use the email marketing service to stay in touch with you and easily convey essential news. For our marketing efforts, we always seek the simplest and best solutions. For this reason, we chose Mailjet’s service. Although the software is straightforward to use, it offers a wide range of helpful features.
With Mailjet, we can customize our newsletters and align them with our company’s design. Mailjet also provides useful analytics capabilities. We can determine whether and when the newsletter was opened, and the software recognizes which links you click. This information helps us tailor our offerings to your interests and preferences, ultimately aiming to provide a service that supports your endeavors.
What data does Mailjet process?
When you become a subscriber to our newsletter through our website, you confirm membership in a Mailjet email list via email. To demonstrate your enrollment in the “list provider,” Mailjet stores the date of registration, time, and your IP address.
Through Mailjet, we can keep you up-to-date firsthand on what’s happening in our company. However, during the newsletter signup process, all data you enter (such as your email address or your first and last name) is stored and managed on our server and at Mailjet. This also involves personal data. During registration, you also consent to receiving the newsletter, with reference to this privacy policy. Additionally, data such as your click behavior in the newsletter can be processed. This information is used to send you emails and enable certain other Mailjet features (such as newsletter analysis).
How long and where are the data stored?
In general, Mailjet deletes data when it is no longer needed for its purposes. There are exceptions, especially if legal obligations require longer retention of data. Web server logs containing your IP address and technical data are deleted by Mailjet even if you unsubscribe from our newsletter. According to Mailjet’s privacy policy, personal data is deleted within a maximum of 90 days after the deletion request.
Right to object
You have the option to unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time. To do so, you only need to revoke your consent to newsletter registration. This typically takes only a few seconds or one or two clicks. In most cases, you will find a link directly at the end of each email to cancel the newsletter subscription. If the link is not found in the newsletter, please contact us by email, and we will promptly cancel your newsletter subscription. After unsubscribing, personal data is deleted from our server and the Mailjet servers. You have the right to free information about your stored data and, if applicable, the right to deletion, blocking, or correction.
Legal basis
If you have consented to the use of Mailjet, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR (Consent), this consent is the legal basis for the processing of personal data that may occur during data collection by Mailjet.
Moreover, from our perspective, there is a legitimate interest in using Mailjet to optimize our online service and create beautiful and informative newsletters for you. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR (Legitimate interests). If consent is not required, newsletter dispatch is based on the legitimate interest in direct marketing (Article 6 (1) lit. f), provided this is legally permissible. We record your registration process to always be able to demonstrate that it complies with our laws.
Learn more about the data processed by using Mailjet in the Privacy Policy at https://www.mailjet.com/legal/privacy-policy/.
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.
Intercom Privacy Policy
We use Intercom on our website, which is a messenger and communication platform. The provider of this service is the American company Intercom, Inc., 55 2nd Street, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA.
Intercom processes data from you, among other things, in the USA. Intercom is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. More information can be found at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Additionally, Intercom uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template clauses provided by the EU Commission and are designed to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards, even when transferred and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Intercom commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed, and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual Clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
Intercom’s Data Processing Agreement, which corresponds to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://www.intercom.com/de/legal/data-processing-agreement.
You can find out more about the data that is processed through the use of Intercom in their Privacy Policy at https://www.intercom.com/legal/privacy.
Data Processing Agreement (DPA) Intercom
In accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we have entered into a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with Intercom. 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 Intercom processes personal data on our behalf. It clarifies that Intercom 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://www.intercom.com/legal/data-processing-agreement.
Online Marketing
Online Marketing Privacy Policy Overview
👥 Affected parties: visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information for website optimisation 📓 Processed data: Access statistics containing data such as access location, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. Personal data such as name or email address may also be processed. You can find more details on this from the respective Online Marketing tool. 📅 Storage period: depending on the Online Marketing tools used ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
What is Online Marketing?
Online Marketing refers to all measures that are carried out online to achieve marketing goals, such as increasing brand awareness or doing business transactions. Furthermore, our Online Marketing measures aim to draw people’s attention to our website. In order to be able to show our offer to many interested people, we do Online Marketing. It mostly is about online advertising, content marketing or search engine optimisation. For this, personal data is also stored and processed, to enable us to use Online Marketing efficiently and targeted. On the one hand, the data help us to only show our content to people who are interested in it. On the other hand, it helps us to measure the advertising success of our Online Marketing measures.
Why do we use Online Marketing tools?
We want to show our website to everyone who is interested in our offer. We are aware that this is not possible without conscious measures being taken. That is why we do Online Marketing. There are various tools that make working on our Online Marketing measures easier for us. These also provide suggestions for improvement via data. Thus, we can target our campaigns more precisely to our target group. The ultimate purpose of these Online Marketing tools is to optimise our offer.
Which data are processed?
For our Online Marketing to work and to measure its success, user profiles are created and data are e.g. stored in cookies (small text files). With the help of this data, we can not only advertise in the traditional way, but also present our content directly on our website in the way you prefer. There are various third-party tools that offer these functions and thus collect and store your data accordingly. The aforementioned cookies e.g. store the pages you visit on our website, how long you view these pages, which links or buttons you click or which website you came from. What is more, technical information may also be stored. This may include e.g. your IP address, the browser and device you use to visit our website or the time you accessed our website as well as the time you left. If you have agreed for us to determine your location, we can also store and process it.
Your IP address is stored in pseudonymised form (i.e. shortened). What is more, distinct data that directly identify you as a person, such as your name, address or email address, are only stored in pseudonymised for advertising and Online Marketing purposes. With this data we cannot identify you as a person and only retain the pseudonymised information that is stored in your user profile.
Under certain circumstances, cookies may also be utilised, analysed and used for advertising purposes on other websites that use the same advertising tools. Thus, your data may then also be stored on the servers of the respective provider of the advertising tool.
In rare exceptions, unique data (name, email address, etc.) may also be stored in the user profiles. This can happen, if you are for example a member of a social media channel that we use for our Online Marketing measures and if the network connects previously received data with the user profile.
We only ever receive summarised information from the advertising tools we use that do store data on their servers. We never receive data that can be used to identify you as an individual. What is more, the data only shows how well-placed advertising measures have worked. For example, we can see what measures have caused you or other users to visit our website and purchase a service or product. Based on these analyses we can improve our advertising offer in the future and adapt it more precisely to the needs and wishes of people who are interested.
Duration of data processing
Below we will inform you on the duration of data processing, provided we have this information. In general, we only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary to provide our services and products. Data stored in cookies are retained for different lengths of time. Some cookies are deleted after you leave a website, while others may be stored in your browser for a number of years. However, in the respective privacy policies of the respective provider, you will usually find detailed information on the individual cookies this provider uses.
Right of withdrawal
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 for example also prevent data collection by cookies if you manage, deactivate or erase cookies in your browser. The legality of the processing remains unaffected to the point of revocation.
Since Online Marketing tools usually use cookies, we also recommend you to read our privacy policy on cookies. If you want to find out which of your data is stored and processed, you should read the privacy policies of the respective tools.
Legal basis
If you have consented to the use of third-party providers, then this consent is the legal basis for the corresponding data processing. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent) , this consent is the legal basis for personal data processing, as may be done when data is collected by online marketing tools.
Moreover, we have a legitimate interest in measuring our online marketing activities in anonymised form, in order to use this data for optimising our offer and our Marketing. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) . Nevertheless, we only use these tools if you have given your consent.
Information on special online marketing tools can be found in the following sections, provided this information is available.
Google Ads (Google AdWords) Conversion Tracking Privacy Policy
Google Ads (Google AdWords) Conversion Tracking Privacy Policy Overview
👥 Affected parties: visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: economic success and service optimisation. 📓 Processed data: Access statistics that contain data such as access location, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. Personal data such as name or email address may also be processed. 📅 Storage period: Conversion cookies usually expire after 30 days and do not transmit any personal data ⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
What is Google Ads conversion tracking?
We use Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) as an online marketing measure, to advertise our products and services. Thus, we want to draw more people’s attention on the internet to the high quality of our offers. As part of our advertising measures with Google Ads, we use the conversion tracking of Google LLC., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”) on our website. With the aid of this free tracking tool we can tailor our advertising offer better to your interests and needs. In the following article we will explain, why we use conversion tracking, what data gets saved and how you can prevent this data retention.
Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) is the internal online advertising sxstem of the company Google LLC. We are convinced of our offer‘s quality and would like as many people as possible to discover our website. For this, Google Ads offers the best platform within the online environment. Of course, we also want to get an overview of the cost-benefit factor of our advertising campaigns. Thence, we use Google Ads’ conversion tracking tool.
But what is a conversion actually? A conversion occurs, when you turn from an interested visitor into an acting website visitor. This happens every time you click on our ad and then make another action, such as paying a visit to our website. With Google’s conversion tracking tool, we can understand what happens after a user clicks our Google ad. It shows us for instance if products get bought, services are used or whether users have subscribed to our newsletter.
Why do we use Google Ads conversion tracking on our website?
We use Google Ads to show our offer also across other websites. Our aim is for our advertising campaigns to reach only those people, who are interested in our offers. With the conversion tracking tool, we see what keywords, ads, ad groups and campaigns lead to the desired customer actions. We see how many customers interact with our ads on a device, to then convert. With this data we can calculate our cost-benefit-factor, measure the success of individual ad campaigns and therefore optimise our online marketing measures. With the help of the obtained data we can give our website a more interesting design and customise our advertising offer better to your needs.
What data is stored with Google Ads conversion tracking?
For a better analysis of certain user actions, we have integrated a conversion tracking tag, or code snippet to our website. Therefore, if you click one of our Google ads, a Google domain stores the cookie “conversion” on your computer (usually in the browser) or on your mobile device. Cookies are little text files that save information on your computer.
Here are data of the most significant cookies for Google’s conversion tracking:
Name: Conversion
Value: EhMI_aySuoyv4gIVled3Ch0llweVGAEgt-mr6aXd7dYlSAGQ112440704-3
Purpose: This cookie saves every conversion you make on our website after you came to us via a Google ad.
Expiry date: after 3 months
Name: _gac
Value: 1.1558695989.EAIaIQobChMIiOmEgYO04gIVj5AYCh2CBAPrEAAYASAAEgIYQfD_BwE
Purpose: This is a classic Google Analytics Cookie that records various actions on our website.
Expiry date: after 3 months
Note: The cookie _gac only appears in connection with Google Analytics. The above list does not claim to be exhaustive, as Google repeatedly change the cookies they use for analytical evaluation.
As soon as you complete an action on our website, Google identifies the cookie and saves your action as a so-called conversion. For as long as you surf our website, provided the cookie has not expired, both Google and us can determine that you found your way to us via a Google ad. Then, the cookie is read and sent back to Google Ads, together with the conversion data. Moreover, other cookies may also be used for measuring conversions. Google Ads‘ conversion tracking can be fine-tuned and improved with the aid of Google Analytics. Furthermore, ads which Google displays in various places across the web, might be placed under our domain with the name “__gads” or “_gac”.
Since September 2017, analytics.js retains various campaign information with the _gac cookie. This cookie stores data, as soon as you open one of our sites that has been set up for Google Ads’ auto-tagging. In contrast to cookies that are placed for Google domains, Google can only read these conversion cookies when you are on our website. We do neither collect nor receive any personal data. We do obtain a report with statistical evaluations by Google. With the help thereof, we can not only see the total number of users who clicked our ad, but also what advertising measures were well received.
How long and where is the data stored?
At this point we want to reiterate, that we have no influence on how Google use the collected data. According to Google, the data are encrypted and stored on a secure server. In most cases, conversion cookies expire after 30 days, and do not transmit any personalised data. The cookies named “conversion“ and “_gac“ (which is used with Google Analytics) have an expiry date of 3 months.
How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?
You have the possibility to opt out of Google Ads’ conversion tracking. The conversion tracking can be blocked by deactivating the conversion tracking cookie via your browser. If you do this, you will not be considered for the statistic of the tracking tool. You can change the cookie settings in your browser anytime. Doing so, works a little different in every browser. Hence, in the following you will find an instruction on how to manage cookies in your browser:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge
If you generally do not want to allow any cookies at all, you can set up your browser to notify you whenever a potential cookie is about to be set. This lets you decide upon permitting or denying the cookie’s placement. By downloading and installing the browser plugin at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996 you can also deactivate all “advertising cookies”. Please consider that by deactivating these cookies, you cannot prevent all advertisements, only personalised ads.
Legal basis
If you have consented to the use of Google Ads Conversion Tracking, your consent is the legal basis for the corresponding data processing. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), this consent is the legal basis for personal data processing, as may be done when collected by Google Ads Conversion Tracking.
We also have legitimate interest in using Google Ads Conversion Tracking to optimise our online service and marketing measures. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Ads Conversion Tracking if you have consented to it.
Google processes data from you, among other things, in the USA. Google is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. More information can be found at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Additionally, Google uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template clauses provided by the EU Commission and are designed to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards, even when transferred and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Google commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed, and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual Clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
You can find the Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which refer to the Standard Contractual Clauses, at: https://business.safety.google/intl/en/adsprocessorterms/
If you would like to find out more about data protection at Google, we recommend Google’s privacy policy at: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB.
Google AdSense Privacy Policy
Google AdSense Privacy Policy Overview
👥 Affected parties: website visitors 🤝 Purpose: economic success and service optimisation. 📓 Processed data: Access statistics containing data such as access location, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. Personal data such as name or email address may also be processed. 📅 Storage duration: depending on the cookies used and 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 AdSense?
We use Google AdSense on this website. It is an advertising program of the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). With Google AdSense we can show advertisements that fit our theme. Thus, we can offer you adverts that ideally give you added value. In this privacy statement on Google AdSense we will explain to you, why we use Google AdSense on our website and which of your data is processed and saved, as well as how you can prevent this data retention.
The advertising program Google AdSense has been around since 2003. As opposed to Google Ads (previously: Google AdWords) it is not possible to advertise on Google AdSense oneself. Google AdSense displays advertisements on websites, such as ours. The biggest advantage of this web service compared to some others, is that Google AdSense only shows ads to you which match our website’s contents. Google has its own algorithm which calculates what ads are shown to you. Of course, we only want to show you ads that interest you and provide you added value. Google checks which advertisements are suitable for our users, considering your interests, your user behaviour and our offer. At this point we want to mention that we are not responsible for the choice of the ads. We merely offer advertising space on our website, while Google selects the displayed ads. Moreover, since August 2013 the ads are customised to the respective user interface. This means, that no matter if you visit our website with your smartphone, your PC or your laptop, the ads adjust to your terminal device.
Why do we use Google AdSense on our website?
The operation of a high-quality website requires tremendous dedication and commitment. We are essentially never finished with working on our website. This is, because we continuously maintain and keep our website up to date. Of course, we want to achieve economic success with this work. Therefore, we decided for to use advertisements as a source of revenue. It is most important to us however, that we do not disrupt your visit to our website with these advertisements. Thence, with the aid of Google AdSense, only adverts that are tailored to you and our themes are shown.
Like with Google’s indexation for a website, a bot examines both, the matching content and the offers on our website. Then, the ads are adapted to and presented on the website. Alongside the contextual overlaps between the ads and website offer, AdSense also supports interest-based targeting. This means, that Google also uses your data to offer advertising that is tailored to you. That way you receive ads that ideally offer you added value, and it gives us a higher chance of earning a bit.
What data is stored by Google AdSense?
Google AdSense uses cookies to display ads that are customised to you. Cookies are little text files, that store certain information on your computer.
Cookies are supposed to enable improved advertisements in AdSense. They do not contain any personally identifiable data. However, it should be considered that Google does not view data such as “Pseudonymous Cookie-IDs” (name or other identification feature is replaced with a pseudonym) or IP addresses as personally identifiable information. Although, within the framework of the GDPR, this data can be classified as personal data. Following every impression (every time you see an ad), every click and any other activity that leads to a call on its servers, Google AdSense sends a cookie to the browser. The cookie is then saved in the browser, provided the browser accepts it.
Under certain circumstances, third parties can place cookies in your browser, and read them or use web beacons, to store data they receive through the display of ads on the website. Web beacons are little graphics that analyse and a record the log file. This analysis allows a statistical evaluation for the online marketing.
Through this cookie, Google can collect certain information on your user behaviour on our website. These include:
- Information on how you interact with an ad (clicks, impressions, mouse movements)
- Information if an ad has already been displayed in your browser. This data helps to prevent an ad from showing multiple times.
Thereby, Google evaluates and analyses data on the displayed advertising material along with your IP address. Primarily, Google uses the data to measure the effectiveness of an ad and improve the advertising offer. Moreover, the data does not get linked to your personal data which Google might have received via other Google services.
In the following we will introduce you to the cookies that Google AdSense uses for tracking purposes. Please note, that we will refer to a test website, which only has Google AdSense installed to it:
Name: uid
Value: 891269189112440704-8
Purpose: The cookie is stored under the domain adform.net. It provides a uniquely assigned user ID that is generated automatically and collects data on the activity on our website.
Expiry date: after 2 months
Name: C
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie identifies if your browser accepts cookies. The cookie is stored under the domain track.adform.net.
Expiry date: after 1 month
Name: cid
Value: 8912691894970695056,0,0,0,0
Purpose: This cookie is saved under the domain track.adform.net. It stands for the client ID and is used to offer you improved advertisements. It can forward more relevant adverts to the user and helps to improve reports on campaign performance.
Expiry date: after 2 months
Name: IDE
Value: zOtj4TWxwbFDjaATZ2TzNaQmxrU112440704-1
Purpose: The cookie is stored under the domain doubleclick.net. It serves the purpose of registering your actions following an impression or a click on the ad. Thus, it can be measured how our visitors like an ad.
Expiry date: after 1 month
Name: test_cookie
Value: not specified
Purpose: With the „test_cookies“ it can be verified, if your browser even supports cookies. The cookie is saved under the domain doubleclick.net.
Expiry date: after 1 month
Name: CT592996
Value:733366
Purpose: It is saved under the domain adform.net. The cookie is placed upon your click on an ad. We could not find any further information on the use of this cookie.
Expiry date: after one hour
Note: This list does not claim to be exhaustive, as Google frequently change the choice of their cookies.
How long and where is the data stored?
Google retains your IP address, as well as various activities you perform on the website. Cookies store this information with the interactions on our website. According to Google, the company collects and saves the given information securely on its internal servers in the USA.
If you do not have a Google account or are not logged in, Google usually stores the collected data on your browser with a unique identification (ID). The IDs saved in cookies serve e.g. for providing personalised advertisements. If you are logged into a Google account, Google can gather personal information.
You can delete certain data that is saved by Google anytime (see next section). Much of the information saved in cookies get automatically deleted after a specific time. However, there are also data which are retained by Google for a longer period. This is the case, when Google must store certain data for an undefined, longer period due to economical or legal necessities.
How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?
You can always clear or deactivate cookies that are on your computer. How exactly this can be done depends on the browser.
Here you can find an instruction on how you can manage cookies in your browser:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge
If you generally do not want to allow any cookies, you can set your browser to notify you whenever a potential cookie is about to be set. This lets you decide to either permit or deny the placement of every single cookie. By downloading and installing the browser plugin at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996, any advertising cookies get deactivated as well. Please note, that deactivating these cookies does not stop advertisements, it only inhibits personalised adverts.
If you have a Google account, you can deactivate personalised adverts on the website https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated. You will continue to see ads, but they will stop being customised to your interests. Nevertheless, the ads are displayed based on a few factors, such as your location, the browser type and the used search terms.
Legal basis
If you have consented to the use of Google AdSense, your consent is the legal basis for the corresponding data processing. According to Art. 6 paragraph 1 lit. a (Consent) your consent is the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur when collected by Google AdSense.
We also have a legitimate interest in using Google AdSense to optimise our online service and our marketing measures. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google AdSense if you have given your consent to it.
Google processes data from you, among other things, in the USA. Google is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. More information can be found at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Additionally, Google uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template clauses provided by the EU Commission and are designed to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards, even when transferred and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Google commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed, and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual 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/.
You can learn more about what data Google generally collects and what they are used for at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB.
HubSpot privacy policy
On our website, we use HubSpot, which is a tool for digital marketing. The provider of this service is the American company HubSpot Inc., 25 First Street, 2nd Floor Cambridge, MA, USA. The responsible entity for the European region is the Irish company HubSpot (1 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, Ireland).
You can find out more about HubSpot’s data processing in their privacy policy at https://legal.hubspot.com/de/privacy-policy.
Data Processing Agreement (DPA) HubSpot
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.
Cookie Consent Management Platform
Cookie Consent Management Platform Overview
👥 Affected parties: Website visitors 🤝 Purpose: Obtaining and managing consent to certain cookies and thus the use of certain tools 📓 Processed data: data for managing cookie settings such as IP address, time of consent, type of consent and individual consent. You can find more details on this directly with the tool that is being used. 📅 Storage period: depends on the tool used, periods of several years can be assumed ⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
What is a cookie consent management platform?
We use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) software on our website that makes it easier for us and you to handle the scripts and cookies used correctly and securely. The software automatically creates a cookie pop-up, scans and controls all scripts and cookies, provides you with the cookie consent required under data protection law and helps you and us to keep track of all cookies. Most cookie consent management tools identify and categorize all existing cookies. As a website visitor, you then decide for yourself whether and which scripts and cookies you allow or not. The following graphic shows the relationship between browser, web server and CMP.
Why do we use a cookie management tool?
Our goal is to offer you the best possible transparency in the area of data protection. We are also legally obliged to do so. We want to inform you as well as possible about all tools and all cookies that can save and process your data. It is also your right to decide for yourself which cookies you accept and which you do not. In order to grant you this right, we first need to know exactly which cookies actually landed on our website. Thanks to a cookie management tool, which regularly scans the website for all cookies present, we know about all cookies and can provide you with GDPR-compliant information. You can then use the consent system to accept or reject cookies.
Which data are processed?
As part of our cookie management tool, you can manage each individual cookie yourself and have complete control over the storage and processing of your data. The declaration of your consent is stored so that we do not have to ask you every time you visit our website and we can also prove your consent if required by law. This is saved either in an opt-in cookie or on a server. The storage time of your cookie consent varies depending on the provider of the cookie management tool. Usually this data (e.g. pseudonymous user ID, time of consent, detailed information on the cookie categories or tools, browser, device information) is stored for up to two years.
Duration of data processing
We will inform you below about the duration of the data processing if we have further information. In general, we only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. Data stored in cookies are stored for different lengths of time. Some cookies are deleted after you leave the website, others may be stored in your browser for a few years. The exact duration of the data processing depends on the tool used, in most cases you should be prepared for a storage period of several years. In the respective data protection declarations of the individual providers, you will usually receive precise information about the duration of the data processing.
Right of objection
You also have the right and the option to revoke your consent to the use of cookies at any time. This works 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 cookies in your browser.
Information on special cookie management tools can be found – if available – in the following sections.
Legal basis
If you agree to cookies, your personal data will be processed and stored via these cookies. If we are allowed to use cookies with your consent (Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR), this consent is also the legal basis for the use of cookies and the processing of your data. In order to be able to manage the consent to cookies and to enable you to give your consent, a cookie consent management platform software is used. The use of this software enables us to operate the website in an efficient and legally compliant manner, which is a legitimate interest (Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR).
AdSimple Consent Manager Privacy Policy
AdSimple Consent Manager Privacy Policy Overview
👥 Affected parties: Website visitors 🤝 Purpose: Obtaining consent to certain cookies and thus the use of certain tools 📓 Processed data: data for managing cookie settings such as IP address, time of consent, type of consent and individual consent. You can find more details on this under in the privacy policy below. 📅 Storage period: the used cookie expires after one year ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
What is the AdSimple Consent Manager?
On our website we use the AdSimple Consent Manager of the software development and online marketing company AdSimple GmbH, Fabriksgasse 20, 2230 Gänserndorf, Austria. The AdSimple Consent Manager offers us, among other things, the opportunity to provide you with a cookie notice that is comprehensive and compliant with data protection laws. This gives you the opportunity to decide which cookies you want to allow or deny. By using this software, data is sent from you to AdSimple, where it is stored. In this privacy policy we inform you on why we use the AdSimple Consent Manager, which data is transferred and stored and how you can prevent this data transfer.
The AdSimple Consent Manager is a software that scans our website to identify and categorise all existing cookies. Additionally, you as the website visitor will be informed on the use of cookies via a cookie notice script. Then you can decide yourself which cookies you want to allow or deny.
Why do we use the AdSimple Consent Manager on your website?
We want to offer you maximum transparency when it comes to data protection. Before we can do so, we need to exactly determine which cookies have ended up on our website over time. Since the AdSimple consent manager regularly scans our website and locates all cookies, we have full control over these cookies and can therefore act in compliance with the GDPR. This enables us to inform you precisely on the use of cookies on our website.
Moreover, you will always receive an up-to-date cookie notice that is data-protection compliant. This enables you to decide yourself which cookies you want to allow or deny via the checkbox system.
Which data are stored by the AdSimple Consent Manager?
If you agree to cookies on our website, AdSimple Consent Manager will set the following cookie:
Name: acm_status
Value: “:true,”statistics”:true,”marketing”:true,”socialmedia”:true,”settings”:true}
Porpose: This cookie saves the status of your consent. This enables our website to read and adhere to the latest status, even during future visits.
Expiry date: after one year
How long and where are the data stored?
All data collected by the AdSimple Consent Manager is transferred and stored exclusively within the European Union. The collected data is stored on the AdSimple servers at Hetzner GmbH in Germany. Therefore, only AdSimple GmbH and Hetzner GmbH have access to the data.
How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?
You have the right to access and delete your personal data at any time. You can prevent data collection and storage by for example rejecting the use of cookies via the cookie notification script. Another option to prevent data processing or to manage it according to your wishes is your browser. Depending on the browser you use, managing cookies differs slightly. Below you will find links to the instructions for the most common browsers:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge
Legal basis
If you agree to cookies, your personal data will be processed and stored via these cookies. If we are allowed to use cookies with your consent (Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR), this consent is also the legal basis for the use of cookies and the processing of your data. The AdSimple Consent Manager is used to manage your consent to cookies and to enable you to give your consent. The use of this software enables us to operate the website in an efficient and legally compliant manner, which is a legitimate interest (Article 6 (1) lit.f GDPR).
We hope we were able to provide you with a good overview of data traffic and data processing by AdSimple Consent Manager. If you want to learn more about this tool, we recommend the description page at https://www.adsimple.at/consent-manager/.
BorlabsCookie Privacy Policy
On our website we use BorlabsCookie, which is one of the tools that store your consent to cookies. The provider of this service is the German company Borlabs – Benjamin A. Bornschein, Rübenkamp 32, 22305 Hamburg, Germany. You can find out more about the data that is processed by the use of BorlabsCookie in their Privacy Policy at https://borlabs.io/privacy/.
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.
Font Awesome Lokal Privacy Policy
We use the Font Awesome Local font and icon toolkit for our website. The service provider is the American company Fonticons, Inc, 307 S Main St Ste 202 Bentonville, AR, 72712-9214 , USA.
We have embedded the Font Awesome fonts locally, i.e. on our web server – not on Font Awesome’s servers. As a result, there is no connection to Font Awesome servers and thus no data transfer or storage to this company.
You can find out more about the data that is processed by Font Awesome Lokal in their Privacy Policy at https://fontawesome.com/privacy.
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=112440704. 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=112440704. 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 processes data from you, among other things, in the USA. Google is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. More information can be found at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Additionally, Google uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template clauses provided by the EU Commission and are designed to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards, even when transferred and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Google commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed, and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual Clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
You can find the Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which refer to the Standard Contractual Clauses, at: https://business.safety.google/intl/en/adsprocessorterms/
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.
Miscellaneous Overview
Miscellaneous Privacy Policy Overview
👥 Affected parties: website visitors 🤝 Purpose: Improvement of user experience 📓 Processed data: The processed data depends heavily on the services used. Usually, it is an IP address and/or technical data. You can find more details on this in the sections of the respective 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 included in “Miscellaneous”?
The “Miscellaneous” category includes any services that do not fit into any of the above categories. Usually, they are various plugins and integrated elements that are meant to improve our website. Generally, these functions are obtained from third parties and integrated into our website. They may e.g. be web search services such as Algolia Place, Giphy, Programmable Search Engine or online services for weather data such as OpenWeather.
Why do we use these third parties?
With our website, we want to provide you with the best web offer in our industry. Websites have long been so much more than just a business card for companies. Instead, they are a place designed to help you find what you’re looking for. And in order to make our website even more interesting and helpful for you, we use various third-party services.
Which data is processed?
Whenever elements are integrated into our website, your IP address will be transmitted to the respective provider, where it will be stored and processed. This is necessary to send the content to your browser which will then display it for you. Moreover, service providers may also use pixel tags or web beacons. These are small graphics on websites that can record a log file and create analyses of it. Providers can improve their own marketing measures with the information they receive this way. In addition to pixel tags, this information (e.g. which button you click or when you access which page) can also be stored in cookies. In addition to data analyses on your web behaviour, technical information such as your browser type or operating system may also be stored there. Some providers can also link the data they obtain to other internal services or to third-party providers. Each provider handles your data differently. Therefore, we recommend you carefully read the privacy policies of the respective services. We make every effort to only use services that operate very carefully in regards to data protection and privacy.
Duration of data processing
Below we will inform you about the duration of data processing, provided we have further information on this. In general, we only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products.
Legal Basis
If we ask for your consent and you agree to us using a service, this consent serves as the legal basis for the processing of your data (Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR). In addition to your consent, we have a legitimate interest in analysing the behaviour of our website visitors and thus technically and economically improving our offer. The legal basis for this is Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interests). However, we only use any tools if you have given your consent.
Information on the special tools – if available – can be found in the following sections.
WooCommerce Privacy Policy
WooCommerce Privacy Policy Overview
👥 Affected parties: website visitors 🤝 Purpose: service optimisation 📓 Processed data: data such as IP address, browser information, preset language settings as well as date and time of web access You can find more details on this in the Privacy Policy below. 📅 Storage period: Server log files, technical data and IP addresses will be erased after about 30 days ⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
What is WooCommerce?
We have integrated the open-source shop system WooCommerce to our website as a plugin. This WooCommerce plugin is based on the content management system WordPress, which is a subsidiary company of Automattic Inc. (60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA). Through the implemented functions, data are stored and sent to Automattic Inc where they are processed. In this privacy policy we want to inform you on what data this is, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent data retention.
WooCommerce is an online shop system that has been part of the WordPress directory since 2011 and was specially developed for WordPress websites. It is a customisable, open source eCommerce platform that is based on WordPress. It has been integrated into our website as a WordPress plugin.
Why do we use WooCommerce on our website?
We use this practical online shop system, to be able to offer you our physical or digital products or services in the best possible way on our website. The aim is to give you easy and easy access to our offer, so that you can quickly and easily navigate to the products you want. With WooCommerce we have found a good plugin that meets our requirements for an online shop.
What data is stored by WooCommerce?
Information that you actively enter to a text field in our online shop can be collected and stored by WooCommerce or Automattic. Hence, if you register with us or order a product, Automattic may collect, process and save this data. In addition to email address, name or address, this can also be your credit card or billing information. Subsequently, Automattic can also use this information for their own marketing campaigns.
There is also evidence that Automattic automatically collects information on you in so-called server log files:
- IP-address
- Browser information
- Pre-set language settings
- Date and time of the web access
Moreover, WooCommerce sets cookies in your browser and uses technologies such as pixel tags (web beacons), to for example clearly identify you as a user and to be able to offer interest-based advertising. WooCommerce uses several different cookies, which are placed depending on the user action. This means that if you for example add a product to the shopping cart, a cookie is set so that the product remains in the shopping cart when you leave our website and come back later.
Below we want to show you an example list of possible cookies that may be set by WooCommerce:
Name: woocommerce_items_in_cart
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie helps WooCommerce to determine when the contents of the shopping cart change.
Expiry date: after end of session
Name: woocommerce_cart_hash
Value: 447c84f810834056ab37cfe5ed27f204112440704-7
Purpose: This cookie is also used to recognise and save the changes in your shopping cart.
Expiry date: after end of session
Name: wp_woocommerce_session_d9e29d251cf8a108a6482d9fe2ef34b6
Value: 1146%7C%7C1589034207%7C%7C95f8053ce0cea135bbce671043e740112440704-4aa
Purpose: This cookie contains a unique identifier for you to allow the shopping cart data to be found in the database.
Expiry date: after 2 days
How long and where is the data stored?
Unless there is a legal obligation to keep data for a longer period, WooCommerce will delete your data if it is no longer needed for the purposes it was saved for. Server log files for example, the technical data for your browser and your IP address will be deleted after about 30 days. This is how long Automattic use the data to analyse the traffic on their own websites (for example all WordPress websites) and to fix possible problems. The data is stored on Automattic’s American servers.
How can I erase my data and prevent data retention?
You have the right to access your personal data anytime, as well as to object to it being used and processed. You can also lodge a complaint with a state supervisory authority anytime.
You can also manage, delete or deactivate cookies individually in your browser. However, please note that deactivated or deleted cookies may have a negative impact on the functions of our WooCommerce online shop. Depending on the browser you use, managing cookies differs slightly. Below you will find links to the instructions for the most common browsers:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge
Legal basis
If you have agreed to the use of WooCommerce, then your consent the legal basis for the corresponding data processing. According to Art. 6 paragraph 1 lit. a (Consent) your consent is the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as can occur when it is collected by WooCommerce.
We also have a legitimate interest in using WooCommerce to optimise our online service and to present our service nicely for you. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use WooCommerce if you have given your consent to it.
Automattic processes data from you, among other things, in the USA. Automattic is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. More information can be found at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Additionally, Automattic uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template clauses provided by the EU Commission and are designed to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards, even when transferred and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Automattic commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed, and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual Clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847.
You can find more details on WooCommerce’s Privacy Policy and on which data is retained as well as how at https://automattic.com/privacy/ and you can find more general information about WooCommerce at https://woocommerce.com/.
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.
Controller
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:
“controller” means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its nomination may be provided for by Union or Member State law;
Explanation: In our example, we are responsible for the processing of your personal data and are therefore the “controller”. If we pass on collected data to other service providers for processing, they are considered “contract processors”. For this, a “Data Processing Agreement (DPA)” must be concluded.
Processing
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:
“processing” means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction;
Note: When we talk about processing in our Privacy Policy, we talk about any type of data processing. As mentioned above in the original GDPR declaration, this includes not only the collection but also the storage and processing of data.
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.