DATE PROTECTION

We have drawn up this privacy policy to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, what information we collect, how we use data and what choices you have as a visitor to this website.

Unfortunately, it is in the nature of things that these explanations sound very technical, but we have endeavoured to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible.

Automatic data storage

Nowadays, when you visit websites, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website.

When you visit our website as you are doing right now, our web server (computer on which this website is stored) automatically saves data such as

the address (URL) of the website accessed

Browser and browser version

the operating system used

the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL)

the host name and IP address of the device from which access is made

the date and time

in files (web server log files).

As a rule, web server log files are stored for a fortnight and then automatically deleted. We do not pass this data on, but we cannot rule out the possibility of this data being viewed in the event of unlawful behaviour.

Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data.

Below we explain what cookies are and why they are used so that you can better understand the following privacy policy.

What exactly are cookies?

Whenever you surf the internet, you use a browser. Well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites save small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies.

One thing cannot be denied: Cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, they are HTTP cookies, as there are also other cookies for other areas of application. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically stored in the cookie folder, the ‘brain’ of your browser, so to speak. A cookie consists of a name and a value. When defining a cookie, one or more attributes must also be specified.

Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you visit our site again, your browser transmits the ‘user-related’ information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you your usual default settings. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our website, 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 programmes and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other ‘malware’. Cookies also cannot access information on your PC.

This is what cookie data can look like, for example:

Name: _ga

Expiry time: 2 years

Usage: Differentiation of website visitors

Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311196192

A browser should support the following minimum sizes:

A cookie should be able to contain at least 4096 bytes

It should be possible to store at least 50 cookies per domain

A total of at least 3000 cookies should be able to be stored

What types of cookies are there?

The question of which cookies we use in particular depends on the services used and is clarified in the following sections of the privacy policy. At this point, we would like to briefly explain the different types of HTTP cookies.

There are 4 different types of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are necessary to ensure basic website functions. For example, these cookies are needed when a user places a product in the shopping basket, then continues surfing on other pages and only goes to the checkout later. These cookies ensure that the shopping basket is not deleted even if the user closes their browser window.

Functional cookies

These cookies collect information about user behaviour and whether the user receives any error messages. These cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the behaviour of the website with different browsers.

Targeted cookies

These cookies ensure better user-friendliness. For example, entered locations, font sizes or form data are saved.

Advertising cookies

These cookies are also known as targeting cookies. They are used to deliver customised advertising to the user. This can be very practical, but also very annoying.

When you visit a website for the first time, you are usually asked which of these types of cookie you would like to allow. And of course this decision is also saved in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

You decide how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies originate from, you always have the option of deleting cookies, only partially allowing them or deactivating them. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies.

If you want to find out which cookies have been stored in your browser, if you want to change or delete cookie settings, you can find this in your browser settings.

If you do not want to have any cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. You can then decide for each individual cookie whether or not to allow it. The procedure differs depending on the browser. It is best to search for the instructions in Google using the search term ‘delete cookies Chrome’ or ‘deactivate cookies Chrome’ in the case of a Chrome browser or replace the word ‘Chrome’ with the name of your browser, e.g. Edge, Firefox, Safari.

What about my data protection?

The so-called ‘cookie guidelines’ have been in place since 2009. These state that you must give your consent for cookies to be saved. However, there are still very different reactions to these guidelines within the EU countries. In Germany, the cookie directives have not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

If you would like to know more about cookies and are not afraid of 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’.

Storage of personal data

Personal data that you transmit to us electronically on this website, such as your name, e-mail address, address or other personal details when submitting a form or comments in the blog, will only be used by us together with the time and IP address for the purpose stated in each case, will be stored securely and will not be passed on to third parties.

We therefore only use your personal data to communicate with those visitors who expressly request contact and to process the services and products offered on this website. We do not pass on your personal data without your consent, but we cannot rule out the possibility of this data being viewed in the event of unlawful behaviour.

If you send us personal data by e-mail - i.e. outside of this website - we cannot guarantee the secure transmission and protection of your data. We recommend that you never send confidential data unencrypted by e-mail.

The legal basis according to Article 6 paragraph 1 a GDPR (lawfulness of processing) is that you give us your consent to process the data you have entered. You can revoke this consent at any time - an informal e-mail is sufficient, you will find our contact details in the imprint.

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

According to the provisions of the GDPR, you have the following rights:

Right to rectification (Article 16 GDPR)
Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’) (Article 17 GDPR)
Right to restriction of processing (Article 18 GDPR)
Right to notification - notification obligation in connection with the rectification or erasure of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 GDPR)
Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR)
Right to object (Article 21 GDPR)
Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling (Article 22 GDPR)

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection claims have otherwise been violated in any way, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI).

Evaluation of visitor behaviour

In the following data protection declaration, we inform you whether and how we analyse data from your visit to this website. The evaluation of the collected data is generally anonymous and we cannot draw any conclusions about your person from your behaviour on this website.

You can find out more about how to object to this analysis of visit data in the following privacy policy.

TLS encryption with https

We use https to transmit data tap-proof on the Internet (data protection through technology design Article 25 (1) GDPR). By using TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for secure data transmission on the Internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data. You can recognise the use of this data transmission security by the small lock symbol at the top left of the browser and the use of the https scheme (instead of http) as part of our Internet address.

Google Maps privacy policy

We use Google Maps from Google Inc. on our website. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services in Europe. Google Maps enables us to show you locations better and thus customise our service to your needs. By using Google Maps, data is transferred to Google and stored on Google servers. We would now like to go into more detail about what Google Maps is, why we use this Google service, what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

What is Google Maps?

Google Maps is an internet map service provided by Google. With Google Maps, you can search online for exact locations of cities, places of interest, accommodation or businesses using a PC, tablet or app. If companies are represented on Google My Business, further information about the company is displayed in addition to the location. In order to display directions, map sections of a location can be integrated into a website using HTML code. Google Maps shows the earth's surface as a street map or as an aerial or satellite image. Thanks to the Street View images and the high-quality satellite images, very accurate representations are possible.

Why do we use Google Maps on our website?

All our endeavours on this site are aimed at providing you with a useful and meaningful time on our website. By integrating Google Maps, we can provide you with the most important information on various locations. You can see at a glance where we are based. The directions always show you the best or quickest way to reach us. You can call up the directions for routes by car, public transport, on foot or by bike. For us, providing Google Maps is part of our customer service.

What data is stored by Google Maps?

In order for Google Maps to be able to offer its full service, the company must collect and store data from you. This includes the search terms entered, your IP address and also the latitude and longitude coordinates. If you use the route planner function, the start address you enter is also saved. However, this data storage takes place on the Google Maps websites. We can only inform you about this, but cannot influence it. As we have integrated Google Maps into our website, Google sets at least one cookie (name: NID) in your browser. This cookie stores data about your user behaviour. Google uses this data primarily to optimise its own services and to provide you with individual, personalised advertising.

The following cookie is set in your browser due to the integration of Google Maps:

Name: NID

Value: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ311196192-5

Purpose: NID is used by Google to customise advertisements to your Google search. With the help of the cookie, Google ‘remembers’ your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with adverts. This means you always receive customised adverts. The cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to collect your personal settings for advertising purposes.

Expiry date: after 6 months

Note: We cannot guarantee the completeness of the stored data. Changes can never be ruled out, especially when using cookies. In order to identify the NID cookie, a separate test page was created where only Google Maps was integrated.

How long and where is the data stored?

The Google servers are located in data centres all over the world. However, most of the servers are located in America. For this reason, your data is increasingly stored in the USA. You can find out exactly where the Google data centres are located here: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de

Google distributes the data on different data carriers. This means that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against any attempts at manipulation. Each data centre also has special emergency programmes. If, for example, there are problems with the Google hardware or a natural disaster paralyses the servers, the data is almost certainly still protected.

Google stores some data for a fixed period of time. For other data, Google only offers the option of deleting it manually. The company also anonymises information (such as advertising data) in server logs by deleting part of the IP address and cookie information after 9 and 18 months respectively.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

With the automatic deletion function for location and activity data introduced in 2019, location and web/app activity information is stored for either 3 or 18 months - depending on your decision - and then deleted. You can also manually delete this data from your history at any time via your Google account. If you want to completely prevent your location from being recorded, you must pause the ‘Web and app activity’ section in your Google account. Click on ‘Data and personalisation’ and then on the ‘Activity settings’ option. Here you can switch the activities on or off.

You can also deactivate, delete or manage individual cookies in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this always works slightly differently. The following instructions show you how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you generally do not want to have cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. This allows you to decide for each individual cookie whether you want to allow it or not.

Google is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI. If you would like to find out more about Google's data processing, we recommend that you read the company's own privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.