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1. An overview of data protection

General
The following gives a simple overview of what happens to your personal information when you visit our website. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. Detailed information on the subject of data protection can be found in our privacy policy found below.

Data collection on our website

Who is responsible for the data collection on this website?
The data collected on this website are processed by the website operator. The operator's contact details can be found in the website's required legal notice.

How do we collect your data?
Some data are collected when you provide it to us. This could, for example, be data you enter on a contact form.

Other data are collected automatically by our IT systems when you visit the website. These data are primarily technical data such as the browser and operating system you are using or when you accessed the page. These data are collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

What do we use your data for?
Part of the data is collected to ensure the proper functioning of the website. Other data can be used to analyze how visitors use the site.

What rights do you have regarding your data?
You always have the right to request information about your stored data, its origin, its recipients, and the purpose of its collection at no charge. You also have the right to request that it be corrected, blocked, or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in the legal notice if you have further questions about the issue of privacy and data protection. You may also, of course, file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities.

Moreover, under certain circumstances, you have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data. For details, please consult the Data Protection Declaration under section “Right to Restriction of Data Processing.”

Analytics and third-party tools
When visiting our website, statistical analyses may be made of your surfing behavior. This happens primarily using cookies and analytics. The analysis of your surfing behavior is usually anonymous, i.e. we will not be able to identify you from this data. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. Detailed information can be found in the following privacy policy.

You can object to this analysis. We will inform you below about how to exercise your options in this regard.


2. General information and mandatory information

Data protection
The operators of this website take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data as confidential and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy.

If you use this website, various pieces of personal data will be collected. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. This privacy policy explains what information we collect and what we use it for. It also explains how and for what purpose this happens.

Please note that data transmitted via the internet (e.g. via email communication) may be subject to security breaches. Complete protection of your data from third-party access is not possible. Notice concerning the party responsible for this website.

The party responsible for processing data on this website is:

HIWIN GmbH 
Brücklesbünd 1
77654 Offenburg

Telephone: 0049 (0) 781 93278 0
Email:  info@hiwin.de

The responsible party is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data (names, email addresses, etc.).

Revocation of your consent to the processing of your data
Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

Right to object to the collection of data in special cases; right to object to direct advertising (Art. 21 GDPR)

In the event that data are processed on the basis of Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. e or f GDPR, you have the right to at any time object to the processing of your personal data based on grounds arising from your unique situation. This also applies to any profiling based on these provisions. To determine the legal basis, on which any processing of data is based, please consult this Data Protection Declaration. If you log an objection, we will no longer process your affected personal data, unless we are in a position to present compelling protection worthy grounds for the processing of your data, that outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms or if the purpose of the processing is the claiming, exercising or defence of legal entitlements (objection pursuant to Art. 21 Sect. 1 GDPR).

If your personal data is being processed in order to engage in direct advertising, you have the right to at any time object to the processing of your affected personal data for the purposes of such advertising. This also applies to profiling to the extent that it is affiliated with such direct advertising. If you object, your personal data will subsequently no longer be used for direct advertising purposes (objection pursuant to Art. 21 Sect. 2 GDPR).

Right to log a complaint with the competent supervisory agency
In the event of violations of the GDPR, data subjects are entitled to log a complaint with a supervisory agency, in particular in the member state where they usually maintain their domicile, place of work or at the place where the alleged violation occurred. The right to log a complaint is in effect regardless of any other administrative or court proceedings available as legal recourses.

A list of data protection officers and their contact details without claim to completeness or correctness can be found at the following link: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_links-node.html.

Right to data portability
You have the right to have data which we process based on your consent or in fulfillment of a contract automatically delivered to yourself or to a third party in a standard, machine-readable format. If you require the direct transfer of data to another responsible party, this will only be done to the extent technically feasible.

SSL or TLS encryption
This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and for the protection of the transmission of confidential content, such as the inquiries you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection in your browser's address line when it changes from "http://" to "https://" and the lock icon is displayed in your browser's address bar.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transfer to us cannot be read by third parties.

Information about, blockage, rectification and eradication of data
As permitted by law, you have the right to be provided at any time with information free of charge about any of your personal data that is stored as well as its origin, the recipient and the purpose for which it has been processed. You also have the right to have this data corrected, blocked or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in our legal notice if you have further questions on the topic of personal data.

Right to demand processing restrictions
You have the right to demand the imposition of restrictions as far as the processing of your personal data is concerned. To do so, you may contact us at any time at the address provided in section “Information Required by Law.” The right to demand restriction of processing applies in the following cases:

  • Inthe event that you should dispute the correctness of your data archived by us,we will usually need some time to verify this claim. During the time that thisinvestigation is ongoing, you have the right to demand that we restrict theprocessing of your personal data.
  • Ifthe processing of your personal data was/is conducted in an unlawful manner,you have the option to demand the restriction of the processing of your data inlieu of demanding the eradication of this data.
  • Ifwe do not need your personal data any longer and you need it to exercise,defend or claim legal entitlements, you have the right to demand therestriction of the processing of your personal data instead of its eradication.
  • Ifyou have raised an objection pursuant to Art. 21 Sect. 1 GDPR, your rights andour rights will have to be weighed against each other. As long as it has notbeen determined whose interests prevail, you have the right to demand arestriction of the processing of your personal data.


If you have restricted the processing of your personal data, these data – with the exception of their archiving – may be processed only subject to your consent or to claim, exercise or defend legal entitlements or to protect the rights of other natural persons or legal entities or for important public interest reasons cited by the European Union or a member state of the EU.

Opposition to promotional emails
We hereby expressly prohibit the use of contact data published in the context of website legal notice requirements with regard to sending promotional and informational materials not expressly requested. The website operator reserves the right to take specific legal action if unsolicited advertising material, such as email spam, is received.


3. Data protection officer

Statutory data protection officer
We have appointed a data protection officer for our company.

Christoph Boser
Email: datenschutz@hiwin.de
Tel: 0781 932 78 0

4. Data collection on our website

Cookies
Some of our web pages use cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer and do not contain any viruses. Cookies help make our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called "session cookies." They are automatically deleted after your visit. Other cookies remain in your device's memory until you delete them. These cookies make it possible to recognize your browser when you next visit the site.

You can configure your browser to inform you about the use of cookies so that you can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept or reject a cookie. Alternatively, your browser can be configured to automatically accept cookies under certain conditions or to always reject them, or to automatically delete cookies when closing your browser. Disabling cookies may limit the functionality of this website.

Cookies which are necessary to allow electronic communications or to provide certain functions you wish to use (such as the shopping cart) are stored pursuant to Art. 6 paragraph 1, letter f of DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the storage of cookies to ensure an optimized service provided free of technical errors. If other cookies (such as those used to analyze your surfing behavior) are also stored, they will be treated separately in this privacy policy.

Server log files
The website provider automatically collects and stores information that your browser automatically transmits to us in "server log files". These are:

  • Browser type and browser version
  • Operating system used
  • Referrer URL
  • Hostname of the accessing computer
  • Time of the server request
  • IP address

These data will not be combined with data from other sources.

This data is recorded on the basis of Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR. The operator of the website has a legitimate interest in the technically error free depiction and the optimization of the operator’s website. In order to achieve this, server log files must be recorded.

Contact form
Should you send us questions via the contact form, we will collect the data entered on the form, including the contact details you provide, to answer your question and any follow-up questions. We do not share this information without your permission.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1)(a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

We will retain the data you provide on the contact form until you request its deletion, revoke your consent for its storage, or the purpose for its storage no longer pertains (e.g. after fulfilling your request). Any mandatory statutory provisions, especially those regarding mandatory data retention periods, remain unaffected by this provision.

Request by email, telephone or fax
If you contact us by email, telephone or fax, your request, including all resulting personal data (name, request) will be stored and processed by us for the purpose of processing your request. We do not pass these data on without your consent.

The processing of these data is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR, if your request is related to the execution of a contract or if it is necessary to carry out pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, the processing is based on your consent (Article 6 (1) a GDPR) and/or on our legitimate interests (Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR), since we have a legitimate interest in the effective processing of requests addressed to us.

The data sent by you to us via contact requests remain with us until you request us to delete, revoke your consent to the storage or the purpose for the data storage lapses (e.g. after completion of your request). Mandatory statutory provisions ‒ in particular statutory retention periods ‒ remain unaffected.

Registration on this website
You can register on our website in order to access additional functions offered here. The input data will only be used for the purpose of using the respective site or service for which you have registered. The mandatory information requested during registration must be provided in full. Otherwise, we will reject your registration.

To inform you about important changes such as those within the scope of our site or technical changes, we will use the email address specified during registration.

We will process the data provided during registration only based on your consent per Art. 6 (1)(a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

We will continue to store the data collected during registration for as long as you remain registered on our website. Statutory retention periods remain unaffected.

Processing of data (customer and contract data)
We collect, process, and use personal data only insofar as it is necessary to establish, or modify legal relationships with us (master data). This is done based on Art. 6 (1) (b) DSGVO, which allows the processing of data to fulfill a contract or for measures preliminary to a contract. We collect, process and use your personal data when accessing our website (usage data) only to the extent required to enable you to access our service or to bill you for the same.

The customer and contract data you keep will remain with us until you ask us to delete it, revoke your consent to storage or delete the data storage purpose (for example, after your order has been processed). We also save and use your information for a reasonable amount of time after the order has been placed in order to keep you informed about our services and offers and to provide you with information about this. This is done on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in informing its customers about its offers and services even after the contract has ended. Mandatory statutory provisions ‒ in particular retention periods ‒ remain unaffected.

Data transmitted when entering into a contract with online shops, retailers, and mail order
We transmit personally identifiable data to third parties only to the extent required to fulfill the terms of your contract, for example, to companies entrusted to deliver goods to your location or banks entrusted to process your payments. Your data will not be transmitted for any other purpose unless you have given your express permission to do so. Your data will not be disclosed to third parties for advertising purposes without your express consent.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) (b) DSGVO, which allows the processing of data to fulfill a contract or for measures preliminary to a contract.

Data transferred when signing up for services and digital content
We transmit personally identifiable data to third parties only to the extent required to fulfill the terms of your contract with us, for example, to banks entrusted to process your payments.

Your data will not be transmitted for any other purpose unless you have given your express permission to do so. Your data will not be disclosed to third parties for advertising purposes without your express consent.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) (b) DSGVO, which allows the processing of data to fulfill a contract or for measures preliminary to a contract.


5. Social media

Data processing through social networks
We maintain publicly available profiles in social networks. The individual social networks we use can be found below.

Social networks such as Facebook, Xing etc. can generally analyse your user behaviour comprehensively if you visit their website or a website with integrated social media content (e.g. like buttons or banner ads). When you visit our social media pages, numerous data protection-relevant processing operations are triggered. In detail:

  • Ifyou are logged in to your social media account and visit our social media page, the operator of the social media portal can assign this visit to your user account. Under certain circumstances, your personal data may also be recorded if you are not logged in or do not have an account with the respective social media portal. In this case, this data is collected, for example, via cookies stored on your device or by recording your IP address.
  • Usingthe data collected in this way, the operators of the social media portals can create user profiles in which their preferences and interests are stored. This way you can see interest-based advertising inside and outside of your social media presence. If you have an account with the social network, interest-based advertising can be displayed on any device you are logged in to or have logged in to.


Please also note that we cannot retrace all processing operations on the social media portals. Depending on the provider, additional processing operations may therefore be carried out by the operators of the social media portals. Details can be found in the terms of use and privacy policy of the respective social media portals.

Legal basis
Our social media appearances should ensure the widest possible presence on the Internet. This is a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. The analysis processes initiated by the social networks may be based on divergent legal bases to be specified by the operators of the social networks (e.g. consent within the meaning of Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR).

Responsibility and assertion of rights
If you visit one of our social media sites (e.g., Facebook), we, together with the operator of the social media platform, are responsible for the data processing operations triggered during this visit. You can in principle protect your rights (information, correction, deletion, limitation of processing, data portability and complaint) vis-à-vis us as well as vis-à-vis the operator of the respective social media portal (e.g. Facebook).
Please note that despite the shared responsibility with the social media portal operators, we do not have full influence on the data processing operations of the social media portals. Our options are determined by the company policy of the respective provider.

Storage time
The data collected directly from us via the social media presence will be deleted from our systems as soon as the purpose for their storage lapses, you ask us to delete it, you revoke your consent to the storage or the purpose for the data storage lapses. Stored cookies remain on your device until you delete them. Mandatory statutory provisions – in particular, retention periods – remain unaffected.

We have no control over the storage duration of your data that are stored by the social network operators for their own purposes. For details, please contact the social network operators directly (e.g. in their privacy policy, see below).

Individual social networks

Facebook
We have a profile on Facebook. The provider is Facebook Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. Facebook is certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield.

We have signed an agreement with Facebook on shared responsibility for the processing of data (Controller Addendum). This agreement determines which data processing operations we or Facebook are responsible for when you visit our Facebook Fanpage. This agreement can be viewed at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/page_controller_addendum

You can customise your advertising settings independently in your user account. Click on the following link and log in: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads

Details can be found in the Facebook privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/

Facebook plugins (Like & Share buttons)
Our website includes plugins for the social network Facebook. The Facebook plugins can be recognized by the Facebook logo or the Like button on our site. For an overview of Facebook plugins, see https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/.

When you visit our site, a direct connection between your browser and the Facebook server is established via the plugin. This enables Facebook to receive information that you have visited our site from your IP address. If you click on the Facebook "Like button" while you are logged into your Facebook account, you can link the content of our site to your Facebook profile. This allows Facebook to associate visits to our site with your user account. Please note that, as the operator of this site, we have no knowledge of the content of the data transmitted to Facebook or of how Facebook uses these data. For more information, please see Facebook's privacy policy at https://de-de.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.

If you do not want Facebook to associate your visit to our site with your Facebook account, please log out of your Facebook account.

The use of the Facebook plug-in is based on Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR. The operator of the website has a legitimate interest in being as visible as possible on social media.

XING Plugin
Our website uses features provided by the XING network. The provider is XING AG, Dammtorstraße 29-32, 20354 Hamburg, Germany.

Each time one of our pages containing XING features is accessed, your browser establishes a direct connection to the XING servers. To the best of our knowledge, no personal data is stored in the process. In particular, no IP addresses are stored nor is usage behavior evaluated.

The use of the XING plug-in is based on Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR. The operator of the website has a legitimate interest in being as visible as possible on social media. For more information on data protection and the XING share button please consult the Data Protection Declaration of Xing at: https://www.xing.com/app/share?op=data_protection.

LinkedIn Ads
We have integrated a pixel of the LinkedIn Corporation on our website. When you access our website, you are re-directed to LinkedIn. The following data can be forwarded:

  • Unique cookie ID
  • Accessed website
  • Time

LinkedIn can mark the end device you are using with a cookie and a unique identifier or read an already existing cookie. If you are registered with LinkedIn, this data can be used to display targeted advertising for us on LinkedIn pages. The data is also processed by LinkedIn in the US in this case. Your data will only be transferred to the US with your express consent. The legal basis for the storage of the cookie is your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 s. 1 lit. a GDPR). You can revoke your consent at any time in our cookie settings. Further evaluation of the collected data is the responsibility of LinkedIn.

You can also get more detailed information from LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy. If you are logged in to LinkedIn, you can deactivate data collection at any time using the following link: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/enhanced-advertising.


6. Analytics and advertising

Google Analytics 4

If you have given your consent, this website uses Google Analytics 4, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC. The responsible party for users in the EU/EEA and Switzerland is Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland (“Google”).

Scope of processing

Google Analytics 4 uses cookies that enable an analysis of your use of our websites. The information collected with cookies about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the US and stored there.
Google Analytics 4 has IP address anonymisation enabled by default. 

Due to IP anonymisation, your IP address will be truncated by Google within Member States of the European Union or in other contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address transmitted to a Google server in the US and truncated there. According to Google, the IP address transmitted by your browser within the scope of Google Analytics 4 is not merged with other data from Google.

During your website visit, your user behaviour is recorded in the form of “events”. Events can be:

  • Page views
  • First visit to the website
  • Start of the session
  • Your “click path”, interaction with the website
  • Scrolls (whenever a user scrolls to the end of the page (90%))
  • Clicks on external links
  • Internal search requests
  • Interaction with videos
  • File downloads
  • Viewed ads / Ads clicked on
  • Language setting

Also collected:

  • Your approximate location (region)
  • Your IP address (in abbreviated form)
  • Technical information about your browser and the end devices you use (e.g. language setting, screen resolution)
  • Your internet provider
  • The referral URL (which website/which advertising medium brought you to this website)

Purposes of processing

On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information for evaluating your [pseudonymous] use of the website and compiling reports on website activity. The reports provided by Google Analytics 4 are used to analyse the performance of our website.

Recipient

Recipients of the data are/can be

  • Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Irland (als Auftragsverarbeiter nach Art. 28 DSGVO)
  • Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
  • Alphabet Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

It cannot be ruled out that U.S. authorities will access the data stored by Google.

Transfer to third countries

The data sent by us and linked to cookies are automatically deleted after 14 months. The deletion of data whose retention period has been reached is done automatically once a month.

Legal basis

The legal basis for this data processing is your consent in accordance with Art.6 (1) (1) (a) GDPR [IF RELEVANT: Art. 49a GDPR].

Revocation
You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future by calling up the cookie settings https://www.hiwin.de/de/datenschutz#uc-corner-modal-show and change your selection there. The legality of the processing carried out based on consent until the time of revocation remains unaffected by this.

You can also prevent the storage of cookies from the outset by setting your browser software accordingly. However, if you configure your browser to reject all cookies, you may experience limited functionality on this and other websites. You can also prevent the collection of data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) for Google and the processing of such data by Google by Not giving your consent to the setting of the cookie or Downloading and installing the browser add-on for deactivating Google Analytics 4.
For more information on Google Analytics 4 terms of use and Google’s privacy policy, see https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/de/ and https://policies.google.com/?hl=de.

Google reCAPTCHA
We use "Google reCAPTCHA" (hereinafter "reCAPTCHA") on our websites. This service is provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA („Google").

reCAPTCHA is used to check whether the data entered on our website (such as on a contact form) has been entered by a human or by an automated program. To do this, reCAPTCHA analyzes the behavior of the website visitor based on various characteristics. This analysis starts automatically as soon as the website visitor enters the website. For the analysis, reCAPTCHA evaluates various information (e.g. IP address, how long the visitor has been on the website, or mouse movements made by the user). The data collected during the analysis will be forwarded to Google.

The reCAPTCHA analyses take place completely in the background. Website visitors are not advised that such an analysis is taking place.

Data processing is based on Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in protecting its site from abusive automated crawling and spam.

For more information about Google reCAPTCHA and Google's privacy policy, please visit the following links: https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/ and https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/android.html.

Integration of Google Tag Manager
For the delivery of online advertising and the integration of external partners, we use the Google Tag Manager of the service provider Google Ireland Limited. This enables us to control the delivery of online advertising. This tool works without cookies, but nevertheless requires the transmission of IP addresses to Google. The use and utilisation of the tag manager is measured here. We have activated the anonymisation of the IP address before it is forwarded to Google. The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR. The data collected will be deleted after two years.

Use of a consent management platform
On our website, we use the consent management platform operated by our contracted and controlled service provider. This tool is used to manage consent to the setting of cookies and the integration of external service providers and their verification. To prove consent, we store information about the device you are using, information about your browser, anonymized IP address, date and time of the visit as well as opt-in and opt-out data for three years. The legal basis for the storage of this data is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. c GDPR.

Use of SalesViewer® technology:
This website uses SalesViewer® technology from SalesViewer® GmbH on the basis of the website operator’s legitimate interests (Section 6 paragraph 1 lit.f GDPR) in order to collect and save data on marketing, market research and optimisation purposes.

In order to do this, a javascript based code, which serves to capture company-related data and according website usage. The data captured using this technology are encrypted in a non-retrievable one-way function (so-called hashing). The data is immediately pseudonymised and is not used to identify website visitors personally.

The data stored by Salesviewer will be deleted as soon as they are no longer required for their intended purpose and there are no legal obligations to retain them.

The data recording and storage can be repealed at any time with immediate effect for the future, by clicking on https://www.salesviewer.com/opt-out in order to prevent SalesViewer® from recording your data. In this case, an opt-out cookie for this website is saved on your device. If you delete the cookies in the browser, you will need to click on this link again.


7. Newsletter

Newsletter data
If you would like to receive our newsletter, we require a valid email address as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the specified email address and that you agree to receive this newsletter. No additional data is collected or is only collected on a voluntary basis. We only use this data to send the requested information and do not pass it on to third parties.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You can revoke consent to the storage of your data and email address as well as their use for sending the newsletter at any time, e.g. through the "unsubscribe" link in the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the members area) remain unaffected.


8. Plugins and tools

YouTube
Our website uses plug-ins of the YouTube platform, which is being operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.

We use YouTube in the expanded data protection mode. According to YouTube, this mode ensures that YouTube does not store any information about visitors to this website before they watch the video. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that the sharing of data with YouTube partners can be ruled out as a result of the expanded data protection mode. For instance, regardless of whether you are watching a video, YouTube will always establish a connection with the Google DoubleClick network.

As soon as you start to play a YouTube video on our website, a connection to YouTube’s servers will be established. As a result, the YouTube server will be notified, which of our pages you have visited. If you are logged into your YouTube account while you visit our site, you enable YouTube to directly allocate your browsing patterns to your personal profile. You have the option to prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

Furthermore, after you have started to play a video, YouTube will be able to place various cookies on your device. With the assistance of these cookies, YouTube will be able to obtain information about our website visitor. Among other things, this information will be used to generate video statistics with the aim of improving the user friendliness of the site and to prevent attempts to commit fraud. These cookies will stay on your device until you delete them.

Under certain circumstances, additional data processing transactions may be triggered after you have started to play a YouTube video, which are beyond our control.

The use of YouTube is based on our interest in presenting our online content in an appealing manner. Pursuant to Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR, this is a legitimate interest.

For more information on how YouTube handles user data, please consult the YouTube Data Privacy Policy under: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.

Zendesk
We deploy the CRM system Zendesk to process user inquiries. The provider is Zendesk, Inc, 1019 Market Street in San Francisco, CA 94103 USA.

We use Zendesk to be able to respond to your inquiries promptly and efficiently. The legal basis for the processing of your data is our legitimate interest as defined in Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR.

As a U.S.-based provider, Zendesk is Privacy Shield certified, which means that the company undertakes to comply with the EU data protection regulations. In addition, we have executed a contract data processing agreement with Zendesk (Data Processing Agreement, DPA). This ensures that Zendesk processes the user data received only within the framework of the EU data protection standards and exclusively for the processing of inquiries and that Zendesk will not share these data with third parties.

In order to be able to submit inquiries, you must provide your email address and name.

If you should not want to agree to the processing of your inquiries by us via Zendesk, you have the alternative option to communicate with us via email, telephone or fax.

For more information, please consult Zendesk’s Data Privacy Declaration at: https://www.zendesk.com/company/customers-partners/privacy-policy/.

Using the chat program Zopim
To improve communication with visitors to our sites, we use the Zompim chat program from Zendesk, Inc., ("Zendesk").

If you have questions about our products, our website or our company, you can send us a message via the Zopim chat window. You will be shown if someone is online to answer you immediately. If this is not the case, you can still leave us a message and we will respond to your request as soon as possible. All visitors to our pages are recorded with their IP address and the page they are currently visiting. The IP address is anonymized. Zopim uses cookies and Flash cookies to enable you to personalize the online use of our service.

The information generated by the cookie about your use of our website (including your anonymized IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Zendesk in the USA. For the duration of use, we store the unique ID number and the time you log in to an encrypted cookie on your hard drive. This cookie allows you to go from page to page on our website without having to re-login to each page. If you log out, the cookies will be deleted from your computer. Performed chats are logged and saved. You can prevent the installation of cookies by setting your browser software accordingly; however, please note that in this case you may not be able to fully use all features of our website.

The details of how you deal with your personal information and how we collect and use it from Zopim can be found in the Zendesk Privacy Policy at https://www.zendesk.com/company/customers-partners/privacy-policy/.