COOKIE POLICY 1. Introduction
Tracking technologies, such as cookies, tags, pixels, fingerprinting, web beacons, and similar scripts, are used to store and/or share information about website visitors, their systems, and browsers. Information collected by cookies and other tracking technologies varies depending on each website's components and can be of a personal nature (information that directly or indirectly identifies you) and of a non-personal nature (information that does not directly or indirectly identify any single individual, such as cookies used to enable language settings on a website). Information of a personal nature may include details about the device you are using, the browser you are using, your IP address, the previous website you visited, whether you clicked on one of our ads, and your browsing behavior.
For further information on how we handle personal information, please see our Privacy Policy.
2. What types of cookies do we use?
With regards to the retention period, a distinction is drawn between temporary cookies (also known as “session cookies”), which are deleted as soon as you close your browser, and permanent cookies, which remain stored even after the terminal device is closed. With regard to their function, cookies are again differentiated between:
Functional cookies: With these cookies, the website is able to provide advanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third parties whose services we use on our websites. If you do not allow these cookies, some or all of these services may not function properly.
Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are required for the website to function and cannot be disabled in your systems. Generally, these cookies are set only in response to actions you take that correspond to a service request, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in, or filling out forms. You can set your browser to block these cookies or to notify you about these cookies. However, some areas of the website will not function if you do so. These cookies do not store any personal data.
Targeting cookies: These cookies may be set by our advertising partners through our website. They may be used by these companies to profile your interests and show you relevant ads on other websites. They do not directly store personal information, but are based on a unique identification of your browser and Internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance cookies: These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our website. They help us answer questions about which pages are the most popular, which are the least used, and how visitors move around the site. All information collected by these cookies is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not be able to know when you visited our website.
3. Legal basis for data processing
We use cookies in accordance with the statutory provisions. Therefore, we obtain prior consent from users, except when it is not required by law. Any use of cookies that is not strictly necessary for the use of this website and its services is only permitted with your express and active consent pursuant to Article 6 (1) sentence 1 lit. a GDPR. This applies in particular to the use of cookies for marketing purposes and functional cookies.
4. The cookies and modifications we use on our website
An overview of all cookies that we use on our website, including the name of the cookie, purpose, host, duration and type can be found in the cookie settings below. There you can also decide which cookies you want to allow and which not. Click on the different category headings to learn more and change the default settings.
In the following, we would like to inform you about further tracking technologies that we use on our website and for which we partly require your consent. Whether consent is required, you can see in the following description of the respective service:
5. Social-Media-Plugins
We currently use the following social-media-plugins: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube, which are only loaded if you have previously activated the function through your consent. Through the plugins, we offer you the opportunity to interact with the social networks and other users. The legal basis for the use of the plug-ins is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR, i.e. the integration only takes place after your consent.
The plugin provider stores the data collected about you as usage profiles and uses them for purposes of advertising, market research and/or demand-oriented design of its website. Such an evaluation is carried out in particular (also for non-logged-in users) for the display of tailored advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles, whereby you must contact the respective plugin provider to exercise this right. The data transfer takes place regardless of whether you have an account with the plugin provider and are logged in there. If you are logged in to the plugin provider, your data collected by us will be directly assigned to your account with the plugin provider. If you click the activated button and, for example, link to the page, the plugin provider also saves this information in your user account and shares it publicly with your contacts. We recommend that you log out regularly after using a social network, but especially before activating the button, as this allows you to avoid an assignment to your profile with the plugin provider.
The information collected is stored on servers of the providers, in the case of international providers also outside Europe. For these cases, the provider has, according to its own information, imposed a standard on itself that corresponds to the former EU-US Privacy Shield and has promised to comply with applicable data protection laws in the international transfer of data. We have also agreed so-called standard data protection clauses with the providers, the purpose of which is to ensure compliance with an appropriate level of data protection in the third country.
The revocation of your consent is possible at any time, without affecting the permissibility of the processing until the revocation. The easiest way to revoke your consent is via our Consent Manager or via the functions of the social media providers.
For more information on the purpose and scope of data collection and processing by the plugin provider, please refer to the privacy policies of these providers below. There you will also receive further information about your rights in this regard and setting options for protecting your privacy.
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies" to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.
If IP anonymization is activated on this website, your IP address will be truncated within the area of the Member States of the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the entire IP address first be transferred to a Google server in the USA and truncated there. IP anonymization is active on this website.
Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
The IP address that your browser transmits as part of Google Analytics will not be associated with any other data by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.
You can also opt-out of tracking by Google Analytics with future effect by downloading and installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add on for your current web browser: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
7. Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager is used on this website. The Google Tag Manager is a solution from Google Inc. that allows companies to manage website tags via an interface.
Tags are small elements of code on our website that are used to, among other things, measure traffic and visitor behavior, track the impact of online advertising and social channels, deploy remarketing and audience targeting, and test and optimize our website.
The Tag Manager tool itself (which implements the tags) is a cookie-less domain and does not collect any personal data. The tool provides for the triggering of other tags, which in turn may collect data. Google Tag Manager does not access this data. If a deactivation has been made at the domain or cookie level, it remains in place for all tracking tags implemented with Google Tag Manager.
8. Google Signals
We use the web analysis service Google Signals. Through Google Signals, Google provides us with reports on cross-device user numbers and different user groups based on different device combinations. For this purpose, Google uses the data of users who have activated the “Personalized advertising” option in their Google account settings. Google Signals can only be used if IP anonymization is activated. Therefore, your IP address will be truncated by Google within the member states of the European Union or in other states that have ratified the Agreement on the European Economic Area prior to its transmission to the United States. This means that no conclusions can be drawn about the identity of an individual user.
You can object to the collection of your data via Google Signals at any time by deactivating “personalized advertising” in your Google account.
9. Adobe Analytics
We use the web analytics service Adobe Analytics to analyze and regularly improve the use of our website and to make it more interesting for you as a user. We perform reach analyses, measure the success of our online marketing measures, and test procedures, for example, to test and optimize different versions of our online offering or its components.
The collected data is stored and analyzed pseudonymously. Cookies are stored on your computer for this analysis. This website uses Adobe Analytics with the settings "Before Geo-Lookup: Replace visitor's last IP octet with 0" and "Obfuscate IP-Removed", which shortens your IP address by the last octet and replaces it with a generic IP address, i.e. one that can no longer be assigned. A personal reference can thus be ruled out. The legal basis for the use of Adobe Analytics is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR.
The information collected in this way is stored on Adobe servers, including in the United States. In these cases, Adobe has stated that it has imposed a standard on itself that corresponds to the former EU-US Privacy Shield and has agreed to comply with applicable data protection laws when transferring data internationally. You may revoke your consent at any time without affecting the permissibility of the processing until revocation. The easiest way to revoke your consent is to use our Consent Manager.
Information about the third party provider: Adobe Systems Software Ireland Limited, Ireland, 4-6 Riverwalk, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, Republic of Ireland; privacy@adobe.com; privacy policy: www.adobe.com/de/privacy/policy.html.
10. OneTrust CMP
We use the OneTrust CMP service of OneTrust LCC (1200 Abernathy Rd NE, Building 600, Atlanta, GA 30328, USA; hereinafter "OneTrust") on our website.
The service is a so-called "cookie management tool" (also called "Consent Management Platform"), which allows us to retrieve your data protection consent to the use of technically unnecessary cookies in a legally compliant manner. For this purpose, you will be shown a so-called "cookie banner" when you access our website for the first time and you will be asked which cookies you wish to allow or not allow. Only after you have given your consent will the corresponding scripts be executed and the selected cookies set.
In order to remember your cookie selection and not to show you a cookie banner again on every subpage of our website, OneTrust itself also uses cookies. For more information on the individual cookies used by OneTrust, please refer to our Cookie Management Tool. For more information about how OneTrust processes your data, please visit: https://www.onetrust.com/privacy-notice/.
