Privacy Policy
1. An overview of data protection
General information
The following information will provide you with an easy to navigate overview of what will happen with your personal data when you visit our website. The term “personal data” comprises all data that can be used to personally identify you. For detailed information about the subject matter of data protection, please consult our Data Protection Declaration, which we have included beneath this copy.
Data recording on our website
Who is the responsible party for the recording of data on this website (i.e. the “controller”)?
The data on this website is processed by the operator of the website, whose contact information is available under section “Information Required by Law” on this website.
How do we record your data?
We collect your data as a result of your sharing of your data with us. This may, for instance be information you enter into our contact form.
Our IT systems automatically record other data when you visit our website. This data comprises primarily technical information (e.g. web browser, operating system or time the site was accessed). This information is recorded automatically when you access our website.
What are the purposes we use your data for?
A portion of the information is generated to guarantee the error free provision of the website. Other data may be used to analyse your user patterns.
What rights do you have as far as your information is concerned?
You have the right to receive information about the source, recipients and purposes of your archived personal data at any time without having to pay a fee for such disclosures. You also have the right to demand that your data are rectified, blocked or eradicated. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time under the address disclosed in section “Information Required by Law” on this website if you have questions about this or any other data protection related issues. You also have the right to log a complaint with the competent supervising agency.
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.”
Analysis tools and tools provided by third parties
Your browsing patterns will be statistically analysed when your visit our website. Such analyses are performed primarily with cookies and with what we refer to as analysis programmes. As a rule, the analyses of your browsing patterns are conducted anonymously; i.e. the browsing patterns cannot be traced back to you. You have the option to object to such analyses or you can prevent their performance by not using certain tools. For detailed information about this, please consult our Data Protection Declaration below.
You do have the option to object to such analyses. We will brief you on the objection options in this Data Protection Declaration.
Storage duration
Unless a more specific storage period has been specified within this privacy policy, your personal data will remain with us until the purpose for data processing no longer applies. If you assert a legitimate request for deletion or revoke your consent to data processing, your data will be deleted unless we have other legally permissible reasons for storing your personal data (e.g. retention periods under tax or commercial law); in the latter case, the data will be deleted once these reasons no longer apply.
2. General information and mandatory information
Data protection
The operators of this website and its pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. Hence, we handle your personal data as confidential information and in compliance with the statutory data protection regulations and this Data Protection Declaration.
Whenever you use this website, a variety of personal information will be collected. Personal data comprises data that can be used to personally identify you. This Data Protection Declaration explains which data we collect as well as the purposes we use this data for. It also explains how, and for which purpose the information is collected.
We herewith advise you that the transmission of data via the Internet (i.e. through e-mail communications) may be prone to security gaps. It is not possible to completely protect data against third party access.
Information required by Law (referred to as the “controller” in the GDPR)
The data processing controller on this website is:
Cyprus Germany Business Association
P.O.Box 27410
1070 Nicosia
Cyprus
Phone: +357 222 72 300
E-mail: christian.gihr@cyprus-germany.com
The controller is the natural person or legal entity that single-handedly or jointly with others makes decisions as to the purposes of and resources for the processing of personal data (e.g. names, e-mail addresses, etc.).
Revocation of your consent to the processing of data
A wide range of data processing transactions are possible only subject to your express consent. You can also revoke at any time any consent you have already given us. To do so, all you are required to do is sent us an informal notification via e-mail. This shall be without prejudice to the lawfulness of any data collection that occurred prior to your revocation.
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.
Right to data portability
You have the right to demand that we hand over any data we automatically process on the basis of your consent or in order to fulfil a contract be handed over to you or a third party in a commonly used, machine readable format. If you should demand the direct transfer of the data to another controller, this will be done only if it is technically feasible.
SSL and/or TLS encryption
For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as purchase orders or inquiries you submit to us as the website operator, this website uses either an SSL or a TLS encryption programme. You can recognise an encrypted connection by checking whether the address line of the browser switches from “http://” to “https://” and also by the appearance of the lock icon in the browser line.
If the SSL or TLS encryption is activated, data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.
Information about, blockage, rectification and eradication of data
Within the scope of the applicable statutory provisions, you have the right to at any time demand information about your archived personal data, their source and recipients as well as the purpose of the processing of your data. You may also have a right to have your data rectified, blocked or eradicated. If you have questions about this subject matter or any other questions about personal data, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time at the address provided in section “Information Required by Law.”
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:
- In the 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 this investigation is ongoing, you have the right to demand that we restrict the processing of your personal data.
- If the 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 in lieu of demanding the eradication of this data.
- If we 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 the restriction of the processing of your personal data instead of its eradication.
- If you have raised an objection pursuant to Art. 21 Sect. 1 GDPR, your rights and our rights will have to be weighed against each other. As long as it has not been determined whose interests prevail, you have the right to demand a restriction 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.
3. Recording of data on our website
Cookies
In some instances, our website and its pages use so-called cookies. Cookies do not cause any damage to your computer and do not contain viruses. The purpose of cookies is to make our website more user friendly, effective and more secure. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer and stored by your browser.
Most of the cookies we use are so-called “session cookies.” They are automatically deleted after your leave our site. Other cookies will remain archived on your device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognise your browser the next time you visit our website.
You can adjust the settings of your browser to make sure that you are notified every time cookies are placed and to enable you to accept cookies only in specific cases or to exclude the acceptance of cookies for specific situations or in general and to activate the automatic deletion of cookies when you close your browser. If you deactivate cookies, the functions of this website may be limited.
Cookies that are required for the performance of the electronic communications transaction or to provide certain functions you want to use , are stored on the basis of Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in storing cookies to ensure the technically error free and optimised provision of the operator’s services. If other cookies (e.g. cookies for the analysis of your browsing patterns) should be stored, they are addressed separately in this Data Protection Declaration.
Server log files
The provider of this website and its pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser communicates to us automatically. The information comprises:
- The type and version of browser used
- The used operating system
- Referrer URL
- The hostname of the accessing computer
- The time of the server inquiry
- The IP address
This data is not merged with other data 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
If you submit inquiries to us via our contact form, the information provided in the contact form as well as any contact information provided therein will be stored by us in order to handle your inquiry and in the event that we have further questions. We will not share this information without your consent.
Hence, the processing of the data entered into the contact form occurs exclusively based on your consent (Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. a GDPR). You have the right to revoke at any time any consent you have already given us. To do so, all you are required to do is sent us an informal notification via e-mail. This shall be without prejudice to the lawfulness of any data collection that occurred prior to your revocation.
The information you have entered into the contact form shall remain with us until you ask us to eradicate the data, revoke your consent to the archiving of data or if the purpose for which the information is being archived no longer exists (e.g. after we have concluded our response to your inquiry). This shall be without prejudice to any mandatory legal provisions – in particular retention periods.
Request by e-mail or telephone
If you contact us by e-mail or telephone 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.
Social media
In case in which you are contacting us on our social media pages (our LinkedIn page or Facebook page);
More information as to the processing of your personal data on our social media pages can be found at:
(i) https://www.facebook.com/policy.php
Facebook Ireland Ltd.
4 Grand Canal Square
Grand Canal Harbour
Dublin 2 Ireland.
(ii) https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy
LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company
Wilton Plaza
Wilton Place, Dublin 2
Ireland
Processing of data (customer and contract data)
We collect, process and use personal data only to the extent necessary for the establishment, content organization or change of the legal relationship (data inventory). These actions are taken on the basis of Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. b GDPR, which permits the processing of data for the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual actions. We collect, process and use personal data concerning the use of our website (usage data) only to the extent that this is necessary to make it possible for users to utilize the services and to bill for them.
The collected customer data shall be eradicated upon completion of the order or the termination of the business relationship. This shall be without prejudice to any statutory retention mandates.
4. Social media
LinkedIn plug-in
Our website uses functions of the LinkedIn network. The provider is LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
Any time you access one of our sites that contains functions of LinkedIn, a connection to LinkedIn’s servers is established. LinkedIn is notified that you have visited our websites with your IP address. If you click on LinkedIn’s “Recommend” button and are logged into your LinkedIn account at the time, LinkedIn will be in a position to allocate your visit to our website to your user account. We have to point out that we as the provider of the websites do not have any knowledge of the content of the transferred data and its use by LinkedIn.
The use of the LinkedIn 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 further information on this subject, please consult LinkedIn’s Data Privacy Declaration at:
https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy.
5. Analysis tools and advertising
Google Analytics
This website uses functions of the web analysis service Google Analytics. The provider of this service is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
Google Analytics uses so-called cookies. Cookies are text files, which are stored on your computer and that enable an analysis of the use of the website by users. The information generated by cookies on your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the United States, where it is stored.
The storage of Google Analytics cookies and the utilization of this analysis tool are based on Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR. The operator of this website has a legitimate interest in the analysis of user patterns to optimize both, the services offered online and the operator’s advertising activities.
IP anonymization
On this website, we have activated the IP anonymization function. As a result, your IP address will be abbreviated by Google within the member states of the European Union or in other states that have ratified the Convention on the European Economic Area prior to its transmission to the United States. The full IP address will be transmitted to one of Google’s servers in the United States and abbreviated there only in exceptional cases. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google shall use this information to analyse your use of this website to generate reports on website activities and to render other services to the operator of this website that are related to the use of the website and the Internet. The IP address transmitted in conjunction with Google Analytics from your browser shall not be merged with other data in Google’s possession.
Browser plug-in
You do have the option to prevent the archiving of cookies by making pertinent changes to the settings of your browser software. However, we have to point out that in this case you may not be able to use all of the functions of this website to their fullest extent. Moreover, you have the option prevent the recording of the data generated by the cookie and affiliated with your use of the website (including your IP address) by Google as well as the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link:
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.
Objection to the recording of data
You have the option to prevent the recording of your data by Google Analytics by clicking on “Cookie settings” link at the bottom on this page. This will result in the placement of an opt out cookie, which prevents the recording of your data during future visits to this website.
For more information about the handling of user data by Google Analytics, please consult Google’s Data Privacy Declaration at:
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.
Contract data processing
We have executed a contract data processing agreement with Google and are implementing the stringent provisions of the European data protection agencies to the fullest when using Google Analytics.
Demographic parameters provided by Google Analytics
This website uses the function “demographic parameters” provided by Google Analytics. It makes it possible to generate reports providing information on the age, gender and interests of website visitors. The sources of this information are interest-related advertising by Google as well as visitor data obtained from third party providers. This data cannot be allocated to a specific individual. You have the option to deactivate this function at any time by making pertinent settings changes for advertising in your Google account or you can generally prohibit the recording of your data by Google Analytics as explained in section “Objection to the recording of data.”
Archiving period
Data on the user or incident level stored by Google linked to cookies, user IDs or advertising IDs (e.g. DoubleClick cookies, Android advertising ID) will be anonymized or deleted after 14 month. For details please click the following link:
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7667196?hl=de
6. Plug-ins and Tools
YouTube with expanded data protection integration
Our website uses plug-ins of the YouTube platform, which is being operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 CherryAve., 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.
Google Web Fonts (local embedding)
This website uses so-called Web Fonts provided by Google to ensure the uniform use of fonts on this site. These Google fonts are locally installed so that a connection to Google’s servers will not be established in conjunction with this application.
Google reCAPTCHA
We use “Google reCAPTCHA” (hereinafter referred to as “reCAPTCHA”) on our websites. The provider is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”).
The purpose of reCAPTCHA is to determine whether data entered on our websites (e.g. information entered into a contact form) is being provided by a human user or by an automated program. To determine this, reCAPTCHA analyses the behaviour of the website visitors based on a variety of parameters. This analysis is triggered automatically as soon as the website visitor enters the site. For this analysis, reCAPTCHA evaluates a variety of data (e.g. IP address, time the website visitor spent on the site or cursor movements initiated by the user). The data tracked during such analyses are forwarded to Google.
reCAPTCHA analyses run entirely in the background. Website visitors are not alerted that an analysis is underway.
The data is processed on the basis of Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR. It is in the website operators legitimate interest, to protect the operator’s web content against misuse by automated industrial espionage systems and against SPAM.
For more information about Google reCAPTCHA and to review the Data Privacy Declaration of Google, please follow these links:
https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=enand
https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/android.html.
7. Audio and video conferencing
Data processing
Among other tools, we use online conferencing tools to communicate with our customers. The tools we use in detail are listed below. If you communicate with us via video or audio conference via the Internet, your personal data will be collected and processed by us and the provider of the respective conference tool.
The conference tools collect all data that you provide/enter to use the tools (e-mail address and/or your telephone number). Furthermore, the conference tools process the duration of the conference, start and end (time) of participation in the conference, number of participants and other “context information” in connection with the communication process (metadata). Furthermore, the provider of the tool processes all technical data required to handle the online communication. This includes in particular IP addresses, MAC addresses, device IDs, device type, operating system type and version, client version, camera type, microphone or speaker, and the type of connection. If content is exchanged, uploaded or otherwise made available within the tool, this is also stored on the servers of the tool providers. Such content includes, in particular, cloud recordings, chat/ instant messages, voicemails uploaded photos and videos, files, whiteboards and other information shared while using the service.
Please note that we do not have full influence on the data processing operations of the tools used. Our options are largely determined by the corporate policy of the respective provider. For further information on data processing by the conference tools, please refer to the privacy policies of the respective tools used, which we have listed below.
Purpose and legal basis
The conference tools are used to communicate with prospective or existing contractual partners or to offer certain services to our customers (Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b GDPR). Furthermore, the use of the tools serves the general simplification and acceleration of communication with us or our company (legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR). Insofar as consent has been requested, the tools in question are used on the basis of this consent; consent can be revoked at any time with effect for the future.
Storage duration
The data collected directly by us via the video and conference tools is deleted from our systems as soon as you request us to delete it, revoke your consent to store it, or the purpose for storing the data no longer applies. Stored cookies remain on your terminal device until you delete them. Mandatory legal retention periods remain unaffected. We have no influence on the storage period of your data, which is stored by the operators of the conference tools for their own purposes. For details, please contact the operators of the conference tools directly.
Conference tools used
We use the following conferencing tools:
Microsoft Teams
The provider is Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA. For details on data processing, see the Microsoft Teams privacy policy:
https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement .
Data Processing Agreement
We have concluded a data processing agreement with the Microsoft Teams provider and fully implement the strict requirements of the EU data protection authorities when using Microsoft Teams.