PRIVACY POLICY

We welcome you to our website and appreciate your interest in our company. To give you a good feeling about the handling of your personal data, we make it transparent for you what happens with the accruing data and which security measures have been taken on our part. Besides, you will be informed about your legally defined rights in connection with the processing of this data.

Data protection information according to GDPR

When accessing our homepage, no personal data is logged or processed on our part. Personal data is only collected if you provide us with this information voluntarily – for example, as part of an inquiry by e-mail, an online application or to initiate a contractual relationship.

Insofar as you have provided us with personal data, we store and use it only to answer your inquiry, to process any contracts concluded with you, and for technical administration.

Your personal data will not be passed on, transferred, or sold to third parties. The transfer of your data to a third country is also excluded.

According to Art 15 of the new European Data Protection Regulation, data subjects have the right to request confirmation free of charge from the controller as to whether personal data in question is being processed.

If this is the case, data subjects have the right to obtain information about the purpose of the processing, the categories of personal data processed, recipients or categories of recipients to whom the personal data have been disclosed, and the planned duration for which personal data will be stored.

Also, data subjects have the right to rectify or erase personal data concerning them or to restrict or object to the processing of their personal data.

Please address all requests for information to the controller:

CEO Bernd Scheurer
Robert-Bosch-Straße 1a
91413 Neustadt/Aisch
Phone.: +49 (0)9161 6239 200
Email: datenschutz@hws-gruppe.de

Furthermore, affected parties have a right of appeal to the competent supervisory authority for data protection.

Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (BayLDA)
Promenade 27
91522 Ansbach
Phone: +49 (0)981 53 1300
Email: poststelle@lda.bayern.de

We take data protection very seriously and have commissioned an external and independent data protection officer to continuously monitor the relevant standards.

Contact details data protection officer:

Dipl.-Kfm. Christian Leopold
Zertifizierter Datenschutzbeauftragter TÜV-SÜD
Oberrimbach 42
96152 Burghaslach
Email: christian.leopold@sallco.de
Phone: +49 (0)174 – 3105460

1. Definitions

The data protection declaration of our company is based on the terms used by the European Directive and Ordinance Maker when issuing the Basic Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our data protection declaration should be easy to read and understand for the public as well as for our customers and business partners. To ensure this, we would like to explain the terminology used in advance.

We use the following terms, among others, in this data protection declaration:

a) personal data

Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter “data subject”). An identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier, or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

b) Data subject

Data subject means any identified or identifiable natural person whose personal data are processed by the controller.

c) Processing

Processing means any operation or set of operations which is performed upon personal data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection, recording, organization, filing, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

d) Restriction of processing

Restriction of processing is the marking of stored personal data to limit their future processing.

e) Profiling

Profiling is any type of automated processing of personal data that consists of using such personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular, to analyze or predict aspects relating to that natural person’s job performance, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location or change of location.

f) Pseudonymization

Pseudonymization is the processing of personal data in such a way that the personal data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept separate and is subject to technical and organizational measures to ensure that the personal data is not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person.

g) Controller or person responsible for the processing

The controller or person responsible for processing is the natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data. Where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its designation may be provided for under Union or Member State law.

h) Processor

Processor means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body that processes personal data on behalf of the Controller.

i) Recipient

Recipient means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body to whom personal data are disclosed, whether or not a third party. However, public authorities that may receive Personal Data in the context of a specific investigative task under Union or Member State law shall not be considered as recipients.

j) Third-Party

Third-party means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body other than the data subject, the controller, the processor, and the persons authorized to process the personal data under the direct responsibility of the controller or the processor.

k) Consent

The consent shall mean any freely given indication of the data subject’s wishes for the specific case in an informed and unambiguous manner, in the form of a statement or any other unambiguous affirmative act, by which the data subject indicates that he or she consents to the processing of personal data relating to him or her.

2. Collection of general data and information

The website of our company collects a series of general data and information with each call-up of the website by a data subject or automated system. This general data and information are stored in the log files of the server. The following data may be collected: (1) the browser types and versions used, (2) the operating system used by the accessing system, (3) the website from which an accessing system accesses our website (the so-called referrer), (4) the sub-websites that are accessed via an accessing system on our website, (5) the date and time of access to the website, (6) an Internet protocol address (IP address), (7) the Internet service provider of the accessing system and (8) other similar data and information that serve to avert danger in the event of attacks on our information technology systems.

When using these general data and information, our enterprise does not draw any conclusions about the data subject. Rather, this information is needed (1) to deliver the contents of our website correctly, (2) to optimize the contents of our website and the advertising for these, (3) to ensure the long-term functionality of our information technology systems and the technology of our website, and (4) to provide law enforcement authorities with the information necessary for prosecution in the event of a cyber attack. Therefore, the anonymously collected data and information is evaluated by our enterprise, on the one hand, statistically and, on the other hand, to increase the data protection and data security of our enterprise to ultimately ensure an optimal level of protection for the personal data we process. The anonymous data of the server log files are stored separately from any personal data provided by a data subject.

3. Contact possibility via the website

Based on statutory provisions, the website of our enterprise contains information that enables a quick electronic contact to our enterprise, as well as direct communication with us, which also includes a general address of the so-called electronic mail (e-mail address). If a data subject contacts the controller by e-mail or by using a contact form, the personal data transmitted by the data subject will be stored automatically. Such personal data transmitted voluntarily by a data subject to the controller will be stored for processing or contacting the data subject. No disclosure of such personal data to third parties will take place.

4. Routine erasure and blocking of personal data

The controller processes and stores personal data of the data subject only for the period of time necessary to achieve the purpose of storage or insofar as this has been provided for by the European Directives and Regulations or other legislators in laws or regulations to which the controller is subject.

If the storage purpose ceases to apply or if a storage period prescribed by the European Directive and Regulation Maker or another competent legislator expires, the personal data will be routinely blocked or deleted per the statutory provisions.

5. Your rights

a) Right to confirmation

Every data subject has the right, granted by the European Directive and Regulation, to obtain confirmation from the controller as to whether personal data concerning him or her are being processed. If a data subject wishes to exercise this right of confirmation, he or she may, at any time, contact our Data Protection Officer or another employee of the controller.

b) Right of access

Any person affected by the processing of personal data has the right granted by the European Directive and Regulation to obtain at any time from the controller, free of charge, information about the personal data stored about him or her and a copy of that information. Also, the European Directive and Regulation Legislator have granted the data subject access to the following information:

the purposes of processing
the categories of personal data processed
the recipients or categories of recipients to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed, in particular in the case of recipients in third countries or international organizations
if possible, the planned duration for which the personal data will be stored or, if this is not possible, the criteria for determining this duration
the existence of a right to obtain the rectification or erasure of personal data concerning him or her, or to obtain the restriction of processing by the controller, or a right to object to such processing
the existence of a right of appeal to a supervisory authority
if the personal data are not collected from the data subject: Any available information about the origin of the data
The existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, according to Article 22(1) and (4) of the GDPR and, at least in these cases, meaningful information about the logic involved and the scope and intended effects of such processing for the data subject.

Furthermore, the data subject shall have the right to obtain information as to whether personal data have been transferred to a third country or an international organization. If this is the case, the data subject also has the right to obtain information about the appropriate safeguards in connection with the transfer.
If a data subject wishes to exercise this right of access, he or she may, at any time, contact our data protection officer or another employee of the controller.

c) Right to rectification

Every data subject affected by the processing of personal data has the right granted by the European Directive and Regulation to request the immediate rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning him or her. Furthermore, the data subject has the right to request the completion of incomplete personal data – also using a supplementary declaration – taking into account the purposes of the processing.
If a data subject wishes to exercise this right to rectify, he or she may, at any time, contact our data protection officer or another employee of the controller.

d) Right to erasure (Right to be forgotten)

Any person concerned by the processing of personal data has the right granted by the European Directive and Regulation to obtain from the controller the erasure without delay of personal data concerning him or her, where one of the following grounds applies and insofar as the processing is no longer necessary:

The personal data were collected or otherwise processed for such purposes for which they are no longer necessary.
The data subject revokes his or her consent on which the processing was based under Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR or Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR and there is no other legal basis for the processing.
The data subject objects to the processing according to Article 21(1) GDPR and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing or the data subject objects to the processing according to Article 21(2) GDPR.
The personal data have been processed unlawfully.
The erasure of the personal data is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation under Union or Member State law to which the controller is subject.
The personal data have been collected concerning information society services offered according to Article 8(1) GDPR.

If one of the aforementioned reasons applies, and a data subject wishes to arrange for the erasure of personal data stored by our enterprise, he or she may, at any time, contact our Data Protection Officer or another employee of the controller. The data protection officer of our enterprise or another employee will arrange for the erasure request to be complied with immediately.

If the personal data of our company have been made public and our company as a data controller is obliged to erase the personal data according to Article 17 (1) of the Data Protection Regulation, our company shall implement reasonable measures, including technical measures, taking into account the available technology and the cost of implementation, to inform other data controllers which process the published personal data, that the data subject has requested from those other data controllers the erasure of all links to the personal data or copies or replications of the personal data, unless the processing is necessary. The Data Protection Officer of our enterprise or another employee will arrange the necessary in individual cases.

e) Right to restriction of processing

Any person affected by the processing of personal data has the right, granted by the European Directive and Regulation-maker, to request the controller to restrict the processing if one of the following conditions is met:

The accuracy of the personal data is contested by the data subject for a period enabling the controller to verify the accuracy of the personal data.
The processing is unlawful, the data subject objects to the erasure of the personal data and requests instead of the restriction of the use of the personal data.
The controller no longer needs the personal data for the processing, but the data subject needs it for the assertion, exercise, or defense of legal claims.
The data subject has objected to the processing according to Article 21 (1) of the GDPR and it is not yet clear whether the legitimate grounds of the controller override those of the data subject.

If one of the aforementioned conditions is met, and a data subject wishes to request the restriction of personal data stored by our enterprise, he or she may, at any time, contact our Data Protection Officer or another employee of the controller. The data protection officer of our enterprise or another employee will arrange the restriction of the processing.

f) Right to data portability

Any person affected by the processing of personal data has the right granted by the European Directive and Regulation to receive the personal data concerning him or her, which have been provided by the data subject to a controller, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format. He or she also has the right to transmit such data to another controller without hindrance from the controller to whom the personal data have been provided, provided that the processing is based on consent according to Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR or Article 9(2)(a) of the GDPR or on a contract according to Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR and the processing is carried out by automated means unless the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.
Furthermore, when exercising the right to data portability according to Article 20(1) of the GDPR, the data subject shall have the right to obtain that the personal data be transferred directly from one controller to another controller where technically feasible and provided that this does not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of other individuals.
To assert the right to data portability, the data subject may at any time contact the data protection officer appointed by our enterprise or another employee.

g) Right to object

Any person affected by the processing of personal data has the right granted by the European Directive and Regulation to object at any time, on grounds relating to his or her particular situation, to the processing of personal data concerning him or her carried out based on Article 6(1)(e) or (f) of the GDPR. This also applies to profiling based on these provisions.

Our company shall no longer process the personal data in the event of the objection unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests, rights, and freedoms of the data subject, or for the assertion, exercise, or defense of legal claims. If our enterprise processes personal data for direct marketing, the data subject shall have the right to object at any time to the processing of personal data processed for such marketing. This also applies to profiling, insofar as it is related to such direct marketing. If the data subject objects to our company to the processing for direct marketing purposes, our company will no longer process the personal data for these purposes.

Besides, the data subject has the right, on grounds relating to his or her particular situation, to object to the processing of personal data concerning him or her which is carried out by our enterprise for scientific or historical research purposes, or statistical purposes according to Article 89(1) of the Data Protection Regulation, unless such processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.

To exercise the right to object, the data subject may directly contact the Data Protection Officer of our enterprise or another employee. The data subject is also free, in connection with the use of information society services, notwithstanding Directive 2002/58/EC, to exercise his/her right to object employing automated procedures using technical specifications.

i) Right to withdraw consent under data protection law.

Any data subject concerned by the processing of personal data has the right, granted by the European Directive and Regulation-maker, to withdraw consent to the processing of personal data at any time.
If the data subject wishes to exercise the right to withdraw the consent, he or she may, at any time, contact our Data Protection Officer or another employee of the controller.

6. Data protection for applications and in the application process

The controller collects and processes the personal data of applicants to handle the application procedure. The processing may also take place electronically. This is particularly the case if an applicant submits relevant application documents to the controller by electronic means, for example by e-mail or via a web form located on the website. If the controller concludes an employment contract with an applicant, the transmitted data will be stored to process the employment relationship in compliance with the statutory provisions. If the controller does not conclude an employment contract with the applicant, the application documents will be automatically deleted two months after notification of the rejection decision, provided that no other legitimate interests of the controller conflict with such deletion. Another legitimate interest in this sense is, for example, a duty to provide evidence in proceedings under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG).

7. Legal basis of the processing

Article 6 I lit. a GDPR serves our company as the legal basis for processing operations in which we obtain consent for a specific processing purpose. If the processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party, as is the case, for example, with processing operations that are necessary for the delivery of goods or the provision of another service or consideration, the processing is based on Art. 6 I lit. b GDPR. The same applies to such processing operations that are necessary for the implementation of pre-contractual measures, for example in cases of inquiries about our products or services. If our company is subject to a legal obligation by which processing of personal data becomes necessary, such as for the fulfillment of tax obligations, the processing is based on Art. 6 I lit. c GDPR. In rare cases, the processing of personal data might become necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject or another natural person. This would be the case, for example, if a visitor were to be injured on our premises and as a result, his or her name, age, health insurance data, or other vital information had to be passed on to a doctor, hospital, or other third-parties. Then the processing would be based on Art. 6 I lit. d GDPR. Finally, processing operations could be based on Art. 6 I lit. f GDPR. Processing operations that are not covered by any of the aforementioned legal bases are based on this legal basis if the processing is necessary to protect a legitimate interest of our company or a third party, provided that the interests, fundamental rights, and freedoms of the data subject are not overridden. Such processing operations are permitted to us in particular because they were specifically mentioned by the European legislator. In this respect, it took the view that a legitimate interest could be assumed if the data subject is a customer of the controller (Recital 47, Sentence 2 GDPR).

8.Legitimate interests in the processing pursued by the controller or a third party.

If the processing of personal data is based on Article 6 I lit. f GDPR, our legitimate interest in the conduct of our business for the benefit of the well-being of all our employees and our shareholders.

9. duration for which the personal data are stored.

The criterion for the duration of the storage of personal data is the respective statutory retention period. After the expiry of the period, the corresponding data is routinely deleted, provided that it is no longer required for the fulfillment or initiation of the contract.

10. Legal or contractual requirements to provide the personal data; the necessity for the conclusion of the contract; obligation of the data subject to provide the personal data; possible consequences of non-provision

We would like to inform you that the provision of personal data is partly required by law (e.g. tax regulations) or may also result from contractual regulations (e.g. information on the contractual partner). Sometimes, to conclude a contract, it may be necessary for a data subject to provide us with personal data that must subsequently be processed by us. For example, the data subject is obliged to provide us with personal data if our company concludes a contract with him or her. Failure to provide the personal data would mean that the contract with the data subject could not be concluded. Before providing personal data by the data subject, the data subject must contact our data protection officer. Our data protection officer will inform the data subject on a case-by-case basis whether the provision of the personal data is required by law or contract or is necessary for the conclusion of the contract, whether there is an obligation to provide the personal data, and what the consequences of not providing the personal data would be.

11. Contact form

If you send us inquiries via the contact form, your data from the inquiry form including the contact data you provided there will be stored by us for the purpose of processing the inquiry and in case of follow-up questions. We do not pass on this data without your consent. For the processing and storage of the data provided when contacting us, we rely on the CRM system Hubspot, which processes and stores the data on servers within the European Union. The operator of the system is HubSpot, Inc, 25 First Street, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA. For more information on data storage as well as the order processing agreement, please visit https://legal.hubspot.com/terms-of-service as well as https://legal.hubspot.com/dpa.

The storage of the collected data is used for contacting you and further processing your request. Your above-mentioned rights remain unaffected.

12. SSL Encryption

This site uses SSL encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as requests that you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from “http://” to “https://” and by the lock symbol in your browser line. If SSL encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

13. Server log files

The provider of the pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:

browser type and browser version
Operating system used
referrer URL
The hostname of the accessing computer
Time of the server request

This data cannot be assigned to specific persons. A combination of this data with other data sources is not made. We reserve the right to check this data retrospectively if we become aware of concrete indications of illegal use.

14. Analysis tools and tools from third parties

When visiting our website, your surfing behavior may be statistically analyzed. This is done primarily with cookies and with so-called analysis programs. The analysis of your surfing behavior is usually anonymous; the surfing behavior cannot be traced back to you. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools.

14.1 Cookies

The Internet pages partly use so-called cookies. Cookies do not cause any damage to your computer and do not contain viruses. Cookies are text files that are stored on a computer system via an Internet browser. Cookies serve to make our offer more user-friendly, more effective, and safer. 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 the end of your visit. Other cookies remain stored on your terminal device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognize your browser on your next visit.

Numerous Internet pages and servers use cookies. Many cookies contain a so-called cookie ID. A cookie ID is a unique identifier of the cookie. It consists of a string of characters by which Internet pages and servers can be assigned to the specific Internet browser in which the cookie was stored. This enables the visited Internet pages and servers to distinguish the individual browser of the data subject from other Internet browsers that contain other cookies. A specific Internet browser can be recognized and identified via the unique cookie ID.

Using a cookie, the information and offers on our website can be optimized in terms of the user. Cookies enable us, as already mentioned, to recognize the users of our website. The purpose of this recognition is to make it easier for users to use our website. For example, the user of a website that uses cookies does not have to re-enter his or her access data each time he or she visits the website, because this is handled by the website and the cookie stored on the user’s computer system. Another example is the cookie of a shopping cart in an online store. The online store remembers the items that a customer has placed in the virtual shopping cart via a cookie.

The data subject can prevent the setting of cookies by our website at any time utilizing an appropriate setting of the Internet browser used and thus permanently object to the setting of cookies. Furthermore, cookies that have already been set can be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all common Internet browsers. If the data subject deactivates the setting of cookies in the Internet browser used, not all functions of our website may be fully usable. Also, at the beginning of your visit, we allow you to object to the use of all non-functional cookies. Excluded from this are so-called functional cookies, which do not serve the analysis, but the functionality of the website.

14.2 Data protection provisions about the application and use of Google Analytics (with anonymization function)

Google Analytics

If you have given your consent, Google Analytics 4, a web analysis service of Google LLC, is used on this website. The controller for users in the EU/EEA and Switzerland is Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland (“Google”).

Type and purpose of processing

Google Analytics uses cookies that enable your use of our website to be analyzed. The information collected by the cookies about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. We use the User ID function. With the help of the user ID, we can assign a unique, permanent ID to one or more sessions (and the activities within these sessions) and analyze user behavior across devices.

As an extension of Google Analytics (4), this website uses the Google Signals service.
With Google Signals, we can have cross-device reports created by Google
(so-called “cross-device tracking”). If you have activated “personalized ads” in your Google account settings and linked your internet-enabled devices to your Google account, Google can analyze usage behavior across devices and create database models based on this if you have given your consent to the use of Google Analytics (4) in accordance with Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. a DSGVO.
This takes into account the logins and device types of all website users who were logged into a Google account and carried out a conversion. The data shows, among other things, on which device you clicked on an ad for the first time and on which device the relevant conversion took place. We only receive statistics generated on the basis of Google Signals and no personal data of the website user from Google.
You have the option of deactivating the “personalized ads” function in the settings
your Google account and thus deactivate the cross-device analysis in connection with Google Signals.
in connection with Google Signals. To do this, follow the instructions on this page: https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662922?hl=de

Further information on Google Signals can be found at the following link:
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7532985?hl=de

For the use of Google Analytics (4) in connection with the Google Signals extension, we have concluded a so-called order processing contract (AVV) with Google, which obliges Google to protect the data of our website users and not to pass it on to third parties.

In Google Analytics 4, the anonymization of IP addresses is activated by default. Due to IP anonymization, your IP address will be shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and truncated there. According to Google, the IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data. During your visit to the website, your user behavior is recorded in the form of “events”.

Events can be

Page views
First visit to the website
Start of the session
Visited web pages
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 queries
Interaction with videos
file downloads
Viewed / clicked ads
language setting

Also recorded:

Your approximate location (region)
Date and time of your visit
Your IP address (in abbreviated form)
Technical information about your browser and the end devices you use
devices you use (e.g. language setting, screen resolution)
your internet provider
the referrer URL (via which website/advertising medium you came to this website)

Purposes of the processing

On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website and to compile reports on website activity. The reports provided by Google Analytics are used to analyze the performance of our website and the success of our marketing campaigns.

Recipients of the data are/may be

Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (as processor pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR)
Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
Alphabet Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
Third country transfer

For the USA, the European Commission adopted its adequacy decision on July 10, 2023. Google LLC is certified under the EU-US Privacy Framework. Since Google servers are distributed worldwide and a transfer to third countries (for example to Singapore) cannot be completely ruled out, we have also concluded the EU standard contractual clauses with the provider.

Storage duration

The data sent by us and linked to cookies is automatically deleted after 14 months. The maximum lifespan of Google Analytics cookies is 2 years. Data whose retention period has been reached is automatically deleted once a month.

Legal basis

The legal basis for this data processing is your consent in accordance with Art.6 Abs.1 S.1 lit.a DSGVO and § 25 Abs. 1 S.1 TTDSG.

Revocation of consent

You can withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by accessing the cookie settings HERE and changing your selection there. This does not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent until revocation.
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, this may restrict the functionality of this and other websites. You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) and from processing this data by Google by
a. Not giving your consent to the setting of the cookie or
b. downloading and installing the browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics HERE.

You can find more information on the terms of use of Google Analytics and on data protection at Google at https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/de/ and at https://policies.google.com/?hl=de.

14.3 Use of Google Ads for advertising purposes

For advertising purposes and to optimally place the homepage in search results, the operator of the website uses the Google service “Google Ads” (formerly Google AdWords). The operator of this service is Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, Barrow St, Dublin 4, Ireland (hereinafter referred to as “Google”).

With the help of the analysis tools of Google Ads as well as Google Analytics, the success of individual advertising measures can be checked. These advertisements are delivered by Google via so-called “AdServers”. For this purpose, Google uses so-called AdServer cookies, which can be used to measure certain parameters for measuring success, such as the display of ads or clicks by users.

When you access our website via a Google ad, Google Ads stores a cookie on your PC. These cookies usually lose their validity after 30 days. They are not intended to identify you personally. The following information is usually stored as analysis values for this cookie: unique cookie ID, number of ad impressions per placement (frequency), last impression (relevant for post-view conversions), opt-out information (marking that the user no longer wishes to be addressed). These cookies enable Google to recognize your web browser. If a user visits certain pages of an Ads customer’s website and the cookie stored on their computer has not yet expired, Google and the customer can recognize that the user clicked on the ad and was redirected to that page. A different cookie is assigned to each Ads customer. Cookies can therefore not be tracked across Ads customers’ websites. We ourselves do not collect or process any personal data in the aforementioned advertising measures. Google only provides us with statistical evaluations. Based on these evaluations, we can see which of the advertising measures used are particularly effective. We do not receive any further data from the use of the advertising tools; in particular, we cannot identify users based on this information. Due to the marketing tools used, your browser automatically establishes a direct connection with Google’s server. We do not influence the scope and further use of the data collected by Google through the use of Google Ads. According to our knowledge, Google receives the information that you have called up the relevant part of our website or clicked on an ad from us. If you have a user account with Google and are registered, Google can assign the visit to your user account. Even if you are not registered with Google or have not logged in, there is a possibility that Google learns your IP address and stores it.

We use Google Ads for marketing and optimization purposes, in particular, to display ads that are relevant and interesting to you, to improve campaign performance reports, and to achieve a fair calculation of advertising costs. This is also our legitimate interest in the processing of the above data by the third-party provider. The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f) GDPR.

You can prevent the installation of cookies by deleting existing cookies and deactivating the storage of cookies in the settings of your web browser. We point out that in this case, you may not be able to use all features of our website in full. It is also possible to prevent the storage of cookies by setting your web browser to block cookies from the domain “www.googleadservices.com” (https://www.google.de/settings/ads). We would like to point out that this setting will be deleted when you delete your cookies. Also, you can deactivate interest-based ads via the link http://optout.aboutads.info. We would like to point out that this setting will also be deleted when you delete your cookies.

For further information on data usage by Google, on setting and objection options, and data protection, please refer to the following Google web pages (data protection declaration: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de&gl=de; Google website statistics: https://services.google.com/sitestats/de.html).

14.4 Use of the LinkedIn Insight tag to measure the success of LinkedIn advertising measures

For marketing and advertising purposes, we rely on paid advertising on the social media platform LinkedIn. In order to better measure the success resulting from our measures, we use the so-called LinkedIn Insight tag on our homepage.

Further information on the use of personal data on our social media channels can also be found at r hws-gruppe.de/pflichtangaben-impressum-und-datenschutz.

For further information on data use by LinkedIn, on setting and objection options, and on data protection, please refer to the following website https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy?trk=lithograph_footer-privacy-policy.
15. Links to other providers

Our website also contains – clearly recognizable – links to the websites of other companies. However, we do not assume any responsibility for the contents and data protection/data security concepts of these websites.

16. Security principles

To protect the data of our employees/customers/suppliers stored by us from accidental or intentional manipulation, loss, destruction, or access by unauthorized persons, we have taken appropriate technical and organizational measures. The security levels are continuously reviewed in cooperation with security experts and adapted to new security standards.

17. Objection against advertising mails

We hereby object to the use of contact data published within the framework of the imprint obligation to send advertising and information material that has not been expressly requested. The operators of the pages expressly reserve the right to take legal action in the event of the unsolicited sending of advertising information, such as spam e-mails.

18. Our Social Media Presence

As part of the HWS Group, HWS Informationssysteme GmbH operates several social media presences in connection with HWS Zentrale Dienste und Service GmbH with the operators of the respective platforms on various platforms. More precisely, these are the following presences:

The LinkedIn group presence of HWS Informationssysteme GmbH https://www.linkedin.com/company/5636813/ as well as the showcase page for our DoubleClue product at https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/42683254/.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hwsgruppenea
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hws_gruppe/
Youtube channel of HWS Informationssysteme GmbH at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSUhN0AlIh5CTn-OXiyibPw

The supplementary data protection guidelines that apply to our social media presence can be found at hws-gruppe.de/pflichtangaben-impressum-und-datenschutz broken down for the respective platforms. The same data protection principles apply to data processing by us as listed here.

19. Changes to our data protection information

We reserve the right to adapt the data protection notice so that it always complies with the current legal requirements or to implement changes to our services in the data protection notice, e.g. when introducing new services. The new privacy policy will then apply to your next visit.