The new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will apply from 25 May 2018. This ensures greater transparency in the processing, use, retention and deletion of your personal data.

The new basic EU data protection regulation (EU-DSGVO) will apply from 25 May 2018, which ensures greater transparency in the processing, use, storage and deletion of your personal data.

1 Data protection declaration

1. general

The protection of your personal data is very important to us. Therefore, we would like to inform you here about the use of cookies, analysis tools and the handling of your personal data.

Personal data is all information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. The data of legal persons do not fall under the concept of personal data.

We only collect personal data if you have provided it to us. Any further use, in particular passing on to third parties, will only take place if you have authorised us to do so.

2. collection and use of your data

You can use our website without submitting any personal data.

Personal data are processed, however, when you send us a message via our contact form or by sending an e-mail to us or our employees. The information collected in the contact form (name, company, telephone, e-mail, etc.) and data that we receive through your e-mail to us and the content of your message, we use only to answer your inquiry. The lawfulness of the processing of your personal data in e-mails (e.g. your e-mail address) which you send to us follows from Art. 6 para. 1 letter f) DS-GMO. The standard allows the processing of personal data in order to safeguard the legitimate interests of the data controller, unless the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject, which require the protection of personal data, prevail. Since this association is one that is perceived by the public, it is important for us to be accessible by e-mail to outsiders. Your e-mails and the data transmitted with them do not leave our e-mail program. The data we receive by e-mail and the content of the messages we use only to answer your request. The data is only stored until the end of processing. The information is then deleted.

If the processing of your data is necessary for the fulfilment of a contract to which you are a contracting party (e.g. when participating in the system of the BIO-Initiatibve) or for the implementation of pre-contractual measures, the processing of personal data is permissible without the consent of the data subject pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 letter b) DS-GMO. Even in this case, we will only store your data for as long as this is necessary to process the contract and with regard to possible warranty obligations. Please note that the participant contracts are perpetual obligations designed to last many years. If personal data are processed to fulfil a contract or to carry out pre-contractual measures, we generally delete them after expiry of the regular limitation period of three years within the meaning of § 195 BGB (German Civil Code) upon termination of the contract. As a rule, the regular limitation period begins in accordance with the provisions of § 199 (1) BGB at the end of the year in which the claim arises and the creditor becomes aware of the circumstances giving rise to the claim and the person of the debtor or would have become aware of it without gross negligence.

If we are legally obliged to store or retain your data (e.g. in the case of business and commercial letters), it will be stored for a longer period of up to 10 years.

3. server log files

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

 Browser type and browser

 version of operating system used

 referrer URL

 Host name of the accessing computer

 Time of the server request

 IP address

This data is not merged with other external data sources and is deleted after three months. An assignment to identifiable persons is not possible. The basis for data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 letter f) DS-GMO, as a legitimate interest allows the processing of data for the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures.

4 Cookies

Our website uses so-called "cookies". These are text files that are stored on your device as well as on your computer. Some of the cookies we use are deleted after the end of the browser session, i.e. after closing your browser (so-called session cookies). Other cookies remain on your terminal and enable us or our partner companies to recognize your browser on your next visit (persistent cookies).

When you visit our website for the first time, we inform you that we use cookies and that you agree to this use of our website, namely through your conclusive behaviour. The use of cookies is legal according to Art. 6 para. 1 letter a) DS-GMO.

Furthermore, you can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and decide individually whether to accept them or to exclude the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or in general.

4.1 Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. "("Google"), 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

However, due to the activation of IP anonymisation on this website, your IP address will previously be reduced by Google within member states of the European Union or in other signatory states to 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 shortened there. IP anonymization is active on this website. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide the website operator with other services relating to website and Internet use.

The IP address transmitted by your browser in the context of Google Analytics is not merged with other Google data. 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 generally 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 downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en

Objection to data collection

You can object to the collection of your data by Google Analytics. By deactivating this option, you prevent future collection of your data by Google Analytics on this website. If you delete the cookies in your browser, this means that the opt-out cookie is also deleted and may have to be activated again by you.

Google Privacy Policy

For more information on how we handle your user data, please see Google's privacy policy.

4.2 Google Fonts

For uniform representation of fonts we use the internet service Google Fonts. Google Fonts is operated by Google Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Your browser stores the required fonts in your browser cache. To do this, your browser must connect to the Google Web Fonts servers. For more information about Google Fonts, please visit https://www.developers.google.com/fonts/faq and read Google's privacy statement.

4.3 Simultaneous use of a Google Account

If you use a Google Account when you visit our site, it allows Google to associate your visit to our home page with other information that you share with your Google Account. 

generate. According to Google Web Fonts, when you sign in to other Google services using Google Web Fonts, this data is not linked either.

5 Your rights: information, correction, deletion, restriction

We only process the personal data that we receive from you. The provision of your data is not required by law, but may be regulated in our contracts with you. If you do not provide data although you are contractually bound to do so, you may not comply with your contractual obligations.

You have the right to free information about your stored personal data as well as a right to correction, deletion, restriction of processing or objection to processing and a right to data transferability at any time, provided that the respective data protection requirements are met.

At the same time, you have the right to file a complaint with the supervisory authority responsible for us. 

That's the one: Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kavalleriestr. 2-4, 40213 Düsseldorf, Phone: 0211/38424-0, Fax: 0211/38424-10, E-Mail: poststelle@ldi.nrw.de, Internet: https://www.ldi.nrw.de

If you have given us your consent for a certain data processing, you can revoke this at any time. Through your revocation, the processing that has been carried out on the basis of your consent until revocation remains lawful.

If you have any further questions regarding our privacy policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.