Terms & Conditions

Foreword

We, the Alfred Toepfer Foundation F.V.S (hereinafter: "the Foundation", "we" or "us") take the protection of your personal data seriously and would like to inform you at this point about data protection in our company.

We are subject to certain obligations within the scope of our responsibility under data protection law in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679; hereinafter: "DS-GVO") in order to ensure the protection of personal data of the person affected by a processing operation (we also address you as a data subject hereinafter with "customer", "user", "you", "you" or "data subject").

Insofar as we decide either alone or jointly with others on the purposes and means of data processing, this includes above all the obligation to inform you transparently about the nature, scope, purpose, duration and legal basis of the processing (cf. Articles 13 and 14 DS-GVO). With this statement (hereinafter: "Privacy Notice"), we inform you about the manner in which your personal data is processed by us.

Our data protection notices have a modular structure. They consist of a general part for any processing of personal data and processing situations that come into play each time a website is called up (A. General) and a special part, the content of which relates in each case only to the processing situation specified there with designation of the respective offer or product, in particular the visit to websites as detailed here (B. Visit to websites).

A. General

(1) Definitions

Following the model of Art. 4 DS-GVO, this data protection notice is based on the following definitions:

  • "Personal data" (Art. 4 No. 1 DS-GVO) means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person ("data subject"). An individual is identifiable if he or she can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, an online identifier, location data or by means of information relating to his or her physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity characteristics. The identifiability can also be given by means of a linkage of such information or other additional knowledge. The origin, form or embodiment of the information is irrelevant (photographs, video or sound recordings may also contain personal data).

  • "Processing" (Art. 4 No. 2 GDPR) means any operation which involves the handling of personal data, whether or not by automated (i.e. technology-based) means. This includes, in particular, the collection (i.e., acquisition), recording, organization, arrangement, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment, combination, restriction, erasure or destruction of personal data, as well as the change of a purpose or intended purpose on which a data processing was originally based.

  • "Controller" (Art. 4 No. 7 DS-GVO) means 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.

  • "Third party" (Art. 4 No. 10 DS-GVO) means any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body other than the data subject, the controller, the processor and the persons who, under the direct responsibility of the controller or processor, are authorized to process the personal data; this also includes other group-affiliated legal entities.

  • "Processor" (Art. 4 No. 8 DS-GVO) is a natural or legal person, authority, institution or other body that processes personal data on behalf of the controller, in particular in accordance with the controller's instructions (e.g. IT service provider). In terms of data protection law, a processor is in particular not a third party.

  • "Consent" (Art. 4 No. 11 DS-GVO) of the data subject means any freely given indication of his or her wishes in an informed and unambiguous manner, in the form of a statement or any other unambiguous affirmative act by which the data subject signifies his or her agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her.

(2) Name and address of the controller.

The controller of your personal data within the meaning of Article 4 No. 7 DS-GVO is us:

Alfred Toepfer Foundation F.V.S.

Georgsplatz 10

20099 Hamburg

040 / 33 402 - 10

040 / 33 58 60

meyer@toepfer-stiftung.de

For further information on our foundation, please refer to the imprint details on our website https://www.toepfer-stiftung.de/impressum.

(3) Legal basis for data processing

In principle, any processing of personal data is prohibited by law and only permitted if the data processing falls under one of the following justifications:

  • Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. a DS-GVO ("consent"): If the data subject has voluntarily, in an informed manner and unambiguously indicated by a statement or other unambiguous confirmatory act that he or she consents to the processing of personal data relating to him or her for one or more specific purposes;

  • Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. b DS-GVO: If the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party or for the performance of pre-contractual measures taken at the data subject's request;

  • Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. c DS-GVO: If the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject (e.g., a legal obligation to keep records);

  • Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. d DS-GVO: If the processing is necessary to protect vital interests of the data subject or another natural person;

  • Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. e DS-GVO: If the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller; or

  • Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. f DS-GVO ("Legitimate Interests"): If the processing is necessary to protect legitimate (in particular legal or economic) interests of the controller or a third party, unless the conflicting interests or rights of the data subject override (in particular if the data subject is a minor).

For the processing operations carried out by us, we indicate below the applicable legal basis in each case. A processing operation may also be based on several legal bases.

(4) Data deletion and storage period

For the processing operations carried out by us, we indicate below in each case how long the data will be stored by us and when it will be deleted or blocked. If no explicit storage period is specified below, your personal data will be deleted or blocked as soon as the purpose or legal basis for the storage no longer applies. In principle, your data will only be stored on our servers in Germany, subject to any transfer that may take place in accordance with the regulations in A.(6) and A.(7).

However, storage may take place beyond the specified time in the event of a (threatened) legal dispute with you or other legal proceedings, or if storage is required by legal regulations to which we are subject as the responsible party (e.g. § 257 HGB, § 147 AO). If the storage period prescribed by the legal regulations expires, the personal data will be blocked or deleted unless further storage by us is necessary and there is a legal basis for this.

(5) Data security

We use appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against unauthorized access by third parties, taking into account the state of the art, implementation costs and the nature, scope, context and purpose of the processing, as well as the existing risks of a data breach (including its probability and impact) for the data subject. Our security measures are continuously improved in line with technological developments.

We will be happy to provide you with more detailed information on this upon request.

(6) Cooperation with processors

As is the case with every foundation or larger company, we also use external domestic and foreign service providers to process our business transactions (e.g., for the areas of IT, telecommunications, marketing). These service providers only act on our instructions and have been contractually obligated to comply with data protection regulations within the meaning of Art. 28 DS-GVO.

(7) Conditions for the transfer of personal data to third countries.

In the course of our business relationships and activities, your personal data may be transferred or disclosed to third party companies. These may also be located outside the European Economic Area (EEA), i.e. in third countries. Such processing is carried out solely for the purpose of fulfilling contractual and business obligations and maintaining your relationship with us. We will inform you about the respective details of the transfer in the relevant places below.

Some third countries are certified by the European Commission through so-called adequacy decisions to have data protection comparable to the EEA standard (a list of these countries as well as a copy of the adequacy decisions can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/international-transfers/adequacy/index_en.html). However, in other third countries to which personal data may be transferred, there may not be a consistently high level of data protection due to a lack of legal provisions. If this is the case, we ensure that data protection is adequately guaranteed. This is possible via binding company regulations, standard contractual clauses of the European Commission for the protection of personal data, certificates or recognized codes of conduct. Please contact us at the contact details provided if you would like more information on this.

(8) No automated decision making (including profiling).

We do not intend to use any personal data collected from you for any automated decision making process (including profiling).

(9) No obligation to provide personal data.

We do not make the conclusion of contracts with us dependent on you providing us with personal data in advance. For you as a customer, there is in principle also no legal or contractual obligation to provide us with your personal data; however, it may be that we can only provide certain offers to a limited extent or not at all if you do not provide the data required for this. If this should exceptionally be the case in the context of the products we offer presented below, you will be informed of this separately.

(10) Legal obligation to transfer certain data

We may, under certain circumstances, be subject to a specific legal or statutory obligation to provide lawfully processed personal data to third parties, in particular public bodies (Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. c DS-GVO).

(11) Your rights

You may assert your rights as a data subject regarding your processed personal data at any time by contacting us using the contact details provided at the beginning of A.(2). As a data subject, you have the right

  • to request information about your data processed by us in accordance with Art. 15 DS-GVO. In particular, you can request information about the processing purposes, the category of data, the categories of recipients to whom your data has been or will be disclosed, the planned storage period, the existence of a right to rectification, erasure, restriction of processing or objection, the existence of a right of complaint, the origin of your data if it has not been collected by us, as well as the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, and, if applicable, meaningful information about its details;

  • in accordance with Art. 16 DS-GVO, to demand the correction of incorrect data or the completion of your data stored by us without delay;

  • pursuant to Art. 17 DS-GVO, to request the deletion of your data stored by us, unless the processing is necessary for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest or for the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims;

  • pursuant to Art. 18 DS-GVO, to request the restriction of the processing of your data, insofar as the accuracy of the data is disputed by you or the processing is unlawful;

  • pursuant to Art. 20 DS-GVO, to receive your data that you have provided to us in a structured, common and machine-readable format or to request the transfer to another controller ("data portability");

  • object to the processing in accordance with Art. 21 DS-GVO, provided that the processing is based on Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. e or lit. f DS-GVO. This is particularly the case if the processing is not necessary for the performance of a contract with you. Unless it is an objection to direct marketing, when exercising such an objection, we ask you to explain the reasons why we should not process your data as we have done. In the event of your justified objection, we will examine the merits of the case and either discontinue or adjust the data processing or show you our compelling legitimate grounds on the basis of which we will continue the processing;

  • in accordance with Art. 7 (3) DS-GVO, to revoke your consent given once (also before the applicability of the DS-GVO, i.e. before 25.5.2018) - i.e. your voluntary will, made understandable in an informed manner and unambiguously by a declaration or other unambiguous confirming act, that you agree to the processing of the personal data in question for one or more specific purposes - at any time vis-à-vis us, if you have given such consent. This has the consequence that we may no longer continue the data processing based on this consent for the future and

  • complain to a data protection supervisory authority about the processing of your personal data in our foundation in accordance with Art. 77 DS-GVO, such as the data protection supervisory authority responsible for us: The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Kurt-Schumacher-Allee 4, 20097 Hamburg, phone: 040 / 428 54 - 4040, fax: 040 / 428 54 - 4000, e-mail: mailbox@datenschutz.hamburg.de.

(12) Changes to data protection information

As part of the further development of data protection law and technological or organizational changes, our data protection information is regularly reviewed to determine whether it needs to be adapted or supplemented. You will be informed of any changes in particular on our German website at https://www.toepfer-stiftung.de/datenschutzerklaerung. This data protection notice is current as of January 2022.

B. Visiting websites

(1) Explanation of function

You can obtain information about our foundation and the services we offer in particular at https://www.toepfer-stiftung.de/ together with the associated sub-pages (hereinafter collectively referred to as "websites"). When you visit our Web pages, personal data may be processed.

(2) Processed personal data

During the informational use of the Websites, the following categories of personal data are collected, stored and processed by us:

"Log data": When you visit our websites, a so-called protocol data record (so-called server log files) is stored temporarily and anonymously on our web server. This consists of:

  • the page from which the page was requested (so-called referrer URL)

  • the name and URL of the requested page

  • the date and time of the request

  • the description of the type, language and version of the web browser used

  • the IP address of the requesting computer, which is shortened so that a personal reference can no longer be established

  • the amount of data transferred

  • the operating system

  • the message whether the call was successful (access status/http status code)

  • the GMT time zone difference

"Contact form data": When contact forms are used, the data transmitted as a result are processed (e.g. gender, surname and first name, address, company, e-mail address and the time of transmission).

(3) Purpose and legal basis of data processing

We process the personal data specified above in accordance with the provisions of the DS-GVO, the other relevant data protection regulations and only to the extent necessary. Insofar as the processing of personal data is based on Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. f DS-GVO, the aforementioned purposes also represent our legitimate interests.

The processing of log data serves statistical purposes and to improve the quality of our website, in particular the stability and security of the connection (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f DS-GVO).

Contact form data is processed to handle customer inquiries (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b or lit. f DS-GVO).

(4) Duration of data processing

Your data will only be processed for as long as is necessary to achieve the above-mentioned processing purposes; the legal bases stated in the context of the processing purposes apply accordingly. With regard to the use and storage duration of cookies, please refer to point A.(3).

Third parties used by us will store your data on their system for as long as it is necessary in connection with the provision of services for us in accordance with the respective order.

For more details on the storage period, please refer to A.(3).

(5) Transfer of personal data to third parties; basis for justification

The following categories of recipients, which are usually order processors (see A.(6)), may receive access to your personal data:

  • Service providers for the operation of our website and the processing of data stored or transmitted by the systems (e.g. for data center services, payment processing, IT security). The legal basis for the transfer is then Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b or lit. f DS-GVO, insofar as these are not order processors;

  • Government agencies/authorities, insofar as this is necessary for the fulfillment of a legal obligation. The legal basis for the transfer is then Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. c DS-GVO;

  • Persons employed to carry out our business operations (e.g. auditors, banks, insurance companies, legal advisors, supervisory authorities, parties involved in company acquisitions or the establishment of joint ventures). The legal basis for the disclosure is then Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b or lit. f DS-GVO.

For the guarantees of an adequate level of data protection in the event of a transfer of data to third countries, see A.(7).

In addition, we will only share your personal data with third parties if you have given your express consent to do so in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a DS-GVO.

(6) Use of cookies, plugins and other services on our website

a) Cookies

We use cookies on our websites. Cookies are small text files that are assigned to the browser you are using and stored on your hard drive by means of a characteristic string of characters, and through which certain information flows to the entity that sets the cookie. Cookies cannot execute programs or transfer viruses to your computer and therefore cannot cause any damage. They serve to make the Internet offer as a whole more user-friendly and effective, i.e. more pleasant for you.

Cookies can contain data that make it possible to recognize the device used. In some cases, however, cookies only contain information on certain settings that cannot be related to a specific person. However, cookies cannot directly identify a user.

A distinction is made between session cookies, which are deleted as soon as you close your browser, and permanent cookies, which are stored beyond the individual session. With regard to their function, a distinction is made between cookies:

  • Technical cookies: these are mandatory in order to navigate the website, use basic functions and ensure the security of the website; they do not collect information about you for marketing purposes, nor do they store which web pages you have visited;

  • Performance cookies: these collect information about how you use our website, which pages you visit and, for example, whether errors occur during website use; they do not collect information that could identify you - all information collected is anonymous and is only used to improve our website and find out what interests our users;

  • Advertising cookies, targeting cookies: these are used to provide the website user with tailored advertising on the website or offers from third parties and to measure the effectiveness of these offers; advertising and targeting cookies are stored for a maximum of 13 months;

  • Sharing cookies: these are used to improve the interactivity of our website with other services (e.g. social networks); sharing cookies are stored for a maximum of 13 months.

Any use of cookies that is not absolutely technically necessary constitutes data processing that is only permitted with your explicit and active consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. a DS-GVO. This applies in particular to the use of advertising, targeting or sharing cookies. In addition, we will only disclose your personal data processed by cookies to third parties if you have given your express consent to do so pursuant to Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. a DS-GVO.

b) Google Analytics

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

Scope of processing

Google Analytics uses cookies that enable an analysis of your use of our websites. The information collected by means of the cookies about your use of this website is generally transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

In Google Analytics 4, the anonymization of IP addresses is activated by default. Due to IP anonymization, your IP address will be truncated by Google within Member States of the European Union or in other contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transferred to a Google server in the USA and shortened 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 website visit, your user behavior is recorded in the form of "events". Events can be:

  • Page views

  • First visit to the website

  • Start of session

  • Your "click path", interaction with the website

  • Scrolls (whenever a user scrolls to the bottom of the page (90%))

  • clicks on external links

  • internal search queries

  • interaction with videos

  • file downloads

  • seen / clicked ads

  • language setting

Also recorded:

  • Your approximate location (region)

  • your IP address (in shortened form)

  • technical information about your browser and the end devices you use (e.g. language setting, screen resolution)

  • your internet service provider

  • the referrer URL (via which website/ via which advertising medium you came to this website)

Purposes of the processing

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

Recipients

Recipients of the data are/could be

  • Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (as processor according to Art. 28 DSGVO).

  • Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

  • Alphabet Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

It cannot be ruled out that US authorities may access the data stored by Google.

Third country transfer

Insofar as data is processed outside the EU/EEA and there is no level of data protection corresponding to the European standard, we have concluded EU standard contractual clauses with the service provider to establish an appropriate level of data protection. The parent company of Google Ireland, Google LLC, is based in California, USA. A transfer of data to the USA and access by US authorities to the data stored by Google cannot be ruled out. The USA is currently considered a third country from a data protection perspective. You do not have the same rights there as within the EU/EEA. You may not be entitled to any legal remedies against access by authorities.

Storage period

The data sent by us and linked to cookies are automatically deleted after 14 months. 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 pursuant to Art.6 para.1 p.1 lit.a DSGVO.

Revocation

You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future by calling up the cookie settings and changing your selection there. The lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent until the revocation remains unaffected.

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 result in a restriction of functionalities on this and other websites. In addition, you can prevent the collection of data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) to Google and the processing of 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 disable Google Analytics HERE.

For more information on Google Analytics' terms of use and Google's privacy policy, please visit https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/de/ and https://policies.google.com/?hl=de.