Privacy Statement

 

Privacy Statement

(version dated September 2018 v1.0)

 

1. Scope

1.1 This website is offered by WMF GmbH, WMF Platz 1, D-73312 Geislingen an der Steige, e-mail: UK@seb-professional.com as the controller as defined in Article 4 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter, the “GDPR”). You can contact our data protection officer using the contact form available under Send Inquiry to the Data Protection Officer or at our postal address marked Attention: Data Protection Officer.

1.2 Protecting your personal data is important to us, in particular, protecting your personal rights when we process and use your personal data. Below, we inform you about the collection of personal data when you use the Web Portal. The term personal data includes all data relating to you personally, for example, your name, postal address, e-mail address, and user behavior.

2. Automated Data Collection and Processing

2.1 As with every other web service, our server collects information automatically and stores it temporarily in server log files unless you deactivate such collection. If you view content in our website, we collect the following data which for technical reasons we need if we are to display the contents of the website to you and to ensure the stability and security thereof (legal basis: Article 6 (1) f) of the GDPR):

• the IP address of the computer from which the inquiry is sent;
• the file inquired about by the client;
• the http response code;
• the Internet page from which you are visiting (referrer URL);
• the date and time the server inquiry is sent;
• the type and version of the browser used;
• and the operating system on the computer sending the inquiry.

No server log files are evaluated in association with an individual person. The provider is not able to allocate the data to any specific person or persons at any time. The data is not merged with data from any other sources.

2.2 This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. (hereinafter, “Google”). Google Analytics uses small text files, referred to as cookies, which are saved on your computer to facilitate analysis of your website use. The information generated by cookies regarding your use of this website typically is transmitted to and saved on a Google server located in the United States. If and when IP anonymization is activated on this website, Google will truncate your IP address for transmission among member states of the European Union or to other member states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will your full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the United States and then truncated. At the request of the operator of this website, Google will use the information to evaluate your use of this website, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide the operator of this website with other services relating to website activity and Internet use.

According to Google, the IP address transmitted from your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data held by Google.

You may refuse the saving of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser software; however, please note that if you do so you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. In addition, you can object to Google’s collection of data generated by cookies which data relates to your use of this website (including your IP address) as well as to Google’s processing of the data. To do so, download and install the browser plug-in available at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en-GB.

This website uses Google Analytics with the addendum _anonymizeIp(). This means that IP addresses are truncated before being processed and cannot be associated with individual persons. In the event a personal association to you of any data collected in connection with you is possible, such association is excluded without delay and the personal data is erased immediately.

We use Google Analytics regularly to analyze and enhance the use of our website. The resulting statistics allow us to improve our offerings and make them more interesting for you, the user. In exceptional cases in which personal data is transmitted to the United States, Google is bound by the EU-US Privacy Shield. The legal basis of our use of Google Analytics is Article 6 (1) p. 1 f) of the GDPR.

Information regarding the third-party provider is as follows: Google Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd., Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, fax: +353 (1) 436 1001; terms of use: www.google.com/analytics/terms/gb.html; overview of data protection: www.google.com/intl/de/analytics/learn/privacy.html; privacy statement: www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.

2.3 In addition, this website uses the online advertising service Google AdSense through which you can be provided with advertising based on your interests. We are interested in displaying advertising to you that could be of interest to you, thus making our website more appealing to you. To this end, statistical information about you is collected and then forwarded to our advertising partners for processing. The respective advertisements are marked Google Ads.

When you visit our website, Google is notified that you have accessed our website. To this end, Google uses a web beacon to install a cookie on your computer. The data specified in 2.1 above is transmitted. We cannot influence the data collected and have no knowledge of the full scope of the data collection or the period of time for which such data is saved. Your data is transmitted to and evaluated in the United States. If you log in with your Google account, your data can be associated with that account directly. If you object to such association, please log out. The data may be forwarded to one or more of Google’s contracting partners, to third parties, and/or to authorities. The legal basis for such processing of your data is Article 6 (1) p. 1 f) of the GDPR. This website does not use Google AdSense to run third-party advertisements.

You have several options to prevent Google AdSense from installing cookies on your computer: a) you can adjust the settings of your browser software accordingly (among other things, suppressing third-party cookies results in you no longer receiving any third-party advertisements); b) you can deactivate interest-specific Google advertisements via http://www.google.de/ads/preferences which setting, however, will be deleted when you erase your cookies; c) you can deactivate interest-specific advertisements of providers who have joined the self-regulation campaign About Ads via www.aboutads.info/choices which setting, however, will be deleted when your erase your cookies; d) you can deactivate such option permanently in your Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Google Chrome browser at www.google.com/settings/ads/plugin. Please note that if you do so, you may not be able to use all the functions of this website.

For further information regarding the purpose and scope of the collection and processing of data or regarding your rights in this regard and the settings available to you to protect your privacy, please contact Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountainview, California 94043, U.S.A. or go to data protection terms for advertising at www.google.de/intl/de/policies/technologies/ads.

2.4 For various services and forms on our Website, we use Google’s reCAPTCHA service, offered by Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA (“Google”). Google reCAPTCHA is used to verify whether data entries in online forms are carried out by a human or an automated program, script or the like. For this purpose, Google reCAPTCHA analyses input behaviour of the person entering the data entry based on the various features. This analysis starts automatically as soon as the corresponding website is accessed. In its analysis, Google reCAPTCHA evaluates various pieces of information (e.g., IP address, identification data of the browser used, browser settings, browser plugins, URL of the referring website, time spent on that website, mouse movements, input behaviour of the person entering the data such as input speed, order of entry and selection of inputs etc., Google cookies).

The data collected during this analysis are forwarded to a server of Google in the United States, where they are stored and evaluated. The personal data from the online forms is not evaluated or stored.

The legal basis for the use of Google reCAPTCHA is Article 6 (1) lit. f) GDPR, which allows the processing of personal data within the framework of our legitimate interests, provided you do not have any overriding fundamental rights, freedoms or interests. Our legitimate interests lie in protecting our Website and online forms from automated abuse, spying and spam.

Google is subject to the EU-US Privacy Shield, which you can read here: policies.google.com/privacy/frameworks?hl=en-GB. For more information on Google reCAPTCHA as well as Google’s privacy policy, go to www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/android.html and policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.

2.5 As an “AdWords” customer this website uses Google Conversion Tracking, an analytical service provided by Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; “Google”). This means that Google AdWords puts a cookie (“conversion cookie”) on your computer if you have arrived at our website via a Google advert. These cookies expire after 30 days and cannot be used for personal identification. If you visit certain of our pages and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google can recognise that someone has clicked on the advert and then been forwarded to our page. Every AdWords customer is given a unique cookie. This means cookies cannot be traced via the websites of AdWords customers. The information gained by means of the conversion cookie helps produce conversion statistics for AdWords customers who have opted for conversion tracking. AdWords customers find out the total number of users who have clicked on their adverts and been forwarded to a page with a conversion tracking tag. But they are not given information with which they can identify users personally. If you do not wish to take part in the tracking process, you can reject the setting of a cookie that is required - either as a browser setting or by deactivating the setting of cookies in general. You can also deactivate cookies for conversion tracking by setting your browser to block cookies from the domain “googleadservices.com.”

If you do not wish to receive interest-based advertising, you can deactivate the use of cookies by Google for this purpose by going to the page www.google.de/settings/ads. Alternatively, users can deactivate the use of cookies by third parties by going to the deactivation page for the network advertising initiative.

By using our services, you declare your consent to the processing of data collected by Google about you in the manner described above and for the purposes mentioned here. Legal basis for the processing of the data is Article 6 para.1 sentence 1 (f) GDPR.

We would like to point out that Google has its own data protection guidelines, which are independent of ours. We accept no responsibility or liability for these guidelines and processes. Before using our website, please read also about the Google data protection regulations.

2.6 Google Tag Manager
Purpose / Information:
This website uses the Google Tag Manager. Google Tag Manager is a solution that allows marketers to manage website tags through one interface. The tool itself (which implements the tags) is a cookie-less domain and does not store any personal information. The tool ensures that other tags are triggered, which in turn may collect data. Google Tag Manager does not access this data. If disabled at the domain or cookie level, it will remain enabled for all tracking tags implemented with Google Tag Manager.

Recipient:
Third party information: Google Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. So-called standard contractual clauses pursuant to Art. 46 DSGVO have been concluded with this service provider as suitable guarantees. Further information can be found here: ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/international-dimension-data-protection_en.

Legal basis:
Art. 6 (1) f DSGVO (legitimate interest)

2.7 LinkedIn Insight Tag
Our website uses the LinkedIn Insight Tag conversion tool from LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company. This tool creates a cookie in your web browser, which enables the collection of information such as: IP address, device and browser characteristics and page events (e.g. page views). This data is encrypted, anonymised within seven days and the anonymised data is deleted within 90 days. LinkedIn does not share any personal data with WMF GmbH, but offers anonymised reports on the website target group and display performance. In addition LinkedIn offers the possibility of retargeting via the Insight Tag. WMF GmbH may use this data to display targeted advertising outside its website without identifying you as a website visitor. For more information about LinkedIn's privacy policy please refer to the LinkedIn privacy policy www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy.
LinkedIn members may control the use of their personal information for promotional purposes in their account settings. To disable ("opt-out") the Insight tag on our website www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-out.

3. Collection and Processing of Data Provided on a Voluntary Basis

3.1 General contact

Generally, your provision of your personal data to us through our website (your last name, first name, e-mail address etc.) is voluntary. This data is used to process your inquiries, perform our own market research or opinion polls, and make decisions regarding the advertising materials we send out by mail and/or e-mail. The personal data you provide will not be used in any other way; in particular, it will not be transmitted to third parties for advertising purposes, market research or opinion polls. We will erase the data collected from you when saving such data no longer is required or, depending on statutory retention obligations, we will restrict the processing of such data. The legal basis for this is Article 6 (1) b) of the GDPR or Article 6 (1) f) of the GDPR.

3.2 Using of free services of WMF

However, we also may have to collect your personal data if you wish to use other free services we offer including

• contacting us

Please note that you are free to provide us with personal data. If and when you do not submit the data required to use a specific service, you will not be able to use the service at all or only in part. We process the personal data only to provide the free services to you. Legal basis is Article 6 para. 1 sentence 1 (a) GDPR. The data is deleted and/or blocked automatically pursuant to the applicable laws. Provided, deleting the data does not violate any statutory or contractual retention periods.

We provide a form on our website for you in which questions can be asked on different topics.

In order to process and respond to your request, we require at least the categories of data that are marked with an asterisk as mandatory fields in the form. The legal basis for the processing of these data is Article 6 (1) sentence 1(f) GDPR. The data processing is required for steps prior to entering into a contract carried out based on a request, since such measures form a part of such contact requests.

By voluntarily providing additional contact information you can help us respond to your request and contact you. Legal basis is Article 6 (1) sentence 1(f) GDPR, which allows the processing of personal data within the framework of the “legitimate interests” of the controller, provided you do not have any overriding fundamental rights, freedoms or interests. Our legitimate interests lie in being able to process your contact request easy, efficient and quick and to directly contact you. If you don´t want that, please do not fill out the fields that are not marked with an asterisk.

For our contact form, we use the service Google reCAPTCHA (see Section 2.4) to protect against abuse.

The data you provide will be used and saved for market research, opinion polling, and advertising purposes only and only with your previous express consent. Details on how to revoke such consent are specified in the next paragraph.

You may revoke your consent to the use, processing and dissemination of your personal data for market research, opinion polling, advertising or any other service at any time with future effect by sending a message to us by mail at WMF GmbH, WMF Platz 1, D-73312 Geislingen an der Steige, Germany, or by filling in the contact form.

4. Transmission to Third Parties

To the extent you provide us with personal data, we will not transmit any such personal data to any third party, except

• as part of the processing of your inquiries and your use of our services: to subcontractors commissioned by us to whom we transmit only such data as is required to fulfill the respective assignment and such contractors shall use such data for specific purposes only;
• as part of processing activities pursuant to Article 28 of the GDPR: to external service providers whom we have selected diligently and have commissioned and who are bound by our instructions and by the provisions of the GDPR and are controlled on a regular basis;
• and in compliance with legal obligations: to parties authorized to obtain such personal data.

5. Cookies

5.1 The Web Portal uses cookies, small text files that are saved locally in your browser’s cache. The following types of cookies, the scope and functionality of which are explained below, are used:

• transient cookies (see 6.2 below) and
• persistent cookies (see 6.3 below).

5.2 Transient cookies are erased automatically when you close your browser. Transient cookies include, but are not limited to, session cookies which save session IDs that can be used to associate diverse requests from your browser with one joint session. In this way, your computer is recognized when you return to the Web Portal. Session cookies are deleted when you log out or close your browser.

5.3 Persistent cookies are erased automatically after a predefined period of time, which period of time may vary depending on the cookie. You can delete persistent cookies in the security settings of your browser at any time.

5.4 You can configure your browser settings to meet your needs such that, for example, acceptance of third-party cookies or of all cookies is refused. Please note that in this case you may not be able to use all the functions of the Web Portal.

5.5 We use cookies to identify you during your ensuing visits to the Web Portal, provided you have set up an account with us. Otherwise, you will be required to log in every time you visit the Web Portal.

6. Your Rights

6.1 You have the following rights vis-à-vis us regarding your personal data. You have the right to

• access,
• rectify or erase,
• restrict processing,
• object to processing, especially based on legitimate interests,
• and portability.

Please forward all inquiries in writing to WMF GmbH, WMF Platz 1, D-73312 Geislingen an der Steige, Germany. Alternatively, you can use the contact form.

6.2 In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority if you are not satisfied with our processing of your personal data.