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COOKIE POLICY

Last revised January 2025



1. Introduction

Tracking technologies, such as cookies, tags, pixels, fingerprinting, web beacons, and similar scripts, are used to store and/or share information about website visitors, their systems, and browsers. Information collected by cookies and other tracking technologies varies depending on each website's components and can be of a personal nature (information that directly or indirectly identifies you) and of non-personal nature (information that does not directly or indirectly identify any single individual, such as cookies used to enable language settings on a website). Information of a personal nature may include details about the device you are using, the browser you are using, your IP address, the previous website you visited, whether you clicked on one of our ads, and your browsing behavior.

For further information on how we handle personal information please see our Privacy Policy.

 

2. What types of cookies do we use?

With regards to the retention period, a distinction is drawn between temporary cookies (also known as “session cookies”), which are deleted as soon as you close your browser, and permanent cookies, which remain stored even after the terminal device is closed. With regard to their function, cookies are again differentiated between:

  • Functional cookies: With these cookies, the website is able to provide advanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third parties whose services we use on our websites. If you do not allow these cookies, some or all of these services may not function properly.

  • Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are required for the website to function and cannot be disabled in your systems. Generally, these cookies are set only in response to actions you take that correspond to a service request, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in, or filling out forms. You can set your browser to block these cookies or to notify you about these cookies. However, some areas of the website will not function if you do so. These cookies do not store any personal data.

  • Targeting cookies: These cookies may be set by our advertising partners through our website. They may be used by these companies to profile your interests and show you relevant ads on other websites. They do not directly store personal information, but are based on a unique identification of your browser and Internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

  • Performance cookies: These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our website. They help us answer questions about which pages are the most popular, which are the least used, and how visitors move around the site. All information collected by these cookies is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not be able to know when you visited our website.

 

3. Legal basis for data processing

We use cookies in accordance with the statutory provisions. Therefore, we obtain prior consent from users, except when it is not required by law. Any use of cookies that is not strictly necessary for the use of this website and its services is only permitted with your express and active consent pursuant to Article 6 (1) sentence 1 lit. a GDPR. This applies in particular to the use of cookies for marketing purposes and functional cookies.

 

4. The cookies and modifications we use on our website

An overview of all cookies that we use on our website, including the name of the cookie, purpose, host, duration and type can be found in the cookie settings below. There you can also decide which cookies you want to allow and which not. Click on the different category headings to learn more and change the default settings.

In the following, we would like to inform you about further tracking technologies that we use on our website and for which we partly require your consent. Whether consent is required, you can see in the following description of the respective service:

 

5. Social-Media-Plugins

(1) We currently use the following social-media-plugins: Facebook, Instagram, X, Pinterest and YouTube, which are only loaded if you have previously activated the function through your consent. Through the plugins, we offer you the opportunity to interact with the social networks and other users. The legal basis for the use of the plug-ins is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR, i.e. the integration only takes place after your consent.

(2) The plugin provider stores the data collected about you as usage profiles and uses them for purposes of advertising, market research and/or demand-oriented design of its website. Such an evaluation is carried out in particular (also for non-logged-in users) for the display of tailored advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles, whereby you must contact the respective plugin provider to exercise this right. The data transfer takes place regardless of whether you have an account with the plugin provider and are logged in there. If you are logged in to the plugin provider, your data collected by us will be directly assigned to your account with the plugin provider. If you click the activated button and, for example, link to the page, the plugin provider also saves this information in your user account and shares it publicly with your contacts. We recommend that you log out regularly after using a social network, but especially before activating the button, as this allows you to avoid an assignment to your profile with the plugin provider.

(3) The information collected is stored on servers of the providers, in the case of international providers also outside Europe. For these cases, the provider has, according to its own information, imposed a standard on itself that corresponds to the former EU-US Privacy Shield and has promised to comply with applicable data protection laws in the international transfer of data. We have also agreed so-called standard data protection clauses with the providers, the purpose of which is to ensure compliance with an appropriate level of data protection in the third country.

(4) The revocation of your consent is possible at any time, without affecting the permissibility of the processing until the revocation. The easiest way to revoke your consent is via our Consent Manager or via the functions of the social media providers.

(5) For more information on the purpose and scope of data collection and processing by the plugin provider, please refer to the privacy policies of these providers below. There you will also receive further information about your rights in this regard and setting options for protecting your privacy.

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/#
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/us/privacy-policy/en
• YouTube: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy
• X: https://x.com/en/privacy

 

6. Google Analytics

(1) This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies" to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

(2) If IP anonymization is activated on this website, your IP address will be truncated within the area of the Member States of the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the entire IP address first be transferred to a Google server in the USA and truncated there. IP anonymization is active on this website.

(3) Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.

(4) 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.

(5) You can also opt-out of tracking by Google Analytics with future effect by downloading and installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add on for your current web browser: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

(6) Information from the third-party provider: Google Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, Fax: +353 (1) 436 1001. Terms of use: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/us/; Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB&gl=de.

 

7. Hotjar

We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices. This includes a device's IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymized user profile. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf.

 

8. OneTrust CMP

(1) We use the OneTrust CMP service of OneTrust LCC (1200 Abernathy Rd NE, Building 600, Atlanta, GA 30328, USA; hereinafter "OneTrust") on our website.

(2) The service is a so-called "cookie management tool" (also called "Consent Management Platform"), which allows us to retrieve your data protection consent to the use of technically unnecessary cookies in a legally compliant manner. For this purpose, you will be shown a so-called "cookie banner" when you access our website for the first time and you will be asked which cookies you wish to allow or not allow. Only after you have given your consent will the corresponding scripts be executed and the selected cookies set.

(3) In order to remember your cookie selection and not to show you a cookie banner again on every subpage of our website, OneTrust itself also uses cookies. For more information on the individual cookies used by OneTrust, please refer to our Cookie Management Tool. For more information about how OneTrust processes your data, please visit: https://www.onetrust.com/privacy-notice/.