Legal Notices

ABOUT DATA PROTECTION

We attach great importance to protecting the privacy of personal data. We would therefore like to inform you about how we protect your privacy when you make your personal information available to us. In addition to complying with legal data protection regulations as a matter of course, by making the statements here we obligate ourselves to treat your data responsibly so that your privacy is protected at all times. It is very important to us that you feel safe and secure while visiting our Web site pages.

 

WHY WE USE DATA

We constantly strive to improve what we offer and to design our online presentation attractively for you. Only if we know which sections of our Web site are most frequently visited for the longest period of time is it possible to enhance the contents of the Web site to meet your expectations. In each case, personal information is used only to the degree necessary. The better we understand what you want, the faster you will find the information you want on our Web site pages.

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

Whenever you log on to a Web site page information of a general nature is automatically collected. This information includes for instance the kind of web browser you have, the operating system you are using, the domain name of your Internet service provider, and similar things. These involve exclusively information that does not provide any personal details about you. In any case, these data are also generated during visits to every other Web site on the Internet. Thus, this is not a function specific to these Web site pages. Information of this kind is only collected anonymously and evaluated statistically by us.

 

PERSONAL DATA

Whenever you are requested on our pages to supply personal information such as name, address or telephone number, you are free to decide whether to enter this data. We store your data on highly secure servers in Germany. Access to them is possible for only a small number of authorized persons. These people are responsible for the technical, commercial or editorial maintenance of the servers. We use this data solely for the stated purposes. Your data is not forwarded to third parties. An exception is service providers who are acting on our behalf.

 

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

If requested to do so, we will inform you as quickly as possible in writing and in accordance with applicable law whether, and if so what, personal data is stored at our company. Should incorrect information be stored in spite of our efforts to maintain correct and up-to-date information, we will correct this upon request.

 

THE USE OF COOKIES

Cookies are text files containing information to identify returning visitors exclusively for the period of the visit to our Web site pages. Cookies are stored on the hard drive of your computer and do no harm there. Our Web site cookies contain no personal data about you whatsoever. Cookies save you the trouble of having to enter data repeatedly; they make the transfer of specific contents easier for you and help us in identifying particularly popular sections of our online presentation. This enables us among other things to gear our Web site pages exactly to your needs. If you wish you can deactivate the cookies function at any time via your browser settings. Please use the help function of your Internet browser to learn how to change these settings.

 

SECURITY

We use technical and organizational security measures to protect the personal data you have made available to us against inadvertent or intentional manipulation, loss, destruction or access by unauthorized people. Our security measures are constantly being improved and adapted in accordance with the latest technology.

 

DISCLAIMER

According to a verdict handed down by the Regional Court of Hamburg May 12, 1998, owner(s) of a Web site shall be responsible for or share responsibility for the content of linked sites. According to the Regional Court, this responsibility can only be nullified by the owner’s or owners’ expressly denying liability for these contents. We have created links to other web pages from our homepage. The following applies to all these links: Despite careful checks of content, we do not assume liability for the content of external links. The operators of linked pages bear sole responsibility for the pages’ content.

 

LIABILITY

The author accepts no liability for the timeliness, accuracy, completeness or quality of the information provided. Liability claims against the author which are related to damages of a material or ideal nature which result from using or not using the information provided or the use of flawed or incomplete information are generally excluded to the extent that it cannot be proved that the author has acted with intentional or gross negligence. All offers are without engagement and not binding. The author expressly reserves the right to change, add to or delete parts of the pages or the entire Web site or temporarily or permanently take the published material off line without announcing this in advance.

 

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

This Web site uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. (“Google“) Google Analytics makes use of so-called “Cookies“, text files which are stored on your computer and make it possible to analyse your use of the Web site. The information generated by these cookies on your use of this Web site (including your IP address) is transferred to a Google server in the U.S., and stored there. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the Web site, compiling reports on Web site activity for Web site operators and providing other services relating to Web site activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You can block the installation of cookies by setting your browser software accordingly; yet we must point out that, in such an event, you may be unable to use the Web site’s many functions to the fullest extent possible. By using this Web site, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. It is possible to opt out of collection and storage of data with effect for the future by following this link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en. Given the discussion surrounding the use of analytical tools with complete IP addresses, please note that this Web site uses Google Analytics with the extension "_anonymizeIp()", meaning that IP addresses are processed in abbreviated form to prevent direct identification of individual people.