Privacy Policy

Welcome to our website. Below you will find our Privacy Policy:

I. General information

Contact details of the controller
GEH Wasserchemie GmbH & Co. KG
Adolf-Köhne-Straße 4
49090 Osnabrück
Germany
Phone: +49 541 12 20 09
Fax: +49 541 18 11 990
info@geh-wasserchemie.com

II. Concrete information on processing of personal data

1. Visiting the website

a) Purpose of data processing
Every time a user accesses a page from our website or calls up a file stored on our website, access data relating to this process is stored in a log file. Each dataset consists of:

(1) the page from which the file was requested,
(2) the name of the file,
(3) the date and time of the request,
(4) the amount of data transmitted,
(5) the access status (file transmitted, file not found, etc.),
(6) a description of the type of operating system and web browser used,
(7) the host name of the accessing computer,
(8) the client IP address.

We use this data to operate our website, and in particular to determine the utilisation of the website and website malfunctions, and to make adjustments or improvements. The client IP address is used for the purpose of transmitting the data requested; when no longer technical-ly required, the client IP address will be rendered anonymous by deleting the last block of numbers (Ipv4) or the last octet (Ipv6).

The personal data is shared with service providers that carry out IT tasks for the purpose of operating the website (such as hosting service providers or plugin providers).

b) Duration of retention

Data is stored every time a user accesses a page from our website or calls up our website; such data will be erased as soon as it is no longer required for the purpose of the collection, which is the case within no later than three months of you leaving the website to the end of the month.

c) Legal basis

The legal basis for the temporary storage and processing of the aforementioned data is point (f) of Article 6(1) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter referred to as “GDPR”). The legitimate interest is to make available our website, to ensure stability and security, and to check for misuse.

d) Possibility of objection and removal

The data subject can object to processing by abstaining from using our website and, subject to the requirements described in more detail below in the “Rights” section, can request the erasure of the data collected by them in this way by making an informal declaration.

2. Cookies

a) Purpose of data processing

In order to make it technically possible to visit our website, we transmit so-called cookies to the data subject’s device. Cookies are small text files that enable the data subject’s device to be identified, usually by recording the name of the domain from which the cookie data was sent, information on the age of the cookie and an alphanumeric identifier. Saving the cookie on the device used – without interfering with the operating system – enables the device to be recognised and allows us to make immediately available any possible presettings. We use this information to adapt our website and the services offered to your needs and to enable you to access our website more quickly.

Personal data is shared with third-party providers for the purpose of analysing the use of our website where necessary for the purposes of analysis. If cookies are used for tracking pur-poses, we notify you of this separately in this Privacy Policy.

b) Duration of retention

The different cookies are retained for different lengths of time; however, the maximum peri-od is two years. Cookies are stored on your local device, not on our server, which is why the actual deletion time depends on how your browser software is configured. Please refer to the operating instructions of your browser software to find out how to delete – either ad hoc or automatically – cookies that we have set.

c) Legal basis

The legal basis for strictly necessary cookies is point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR, so that we can enable users to visit our website; in particular, a number of our website functions cannot be used without cookies, since, in the absence of cookies, the user and the settings they have made would not be recognised when changing to a different page, language settings would be lost, and it would not be possible to perform searches.

The use of cookies that are not necessary (such as marketing, statistics or third-party cook-ies) is based on consent given via the cookie banner on our website and on the legal basis of Section 15(3) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG) and point (a) of Article 6(1) GDPR; the legal basis for data transmission to third countries is the first sentence of point (a) of Article 49(1) GDPR.

d) Possibility of objection and removal

The data subject can block the use of cookies in the device used or block the cookie banner that appears or delete these cookies after use. In some circumstances, however, it may not be possible to use individual functions of our website. Please refer to the operating instruc-tions of the browser software to find out how to block cookies and delete cookies that have already been stored.

3. Contact requests

a) Purpose of data processing

Users can contact us by email, fax or phone, or by using the contact form or sending a message to our social network accounts. We will retain the data transmitted to us in the process and specified by the data subject so that we can process the request. Such data regularly includes the name, address details, email address, phone and/or fax number, the date and time of the request, a description of the concern and, where applicable, contract data if the query is made in the context of preparing or executing a contract.

If personal data is sent by email or via the contact form, it is shared with service providers that facilitate the transmission (participating email providers, social network providers and plug-in providers).

b) Duration of retention

We retain personal data that we collect and process for the purpose of contacting users for a period of three years to the end of the year from the time at which we have performed in full our mutual obligations. Where data is the subject of documentation for the purposes of Section 147(1) Nos 2, 3 and 5 of the German Fiscal Code (AO) and Section 257(1) Nos 2 and 3 of the German Commercial Code (HGB), such data shall be deleted at the end of six years to the end of the year, unless shorter retention periods are permitted under other tax legislation. If data constitutes documentation for the purposes of Section 147(1) Nos 1, 4, 4a AO and Section 257(1) Nos 1 and 4 HGB, such data shall be deleted at the end of ten years to the end of the year. These periods commence at the end of the calendar year in which the data was collected.

c) Legal basis

The legal basis for processing the aforementioned data is point (b) of Article 6(1) GDPR in the context of the initiation or performance of a contract, or point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is to be able to process contact requests and to prevent the misuse of contact requests.

d) Possibility of objection and removal

The data subject has the possibility to object to the retention at any time. The data retained concerning the process will then be deleted.

4. YouTube

a) Purpose of data processing

We use the YouTube embedding function to display and play videos from the provider YouTube (YouTube LLC, 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA, which is represent-ed by Google (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, sub-sidiary of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA)).

When a user accesses a page featuring a YouTube video, a connection is established to YouTube’s servers that is assigned to the user’s personal profile and that communicates the pages visited on the website when the user is logged in to their YouTube account. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account beforehand.

You can find more information about YouTube’s and Google’s privacy policies at the follow-ing websites
https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads?hl=de https://policies.google.com/privacy

b) Duration of retention

Information on data protection and on the retention of personal data by “YouTube” can be found in the provider’s Privacy Policy at https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy

c) Legal basis

The use of YouTube serves to protect our legitimate interests of ensuring an appealing presentation of our website, which override other interests when balancing the interests involved, in accordance with the first sentence of point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR.

d) Possibility of objection and removal

The data subject has the possibility to object to the retention at any time. The data retained concerning the process will then be erased. An opt-out function is available at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.

5. Google Analytics

a) Purpose of data processing

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, subsidiary of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). Google Analytics uses so-called “cookies”, which are text files that are stored on the data subject’s device and that al-low an analysis of the use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about the use of this website is usually sent to a Google server in the USA, where it is stored. Owing to the activation of IP anonymisation on this website, however, the IP address of the data sub-ject will be shortened beforehand by Google within the Member States of the European Un-ion and in other countries which are contracting parties 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 first and then shortened. On the instructions of the operator of this web-site, Google will use this information in order to analyse the use of the website, to compile reports about website activities and to provide additional services relating to website and in-ternet usage for the website operator. According to Google, the IP address transmitted from your browser in the context of using Google Analytics will not be associated with any other data held by Google, unless you are logged in to your Google account at the time of calling up the website.

You can find more information about Google’s Privacy Policy at the following internet address https://policies.google.com/privacy

b) Duration of retention

Once the data is no longer needed to achieve the purpose, it will be deleted, which is the case when the anonymisation, which takes place within the European Union, has been completed. This takes less than one second.

The data sent by us and that is linked to cookies, user identifications (e.g. user IDs) or adver-tising IDs will be deleted automatically after 14 months. Once the retention period has ex-pired, data is automatically deleted once a month.

For more information, visit https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://policies.google.com/?hl=de.

c) Legal basis

The legal basis for processing is point (a) of Article 6(1) GDPR and Section 15(3) TMG, but only with prior consent.

d) Possibility of objection and removal

You can block the use of cookies in the device used or block the cookie banner that appears or delete these cookies after use. Please refer to the operating instructions of the browser software to find out how to block cookies and delete cookies that have already been stored; we point out, however, that this may mean that you will not be able to use the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the data generated by the cookie relating to the use of the website (including the IP address) from being recorded and processed by Google by installing the browser plugin available at http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

6. Google reCAPTCHA

a) Purpose of data processing

This website uses Google reCAPTCHA, a service provided by Google (Google Ireland Lim-ited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, subsidiary of Google LLC, 1600 Am-phitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA), to prevent spam and bot attacks; to protect against misuse; and to ensure that the request is made by a human. Google uses so-called “cookies”, i.e. text files that are stored on the data subject’s device, for tracking pur-poses. The information generated by the cookie about the use of this website is usually sent to a Google server in the USA, where it is stored.

Owing to the IP anonymisation, however, the IP address of the data subject will be short-ened beforehand by Google within the Member States of the European Union and in other countries which are contracting parties 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 first and then shortened. The IP address transmitted from your browser in the context of using Google reCAPTCHA will not be associated with any other data held by Google, un-less you are logged in to your Google account at the time of using reCAPTCHA.

You can find more information about Google’s Privacy Policy at the following internet address https://policies.google.com/privacy

b) Duration of retention

You can find information on this at https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://policies.google.com/?hl=de.

c) Legal basis

The legal basis for processing is point (a) of Article 6(1) GDPR and Section 15(3) TMG, but only with prior consent.

d) Possibility of objection and removal

7. Crazy Egg

a) Purpose of data processing

This website uses the tracking tool CrazyEgg by the third-party provider Crazy Egg, Inc., 16220 E. Ridgeview Lane, La Mirada, CA, USA., to record randomly selected individual vis-its (only with anonymised IP addresses). This tracking tool uses cookies that enable us to analyse your use of our website (e.g. the content you click on). A usage profile is visually displayed for this purpose. No personal data concerning you will be collected, processed or used in the process of employing this tool. Only usage profiles based on pseudonyms are created.

b) Duration of retention

For more information on data protection at Crazy Egg, visit http://www.crazyegg.com/privacy.

c) Legal basis

The legal basis for processing is point (a) of Article 6(1) GDPR and Section 15(3) TMG, but only with prior consent.

d) Possibility of objection and removal

The data subject can object at any time to the collection, processing and recording of data generated by CrazyEgg.com by following the instructions at http://www.crazyegg.com/opt-out.

III. Rights of the data subject

If personal data concerning the user is processed on our website, the person concerned (the data subject) has the following rights vis-à-vis the controller according to the GDPR.

1. Right of access under Article 15 GDPR

The data subject has the right to the following information:

(a) the purposes of the processing;
(b) the categories of personal data concerned;
(c) the recipients or categories of recipient to whom the personal data has been or will be disclosed, in particular recipients in third countries or international organisations;
(d) where possible, the envisaged period for which the personal data will be stored, or, if not possible, the criteria used to determine that period;
(e) the existence of the right to request from the controller rectification or erasure of personal data or restriction of processing of personal data concerning the data subject or to object to such processing;
(f) the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority;
(g) where the personal data is not collected from the data subject, any available information as to its source;
(h) the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, referred to in Ar-ticle 22(1) and (4) GDPR and, at least in those cases, meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and the envisaged consequences of such processing for the data subject.
(i) Where personal data is transferred to a third country or to an international or-ganisation, the data subject will have the right to be informed of the appropriate safeguards pursuant to Article 46 GDPR relating to the transfer.

We will provide the data subject with a copy of the personal data undergoing processing. For any further copies requested by the data subject, the controller may charge a reasonable fee based on administrative costs.

2. Right to rectification under Article 16 GDPR

The data subject has the right to obtain from the controller without undue delay the rectifica-tion of inaccurate personal data concerning them. Taking into account the purposes of the processing, the data subject has the right to have incomplete personal data completed, in-cluding by means of providing a supplementary statement.

3. Right to erasure under Article 17 GDPR

The data subject has the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data con-cerning them without undue delay and the controller has the obligation to erase personal da-ta without undue delay where one of the following grounds applies:

(a) the personal data is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed;
(b) the data subject withdraws consent on which the processing is based according to point (a) of Article 6(1) or point (a) of Article 9(2) GDPR, and where there is no other legal ground for the processing;
(c) the data subject objects to the processing pursuant to Article 21(1) GDPR and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing, or the data subject objects to the processing pursuant to Article 21(2) GDPR;
(d) the personal data has been unlawfully processed;
(e) the personal data has to be erased for compliance with a legal obligation in Union or Member State law to which the controller is subject;
(f) the personal data has been collected in relation to the offer of information society services referred to in Article 8(1) GDPR.

4. Right to restriction of processing under Article 18 GDPR

The data subject has the right to obtain from the controller restriction of processing where one of the following applies:

(a) the accuracy of the personal data is contested by the data subject, for a period en-abling the controller to verify the accuracy of the personal data;
(b) the processing is unlawful and the data subject opposes the erasure of the personal data and requests the restriction of its use instead;
(c) the controller no longer needs the personal data for the purposes of the pro-cessing, but the data is required by the data subject for the establishment, exer-cise or defence of legal claims; or
(d) the data subject has objected to processing pursuant to Article 21(1) GDPR pending the verification whether the legitimate grounds of the controller override those of the data subject.

5. Right to information under Article 19 GDPR

If the data subject has exercised their right to rectification or erasure of personal data or re-striction of processing carried out in accordance with Article 16, Article 17(1) and Article 18 GDPR against the controller with regard to personal data concerning them, and if the con-troller has communicated the data subject’s request to each recipient to whom the personal data has been disclosed (unless this proved impossible or involved disproportionate effort), the data subject has the right to be informed about those recipients.

6. Right to data portability under Article 20 GDPR

The data subject has the right to receive the personal data concerning them, which they have provided to a controller, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and has the right to transmit that data to another controller without hindrance from us, where

(a) the processing is based on consent pursuant to point (a) of Article 6(1) or point (a) of Article 9(2) or on a contract pursuant to point (b) of Article 6(1) GDPR; and
(b) the processing is carried out by automated means.

The rights and freedoms of others may not be adversely affected as a result.

In exercising the right to data portability pursuant to paragraph 1, the data subject has the right to have the personal data transmitted directly from us to another controller, where tech-nically feasible.

The exercise of the right to data portability is without prejudice to the right to erasure under Article 17 GDPR. The right to data portability does not apply to processing necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

7. Right to object under Article 21 GDPR

The data subject has the right to object, on grounds relating to their particular situation, at any time to processing of personal data concerning them which is based on point (e) or (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR, including profiling based on those provisions.

We will no longer process the personal data unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests, rights and freedoms of the data sub-ject or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Where personal data is processed for direct marketing purposes, the data subject has the right to object at any time to processing of personal data concerning them for such market-ing, which includes profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing. Where the data subject objects to processing for direct marketing purposes, the personal data will no longer be processed for such purposes.

Any consent granted by the data subject may be withdrawn by them at any time. Any col-lection and processing undertaken until such time remains, however, lawful.

8. Automated individual decision-making, including profiling, under Article 22 GDPR

The data subject has the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated pro-cessing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning them or similarly significantly affects them.

This does not apply if the decision

(a) is necessary for entering into, or performance of, a contract between the data subject and us;
(b) is authorised by Union or Member State law to which we are subject and which also lays down suitable measures to safeguard the data subject’s rights and freedoms and legitimate interests; or
(c) is based on the data subject’s explicit consent.

Such decisions may not be based on special categories of personal data referred to in Arti-cle 9(1) GDPR, unless point (a) or (g) of Article 9(2) GDPR applies and suitable measures to safeguard the data subject’s rights and freedoms and legitimate interests are in place.

In the cases referred to in points (a) and (c), we will implement suitable measures to safe-guard the data subject’s rights and freedoms and legitimate interests, at least the right to ob-tain human intervention on our part, to express their point of view and to contest the decision.

9. Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority under Article 77 GDPR

Without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, every data subject has the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of their habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if the data subject considers that the processing of personal data relating to them infringes the GDPR.

The supervisory authority with which the complaint has been lodged will inform the com-plainant on the progress and the outcome of the complaint including the possibility of a judicial remedy pursuant to Article 78 GDPR.

10. Right to an effective judicial remedy under Article 79 GDPR

Without prejudice to any available administrative or non-judicial remedy, including the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority pursuant to Article 77 GDPR, each data sub-ject has the right to an effective judicial remedy where they consider that their rights under the GDPR have been infringed as a result of the processing of their personal data in non-compliance with the GDPR.

Proceedings against us or a processor will be brought before the courts of the Member State where we or the processor have an establishment. Alternatively, such proceedings may be brought before the courts of the Member State where the data subject has their habitual res-idence, unless we or the processor are a public authority of a Member State acting in the exercise of its public powers.