Privacy statement

The providers of this website take your privacy very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and in accordance both with this privacy statement and with data protection laws.

Notice concerning the party responsible for this website

The party responsible for processing data on this website is:

RALF SCHMITZ GmbH
Moorenring 29
47906 Kempen
Germany
Telephone: +49 2152 91770
E-Mail: Datenschutz@ralfschmitz.com

The responsible party is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data (names, email addresses, etc.).

Statutory data protection officer

To ensure the best possible protection of personal data, we have appointed a dedicated external data protection officer for our company:

Dr. Heiko Haaz
UIMC Dr. Voßbein GmbH & Co KG
Otto-Hausmann-Ring 113
42115 Wuppertal
Germany
Telefon: +49 202 946 7726 200
E-Mail: datenschutz.ralfschmitz@uimc.de

Encryption

Please note that data transmitted via the internet (e.g. via email communication) may be subject to security breaches. Complete protection of your data from third-party access is not possible, although we aim to provide accurate and current measures for the protection.

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and for the protection of the transmission of confidential content, such as the inquiries you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection in your browser’s address line when it changes from “http://” to “https://” and the lock icon is displayed in your browser’s address bar.

Data collection on our website

Contact and request forms

The usage of this website is not generally conditional upon the provision of personal details.

Should you send us questions or information requests via forms on this site or by email, we will collect the data entered on the form, including the contact details you provide, to answer your question or request and any follow-up questions. We do not share this information without your permission.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the forms only with your consent per Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR. You may revoke your consent at any time. An informal email to datenschutz@ralfschmitz.com making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

We will retain the data you provide on the contact form until you request its deletion, revoke your consent for its storage, or the purpose for its storage no longer pertains (e.g. after fulfilling your request). Any mandatory statutory provisions, especially those regarding mandatory data retention periods, remain unaffected by this provision.

Newsletter

If you would like to receive our newsletter, we require a valid email address as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the specified email address and that you agree to receive this newsletter. No additional data is collected or is only collected on a voluntary basis. We only use this data to send the requested information and do not pass it on to third parties.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR. You can revoke consent to the storage of your data and email address as well as their use for sending the newsletter at any time, e.g. through the “unsubscribe” link in the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted. Data we have stored for other purposes remain unaffected.

Job applications

Data processing

In case you send us an application by email or conventional mail, we process your personal data with regard to the application process and to assess a potential work-related applicability.

We process the data you provide us with for the purpose of a substantiated decision concerning a job opening based on Art. 6 Abs. 1 S. 1 I lit. b GDPR / Art. 26 Abs. 1 BDSG.  Assessments by objective, non-discriminating critera may be additionally stored. As far as feasible on a case-by-case basis, publicly available personal data related to you may be additionally stored.

Transfer / Service providers

In part, external service providers may gain access to your data, e.g. for supervised service operations, for a test payroll calculation or legal advice. In any case, these service providers will be bound by data processing agreement according to Art 28 GDPR.

Storage and deletion of application-data

Your information concerning your application is stored as long as necessary for the purpose of the application process. If you object to our processing of this data during the application process, your data will be deleted – should there be no compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms or for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.

The information is deleted after the application process is completed and if no compelling legitimate grounds exist for the further processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms or if the information is still needed for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims. Application data may be kept further if you explicitly provide your consent that we may use it for additional job openings.

Speculative (unsolicited) applications are stored at the most until an objection by you is received or for two years and then deleted afterwards.

Transfer of personal data

In general your personal data is not shared with third parties for commercial or non-commercial purposes without your expressed consent. We only pass your personal data to third parties if legally permitted (e.g. on account of Art. 6 GDPR) or required. In part, we use service providers for data processing. For example, our web site is hosted by Strato AG [external site]; the sending of newsletters is performed by MailChimp (see below) and for Customer Relationship Management we rely on the services of Propstack [external site]. If you request information on one of our properties, we may pass your data to our external sales agency (bound by data processing agreements) to fulfill your request. In addition, we make use of external tools and plugins on our web presence. Please see the explanations below for further detail.

Server log files

In general

The website provider automatically collects and stores information that your browser automatically transmits to us in “server log files”, where individual users are treated anonymously. These log files contain:

  • Referrer URL (the web page that led you to our website)
  • Search terms (in case of referring search engines)
  • Anonymized IP-address (to determine the originating country and provider)
  • Anonymized Hostname
  • Browser, operating system, installed plug-ins and display resolution
  • Time spend on pages

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR, which allows the processing of data necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests. Our legitimate purposes are to

  • ensure smooth connection to our web presence,
  • ensure a comfortable usage of our web presence,
  • evaluation of system safety and stability as well as
  • further administrative purposes.

This data cannot be associated with specific individuals and we will not combine it with data from any other sources. We reserve the right to check this data after capture should signs of illegal activity be found. The log data is deleted after stated purposes, at the latest after six months.

Our web hoster, Strato AG [external site], collects IP-addresses of visitors for the detection and defense of attacks and stores this information for seven days at the most in separate log files.

Analytical plugins and tools from third parties

When you access our web site your surfing behavior can be analyzed statistically. This is mostly achieved by using Cookies or analytical programs. In general, these analyses are performed anonymously and your surfing behaviour cannot be traced back to you. You may revoke your consent to these analyses or prevent their usage by certain tools. Please see the information provided below for details.

Cookies

Some of our web pages use cookies. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser. They do not harm your computer and do not contain any viruses. Cookies help make our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called “session cookies.” They are automatically deleted after your visit. Other cookies remain in your device’s memory until you delete them. These cookies make it possible to recognize your browser on your next visit of our web services.

You may configure your browser to inform you about the use of cookies so that you can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept or reject a cookie. Alternatively, your browser can be configured to automatically accept cookies under certain conditions or to always reject them, or to automatically delete cookies when closing your browser. Disabling cookies may limit the functionality of this website.

Cookies which are necessary to allow electronic communications or to provide certain functions you wish to use are stored pursuant to Art. 6 paragraph 1, letter f of GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the storage of cookies to ensure an optimized service provided free of technical errors. If other cookies (such as those used to analyze your surfing behavior) are also stored, they will be treated separately in this privacy policy.

Adobe typekit

For uniform and appealing representation of fonts this web site uses web fonts provided by the Typekit service of Adobe, Adobe Systems Incorporated: 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, California 95110-2704, USA. These fonts are downloaded by your browser from the Adobe servers when you access our web site.

When the font download occurs, Adobe may collect information about the fonts being used on our web site. This information is used for the purposes of billing us and for compliance. Included are served fonts, our user account at Adobe as well as information on our domain, required times for font downloading and whether an ad blocker is installed to help identify if this affects accurate pageview tracking.

If your browser does not support web fonts or if a Do-Not-Track setting is signaled by your browser, local standard fonts are used instead of web fonts.

The usage of Adobe Typekit Web Fonts is done in the interest of a uniform and attractive presentation of our website. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

Further information about Adobe Typekit Web Fonts and on Adobe’s privacy can be found at https://fonts.adobe.com/ [external site] and at https://www.adobe.com/de/privacy/policies/adobe-fonts.html [external site], respectively.

Google maps

This site uses the Google Maps map service via an API. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

To use Google Maps, it is necessary to save your IP address. This information is generally transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. The provider of this site has no influence on this data transfer.

The use of Google Maps is in the interest of making our website appealing and to facilitate the location of places specified by us on the website. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

Further information about the Terms of service of Google at https://www.google.com/intl/en_en/help/terms_maps/ [external site].

Further information about handling user data can be found data protection declaration of Google at https://www.google.de/intl/en/policies/privacy/ [external site].

By using this service, you agree to the collection, processing and use of the data collected and entered by you, such as I agree to your IP address by Google. This information is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and saved there. The provider of this site has no influence on this data transfer. You can find the terms of use for Google Maps at https://www.google.com/intl/de_de/help/terms_maps/ [external page]. You can find more information on handling user data in Google’s data protection declaration: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/ [external page].

Google analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Google Analytics uses so-called “cookies”. These are text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

Google Analytics cookies are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its website and its advertising.

IP anonymization

We have activated the IP anonymization feature on this website. Your IP address will be shortened by Google within the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area prior to transmission to the United States. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide other services regarding website activity and Internet usage for the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data held by Google.

Browser plugin

You can prevent these cookies being stored by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. However, we wish to point out that doing so may mean you will not be able to enjoy the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the data generated by cookies about your use of the website (incl. your IP address) from being passed to Google, and the processing of these data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en [external site].

Objecting to the collection of data

You can prevent the collection of your data by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set to prevent your data from being collected on future visits to this site: [google_analytics_optout]Disable Google Analytics[/google_analytics_optout]

For more information about how Google Analytics handles user data, see Google’s privacy policy: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en [external site].

Outsourced data processing

We have entered into an agreement with Google for the outsourcing of our data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

Google analytics remarketing

Our websites use the features of Google Analytics Remarketing combined with the cross-device capabilities of Google AdWords and DoubleClick. This service is provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

This allows to link target audiences for promotional marketing created with Google Analytics Remarketing to the cross-device capabilities of Google AdWords and Google DoubleClick. This allows advertising to be displayed based on your personal interests, identified based on your previous usage and surfing behavior on one device (e.g. your mobile phone), on other devices (such as a tablet or computer).

Once you have given your consent, Google will associate your web and app browsing history with your Google Account for this purpose. That way, any device that signs in to your Google Account can use the same personalized promotional messaging.

To support this feature, Google Analytics collects Google-authenticated IDs of users that are temporarily linked to our Google Analytics data to define and create audiences for cross-device ad promotion.

You can permanently opt out of cross-device remarketing/targeting by turning off personalized advertising in your Google Account; follow this link: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated?hl=en [external site].

The aggregation of the data collected in your Google Account data is based solely on your consent, which you may give or withdraw from Google per Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR. For data collection operations not merged into your Google Account (for example, because you do not have a Google Account or have objected to the merge), the collection of data is based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing anonymous user behavior for promotional purposes.

For more information and the Google Privacy Policy, go to: https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/ [external site].

Google AdWords and Google conversion-tracking

This website uses Google AdWords. AdWords is an online advertising program from Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States (“Google”).

As part of Google AdWords, we use so-called conversion tracking. When you click on an ad served by Google, a conversion tracking cookie is set. Cookies are small text files that your internet browser stores on your computer. These cookies expire after 30 days and are not used for personal identification of the user. Should the user visit certain pages of the website and the cookie has not yet expired, Google and the website can tell that the user clicked on the ad and proceeded to that page.

Each Google AdWords advertiser has a different cookie. Thus, cookies cannot be tracked using the website of an AdWords advertiser. The information obtained using the conversion cookie is used to create conversion statistics for the AdWords advertisers who have opted for conversion tracking. Customers are told the total number of users who clicked on their ad and were redirected to a conversion tracking tag page. However, advertisers do not obtain any information that can be used to personally identify users. If you do not want to participate in tracking, you can opt-out of this by easily disabling the Google Conversion Tracking cookie by changing your browser settings. In doing so, you will not be included in the conversion tracking statistics.

Conversion cookies are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its website and its advertising.

For more information about Google AdWords and Google Conversion Tracking, see the Google Privacy Policy: https://www.google.de/policies/privacy/ [external site].

You can configure your browser to inform you about the use of cookies so that you can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept or reject a cookie. Alternatively, your browser can be configured to automatically accept cookies under certain conditions or to always reject them, or to automatically delete cookies when closing your browser. Disabling cookies may limit the functionality of this website.

Usage of Sizmek Versa tag

To present optimized and relevant advertising, this site makes use of Cookies by Sizmek, Inc., Brandstwiete 1,Neuer Dovenhof, 20457 Hamburg, Germany.

Sizmek collects and utilizes IP-addresses (anonymized), data usage and geographic location of the web site use to enhance the choice of displayed advertisements. Cookies are stored for up to 90 days after the last interaction.

The cookies are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its website and its advertising.

You can prevent the usage of Sizmek Versa Tag Cookies by setting opt-out options in the according section on their website: https://www.sizmek.com/privacy-policy/optedin/#options [external site].

Further information on the Sizmek privacy policy can be found at: https://www.sizmek.com/privacy-policy/optedin/ [external site].

Usage of Light Reaction

For purposes of marketing and optimization of user experience we partly make use of technologies by Light Reaction Germany GmbH, Derendorfer Allee 4, 40476 Düsseldorf, Germany. They are used to provision our content, perform and analyze online marketing campaigns. For example, Light Reaction cookies can be used to ensure that you are displayed varying advertisements from us instead of repeatedly the same one.

Information is collected through the use of cookies, pixels and similar technologies.  A cookie is a file on your browser that uniquely identifies your browser and computer.  A pixel is a line of code that is used by a website or third party to assign online activities to a computer or browser.  The use of a pixel allows websites and Light Reaction to record, for example, that a user has visited a particular website.  Additional information from an earlier period or interaction may be included in the pixel.  Obtained IP-addresses are not stored in full length.

The information are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its website and its advertising.

Further details on the privacy policy of Light Reaction as well as a possibility to prevent the collection and storage of information by Light Reaction are explained at: http://lightreaction.com/en/policy_emea_apac/ [external site].

Privacy Statement for the use of Instagram

Our website provides a link to the social network Instagram, which is operated by Instagram LLC., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.

When logged into your Instagram account, you can instantly link content on our pages with your Instagram profile by clicking the Instagram button. Doing so allows Instagram to establish a connection between your user account and your visit to this website. We as the provider of these pages have no knowledge of what data is thus transmitted nor of how that data is used by Instagram.

For more information, please see Instagram’s privacy statement at https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875 [external site].

Privacy Statement for the use of Pinterest

Our website provides a link to the social network Pinterest which is operated by Pinterest Europe Ltd., Palmerston House, 2nd Floor,Fenian Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. When logged into your Pinterest account, you can instantly link content on our pages with your Instagram profile by clicking the Pinterest button. Doing so allows Pinterest to establish a connection between your user account and your visit to this website. We as the provider of these pages have no knowledge of what data is thus transmitted nor of how that data is used by Instagram.

For more information, please see Pinterest’s privacy statement at https://policy.pinterest.com/de/privacy-policy  [external site].

Privacy Statement for the use of sharing buttons of Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn

Our website provides sharing links to services of Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter und LinkedIn. By clicking the sharing buttons the respective operator of the selected service my obtain knowledge of your visit of our website. As provider of this website we have no knowledge which data is transmitted nor of how that data is used by the respective service.

For more information please see the corresponding privacy statements of Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/legal/ [externe Seite von Facebook, Facebook Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland], WhatsApp, https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/ [external link of WhatsApp Ireland Limited, 4 Grand, Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland], respectively of Twitter, https://twitter.com/en/privacy [external link of Twitter International Company One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07, Ireland] or https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy [external link of LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland], respectively.

MailChimp

This website uses the services of MailChimp to send newsletters. This service is provided by Rocket Science Group LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Suite 5000, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA.

MailChimp is a service which organizes and analyzes the distribution of newsletters. If you provide data (e.g. your email address) to subscribe to our newsletter, it will be stored on MailChimp servers in the USA.

MailChimp agrees to abide by and process EU Data in compliance with the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) for processors as approved by the European Commission. In addition, a Data Processing Addendum (DPA) to further refine and restrict the privacy policy has been agreed upon with Mailchimp.

We use MailChimp to analyze our newsletter campaigns. When you open an email sent by MailChimp, a file included in the email (called a web beacon) connects to MailChimp’s servers in the United States. This allows us to determine if a newsletter message has been opened and which links you click on. In addition, technical information is collected (e.g. time of retrieval, IP address, browser type, and operating system). This information cannot be assigned to a specific recipient. It is used exclusively for the statistical analysis of our newsletter campaigns. The results of these analyses can be used to better tailor future newsletters to your interests.

If you do not want your usage of the newsletter to be analyzed by MailChimp, you will have to unsubscribe from the newsletter. For this purpose, we provide a link in every newsletter we send. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter directly on the website.

Data processing is based on Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR. You may revoke your consent at any time by unsubscribing to the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted from our servers and those of MailChimp. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the members area) remains unaffected.

For details, see the MailChimp privacy policy at https://mailchimp.com/legal/terms/ [external site].

Completion of a data processing agreement

We have entered into a data processing agreement with MailChimp, in which we require MailChimp to protect the data of our customers and not to disclose said data to third parties. This agreement may be viewed at the following link: https://mailchimp.com/legal/data-processing-addendum/ [external site].

Your rights regarding your data

Information, blocking, deletion

As stated in Art. 15 ff. GDPR, you have the right to be provided at any time with information free of charge about any of your personal data that is stored as well as its origin, the recipient and the purpose for which it has been processed. By the same article, you have the right to have this data corrected, blocked or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in our legal notice if you have further questions on the topic of personal data.

Revocation of your consent to the processing of your data

Many data processing operations are only possible with your expressed consent. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect based on Art. 15 ff. GDPR. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

Right to data portability

By Art. 15 ff. GDPR you have the right to receive data which we process based on your consent or in fulfillment of a contract automatically delivered to yourself or to a third party in a standard, machine-readable format. If you require the direct transfer of data to another responsible party, this will only be done to the extent technically feasible.

Right to file complaints with regulatory authorities

If there has been a breach of data protection legislation, the person affected may file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities on basis of Art. 77 GDPR. The competent regulatory authority for matters related to data protection legislation is the data protection officer of the German state in which our company is headquartered. A list of data protection officers and their contact details can be found at the following link: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_links-node.html [external site].

Opposition to promotional emails

We hereby expressly prohibit the use of contact data published in the context of website legal notice requirements or this privacy policy with regard to sending promotional and informational materials not expressly requested. The website operator reserves the right to take specific legal action if unsolicited advertising material, such as email spam, is received.