Thank you very much for your interest in our association. Data protection is particularly important to the management of the VDIK e.V.. The VDIK e.V. website can be used without the need to provide any personal data. However, if a person concerned wishes to make use of special services provided by our association via our website, it may be necessary to process personal data. If the processing of personal data is necessary and there is no legal basis for such processing, we generally obtain the consent of the person concerned.

The processing of personal data, for example the name, address, e-mail address or telephone number of a person concerned, is always carried out in accordance with the Basic Data Protection Ordinance and in accordance with the country-specific data protection regulations applicable to the VDIK e.V.. By means of this data protection declaration, our association wishes to inform the public about the type, scope and purpose of the personal data collected, used and processed by us. Furthermore, this data protection declaration will inform the persons concerned about their rights.

The VDIK e.V., as the data controller, has implemented numerous technical and organisational measures to ensure that the personal data processed via this website is protected as completely as possible. Nevertheless, Internet-based data transmissions can in principle have security gaps, so that absolute protection cannot be guaranteed. For this reason, each person concerned is free to transmit personal data to us by alternative means, such as telephone.

The VDIK e.V. data protection declaration is based on the terms used by the European directive and ordinance giver when the data protection basic ordinance (DS-GVO) was issued. Our data protection declaration should be easy to read and understand for the public as well as for our members and business partners. In order to guarantee this, we would like to explain the terms used in advance.

We use the following terms in this privacy policy:

a) Personal data
Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter “data subject”). A natural person shall be considered identifiable if he can be identified directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or one or more specific characteristics expressing the physical, physiological, genetic, psychological, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

b) Data subject
Data subject means any identified or identifiable natural person whose personal data are processed by the controller.

c) Processing
Processing” means any operation or set of operations which is carried out with or without the aid of automated processes and which relates to personal data, such as collection, recording, organisation, sorting, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or association, qualification, erasure or destruction.

d) Limitation of processing
Limitation of processing is the marking of stored personal data with the aim of limiting their future processing.

e) Profiling
Profiling is any automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of such personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects relating to the work performance, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, conduct, whereabouts or movement of that natural person.

f) Pseudonymisation
Pseudonymisation means the processing of personal data in such a way that the personal data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject without the provision of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept separately and is subject to technical and organisational measures ensuring that the personal data are not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person.

g) Controller or data controller
The controller or data controller is the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data. Where the purposes and means of such processing are laid down by Union law or by the law of the Member States, the controller or controllers may be designated in accordance with Union law or with the law of the Member States on the basis of specific criteria.

h) Processor
Processor is a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.

i) Recipient
The recipient is a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body to whom personal data are disclosed, whether or not that person is a third party. However, authorities which may receive personal data in the course of a specific investigation task under Union law or the law of the Member States shall not be considered as recipients.

j) Third parties
Third party means any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or body other than the data subject, the controller, the processor and the persons authorised to process the personal data under the direct responsibility of the controller or processor

k) Consent
Consent shall mean any voluntary, informed and unambiguous expression by the data subject of his or her will in the particular case, in the form of a statement or other unequivocal confirmatory act, indicating that he or she consents to the processing of his or her personal data.

The person responsible within the meaning of the Basic Data Protection Regulation, other data protection laws applicable in the Member States of the European Union and other provisions of a data protection nature is the Data Protection Officer:

VDIK e.V.
Kirdorfer Str. 21
61350 Bad Homburg v.d.H.
Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 6172/9875-0
E-mail: office@vdik.de

The Internet pages of the VDIK e.V. use cookies. Cookies are text files which are stored on a computer system via an Internet browser.

Numerous Internet pages and servers use cookies. Many cookies contain a so-called cookie ID. A cookie ID is a unique identifier of the cookie. It consists of a string of characters through which Internet pages and servers can be assigned to the specific Internet browser in which the cookie was stored. This enables the visited Internet pages and servers to distinguish the individual browser of the person concerned from other Internet browsers that contain other cookies. A particular Internet browser can be recognized and identified by its unique cookie ID.

Through the use of cookies, VDIK e.V. can provide users of this website with more user-friendly services that would not be possible without the setting of cookies.

By means of a cookie, the information and offers on our website can be optimised in the interests of the user. Cookies enable us, as already mentioned, to recognize the users of our website. The purpose of this recognition is to make it easier for users to use our website. For example, the user of a website that uses cookies does not have to re-enter his access data each time he visits the website because this is taken over by the website and the cookie stored on the user’s computer system. Another example is the cookie of a shopping basket in the online shop. The online shop remembers the items that a customer has placed in the virtual shopping basket via a cookie.

The person concerned can prevent the setting of cookies by our website at any time by means of an appropriate setting of the Internet browser used and thus permanently object to the setting of cookies. Furthermore, cookies that have already been set can be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all common Internet browsers. If the person concerned deactivates the setting of cookies in the Internet browser used, not all functions of our website may be fully usable under certain circumstances.

The website of the VDIK e.V. collects a series of general data and information each time the website is accessed by a data subject or an automated system. These general data and information are stored in the log files of the server. The (1) browser types and versions used, (2) the operating system used by the accessing system, (3) the website from which an accessing system accesses our website (so-called referrer), (4) the sub-sites which are accessed via an accessing system on our website can be recorded, (5) the date and time of access to the website, (6) an Internet protocol address (IP address), (7) the Internet service provider of the accessing system and (8) other similar data and information used to avert dangers in the event of attacks on our information technology systems.

When using this general data and information, the VDIK e.V. does not draw any conclusions about the person concerned. Rather, this information is required in order to (1) correctly deliver the contents of our website, (2) optimise the contents of our website and the advertising for it, (3) guarantee the long-term operability of our information technology systems and the technology of our website and (4) provide law enforcement authorities with the information necessary for criminal prosecution in the event of a cyber attack. This anonymously collected data and information is therefore evaluated by the VDIK e.V. both statistically and with the aim of increasing data protection and data security in our company in order to ultimately ensure an optimum level of protection for the personal data processed by us. The anonymous data of the server log files are stored separately from all personal data provided by the person concerned.

Due to legal regulations, the VDIK e.V. website contains information that enables rapid electronic contact with our association and direct communication with us, which also includes a general address of the so-called electronic mail (e-mail address). If a data subject contacts the data controller by e-mail or via a contact form, the personal data transmitted by the data subject is automatically stored. Such personal data transmitted voluntarily by a data subject to the data controller will be stored for the purposes of processing or contacting the data subject. This personal data will not be passed on to third parties.

The controller shall process and store the personal data of the data subject only for the period of time necessary to achieve the storage purpose or where provided for by the European directive and regulation maker or another legislator in laws or regulations to which the controller is subject.

If the storage purpose no longer applies or if a storage period prescribed by the European directive and regulation giver or another competent legislator expires, the personal data shall be blocked or deleted routinely and in accordance with the statutory provisions.

a) Right to confirmation
Every data subject shall have the right, granted by the European directive and regulation maker, to obtain from the controller confirmation as to whether personal data relating to him or her are being processed. If a data subject wishes to exercise this right of confirmation, he or she may at any time contact an employee of the controller.

b) Right of access
Any person concerned by the processing of personal data has the right, granted by the European directive and regulation maker, to obtain at any time, free of charge, from the controller, information on the personal data relating to him which have been stored and a copy of that information. Furthermore, the European Data Protection Supervisor has granted the data subject access to the following information:

• the purposes of the processing
• the categories of personal data processed
• the recipients or categories of recipients to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed, in particular recipients in third countries or international organisations
• if possible, the planned duration for which the personal data will be stored or, if that is not possible, the criteria for determining that duration
• the existence of a right to the rectification or erasure of personal data concerning him or her or to the limitation of the processing carried out by the controller or of a right to object to such processing
• the existence of a right of appeal to a supervisory authority
• if the personal data are not collected from the data subject: All available information on the origin of the data
• the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, in accordance with Article 22(1) and (4) of the DS Block Exemption Regulation and, at least in these cases, meaningful information on the logic involved, the scope and the intended effects of such processing on the data subject

The data subject also has the right to know whether personal data have been transferred to a third country or to an international organisation. If this is the case, the data subject shall also have the right to obtain information on the appropriate safeguards in connection with the transfer.

If a data subject wishes to exercise this right of access, he or she may at any time contact a member of staff of the controller.

c) Right of rectification
Any person concerned by the processing of personal data has the right, granted by the European directive and regulation maker, to request the rectification without delay of inaccurate personal data concerning him or her. Furthermore, the data subject shall have the right, having regard to the purposes of the processing, to request the completion of incomplete personal data, including by means of a supplementary statement.

If a data subject wishes to exercise this right of rectification, he or she may at any time contact a member of staff of the controller.

d) Right to cancellation (right to be forgotten)
Any person data subject to the processing of personal data shall have the right, granted by the European directive and regulation, to require the controller to erase without delay personal data concerning him which are subject to one of the following conditions and to the extent that the processing is not necessary:

• Personal data have been collected or otherwise processed for purposes for which they are no longer necessary.
• The data subject withdraws his consent on which the processing was based pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 letter a DS-GVO or Art. 9 para. 2 letter a DS-GVO and there is no other legal basis for the processing.
• The data subject objects to the processing under Article 21(1) DS Block Exemption Regulation and there are no overriding legitimate reasons for the processing or the data subject objects to the processing under Article 21(2) DS Block Exemption Regulation.
• The personal data have been processed unlawfully.
• The deletion of the personal data is necessary to fulfil a legal obligation under Union law or the law of the Member States to which the controller is subject.
• The personal data were collected in relation to information society services offered pursuant to Art. 8 para. 1 DS-GVO.

If one of the above reasons applies and a data subject wishes to have personal data stored at the VDIK e.V. deleted, he or she can contact an employee of the data controller at any time. The employee of the VDIK e.V. shall arrange for the request for deletion to be complied with immediately.

If the VDIK e.V. has made the personal data public and if our association as the person responsible is obliged to delete the personal data pursuant to Art. 17 para. 1 DS-GVO, the VDIK e.V. shall take appropriate measures, also of a technical nature, taking into account the available technology and the implementation costs, to inform other persons responsible for data processing who process the published personal data that the person concerned has requested the deletion of all links to this personal data or copies or replications of this personal data from these other persons responsible for data processing, insofar as the processing is not required. The employee of the VDIK e.V. will take the necessary steps in individual cases.

e) Right to limitation of processing
Any person data subject to the processing of personal data has the right, granted by the European directive and regulation, to request the controller to limit the processing if one of the following conditions is met:

• The accuracy of the personal data shall be contested by the data subject for a period of time which allows the controller to verify the accuracy of the personal data.
• The processing is unlawful and the data subject refuses to erase the personal data and instead requests that the use of the personal data be restricted.
• The controller no longer needs the personal data for the purposes of processing, but the data subject needs them for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal rights.
• The data subject has lodged an objection to the processing pursuant to Art. 21 para. 1 DS-GVO and it is not yet clear whether the legitimate reasons of the data controller outweigh those of the data subject.

If one of the above conditions is met and a data subject wishes to request the restriction of personal data stored at the VDIK e.V., he or she can contact an employee of the data controller at any time. The employee of the VDIK e.V. will arrange for the processing to be restricted.

f) Right to data transferability
Any data subject involved in the processing of personal data has the right, granted by the European directive and regulation, to obtain personal data concerning him or her which have been provided by the data subject to a controller in a structured, common and machine-readable format. It also has the right to communicate these data to another controller without being hindered by the controller to whom the personal data have been provided, provided that the processing is based on the consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 letter a DS-GVO or Art. 9 para. 2 letter a DS-GVO or on a contract pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 letter b DS-GVO and the processing is carried out by automated means, provided that the processing is not necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority entrusted to the controller.

Furthermore, when exercising his right to data transferability pursuant to Art. 20 (1) DS Block Exemption Regulation, the data subject shall have the right to obtain that the personal data be transferred directly from one data controller to another data controller insofar as this is technically feasible and insofar as this does not impair the rights and freedoms of other persons.

In order to assert the right to data transferability, the person concerned can contact an employee of the VDIK e.V. at any time.

g) Right of appeal
Any person data subject to the processing of personal data has the right, granted by the European directive and regulation maker, to object at any time, for reasons related to his/her particular situation, to the processing of personal data concerning him/her on the basis of Article 6(1)(e) or (f) of the DS Block Exemption Regulation. This also applies to profiling based on these provisions.

The VDIK e.V. will no longer process the personal data in the event of an objection unless we can prove compelling reasons for the processing worthy of protection which outweigh the interests, rights and freedoms of the person concerned, or the processing serves to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.

If the VDIK e.V. processes personal data in order to conduct direct advertising, the person concerned has the right to object at any time to the processing of personal data for the purpose of such advertising. This also applies to profiling as far as it is connected with such direct advertising. If the person concerned objects to VDIK e.V. processing for direct marketing purposes, VDIK e.V. will no longer process the personal data for these purposes.

In addition, the data subject has the right to object to the processing of personal data concerning him/her by VDIK e.V. for scientific or historical research purposes or for statistical purposes pursuant to Art. 89 Para. 1 DS-GVO for reasons arising from his/her particular situation, unless such processing is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest.

In order to exercise the right to object, the person concerned may contact any employee of the VDIK e.V. or another employee directly. The data subject is also free to exercise his or her right of objection in connection with the use of information society services, notwithstanding Directive 2002/58/EC, by means of automated procedures in which technical specifications are used.

h) Automated case-by-case decisions including profiling
Any person data subject to the processing of personal data has the right under the European Directive and Regulation not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects upon him or her or significantly affects him or her in a similar manner, provided that the decision (1) is not necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract between the data subject and the data controller, or (2) is authorised by Union or national law or by the Member States to which the data controller is subject and which provides for adequate measures to safeguard the rights and freedoms and the legitimate interests of the data subject, or (3) is taken with the express consent of the data subject.

If the decision (1) is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract between the data subject and the data subject or (2) is made with the express consent of the data subject, the VDIK e.V. shall take appropriate measures to safeguard the rights and freedoms as well as the legitimate interests of the data subject, including at least the right to obtain the intervention of a data subject from the data subject, to state his or her point of view and to challenge the decision.

If the data subject wishes to exercise rights relating to automated decisions, he or she may at any time do so by contacting an employee of the controller.

i) Right to revoke consent under data protection law
Any person concerned by the processing of personal data has the right, granted by the European directive and regulation maker, to revoke consent to the processing of personal data at any time.

If the data subject wishes to exercise his or her right to withdraw consent, he or she may at any time do so by contacting an employee of the controller.

This website uses functions of the web analysis service Google Analytics. The provider is Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.

Google Analytics uses so-called “cookies”. These are text files that are stored on your computer and enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will generally be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

The storage of Google Analytics cookies and the use of this analysis tool are based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analysing user behaviour in order to optimise both its website and its advertising. If a corresponding consent has been requested (e.g. a consent to the storage of cookies), the processing takes place exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO; the consent can be revoked at any time.

IP anonymisation

We have activated the IP anonymization function on this website. This will cause Google to shorten your IP address within member states of the European Union or other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before it is transmitted to the United States. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services relating to website activity and internet usage to the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics is not combined with other data from Google.

Browser Plugin

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. You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) as well as Google from processing this data by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

Objection to data collection

You can prevent Google Analytics from collecting your data by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie is set to prevent your information from being collected on future visits to this website: [ga-optout text=”Disable Google Analytics”]

For more information on how Google Analytics uses user data, please see Google’s privacy policy: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de.

Order processing

We have concluded a contract with Google for order processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

Storage period

Data stored by Google at the user and event level that is linked to cookies, user IDs (e.g. User ID) or advertising IDs (e.g. DoubleClick cookies, Android advertising ID) is anonymised or deleted after 14 months. Details can be found under the following link: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7667196?hl=de

Art. 6 I lit. a DS-GVO serves our association as a legal basis for processing operations in which we obtain consent for a specific processing purpose. If the processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the person concerned is a party, as is the case, for example, with processing operations that are necessary for the delivery of goods or the provision of other services or consideration, the processing is based on Art. 6 I lit. b DS-GVO. The same shall apply to such processing operations which are necessary for the implementation of pre-contractual measures, for example in cases of inquiries regarding our products or services. If our association is subject to a legal obligation requiring the processing of personal data, such as for the fulfilment of tax obligations, the processing is based on Art. 6 I lit. c DS-GVO. In rare cases, the processing of personal data may become necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or another natural person. This would be the case, for example, if a visitor to our building were injured and his name, age, health insurance information or other vital information would have to be disclosed to a doctor, hospital or other third party. Then the processing would be based on Art. 6 I lit. d DS-GVO. Ultimately, processing operations could be based on Art. 6 I lit. f DS-GVO. Processing operations that are not covered by any of the aforementioned legal bases are based on this legal basis if the processing is necessary to safeguard a legitimate interest of our association or a third party, provided that the interests, fundamental rights and fundamental freedoms of the data subject do not predominate. Such processing operations are permitted to us in particular because they have been specifically mentioned by the European legislator. In this respect, it took the view that a legitimate interest could be assumed if the data subject is a customer of the data controller (recital 47 sentence 2 DS-GVO).

If the processing of personal data is based on Article 6 I lit. f DS-GVO, our legitimate interest is the performance of our activities for the benefit of all our employees and members.

The criterion for the duration of the storage of personal data is the respective legal retention period. After this period has expired, the corresponding data will be routinely deleted unless they are no longer required for the fulfilment or initiation of the contract.

We will inform you that the provision of personal data is partly required by law (e.g. tax regulations) or may result from contractual provisions (e.g. information on the contractual partner). Sometimes it may be necessary for a contract to be concluded that a person concerned makes personal data available to us which must subsequently be processed by us. For example, the data subject is obliged to provide us with personal data if our association concludes a contract with him or her. Failure to provide personal data would mean that the contract could not be concluded with the data subject. The data subject must contact one of our employees before providing personal data. Our employee will inform the data subject on a case-by-case basis whether the provision of personal data is required by law or contract or is necessary for the conclusion of a contract, whether there is an obligation to provide the personal data and what the consequences of not providing the personal data would be.

As a responsible company, we refrain from automatic decision-making or profiling.

Twitter plugin

Functions of the Twitter service are integrated on this website. These functions are offered by Twitter Inc, 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. By using Twitter and the “Re-Tweet” function, the websites you visit are linked to your Twitter account and made known to other users. Data is also transferred to Twitter. We would like to point out that, as the provider of the pages, we do not have any knowledge of the content of the transmitted data or its use by Twitter. Further information on this can be found in Twitter’s data protection declaration at: https://twitter.com/de/privacy.

The Twitter plug-in is used on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a justified interest in the widest possible visibility in the social media.

You can change your data protection settings on Twitter in the account settings at https://twitter.com/account/settings

YouTube with enhanced data protection

This website includes videos from YouTube. The website is operated by Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.

We use YouTube in advanced privacy mode. According to YouTube, this mode means that YouTube does not store any information about visitors to this website before they view the video. However, YouTube’s enhanced privacy mode does not necessarily preclude the sharing of information with YouTube partners. YouTube connects to the Google DoubleClick network whether or not you’re watching a video.

When you start a YouTube video on this site, it connects to YouTube’s servers. This will tell the YouTube server which of our pages you’ve visited. If you are logged in to your YouTube account, you can allow YouTube to associate your surfing behaviour directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

YouTube can also store various cookies on your device after you start a video. YouTube can use these cookies to obtain information about visitors to this website. This information is used, among other things, to collect video statistics, improve usability and prevent fraud. The cookies remain on your device until you delete them.

If necessary, after the start of a YouTube video, further data processing operations may be triggered over which we have no control.

YouTube is used in the interest of an appealing presentation of our online services. This constitutes a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. If a corresponding consent has been requested (e.g. a consent to the storage of cookies), the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO; the consent can be revoked at any time.

Further information on data protection at YouTube can be found in its data protection declaration at: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Google Web Fonts

This page uses so-called web fonts provided by Google for the uniform display of fonts. When you call up a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into its browser cache in order to display texts and fonts correctly.

For this purpose, the browser you are using must connect to Google’s servers. This enables Google to know that your IP address has been used to access this website. The use of Google Web Fonts is in the interest of a uniform and appealing presentation of our online services. This constitutes a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO.

If your browser does not support web fonts, a standard font will be used by your computer.

Further information on Google Web Fonts can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google’s privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

This data protection declaration was created by the data protection declaration generator of the DGD Deutsche Gesellschaft für Datenschutz GmbH, which acts as the external data protection officer for Munich, in cooperation with the Cologne IT and data protection lawyer Christian Solmecke.