Privacy Policy

09.02.2021

1  Data protection information

We take the protection of your personal data very seriously. In the following, we would like to provide you with comprehensive and detailed information about what we collect your personal data for, what we do with it, to whom we may disclose this data and where and for how long we store your data. In addition, you as the data subject have numerous rights, about which we would also like to inform you. We make this information available to you on the basis of Regulation (EU) 679/2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data, on the free movement of data and on the repeal of Directive 95/46/EC, hereinafter referred to as DSGVO.
Privacy Preference

2  Who processes your personal data?

We, these are the positions listed below. We operate the data processing jointly and, as jointly responsible persons in accordance with Art. 26 DS-GVO, are your contact persons in all data protection matters.

Soendgen Keramik GmbH
Albert-Einstein-Str. 13
53501 Gelsdorf

Represented by
Björn Hansen, Ralf Schwinn, Marcus Grothaus

phone:  +49 / 2225 / 8851-0

Our data protection officer, Mr. Marc Dauenhauer (contact at datenschutz@soendgen.de), is at your disposal for all questions regarding the processing of your data.

3  Principles of data processing

3.1  Legal bases

3.1.1 General information

We process your personal data in accordance with the legal requirements of the DSGVO and the Federal Data Protection Act in the current version. We process your personal data in detail:

  • within the scope of statutory obligations,
  • insofar as we need them to fulfil contracts that we have concluded with you,
  • as far as they are necessary for pre-contractual measures (e.g. offers),
  • if you have given your consent,
  • within the framework of our legitimate interests, which include marketing and direct advertising,
  • as well as the Protection of our legal claims.

3.2  Passing on of data

In principle, we do not pass on data to third parties, unless,

  • You have agreed to the transfer,
  • we are obliged by law to do so,
  • it is necessary to fulfill a contract with you,
  • it is necessary to protect our legitimate interests,
  • we commission external service providers to carry out tasks. In this case, we ensure that our service providers provide sufficient guarantees that appropriate technical and organisational measures are in place and that processing is in compliance with the DSGVO (Art. 28 DSGVO). For this reason we select such service providers very carefully.

3.3  Consents

3.3.1  Obtaining consent

Ihre Einwilligung in die Verarbeitung von personenbezogenen Daten – sofern erforderlich – holen wir elektronisch oder schriftlich ein. Elektronische Einwilligungen sichern wir durch ein entsprechendes Double-Opt-In-Verfahren ab und protokollieren Ihre Einwilligung.

3.3.2 Revocation

You can revoke your consent once given at any time with effect for the future. The legality of data processing based on the consent until revocation is not affected by this. You can address your revocation to one of the offices listed under 2.

3.3.3 Legal consequences of the revocation

If processing of your personal data is based on your consent, we will terminate it as a result of your revocation. This may also mean that services you have received (e.g. newsletters) can no longer be provided.

3.4 Processing in third countries

We process your data within the EU or the European Economic Area. An exception is the use of IT systems of partners and service providers operating in the USA or other third countries. In these cases, we ensure before the transmission of your personal data that appropriate guarantees exist to protect your personal data. The processing of your data in the USA is carried out in accordance with Art. 46 para. 2 lit. c and d DSGVO on the basis of corresponding contracts using approved standard contractual clauses of the EU Commission. We will be happy to provide you with further information on request.

3.5 Online forms

3.5.1 Contact form

If you send us enquiries using the contact form, your details from the enquiry form, including the contact data you provided there, will be stored for the purpose of processing the enquiry and in the event of follow-up questions. We will not pass on this data without your consent. The data entered in the contact form is therefore processed exclusively on the basis of your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke this consent at any time. All you need to do is send us an informal e-mail. The legality of the data processing processes carried out up to the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation. The data entered by you in the contact form will remain with us until you request us to delete, your consent for storage revoked or the purpose for data storage no longer applies (e.g. after your request has been processed). We will also use your contact details for further contact and direct advertising in accordance with section 4.1. Mandatory statutory provisions – in particular retention periods – remain unaffected.

3.5.2 Registration and use of online services as a dealer

You have the opportunity to register as a dealer on our website to create order requests for our online offers and send them to us. Registration and data processing is required in order to carry out contractual and precontractual measures as per Art 6 Para 1 (b) of the GDPR. After registering, you can log on to our pages with your login details and your chosen password and create order requests.  As part of the legitimate interest in a faultless, trouble-free and proper use of the online services as per Art 6 Para 1 (f) of the GDPR, we save any additional usage data beyond that required for commercial purposes (login times, IP addresses, functions used), which we delete after no more than seven days, unless exceptional circumstances (e.g. proof of illegal use) mean that this data must be saved for longer or if this is allowed by law or ordered by a judge. Otherwise, the provisions of Para 4.2 apply when creating and using order requests.

3.6 Storage and deletion periods

We store your personal data only as long as it is necessary to fulfil their processing purpose or due to legal storage obligations. After that, the personal data will be deleted. Deviating from this, we delete your contact data only after 3 years in which you have not contacted us, subscribed to our newsletter, participated in one of our events or used one of our other offers. Of course, your rights to deletion, blocking, restriction of processing or the right to oblivion remain unaffected.

3.7 Rights of the persons concerned

3.7.1 Right to information (Art. 15 DSGVO)

Data subjects have the right to request information as to whether or not personal data relating to them are processed. If personal data is processed by our company, we are entitled to information about:

  • the processing purposes;
  • the categories of personal data (type of data) to be processed;
  • the recipients or categories of recipients to whom their data have been or will be disclosed, in particular where data have been or are to be disclosed to recipients in third countries outside the scope of the DSGVO;
  • the planned storage period, if possible; if it is not possible to specify the storage period, the criteria for determining the storage period (e.g. statutory retention periods, etc.) must be provided;
  • Your right to correction and deletion of data concerning you, including the right to limitation of processing and/or the possibility of objection (see also the following paragraphs);
  • the existence of a right of appeal to a supervisory authority;
  • the origin of the data, if personal data were not collected directly from the data subject.

You are also entitled to information as to whether your personal data is the subject of an automated decision within the meaning of Art 22 DSGVO and, if this is the case, which decision criteria form the basis of such an automated decision (logic) or which effects and scope the automated decision may have for you. If personal data are transferred to a third country outside the scope of the DSBER, you are entitled to information as to whether and if so on the basis of which guarantees an appropriate level of protection within the meaning of Articles 45, 46 DSBER is ensured at the data recipient in the third country. You have the right to request a copy of your personal data. As a matter of principle, we make data copies available in electronic form, unless you have indicated otherwise. The first copy is free of charge; an appropriate fee may be charged for further copies. It is made available subject to the rights and freedoms of other persons who may be affected by the transmission of the data copy.

3.7.2 Right to correction (Art. 16 DSGVO)

You have the right to request us to correct your data if it is inaccurate, inaccurate and/or incomplete; the right to correct includes the right to supplement it with additional explanations or notifications. Corrections and/or additions must be made immediately – i.e. without culpable delay.

3.7.3 Right to cancellation (Art. 17 DSGVO)

You have the right to request us to delete your personal data if

  • the personal data are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected and processed;
  • the data processing is based on a consent given by you and you have revoked the consent, unless there is another legal basis for the data processing;
  • you have filed an objection to data processing pursuant to Art. 21 DSGVO and there are no overriding legitimate reasons for further processing,
  • you have filed an objection to data processing for the purpose of direct advertising pursuant to Art. 21 para. 2 DSGVO;
  • your personal data have been processed unlawfully;
  • it is data of a child collected in relation to information society services pursuant to Art. 8 para. 1 DSGVO

There is no right to delete personal data if

  • the right to freedom of expression and information precludes the request for cancellation;
  • the processing of personal data is necessary (i) to fulfil a legal obligation (e.g. statutory retention obligations), (ii) to perform public tasks and interests under EU law and/or the law of the member states (this also includes interests in the field of public health) or (iii) for archiving and/or research purposes;
  • the personal data required to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.

The deletion must take place immediately – i.e. without culpable delay. If personal data has been made public by us (e.g. on the Internet), we must, to the extent technically possible and reasonable, ensure that third party data processors are also informed of the request for deletion, including the deletion of links, copies and/or replications.

3.7.4 Right to limitation of processing (Art. 18 DSGVO)

You have the right to have the processing of your personal data restricted in the following cases:

  • If you have disputed the accuracy of your personal data, you can demand that we do not use your data for other purposes for the duration of the accuracy check and limit them in this respect.
  • In the event of unlawful data processing, you may request the restriction of data use in accordance with Art. 18 DSGVO instead of data deletion in accordance with Art. 17 (1) (d) DSGVO;
  • If you need your personal data to assert, exercise or defend legal claims, but otherwise your personal data are no longer required, you can request us to restrict processing to the aforementioned legal prosecution purposes;
  • If you have filed an objection to data processing pursuant to Art. 21 para. 1 DSGVO and it is not yet clear whether our interests in processing outweigh your interests, you may demand that your data not be used for other purposes for the duration of the examination and be restricted in this respect.

Personal data whose processing has been restricted at your request may – subject to storage – only be processed (i) with your consent, (ii) to assert, exercise or defend legal claims, (iii) to protect the rights of other natural or legal persons, or (iv) for reasons of an important public interest. If a processing restriction is lifted, you will be informed of this in advance.

3.7.5 Right to data transferability (Art. 20 DSGVO)

Subject to the following provisions, you have the right to demand the surrender of the data concerning you in a common electronic, machine-readable data format. The right to data transmission includes the right to transfer the data to another person responsible; on request, we will therefore – as far as technically possible – transfer data directly to a person responsible named or to be named by you. The right to transfer data exists only for data provided by you and presupposes that the processing is based on a consent or for the execution of a contract and is carried out using automated procedures. The right to data transmission according to Art. 20 DSGVO does not affect the right to data deletion according to Art. 17 DSGVO. Data transmission is subject to the rights and freedoms of other persons whose rights may be affected by the data transmission.

3.7.6 Right of objection (Art. 21 DSGVO)

In the case of processing personal data to perform tasks in the public interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit e DSGVO) or to safeguard legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 lit f DSGVO), you can object to the processing of your personal data at any time with future effect. In the event of an objection, we shall refrain from any further processing of your data for the aforementioned purposes, unless,

  • there are compelling, legitimate grounds for processing which outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms, or
  • the processing is necessary to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.

You can object to the use of your data for the purpose of direct advertising at any time with effect for the future; this also applies to profiling, insofar as it is connected with direct advertising. In the event of objection, we must refrain from any further processing of your data for the purpose of direct marketing.

3.7.7 Prohibition of automated decisions / profiling (Art. 22 DSGVO)[where relevant]

Decisions that have legal consequences for you or significantly affect you must not be based solely on automated processing of personal data, including profiling. This does not apply if the automated decision

  • is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract with you,
  • is admissible under Union or Member State law, provided that such law contains appropriate measures to safeguard your rights, freedoms and legitimate interests,
  • or with your express consent.

Decisions based exclusively on automated processing of special categories of personal data are inadmissible in principle, unless Art. 22 para. 4 in conjunction with Art. 9 para. 2 lit a or lit. g DSGVO applies and appropriate measures have been taken to protect the rights and freedoms as well as the legitimate interests of your person.

3.7.8 Legal protection

In the event of complaints, you can contact the competent supervisory authority of the Union or the Member States at any time. The supervisory authority referred to in Section II is responsible for our company.

4  Detailed information on individual processing operations

In the following we have listed in detail the various purposes for which we collect and process personal data, which data we process and how we handle the personal data and to whom we forward them if necessary.

4.1 Processing for the purpose of communication with interested parties and customers, advertising to interested parties and customers, marketing and public relations work

4.1.1  Purpose and legal basis

For the purpose of direct advertising for our products and services, we process your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest pursuant to Art 6 Para. 1 lit. f DSGVO.

4.1.2 Scope of data processing

In order to contact you and to inform you according to your interests, we process the following data:

  • Names,
  • Address,
  • Email address,
  • Telephone number,
  • Areas of interest

4.1.3  Origin of data

We have received this information from you personally or from public sources. If you entered the data yourself using one of our online contact forms, we refer you to Section 3.5.1

4.1.4  Storage and deletion periods

According to the basic rules of 3.6

4.2 Processing for the fulfilment of contracts with customers and suppliers and for the enforcement of legal claims

4.2.1  Purpose and legal basis

We process your personal data, as far as

  • this is necessary for the fulfilment of a contract with you,
  • it is necessary for the implementation of pre-contractual measures,
  • we are obliged to do so by law,
  • it is necessary to protect our legitimate interests within the framework of the execution of the contract.
  • you have given your consent for processing

We pursue justified interests in particular in connection with the enforcement of legal claims, e.g. for payment of agreed fees for the provision of services.

4.2.2  Scope of data processing

We may process the following categories of data:

  • Name, address,
  • Contract data
  • Performance data for the service provided (e.g. location, date, expenses)
  • costs for the provision of services
  • Bank details
  • Dunning and payment data
  • Collection data
  • Creditworthiness data

4.2.3  Origin of data

We have received the data from you, our partners, public authorities.

4.2.4  Transfer of data, processing in third countries

In principle, we process your data only within the framework of the principles listed under 3.2 and 3.4. To safeguard our legitimate interests, we pass on personal data to our debt collection service providers – Euler Hermes Collections GmbH, Zeppelinstrasse 48, 14471 Potsdam and Coface Rating GmbH, Isaac-Fulda-Allee 1, 55124 Mainz. In addition, we obtain credit information from the following service providers: Company Bisnode D&B Deutschland GmbH, Robert-Bosch-Strasse 11, 64293 Darmstadt.

4.2.5  Storage and deletion periods

According to the principles of 3.6

4.3 Processing of applicant data

4.3.1  Purpose and legal basis

If you would like to work with us, we look forward to receiving your application. We process the personal data that you have made available to us as part of your application as well as the data that arises in the course of the application process. These are pre-contractual measures. We assume that by sending us your data you have given us your consent for processing as part of the application process. If we accept your application, we will continue to store your data within the scope of your cooperation in accordance with Art 6 Para. 1 lit. b DSGVO in conjunction with §26 BDSG 2018. If we reject your application, we will store the records of the application process for a maximum of a further 6 months to safeguard our legitimate interests.

4.3.2  Scope of data processing

We process the following data in the application process:

  • Name, address
  • marital status
  • denomination
  • Qualifications
  • Professional career
  • Economic information (e.g. salary request)
  • Individual information that you have provided to us in the application process.

4.3.3 Storage and deletion periods

We will delete this data 6 months after rejection of your application with the exception of your contact data, unless longer storage periods are provided for by law. We will store your contact data for the purposes of 4.1 beyond this period.

4.4 Processing to optimize and secure our online offer

4.4.1 Purpose and legal basis

We offer numerous online services for our members and interested parties. In addition to our Internet pages, this also includes an online shop. In order to ensure and further optimise the security, functionality and user-friendliness of our online offers, we collect personal data as soon as you use one of our online offers including mobile apps.

4.4.2 Scope of data processing

We regularly collect the following data:

  • Your IP address,
  • the date and time of the request,
  • Access status/http status code,
  • browser software used as well as its language and version,
  • the operating system used,
  • URLs you come from and go to next,
  • the amount of data transferred and
  • the information whether the request was successful.

4.4.3 Disclosure of data

We also use external service providers to provide our online services, including mobile apps. These may also come into contact with your personal data. We carefully select these service providers and ensure that your data is protected by appropriate guarantees and technical-organizational measures. For more information, see 3.2

4.4.4 Storage and deletion periods

These data will be deleted within 7 days unless they are exceptionally required for a longer period to protect legitimate interests. This may be necessary, for example, to correct errors or to prosecute criminal acts.

4.4.5 Notes on the use of cookies on our Internet pages

Each time you visit our website, so-called “cookies” are also stored on your terminal device. Cookies are information files. As soon as you visit our website, your Internet browser automatically saves it on your computer or data carrier. Cookies are used to make your visit to our site easier and more pleasant and to develop our site further. If you have already visited our site and made settings there, for example, a cookie with appropriate information is stored. When you visit our website again, our system recognizes this information so that you do not have to re-enter it each time you visit it. In addition, the information obtained serves exclusively to compile statistics on the use of our website in order to adapt them to your wishes and to make the use of our online offer as comfortable as possible. No personal data, such as your name or address, will be generated or passed on. Therefore, you cannot be personally identified on the basis of this information. Cookies also cannot run programs or damage your computer’s hard drive. Most of the cookies we use are so-called “session cookies”. They are automatically deleted at the end of your visit. Some so-called long-term cookies remain on your computer and will be recognized on your next visit to our site. This allows us to provide you with better access to our site. In particular, this website uses the following types of cookies:

  • Transient cookies (temporary use) –
  • Persistent cookies (temporary use)
  • Third-party cookies (from third parties).

Transient cookies are automatically deleted when you close your browser. This includes in particular the session cookies. These store a so-called session ID, with which different requests of your browser can be assigned to the common session. This allows your computer to be recognized when you return to the website. Session cookies are deleted when you log out or close your browser. Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a specified period, which may vary depending on the cookie. You can delete cookies at any time in the security settings of your browser. Third-party cookies originate from third-party providers, e.g. in the context of the use of the web analysis service Google Analytics. The information stored by the use of cookies is stored separately from any other data we may have provided. In particular, the data in the cookies are not linked to your other data.

4.5 Use of web analytics services, social networking plug-ins and third-party services

4.5.1 Web analysis service Google Analytics

4.5.1.1 General information

This website uses functions of the web analysis service Google Analytics. The provider is 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 enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. Google Analytics cookies are stored on the basis of Art. 6 Par. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analysing user behaviour in order to optimise both his website and his advertising.

4.5.1.2 IP anonymization

We have activated the IP anonymisation function on this website. This will cause your IP address to be cut by Google within Member States of the European Union or in other countries party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before being transmitted to the USA. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be 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 the website operator with other services relating to website and Internet use. The IP address transmitted by your browser in the context of Google Analytics is not merged with other Google data.

4.5.1.3 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 relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) and from processing this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

4.5.1.4 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 which prevents the collection of your data on future visits to this website: Disable Google Analytics. More information on how Google Analytics handles user data can be found in Google’s privacy policy: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.

Use of Google Maps

We use Google Maps on this website. Google Maps is operated by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (hereinafter “Google”). This enables us to show you interactive maps directly on the website and enables you to conveniently use the map function.
You can find more information about data processing by Google in the Google data protection information: https://policies.google.com/privacy . There you can also change your personal data protection settings in the data protection center.

You can find detailed instructions for managing your own data in connection with Google products here: https://www.dataliberation.org

When you visit the website, Google receives information that you have accessed the relevant subpage of our website. This happens regardless of whether Google provides a user account that you are logged in to or whether there is no user account. If you are logged in to Google, your data will be assigned directly to your account.

If you do not want the assignment in your Google profile, you must log out of Google before activating the button. Google saves your data as a usage profile and uses it for advertising, market research and / or needs-based design of its websites. Such an evaluation takes place in particular (even for users who are not logged in) to provide needs-based advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles, although you must contact Google to exercise this right.

Revocation of consent:

The provider currently does not offer the option of simply opting out or blocking data transmission. If you want to prevent your activities on our website from being tracked, please revoke your consent for the corresponding cookie category or for all technically unnecessary cookies and data transfers in the cookie consent tool. In this case, however, you may not be able to use our website or only to a limited extent.

The data protection declaration was created with the help of activeMind AG, the experts for external data protection officers (Version # 2020-09-30).

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