3. General information and mandatory notices

Privacy
The operators of these pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and in accordance with statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy. When you use this website, various personal data is collected. Personal data is data that can be used to personally identify you. This privacy policy explains what data we collect and what we use it for. It also explains how and for what purpose this is done. We would like to point out that data transmission over the internet (e.g., when communicating by email) can have security gaps. Complete protection of data against access by third parties is not possible.

Notice regarding the responsible party
The party responsible for data processing on this website is:
Gerd-Joachim Töpfer
Hermann-Weill-Straße 2a
40474 Düsseldorf
Telefon: +49 (0) 211 45 12 86
Email: toepfer@gj-toepfer.de

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 (e.g., names, email addresses, etc.).

Storage duration
Unless a more specific storage duration has been specified within this privacy policy, your personal data will remain with us until the purpose for the data processing no longer applies. If you assert a legitimate request for deletion or revoke consent to data processing, your data will be deleted unless we have other legally permissible reasons for storing your personal data (e.g., retention periods under tax or commercial law); in the latter case, deletion will take place after these reasons cease to apply.

General information on the legal basis for data processing on this website
If you have consented to data processing, we process your personal data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR or Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR, if special categories of data are processed pursuant to Art. 9(1) GDPR. In the case of explicit consent to the transfer of personal data to third countries, data processing also takes place on the basis of Art. 49(1)(a) GDPR. If you have consented to the storage of cookies or access to information on your device (e.g., via device fingerprinting), data processing also takes place on the basis of Section 25(1) TDDDG. Consent can be revoked at any time. If your data is required for the performance of a contract or for the implementation of pre-contractual measures, we process your data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. Furthermore, if your data is required to fulfill a legal obligation, we process it on the basis of Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR. Data processing may also take place on the basis of our legitimate interest pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The relevant legal basis in each individual case is explained in the following paragraphs of this privacy policy.

Notice on data transfer to third countries not considered secure under data protection law, as well as transfers to US companies not certified under the DPF
Among other things, we use tools from companies based in third countries that are not considered secure under data protection law, as well as US tools whose providers are not certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF). When these tools are active, your personal data may be transferred to and processed in these countries. Please note that a level of data protection comparable to that in the EU cannot be guaranteed in third countries that are not considered secure under data protection law. We would like to point out that the USA, as a secure third country, generally has a level of data protection comparable to the EU. A transfer of data to the USA is therefore permissible if the recipient holds a certification under the "EU-US Data Privacy Framework" (DPF) or has suitable additional safeguards. Information on transfers to third countries, including the data recipients, can be found in this privacy policy.

Recipients of personal data
As part of our business activities, we work together with various external parties. This sometimes requires the transfer of personal data to these external parties. We only pass on personal data to external parties if this is necessary for the performance of a contract, if we are legally obligated to do so (e.g., disclosure of data to tax authorities), if we have a legitimate interest under Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR in the disclosure, or if some other legal basis permits the data transfer. When using processors, we only pass on our customers' personal data on the basis of a valid data processing agreement. In the case of joint processing, a joint controller agreement is concluded.

Revocation of your consent to data processing
Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You can revoke consent you have already given at any time. The lawfulness of the data processing carried out prior to the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

Right to object to data collection in special cases and to direct marketing (Art. 21 GDPR)

IF DATA PROCESSING IS BASED ON ART. 6(1)(E) OR (F) GDPR, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT AT ANY TIME, FOR REASONS ARISING FROM YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, TO OBJECT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA; THIS ALSO APPLIES TO PROFILING BASED ON THESE PROVISIONS. THE RESPECTIVE LEGAL BASIS ON WHICH PROCESSING IS BASED CAN BE FOUND IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY. IF YOU OBJECT, WE WILL NO LONGER PROCESS YOUR AFFECTED PERSONAL DATA UNLESS WE CAN DEMONSTRATE COMPELLING LEGITIMATE GROUNDS FOR THE PROCESSING WHICH OVERRIDE YOUR INTERESTS, RIGHTS, AND FREEDOMS, OR THE PROCESSING SERVES TO ASSERT, EXERCISE, OR DEFEND LEGAL CLAIMS (OBJECTION PURSUANT TO ART. 21(1) GDPR). IF YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS PROCESSED FOR THE PURPOSE OF DIRECT MARKETING, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OBJECT AT ANY TIME TO THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA CONCERNING YOU FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUCH MARKETING; THIS ALSO APPLIES TO PROFILING TO THE EXTENT THAT IT IS RELATED TO SUCH DIRECT MARKETING. IF YOU OBJECT, YOUR PERSONAL DATA WILL SUBSEQUENTLY NO LONGER BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF DIRECT MARKETING (OBJECTION PURSUANT TO ART. 21(2) GDPR).

Right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority
In the event of violations of the GDPR, data subjects have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, particularly in the member state of their habitual residence, place of work, or the place of the alleged violation. This right to complain exists without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedies.

Right to data portability
You have the right to have data that we process automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfillment of a contract handed over to you or to a third party in a common, machine-readable format. If you request the direct transfer of the data to another controller, this will only be done to the extent that it is technically feasible.

Right to access, rectification, and erasure
Within the framework of applicable statutory provisions, you have the right at any time to free information about your stored personal data, its origin and recipients, and the purpose of the data processing, and, if applicable, a right to rectification or erasure of this data. You may contact us at any time regarding this and other questions on the subject of personal data.

Right to restriction of processing
You have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data. You can contact us at any time for this purpose. The right to restriction of processing exists in the following cases:
If you dispute the accuracy of your personal data stored with us, we generally need time to verify this. For the duration of the verification, you have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data. If the processing of your personal data was/is unlawful, you can request the restriction of data processing instead of erasure. If we no longer need your personal data, but you need it to assert, exercise, or defend legal claims, you have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data instead of erasure. If you have lodged an objection pursuant to Art. 21(1) GDPR, a balancing of your interests and ours must be carried out. As long as it has not yet been determined whose interests prevail, you have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data. If you have restricted the processing of your personal data, this data may — apart from being stored — only be processed with your consent or for the assertion, exercise, or defense of legal claims, or for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person, or for reasons of important public interest of the European Union or a member state.

SSL/TLS encryption
For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or inquiries that you send to us as the site operator, this site uses SSL or TLS encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address bar of the browser changes from "http://" to "https://" and by the padlock symbol in your browser bar. When SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

4. Plugins und Tools

Wordfence
We have integrated Wordfence on this website. The provider is Defiant Inc., 800 5th Ave Ste 4100, Seattle, WA 98104, USA (hereinafter "Wordfence"). Wordfence serves to protect our website from unwanted access or malicious cyberattacks. For this purpose, our website establishes a permanent connection to Wordfence's servers so that Wordfence can compare the access attempts made on our website against its databases and block them if necessary.

The use of Wordfence is based on Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in protecting their website from cyberattacks as effectively as possible. If corresponding consent has been requested, processing takes place exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and Section 25(1) TDDDG, insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information on the user's device (e.g., device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TDDDG. Consent can be revoked at any time. The transfer of data to the USA is based on the standard contractual clauses of the EU Commission. Details can be found here: https://www.wordfence.com/help/general-data-protection-regulation/.

Data processing agreement
We have concluded a data processing agreement (DPA) for the use of the above-mentioned service. This is a contract mandated by data protection law that ensures the provider processes the personal data of our website visitors only according to our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR.

Source: https://www.e-recht24.de