Privacy Policy

The following information provides a simple overview of what happens to your personal data when you visit our website. Personal data is any data with which you can be personally identified. When we talk about “customers” in the following, we are referring to the operators of the website – also noted as “responsible publisher” in the imprint.

Data processing on this website is carried out by the website operator. You can find his contact details in the imprint of this website.

On the one hand, your data is collected when you provide it to us. This may be data that you enter in a contact form, for example.

Other data is collected automatically by our IT systems when you visit the website. This is mainly technical data (e.g. internet browser, operating system or time of page view). This data is collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

Part of the data is collected to ensure error-free provision of the website. Other data may be used to analyse your user behaviour. Your IP address is stored by our servers for up to 24 months. This is done for security reasons (the firewall software “Fail2Ban” uses this to reliably fend off attacks on our server systems). After a maximum of 24 months (or corresponding written request), the IPs are deleted again accordingly.

You have the right to receive information about the origin, recipient and purpose of your stored personal data free of charge at any time. You also have the right to request the correction, blocking or deletion of this data. You can contact us at any time at the address given in the imprint for this purpose and for further questions on the subject of data protection. Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the responsible supervisory authority.

When visiting our website, your surfing behaviour can be statistically evaluated. This is done primarily with cookies and so-called analysis programs. The analysis of your surfing behaviour is usually anonymous; the surfing behaviour cannot be traced back to you. You can refuse this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. For details, please refer to our data protection declaration under the heading “Third-party modules and analysis tools”.

You can refuse this analysis. We will inform you about the objection options in this data protection declaration.

The operators of these pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this data protection declaration.

When you use this website, various personal data are collected. Personal data is data by which you can be personally identified. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect and how we use it. It also explains how and for what purpose this is done.

We would like to point out that data transmission on the Internet (e.g. when communicating by e-mail) can have security gaps. Complete protection of data against access by third parties is not possible.

The responsible party for the processing within the meaning of Article 4 of the GDPR on this website is:

Ministerium der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft,

Gospertstraße 1

B-4700 Eupen

represented by Mr. Ralph Breuer, Deputy Secretary General.

The data protection officer within the meaning of Article 37 of the GDPR is Mr. Wilfried Heyen, datenschutz@dgov.be.

Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You can revoke consent you have already given at any time. For this purpose, an informal communication by e-mail to us is sufficient. The legality of the data processing carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

In case of violations of data protection law, the person concerned has the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority. Data protection complaints can be addressed to the Data Protection Authority, Rue de la Presse 35, 1000 Brussels. For further information: https://www.datenschutzbehorde.be/zivilist

You have the right to have the data that we have processed automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfilment of a contract, either for yourself or for 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 insofar as it is technically possible.

For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or enquiries that you send to us as site operator, this site uses SSL or TLS encryption. You can recognise an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from “http://” to “https://” and by the lock symbol in your browser line.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Within the framework of the applicable legal provisions, you have the right at any time to free information about your stored personal data, its origin and recipient and the purpose of the data processing and, if applicable, a right to correction, blocking or deletion of this data. For this purpose as well as for further questions on the subject of personal data, you can contact us at any time at the address given in the imprint.

We hereby expressly prohibit the contact data published as part of our duty to publish an imprint for the purpose of sending us any advertising or informational materials that we have not expressly requested. The operators of the pages expressly reserve the right to take legal action in the case of unrequested sending of advertising information, for example: spam mails.

Some of the Internet pages use so-called cookies. Cookies do not cause any damage to your computer and do not contain viruses. Cookies serve to make our offer more user-friendly, effective and secure. Cookies are small text files that are saved on your computer and stored by your browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called “session cookies”. They are automatically deleted at the end of your visit. Other cookies remain stored on your terminal device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognise your browser on your next visit.

You can configure your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and only allow cookies in individual cases, refuse the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or in general and activate the automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. If you deactivate cookies, the functionality of this website may be limited.

Cookies that are required to carry out the electronic communication process or to provide certain functions that you have requested (e.g. shopping cart function) are stored based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in storing cookies for the technically error-free and optimised provision of its services. Insofar as other cookies (e.g. cookies to analyse your surfing behaviour) are stored, these are treated separately in this data protection declaration.

The provider of the pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:

browser type and browser version
Operating system used
referrer URL
Host name of the accessing computer
Time of the server request
IP address

This data is not merged with other data sources.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO, which permits the processing of data for the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures.

This data is kept for 24 months and graphically processed in a data protection-compliant and anonymised manner using the statistics tool “PIWIK/MATOMO”.

Analysis / web statistics

The web tracking tool “Matomo” (formerly: “Piwik”) is used for the purpose of optimising our internet pages. The IP addresses are immediately anonymised by Matomo, which means that it is not possible to identify visitors. The anonymous statistical data is stored separately from any personal data you may have provided and does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about a specific person.

You can object to tracking by clicking on the following link

If you send us requests via the contact form, your details from the request form, including the contact details you provide there, will be stored by us for the purpose of processing the request and in the event of follow-up questions. We do not pass on this data without your consent.

The processing of the data entered in the contact form is therefore based exclusively on your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke this consent at any time. For this purpose, an informal communication by e-mail to us is sufficient. The legality of the data processing operations carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

The data you entered in the contact form will remain with us until you request us to delete it, revoke your consent to store it or the purpose for storing the data no longer applies (e.g. after we have completed processing your request). Mandatory legal provisions – in particular storage periods – remain unaffected.

On this website we also use the reCAPTCHA function of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland (“Google”). This function is primarily used to distinguish whether an entry is made by a physical person or is abused by machine and automated processing. The service includes the sending of the IP address and, if applicable, further data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service to Google and is carried out in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR on the basis of our legitimate interest in determining individual responsibility on the Internet and the prevention of misuse and spam. The use of Google reCAPTCHA may also involve the transmission of personal data to the servers of Google LLC. in the USA. Further information on Google reCAPTCHA and Google’s privacy policy can be found at: https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

The content on our pages can be shared on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+ in a privacy-compliant manner. This page uses privacy-compliant links to the corresponding networks. These simple links do not transmit any data in advance without your consent. This tool only establishes direct contact between the networks and users when the user actively clicks on one of these buttons.

This tool does not automatically transfer user data to the operators of these platforms. If the user is registered with one of the social networks, an information window appears when using the social buttons of Facebook, Google+1, Twitter & Co. in which the user can confirm the text before sending it.

Our users can share the contents of this page in social networks in a privacy-compliant manner without complete surfing profiles being created by the operators of the networks.

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 transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

Google Analytics cookies are stored on the basis of Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analysing user behaviour in order to optimise both its website and its advertising.

We have activated the IP anonymisation function on this website. This means that your IP address is shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of 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 for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing 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 will not be merged with other Google data.

You have the option to prevent the storage of cookies by setting your browser software accordingly; however, we would like to point out that in this case you may not be able to use all functions of this website to their full extent. In addition, you can prevent the collection of the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (incl. your IP address) to Google as well as the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plugin available under the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en

You can prevent the collection of your data by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set, which will prevent the collection of your data during future visits to this website: Deactivate Google Analytics

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

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

Our website uses plugins from the YouTube site operated by Google. The operator of the pages is YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.

When you visit one of our pages equipped with a YouTube plugin, a connection to the YouTube servers is established. This tells the YouTube server which of our pages you have visited.

If you are logged into your YouTube account, you enable YouTube to assign your surfing behaviour directly to your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

YouTube is used in the interest of an appealing presentation of our online offers. This represents a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR.

Further information on the handling of user data can be found in YouTube’s privacy policy at: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.

We use the provider Vimeo, among others, for the integration of videos. Vimeo is operated by Vimeo, LLC with headquarters at 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011.
We use plugins from the provider Vimeo on some of our Internet pages. When you call up the Internet pages of our website that are provided with such a plugin, a connection is established to the Vimeo servers and the plugin is displayed. This transmits to the Vimeo server which of our Internet pages you have visited. If you are logged in as a Vimeo member, Vimeo assigns this information to your personal user account. When using the plugin, such as clicking on the start button of a video, this information is also assigned to your user account. You can prevent this assignment by logging out of your Vimeo user account before using our website and deleting the corresponding cookies from Vimeo.

Further information on data processing and notes on data protection by Vimeo can be found at: https://vimeo.com/privacy.

This site 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.

Since the web fonts are integrated locally, no call to Google is necessary – accordingly, no data is output to display the locally installed Google font. Google Web Fonts are used in the interest of a uniform and appealing presentation of our online offers. This represents a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR.

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

You can find more information on Google Web Fonts at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google’s privacy policy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

The following information explains the contents of our newsletter as well as the registration, mailing and statistical evaluation procedures and your rights of objection. By subscribing to our newsletter, you agree to receive it and to the procedures described.

„Note on the newsletter according to Muster von Rechtsanwalt Dr. Thomas Schwenke”

We send newsletters, e-mails and other electronic notifications with promotional information (hereinafter “newsletter”) only with the consent of the recipients or a legal permission. Insofar as the contents of the newsletter are specifically described in the context of a registration, they are decisive for the consent of the users.

Registration for our newsletter is done in a so-called double opt-in process. This means that after registration you will receive an email asking you to confirm your registration. This confirmation is necessary so that no one can register with other email addresses.

The registrations for the newsletter are logged in order to be able to prove the registration process in accordance with the legal requirements. This includes the storage of the registration and confirmation time as well as the IP address. Changes to your data stored with MailChimp are also stored.

The email addresses of our newsletter recipients, as well as their other data described in this notice, are stored on MailChimp’s servers in the USA. MailChimp uses this information to send and evaluate the newsletter on our instructions. Furthermore, according to its own information, MailChimp may use this data to optimise or improve its own services, e.g. for the technical optimisation of the dispatch and the presentation of the newsletters or for economic purposes in order to determine from which countries the recipients come. However, MailChimp does not use the data of our newsletter recipients to write to them itself or to pass it on to third parties.

We trust in the reliability and IT and data security of MailChimp. MailChimp is certified under the US-EU data protection agreement “Privacy Shield” and thus undertakes to comply with the EU data protection regulations. Furthermore, we have concluded a “Data Processing Agreement” with MailChimp. This is a contract in which MailChimp undertakes to protect the data of our users, to process it on our behalf in accordance with its data protection provisions and, in particular, not to pass it on to third parties. You can view MailChimp’s privacy policy here.

To register for the newsletter, it is sufficient to enter your e-mail address.

Optionally, we ask you to enter your first and last name. This information is only used to personalise the newsletter. We only use this information to adapt the contents of the newsletter to the interests of our readers.

The newsletters contain a so-called “web beacon”, i.e. a pixel-sized file that is retrieved from the MailChimp server when the newsletter is opened. Within the context of this request, technical information, such as information about the browser and your system, as well as your IP address and the time of the request are collected. This information is used for the technical improvement of the services based on the technical data or the target groups and their reading behaviour based on their retrieval locations (which can be determined with the help of the IP address) or the access times.

Statistical surveys also include determining whether newsletters are opened, when they are opened and which links are clicked. For technical reasons, this information can be assigned to the individual newsletter recipients. However, it is neither our intention nor that of MailChimp to observe individual users. The analyses serve us much more to recognise the reading habits of our users and to adapt our content to them or to send different content according to the interests of our users.

There are cases where we direct the newsletter recipients to MailChimp’s websites. For example, our newsletters contain a link that newsletter recipients can use to access the newsletter online (e.g. in the event of display problems in the email programme). Furthermore, newsletter recipients can subsequently correct their data, such as the email address. Likewise, MailChimp’s privacy policy can only be accessed on their site.

In this context, we pointed out that cookies are used on MailChimp’s websites and that personal data is thus processed by MailChimp, its partners and service providers used (e.g. Google Analytics). We have no influence on this data collection. For further information, please refer to MailChimp’s privacy policy. We would also like to draw your attention to the options for objecting to the collection of data for advertising purposes on the websites http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ and http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ (for the European region).

You can cancel the receipt of our newsletter at any time, i.e. revoke your consent. Your consent to the sending of the newsletter via MailChimp and the statistical analyses will then expire at the same time. Unfortunately, it is not possible to separately revoke the sending via MailChimp or the statistical analysis.

You will find a link to cancel the newsletter at the end of each newsletter.

In accordance with the guidelines of the Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) in effect as of 25 May 2018, we inform you that the consent to the sending of email addresses is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a, 7 GDPR as well as § 7 para. 2 no. 3, resp. para. 3 UWG. The use of the dispatch service provider MailChimp, the performance of statistical surveys and analyses as well as logging of the registration process are based on our legitimate interests according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. Our interest is directed towards the use of a user-friendly and secure newsletter system that serves both our business interests and the expectations of the users.

We would also like to point out that you can object to the future processing of your personal data in accordance with the legal requirements according to Art. 21 GDPR at any time. The objection can be made in particular against the processing for purposes of direct advertising.