The Paul Smith Associates GmbH & Co. KG ( “we”, “us” or “our'') is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Accordingly, we handle your personal data as confidential information and in compliance with the statutory data protection regulations and this Privacy Policy (“Privacy”) .
This Privacy Policy applies to this website and to our external online presences (e.g. our social media profiles) (collectively “Website” or “Site”).
When you visit our Site a variety of personal information will be collected. Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person and comprises data that can be used to personally identify you, such as your name, address, email address, IP address, or user behavior. We process personal data in accordance with the provisions of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the applicable national law. This Privacy explains how and which data we collect through your use of our Site, as well as for what purpose and on what legal basis we use this data.
We herewith advise you that the transmission of data via the Internet (i.e., through e-mail communications) may be prone to security gaps. It is not possible to completely protect data against third-party access.
The data processing controller (referred to as the “controller” in the GDPR) is
Paul Smith Associates GmbH & Co. KG
Schulweg 51
87775
Salgen
Germany
+49 8266 1071
psa@smith.de
The controller is the natural person or legal entity that single-handedly or jointly with others makes decisions as to the purposes of and resources for the processing of personal data (e.g., names, e-mail addresses, etc.).
We collect your data as a result of your sharing of your data with us. This may, for instance, be when you enter into our contact form.
Other data shall be recorded by our IT systems automatically or after you consent to its recording during your Website visit. This data comprises primarily technical information (e.g., web browser, operating system, or time the site was accessed). This information is recorded automatically when you access this website.
Analysis tools and tools provided by third parties: There is a possibility that your browsing patterns will be statistically analyzed when you visit our Websites. Such analyses are performed primarily with what we refer to as analysis programs. For detailed information about these analysis programs please see below in this Privacy below.
The information we collect, and how that information is used, depends on how you use the Website and how you manage your privacy controls and the requirements of applicable law.
We collect information to provide better services to all our users. We do not sell personal information to third parties but only use it to deliver the Website, to identify and troubleshoot problems and improve it.
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you, grouped together as follows: Personal data (e.g. names, addresses), Contact data (e.g. e-mail, telephone numbers) and Communications data (Information about your communications with us, including relating to support questions and other inquiries.), Content data (e.g. entries in online forms), Meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses),usage data (e.g. websites visited).
Categories of data subjects: Users (e.g. website visitors)
We use personal data to provide, maintain and improve our Website and your user experience; for security and safety to help improve the safety and reliability of our Website (including detecting, preventing, and responding to fraud, abuse, security risks, and technical issues that could harm us, the users or third parties); for communication with you about our products, features, and services, including product updates, and changes to our policies; for marketing and promotions: to market, advertise, and promote products; for legal reasons: In order to comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process or legal action, including by law enforcement or regulatory authorities.
Legal Basis: Your collected personal data is processed on the basis of art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b GDPR if your inquiry is related to the fulfillment of a contract or is required for the performance of pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, the data are processed on the basis of our legitimate interest in the effective handling of inquiries submitted to us and in offering efficient, economical and user-friendly services (art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR) or on the basis of your consent (art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR) if it has been obtained. The data sent by you to us via contact requests remain with us until you request us to delete, revoke your consent to the storage or the purpose for the data storage lapses (e.g. after completion of your request). Mandatory statutory provisions - in particular statutory retention periods - remain unaffected.
We only pass on your personal data to third parties insofar as you have given your express consent in accordance with art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR; if the disclosure is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursuant to art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR and there is no reason to assume that you have an overriding interest worthy of protection in the non-disclosure of your data:in the event that there is a legal obligation to disclose your data pursuant to art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. c GDPR, or where this is legally permissible and necessary according to art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b GDPR for the execution of contractual relationships with you. This includes, in particular, the transmission of data to authorities or third parties involved in the project, such as customers and their representatives or implementing companies, as well as external service providers for the purpose of correspondence and contract processing and/or fulfillment. The data passed on may be used by the third party exclusively for the purposes stated.
We may use tools of companies domiciled in the United States or other from a data protection perspective non-secure non-EU countries. If these tools are active, your personal data may potentially be transferred to these non-EU countries and may be processed there. We must point out that in these countries, a data protection level that is comparable to that in the EU cannot be guaranteed. For instance, U.S. enterprises are under a mandate to release personal data to the security agencies and you as the data subject do not have any litigation options to defend yourself in court. Hence, it cannot be ruled out that U.S. authorities (e.g., the Secret Service) may process, analyze, and permanently archive your personal data for surveillance purposes. We have no control over these processing activities.
Where we process data in a third country (ie outside the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA)) or the processing takes place in the context of the use of third-party services or the disclosure or transfer of data to other persons, bodies or companies, this is only done in accordance with the legal requirements. Subject to express consent or contractually or legally required transfer, we only process or have data processed in third countries with a recognised level of data protection, contractual obligation through so-called standard protection clauses of the EU Commission, in the presence of certifications or binding internal data protection regulations. More information on the information page of the EU Commission.
Storage Duration: Unless explicitly stated in this Privacy, your personal data stored by us will be deleted as soon as the purpose for which it was collected no longer applies and the deletion does not conflict with any statutory storage requirements. If you assert a justified request for deletion or revoke your consent to data processing, your data will be deleted, unless we have other legally permissible reasons for storing your personal data (e.g. tax or commercial law retention periods). In the latter case, the deletion will take place after these reasons cease to apply. If the data is not deleted because it is required for other and legitimate purposes, its processing will be restricted. That means the data is blocked and not processed for other purposes.
Security Measures: We take appropriate technical and organizational measures in accordance with the law, taking into account the state of the technic, the costs of implementation and the nature, scope, circumstances and purposes of the processing, as well as the different probabilities of occurrence and the level of threat to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, in order to ensure a level of protection appropriate to the risk. If IP addresses are processed by us or by the service providers and technologies used and the processing of a complete IP address is not necessary, the IP address is shortened (Shortening of the IP address also referred to as "IP masking"). For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as inquiries you submit to us, we use either an SSL or a TLS encryption program.
As far as your information is concerned, you have the following rights:
A wide range of data processing transactions are possible only subject to your express consent. You can revoke at any time any consent you have given (art. 7 para 3 GDPR). This shall affect all future data processing but be without prejudice to the lawfulness of any data collection that occurred prior to your revocation.
If your personal data is processed on the basis of public interest (art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. e GDPR) and/or legitimate interests (art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR), you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in accordance with art. 21 GDPR, provided there are reasons for this arising from your particular situation.
If you log an objection, we will no longer process your affected personal data, unless we are in a position to present compelling protection worthy grounds for the processing of your data, that outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms or if the purpose of the processing is the claiming, exercising or defense of legal entitlements (objection pursuant to art. 21 para. 1 GDPR).
if your personal data is being processed in order to engage in direct advertising, you have the right to at any time object to the processing of your affected personal data for the purposes of such advertising. This also applies to profiling to the extent that it is affiliated with such direct advertising. if you object, your personal data will subsequently no longer be used for direct advertising purposes (objection pursuant to art. 21 para. 2 GDPR).
You also have the right, in accordance with the law, to lodge a complaint to a supervisory authority, in particular in the EU member state of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement, if you consider that the processing of personal data concerning you infringes the GDPR.The right to lodge a complaint is in effect regardless of any other administrative or court proceedings available as legal recourses.
Within the scope of the applicable statutory provisions, you have the right to at any time demand information about your archived personal data, their source and recipients as well as the purpose of the processing of your data without having to pay a fee for such disclosures.You may also have a right to have your data rectified or eradicated.
You have the right to demand that we hand over any data we automatically process on the basis of your consent or in order to fulfill a contract be handed over to you or a third party in a commonly used, machine readable format. If you should demand the direct transfer of the data to another controller, this will be done only if it is technically feasible.
You have the right to demand the imposition of restrictions as far as the processing of your personal data is concerned. To do so, you may contact us at any time. The right to demand restriction of processing applies in the following cases:
In the event that you should dispute the correctness of your data archived by us, we will usually need some time to verify this claim. During the time that this investigation is ongoing, you have the right to demand that we restrict the processing of your personal data.
If the processing of your personal data was/is conducted in an unlawful manner, you have the option to demand the restriction of the processing of your data in lieu of demanding the eradication of this data.
If we do not need your personal data any longer and you need it to exercise, defend or claim legal entitlements, you have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data instead of its eradication.
If you have raised an objection pursuant to Art. 21(1) GDPR, your rights and our rights will have to be weighed against each other. As long as it has not been determined whose interests prevail, you have the right to demand a restriction of the processing of your personal data.
If you have restricted the processing of your personal data, these data – with the exception of their archiving – may be processed only subject to your consent or to claim, exercise or defend legal entitlements or to protect the rights of other natural persons or legal entities or for important public interest reasons cited by the European Union or a member state of the EU.
TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS OR IF YOU HAVE ANY PRIVACY-RELATED QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS RELATED TO THIS STATEMENT, PLEASE CONTACT US AT ANY TIME AT psa@smith.de
We have concluded a data processing agreement (DPA) for the use of the above-mentioned service. This is a contract mandated by data privacy laws that guarantees that they process personal data of our website visitors only based on our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR.
If you send us inquiries via the contact form, your information from the inquiry form, including the contact details provided by you, will be stored with us for the purpose of processing the inquiry and in case of follow-up questions. We will not share this data without your consent.
The processing of these data is based on art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b GDPR, if your request is related to the execution of a contract or if it is necessary to carry out pre-contractual measures. In all other cases the processing is based on our legitimate interest in the effective processing of the requests addressed to us (art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR) or on your consent (art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR) if this has been requested. Such consent can be revoked at any time.
If you contact us by email/phone your request, including all resulting personal data (name, request) will be stored and processed by us for the purpose of processing your request. We do not pass these data on without your consent.
These data are processed on the basis of art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b GDPR if your inquiry is related to the fulfillment of a contract or is required for the performance of pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, the data are processed on the basis of our legitimate interest in the effective handling of inquiries submitted to us (art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR) or on the basis of your consent (art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR) if it has been requested. The data sent by you to us via contact requests remain with us until you request us to delete, revoke your consent to the storage or the purpose for the data storage lapses (e.g. after completion of your request). Mandatory statutory provisions - in particular statutory retention periods - remain unaffected.
The provider is the Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany (hereinafter referred to as Hetzner). For details, please view the data privacy policy of Hetzner: https://www.hetzner.com/de/rechtliches/datenschutz.
We use Hetzner on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR. We have a legitimate interest in the most reliable depiction of our website possible. If appropriate consent has been obtained, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR and § 25 (1) TTDSG, insofar the consent includes the storage of cookies or the access to information in the user’s end device (e.g., device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TTDSG. This consent can be revoked at any time.
We have concluded a data processing agreement (DPA) for the use of the above-mentioned service. This is a contract mandated by data privacy laws that guarantees that they process personal data of our website visitors only based on our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR.
Our website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that do not cause any damage to your device. They are either stored temporarily for the duration of a session (session cookies) or they are permanently archived on your device (permanent cookies). Session cookies are automatically deleted once you terminate your visit. Permanent cookies remain archived on your device until you actively delete them, or they are automatically eradicated by your web browser. In some cases, it is possible that third-party cookies are stored on your device once you enter our site (third party cookies). These cookies enable you or us to take advantage of certain services offered by the third party (e.g., cookies for the processing of payment services).
Cookies have a variety of functions. Many cookies are technically essential since certain website functions would not work in the absence of the cookies (e.g., the shopping cart function or the display of videos). The purpose of other cookies may be the analysis of user patterns or the display of promotional messages. Cookies, which are required for the performance of electronic communication transactions (required cookies) or for the provision of certain functions you want to use (functional cookies, e.g., for the shopping cart function) or those that are necessary for the optimization of the website (e.g. cookies that provide measurable insights into the web audience), shall be stored on the basis of art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR, unless a different legal basis is cited. The operator of the Website has a legitimate interest in the storage of cookies to ensure the technically error free and optimized provision of the operator’s services. If your consent to the storage of the cookies has been requested, the respective cookies are stored exclusively on the basis of the consent obtained ( art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR); this consent may be revoked at any time.
You have the option to set up your browser in such a manner that you will be notified any time cookies are placed and to permit the acceptance of cookies only in specific cases. You may also exclude the acceptance of cookies in certain cases or in general or activate the delete function for the automatic eradication of cookies when the browser closes. If cookies are deactivated, the functions of this Website may be limited. In the event that third-party cookies are used or if cookies are used for analytical purposes, we will separately notify you in conjunction with this Privacy and, if applicable, ask for your consent.
We use cookies, including technically necessary cookies, functional cookies, and analytical cookies.
When you visit our website, a cookie will be stored in your browser that archives all consent or revocation statements you have made. This data will not be shared with third parties.
The recorded data will remain archived until you ask us to delete it, delete the cookie yourself, or the purpose for storing the data no longer exists. This is without prejudice to any retention obligations that are legally required.
We use cookie consent technology to obtain the legally required consent declarations for the use of cookies where applicable. The legal basis for the use of such cookies is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. c GDPR.
The provider of this Website automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser communicates to us automatically. The information comprises:
This data is not merged with other data sources. This data is recorded on the basis of art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR. We have a legitimate interest in the technically error free depiction and the optimization of the Website. In order to achieve this, server log files must be recorded.
Certain links within the Website or the Site may lead to other independent companies. We will never share your personal information with these third party companies.
Links to third party websites provided are provided as a service to you. We have no control over these sites or over their privacy practices, which may differ from ours. We do not endorse and are not responsible for any content on third party sites that may be accessed through our Site.
The information you voluntarily provide to independent third parties is subject to their privacy policies. Some third party companies may choose to share their personal information with us; such sharing is subject to that third party company's privacy policy. We cannot be responsible for the personal information these third parties collect, store and use through the use of the Site. You are responsible for always carefully reading the privacy policy on any website you visit.
Here we inform you about which plugins or tools we use for statistical or advertising purposes on the Website.
We use the open source programme Umami Analytics on our Website, hosted on our local server, to track general trends in the use of our website. This is an open source software that allows us to analyze the use of our website. your IP address, the website(s) you visit on our website, the website from which you linked to our website (referrer URL), the time you spend on our website and the frequency with which you visit one of our websites are processed. All data is collected anonymously so that no conclusions can be drawn about your person. The data is stored on our local server in Germany and is not passed on.
Umami Analytics only collects aggregate information that does not allow us to identify any visitor to our website. For more information, please see documentation for Umami Analytics at: https://umami.is/.
The legal basis is art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f DSGVO. Our legitimate interest lies in the analysis and optimisation of our website.
This Website embeds videos of the website YouTube. The website operator is Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.
If you visit a page on this Website into which a YouTube has been embedded, a connection with YouTube’s servers will be established. As a result, the YouTube server will be notified, which of our pages you have visited. Furthermore, YouTube will be able to place various cookies on your device or comparable technologies for recognition (e.g. device fingerprinting). In this way YouTube will be able to obtain information about this website’s visitors. Among other things, this information will be used to generate video statistics with the aim of improving the user friendliness of the site and to prevent attempts to commit fraud. If you are logged into your YouTube account while you visit our site, you enable YouTube to directly allocate your browsing patterns to your personal profile. You have the option to prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.
The use of YouTube is based on our interest in presenting our online content in an appealing manner. Pursuant to art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR, this is a legitimate interest. If a corresponding agreement has been requested, the processing takes place exclusively on the basis of art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR; the agreement can be revoked at any time.
For more information on how YouTube handles user data, please consult the YouTube Data Privacy Policy.
We use YouTube in the expanded data protection mode. According to YouTube, this mode ensures that YouTube does not store any information about visitors to this Website before they watch the video.
Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that the sharing of data with YouTube partners can be ruled out as a result of the expanded data protection mode. For instance, regardless of whether you are watching a video, YouTube will always establish a connection with the Google DoubleClick network. As soon as you start to play a YouTube video on this Website, a connection to YouTube’s servers will be established. As a result, the YouTube server will be notified, which of our pages you have visited. If you are logged into your YouTube account while you visit our site, you enable YouTube to directly allocate your browsing patterns to your personal profile. You have the option to prevent this by logging out of yourYouTube account.
Furthermore, after you have started to play a video, YouTube will be able to place various cookies on your device or comparable technologies for recognition (e.g. device fingerprinting). In this way YouTube will be able to obtain information about this website’s visitors. Among other things, this information will be used to generate video statistics with the aim of improving the user friendliness of the site and to prevent attempts to commit fraud.
We maintain publicly available profiles in social networks. The individual social networks we use can be found below.
On the Website we link to the online presence of different social media. Our icon in this regard acts as an external link, so that no information is transmitted to the social media (e.g. LinkedIn) without clicking on the icon. When the user clicks on the icon, the User is redirected to the website of the respective provider. The URL of the current page is transferred as a parameter. We have no influence on whether or how the different social media (e.g. LinkedIn) use this date for evaluation. If you do not want the different social media to collect information about the use of our Website, please do not click on the social media icons.
Unless otherwise stated in our Privacy Policy, we process the data of users insofar as they communicate with us within the social networks and platforms, e.g. write posts on our online presences or send us messages. The data you enter yourself on our social media sites, e.g. comments, videos, pictures, likes, public messages, etc., are published by the social media platform and are only used or processed by us to inform users and communicate with users. We also reserve the right to delete content if this should be necessary. Where applicable, we share your content on our Site if this is a function of the social media platform and communicate with you via the social media platform. The processing of users' personal data is based on our legitimate interests in effectively informing users and communicating with users.
Social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. can generally analyze your user behavior comprehensively if you visit their website or a website with integrated social media content (e.g. like buttons or banner ads). When you visit our social media pages, numerous data protection-relevant processing operations are triggered. In detail: If you are logged in to your social media account and visit our social media page, the operator of the social media portal can assign this visit to your user account. Under certain circumstances, your personal data may also be recorded if you are not logged in or do not have an account with the respective social media portal. In this case, this data is collected, for example, via cookies stored on your device or by recording your IP address.Using the data collected in this way, the operators of the social media portals can create user profiles in which their preferences and interests are stored. This way you can see interest-based advertising inside and outside of your social media presence. If you have an account with the social network, interest-based advertising can be displayed on any device you are logged in to or have logged in to.
Please also note that we cannot retrace all processing operations on the social media portals. Depending on the provider, additional processing operations may therefore be carried out by the operators of the social media portals. Details can be found in the terms of use and privacy policy of the respective social media portals.
Legal basis: Our social media appearances should ensure the widest possible presence on the Internet. This is a legitimate interest within the meaning of art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR. The analysis processes initiated by the social networks may be based on divergent legal bases to be specified by the operators of the social networks (e.g. consent within the meaning of art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR).
Responsibility and assertion of rights: If you visit one of our social media sites (e.g., Facebook), we, together with the operator of the social media platform, are responsible for the data processing operations triggered during this visit. You can in principle protect your rights (information, correction, deletion, limitation of processing, data portability and complaint) vis-à-vis us as well as vis-à-vis the operator of the respective social media portal (e.g. Facebook).
Please note that despite the shared responsibility with the social media portal operators, we do not have full influence on the data processing operations of the social media portals. Our options are determined by the company policy of the respective provider.
Storage time: The data collected directly from us via the social media presence will be deleted from our systems as soon as the purpose for their storage lapses, you ask us to delete it, you revoke your consent to the storage. Stored cookies remain on your device until you delete them. Mandatory statutory provisions - in particular, retention periods - remain unaffected.
We have no control over the storage duration of your data that are stored by the social network operators for their own purposes. For details, please contact the social network operators directly (e.g. in their privacy policy, see below).
We have integrated functions of the social media platform X into this website. These functions are provided by Twitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07, Ireland.
If the social media element has been activated, a direct connection between your device and Twitter’s server will be established. As a result, Twitter will receive information on your visit to this website. While you use Twitter and the “Re-Tweet” function, websites you visit are linked to your Twitter account and disclosed to other users. We must point out, that we, the providers of the website and its pages do not know anything about the content of the data transferred and the use of this information by Twitter. For more details, please consult Twitter’s Data Privacy Declaration.
If your approval (consent) has been obtained the use of the abovementioned service shall occur on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR. Such consent may be revoked at any time. If your consent was not obtained, the use of the service will occur on the basis of our legitimate interest in making our information as comprehensively visible as possible on social media ( 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f GDPR.).
Data transmission to the US is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) of the European Commission. Details can be found here: https://gdpr.twitter.com/en/controller-to-controller-transfers.html.
You have the option to reset your data protection settings on Twitter under the account settings.
We have a profile on YouTube. The provider is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Details on how they handle your personal data can be found in the YouTube privacy policy.
We have a profile on Facebook. The provider is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, Merrion Road, Dublin 4, D04 X2K5, Irland, a subsidiary of Meta Platforms Inc., 1601 S. California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Details on how they handle your personal data can be found in the Meta Privacy Policy.
We have a profile on LinkedIn. The provider is LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland, a subsidiary of the LinkedIn Corporation, 1000 W. Maude Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94085 USA. Details on how they handle your personal data can be found in the LinkedIn Privacy Policy.
We have a profile on Instagram. The provider is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, Merrion Road, Dublin 4, D04 X2K5, Irland, a subsidiary of Meta Platforms Inc., 1601 S. California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Details on how they handle your personal data can be found in the Instagram Privacy Policy.
We ask you to regularly inform yourself about the content of our Privacy Policy. We adapt the Privacy Policy as soon as the changes in the data processing carried out by us make this necessary and we reserve the right to adapt this Privacy Policy to technical and legal requirements at any time.
Last update: April 11, 2024