Privacy Policy

Table of Contents • Introduction and Overview • Scope of Application • Legal Basis • Storage Period • Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation • Security of Data Processing

Introduction and Overview We have prepared this privacy policy (version 23.11.2021-311886150) to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws, which personal data (hereinafter referred to as "data") we as the controller and the processors commissioned by us (e.g., providers) process, will process in the future, and what legal options you have. The terms used are to be understood as gender-neutral.

In short: We provide you with comprehensive information about the data we process about you.

Privacy policies usually sound very technical and use legal jargon. This privacy policy, on the other hand, is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. To promote transparency, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly manner, links to further information are provided, and graphics are used. We therefore provide information in clear and simple language. This is certainly not possible if the explanations are as brief, unclear, and legal-technical as possible, i.e. the ones that are standard on the Internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative and that you may find some information in there that you were not aware of. If you still have any questions, please contact the responsible office identified below or in the legal notice, follow the links provided, and look at further information on third-party websites. Our contact details can of course also be found in the legal notice.

Scope of application This privacy policy applies to all personal data processed by us within the company and to all personal data processed by companies commissioned by us (contract processors). By personal data, we mean information within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR, such as a person's name, email address, and postal address. The processing of personal data ensures that we can offer and bill our services and products, whether online or offline. The scope of application of this privacy policy includes: • all online presences (websites, online shops) that we operate • social media presences and email communication • mobile apps for smartphones and other devices

In short: This privacy policy applies to all areas in which personal data is processed in a structured manner within the company via the aforementioned channels. Should we enter into legal relationships with you outside of these channels, we will inform you accordingly.

Legal basis In the following privacy policy, we provide you with transparent information on the legal principles and regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation, which enable us to process personal data. With regard to EU law, we refer to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 April 2016. You can of course read this EU General Data Protection Regulation online on EUR-Lex, the gateway to EU law, at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=celex:32016R0679. We only process your data if at least one of the following conditions applies: 1. Consent (Article 6 (1a) GDPR): You have given us your consent to process data for a specific purpose. An example would be the storage of the data you entered in a contact form. 2. Contract (Article 6 Paragraph 1b GDPR): We process your data in order to fulfill a contract or pre-contractual obligations with you. For example, if we conclude a purchase contract with YOU, we need personal information in advance. 3. Legal obligation (Article 6 Paragraph 1c GDPR): We process your data if we are subject to a legal obligation. For example, we are legally obliged to keep invoices for accounting purposes. These usually contain personal data. 4. Legitimate interests (Article 6 Paragraph 1f GDPR): In the case of legitimate interests that do not restrict your fundamental rights, we reserve the right to process personal data. For example, we need to process certain data in order to operate our website securely and economically efficiently. This processing is therefore a legitimate interest.

Further conditions, such as the processing of recordings in the public interest, the exercise of official authority, or the protection of vital interests, generally do not apply to us. Should such a legal basis be applicable, this will be indicated in the relevant section.

In addition to the EU regulation, national laws also apply: In Germany, the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) applies. If other regional or national laws apply, we will inform you about them in the following sections.

Storage period: We only store personal data for as long as it is absolutely necessary to provide our services and products. This means that we delete personal data as soon as the reason for data processing no longer exists. In some cases, we are legally obliged to store certain data even after the original purpose no longer applies, for example, for accounting purposes. Should you request that your data be deleted or revoke your consent to data processing, the data will be deleted as quickly as possible and unless there is an obligation to store it. We will inform you below about the specific duration of the respective data processing, provided we have further information.

Rights according to the General Data Protection Regulation According to Article 13 GDPR, you have the following rights to ensure fair and transparent data processing: • According to Article 15 GDPR, you have the right to information as to whether we process your data. If this is the case, you have the right to receive a copy of the data and to be informed of the following information: o the purpose for which we process it; o the categories and types of data that are processed; o who receives the data and when the data is transferred to third countries. How security can be guaranteed; o how long the data is stored; o the existence of the right to rectification, erasure or restriction of processing and the right to object to processing; o that you can complain to a supervisory authority (links to these authorities can be found below); o the origin of the data if we did not collect it from you; o whether profiling is carried out, whether data is also automatically evaluated to create a personal profile of you. • According to Article 16 GDPR, you have the right to rectification of data, which means that we must correct data if we find errors. • According to Article 17 GDPR, you have the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”), which specifically means that you can request that your data be deleted. • According to Article 18 GDPR, you have the right to restriction of processing, which means that we may only store the data but not use it any further. • According to Article 19 GDPR, you have the right to data portability, which means that we will provide you with your data in a common format upon request. • According to Article 21 GDPR, you have the right to object, which entails a change in processing after the implementation. o If the processing of your data is based on Article 6 (1e) (public interest, exercise of official authority) or Article 6 (1f) (legitimate interest), you can object to the processing. We will then check as quickly as possible whether we can legally comply with this objection. o If data is used to conduct direct advertising, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We may no longer use your data for direct marketing after that. o If data is used to conduct profiling, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We may no longer use your data for profiling after that. • According to Article 22 GDPR, you have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (e.g. profiling). In short: you have rights; do not hesitate to contact the responsible body listed above! If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or that your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can complain to the supervisory authority. In Germany, there is a data protection officer for each federal state. For more information, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). The following local data protection authority is responsible for our company: Data Protection Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia State Commissioner for Data Protection: Bettina Gayk Address: Kavalleriestraße 2-4, 40213 Düsseldorf Telephone number: 02 11/384 24-0 Email address: poststelle@ldi.nrw.de Website: https://www.ldi.nrw. de/ Data processing security

We have both technical and organizational measures in place to protect personal data. Where possible, we encrypt or pseudonymize personal data. This is done by making it as difficult as possible for third parties to derive personal information from our data. Article 25 GDPR refers to "data protection through technology design and through data protection-friendly default settings," meaning that security is always considered and appropriate measures are implemented for both software (e.g., forms) and hardware (e.g., access to the server room). We will discuss specific measures below, where necessary.

TLS encryption with https TLS encryption and https sound very technical, and they are. We use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) to transmit data securely over the Internet. This means that the entire transmission of all data from your browser to our web server is tap-proof – no one can “eavesdrop”. In doing so, we have introduced an additional layer of security and comply with data protection by design (Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the GDPR). By using TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for secure data transmission over the Internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data. You can recognize the use of this data transmission security by the small lock symbol in the top left of the browser, to the left of the Internet address (e.g., beispielseite.de), and the use of the https scheme (instead of http) as part of our Internet address. If you would like to learn more about encryption, we recommend searching Google for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure Wiki” to find good links to further information.