What sources and data do we use?

We process personal data that we receive from you while using our website and, if applicable, our business relationship.

In the case of purely informational use of the website, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise transmit information to us, we only collect the personal data that your browser transmits to our server. When you access our website, we collect the following access data, which is technically necessary for us to display our website to you and to ensure stability and security. The access data includes the IP address, date and time of the request, time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the content of the request (i.e. name of the specific website accessed), access status/HTTP status code, amount of data transferred in each case, referrer URL (previously visited page), operating system and its interface, language and version as well as type of browser software, notification of successful retrieval.

Furthermore, we receive your personal data if you contact us via online form or e-mail. Personal data here are, for example, title, first name, surname, address, e-mail address, telephone number, information as to whether you are an architect, builder, tendering body, window processor, dealer/installer, employee, or other and, if applicable, the data that you optionally enter in the form and send to us as a message (hereinafter referred to as “contact data”).

In the registration form for architects or processors, we also record the customer number, company, website, username, and password.

The registration form for the Partner Academy additionally title, department, function, and company.

In the context of an application, we also process the documents you submit as application documents.

Who can access my data?

Within the organization, departments that need to know your data to fulfill our contractual and regulatory obligations can access your data.

In addition, processors (Art. 28 GDPR) engaged by us may also obtain access to data for the above-mentioned purposes. These are companies in the categories of IT services, printing services, telecommunications, sales, and marketing. If we use processors to provide our services, we take appropriate legal precautions and corresponding technical and organizational measures to ensure the protection of personal data in accordance with the relevant legal provisions.

A transfer of data to third parties will be made only within the scope of legal requirements. We will disclose your data to third parties only if this is required, e.g. under Art. 6 Para. 1 Sentence 1 lit. b) GDPR for contractual purposes or based on legitimate interests pursuant to Art. 6 Para. 1 Sentence 1 lit. f) GDPR in the economic and effective operation of our business operations or you have consented to the transfer of data (e.g. transfer of customer data to specialist companies).

In the case of purely informative use of the website, we do not pass on any data to third parties. 

How long will my data be retained?

For security reasons (e.g. to clarify acts of abuse or fraud), the log file information is stored for a maximum of 14 days and then deleted (see point 3 above). Data whose further storage is necessary for evidentiary purposes is exempt from deletion until the final clarification of the respective incident.

Access data to the login area will be deleted 24 months after the last use of our systems.

As far as necessary, we process and store your personal data for the duration of our business relationship, which also includes, for example, the initiation of a contract via contact form or by e-mail.

Applicant data will be deleted after 6 months in the event of a rejection. In the event that you have agreed to further storage of your personal data, we will transfer your data to our applicant pool. There, the data will be deleted if you withdraw your consent or after 5 years at the latest. Should we fill the advertised position with you, your data will be stored in our personnel management system.

Personal data that we receive via our whistleblower system will be retained for the duration necessary to clarify and conclusively assess the whistleblowing. After completion of the investigation, the personal data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time, regularly one month, and in accordance with legal requirements. In the case of the initiation of judicial and/or disciplinary proceedings, data may be retained until the conclusion of the proceedings or the expiry of any time limits for appeal. Personal data in connection with unfounded reports will be deleted immediately.

In addition, we are subject to various storage and documentation obligations, which result, among other things, from the German Commercial Code (HGB) and the German Fiscal Code (AO). The retention and documentation periods specified there are two to ten years.

Finally, the storage period is also assessed according to the statutory limitation periods, which, for example, according to Section 195 et seq. of the German Civil Code (BGB), are usually 3 years, but in certain cases can be up to thirty years, whereby the regular limitation period is three years.

If you exercise your rights as a data subject, we will store the information provided to you in this regard until the expiry of the statutory limitation period pursuant to Section 31 para 2 no 1 OWiG, Section 41 para 1 BDSG, Article 83 para 5 lit b GDPR for 3 years. This period may be extended if the statutory limitation period is extended due to interruptions of the limitation period (e.g. in the context of inquiries by the supervisory authorities).

Are data transferred to a third country or to an international organization?

The data provided will be processed within the European Union and in the USA. For countries without an adequate decision by the Commission according to Article 45 GDPR, as is the case with the USA, we generally agree on EU standard data protection clauses with the recipients of your data or obtain your consent for the data transfer.

Note: The protection of personal data in the USA does not correspond to the level of data protection required by the EU. In particular, there are no enforceable rights to protect your data against access by government authorities. Therefore, there is a risk that these governmental authorities can access the personal data without the data transmitter or the recipient being able to effectively prevent this.

What are my data subject rights?

In accordance with Art. 15 GDPR, you have the right of access as to whether or not personal data concerning you are being processed, and, where that is the case, access to the personal data. In this case, we will provide you with the stored personal data. You also have the right to the information specified in detail in Art. 15 para 1 GDPR. However, the aforementioned right is not unlimited; the limitations of the right can be found in particular in Art. 15 para 4 GDPR.

You have the right to obtain without undue delay the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning you and to completion of incomplete personal data in accordance with Art. 16 GDPR.

You have the right to obtain the erasure of personal data concerning you without undue delay acc. Art. 17 GDPR. The right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) is not unrestricted. In particular, erasure cannot be demanded, if we need to process your personal data further in order to perform our contract, fulfill a legal obligation or assert, exercise, or defend legal claims. The requirements and restrictions of the right to deletion are set out in detail in Art. 17 GDPR.

You have the right, in accordance with Art. 18 GDPR, to request that the processing of your personal data be restricted if one of the conditions of Art. 18 para 1 GDPR is met. In this case, we may continue to store this data but may process it only under strict conditions. The conditions and restrictions of the right to restrict processing are set out in detail in Art. 18 GDPR.

Pursuant to Art. 20 GDPR, you have a right to data portability. You may request to receive the personal data provided by you, which we process in an automated process on the basis of the contract existing between us or your consent, in a structured, common, and machine-readable format. In addition, you may request us to transmit this data directly to another responsible party, insofar as this is technically feasible. The requirements and restrictions of the aforementioned rights in detail can be found in Art. 20 para 3 and 4 GDPR.

You can withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data at any time. Please note that the withdrawal only takes effect for the future and does not affect the legality of the processing carried out based on the consent up to the withdrawal.

Information about your right to object according to Art. 21 GDPR

You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, at any time to the processing of personal data concerning you which is based on Article 6 para 1 lit e GDPR (data processing in the public interest) and Art. 6 para 1 lit f GDPR (data processing based on balancing of interests); this also includes profiling under these provisions within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 4 GDPR.

If you object, we will no longer process your personal data, unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for processing that outweigh your interests, rights, and freedoms, or the processing serves the purposes of asserting, exercising, or defending legal claims.

In individual cases, we process your personal data for direct marketing purposes. You have the right to object at any time to the processing of personal data concerning you for the purposes of such marketing; this also applies to profiling insofar as it is associated with such direct marketing. If you object to the processing for direct marketing purposes, we will no longer process your personal data for such purposes.

Objections do not require a particular form and no costs are incurred, other than the transmission costs according to the basic tariffs. If possible, any objection should be addressed to the above-mentioned address or email.

The above notifications and measures requested by you will be made available to you free of charge in accordance with Art. 12 para 5 GDPR.

You have a right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority if you are of the opinion that the processing of your personal data violates the GDPR, without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy.

To what extent is there automated decision-making in individual cases, including profiling?

In the context of accessing our website or in the context of contacting us by form or e-mail, we do not use any fully automated decision-making pursuant to Article 22 GDPR. Should we use these procedures in individual cases, we will inform you about this separately if this is required by law. We do not process your data automatically with the aim of evaluating certain personal aspects (profiling).

Is there an obligation for me to provide data?

Within the framework of our website, you must provide the personal data that is required for the use of our website for technical or IT security reasons. If you do not provide this data, you will not be able to use our website.

When contacting us by form or e-mail, you only need to provide the personal data that is required to process your request. Otherwise, we will not be able to process your request.

General information on the use of cookies

We use cookies on our website. Cookies are small text files, usually consisting of letters and numbers, which are stored on the user’s computer when visiting certain Internet pages.

Some of these cookies are essential for our website to function, while other cookies help us improve our website by giving us insight into how you use the website.

By default, we only use necessary cookies. Necessary cookies enable the core functionalities of our website. The website cannot be displayed correctly without these cookies or individual areas may not function properly. Necessary cookies can only be prevented by appropriate settings in your browser.

We only use cookies that are not necessary for the website to function (“non-essential cookies”) if you have given your consent via our cookie banner. You can return our privacy information at any time and revoke your consent or make changes.

Click here for information about the cookies we use:

Change cookie settings

Alternatively, you can prohibit the storage of cookies individually via the settings of your browser (the help page of the browser will tell you how to set the cookie handling). You can find help on cookie management in the most common browsers at the following addresses:

• Mozilla Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/de/kb/cookies-loeschen-daten-von-websites-entfernen
• Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/de-de/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies
• Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/61416?hl=de
• Opera: http://www.opera.com/de/help
• Safari: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH17191?locale=de_DE&viewlocale=de_DE.

You can object to the use of cookies for website tracking and advertising purposes through the network advertising initiative http://optout.networkadvertising.org/ or the American website http://www.aboutads.info/choices or the European website http://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/your-ad-choices/.

Cookie overview

Third-party providers that use cookies

Google Analytics

We use the web analytics tool “Google Analytics” from Google Ireland Limited (registration number: 368047), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (parent company: Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) hereinafter “Google”.

The web analysis service Google Analytics uses cookies. The information generated by the cookies about the use of our website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. There are corresponding risks associated with the processing of your data in the USA. By giving your consent via our cookie banner, you consent to the processing of your data in the USA, despite potential access by US authorities, Art. 49 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR.

Google processes the data for us in order to evaluate the use of our website by website visitors, create reports about the activities within our website, and provide other services associated with the use of the website. In doing so, pseudonymous usage profiles of the website visitors are created from the processed data.

During your visit to the website, the following information is collected, among other things:

• pages viewed,
• the achievement of contact targets, such as contact requests or newsletter sign-ups,
• Your use of our website, for example, clicks and time spent on one of our pages,
• Your approximate location (country and city),
• Your IP address (in shortened form, so that no clear assignment is possible),
• technical information such as browser, Internet provider, terminal device and screen resolution,
• via which website or advertising medium you came to us.

Google Analytics stores cookies in your browser for a period of two years since your last visit. These cookies contain a randomly generated user ID that can be used to recognize you on future visits to the website.

The recorded data is stored together with the randomly generated user ID, which enables the evaluation of pseudonymous user profiles. This user-related data is automatically deleted after 14 months. Other data remains stored in aggregated form indefinitely. The IP address transmitted by your browser will not be merged with other data from Google.

We use Google Analytics with IP anonymization enabled. This means that the IP address of the user is shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there.

They can prevent the storage of cookies either by rejecting them in our cookie banner or by setting their browser software accordingly; users can also prevent the collection of the data generated by the cookie and the transmission to Google as well as the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available at the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

We use Google Analytics Remarketing to display the ads we place with Google or its partners only to users who have also shown an interest in our website or who have certain products or services (e.g. interests in certain topics on our website), which we transmit to Google (so-called “remarketing”). With the help of remarketing, we want to ensure that our ads correspond to the interests of users and are not harassing. You can permanently object to cross-device remarketing/targeting by deactivating personalized advertising in your Google account; follow this link: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/.

Further information on data processing by Google, setting, and objection options can be found on the Google website at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Google Ads

We use the Google Ads service of Google Ireland Limited (registration number: 368047), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (parent company: Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) hereinafter “Google”.

The processing of data within the scope of this service also takes place in the USA. The processing of your data in the USA is associated with corresponding risks. By giving your consent via our cookie banner, you consent to the processing of your data in the USA, despite potential access by US authorities, Art. 49 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR.

Google Ads is an internet banner advertising service that allows us to display ads in both Google search engine results and the Google advertising network. Google Ads allows us to pre-define certain keywords that will display an ad in Google’s search engine results only when the user performs a keyword-relevant search. In the Google advertising network, our ads are displayed on topic-relevant websites by means of an automatic algorithm and in compliance with the keywords, we have previously defined.

The purpose of our use of Google Ads is to advertise our website by displaying advertisements on the websites of third-party companies and in the search engine results of Google and, if applicable, to display third-party advertisements on our website.

If you access our website via a Google ad, a so-called conversion cookie is stored on your computer by Google. A conversion cookie loses its validity after thirty days and is not used for your identification, but it is tracked whether certain subpages of our website were called. Through the conversion cookie, both we and Google can track whether you have reached our website via an ad, completed an action (e.g. a purchase), or canceled.

The data and information collected through the use of the conversion cookie are used by Google to create visit statistics for our website. These visit statistics are in turn used by us to determine the total number of users who were referred to us via ads. We use this information to measure the success of our ads and to optimize our ads for the future. Neither our company nor other advertisers of Google Ads receive information from Google by means of which the data subject could be identified.

Instead of using our cookie banner, you can also prevent the setting of cookies by means of an appropriate setting in your internet browser. Such a setting of the Internet browser used would also prevent Google from setting a conversion cookie on your computer. In addition, a cookie already set by Google Ads can be deleted at any time via the browser. Furthermore, it is possible to object to the interest-based advertising by Google. To do this, you must call up the link www.google.de/settings/ads from any of the Internet browsers you use (on any device) and make the desired settings there.

If you wish to object to the interest-based advertising by Google, you can use the opt-out options provided by Google: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences.

Further information and Google’s applicable privacy policy can be found at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Google Maps

On this website, we use the offer of Google Maps of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, United States. The legal basis for the use of Google Maps is your consent Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a) and Art. 49 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR.

This allows us to show you interactive maps directly on the website and enables you to use the map function comfortably.

Google Maps is integrated in such a way that data about you as a user is only transmitted to Google when you have activated Google Maps by clicking on it. We have no influence on the data transmission to Google that then takes place. 

By visiting the website, Google receives the information that you have called up on the corresponding sub-page of our website as well as the date and time of your visit to the website in question and your IP address. This takes place regardless of whether you are logged in to Google. If you are logged in, however, your data will be assigned to your account. If you do not wish to be associated with your Google profile, you must log out before activating a map.

If you are logged in to Google, Google may store your data as usage profiles and use it for the purposes of providing the services, maintaining and improving the services, measuring performance, developing new services, and providing personalized services, including content and advertisements. This data processing is then governed by the usage agreement concluded between you and Google as part of your Google account.

The processing of data within the scope of this service also takes place in the USA. The information generated by the cookies about the use of our website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. There are corresponding risks associated with the processing of your data in the USA. By giving your consent via our cookie banner, you consent to the processing of your data in the USA, despite potential access by US authorities, Art. 49 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR.

For more information on the purpose and scope of data collection and processing by the plug-in provider, please refer to the Google privacy notice. There you will also find further information on your rights in this regard and setting options for protecting your privacy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ and opt-out from personalized advertising are possible at https://www.google.com/settings/ads/.

Google ReCaptcha

We use the reCAPTCHA function of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland (“Google”) on the basis of our legitimate interests. This function is primarily used to distinguish whether an input is made by a natural person or is abusive through the machine and automated processing. The service includes the sending of the IP address and possibly other data required by Google for the service reCAPTCHA to Google and to prevent abuse and spam.

The use of Google reCAPTCHA may also involve the transmission of personal data to the servers of Google LLC. in the USA. There are corresponding risks associated with the processing of your data in the USA.

Further information on Google reCAPTCHA as well as Google’s privacy notice can be found at: https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

Integration of YouTube videos

We have integrated YouTube videos into our online offer, which are stored on http://www.YouTube.com of Google Ireland Limited (registration number: 368047), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (parent company: Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) and can be played directly from our website. The legal basis for the use of YouTube is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1) p. 1 lit. a) and Art. 49 (1) p. 1 lit. a GDPR.

The videos are integrated in such a way that data about you as a user is only transmitted to YouTube when you play the videos. We have no influence on the data transmission to Google that then takes place.

By visiting the website, YouTube receives the information that you have accessed on the corresponding subpage of our website and data on location (GPS data), IP address, and devices used, including information on objects in the vicinity of your device, such as WLAN access points, radio masts, and Bluetooth-enabled devices, as well as sensor data from your device (see YouTube privacy information of the provider). This is done regardless of whether you are logged in to Google or YouTube. If you are logged in, however, your data may be assigned to your account. If you do not wish to have your data associated with your YouTube profile, you must log out before activating a video. YouTube stores your data in case you are logged in as user profiles and uses them for purposes of providing the services, maintaining and improving the services, measuring performance, developing new services, and providing personalized services, including content and advertisements. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles, and you must contact YouTube to exercise this right.

The processing of data within the scope of this service also takes place in the USA. The information generated by the cookies about the use of our website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. There are corresponding risks associated with the processing of your data in the USA. By giving your consent via our cookie banner, you consent to the processing of your data in the USA, despite potential access by US authorities, Art. 49 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR.

For more information about the purpose and scope of data collection and processing by YouTube, please see the privacy information. There you will also find further information about your rights and setting options to protect your privacy:

YouTube privacy information can be found at https://policies.google.com/privacy and opting out of personalized advertising is possible at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.