Data protection information

§ 1
Information on the collection of personal data

1 In the following, we provide information about the collection of personal data when using our website. Personal data is all data that can be related to you personally, e.g. name, address, email addresses, user behaviour.

2. the controller pursuant to Art. 4(7) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is VENTUS Steuerberater Rechtsanwälte PartGmbB, Brandstwiete 4, 20457 Hamburg, ra@ventuslx.de, phone: 040/37680418, fax: 040/37680443. You can contact our data protection officer at datenschutz@ventuslx.de or at our postal address with the addition "the data protection officer".

3. when you contact us by e-mail or via our contact form, the data you provide (your e-mail address and your name as well as your request) will be stored by us in order to answer your questions. We delete the data collected in this context after storage is no longer necessary, or restrict processing if there are statutory retention obligations. Your contact is encrypted (SMTP/ STARTTLS).

4. if we use contracted service providers for individual functions of our offer or would like to use your data for advertising purposes, we will inform you in detail below about the respective processes.

§ 2
Your rights

1. you are entitled to the following rights as a data subject under the legal requirements, which you can assert against us using the contact details given in § 1 section 2:

Right to information: You are entitled at any time to request confirmation from us within the framework of Art. 15 GDPR as to whether we process personal data concerning you; if this is the case, you are also entitled within the framework of Art. 15 GDPR to receive information about this personal data as well as certain other information (including processing purposes, categories of personal data, categories of recipients, planned storage period, the origin of the data, the use of automated decision-making and, in the case of third country transfer, the appropriate guarantees) and a copy of your data.

Right to rectification: In accordance with Art. 16 GDPR, you are entitled to demand that we rectify the personal data stored about you if it is inaccurate or incorrect.

Right to erasure: You are entitled, under the conditions of Art. 17 GDPR, to demand that we erase personal data concerning you without undue delay. The right to erasure does not exist, among other things, if the processing of personal data is necessary for (i) the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and information, (ii) to fulfil a legal obligation to which we are subject (e.g. statutory retention obligations) or (iii) for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Right to restriction of processing: You are entitled, under the conditions of Art. 18 GDPR, to demand that we restrict the processing of your personal data.

Right to data portability: You are entitled, under the conditions of Art. 20 GDPR, to demand that we provide you with the personal data concerning you that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.

Right of cancellation: You have the right to revoke your consent to the processing of personal data at any time with effect for the future.

Right to object: You are entitled to object to the processing of your personal data under the conditions of Art. 21 GDPR, so that we must stop processing your personal data. The right to object exists only within the limits provided for in Art. 21 GDPR. In addition, our interests may conflict with the termination of processing, so that we are authorised to process your personal data despite your objection.

Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if you consider that the processing of personal data relating to you infringes the GDPR, subject to the conditions of Art. 77 GDPR. The right to lodge a complaint exists without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy.

The supervisory authority responsible for us is

The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
Ludwig-Erhard-Str 22, 7. OG
20459 Hamburg
Tel.: 040 / 428 54 – 4040
Fax: 040 / 428 54 – 4000
E-Mail: mailbox@datenschutz.hamburg.de

We recommend that you always address a complaint to our data protection officer first. If possible, your requests to exercise your rights should be sent in writing or in text form to the address given in the contact details in Section 1 (2) above or directly to our data protection officer.

§ 3
Collection of personal data when visiting our website

1. when using the website for information purposes only, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise provide us with information, we only collect the personal data that your browser transmits to our server. If you wish to view our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display our website to you and to ensure stability and security (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR):

• IP address
• Date and time of the enquiry
• Time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
• Content of the request (specific page)
• Access status/HTTP status code
• Amount of data transferred in each case
• Website from which the request comes
• browser
• Operating system and its interface
• Language and version of the browser software.

2. In addition to the aforementioned data, cookies are stored on your device when you use our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device in association with the browser you are using and through which certain information flows to the entity that sets the cookie (in this case, us). When you interact with the "cookie banner", a cookie saves the setting you have made.

3. use of cookies:

a) This website uses the following types of cookies, the scope and function of which are explained below:

• Transient cookies (see b)
• Persistent cookies (see c).

b) Transient cookies are automatically deleted when you close the browser. These include session cookies in particular. These store a so-called session ID, with which various requests from your browser can be assigned to the joint session. This allows your device to be recognised when you return to our website. The session cookies are deleted when you log out or close the browser.

c) Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a specified period, which may vary depending on the cookie. You can delete the cookies in the security settings of your browser at any time.

d) You can configure your browser settings according to your wishes and, for example, refuse to accept third-party cookies or all cookies. We would like to point out that you may not be able to use all the functions of this website.

§ 4
Further functions and offers of our website, categories of recipients

1 In addition to the purely informational use of our website, we offer various services that you can use if you are interested. To do so, you must generally provide additional personal data that we use to provide the respective service and for which the aforementioned data processing principles apply.

2 In some cases, we use external service providers to process your data. These have been carefully selected and commissioned by us, are bound by our instructions and are regularly monitored.

The categories of possible recipients of your personal data are

• Payment service providers and banks, if applicable, for the processing of payments,
• External service providers for the dispatch of documents, etc.,
• IT service providers for the administration and hosting of our website,
• External service providers (e.g. credit agencies) for money laundering and credit checks,
• debt collection companies and legal advisors in the assertion of our claims.

3. if our service providers or partners are based in a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we will inform you of the consequences of this circumstance in the description of the offer.

§ 5
Objection or revocation against the processing of your data

1. if you have given your consent to the processing of your data, you can revoke this at any time with effect for the future. Such a cancellation affects the permissibility of processing your personal data after you have given it to us.

2 Insofar as we base the processing of your personal data on the balancing of interests, you can object to the processing. This is the case if, in particular, the processing is not necessary for the fulfilment of a contract with you, which is described by us in the following description of the functions. When exercising such an objection, we ask you to explain the reasons why we should not process your personal data as we have done. In the event of your justified objection, we will examine the situation and will either discontinue or adapt the data processing or show you our compelling reasons worthy of protection on the basis of which we will continue the processing.

You can also exercise your objection or cancellation via the cookie settings.

§ 6
Processing for advertising purposes, in particular newsletters

With your consent, we use your data for advertising purposes, such as sending you our newsletter or inviting you to events of interest to you. We process mandatory information such as your e-mail address, but also information that you provide voluntarily. We use the voluntary information to continuously improve our services and make them more customer-friendly for you, to be able to address you individually in future, to analyse your preferences and to inform you about the services that best suit you. You can unsubscribe from the notifications at any time by sending an e-mail to our contact address specified under § 1, section 2 or by clicking on the link provided in the newsletter and cancelling your subscription.

If you have provided us with your e-mail address in connection with the purchase of services, it may be used by us to send a newsletter without your consent under the conditions of Section 7 (3) UWG. In such a case, only direct advertising for our own similar goods or services will be sent via the newsletter.

We process your personal data on the basis of the following legal bases:

If you have given us your consent via the double opt-in procedure, in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR;

If you have provided us with your email address in connection with the purchase of services, to protect our legitimate interests in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR in conjunction with § Section 7 (3) UWG; our legitimate interest is based on our economic interests in the implementation of advertising measures and target group-oriented advertising.

Data processing for e-mail advertising and your right to object

If we receive your e-mail address in connection with the conclusion of the contract and the provision of our services and you have not objected to this, we reserve the right to regularly send you offers for similar services from our range by e-mail. You can object to this use of your e-mail address at any time by sending a message to the contact option specified in Section 1 (2) or via a link provided for this purpose in the advertising e-mail, without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs according to the basic rates.

§ 7
Use of Google Analytics

1. with your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DS-GVO, § 25 para. 1 TDDDG) this website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. However, if IP anonymisation is activated on this website, your IP address will be shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area beforehand. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and truncated there. Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website to analyse your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide the website operator with other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Cookies are stored for a maximum of 26 months.

2. the IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data.

3. you can 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. You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) and from processing this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available at the following link: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

4. this website uses Google Analytics with the extension "_anonymiseIp()". This means that IP addresses are further processed in abbreviated form so that they cannot be linked to a specific person. If the data collected about you is personally identifiable, it is immediately excluded and the personal data is deleted immediately.

5 We use Google Analytics to analyse and regularly improve the use of our website. We can use the statistics obtained to improve our offer and make it more interesting for you as a user.

We would like to point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfer to the USA. In the USA, there is a risk that authorities may access the data for security and monitoring purposes without you being informed or having the right to appeal.  We will only transfer your data to Google if you have expressly consented to this. In this case, you also consent to the transfer of your data to the USA in accordance with Art. 49 para. 1 lit. a GDPR in the knowledge of the risks described. For the exceptional cases in which personal data is transferred to the USA, we have concluded standard contractual clauses with Google. Google's data processing conditions are available at privacy.google.com/businesses/processorterms/.

6. information from the third-party provider: Google Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, Fax: +353 (1) 436 1001. user conditions: www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html, overview of data protection: www.google.com/intl/de/analytics/learn/privacy.html, as well as the privacy policy: www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.

§ 8
Integration of Google Maps1. with your consent, we use the Google Maps service on this website. This allows us to show you interactive maps directly on the website and enables you to use the map function conveniently. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR, § 25 para. 1 TDDDG. The cookie is stored for up to 2 years.

Google Maps is not loaded without your consent, a so-called 2-click solution is implemented. Data is only transmitted to Google after you have clicked on the link to activate Google Maps.

2. by visiting the website, Google receives the information that you have accessed the corresponding subpage of our website. In addition, the data mentioned under § 3 of this declaration is transmitted. This occurs regardless of whether Google provides a user account through which you are logged in or whether no user account exists. If you are logged in to Google, your data will be assigned directly to your account. If you do not wish your data to be associated with your Google profile, you must log out before activating the button. Google stores your data as usage profiles and uses them for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or customising its website. Such an analysis is carried out in particular (even for users who are not logged in) to provide customised advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles, whereby you must contact Google to exercise this right.

Google also processes your personal data in the USA. We would like to point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfer to the USA. In the USA, there is a risk that authorities may access the data for security and surveillance purposes without you being informed or having the right to appeal. We will only transfer your data to Google if you have expressly consented to this. In this case, you also consent to the transfer of your data to the USA in accordance with Art. 49 para. 1 lit. a GDPR in the knowledge of the risks described. In this context, we have concluded standard contractual clauses with Google.

3. further information on the purpose and scope of data collection and its processing by Google can be found in the provider's privacy policy. There you will also find further information on your rights in this regard and setting options to protect your privacy: www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.

§ 9
Integration of Google Maps

The social media buttons integrated into the website (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Xing, WhatsApp) are purely text links that do not transmit any personal data to the respective providers when the website is accessed. Clicking on the respective button redirects you to the respective provider's website.