Data protection information for a website

Foreword

We, Novumstate GmbH, take the protection of your personal data seriously and would like to take this opportunity to inform you about data protection in our company.

As part of our responsibility under data protection law, additional obligations have been imposed on us by the entry into force of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679; hereinafter: „GDPR„) in order to ensure the protection of personal data of the person affected by processing (we also refer to you as the data subject hereinafter as „customer„, „user„, „you„, „you“ or „data subject„).

Insofar as we decide either alone or jointly with others on the purposes and means of data processing, this includes above all the obligation to inform you transparently about the type, scope, purpose, duration and legal basis of the processing (cf. Art. 13 and 14 GDPR). With this declaration (hereinafter: „data protection information„), we inform you about the way in which your personal data is processed by us.

Our data protection information has a modular structure. It consists of a general part for all processing of personal data and processing situations that apply each time a website is accessed (A. General) and a special part, the content of which relates only to the processing situation specified there with the designation of the respective offer or product, in particular the visit to websites described in more detail here (B. Visit to websites).

In order to find the parts relevant to you, please refer to the following overview of the subdivision of the data protection information:

Part	designation	This part is for you…	Page
Part A	General information	…always relevant.	[Pagenumber]
Part B	Webseite and Social Media presence	…relevant if you use our German website including our social media presence..	[Pagenumber]
To be inserted if required:
Part C	Business partner	…relevant if you wish to work with us as a service provider, supplier or similar partner, are already in an ongoing business relationship with us or have been in one in the past.	[Pagenumber]
Part D	Applicants	…relevant if you are applying for employment with us as an employee.	[Pagenumber]

A. General

(1) Definitions of terms

Following the example of Art. 4 GDPR, this data protection notice is based on the following definitions

– „Personal data“ (Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR) means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person („data subject“). A person is identifiable if they can be identified directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, an online identifier, location data or information relating to their physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity. The identifiability can also be provided by linking such information or other additional knowledge. The origin, form or embodiment of the information is irrelevant (photos, video or audio recordings can also contain personal data).

– „Processing“ (Art. 4 No. 2 GDPR) means any operation which is performed on personal data, whether or not by automated means (i.e. using technical specifications). This includes, in particular, the collection (i.e. acquisition), recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction of personal data, or alteration of the purposes for which they were originally processed.

– „Controller“ (Art. 4 No. 7 GDPR) means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.

– „Third party“ (Art. 4 No. 10 GDPR) means any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or body other than the data subject, controller, processor and persons who, under the direct authority of the controller or processor, are authorized to process personal data; this also includes other legal entities belonging to the group.

– „Processor“ (Art. 4 No. 8 GDPR) is a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller, in particular in accordance with the controller’s instructions (e.g. IT service provider). In terms of data protection law, a processor is in particular not a third party.

– „Consent“ (Art. 4 No. 11 GDPR) of the data subject means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her.

(2) Name and address of the controller

The controller responsible for the processing of your personal data within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 7 GDPR is us:

Novumstate GmbH

Chrysanthemenstrasse 3

10407 Berlin

+49 30 2000 844 50

info@novumstate.com

For further information about our company, please refer to the imprint information on our website [link to imprint].

(3) Contact details of the data protection officer

Lawyer

Kaspar-Ludwig Stolzenhain

LL.M. oec

His contact details are:

Amselstraße 26

D-14195 Berlin

Telephone: +49(0)30 936 726 98

Fax: +49(0)30 887 163 559

Email: info@stolzenhain-anwalt.de

(4) Legal basis for data processing

In principle, any processing of personal data is prohibited by law and is only permitted if the data processing falls under one of the following justifications:

– Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR („consent“): Where the data subject has voluntarily, in an informed and unambiguous manner, indicated by a statement or other unambiguous affirmative act that he or she consents to the processing of personal data relating to him or her for one or more specific purposes;

– Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b GDPR: If the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;

– Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. c GDPR: If the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject (e.g. a statutory retention obligation);

– Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. d GDPR: Where processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person;

– Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. e GDPR: If processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller; or

– Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR („Legitimate interests“): Where processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate (in particular legal or economic) interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or rights of the data subject which require protection of personal data (in particular where the data subject is a minor).

The storage of information in the end user’s terminal equipment or access to information that is already stored in the terminal equipment is only permitted if it is covered by one of the following justifications:

– Section 25 (1) TTDSG: If the end user has consented on the basis of clear and comprehensive information. Consent must be given in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR;

– Section 25 para. 2 no. 1 TTDSG: If the sole purpose is to carry out the transmission of a communication over a public telecommunications network or

– Section 25 para. 2 no. 2 TTDSG: If the storage or access is absolutely necessary so that the provider of a telemedia service can provide a telemedia service expressly requested by the user.

For the processing operations we carry out, we indicate the applicable legal basis in each case below. Processing may also be based on several legal bases.

(5) Data erasure and storage duration

For the processing operations carried out by us, we indicate below how long the data is stored by us and when it is deleted or blocked. Unless an explicit storage period is specified below, your personal data will be deleted or blocked as soon as the purpose or legal basis for storage no longer applies. Your data will generally only be stored on our servers in Germany, subject to any disclosure in accordance with the provisions in A.(7) and A.(8).

However, data may be stored beyond the specified period in the event of an (impending) legal dispute with you or other legal proceedings or if storage is provided for by statutory provisions to which we are subject as the controller (e.g. Section 257 HGB, Section 147 AO). If the storage period prescribed by the statutory provisions expires, the personal data will be blocked or deleted unless further storage by us is necessary and there is a legal basis for this.

(6) Data security

We use appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against unauthorized access by third parties (e.g. TSL encryption for our website), taking into account the state of the art, the implementation costs and the nature, scope, context and purpose of the processing as well as the existing risks of a data breach (including its probability and impact) for the data subject. Our security measures are continuously improved in line with technological developments.

We will be happy to provide you with more detailed information on request. Please contact our data protection officer (see under A.(3)).

(7) Cooperation with processors

As with any large company, we also use external domestic and foreign service providers to process our business transactions (e.g. for the areas of IT, logistics, telecommunications, sales and marketing). These service providers only act in accordance with our instructions and are contractually obliged to comply with data protection regulations in accordance with Art. 28 GDPR.

If your personal data is passed on by us to our subsidiaries or is passed on to us by our subsidiaries (e.g. for advertising purposes), this is done on the basis of existing order processing relationships.

(8) Conditions for the transfer of personal data to third countries

As part of our business relationships, your personal data may be passed on or disclosed to third-party companies. These may also be located outside the European Economic Area (EEA), i.e. in third countries. Such processing takes place exclusively to fulfill contractual and business obligations and to maintain your business relationship with us (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b or lit. f in each case in conjunction with Art. 44 ff. GDPR). We will inform you about the respective details of the transfer at the relevant points below.

The European Commission certifies that some third countries have a level of data protection comparable to the EEA standard by means of so-called adequacy decisions (a list of these countries and a copy of the adequacy decisions can be found here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/international-dimension-data-protection/adequacy-decisions_en). However, in other third countries to which personal data may be transferred, there may not be a consistently high level of data protection due to a lack of legal provisions. If this is the case, we ensure that data protection is adequately guaranteed. This is possible via binding corporate rules, standard contractual clauses of the European Commission for the protection of personal data pursuant to Art. 46 para. 1, 2 lit. c GDPR (the standard contractual clauses of 2021 are available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021D0915&locale-en), certificates or recognized codes of conduct. Please contact our data protection officer (see under A.(3)) if you would like more information on this.

(9) No automated decision-making (including profiling)

We do not intend to use personal data collected from you for automated decision-making (including profiling).

(10) No obligation to provide personal data

We do not make the conclusion of contracts with us dependent on you providing us with personal data beforehand. As a customer, you are under no legal or contractual obligation to provide us with your personal data; however, we may only be able to provide certain services to a limited extent or not at all if you do not provide the necessary data. If this should exceptionally be the case in the context of the products presented below and offered by us, you will be informed of this separately.

(11) Legal obligation to transmit certain data

Under certain circumstances, we may be subject to a specific legal or statutory obligation to provide the lawfully processed personal data to third parties, in particular public authorities (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. c GDPR).

(12) Your rights

You can assert your rights as a data subject with regard to your processed personal data at any time using the contact details provided at the beginning under A.(2). As the data subject, you have the right

– to request information about your data processed by us in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR. In particular, you can request information about the purposes of processing, the category of data, the categories of recipients to whom your data has been or will be disclosed, the planned storage period, the existence of a right to rectification, erasure, restriction of processing or objection, the existence of a right to lodge a complaint, the origin of your data if it was not collected by us, and the existence of automated decision-making including profiling and, if applicable, meaningfulinformation about its details;

– in accordance with Art. 16 GDPR, to immediately request the correction of incorrect data or the completion of your data stored by us

– in accordance with Art. 17 GDPR, to demand the erasure of your data stored by us, unless the processing is necessary for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest or for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims

– in accordance with Art. 18 GDPR, to demand the restriction of the processing of your data if the accuracy of the data is disputed by you or the processing is unlawful;

– in accordance with Art. 20 GDPR, to receive your data that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to request that it be transmitted to another controller („data portability“)

– pursuant to Art. 21 GDPR, to object to the processing if the processing is based on Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. e or lit. f GDPR. This is particularly the case if the processing is not necessary for the performance of a contract with you. If it is not an objection to direct advertising, we ask you to explain the reasons why we should not process your data as we have done when exercising such an objection. In the event of your justified objection, we will examine the situation and either discontinue or adapt the data processing or point out to you our compelling reasons worthy of protection on the basis of which we will continue the processing;

– in accordance with Art. 7 para. 3 GDPR, to withdraw your consent once given (even before the GDPR came into force, i.e. before May 25, 2018) – i.e. your voluntary, informed and unequivocal declaration or other unambiguous confirmatory act that you consent to the processing of the personal data concerned for one or more specific purposes – at any time, if you have given such consent. As a result, we may no longer continue the data processing that was based on this consent in the future and

– in accordance with Art. 77 GDPR, to complain to a data protection supervisory authority about the processing of your personal data in our company, for example to the data protection supervisory authority responsible for us: [Responsible data protection supervisory authority], [address], e-mail: [e-mail address].

(13) Changes to the data protection information

As part of the further development of data protection law and technological or organizational changes, our data protection notices are regularly reviewed to determine whether they need to be adapted or supplemented. You will be informed of any changes, in particular on our German website at [address of the company’s website]. This data protection notice is valid as of [month and year of publication of the data protection notice].

B. Visiting websites

Information about our company and the services we offer can be found in particular at https://novumstate.com together with the associated subpages (hereinafter jointly referred to as „websites“). When you visit our websites, your personal data may be processed.

(2) Processed personal data

When using the websites for information purposes, we collect, store and process the following categories of personal data:

„Log data“: When you visit our websites, a so-called log data record (so-called server log files) is temporarily and anonymously stored on our web server. This consists of

– the page from which the page was requested (so-called referrer URL)

– the name and URL of the requested page

– the date and time of the request

– the description of the type, language and version of the web browser used

– the IP address of the requesting computer, which is shortened so that a personal reference can no longer be established

– the amount of data transferred

– the operating system

– the message as to whether the request was successful (access status/Http status code)

– the GMT time zone difference

„Contact form data“: When contact forms are used, the data transmitted through them is processed (e.g. gender, surname and first name, address, company, e-mail address and the time of transmission).

In addition to the purely informational use of our website, we offer a subscription to our newsletter, which we use to inform you about current developments in commercial law and events. If you subscribe to our newsletter, the following „newsletter data“ will be collected, stored and processed by us:

– the page from which the page was requested (so-called referrer URL)

– the date and time of the request

– the description of the type of web browser used

– the IP address of the requesting computer, which is shortened so that a personal reference can no longer be established

– the e-mail address

– the date and time of registration and confirmation

We would like to point out that we evaluate your user behavior when sending the newsletter. For this evaluation, the e-mails sent contain so-called web beacons or tracking pixels, which are one-pixel image files stored on our website. For the evaluations, we link the aforementioned data and the web beacons with your e-mail address and an individual ID. Links contained in the newsletter also contain this ID. The data is collected exclusively in pseudonymized form, i.e. the IDs are not linked to your other personal data, and direct personal identification is excluded.

(3) Purpose and legal basis of data processing

We process the personal data specified above in accordance with the provisions of the GDPR, the other relevant data protection regulations and only to the extent necessary. Insofar as the processing of personal data is based on Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR, the purposes mentioned also represent our legitimate interests.

The processing of log data serves statistical purposes and to improve the quality of our website, in particular the stability and security of the connection (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a or lit. f GDPR).

The processing of contact form data is carried out to process customer inquiries (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b or lit. f GDPR).

The processing of contact form data is carried out to process customer inquiries (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b or lit. f GDPR).

Newsletter data is processed for the purpose of sending the newsletter. When registering for our newsletter, you consent to the processing of your personal data (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). We use the so-called double opt-in procedure to subscribe to our newsletter. This means that after you have registered, we will send you an email to the email address you have provided in which we ask you to confirm that you wish to receive the newsletter. The purpose of this procedure is to be able to verify your registration and, if necessary, to clarify any possible misuse of your personal data. You can revoke your consent to receive the newsletter at any time and unsubscribe from the newsletter. You can declare your revocation by clicking on the link provided in every newsletter e-mail, by e-mail to [e-mail address of the company] or by sending a message to the contact details given in the imprint.

If the processing of the data requires the storage of information in your terminal equipment or access to information that is already stored in the terminal equipment, Section 25 (1), (2) TTDSG is the legal basis for this.

(4) Duration of data processing

Your data will only be processed for as long as is necessary to achieve the above-mentioned processing purposes; the legal bases specified in the context of the processing purposes apply accordingly. With regard to the use and storage duration of cookies, please refer to point A.(5) and the cookie policy [link to the cookie policy].

Third parties used by us will store your data on their system for as long as is necessary in connection with the provision of the services for us in accordance with the respective order.

You can find more details on the storage period under A.(5) and the Cookie Policy [link to the Cookie Policy].

(5) Transfer of personal data to third parties; basis for justification

The following categories of recipients, which are usually processors (see A.(7)), may have access to your personal data:

– Service providers for the operation of our website and the processing of data stored or transmitted by the systems (e.g. for data center services, payment processing, IT security). The legal basis for the transfer is then Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b or lit. f GDPR, unless they are processors;

– Government bodies/authorities, insofar as this is necessary to fulfill a legal obligation. The legal basis for the transfer is then Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. c GDPR;

– Persons engaged to carry out our business operations (e.g. auditors, banks, insurance companies, legal advisors, supervisory authorities, parties involved in company acquisitions or the establishment of joint ventures). The legal basis for the disclosure is then Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b or lit. f GDPR.

For the guarantees of an appropriate level of data protection when transferring data to third countries, see A.(8).

In addition, we only pass on your personal data to third parties if you have given your express consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR.

(6) Use of cookies, plugins and other services on our website

a) Cookie

We use cookies on our websites. Cookies are small text files that are assigned and stored on your hard disk to the browser you are using by means of a characteristic string of characters and through which certain information flows to the body that sets the cookie. Cookies cannot execute programs or transfer viruses to your computer and therefore cannot cause any damage. They serve to make the Internet offer more user-friendly and effective overall, i.e. more pleasant for you.

Cookies may contain data that makes it possible to recognize the device used. In some cases, however, cookies only contain information on certain settings that are not personally identifiable. However, cookies cannot directly identify a user.

A distinction is made between session cookies, which are deleted as soon as you close your browser, and permanent cookies, which are stored beyond the individual session. In terms of their function, a distinction is made between cookies:

– Technical cookies: These are absolutely necessary in order to move around the website, use basic functions and ensure the security of the website; they do not collect information about you for marketing purposes, nor do they store which websites you have visited;

– Performance cookies: These collect information about how you use our website, which pages you visit and, for example, whether errors occur when using the website; they do not collect any information that could identify you – all information collected is anonymous and is only used to improve our website and to find out what interests our users;

– Advertising cookies, targeting cookies: These are used to offer the website user needs-based advertising on the website or offers from third parties and to measure the effectiveness of these offers; advertising and targeting cookies are stored for a maximum of 13 months;

– Sharing cookies: These are used to improve the interactivity of our website with other services (e.g. social networks); sharing cookies are stored for a maximum of 13 months.

The legal basis for cookies that are absolutely necessary to provide you with the expressly requested service is Section 25 (2) No. 2 TTDSG. Any use of cookies that is not absolutely technically necessary for this purpose constitutes data processing that is only permitted with your express and active consent in accordance with Section 25 (1) TTDSG in conjunction with Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 lit. a GDPR. This applies in particular to the use of performance, advertising, targeting or sharing cookies; in addition, we will only pass on your personal data processed by cookies to third parties if you have given your express consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR.

b) Cookie policy

For more information about which cookies we use and how you can manage your cookie settings and disable certain types of tracking, please see our cookie policy [link to cookie policy].

c) Social media plugins

We do not use any social media plugins on our websites. If our websites contain symbols from social media providers (e.g. [name of social media providers with symbols on the company’s website]), we only use these to passively link to the pages of the respective providers.