Use and purpose of data collection

In principle it is not necessary to share personal data in order to use our website. However, we do require your personal data to provide our services. When an order is placed, we collect, store and use your personal data only to the extent necessary to provide our services and to fulfil the contract. This also applies to the sending of informational material, the preparation of quotations and the answering of individual questions.

When you use our website, we store data such as your operating system, your browser, your IP address (from the website previously accessed – the referrer URL) and the time. We collect this data for statistical purposes only in order to further optimise our internet presence. In addition, we reserve the right, in the event of system misuse, to use this data to establish the causes and triggers of the misuse.

It should be noted that data transmission over the internet (e.g. when communicating by email) is not guaranteed to be secure. Sensitive data should therefore be transmitted only over a secure connection and/or encrypted or should not be transmitted at all. No other personal data, such as your name, address, telephone number or email address, will be collected when you use the website unless you volunteer these details, for example when enquiring about a service or responding to a survey, a competition or a request for information. Personal data is stored and processed solely in compliance with the legal requirements of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Transmission to third parties

As a matter of principle there is no disclosure of data to third parties unless this is necessary for the purpose of providing a service or fulfilling the contract. Information is provided to the authorities or to other governmental institutions only in the context of statutory obligations to provide information or on the basis of court rulings.

At the request of the competent authorities, we are in individual cases permitted to disclose information on this data, provided that this is required for the purposes of criminal prosecution, to protect against threats to public safety, to comply with the statutory responsibilities of the authorities appointed to defend the German constitution or of military counter-intelligence services or to enforce intellectual property rights.

Data on children and adolescents

Individuals under 18 years of age should not transmit personal data to us without the consent of their parents or guardians. We do not knowingly request personal data from children and adolescents, do not collect it and do not pass it on to third parties.

Security measures

We have taken extensive technical and operational security precautions to protect the personal data we hold on you from unauthorised access and misuse. Our security procedures for protection against damage, destruction or unauthorised access are regularly reviewed and updated in line with technological advances.

Information and cancellation

You can obtain information about the data we hold on you at any time, free of charge and without giving any reasons. You may at any time block, correct or delete the data we have collected on you or have it blocked and object to data collection and storage by our website for optimisation purposes. You may also at any time and without giving any reasons withdraw the consent to data collection and use which you have granted us. To do so, please use the contact address given under Legal notices. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time if you have any further questions about our data privacy statement or about the processing of your personal data.

Newsletter

If you register for our newsletter with your email address, we will use your email address only to send our newsletter until you unsubscribe. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link provided in the newsletter or by notifying us of your wish to do so. You can unsubscribe using the link, by email or by other means.

Cookies

To make visiting the website attractive the use of certain functions called “cookies” are used. These are small text files, which are stored on your computer. After the end of the browser session, most of the cookies are deleted again from your hard drive (“session cookies”). The socalled “persistent cookies” on the other hand remain on your computer and are adjusted to recognize you on your next visit. The storage and functionality of cookies on your computer can be restricted, by selecting appropriate browser settings.

Facebook

Our website links to ARE’s page on Facebook. The Facebook platform is operated exclusively by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (Facebook).

If you are on our Facebook page with your personalaccount, Facebook can assign the website visit to this account. By interacting with plug-ins, eg by clicking on “Log in via Facebook”, “Share” button or leaving a comment on Facebook, this information will be transmitted directly to Facebook and stored there. If you want to prevent such transmission, you must log out before you visit our website under your Facebook account. If you are not a member of Facebook, there is the possibility, that Facebook takes your IP address in experience and stores it. It is, however, Facebook Social plug-ins with add-ons, such as the “Facebook Blocker” block for your browser.

Purpose and scope of data collection by Facebook, and the local further processing and use of your data as well as your rights and settings.For possibilities to protect your privacy please see the privacy policies of Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/).

YouTube

Our website links to the ARE pages of the social network YouTube. These are exclusively available from YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. YouTube, LLC is a subsidiary of Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA.

When you click on a YouTube button on our website, your browser will connect directly to YouTube’s servers and load the YouTube link. Information is transmitted to YouTube that our website has been accessed. Only when you sign up on the YouTube website will you provide YouTube with information about your visitor behavior. Information is also assigned to your YouTube user profile. YouTube’s privacy policy is located at https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. There you will find information on the collection, processing and use of personal data by YouTube.

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, text files which are stored on your computer and make it possible to analyse your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website will generally be transmitted to and stored by Google on a server in the USA. However, if IP address anonymisation is activated on this website, your IP address will be shortened first by Google within member states of the European Union or in other countries which are contracting parties to 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. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports about website activities and to provide the website owner with other services associated with website use and internet use. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of the Google Analytics service will not be associated with any other data held by Google. You may prevent the storage of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser; however, please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. In addition, you can avoid the collection of data created by the cookie and related to the use of the website (including your IP address) by Google, as well as the processing of this data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser plugin available under the following link: (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en).