Privacy policy

Heinz Schirmacher GmbH (hereinafter referred to as "Schirmacher"),

processes personal data in the course of its business activities, including the personal data of persons who use and browse the Schirmacher website and submit information via the contact form.

The controller within the meaning of data protection laws, in particular the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is

Heinz Schirmacher GmbH

Phone: +49 / 4154 / 8616 - 0

Fax: +49 / 4154 / 3018

E-mail: datenschutz@schirmacher-hf.de

Link to the imprint: http://www.schirmacher-hf.de/en/impressum.html

represented by

Managing Director Sven Kuntschmann

1 Scope of this privacy policy and rights of data subjects

This privacy policy contains the applicable principles and guidelines for the protection of your personal data, including your personal data collected via the contact form.

Personal data ("personal data") is all data that can lead to the identification of a person. Non-personal data is data that does not lead to the identification of a person.

Schirmacher collects personal data online and offline (e.g. via a business card handed to a Schirmacher employee without being asked). This data protection declaration applies irrespective of the collection procedure.

2. rights to the protection of personal data

Schirmacher will take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal data collected is used for the purposes set out in this privacy policy. You have the right to access your personal data. You also have the right to request the correction, amendment, updating and deletion of your personal data. You also have the right to receive a copy of your personal data stored by Schirmacher.

Rights of data subjects

You have the right to request confirmation as to whether the data in question is being processed and to request information about this data as well as further information and a copy of the data in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR.

You have accordingly. Art. 16 GDPR, you have the right to request the completion of data concerning you or the rectification of inaccurate data concerning you.

In accordance with Art. 17 GDPR, you have the right to demand that the data in question be deleted immediately or, alternatively, to demand that the processing of the data be restricted in accordance with Art. 18 GDPR.

You have the right to request to receive the data concerning you that you have provided to us in accordance with Art. 20 GDPR and to request that it be transferred to other data controllers.

In accordance with Art. 77 GDPR, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority.

Right of cancellation

If you have given your consent, you can revoke it at any time with effect for the future.

Right of objection

You can object to the future processing of data concerning you at any time in accordance with Art. 21 GDPR.

Contact us

In any case, you can exercise your right to access and correct your data by sending us a

Send an e-mail to datenschutz@schirmacher-hf.de.

**The exercise of your data subject rights is generally free of charge. However, in accordance with Art. 12 (5) GDPR, we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee or to refuse to process requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive. **Schirmacher may refuse access to personal data under certain circumstances defined by applicable laws and regulations.

~~Depending on the scope of the request, Schirmacher reserves the right to charge a reasonable fee to cover the costs incurred in accessing, modifying and deleting personal data.

3. recorded data

Personal data collected from individuals who provide us with information for the purposes listed below may include the following:

IP address

Content of cookies

Salutation

First name and surname

Postal address

E-mail address

Telephone number(s)

Function/activity

Sector and sub-sector

other data that may be required for the purposes listed below

In any case, however, only such personal data is collected as is necessary for the purposes stated in Section 3.

4. purposes of the processing of personal data

Schirmacher collects and uses your personal data for the purpose of carrying out its business activities.

Transactions in accordance with the following legal bases and for the following purposes:

Processing activities based on the fulfilment of the contract:

to enable Schirmacher to manage its business relationships, including sales opportunities, commercial offers, purchasing, contracts, orders and invoices, which may also include communication data (e.g. chat messages, emails and voice messages);

to provide you with commercial services or support services;

to enable Schirmacher to manage its research and development activities, including development requirements, incidents and product stability checks;

so that Schirmacher can fulfil its contractual obligations arising from the employee or other employment relationships.

Processing activities based on the legitimate interests of Schirmacher:

to process an application from you and to manage recruitment sources. The legitimate interest lies in the implementation of efficient applicant management, which does not outweigh your legitimate interests.

5. transfer and recipients of personal data

In individual cases, personal data may be passed on to contracted companies for the purposes stated in Section 3 of this privacy policy and used by them within the scope of the privacy policy.

If Schirmacher becomes aware that third parties to whom Schirmacher has disclosed personal data for the purposes listed in Section 3 are using or disclosing such personal data in contravention of this Privacy Policy or applicable laws, Schirmacher shall take reasonable steps to prevent or stop such use or disclosure.

Schirmacher will also disclose such personal information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with legal process (e.g., a search warrant, subpoena or other court order) or to protect the rights, property or personal safety of Schirmacher, our customers or the public.

Such transmissions may be made via the Internet, by e-mail, by fax or by any other method Schirmacher deems appropriate and in accordance with applicable law.

6. Retention period for personal data

Schirmacher does not store your personal data for longer than necessary. The retention periods may vary depending on the data categories and processing activities.

In addition to the general principles set out below, the following specific retention periods apply:

• Server log files: Maximum 7 days.
• Enquiries via the contact form: The data will be stored until the enquiry has finally been processed and deleted after 6 months at the latest, provided there are no statutory retention obligations to the contrary (e.g. upon conclusion of a contract).
• Business correspondence and contract-related documents: 6 to 10 years, in accordance with the retention obligations under commercial and tax law (HGB, AO).

If Schirmacher processes and uses your personal data in accordance with the statutory provisions or with your consent, Schirmacher stores your personal data

only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the above-mentioned purposes,

until you object to the use of your personal data or

until you withdraw your previously given consent. However, where Schirmacher is required by applicable law to retain your personal data for longer, or where your personal data is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, Schirmacher will retain your personal data until the end of the relevant retention period or until the claims in question have been resolved.

7. data security

Schirmacher undertakes to ensure the protection and security of the personal data you provide in order to safeguard the confidentiality of this data and to protect it from theft, damage, destruction or disclosure to unauthorised persons.

Schirmacher takes appropriate physical, electronic and process-related security precautions to protect personal data from loss, misuse and unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.

To protect the security of your data during transmission over the Internet, we use state-of-the-art encryption methods (e.g. SSL) via HTTPS.

Nevertheless, despite all efforts to protect your personal data, Schirmacher cannot guarantee complete protection during the transmission of personal data in view of the unavoidable risks of data transmission via the Internet.

As the personal data may be confidential, access is restricted to employees and contractors who need this data in the performance of their duties. All persons who have access to your personal data are obliged to treat it confidentially; violations of this will be penalised with disciplinary sanctions and/or other sanctions.

Nevertheless, you should make absolutely sure that unauthorised persons do not gain access to your personal data.

8. Cookies and other technologies

The websites use cookies or other technologies (collectively referred to as "cookies") that may collect or store personal data. Cookies are text files that are stored and used to collect non-personal and personal information about your movements on and use of websites. Cookies can either be persistent (i.e. they continue to exist after you close your browser so that they can be used on your next visits to the website) or they can be transient (i.e. they are removed as soon as you close your browser).

Insofar as cookies (with the exception of technically necessary cookies) or comparable technologies are used to store information in your terminal equipment or to access information already stored in your terminal equipment, this is based on your express consent, which can be revoked at any time, in accordance with § 25 para. 1 TTDSG and Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR. We use a dedicated Consent Management Tool (CMP) for this purpose.

~~Schirmacher may also use third-party services (e.g. Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics, Piwik, DART, LinkedIn) to measure and analyse the effectiveness of the website.

~~In such cases, cookies may be used and stored by these third-party providers. When the data generated by these cookies is transmitted, the cookie settings ensure that the IP addresses are anonymised before geolocalisation and storage. Your IP address is not linked to other stored data.

~~When you navigate the websites, cookies are enabled by default and data may be read or stored locally on your device if your browser settings allow this.

9. web analysis service Trackboxx

We use the web analysis service on our website Trackboxx.

We use it to statistically evaluate visitor access and analyse the use of our website.

The data is stored anonymised on a server in Germany for this purpose and is subject to the provisions of the GDPR.

We do not use cookies or store any personal data. Instead, your IP address is used for this purpose,

generate a code that is then assigned to an anonymous user ID for as long as you are on our website.

This data cannot be assigned to a specific person and is encrypted with a code that changes daily.

It is therefore not possible to "recognise" you when you visit our website again.

There is no cross-site tracking, linking of data with other sources or forwarding of information to third parties.

The legal basis for the processing is Art. 6, para. 1, lit. f, GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in the needs-based design

and optimisation of our Internet presence.

10. use Leedfeeder

Our website uses the technologies of Dealfront (Dealfront Finland Oy as part of Dealfront Group GmbH) to analyse visitor behaviour. In this process, the IP address of a visitor is processed. The IP address is processed to help us understand which companies (B2B) visit our website. As part of the processing, the IP address is enriched with associated information such as the company name or industry code. For this purpose, the IP address of the website visitor and the corresponding session data are compared with an extensive whitelist of known companies at the start of the session.

In order to increase the data protection of our visitors, we have activated "IP address anonymisation" so that only shortened values are saved instead of the actual IP addresses and displayed with Dealfront. When this function is activated, we do not store the actual IP address anywhere in our systems, not even in the logs. This anonymisation makes it impossible to establish a connection to external IP address information later on, which prevents the identification of an individual person.

As part of this processing, so-called first-party cookies are used by Dealfront to analyse visitor behaviour.

If we process personal data in this context, this is done on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR) in optimising our products, services, sales and marketing. To prevent this processing, website visitors can install and configure appropriate ad blockers or use no-script plugins in their browser. The data is deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the intended purposes. However, statutory retention obligations may lead to a longer retention period for the data concerned. We have concluded a data processing agreement with Dealfront to ensure compliance with the applicable data protection standards.

11. settlement of disputes

Schirmacher has taken reasonable precautions to protect personal data, but it is recognised that there is no method of transferring or storing personal data that is completely secure.

However, Schirmacher is committed to ensuring the protection of personal data. If for any reason you believe that the security of your personal data has been compromised or that this data has been misused, please contact Schirmacher by e-mail at datenschutz@schirmacher-hf.de.

Schirmacher will investigate the case and follow up on complaints regarding the use and disclosure of personal data in accordance with the principles set out in this Privacy Policy.

12. CONTACT

If you have any further questions about this privacy policy or any other concerns regarding your rights to your personal data, you can send an e-mail to the following e-mail address: datenschutz@schirmacher-hf.de

13. DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE PRIVACY POLICY AND OF AMENDMENTS THERETO

This Privacy Policy may be updated in accordance with Schirmacher's requirements and circumstances or in accordance with the requirements of applicable laws and regulations. Therefore, please check regularly for updates.

In the event of major changes to this privacy policy, Schirmacher may inform you accordingly by e-mail or by means of a notification on the website.

Last change: This privacy policy was last changed on 01 October 2025.