Privacy Policy

1. An overview of data protection

General information

The following information will provide you with an easy to navigate overview of what will happen with your personal data when you visit our website. The term “personal data” comprises all data that can be used to personally identify you. For detailed information about the subject matter of data protection, please consult our Data Protection Declaration, which we have included beneath this copy.

Data recording on our website

Who is the responsible party for the recording of data on this website (i.e. the “controller”)?
The data on this website is processed by the operator of the website, whose contact information is available under section “Information about the responsible party” on this website.

How do we record your data?
Our IT systems automatically record other data when you visit our website. This data comprises primarily technical information (e.g. web browser, operating system or time the site was accessed). This information is recorded automatically when you access our website.

What are the purposes we use your data for?
A portion of the information is generated to guarantee the error free provision of the website. Other data may be used to analyse your user patterns.

What rights do you have as far as your information is concerned?
You have the right to receive information about the source, recipients and purposes of your archived personal data at any time without having to pay a fee for such disclosures. You also have the right to demand that your data are rectified, blocked or eradicated. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time under the address disclosed in section “Information about the responsible party” on this website if you have questions about this or any other data protection related issues. You also have the right to log a complaint with the competent supervising agency.

Moreover, under certain circumstances, you have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data. For details, please consult the Data Protection Declaration under section “Right to demand processing restrictions”.

2. General information and mandatory information

Data protection

The operators of this website and its pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. Hence, we handle your personal data as confidential information and in compliance with the statutory data protection regulations and this Data Protection Declaration.

Whenever you use this website, a variety of personal information will be collected. Personal data comprises data that can be used to personally identify you. This Data Protection Declaration explains which data we collect as well as the purposes we use this data for. It also explains how, and for which purpose the information is collected.

We herewith advise you that the transmission of data via the internet (i.e. through e-mail communications) may be prone to security gaps. It is not possible to completely protect data against third party access.

Information about the responsible party (referred to as the “controller” in the GDPR)

The data processing controller on this website is:

Michael Osswald
Managing Director
STS Verification International GmbH
Mainzer Landstr. 61
60329 Frankfurt

Phone: +49 (0)69 87 40 344-10
E-mail: michael.osswald@svi-gmbh.com

The controller is the natural person or legal entity that single-handedly or jointly with others makes decisions as to the purposes of and resources for the processing of personal data (e.g. names, e-mail addresses, etc.).

Revocation of your consent to the processing of data

A wide range of data processing transactions are possible only subject to your express consent. You can also revoke at any time any consent you have already given us. To do so, all you are required to do is sent us an informal notification via e-mail. This shall be without prejudice to the lawfulness of any data collection that occurred prior to your revocation.

Right to object to the collection of data in special cases; right to object to direct advertising (Art. 21 GDPR)

In the event that data are processed on the basis of Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. e or f GDPR, you have the right to at any time object to the processing of your personal data based on grounds arising from your unique situation. This also applies to any profiling based on these provisions. To determine the legal basis, on which any processing of data is based, please consult this Data Protection Declaration. If you log an objection, we will no longer process your affected personal data, unless we are in a position to present compelling protection worthy grounds for the processing of your data, that outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms or if the purpose of the processing is the claiming, exercising or defence of legal entitlements (objection pursuant to Art. 21 Sect. 1 GDPR).

Right to log a complaint with the competent supervisory agency

In the event of violations of the GDPR, data subjects are entitled to log a complaint with a supervisory agency, in particular in the member state where they usually maintain their domicile, place of work or at the place where the alleged violation occurred. The right to log a complaint is in effect regardless of any other administrative or court proceedings available as legal recourses.

Right to data portability

You have the right to demand that we hand over any data we automatically process on the basis of your consent or in order to fulfil a contract be handed over to you or a third party in a commonly used, machine readable format. If you should demand the direct transfer of the data to another controller, this will be done only if it is technically feasible.

SSL and/or TLS encryption

For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as purchase orders or inquiries you submit to us as the website operator, this website uses either an SSL or a TLS encryption programme. You can recognise an encrypted connection by checking whether the address line of the browser switches from “http://” to “https://” and also by the appearance of the lock icon in the browser line.

If the SSL or TLS encryption is activated, data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Information about, blockage, rectification and eradication of data

Within the scope of the applicable statutory provisions, you have the right to at any time demand information about your archived personal data, their source and recipients as well as the purpose of the processing of your data. You may also have a right to have your data rectified, blocked or eradicated. If you have questions about this subject matter or any other questions about personal data, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time at the address provided in section “Information about the responsible party”.

Right to demand processing restrictions

You have the right to demand the imposition of restrictions as far as the processing of your personal data is concerned. To do so, you may contact us at any time at the address provided in section “Information about the responsible party”. The right to demand restriction of processing applies in the following cases:

• In the event that you should dispute the correctness of your data archived by us, we will usually need some time to verify this claim. During the time that this investigation is ongoing, you have the right to demand that we restrict the processing of your personal data.
• If the processing of your personal data was/is conducted in an unlawful manner, you have the option to demand the restriction of the processing of your data in lieu of demanding the eradication of this data.
• If we do not need your personal data any longer and you need it to exercise, defend or claim legal entitlements, you have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data instead of its eradication.
• If you have raised an objection pursuant to Art. 21 Sect. 1 GDPR, your rights and our rights will have to be weighed against each other. As long as it has not been determined whose interests prevail, you have the right to demand a restriction of the processing of your personal data.

If you have restricted the processing of your personal data, these data – with the exception of their archiving – may be processed only subject to your consent or to claim, exercise or defend legal entitlements or to protect the rights of other natural persons or legal entities or for important public interest reasons cited by the European Union or a member state of the EU.

Joint Controllership between SVI and TSI

In accordance with Article 26 of the German Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), STS Verification International GmbH ("SVI") and True Sale International GmbH ("TSI") entered into an agreement on joint responsibility for data processing which determines their respective responsibilities for compliance with the Regulation (Joint Controller Agreement). This agreement relates in particular to the exercise of your rights and fulfilment of the duties to provide information referred to in Articles 13 and 14 of the GDPR. Irrespective of the terms of the agreement referred to in the previous paragraph, you may exercise your rights under this Regulation in respect of and against each of the controllers. The agreement may be viewed upon request submitted to the responsible person.

Rejection of unsolicited e-mails

We herewith object to the use of contact information published in conjunction with the mandatory information to be provided in section “GENERAL INFORMATION AND MANDATORY INFORMATION” to send us promotional and information material that we have not expressly requested. The operators of this website and its pages reserve the express right to take legal action in the event of the unsolicited sending of promotional information, for instance via SPAM messages.

3. Recording of data on our website

Cookies

In some instances, our website and its pages use so-called cookies. Cookies do not cause any damage to your computer and do not contain viruses. The purpose of cookies is to make our website more user friendly, effective and more secure. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer and stored by your browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called “session cookies.” They are automatically deleted after your leave our site. Other cookies will remain archived on your device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognise your browser the next time you visit our website.

You can adjust the settings of your browser to make sure that you are notified every time cookies are placed and to enable you to accept cookies only in specific cases or to exclude the acceptance of cookies for specific situations or in general and to activate the automatic deletion of cookies when you close your browser. If you deactivate cookies, the functions of this website may be limited.

Cookies that are required for the performance of the electronic communications transaction or to provide certain functions you want to use, are stored on the basis of Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in storing cookies to ensure the technically error free and optimised provision of the operator’s services. If other cookies (e.g. cookies for the analysis of your browsing patterns) should be stored, they are addressed separately in this Data Protection Declaration.

Server log files

The provider of this website and its pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser communicates to us automatically. The information comprises:

• The type and version of browser used
• The used operating system
• Referrer URL
• The hostname of the accessing computer
• The time of the server inquiry
• The IP address

This data is not merged with other data sources.

This data is recorded on the basis of Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR. The operator of the website has a legitimate interest in the technically error free depiction and the optimization of the operator’s website. In order to achieve this, server log files must be recorded.

Request by e-mail, telephone or fax

If you contact us by e-mail, telephone or fax, your request, including all resulting personal data (name, request) will be stored and processed by us for the purpose of processing your request. We do not pass these data on without your consent.

The processing of these data is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR, if your request is related to the execution of a contract or if it is necessary to carry out pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, the processing is based on your consent (Article 6 (1) a GDPR) and/or on our legitimate interests (Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR), since we have a legitimate interest in the effective processing of requests addressed to us.

The data sent by you to us via contact requests remain with us until you request us to delete, revoke your consent to the storage or the purpose for the data storage lapses (e.g. after completion of your request). Mandatory statutory provisions - in particular statutory retention periods - remain unaffected.