Privacy Policy

1. An overview of data protection

General

The following gives a simple overview of what happens to your personal information when you visit our website, apply for a job or enter a business relationship. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. Detailed information on the subject of data protection can be found in our privacy policy found below.

Data collection on our website

Who is responsible for the data collection on this website?

The data collected on this website are processed by the website operator. The operator’s contact details can be found in the website’s required legal notice.

How do we collect your data?

Some data are collected when you provide it to us. This could, for example, be data you enter on a contact form.

Other data are collected automatically by our IT systems when you visit the website. These data are primarily technical data such as the browser and operating system you are using or when you accessed the page. These data are collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

What do we use your data for?

Part of the data is collected to ensure the proper functioning of the website. Other data can be used to analyze how visitors use the site.

What rights do you have regarding your data?

You always have the right to request information about your stored data, its origin, its recipients, and the purpose of its collection at no charge. You also have the right to request that it be corrected, blocked, or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in the legal notice if you have further questions about the issue of privacy and data protection. You may also, of course, file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities.

Analytics and third-party tools

When visiting our website, statistical analyses may be made of your surfing behavior. This happens primarily using cookies and analytics. The analysis of your surfing behavior is usually anonymous, i.e. we will not be able to identify you from this data. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. Detailed information can be found in the following privacy policy.

You can object to this analysis. We will inform you below about how to exercise your options in this regard.


2. General information and mandatory information

Data protection

The operators of this website take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data as confidential and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy.

If you use this website, various pieces of personal data will be collected. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. This privacy policy explains what information we collect and what we use it for. It also explains how and for what purpose this happens.

Please note that data transmitted via the internet (e.g. via email communication) may be subject to security breaches. Complete protection of your data from third-party access is not possible.

Notice concerning the party responsible for this website

The party responsible for processing data on this website is:

SmartStep Consulting GmbH
Alter Teichweg 25a
22081 Hamburg

Email: datenschutz@smartstep-consulting.de

The responsible party is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data (names, email addresses, etc.).

Right to file complaints with regulatory authorities

If there has been a breach of data protection legislation, the person affected may file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities. The competent regulatory authority for matters related to data protection legislation is the data protection officer of the German state in which our company is headquartered. A list of data protection officers and their contact details can be found at the following link: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_links-node.html.

Information, blocking, deletion

As permitted by law, you have the right to be provided at any time with information free of charge about any of your personal data that is stored as well as its origin, the recipient and the purpose for which it has been processed. You also have the right to have this data corrected, blocked or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in our legal notice if you have further questions on the topic of personal data.


3. Data protection officer

Statutory data protection officer

We have appointed a data protection officer for our company.

SmartStep Consulting GmbH
-Der Datenschutzbeauftragte-
Alter Teichweg 25a
22081 Hamburg

Email: datenschutz@smartstep-consulting.de


4. Data collection on our website

Cookies

Some of our web pages use cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer and do not contain any viruses. Cookies help make our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called “session cookies.” They are automatically deleted after your visit. Other cookies remain in your device’s memory until you delete them. These cookies make it possible to recognize your browser when you next visit the site.

You can configure your browser to inform you about the use of cookies so that you can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept or reject a cookie. Alternatively, your browser can be configured to automatically accept cookies under certain conditions or to always reject them, or to automatically delete cookies when closing your browser. Disabling cookies may limit the functionality of this website.

Cookies which are necessary to allow electronic communications or to provide certain functions you wish to use (such as the shopping cart) are stored pursuant to Art. 6 paragraph 1, letter f of GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the storage of cookies to ensure an optimized service provided free of technical errors. If other cookies (such as those used to analyze your surfing behavior) are also stored, they will be treated separately in this privacy policy.

Server log files

The website provider automatically collects and stores information that your browser automatically transmits to us in “server log files”. These are:

  • Browser type and browser version
  • Operating system used
  • Referrer URL
  • Host name of the accessing computer
  • Time of the server request
  • IP address

These data will not be combined with data from other sources.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR, which allows the processing of data to fulfill a contract or for measures preliminary to a contract.


5. Analytics and advertising

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Google Analytics uses so-called “cookies”. These are text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

We use Google-Analytics to record and statistically evaluate the user behavior of visitors to our offers and to use the findings to improve our offers and make them more interesting for you as a user. The legal basis for this processing and the storage of Google Analytics cookies is your consent according to Art. 6(1), Subparagraph 1(a) GDPR.

IP anonymization

We have activated the IP anonymization feature on this website. Your IP address will be shortened by Google within the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area prior to transmission to the United States. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide other services regarding website activity and Internet usage for the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data held by Google.

Browser plugin

You can prevent these cookies being stored by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. However, we wish to point out that doing so may mean you will not be able to enjoy the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the data generated by cookies about your use of the website (incl. your IP address) from being passed to Google, and the processing of these data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

Objecting to the collection of data

You can prevent the collection of your data by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set to prevent your data from being collected on future visits to this site: [ga-optout text=”Disable Google Analytics”]

For more information about how Google Analytics handles user data, see Google’s privacy policy: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.

Outsourced data processing

We have entered into an agreement with Google for the outsourcing of our data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.


6. Plugins and tools

Google Web Fonts

For uniform representation of fonts, this page uses web fonts provided by Google. When you open a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into your browser cache to display texts and fonts correctly.

For this purpose your browser has to establish a direct connection to Google servers. Google thus becomes aware that our web page was accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web fonts is done in the interest of a uniform and attractive presentation of our website. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

If your browser does not support web fonts, a standard font is used by your computer.

Further information about handling user data, can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google’s privacy policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

Google Maps

This site uses the Google Maps map service via an API. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

To use Google Maps, it is necessary to save your IP address. This information is generally transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. The provider of this site has no influence on this data transfer.

The use of Google Maps is in the interest of making our website appealing and to facilitate the location of places specified by us on the website. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

Further information about handling user data, can be found in the data protection declaration of Google at https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/.


7. data protection information for applicants

Subject

Thank you for your interest in our company.

Hereinafter, we would like to inform you about the personal data that will be processed in your application process.

Data processing in the application procedure

In order to look for new employees, we publish job advertisements.

To be able to process your application, we need certain data from you.

In addition to your name and contact details, we also need and process your other applicant data, e.g. your letter of application, CV, certificates or interview notes.

We delete the data collected during the application process when the data is no longer needed for the purpose of the application-process. This is the case after a maximum of six months after the end of the application procedure, in case the applicant is not hired. This does not apply if legal regulations don’t allow deletion, if the data is required for the purpose of providing evidence (e.g. in legal procedures) or if you have expressly agreed to a longer storage period.

If we ask you for your consent, e.g. for longer storage of your data, the legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR, § 26 (2) BDSG (German Federal Data Protection Law). Otherwise, the legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b), § 26 BDSG.


8. data protection information for customers and suppliers

Subject

Below we would like to inform you about which kind of personal data is or will be processed within the scope of an existing or upcoming business relationship between us.

Your inquiry

We offer different ways of contact, e.g. our contact-address, e-mail address, telephone number and  a contact form.

When you contact us, we use the information you provide, such as your e-mail address, your name and the content of your inquiry, to process your request.

Within the scope of communication, we may also use Messenger. You are entitled to use our other means of communication at any time. If the Messenger uses end-to-end encryption, the Messenger provider cannot access the message content. Though, the messenger service provider may have access to the information that a communication took place and which device was used. However, this data is processed by the messenger service provider, for further information the privacy policy of that messenger service applies.

We delete the data that is collected in this process after it is no longer needed for storage purposesin case there are legal obligations not to delete the data, we will restrict processing of the data.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR.

Business relationship

We require personal data for the conclusion as well as for the execution of any contract about the services offered by us or by you.

Within the framework or execution of the contract, you must provide us with the personal data required for the establishment, implementation and termination of the contractual relationship and the fulfilment of the associated contractual obligations. We process your data in order to fulfil the contract with you and to comply with existing legal requirements, e.g. commercial or tax law. This may include the transfer of data to subcontractors, payment service providers or authorities.

We are obliged by commercial and tax law to store data pertaining to the contract for ten years. However, after two years we will restrict processing, i.e. your data will only be used to comply with legal obligations.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR.

Credit assessment

We reserve the right to obtain a credit report from a credit agency in individual cases before conclusion of the contract in the event of a considerable obligation on our part to make advance payments. The purpose of this is to protect against payment defaults.

The deletion of the data provided by the credit agency will take place after the decision on the conclusion of the respective contract.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

Advertising to existing customers

Should you become a customer of us, we may use the e-mail address we have received in this connection to send you advertising for similar goods or services.

You can object to this advertising at any time, in particular by informing us via the contact details given in the imprint. Even if we do not send you any advertising for a period of two years, we will block your e-mail address from receiving advertising. For the storage of your e-mail address per se, the provisions of commercial and tax law in connection with your purchase from us apply.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR in conjunction with § 7 (3) UWG.


9. Appearances on social media 

We operate appearances on social media to communicate with our customers, interested parties and users and to inform them about our services. As a rule, cookies are stored on the users’ computers. Cookies are small text files that are stored on the hard disk and through which the site that sets the cookie (here through the social network) can obtain certain information.

The cookies enable the creation of statistics on the use of an appearance on the social networks. For this reason, if necessary, we have concluded an agreement on joint controllership for the processing of personal data. Furthermore, user data is also regularly used for advertising purposes by creating user profiles (especially of registered users) on usage behavior. User data is also used to place suitable advertisements.

The legal basis is Art. 6(1), Subparagraph 1(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is the comprehensive and optimized information of the users. We would like to point out that only the respective social network has access to the entire data and therefore an effective claim for information should be made directly to the social network. Of course you can also assert your rights with us. We will forward your request to the social medium on the basis of the agreement on joint responsibility.

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