Privacy Policy

1. Data protection at a glance

General information

The following notes provide a simple overview of what happens to your personal information when you visit our website. Personal information is any information that personally identifies you. For more detailed information on data protection, please refer to our privacy policy listed below this text.

Data collection on our website

Who is responsible for data collection on this website?
The data processing on this website is carried out by the website operator. Their contact data can be found in the imprint of this website.How do we collect your data?On the one hand, your data is collected by you communicating it to us. This may, for example, involve data that you enter in a contact form.Other data is automatically collected by our IT systems when you visit the website. These are mainly technical data (e.g. Internet browser, operating system or time of the page call). This data is collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

What do we use your data for?
Some of the data is collected in order to ensure that the website is error-free. Other data may be used to analyse your user behaviour.What rights do you have with regard to your data?You have the right at any time and free of charge to obtain information about the origin, recipient and purpose of your stored personal data. You also have the right to demand the correction, blocking or deletion of this data. You can contact us at any time at the address given in the imprint for this and other questions on the subject of data protection. Furthermore, you have the right to appeal to the responsible supervisory authority.In addition, you have the right, under certain circumstances, to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data. For details, please refer to the data protection declaration under "Right to Restrict Processing".

Analysis tools and third-party tools

When you visit our website, your surfing behaviour can be statistically evaluated. This is done primarily with cookies and so-called analysis programs. The analysis of your surfing behaviour is usually anonymous; the surfing behaviour cannot be traced back to you. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. Detailed information on this can be found in the following privacy statement.
You can object to this analysis. We will inform you about the possibilities of objection in this data protection declaration.

2. General information and mandatory information

Data protection

The operators of these pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and according to the legal data protection regulations as well as this data protection explanation.If you use this website, various personal data will be collected. Personal data is data with which you can be personally identified. This data protection declaration explains which data we collect and for what purpose we use it. It also explains how and for what purpose this is done.

We would like to point out that data transmission over the Internet (e.g. communication by e-mail) can be subject to security gaps. A complete protection of the data against access by third parties is not possible.

Reference to the responsible office The responsible body for data processing on this website is: European Fuel Cell Forum AG, Obgardihalde 2, CH-6043 Luzern-Adligenswil, Switzerland, +41 44 586 5644, forum@efcf.com
Responsible body is the natural or legal person who alone or together with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data (e.g. names, e-mail addresses, etc.).

Revocation of your consent to data processing

Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You can revoke any consent you have already given at any time. For this purpose, an informal e-mail notification to us is sufficient. The legality of the data processing carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

Right of objection against data collection in special cases and against direct advertising (Art. 21 DSGVO)
If data processing is carried out on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. e or f DSGVO, you have the right at any time to object to the processing of your personal data for reasons arising from your particular situation; this also applies to profiling based on these provisions. The respective legal basis on which a processing is based can be found in this data protection declaration. If you file an objection, we will no longer process your personal data concerned unless we can prove compelling reasons for the processing worthy of protection which outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms or the processing serves the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims (objection according to Art. 21 para. 1 DSGVO).

If your personal data are processed for the purpose of direct advertising, you have the right to object at any time to the processing of your personal data for the purpose of such advertising; this also applies to profiling insofar as it is connected with such direct advertising. If you object, your personal data will no longer be used for the purpose of direct advertising (objection according to Art. 21 para. 2 DSGVO).

Right of appeal to the competent supervisory authority

In the event of infringements of the DSGVO, the persons concerned shall have the right to appeal to a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of their habitual residence, workplace or place of presumed infringement. The right of appeal exists without prejudice to other administrative or judicial remedies.

Right to data transferability

You have the right to have data which we process automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfilment of a contract handed over to you or to a third party in a common, machine-readable format. If you request the direct transfer of the data to another responsible person, this will only be done as far as it is technically feasible.

SSL or TLS encryption

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or enquiries that you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from "http://" to "https://" and by the lock symbol in your browser line.

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

Information, blocking, deletion and correction

Within the framework of the applicable legal provisions, you have the right at any time to free information about your stored personal data, their origin and recipient and the purpose of data processing and, if applicable, a right to correction, blocking or deletion of this data. You can contact us at any time at the address given in the imprint for this and other questions on the subject of personal data.

Right to limitation of processing

You have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data. You can contact us at any time at the address given in the imprint. The right to limit the processing exists in the following cases:

  • If you dispute the accuracy of your personal data stored with us, we usually need time to verify this. For the duration of the check, you have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data.
  • If the processing of your personal data has taken place unlawfully, you can demand the restriction of data processing instead of deletion.
  • If we no longer need your personal data, but you need it for the exercise, defence or assertion of legal claims, you have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data instead of deletion.
  • If you have lodged an objection pursuant to Art. 21 para. 1 DSGVO, a balance must be struck between your and our interests. As long as it is not yet clear whose interests predominate, you have the right to demand that the processing of your personal data be restricted.

If you have restricted the processing of your personal data, these data may only be processed - apart from their storage - with your consent or for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims or for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person or for reasons of an important public interest of the European Union or a member state.

3. Data collection on our website

Cookies

Some of the Internet pages use so-called cookies. Cookies do not damage your computer and do not contain viruses. Cookies serve to make our offer more user-friendly, more effective and safer. 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 at the end of your visit. Other cookies remain stored on your end device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognize your browser during your next visit.

You can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and only allow cookies in individual cases, accept cookies for certain cases or generally exclude and activate the automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. If cookies are deactivated, the functionality of this website may be restricted.

Cookies that are required to carry out the electronic communication process or to provide certain functions you require (e.g. shopping basket function) are stored on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a justified interest in the storage of cookies for the technically error-free and optimised provision of its services. Insofar as other cookies (e.g. cookies for analysing your surfing behaviour) are stored, these are dealt with separately in this data protection declaration.

Server log files

The provider of these pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:

  • Browser type and browser version
  • used operating system
  • Referrer URL
  • Time of the server request
  • IP address

These data are not merged with other data sources.

This data is collected on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a justified interest in the technically error-free presentation and optimisation of his website - for this purpose the server log files must be recorded.

Contact form

If you send us enquiries via the contact form, your details from the enquiry form including the contact data you provided there will be stored by us for the purpose of processing the enquiry and in the event of follow-up questions. These data will not be passed on without your consent.

The processing of the data entered in the contact form is therefore carried out exclusively on the basis of your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke this consent at any time. For this purpose, an informal e-mail notification to us is sufficient. The legality of the data processing operations carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

The data entered by you in the contact form will remain with us until you request deletion, revoke your consent to storage or the purpose for data storage no longer applies (e.g. after your request has been processed). Mandatory legal provisions - in particular retention periods - remain unaffected. 

Instagram Plugin

On our pages functions of the service Instagram are integrated. These functions are provided by Instagram Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.

If you are logged into your Instagram account, you can link the contents of our pages to your Instagram profile by clicking the Instagram button. This allows Instagram to assign the visit to our pages to your user account. We would like to point out that, as the provider of the pages, we do not have any knowledge of the content of the transmitted data or of its use by Instagram.

For more information, please refer to Instagram's privacy policy: instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/.

4. Analysis tools and advertising

Google Analytics

This website uses functions of the web analysis service Google Analytics. The provider is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
Google Analytics uses so-called "cookies". These are text files which are stored on your computer and which enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will generally be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.
The storage of Google Analytics cookies and the use of this analysis tool are based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analysing user behaviour in order to optimise both its website and its advertising.

IP anonymisation
We have enabled the IP Anonymization feature on this website. As a result, your IP address will be shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area prior to transmission to the USA. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address 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 on website activity and to provide other services related to website activity and internet usage to the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics is not combined with other data from Google.

Browser Plugin
You may refuse the use 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. You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) as well as Google from processing this data by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Objection to data collection
You can prevent Google Analytics from collecting your information by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie is used to prevent your data from being collected on future visits to this website: Disable Google Analytics.
For more information on how Google Analytics uses user data, please refer to Google's privacy policy: support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245.

Order processing
We have entered into a contract with Google to process orders and are fully compliant with the privacy authorities' stringent requirements for the use of Google Analytics.

Demographic characteristics of Google Analytics
This website uses Google Analytics' "demographic features" feature. This allows reports to be generated that contain statements about the age, gender, and interests of site visitors. This data comes from interest-related advertising by Google and visitor data from third parties. This information cannot be associated with any specific individual. You can deactivate this function at any time via the ad settings in your Google Account or generally prohibit Google Analytics from collecting your data as described under "Objection to data collection".

5. Newsletter

Newsletter data

If you would like to receive the newsletter offered on the website, we require an e-mail address from you as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the e-mail address provided and that you agree to receive the newsletter. Further data will not be collected or will only be collected on a voluntary basis. We use these data exclusively for the dispatch of the requested information and do not pass these on to third parties.

The data entered in the newsletter registration form will be processed exclusively on the basis of your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke your consent to the storage of data, e-mail address and their use for sending the newsletter at any time, for example via the "Unsubscribe" link in the newsletter. The legality of the data processing operations that have already taken place remains unaffected by the revocation.

The data that you have stored with us for the purpose of subscribing to the newsletter will be stored by us until you unsubscribe from the newsletter and deleted after you cancel the newsletter. Data stored by us for other purposes remain unaffected by this.

MailChimp

This website uses the services of MailChimp for sending newsletters. Provider is Rocket Science Group LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Suite 5000, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA.

MailChimp is a service that can be used, among other things, to organize and analyze the sending of newsletters. If you enter data for newsletter subscription purposes (e.g. e-mail address), it will be stored on MailChimp's servers in the USA.

MailChimp is certified according to the "EU-US Privacy Shield". The "Privacy Shield" is an agreement between the European Union (EU) and the USA that is intended to ensure compliance with European data protection standards in the USA.

MailChimp enables us to analyse our newsletter campaigns. When you open an e-mail sent with MailChimp, a file contained in the e-mail (so-called web beacon) connects to the servers of MailChimp in the USA. In this way it can be determined whether a newsletter message has been opened and which links have been clicked. In addition, technical information is collected (e.g. time of access, IP address, browser type and operating system). This information cannot be assigned to the respective newsletter recipient. It is used exclusively for the statistical analysis of newsletter campaigns. The results of these analyses can be used to better adapt future newsletters to the interests of the recipients.

If you do not want an analysis by MailChimp, you have to unsubscribe from the newsletter. For this purpose we provide a corresponding link in every newsletter message. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter directly on the website.

Data processing is based on your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke this consent at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter. The legality of the data processing operations that have already taken place remains unaffected by the revocation.

The data you have deposited with us for the purpose of subscribing to the newsletter will be stored by us until you unsubscribe from the newsletter and will be deleted from our servers as well as from the MailChimp servers after unsubscribing from the newsletter. Data stored by us for other purposes remain unaffected by this.

You can find more details in the data protection regulations of MailChimp at: mailchimp.com/legal/terms/.

Conclusion of a Data Processing Agreement

We have concluded a so-called "Data-Processing-Agreement" with MailChimp, in which we commit MailChimp to protect the data of our customers and not to pass them on to third parties. This contract can be viewed at the following link: mailchimp.com/legal/forms/data-processing-agreement/sample-agreement/.

6. Plugins and Tools

YouTube

Our website uses plugins from the YouTube page operated by Google. The site is operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.

When you visit one of our pages equipped with a YouTube plug-in, a connection is established to YouTube's servers. The YouTube server will be told which of our pages you have visited.

YouTube can also store various cookies on your terminal device. With the help of these cookies, Youtube can receive information about visitors to our website. This information is used, among other things, to collect video statistics, improve user-friendliness and prevent fraud attempts. The cookies remain on your terminal until you delete them.

If you are logged in to your YouTube account, you can enable YouTube to directly associate your surfing behaviour with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

YouTube is used in the interest of an appealing presentation of our online offers. This constitutes a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO.

Further information on the handling of user data can be found in YouTube's data protection declaration at: www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.

7. Final remark

The present version of the competition regulations is an automated translation. The German version is valid. If you have any questions, please contact us: European Fuel Cell Forum AG, Obgardihalde 2, CH-6043 Luzern-Adligenswil, Switzerland, +41 44 586 5644, forum@efcf.com.