Data Protection

When using this website, your personal data will be processed by us as the data controller and stored for as long as is necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes specified and statutory requirements. Below, we will provide information about which data this involves, how it will be processed and to which rights you are entitled to in this regard.

Personal data, as defined by Article 4(1) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) includes any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

1. Name and contact data of the data controller and of the corporate Data Protection Officer

This data protection information applies to data processing on our website www.iwu.fraunhofer.de by the controller:

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
Hansastraße 27c, 80686 Munich, Germany
Telephone +49 89 1205-0
Fax +49 89 1205-7531
info@zv.fraunhofer.de
www.fraunhofer.de

on behalf of its

Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU (hereinafter referred to as “Fraunhofer IWU”)
E-Mail: info@iwu.fraunhofer.de

The Data Protection Officer at Fraunhofer may be reached at the above-mentioned address, attention of Data Protection Officer or at datenschutz@zv.fraunhofer.de.

In case you have any questions about data protection law or your rights as the data subject, you may directly contact our Data Protection Officer.

2. Processing personal data and purposes of processing

a) When visiting the website

You may access our website without having to disclose any details of your identity. What the browser on your terminal device does automatically is only to send information to the server of our website (e.g. browser type and version, date and time of access) so as to allow a connection with the website. This also includes the IP address of your requesting terminal device. It is temporarily stored in a so-called log file and automatically deleted after 4 days:

The IP address is processed for technical and administrative purposes regarding connection set-up and stability, to guarantee the security and functioning of our website and to be able to track any illegal attacks on the website, if required.

The legal basis for processing the IP address is the first sentence of point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR. Our legitimate interest ensues from said security interest and the necessity of the unobstructed availability of our website.

We cannot draw any direct conclusions about your identity from processing the IP address and other information in the log file. Moreover, we use cookies and analytics services when you visit our website. For more information on this, please refer to clauses 4 and 5 of this Data Protection Information.

b) When registering for events

We offer a variety of events through our website on a regular basis, for which you may register online. When registering for an event, you need to enter the following mandatory data. These include:

  • First name and surname
  • Company
  • Address
  • Email address
  • Payment information (only for events that require payment and depending on the selected method of payment)

Any other mandatory data are marked as such (e.g. with *). Besides, other data may often be entered voluntarily.

The mandatory data are processed in order to identify the interested persons as participants of the event, to perform the participation contract, and to provide the participants with information pertaining to the event before, during and after the event. The voluntary data allows us to plan and execute the event based on interest and age criteria.

Data processing takes place at the request of the interested participants and is necessary pursuant to the first sentence of point (b) of Article 6 (1) GDPR for the purposes mentioned for the performance of the participation contract and in order to take steps prior to entering into it.

We store the data we collect in the context of event registrations for 6 months unless you have consented to a longer storage period under Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR.

For the registration of our events through our web forms, we work in collaboration with the service provider Mailingwork GmbH, Birkenweg 7, 09569 Oederan (“Mailingwork”). The purpose of the collaboration is to professionally manage online registrations. For this purpose, the entered data is stored on the servers of Mailingwork in Germany.

We have concluded an order processing agreement with Mailingwork. By this agreement, Mailingwork assures that it will process the data on our account in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and guarantees the protection of rights of the data subjects.

In addition, it may in some cases be necessary within the scope of performance of the contract to transfer your personal data to an external organiser. In connection with an event registration, you will be informed about who the organiser is and whether it is an external organiser. This organiser will process personal data within the scope of the event and especially for the management of participants.

Photos and videos will be taken to document the event in pictures. Since you can possibly be identified in these images, either directly or indirectly, they represent personal data.

The images are created for Fraunhofer and will be used for news reporting directly associated with the event as well as for internal and external reporting by Fraunhofer.

Furthermore, the images will be published for the purpose of subsequent news reporting on our media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. or our website. This processing is required in particular to document our event and promote future events.

The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. The purposes mentioned are legitimate interests within the meaning of the aforementioned provision.

The images will be stored for 2 years.

c) When subscribing to a newsletter or other email list

Once you have given your explicit consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR, we will use your email address to regularly send you selected information about the work in our Institute and/or on other facilities and/or events of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The subjects and contents of the selected information are determined by the list you subscribed to.

To receive our newsletter, we ask you to provide us with the following mandatory data:

  • Email address
  • Title
  • First name
  • Last name

We need your name and title to address you personally in our newsletter.

You may voluntarily provide additional personal data (e.g. address). We use this data to contact you by mail (e.g. for event invitations).

Once you have subscribed, you will receive a registration notification by email, which you need to confirm to receive the newsletter (so-called double opt-in). Your email response serves as confirmation that you are in fact the person who issued the subscription.

You may unsubscribe at any time, e.g. via a link at the end of each newsletter. Alternatively, you may also unsubscribe by email kundendatenschutz@iwu.fraunhofer.de.

Once we have received your cancellation of the newsletter subscription, we will immediately delete your email address.

Our service provider, mailingwork GmbH, Birkenweg 7, 09569 Oederan (‘Mailingwork’) sends our newsletter to your email address on our behalf. Mailingwork stores the email addresses of our newsletter recipients on their servers in Germany on our behalf.

Mailingwork uses this information for the purpose of sending and evaluating newsletters on our behalf. For this purpose, we entered into a data processing agreement with Mailingwork. By signing this agreement, Mailingwork undertakes to process the subscriber data in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and to uphold the rights of all data subjects.

Mailingwork has assured us that personal data are extensively protected from unauthorized access. Mailingwork is barred from using the data provided by our newsletter subscribers to contact the subscribers itself and is not authorized to transfer the subscriber data to third parties. As a reputable email sending service, Mailingwork is also certified by the Certified Senders Alliance.

d) When using contact forms

We offer the option to contact us via a contact form provided on the website. This involves the following mandatory information:

  • Title
  • First and last name
  • Email address.

We require your data to determine who sent the inquiry and to be able to answer and process it.

This data processing in response to your inquiry is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR.

We will delete the personal data collected by us using the contact form after your inquiry has been processed.

e) When using the ordering service for chargeable publications

We offer an ordering service on our website, where you can purchase publications by Fraunhofer IWU, e.g. “Reports from Fraunhofer IWU”. As part of the order process, we collect the following mandatory data:

  • Title
  • First and last name
  • Company
  • Address
  • Email address

The collection and processing of these data has the following purposes:

  • To identify you as our contract partner
  • To check the provided data for plausibility
  • To complete the order and invoicing processes

In addition, you may voluntarily provide more data (company name, different billing address, contact information).

We process data at your request and for the purposes described by Article 6 (1) lit. b GDPR to meet the obligations associated with your order and precontractual conditions. In the process, we use your email address to send you an order confirmation. We use all contact information exclusively to handle any inquiries connected to your order.

We will store the personal data collected in connection with your order until the end of the statutory warranty period (2 years, Sec. 438 (1) No. 3 BGB [German Civil Code]). At that time, the data will be deleted unless fiscal retention periods and documentation duties require a longer storage period pursuant to Article 6 (1) lit. c GDPR and in particular pursuant to Sec. 147 AO [German Fiscal Code]). During this storage period (ordinarily ten years after entering into the sales contract), we will reprocess the data solely for audits by fiscal authorities. Any further processing of the data is prohibited.

f) When using our ordering service for nonchargeable publications

We offer an ordering service on our website, where you can order publications by Fraunhofer IWU free of charge, e.g. annual reports or competence brochures. As part of the order process, we collect the following mandatory data:

  • Title
  • First and last name
  • Company
  • Address

The collection and processing of these data has the purpose to complete the ordering process.

In addition, you may voluntarily provide your email address so that we can inform you immediately of any delays in processing your order.

We process data at your request and for the purposes described by Article 6 (1) lit. b GDPR to meet the obligations associated with your order and precontractual conditions. The personal data we collect for the order of free print products will be deleted automatically after the order you have placed is completed.  

3. Transfer of personal data to third parties

If we forward personal data collected through websites to processors, we will notify you in this data protection information regarding the respective data processing operation, citing the specific recipient.

Aside from that, we will only forward your personal data if

  • you have given consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR;
  • this is required pursuant to Article 6 (1) lit. b GDPR for the performance of a contract with you (for example forwarding to shipping companies for the purpose of delivering goods ordered by you, or forwarding payment information to payment service providers or credit institutions in order to process a payment transaction);
  • there is a legal obligation for disclosure pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. c GDPR.

The recipients may use the transferred data for the above-mentioned purposes only.

4. Cookies

Except in the case described in clause 5 of this Data Protection Information, we do not use any cookies.

5. Web analysis through Leadlab

On our website we use the Leadlab service by Wiredminds GmbH and its tracking pixel technology to analyse user behaviour and optimise our site based on it. The service particularly allows us to identify which companies have visited our site. In doing so we do not obtain any information that may identify you directly.

In connection with the use of Leadlab, cookies and tracking pixels are used which allow statistical analysis of the use of this website through your visits. Information, including personal information about your visiting behaviour, is stored in the cookie and sent to Wiredminds or is directly obtained by Wiredminds. The information is processed by Wiredminds, who use a pseudonym in a usage profile for the purpose of analysis. The data is anonymised to the extent possible.

The data thus collected is not used to identify you except with your express consent, nor is the data merged with your personal data as a bearer of the pseudonym.

If IP addresses are collected, they are immediately anonymised after collection by deleting the last number block.

For more information about data protection at Wiredminds, please visit their website..

The data is processed based on our legitimate interest, pursuant to point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR, to optimise our online offer and our web presence. Wiredminds processes the data on our behalf and we have concluded an order processing agreement with Wiredminds. It ensures that the data processing on our behalf takes place in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and that the rights of the data subjects are protected.

If you do not wish that your usage behaviour is recorded and analysed, you may object by means of opt-out cookies. An opt-out cookie is set which prevents future capturing of your data when visiting this website. The opt-out cookie is only applicable to this browser and only for our website and is stored on your device. If you delete the cookies in this browser, you need to reset the opt-out cookie.

Click here to opt-out the webtracking with Wiredminds

6. Social plug-ins

We use so-called social media buttons (also called social media plug-ins) on our website. These are small icons which you can use to share the contents of our website in your profile on social networks.

If you activate such an icon, a connection is established between our website and the social network. In addition to the contents in question, the operator of the social network obtains further, partly personal information. For example, this includes the fact that you are currently visiting our site.

The social media buttons are integrated using the so-called Shariff solution. This solution prevents your device from establishing a link to the social network merely because you visit a website featuring a social plugin button without clicking on it. This means that information is only transmitted to the social network when you activate the button.

We integrate the following social plug-ins on our website:

a) Facebook Ireland Limited: Sharing on Facebook

Information is partly transmitted to the parent company Facebook Inc., headquartered in the USA. This company complies with the data protection regulations of the U.S. Privacy Shield and is registered with the U.S. Privacy Shield Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

For the purpose and scope of data collection, further processing and use of data by Facebook as well as your related rights and configuration options for protecting your privacy, please refer to Facebook’s privacy policy.

b) Twitter International Company: Sharing on Twitter

Information is partly transmitted to the parent company Twitter Inc., headquartered in the USA. This company complies with the data protection regulations of the U.S. Privacy Shield and is registered with the U.S. Privacy Shield Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Further information on data protection on Twitter can be found in Twitter’s privacy policy.

c) XING SE: Sharing on XING

Further information on data protection on XING can be found in XING’s privacy policy.

d) LinkedIn Corporation: Sharing on LinkedIn

Information is partly transmitted to the parent company LinkedIn Corporation, headquartered in the USA. This company complies with the data protection regulations of the U.S. Privacy Shield and is registered with the U.S. Privacy Shield Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Further information on data protection on LinkedIn can be found in the company’s privacy policy.

e) Facebook Ireland Limited: Sharing on Instagram

Information is partly transmitted to the parent company Facebook Inc., headquartered in the USA. This company complies with the data protection regulations of the U.S. Privacy Shield and is registered with the U.S. Privacy Shield Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

For the purpose and scope of data collection, further processing and use of data by Facebook as well as your related rights and configuration options for protecting your privacy, please refer to Instagram’s privacy policy.

7. YouTube

On the basis of a consent pursuant to the first sentence of point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR, we use components (videos) of the company YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave., 94066 San Bruno, CA, USA (hereinafter: “YouTube”), a company of Google Inc., Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (hereinafter: “Google”) on our Internet pages.

In so doing we use the option of “extended data protection mode” provided by YouTube.

When you access a page containing an embedded video, a connection to the YouTube servers is established and the contents are displayed on the Internet page through a notification to your browser.

Pursuant to YouTube specifications, in the “extended data protection mode” your data - especially which of our Internet pages you have visited as well as device-specific information including the IP address - is sent to the YouTube servers in the US only when you view the video. By clicking on the video, you give your consent to this transfer.

If you are simultaneously logged on to YouTube, this information is assigned to your YouTube member account. You may prevent this by logging out of your member account before visiting our website.

Google respects the data protection regulations of the US Privacy Shield and is registered with the US Privacy Shield program of the US Department of Commerce.

For more information on data protection in connection with YouTube, please refer to the data protection regulations of Google.

8. Rights of the data subject

You have the right:

  • pursuant to Article 7(3) GDPR, to withdraw the consent given to us at any time. This means that in future we may no longer continue to process the data as based on this consent;
  • pursuant to Article 15 GDPR, to obtain information about your personal data processed by us. More particularly, you may obtain information about the purpose of processing, the category of the personal data, the categories of recipients, to whom your data has been or is disclosed to, the storage period planned, the existence of a right to request from the controller rectification , erasure, restriction of processing or objection, the existence of a right to lodge a complaint, the source of your data if it has not been collected by us, as well as about the existence of automated decision-making including profiling and, if applicable, significant information about its details;
  • pursuant to Article 16 GDPR, to obtain the rectification of inaccurate personal data without undue delay or the completion of your personal data stored with us;
  • pursuant to Article 17 GDPR, to obtain the erasure of your personal data stored with us unless processing is necessary to exercise the right to freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation , for reasons of public interest, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
  • pursuant to Article 18 GDPR, to obtain the restriction of the processing of your personal data if you contest the accuracy of the data, the processing is unlawful but you deny its erasure and we no longer need the data while you still require it for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims or if you have objected to processing pursuant to Article 21 GDPR;
  • pursuant to Article 20 GDPR, to receive your personal data that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to obtain the transmission to another data controller and
  • pursuant to Article 77 GDPR, to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. For this, you may normally contact the supervisory authority of your habitual residence or workplace or our company headquarters.

9. Information on your right to object pursuant to Article 21 GDPR

You have the right to object, on grounds relating from your particular situation, at any time to processing of your personal data, which is based on point (e) of Article 6(1) GDPR (data processing for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest) and on point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR (data processing for the purposes of the legitimate interests); this is also applicable to profiling pursuant to Article 4(4) GDPR based on this regulation.

If you file an objection, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or unless processing serves the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. If your objection is directed against the processing of data for the purpose of direct marketing, we will stop the processing immediately. In this case, citing a special situation is not necessary. This is also applicable to profiling, insofar as it is related to such direct marketing.

If you wish to make use of your right to object, please send an email to datenschutz@zv.fraunhofer.de.

10. Data security

All your personal data is transferred in an encoded manner using the widely used and secure TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption standard. TLS is a secure and proven standard that is also used for online banking, for instance. You will recognise a secure TLS connection by the additional s after http (i.e., https://..) in the address bar of your browser or from the lock icon in the lower part of your browser, among other things.

Besides, we use suitable technical and organisational security measures to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against unauthorised access by third parties. Our security measures are continuously being improved as the technology advances.

11. Timeliness and Amendments to this Data Protection Information

This data protection information as amended in April 2020 is currently applicable.

It may become necessary to change this data protection information due to the further development of our website and its offers or on account of amended legal or official requirements. You may always access and print the latest data protection information on the website at https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/data-protection-policy.html.