Data Protection

You can rely on the protection and security of your personal data: We see it as our responsibility to protect your privacy when processing personal data. We process personal data in accordance with the provisions of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and other applicable legal regulations.

In the following, we inform you in accordance with Art. 12, 13, 14 and 21 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) about the processing of your personal data when using our website https://www.deginvest.de/.

Your data is processed by:

DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (hereinafter referred to as: „wir“ or „us“)
Kämmergasse 22
D-50676 Cologne
phone: + 49 221 4986-0
fax: + 49 221 4986-1290

You may contact our company data protection officer at:

DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH
Attn.: The Data Protection Officer
Kämmergasse 22
D-50676 Cologne

We process personal data that we receive when you use the website and subscribe to newsletters.

Personal data processed by us includes, in particular, contact data (e.g. name, address, telecommunications data), as well as data relating to your identification and the type and scope of use of our website, insofar as these arise in the context of your use of this website.

We process personal data in accordance with the provisions of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and other applicable legal regulations.

You can use almost the entire range of our website without us requiring any personal data from you. However, the offers and services listed below, which you will find on our website, require the provision of personal data in order to use them.

You can visit our website without providing any personal data. If you only use our website for informational purposes, i.e. if you do not log in, register, place an order or otherwise provide us with information about yourself, we do not collect any personal data, with the exception of the data that your browser transmits to enable you to visit the website and information that is transmitted to us in the context of cookies used for statistical analysis of the use of our website.

For the purpose of the technical provision of the website, it is necessary for us to process certain automatically transmitted information from you so that your browser can display our website and you can use the website. This information is automatically collected each time our website is accessed and stored in our server log files. This information relates to the computer system of the accessing computer. The following information is collected:

• IP-address;
• previously accessed website (Referrer);
• browser type/ -version (e.g.: Firefox 59.0.2 (64 Bit));
• browser language (e.g.: German);
• operating system used (e.g.: Windows 10);
• Internal resolution of the browser window;
• Screen resolution;
• Javascript activation;
• Java on / off;
• Cookies on / off;
• Color depth;
• Time of access.

We process your personal data for the technical provision of our website on the following legal basis:

• to fulfill a contract or to carry out precontractual measures in accordance with Art. 6 pa-ra. 1 lit. b GDPR, insofar as you visit our website to find out about our products and our events; and
• • to safeguard our legitimate interests in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR in order to make the website technically available to you. Our legitimate interest is to be able to provide you with an attractive, technically functioning and user-friendly website and to take measures to protect our website from cyber risks and to prevent our website from posing cyber risks to third parties.

We use the consent management service Cookiebot, of Usercentrics A/S, Havnegade 39, 1058 Copenhagen, Denmark (Usercentrics). With the help of Cookiebot, we obtain your permission for certain data processing that is subject to consent (e.g. analysis, tracking, etc.). By using the Consent Manager, we can inform you about the individual cookies and tools we use. You can use the Consent Manager to choose which cookies and tools you want to categorically allow or reject. This enables you to make an informed decision about the transfer of your data and allows us to use cookies and tools in a transparent and documented manner that complies with data protection regulations.

We use the Consent Manager to process your personal data in order to record your decision on the approval of cookies and tools and to save it for a subsequent visit to our website. This includes, in particular, the corresponding cookie with your (consent) decision. No personal data is transmitted to Usercentrics during the aforementioned processing of your data.

We process your personal data when using Cookiebot on the basis of the following legal bases:

• for the technical provision of our website and consent management in accordance with Section 25 para. 2 no. 2 Telecommunication-Telemedia Data Protection Act (TTDSG), as the processing of the above-mentioned data is absolutely necessary to enable you to use our website as expressly requested by you (i.e. with or without cookies);
• to fulfill a contract or to carry out precontractual measures in accordance with Art. 6 pa-ra. 1 lit. b GDPR, insofar as you visit our website to conclude a contract with us or to in-form yourself about our offers;
• for the use of cookie management to fulfill a legal obligation to which we as the controller are subject pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR. The legal obligation consists of informing you about the cookies we use and obtaining and documenting your consent to data processing; and
• to safeguard our legitimate interests in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR in order to be able to provide you with technical cookie management. Our legitimate interest is to be able to provide you with an appealing, technically functioning and user-friendly cookie management system, as well as to take measures to protect cookie management against cyber risks and to prevent cookie management from posing cyber risks to third parties.

We deploy cookies to make our website available for you to use. Cookies are text files that are stored in the internet browser or by the internet browser on your computer system when you access a website. A cookie contains a characteristic string of characters that enables the browser to be uniquely identified when the website is called up again. We deploy these cookies exclusively to make our website and its technical functions available to you. Further information about the cookies used can be found in the consent manager.

For the purpose of analyzing and tracking the use of our website, we or the service providers working for us also deploy cookies that enable an evaluation of your surfing behavior. This enables us to improve the quality of our website and its content. We learn how the website is used and can thus constantly optimize our offer.

We process your personal data on the basis of the following legal basis:

• Your consent in accordance with Section 25 para. 1 TTDSG with regard to the initial storage and reading of data and;
• your consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.

Further information on the cookies used can be found in our cookie settings, which are displayed at the bottom left of the screen in the form of a dot.

In addition to the merely informational use of our website, you can also actively use our website, for example to subscribe to our newsletter or to contact us. In addition to the pro-cessing of your personal data in the context of the informational use of our website, we then also process other personal data from you that we require for the active use of the website.

a) Contact Form

We process your personal data in connection with the use of our contact forms pro-vided on the website or when you contact us using the email address provided. If you contact us via one of the contact forms or our email address, we will process your personal data in order to handle and respond to your message. This always includes your name and e-mail address in order to send you a response, as well as any other information that you send us as part of your message.

We process your personal data on the following legal basis:

• To safeguard our legitimate interests in responding appropriately to customer inquiries in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR;
• In addition, pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR, if your request is aimed at concluding a contract;
• To fulfill our legal obligations pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR, insofar as your request is aimed at asserting your rights as a data subject.

b) Newsletter, Polls, etc.

With your consent, we use your data for the advertising purposes of sending our newsletter and advertising polls. We only collect the personal data required in each case, such as your e-mail address as mandatory information, but also information that you provide to us voluntarily (surname, first name, title, salutation, company) and in-formation for analyzing newsletter mailings (e-mail and link opening rate, information on the end device used, IP address, accessibility of the e-mail address). We use the voluntary information to continuously improve our customer relationship. For this purpose, we use a service provider who supports us in carrying out newsletter mailings.

When you register for the newsletter, you will receive an e-mail from us with a confirmation link allowing you to confirm your identity (so-called double opt-in). Your regis-tration for the newsletter is only complete once you have confirmed your identity.

If you have provided us with your e-mail address in connection with subscribing to the newsletter, we may subsequently use it to send you a newsletter. In such a case, only direct advertising for our own similar goods or services will be sent via the newsletter.

We process your data for sending newsletters, conducting polls via the website and personalizing the approach on the following legal bases:

• if you have given us your consent, in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR;
• if you have provided us with your email address in connection with the purchase of goods or services or if we send you personalized advertising, to protect our le-gitimate interests in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR in connection with Section 7 para. 3 of the German Law against Unfair Competition (UWG); our legit-imate interest is based on our economic interests in the implementation of adver-tising measures and target group-oriented advertising.

Consent that has been granted can be revoked at any time. This also applies to the revocation of declarations of consent given to us before the GDPR came into force, i.e. before May 25, 2018. You can object to the use of your email address at any time by sending a message to the contact option described below or via a link provided for this purpose in the newsletter email. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawful-ness of data processing carried out prior to withdrawal.

c) Complaint Management

We process your personal data for the purpose of complaint management as part of the Independent Complaint Mechanism via the online complaint form and the e-mail address provided for complaints on the website. If you contact us via the online complaint form or the e-mail address provided, we will process the personal data listed as mandatory information (contact details and details of the complaint) as well as other personal data that you voluntarily provide to us as part of your complaint in order to process and respond to your complaint. We process your personal data as part of this processing in order to safeguard our legitimate interests in the proper processing of and response to complaints in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR.

In order to be able to communicate with you and provide information about our services on social networks, we have our own presence on selected social media platforms (fan page). The fan pages are either company or employee presences. We are not the original provider of these fan pages, but only use them within the scope of the possibilities offered to us by the respective provider. We would like to point out that you use this fan page and its func-tions on your own responsibility. This applies in particular to the use of the interactive func-tions (e.g. commenting, sharing, rating).

When visiting our site, the provider of the social media platform (provider) also collects your IP address and other information in the form of cookies on your PC, either after you have given your consent via the Consent Manager or directly when you use the respective social media plugin. When accessing a fan page, at least the IP address assigned to your end de-vice is transmitted to the provider. The provider also stores information about the end devices of its users. It cannot be ruled out that the provider assigns the IP address to the respec-tive users. This data can be used to tailor content or advertising to you. The deactivation of the processing is beyond our control.

If such processing of personal data is carried out on our website by us and the provider for joint purposes, we and the respective provider are jointly responsible within the meaning of Art. 26 GDPR. Please feel free to contact us or the provider of the social media platform with your request. We currently use the following platforms, the contact information of which can be found in the respective data protection information:

• Facebook of Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 Ireland (address of German branch: Facebook Germany GmbH, Schopenstehl 13, Haus am Domplatz, 20095 Hamburg);
• LinkedIn of LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland (address of German branch: LinkedIn Germany GmbH, Sendlinger Str. 12, 80333 München);
• YouTube of Google Ireland Ltd., Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (address of German branch: Google Germany GmbH, ABC-Straße 19, 20354 Hamburg),
• Instagram of Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 Ireland (address of German branch: Facebook Germany GmbH, Schopenstehl 13, Haus am Domplatz, 20095 Hamburg)
• Xing of New Work SE, Dammtorstraße 30, 20354 Hamburg

Below you will find the links to the data protection declarations and information of the respective providers:

• Facebook: https://de-de.facebook.com/policy.php
• LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy
• YouTube: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de
• Instagram: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy/?entry_point=ig_help_center_data_policy_redirect
• Xing: https://privacy.xing.com/de/datenschutzerklaerung

When you visit our website, data is processed in various ways:

You can visit our website without providing any personal data. We then do not process any personal data. This does not apply to the data that the provider transmits to us.

The provider deploys cookies to analyze and track the use of its platform; these enable it to evaluate your surfing behavior. We have no influence on the processes of data collec-tion and data processing. We also have no additional information on the purposes, storage periods and deletion of collected data. We cannot rule out the possibility that the provider may combine the information obtained with other information about you that he has ob-tained in the course of your other use of the social media platform. If you register on the platform, the provider could link the aforementioned information to analyze your surfing behavior with your personal data on the basis of your consent and use it to obtain targeted information on preferred topics. As the operator of the fan page, we also receive statistical information in anonymized form about the use of our presence on the platform. This enables us to further optimize our offer. We process your personal data on the basis of your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR, which you have given to the provider when accessing or registering for the respective social media platform.

You can also use our presence to get in touch with us. In this case, we also process the data that enables us to process your request. We also process this data when we actively use the website (e.g. to contact you on your own initiative or to initiate business contacts). If we publish posts on our website, you can share the posts via the platform or our presence on the platform or use them for interaction in other ways (e.g. commenting on a post). It is possible that we share your content on our presence or communicate with you, insofar as the platform provides these functions. The provider may publish public messages. We will not process your posts any further. We reserve the right to delete content if necessary. We process your data on the basis of our legitimate interest pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR in public relations and communication in line with social change.

We also process the data you provide in relation to inquiries in order to process and respond to such inquiries via chat or email. This involves your contact details and other in-formation that you provide to us in connection with the request. If necessary, we may refer you to alternative secure channels. Irrespective of this, you always have the option of contacting us using the contact details in the legal notice or this privacy policy. We process your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR to answer the inquiries of our customers and potential interested parties in an appropriate form.

We also use our presences to contact and initiate business contacts with you. For this purpose, we process the data that the respective provider makes available to us. This is your contact data. We may also process other data (e.g. in connection with the business relationship). We process your data on the basis of the consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR that you gave to the respective provider when you registered. In addition, we process your data on the basis of our legitimate interest pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR in addressing and communicating with customers and business partners in a contemporary manner.

The website contains links to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. After clicking on the link, you will be redirected to another website, i.e. only then will user infor-mation be transferred on the respective site. For information on how your data is processed when using social media sites, please refer to the data protection information:

• Facebook: https://de-de.facebook.com/policy.php
• LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy
• YouTube: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de
• Instagram: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy/?entry_point=ig_help_center_data_policy_redirect
• Xing: https://privacy.xing.com/de/datenschutzerklaerung

In order to ensure the needs-based design and continuous optimization of our website and to adapt to the technical conditions of our users, we deploy the web analysis tool Webtrekk from Webtrekk GmbH for so-called web analysis. This tool collects information about user behavior on our websites and technical details, such as the extent to which new technolo-gies are used and the reach of our offers. Among other things, Webtrekk sets cookies, reads/stores corresponding data on your end device and may create user profiles or assign corresponding IDs to users. As a TÜV-certified service provider, Webtrekk only uses serv-ers in Germany. Pseudonyms are generated when anonymized user profiles are created. With pseudonymization, the name or another identification feature is completely replaced so that the data subject cannot be identified. This also includes the use of cookies. The legal basis for this is your consent in accordance with Section 25 para. 1 TTDSG, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.

We process your personal data in order to assert our rights and enforce our legal claims. We also process your personal data in order to be able to defend ourselves against legal claims. Finally, we process your personal data insofar as this is necessary for the prevention or prosecution of criminal offenses. We process your personal data for this purpose to safe-guard our legitimate interests in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR, insofar as we assert legal claims or defend ourselves in legal disputes or we cooperate in preventing or investigating criminal offenses.

In the event that another entity acquires or intends to acquire our assets, which may include your personal data, or we enter into or seek to enter into a merger with another entity, we may be required to provide that entity with access to or transfer your personal data stored by us for the purposes of planning and implementing the acquisition/merger/cooperation (e.g. to determine the value of the business or business risks, to transfer the data/assets, etc.). We only process data that is relevant to the business to be transacted (e.g. master da-ta, business data, marketing data). We may then also process your personal data in order to execute a (partial) takeover, merger or consolidation (or similar processes such as a takeover in the context of liquidation, insolvency, dissolution, etc.) with another company/foundation. We process your data to protect our legitimate interest in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR in order to organize and execute a planned transaction of this kind.

We process your personal data in order to fulfill legal obligations to which we are subject. We process your personal data to fulfill a legal obligation pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR, insofar as the processing is necessary for the fulfillment of this obligation.

Within DEG, those departments that require your data to fulfill our contractual and legal obli-gations will have access to it. Service providers and vicarious agents employed by us may also receive data for these purposes.

Your personal data will only be disclosed to external recipients if we are obliged to provide information, report and/or disclose personal data in order to comply with legal requirements, if you have given us your consent to transfer your data to third parties or to external service providers who act as processors on our behalf or perform functions for us (e.g. IT service providers, computer center, sending the newsletter, etc.).

We only transfer your data to countries outside the EU or the EEA or to international organi-zations in compliance with the requirements of Art. 44 et seq. GDPR, in particular on the basis of your consent, an adequacy decision of the European Commission or the EU standard contractual clauses for compliance with the level of data protection. In these cases, in addition to the agreement of standard contractual clauses, we ensure, e.g. via contractual agreements with our business partners, that an adequate level of data protection is guaranteed for your data (copy available on request) and that enforceable rights and effective legal remedies are available to you, or we ask for your express consent.

If you use our website merely for information purposes, we store your personal data exclusively for the duration of your visit to the website. We delete your personal data immediately after you leave the website. As a rule, this also applies to cookies, in particular the session cookies used. Usercentrics stores the key and consent status in the browser for 12 months using the "CookieConsent" cookie.

When you actively use the website, we initially store your personal data for the duration of the response to your inquiry or for the duration of the business relationship. This also includes the initiation of a contract and the performance and execution of a contract. In addition, we will then store your personal data until any legal claims arising from the relationship with you become time-barred, in order to use them as evidence if necessary. The limitation period is usually between 1 and 3 years, but can also be up to 30 years. Once the limitation period has expired, we will delete your personal data unless there is a statutory retention ob-ligation (e.g. Section 257 German Commercial Code (HGB), Section 147 German Tax Code (AO)).

You have the following rights vis-à-vis us, which you can assert vis-à-vis the office named in Section 1 or our data protection officer:

• Right to information: You are entitled to request confirmation from us at any time with-in the scope of Art. 15 GDPR as to whether we process personal data concerning you; if this is the case, you are also entitled within the scope of Art. 15 GDPR to re-ceive information about this personal data and certain other information (including processing purposes, categories of personal data, categories of recipients, planned storage period, your rights, the origin of the data, the use of automated decision-making and, in the case of third country transfer, the appropriate guarantees) and a copy of your data.
• Right to correction: In accordance with Art. 16 GDPR, you are entitled to demand that we correct the personal data stored about you if it is inaccurate or incorrect.
• Right to deletion: You are entitled, under the conditions of Art. 17 GDPR, to demand the immediate deletion of your personal data. The right to deletion does not apply, among other things, if the processing of personal data is necessary for (i) the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and information, (ii) to fulfill a legal obligation to which we are subject (e.g. statutory retention obligations) or (iii) to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.
• Right to restriction of processing: You are entitled to demand that we restrict the pro-cessing of your personal data under the conditions of Art. 18 GDPR.
• Right to data portability: You are entitled, under the conditions of Art. 20 GDPR, to re-quest that we provide you with your personal data that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
• Right to object: You are entitled to object to the processing of your personal data un-der the conditions of Art. 21 GDPR, so that we have to terminate the processing of your personal data. The right to object only applies within the limits provided for in Art. 21 GDPR. In addition, our interests may conflict with the termination of processing, so that we are entitled to process your personal data despite your objection.
• Right of revocation: You have the right to revoke your consent at any time. The revocation is only effective for the future; this means that the revocation does not affect the legality of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent until the revocation.
• Right to file a complaint with a supervisory authority: You have the right to file a com-plaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if you consider that the processing of personal data relating to you infringes the GDPR, subject to the condi-tions of Art. 77 GDPR. The right to file a complaint exists without prejudice to any oth-er administrative or judicial remedy. You can contact the data protection authority re-sponsible for us at:
  Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen
  Kavalleriestr. 2-4
  40213 Düsseldorf
  Phone: 0211/38424-0
  Fax: 0211/38424-10
  Email: poststelle@ldi.nrw.de
• However, we recommend that you always address a complaint to our data protection officer first. If you have any questions regarding the handling of your personal data, you can con-tact our data protection officer at any time. You may reach him at:
  DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH
  Attn. The Data Protection Officer
  Kämmergasse 22
  D-50676 Cologne
  

Some sections of the website contain links to the websites of third-party providers. After clicking on the link, you will be redirected to the page of the respective provider. Only then will user information be transmitted. If you send information to or via such third-party sites, you should check the data protection declarations of these sites before you send them any information that can be associated with you.

In addition to the processing of personal data in connection with the use of the website and the subscription to newsletters, DEG processes personal data in other specific fields of ac-tivity. Further data protection information on these processing activities - broken down by the natural persons concerned - is available below:

Processing of customer data(PDF, 222 KB, non-accessible)

Processing of supplier data(PDF, 54 KB, non-accessible)

Processing of data in the DEG Customer Portal(PDF, 67 KB, non-accessible)

Data protection safeguards of DEG representative offices(PDF, 857 KB, non-accessible)

Data protection information for video surveillance at DEG(PDF, 37 KB, non-accessible)

We reserve the right to amend this privacy policy at any time. Any changes will be an-nounced by publishing the amended privacy policy on our website. Therefore, please check this privacy policy regularly to see the latest version.

As of: July 2024