• Privacy policy
• Legal notice
• General Terms & Conditions

Data protection statement

1.  General

KIRCHHOFF Witte GmbH appreciates your interest in our Company. We take the protection of your personal data very seriously and hereby inform you of the type and scope of personal data that we collect when you visit our website. The following data protection statement applies to these websites and their subdomains: www.wittetools.comand witte-werkzeuge.de

It is generally possible to use our website without entering personal data. If personal data (e.g. name, address, or e-mail address) is collected, this is always done wherever possible on a voluntary basis. This data is not transmitted to third parties without your explicit consent.

We would like to point out that the transfer of data on the Internet (e.g. during e-mail communication) can have security gaps. It is not possible to fully protect the data from third-party access.

It is hereby expressly prohibited for the contact data published within the scope of the imprint obligation to be used by third parties for sending unsolicited advertising and information material. The operators of the websites expressly reserve the right to take legal action in the event of unsolicited information being sent, for example via spam e-mail. 

All personal data will be collected, processed, and used in accordance with the applicable regulations for the protection of personal data. 

2.  Name and address of the controller

The controller in the sense of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), of other valid data protection laws in the Member States of the European Union, and of other provisions of a data protection nature is KIRCHHOFF Automotive GmbH. Contact details and other information can be found in the Imprint. 

3. Name and address of the data protection officer

The data protection officer of the controller is: 

Externally:

VIA Consult GmbH, Ms. Dr. Hanni Koch
Martinstraße 25
57462 Olpe, Germany
+49 2761 8375-0
datenschutz@via-consult.de

Any data subject can contact our data protection officer directly at any time with all questions or suggestions regarding data protection. 

4. Cookies

The websites of KIRCHHOFF Automotive/the KIRCHHOFF Group use cookies. Cookies are text files that are stored on a computer system via an Internet browser.

By using cookies, websites and servers can differentiate between the individual browsers of the people that visit them. 

The use of cookies enables KIRCHHOFF Automotive/the KIRCHHOFF Group to make this website more user-friendly and provide services that would not have been possible without cookies. For example, visitors to a website that uses cookies do not have to enter their access data each time they visit the website because this data is transferred from the website to the cookie stored on the user’s computer system. 

A change to the settings on the respective Internet browser prevents cookies being stored for any websites. Cookies that are already stored can be deleted. This is possible in all common Internet browsers, but in some cases the functionality of the website is restricted. 

5. Purpose of data collection and possible transfer of data 

Personal details are only collected by us if they are provided by you knowingly e.g. when you fill in an enquiry form. Data are input in the following areas:

Contact form 

The contact form offers those interested in the company and its products to submit enquiries to KIRCHHOFF Witte. Our website contains other opportunities to contact us quickly by email as required by statutory provisions (e.g. in the Legal note). If someone (the data subject) makes contact by email or through the contact form, the personal data entered are automatically stored. The data transferred during this contact are stored to enable the query to be processed and to make contact with the enquirer. The emails are, in most cases, sent to the normal email accounts of the departments. Unless it is essential for the purpose of processing the request, these personal data are not transferred to third parties outside the Group.

If you use your own email account to contact our trade partners, they will be processing your data (and depending on their location, this may be outside the EU). In such cases, KIRCHHOFF Witte is no longer the data controller.

Catalogue request

You can use the catalogue request system to order KIRCHHOFF Witte product catalogues. To do so, you will have to transfer the data you enter to a general email account at KIRCHHOFF Witte. We shall only use those data to send you the requested catalogues. The data will not be passed on to any third parties.

Distributor section

In order to log in to the distributor section, you require a User ID and password. When you register with KIRCHHOFF Witte as a distributor, these details will be sent to you when we have recorded your details in connection with a commercial relationship. 

Newsletter

If you subscribe to our newsletter, you will be required to enter data to enable us to send you the newsletter. By doing so, you are agreeing to our using those data to send you the newsletter and inform you of new activities. Your data will be used exclusively to send you the newsletters and will not be passed to third parties.

Job applications

If you are interested in applying for a job you will be automatically routed through to the KIRCHHOFF Automotive website because this division is responsible for job vacancies in the Group. All the data you upload there will be viewed and processed by KIRCHHOFF Automotive. For the processing of personal data in connection with job applications, we have created a separate privacy statement which can be viewed before you supply any data.

Route calculations using Google Maps

We use Google Maps on our website. The provider of that software is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. If you use the Google Maps functions on the website, Google will collect, process and use data relating to the way the maps function is used by visitors to our website. The data may be processed in the USA. You can find the Google Privacy Policy here: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en&gl=en/and the terms & conditions for Google Maps here: https://www.google.com/intl/en_gb/help/terms_maps.html

6. Use of Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service offered by Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies (text files), which are stored on your computer and used to analyse the way you use the website. The information generated by the cookie about the way you use this website is generally transmitted to and stored on a Google server in the USA. If IP anonymisation is activated on this website, however, Google will shorten your IP address in advance within Member States of the European Union or in other Contracting Parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

Only in exceptional cases shall the full IP address be 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 the website operator with other services relating to the use of the website and the Internet. The IP address transmitted in the context of Google Analytics from your browser shall not be combined with other data from Google.

You can prevent the storage of cookies by activating the appropriate setting in your browser. Please note, however, that this may prevent you from using the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) as well as from processing this data by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available at: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

You can find out more at: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout and support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245 (general information about Google Analytics and data protection). We would like to make you aware that the code “gat._anonymizeIp();” has been added to Google Analytics on this website to ensure the anonymous collection of IP addresses (IP masking). 

The data collected via Google Analytics will be deleted after 14 months.

7. Legal basis of processing

If we obtain consent for certain processing operations, it is based on Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. If the processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a contract, for example for the delivery of goods or for pre-contractual measures such as enquiries, this processing is based on Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. If our Company is subject to a legal obligation that requires the processing of personal data, for example to fulfil tax obligations, the processing is based on Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR. If the processing of personal data is not based on any of the aforementioned legal bases, we process data to protect a legitimate interest of our Company (improvement in performance of business activities). We always make sure that this does not conflict with a legitimate interest of the data subject that outweighs our legitimate interest. 

8. Period for which the personal data is stored

If you send applications to KIRCHHOFF Automotive, please refer to the additional data protection statement for applications in the Careers area of the website for information about the duration of storage.

If you send us an e-mail via the contact form, your e-mails are delivered to the relevant mailboxes and archived there for an unlimited period. 

9. Right of access and right of revocation, right to lodge a complaint and right to data portability, right to restriction of processing, right to rectification, and right to erasure

You have the right at any time to receive information about your data stored by us and about the purpose of storage. You are able to revoke your consent to the storage or use of your personal data in writing at any time. In addition to the right of revocation, you have the right to demand the correction, the restriction of the processing, and the blocking or erasure of your data. 

In the event of any complaints, you have the right to contact the relevant supervisory authority (for North Rhine-Westphalia: the German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in Düsseldorf). You also have the right to receive any data transmitted by you in a machine-readable transmission format.

If you have any questions about the processing of your personal data, please contact us directly (controller: see Imprint). If you have any questions, requests for information, proposals, or complaints, you can also contact our external data protection officer directly. 

10. Security

KIRCHHOFF Witte GmbH uses technical and organisational security measures to protect your data provided to us from accidental or deliberate manipulation, loss, destruction, or access by unauthorised persons. 

Our security measures are not only continuously improved in line with technological developments, but also protected by an integrated information security management system (ISMS). 

Our website uses a counting pixel technology provided by wiredminds GmbH (www.wiredminds.de) to analyze visitor behavior. If necessary, data is collected, processed and stored, from which user profiles are created under a pseudonym. Wherever possible and reasonable, these usage profiles are completely anonymized. Cookies can be used for this purpose. Cookies are small text files that are stored in the visitor's Internet browser and serve to recognize the Internet browser. The collected data, which may also contain personal data, will be transmitted to wiredminds or collected directly by wiredminds. wiredminds may use information that is left by visiting the websites to create anonymized usage profiles. The data obtained without explicit consent of the affected person will not be used to personally identify the visitor of this website and will not be merged with personal data of the bearer of the pseudonym. Whenever IP addresses are recorded, their immediate anonymization takes place by deleting the last number block. Exclude from tracking.

More information and the current privacy policy of WiredMinds can be found at www.wiredminds.de/fileadmin/testimages/content/datenschutz/DSB_WiredMinds_16.pdf

Online presence in social media

We provide online presences within social networks in order to be able to communicate with the interested parties and users active there and to inform them about us.

User data may be processed by the service provider outside the European Union. This may result in risks for the users, because it could, for example, make it more difficult to enforce the rights of the users.

As a rule, the service provider processes user data for market research and advertising purposes. For example, the interests of the users resulting from their usage behaviour can be used to place advertisements within and outside the platforms that could correspond to the interests of the users. Cookies are usually stored on the users' computers for this purpose. In addition, data can also be stored in the usage profiles independently of the devices used (especially if the users are members of the respective platforms and are logged in to them).

In the following, we inform you about the processing of your personal data carried out by us in the context of the online presences provided by us. In its ruling of 5 June 2018, the ECJ confirmed the joint responsibility of the service providers and the page operator.

The social media site you visit offers you the opportunity to respond to our posts, comment on them, create a user post yourself and send us private messages with personal concerns. The data you provide in this context and which may be accessible to us (e.g. user name, pictures, interests if applicable, contact details) will be used by us exclusively for the purpose of customer and interest communication. It is in our interest to provide you with a platform on which we can display up-to-date information and with the help of which you can address your request to us and we can respond to your request as quickly as possible.

We do not process any data other than the basic functions through the site. Please note that the service provider may use tracking tools and cookies independently of our use of the site.

For a detailed description of the respective processing and the possibilities of objection (opt-out), we refer to the information of the providers linked below.

In the case of requests for information and the assertion of user rights, we would also like to point out that these can be asserted most effectively with the providers. Only the providers have access to the users' data and can take appropriate measures and provide information directly. If you still need help, you can contact us.

• Facebook (Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Irland) – Privacy Policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/, Opt-Out: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads und http://www.youronlinechoices.com
• Google/ YouTube (Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA Verantwortliche Stelle ist die Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Irland) – Privacy Policy:  https://policies.google.com/privacy, Opt-Out: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated
• Instagram (Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Irland) – Privacy Policy: http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/.
•  Vimeo (Vimeo, Inc., 555 West 18th Street, New York 10011, USA) – Privacy Policy: https://vimeo.com/privacy, Opt-Out: https://vimeo.com/cookie_policy)
• LinkedIn (LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Irland) – Privacy Policy https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy , Opt-Out: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-out

 

Legal basis of processing

If we obtain consent for certain processing operations, this is based on Art. 6 I lit. a GDPR. If the processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a contract, e.g. for the delivery of goods, or for pre-contractual measures, e.g. in the case of enquiries, the processing is based on Art. 6 I lit. b GDPR. If our company is subject to a legal obligation by which the processing of personal data becomes necessary, such as for the fulfilment of tax obligations, the processing is based on Art. 6 I lit. c GDPR. If the processing of personal data is not based on any of the aforementioned legal grounds, we process data to protect a legitimate interest of our company (improvement of the performance of business activities). In doing so, we always ensure that no interest of the data subject which is worthy of protection and which outweighs our legitimate interest is opposed to this.