Why do we have a Cookie Policy?

Why do we have a Cookie Policy?

This Cookie Policy sits in line with the EU`s Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (“PECD”). In accordance with them, we need to inform you about the cookies we use and obtain your consent when using certain types of cookies namely Functional, Performance, Analytical and Advertising Cookies.

 

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device by the websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. The use of cookies is now standard for most websites.

 

The cookies we use

We use three categories of cookies on our sites:

• Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to operate. Our website cannot function without these cookies and they can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.

• Analytical/Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to measure and report on website activity by tracking page visits, visitor locations and how visitors move around the site. The information collected does not directly identify visitors. We drop these cookies to help us analyze the data.

• Marketing & Social Media Cookies

Marketing cookies help us provide you with personalized and relevant services or advertising, and track the effectiveness of our digital marketing activities. Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit.

 

We utilize cookies, and other online identification technologies such as web beacons, or pixels to provide users with an improved user experience.

 

Analytics

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics provided by Google, on our website. Google Analytics also uses cookies to enable our website to analyze how users use our website across multiple devices. The information generated by the cookies about your use of our website is transmitted to and stored by Google. The following data is processed through the use of Google Analytics: i) 3 bytes of the IP address of the called system of the website visitor (anonymized IP address), ii) the website called up, iii) the website from which the user reached the accessed page of my website (referrer), iv) the subpages accessed from the website, v) the time spent on the website, and vi) the frequency with which the website is accessed. Google states that it will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. The legal basis for the processing is your consent in conjunction with our legitimate interest.

 

Pixel Cookies and Tags

We use so-called Pixel Cookies and Tags (“Pixel Cookies”). A Pixel Cookie is an advertising tool and typically consists of a JavaScript code snippet that allows us to understand and track visitors' activity on our website. For this purpose, Pixel Cookies collect and process information about visitors of our website and the device used (so-called event data).

Event data collected through Pixel Cookies is used for targeting our advertisements and improving ad delivery and personalized advertising. For this purpose, the event data collected on our website by means of Pixel Cookies is transmitted to the relevant operator of the Pixel Cookie and in part, also stored on your device. However, this only happens with your consent, and we and the relevant operator of the Pixel Cookie are considered joint controllers. Nonetheless, for the subsequent processing of the transmitted Event Data, the relevant operator of the Pixel Cookie is the sole controller.

For more information about how the relevant operator of the Pixel Cookie processes personal data, including the legal basis on which they rely on and how you can exercise your rights against, please refer to the following Privacy Policies: Facebook and Instagram.

 

Online Advertising

Google Ads

We use Google Ads, an online advertising service provided by Google. Google Ads enables us to show advertisements in the Google search engine or on third-party websites when the user enters certain search terms on Google (keyword targeting). Furthermore, targeted advertisements can be shown on the basis of user data available to Google (e.g. location data and interests) (target group targeting). With the help of Google Ads, we can evaluate this data quantitatively, for example, which search terms have led to the display of our advertisements and how many ads have resulted in corresponding clicks. The use of this service is based on your consent.

Google Ads Remarketing

We also use the remarketing functions Google Ads. Google Ads Remarketing allows us to assign people who interact with our advertisements and website to specific target groups and to display interest-based advertising to them within the Google advertising network.

Further, the advertising target groups created by us using Google Ads Remarketing can be linked to Google's cross-device functions. This means that interest-based, personalized advertising (that is advertising that has been adapted to you depending on your previous usage and surfing behavior) can also be displayed on another of your devices. The use of this service is based on your consent.

Google Conversion Tracking

We also use Google Conversion Tracking. With the help of Google conversion tracking, we and Google can recognize whether the user has performed certain actions. For example, we can evaluate which buttons on our website were clicked how often and which products were viewed or purchased particularly frequently. This information is used to create conversion statistics. We also learn the total number of users who clicked on our ads and what actions they took. We do not receive any information with which we can personally identify the user. Google itself uses cookies or comparable recognition technologies for identification. The use of this service is based on your consent.

 

Opting Out

Google Analytics

You can disable tracking by Google Analytics with future effect by downloading and installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on for your current web browser following this link http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

Facebook

If you do not wish to participate in usage-based advertising through Facebook you can object here: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads

Instagram

If you do not wish to participate in usage-based advertising through Instagram you can change your ad settings by following these instructions: https://help.instagram.com/911879456838933

Google Ads, Google Ads Remarketing, Google Conversion Tracking

If you have a Google account, you can object to personalized advertising at the following link: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/.

General

If you do not wish to participate in our advertising personalization or retargeting/tracking you can object to behavioral advertising at the following websites: Your Online Choices, Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada, Network Advertising Initiative, AdChoices and the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (Europe only). 

 

How to control cookies?

You can set your web browser to disable cookies. Please note that most browsers offer different ways to protect your privacy. If you do not activate or deactivate certain cookies via the browser settings, it is possible that certain functionalities will not be available to you as expected.

You can configure the use of cookies in your browser settings by following the relevant link Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari at any time or deactivate them completely.

Please note that if you disable cookies in this way, you will not be able to set new cookies. However, it will not prevent previously set cookies from continuing to work on your device until you clear all cookies in your browser settings.

We also offer a cookie preference pop-up when you first visit our website. This pop-up is a consent tool and allows you to specify your preference about cookies. You can accept or reject them or access this Cookie Policy before giving your consent to cookies or rejecting them. This permits you to make an informed decision about the cookies we use. You are free to accept or reject cookies, but note that after rejecting them, browsing our website might be less user-friendly and the relevant content might be affected.

In addition, if you do not wish to participate in our advertising personalization or retargeting/tracking you can object to behavioral advertising at the following websites: Your Online Choices, Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada, Network Advertising Initiative, AdChoices and the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (Europe only). 

 

Changes, Validity and Questions

This Cookie Policy was last updated on April 2, 2024, and is the current and valid version. However, we want to point out that from time to time due to actual or legal changes a revision to this policy may be necessary. If you have any questions about this policy or our data protection practices, please feel free to contact us.

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