Privacy policy

We would like to welcome you to our website and are pleased that you are interested in our company. We take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We process your data in accordance with applicable legal regulations for the protection of personal data, especially the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU (EU GDPR) and the country-specific implementing laws that are applicable to us. This privacy notice is designed to provide you with comprehensive information regarding the processing of your personal data by the company GOK Regler- und Armaturen-gesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and regarding the rights you are entitled to.

Here, personal data are any data allowing for the identification of a natural person. These especially include the name, date of birth, address, telephone number, email address, but also your IP address. Data are considered to be anonymised when no connection to the person of the user can be drawn.

Data controller and data protection officer

Address:
GOK Regler- und Armaturen-Gesellschaft mbH & Co. KG Obernbreiter Str. 2-18 97340 Marktbreit

Contact details:
www.gok.de
+49 (0) 93 32 40 40

Contact details of the data protection officer:
datenschutz@gok.de

Your rights as data subject: Firstly, we would like to inform you of your rights as data subject. These rights are set out in Art. 15 – 22 GDPR. They include:

  • The right of access (Art. 15 GDPR),
  • The right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR),
  • The right to correction (Art. 16 GDPR),
  • Das Recht auf Berichtigung (Art. 16 EU-DS-GVO)• The right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR),
  • The right to restriction of data processing (Art. 18 GDPR),
  • The right to object to data processing (Art. 21 GDPR).

Please contact us at datenschutz@gok-online.de to exercise these rights. The same applies if you have any questions regarding data processing in our company. Additionally, you are entitled to file a complaint with a supervisory authority in charge of data protection.

Rights of objection

Please observe the following in connection with rights of objection: Where we process your personal data for direct advertisement purposes, you have the right to object to this data processing at any time without stating reasons. This also applies to any profiling, provided it is associated with direct advertisement.

If you object to data processing for direct advertisement purposes, we will no longer process your personal data for these purposes. Objection is free of charge and can be made by informal notification, where possible addressed to: datenschutz@gok.de or newsletter-registration@gok.de.

Where we process your personal data in order to safeguard a legitimate interest, you may object to this processing based on reasons stemming from your particular situation at any time; this also applies to any profiling that is based on these provisions.

We will then no longer process your personal data, unless we can demonstrate compulsory reasons worth protecting for processing that outweigh your interests, rights, and freedoms or if processing serves the assertion, exercising or defence of legal claims.

Purpose of and legal bases for data processing

When processing your personal data, the provisions of the GDPR and all other applicable provisions under data protection law are complied with. The legal bases for the processing of data are set out in Art. 6 GDPR in particular.

We utilise your data for initiating business transactions, for compliance with contractual and legal obligations, for execution of the contractual relationship, for offering products and services as well as for strengthening customer relations, which may also include analysis for marketing purposes and direct advertisement.

Furthermore, your consent is also considered a requirement for legitimacy of data processing under data protection law. In this respect, we will inform you of the purposes of data processing and of your right to revocation. If consent also refers to the processing of special categories of personal data, we will expressly refer to these in the consent form, Art. 88(1) GDPR.

Special categories of personal data in terms of Art. 9(1) GDPR are only processed if doing so is required due to legal provisions and if there is no reason to assume that your interest in exclusion of processing outweighs any processing.

Disclosure towards third parties

We will only disclose your personal data to third parties within the scope of legal provisions or subject to corresponding consent. Apart from the above, data are not disclosed to third parties, unless we are obliged to do so due to mandatory legal provisions (disclosure to external bodies such as supervisory or law enforcement authorities etc.).

Data recipients / categories of recipients

Within our company, we ensure that only those persons have access to your data who require access for compliance with contractual and legal obligations.

In many cases, service providers support our specialist departments in carrying out their tasks. We have concluded the necessary contracts for data protection with all service providers. If you make use of the “Share” button from social networks which you can find on our page, we have no influence over this data processing. Please familiarise yourself with the respective data protection information of the network. If you do not wish your personal data to be processed in connection with a “Share” button, please do not use this function.

Transfer to third countries / intention of transfer to third countries

A transfer of data to third countries (outside the European Union or the European Economic Area) only takes place where required for the execution of the contractual obligation, where required by law or if you have granted us consent to do so.

Data retention period

We will store your data for as long as they are required for the respective processing purpose. Please note that as a result of many retention periods, data have to be/are stored for a period longer than that. This especially applies to retention periods under commercial and fiscal law (e.g. German Commercial Code, Fiscal Code, etc.). Where no other retention periods apply, the data will be routinely deleted after the purpose was achieved.

In addition, we may store data if you grant your consent for doing so or in case of legal disputes in which we use evidence within the framework of statutory limitation periods, which may amount to up to thirty years; the standard limitation period is three years.

Secure transfer of your data

In order to protect data stored by us as well as possible against accidental or deliberate manipulation, loss, destruction or against access by unauthorised parties, we employ corresponding technical and organisational security measures. The levels of security are continuously reviewed in cooperation with security experts and are aligned with new security standards.

Obligation to provide the data

Various personal data are needed for the use of our website and the various functions offered by it. Under certain circumstances, data also have to be collected or made available based on legal provisions. Please note that it is not possible to process your enquiry or to execute the underlying contractual obligation without these data being provided.

Categories, sources, and origin of the data

Which data we process is determined by the context in question: It depends on whether you, for example, place an order online or enter an enquiry into our contact form, or if you submit an application or complaint to us. Please note that we may also provide data for special processing circumstances separately at other suitable locations, e.g. in case of contact enquiries.

In the context of a contact enquiry, we may process the following data:

  • Your name
  • Your company
  • Your phone number
  • Your email address
  • Your message

Automated decisions in individual cases

We do not utilise fully automated processing methods for making decisions.

Cookies (Point (f) of Art. 6(1) GDPR / Point (a) of Art. 6(1) GDPR in case of consent)

Our website uses so-called cookies in several places. Their purpose is to help make our content more user-friendly, effective, and secure. Cookies are small text files that are saved on your computer and which are stored (locally on your hard drive) by your browser. With the help of these cookies, we can analyse how users use our websites. This means that we can tailor the content of the websites in accordance with visitor needs. Cookies also offer us the option to measure effectiveness of a certain advertisement and to arrange its placing in accordance with, for example, thematic interests of the users. Most of the cookies used by us are so-called “session cookies”. These are deleted automatically at the end of your visit. Permanent cookies are deleted automatically from your computer once their period of validity (usually six months) has ended or if you delete them manually before the end of period of validity. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies. However, you can usually also change the settings of your browser should you prefer not to send this information. You will then still be able to use our website without limitations (exception: configurations). We use cookies to help make our content more user-friendly, effective, and secure. We also use cookies that allow us to analyse the way users use our websites. This means that we can tailor the content of the websites in accordance with visitor needs. Cookies also offer us the option to measure effectiveness of a certain advertisement and to arrange its placing in accordance with, for example, thematic interests of the users. Cookies are saved on the computer of the user and are then transmitted by it to our website. Besides, you as user also have full control over the use of cookies. By changing the settings of your internet browser, you can deactivate or limit the transmission of cookies. Additionally, any cookies already placed can be deleted at any time using a web browser or other software programmes. This is possible in all commonly used internet browsers. Please note: If you deactivate the placing of cookies, it may not be possible to use all features of our website to their full extent.

User profiles/web-tracking methods (Point (f) of Art. 6(1) GDPR)

Use of Google Analytics

Description of the data processing: We use the tracking tool Google Analytics of Google LLC (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, “Google”) on our website. If you are resident in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in Switzerland, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) is the data controller which is responsible for your data collected by these methods. Interactions of visitors of our website are recorded, stored and systematically evaluated by means of cookies and JavaScript functions via the Google Analytics tool. The following data are collected, amongst others: anonymised IP address (only three bytes are recorded), Google ID, accessed website, previously accessed website, time spent on the websites and frequency of website access.

Your data are transmitted to Google and further processed by Google for its own purposes. If you have a Google account, Google can also combine the data it obtained from the Google Analytics tracking.

Data are transmitted to third countries. The data are transferred to Google servers in the USA. Google uses standard EU contractual clauses on data protection as the basis for the transmitting of personal data to the USA. The necessary data protection agreement has been concluded with Google. Further information on Google’s processing of data collected with this tool can be found at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.

Use of Google Analytics 4

We use Google Analytics 4, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland (“Google”).

Google Analytics 4 is based on technologies that allow us to analyse how you interact with our website. The information collected by this technology is transmitted on Google servers in the US. In Google Analytics 4, we have set the anonymisation of your IP address as default. Due to this IP anonymisation, your IP address is usually shortened in the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA) before it is transmitted from the EU to the US. At the same time, this means that your IP address will be transmitted to the US for the purpose of shortening only in exceptional cases. IP anonymisation means that there is no longer any personal reference, so we can no longer identify you personally. According to Google, your IP address is not merged with other data that Google may have about you.

The legal basis for this data processing in the context described is your consent, point (a) of Art. 6(1) GDPR, which you can control yourself using our content management (setting your cookie preferences).

While you use our website, some of your interactions with our website are recorded as “events”. These may be, for example: Access to the site, use of our website’s individual features/areas, your click path, scrolling (according to Google, if you have scrolled through at least 90% of the respective screen content), clicking on external links, your search behaviour on our website. In addition, your geographic location, your IP address (in shortened version), technical information about your terminal (e.g. language preferences, screen resolution), your telecommunications provider and the address of the website from which you accessed our website may be recorded.

Google will use this information to evaluate your use of our website and to generate reports about this. We use these reports, which Google Analytics creates about your usage behaviour, to determine whether our website meets the performance requirements we set for the technology and also to determine the effectiveness of our advertising measures.

In addition, Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland may transmit your data to Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA and/or to Alphabet Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. If data is processed outside the EU or the EEA where there is no comparable level of data protection in the EU/EEA, we have provided the necessary data protection instruments, which means that we have concluded so-called EU standard contractual clauses on data protection with our service provider in order to ensure an adequate level of data protection during this transfer.

Since Google is connected to US-American Google companies in this respect, Google must be regarded as a potential object of US governmental access or at least access searches for data processed there. From an EU perspective, however, the US is a so-called third country. However, as a data subject you are not entitled to the same or equivalent rights in the US, at least to our knowledge, as is the case in the EU. In addition, as a non-US citizen, you may not be entitled to seek or obtain legal protection against US official actions.

The data processed using Google Analytics 4 are stored for a period of at most 14 months and then automatically deleted.

You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future by using the appropriate functions in our Consent Management (cookie settings). If you do not agree to the use of Google Analytics 4 or if you later revoke your consent, this may lead to you not being able to use our site, or no longer being able to use it without restriction.

For more information on data processing by Google and Google’s Privacy Policy, please visit the following links:

https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/us/ and https://policies.google.com/?hl=en.

Use of Google Ads

We use the “Google Ads” service of Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”) to improve the effectiveness of our advertising measures on this website. This Conversion Tracking helps us to determine how many users in total clicked on our advertisements or were redirected to a page which has been provided with a Conversion Tracking tag. Information which allows individual users to be identified will not, however, be generated in this respect.

If you click on an advertisement that is associated with Google Ads, a cookie will be placed on your computer. This Google Ads cookie collects information for the creation of what are known as the Conversion Statistics. Corresponding to the technology used, the Conversion cookies from Google Ads are valid for up to two years and do not contain any personal data. No personal identification takes place. If you visit our website when the cookie is active, we and Google are able to measure the “Conversion”, i.e. we find out that you have clicked on an advertisement that is related to Google Ads and that you were redirected to our website. Our cookie is available to us alone, which means that a tracking by other advertisers is not possible.

By declining the cookies – e.g. by setting your browser to deactivate the automatic setting of cookies – you can prevent the tracking by the Google Ads Conversion Tracking. You can also disable the Google cookies permanently by using these links:

https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/managing/

https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/

Use of Bing Ads (Microsoft Ads)

Our website uses Bing Ads services (bingads.microsoft.com) from the Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA (“Microsoft”). If you access our website via an advertisement from Microsoft Bing, Microsoft will place a cookie on your device. Throughout the duration of the cookie activity of up to two years, depending on the technology used, we and Microsoft can determine that someone clicked on an advertisement, was redirected to our website, and accessed a previously-specified target page (“Conversion Site”). In this respect, we only find out the total number of users who clicked on a Bing advertisement and were then redirected to the Conversion Site. With the cookie, Microsoft collects, processes and uses information from which user profiles are created with the use of pseudonyms. These user profiles serve the purpose of analysing the visitor behaviour, and are used to display promotional advertisements. No personal information on the identity or the user is processed, however.

If you do not want information about your user behaviour to be used by Microsoft, you can decline the placing of a cookie. You can control this via the settings in your browser by generally deactivating the automatic placing of cookies, for example. You can also prevent the collection of the data generated by the cookie which relates to your use of the website and the processing of this data by Microsoft by expressing your objection under the following link: https://choice.microsoft.com/de-DE/opt-out.

Further information on data protection and the cookies used by Microsoft and Bing Ads is available on the following Microsoft website: https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement.

Purpose of data processing

We use Google Analytics to collect information on the use of this website and to achieve a needs-based design and optimisation of our website by means of such data. User profiles for use across websites are created from these data.

Legal basis of data processing and withdrawal option The tool is used on the basis of your consent according to Point (a) of Art. 6(1) GDPR. You can withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on the following link:

The withdrawal only applies to the device and the web browser where it was set; please repeat the process on all devices, where necessary. If you delete the opt-out cookie, you will be asked again for your consent to data transmission. You can also download a browser add-on for disabling Google Analytics at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en. This add-on is provided by Google for the common browser versions.

Data retention period

The data collected with this method are erased as soon as they are no longer required for our purposes. This is the case after 2 years have elapsed.

YouTube

Our website embeds YouTube videos in the extended privacy setting. YouTube cookies are blocked until you click on “Play”. By doing this, you give consent to YouTube placing cookies on your device. According to information from YouTube, these cookies are used to analyse the usage behaviour for market research and marketing purposes. You can find more information about YouTube cookies at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.
“Share buttons” from social networks

On our website, you will find “Share buttons” from social networks next to selected contents. If you use these and have an account with the social network whose “Share button” you use, this can result in your activity (sharing, visiting our website, etc.) being tracked. Whether you are logged into your account does not necessarily have an effect on whether this data processing takes place, or to what extent it takes place. It is possible that certain data processing may be carried out by the respective networks without you having an account with them. We have no influence over this data processing and ask you not to use the “Share buttons” if you have concerns about this. You can obtain further information from the respective networks:

Facebook: https://de-de.facebook.com/policy.php

Twitter: https://de-de.facebook.com/policy.php

WhatsApp: https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/?lang=de

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy?_l=de_DE

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/datenschutz/comments/6pnlbn/datenschutzerkl%C3%A4rungskonfigurator/

XING: https://privacy.xing.com/de/datenschutzerklaerung

Links to third-party providers

Our website also contains clearly marked links to the websites of other companies. Where links to the websites of other companies are available, we do not have any influence on their content. Accordingly, we cannot make any guarantees or accept responsibility for their content. Responsible for the content of these websites is always the respective provider or operator of the websites. The linked websites were reviewed in regard to possible legal infringements and obvious legal violations at the time the link was added. No unlawful content was apparent at the time the link was added. However, permanent monitoring of the content of the linked websites would be unreasonable without actual evidence of legal violations. Any such links will be removed as soon as legal violations become known.