Data Protection Policy

Valid from: 25 May 2020

Introduction

Regardless of whether you are a member, customer, prospective customer or visitor to our website: We (hereinafter: “TZW: DVGW-TECHNOLOGIEZENTRUM WASSER“, “we“) take the protection of your personal data seriously. But, what does this mean in concrete terms?

Below we provide you with an insight into what personal data we collect from you and in what form we process it. Furthermore, you will receive an overview of the rights you are entitled to according to the applicable data protection law. In addition we will designate a contact person, in case that you have further questions.

About Us

DVGW Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches e. V.  (German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water) promotes the gas and water industry sectors with a special focus on safety, hygiene and environmental protection. The DVGW has more than 13,700 members and has elaborated the overall recognised technical rules for gas and water. The association initiates and furthers research projects and provides training on the entire range of topics associated with gas and water. It additionally offers testing and certification services for products and individuals as well as companies. The DVGW technical rules are the foundation of the technical self-management and accountability of the gas and water industry sectors in Germany. They guarantee safe gas and water supply at highest international standards. The non-profit association was founded in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1859. The DVGW is free from economic lobbyism and politically neutral.

Within the meaning of applicable data protection laws, we

TZW: DVGW-TECHNOLOGIEZENTRUM WASSER
Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches e.V. 
Technisch-wissenschaftlicher Verein
Josef-Wirmer-Str. 1-3
D-53123 Bonn
Email: info@dvgw.de
Phone: +49 (0)228 91 88-5
Fax:  +49 (0)228 91 88 990

take all measures required by applicable data protection laws to ensure the protection of your personal data.

If you have any questions regarding the processing of data in our association and how to assert your rights please contact our Data Protection Officer free of charge.

DVGW
Data Protection Officer
2B Advice GmbH
Joseph Schumpeter Allee 25
53227 Bonn
Phone: +49 (228) 926165 120
Email: dvgw@2b-advice.com

Scope of the Data Protection Statement

The legislator understands processing of personal data among others as activities such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction of personal data.

Personal data is all the information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person.

This data protection statement concerns the personal data of customers, members, interested parties and visitors.

Which Personal Data Do We Process?

When you contact us e.g. as a member, an interested party or customer, we collect your personal data. This may happen, for example, if you are interested in our products, register for our online services, contact us via our communication channels or if you use our products or services in the context of existing business relationships.

We process the following types of personal data:

  • Personally identifiable information (PII), e.g. first and last name, address data, email address, telephone number, fax number, membership number, date when you joined the association
  • Contract data, e.g. customer number, order number, invoice data
  • Company-related data, e.g. company name, department, activity
  • Data regarding your online behaviour, e.g. IP addresses, user names, data about your visits to our websites, actions carried out on our websites, place of access
  • Information about your interests and wishes, which you communicate to us, e.g. via our contact form or other communication channels

and other information comparable to these categories of data.

Sensitive Data

Sensitive data, i.e. special categories of personal data such as information about health, political opinion, or religious affiliation or trade union membership, are not collected in this way.

Personal Data of Minors

Personal data of children or minors is only collected when these use our communication channels.

To the extent that personal data of minors recognisable to us as such was processed without the consent of the parent or legal guardian it will be immediately deleted.

Use of Cookies

Cookies are files that are placed on your computer by our websites when you visit the sites. These files store information that makes your use of this site more efficient.

We use the IONOS Webanalytics service to analyse user behaviour on our websites. For this analysis, the use-related information generated by the cookie (including the shortened IP address of the user) is transmitted to our servers and stored for usage-analysis purposes. We use the usage analysis to optimise our own websites, our customer approach and other advertising measures as well as for market research purposes. The IP address of the user is immediately shortened during this process, so that the identification of the user via the IP address is no longer possible.

Any user who does not agree to the storage and analysis of their anonymised user data when visiting our website can object to this storage and use at any time.

What Do We Process Your Personal Data for - and on What Legal Basis?

  • Performance of the Contract: We process your data in order to fulfil our contracts. This also applies to information that you provide to us in the context of pre-contractual correspondence. The specific purposes of the data processing depend on the respective product and the submitted request and can also be used to analyse your needs and to check which products and services are suitable for you.
  • Performance of the Contractual Relationship: For the execution of the contractual relationship we need your name, your address, your telephone number or your e-mail address so that we can contact you.
  • Offering Goods and Services: We also need your personal data to be able to check whether and which products and services we can and may offer you.

Details on the respective purposes of data processing can be found in the contractual documents and our General Terms and Conditions.

Newsletter

You have the possibility to register for our newsletter via our website. To send the newsletter, we only need your e-mail address. All other information is voluntary and only serves to personalize the newsletter. You will only receive our newsletter after successful completion of a double opt-in procedure. You have the right to cancel the newsletter at any time. A corresponding link is implemented in every newsletter. If you cancel our newsletter, we will immediately delete your contact data from our newsletter distribution list.

The legislator has certain requirements regarding the validity of an electronic consent, as used for registration for the newsletter. These include the recording of your declaration of consent. We therefore log the date and time of consent, the text of the declaration of consent, your e-mail address and all other voluntary details. We also log the date and time of the click on the confirmation link and the link in the confirmation e-mail. We collect this information solely to comply with legal obligations.

The TZW: DVGW-Technologiezentrum Wasser uses services provided by 1&1 IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur, Germany, for the registration and dispatch of newsletters. Your data will be stored there. For the use of the online version of the newsletter, the newsletter archive as well as the registration and cancellation forms, you will be redirected to the server of IONOS 1&1, whose privacy policy can be found here.

In order to improve the quality of our newsletter, we operate a data protection-compliant tracking system with anonymous recipients by collecting a shortened IP address.

By subscribing to our newsletter, you agree to receiving it and to the procedures described.

Data Processing and Analysis for Marketing Purposes

Your needs are important to us and we try to provide you with information about products and services that suit you perfectly. For this purpose, we use the findings of our joint business relationship and market research. Our main goal is to adapt our product and service portfolio to your needs. In this context, we guarantee that we always process the data in accordance with applicable data protection law. Important: You can object to the use of your personal data for this purpose at any time.

What exactly do we analyse and process?
  • Results of our marketing activities to measure the efficiency and relevance of our campaigns;
  • Information from your visits to our website;
  • We analyse the potential demand for our products and services.
Measures for Protection of Personal Information

We use your personal data in the following cases, among others:

  • We analyse your data to protect you or your company from fraudulent activity. This may happen, for example, if you have been the victim of identity theft or if unauthorised persons have otherwise gained access to your user account;

  • Our IT support closely cooperates with you in case of technical problems to improve the reliability of our web applications. In this context, we also evaluate logs of website accesses, actions performed, etc.;

  • To be able to guarantee IT security;

  • In order to be able to record and prove facts in the event of possible legal disputes.

On The Basis of Your Consent

If you have consented to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes, we may legitimately process your data. You can withdraw this consent at any time for the future without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs according to the basic tariffs (costs of your Internet connection). However, the withdrawal of consent does not affect the legality of the processing up to the withdrawal.

Contact and Order Forms

We use contact and order forms on our websites to enable you to enter into contact with us. The data collected there is exclusively used for the respective purposes stated and is deleted following the processing of the request / order.

Due to Legal Requirements or in the Public Interest

As an association, we are subject to a wide variety of legal requirements (e.g. tax legislation). We process your personal data to the necessary extent in order to comply with our legal obligations.

To Whom do We Transmit Data and Why

Use of Data within TZW: DVGW-TECHNOLOGIEZENTRUM WASSER

Within the TZW: DVGW-TECHNOLOGIEZENTRUM WASSER only those entities or persons will have access to your personal data on a need-to-know basis who need it in order to fulfil our contractual or legal obligations or to protect our legitimate interest.

Use of Data outside TZW: DVGW-TECHNOLOGIEZENTRUM WASSER

We respect the protection of your personal data and we disclose information about you only if required by law, if you have given your consent or to fulfil contractual obligations.

We may e.g. be legally obliged to disclose your personal data to the following recipients:

  • Public authorities or supervisory authorities, e.g. tax authorities, customs authorities;
  • Judicial and law enforcement authorities, e.g. police, courts, public prosecutors;
  • Lawyers or notaries public, e.g. in legal disputes;
  • Auditors.

In order to fulfil our contractual obligations, we cooperate with other companies. These include:

  • Transport service providers and freight forwarders;
  • Professional organisers and training service providers, if you have registered through us for certain trade fairs or events;
  • Banks and financial service providers to handle all financial matters.
Our own service providers

In order to make our operations more efficient, we use the services of external service providers to whom we may transmit your personal data for the purposes described, including IT service providers as well as printing and telecommunication service providers.

Important: We pay close attention to your personal data!

In order to ensure that the service providers comply with the same data protection standards that apply in our company, we have concluded appropriate contracts for order processing. These contracts regulate, among other things:

  • that third parties have access only to the data they need to know in order to carry out the tasks assigned to them;
  • that the service providers only grant access to your data to employees who have explicitly committed themselves to comply with data protection regulations;
  • that the service providers comply with technical and organisational measures that guarantee data security and data protection;
  • ​​​​​​​what happens to the data when the business relationship between the service provider and us is terminated.

For service providers based outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we take special security measures (e.g. by using special contractual clauses) to ensure that the data is treated with the same level of caution that is exercised in the EEA. We regularly check all our service providers for compliance with our specifications.

Very important: Under no circumstances do we sell your personal data to third parties!Use of Data within the DVGW Group

In order to provide you with the best possible service, we occasionally exchange data within the DVGW Group. We guarantee that the applicable data protection regulations are observed and that your personal data is adequately protected at all times.

Use of Data within the DVGW Group

In order to provide you with the best possible service, we occasionally exchange data within the DVGW Group. We guarantee that the applicable data protection regulations are observed and that your personal data is adequately protected at all times.

For this reason, we have taken appropriate measures to ensure compliance with data protection within the Group: We have concluded appropriate contracts with the individual subsidiaries to ensure that personal data shared within the DVWG Group remains protected at all times.

In accordance with these contracts and applicable data protection laws, we transfer personal data to our service entities only for the purposes stated in this data protection statement. In doing so, we support our subsidiaries both in their operations and in their compliance with the technical and organisational measures that we also use at DVGW e.V. to guarantee the security of your personal data. If possible, we protect your data by using pseudonymisation or anonymisation measures.

Are You Obliged to Provide Us with Personal Data?

In the context of the business relationship between you and the TZW: DVGW-TECHNOLOGIEZENTRUM WASSER we require the following categories of personal data from you:

  • all data required for establishing and implementing a business relationship;
  • data required for the fulfilment of contractual obligations;
  • data that we are legally obliged to collect.

Without this data it is not possible for us to enter into or execute contracts with you.

Deletion Periods

In accordance with the applicable data protection regulations, we do not store your personal data longer than we need for the purposes of the respective processing. If the data is no longer required for the fulfilment of contractual or legal obligations, it will be regularly deleted by us or its use blocked, unless its temporary retention is still necessary. There may be the following reasons for further storage:

  • Obligations under commercial and tax law to retain data must be observed: The retention periods are primarily governed by the provisions of the German Commercial Code and the Fiscal Code and may be up to 10 years.

  • To obtain evidence in the event of legal disputes within the framework of statutory limitation periods: Statutory limitation periods under civil law may be up to 30 years; the regular limitation period is, however, three years.

Your Rights

When your personal data is processed, you also have certain rights. More detailed information can be found in the corresponding provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (Articles 15 to 21).

Right to Information and Correction

You have the right to obtain information from us on which of your personal data we process. If this information is not (no longer) correct, you can ask us to correct the data, or, if it is incomplete, to complete it. To the extent that we disclose your data to third parties we will inform the relevant third parties in the event of a corresponding legal situation.

Right to Deletion

You can request the immediate deletion of your personal data under the following circumstances:

  • When your personal information is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected;
  • If you have withdrawn your consent and there is no other legal basis for data processing;
  • If you object to the processing and there are no overriding legitimate reasons for data processing;
  • If your data is processed unlawfully;
  • ​​​​​​​If your personal data must be deleted in order to comply with legal obligations.

Please note that before deleting your data we must check whether there is no legitimate reason for processing your personal data.

Right to Restriction of Processing ("Right to Block")

You may request us to restrict the processing of your personal data for one of the following reasons:

  • If you dispute the accuracy of the data until we have had the opportunity to verify the accuracy of the data;
  • If the data is processed unlawfully, but instead of being deleted, you merely request the restriction of the use of personal data;
  • If we no longer need the personal data for the purposes of processing, but you still need them to assert, exercise or defend legal claims;
  • ​​​​​​​If you have filed an objection against the processing and it is not yet clear whether your legitimate interests outweigh ours.
Right to Object

Right to Object on a Case-by-Case Basis

If the processing is carried out in the public interest or on the basis of a balance of interests, you have the right to object to the processing for reasons arising from your particular situation. In the event of an objection, we will not process your personal data further, unless we can prove compelling reasons for processing your data, which outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms, or because your personal data serve to assert, exercise or defend legal claims. The objection shall not preclude the legality of the processing carried out up to the time of the objection.

Right to Object against the Use of Data for Advertising Purposes

In cases where your personal information is used for advertising purposes, you can object to this form of processing at any time. We will then no longer process your personal information for these purposes.

The objection can be made informally and should be addressed to:

DVGW
Josef-Wirmer-Str. 1-3
D-53123 Bonn
Mailto: widerspruch@dvgw.de

Right to Data Portability

Upon request you have the right to receive personal data that you have given us for processing in a transferable and machine-readable format.

Right to Lodge a Complaint with a Supervisory Authority (Art. 77 GDPR)

We try to process your requests and claims as quickly as possible in order to protect your rights appropriately. Depending on the frequency of enquiries, however, it may take up to 30 days before we can provide you with further information about your request. Should it take longer, we will inform you promptly of the reasons for the delay and discuss the further process with you.

In some cases we may not or cannot give you any information. If legally permissible, we will inform you about the reason for the refusal to disclose the information.

However, should you not be satisfied with our answer and responses or should you be of the opinion that we violate the current data protection law, you are free to file a complaint with our Data Protection Officer as well as with the relevant supervisory authority. The supervisory authority responsible for us is:

Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen
Kavalleriestraße 2-4
D-40213 Düsseldorf
Phone: +49 (0)2 11/384 24-0
Email: poststelle@ldi.nrw.de

Version

This Data Protection Statement is valid as of 24 May 2018 (Update 25 May 2020). We reserve the right to update our data protection statement from time to time.