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, in particular the EU General Data Protection Regulation (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 specifically 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
Adress:
GOK Regler- und Armaturen-Gesellschaft mbH & Co. KG
Obernbreiter Str. 2-18
97340 Marktbreit / Germany

Contact details:
Website: www.gok.de
Telephone: +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 to information (Art. 15 GDPR),
• The right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR),
• The right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR),
• The right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR),
• The right to restriction of data processing g (Art. 18 GDPR),
• The right to object to data processing (Art. 21 GDPR).

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 will be 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, Art. 88(1) GDPR.

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.

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 required for the establishment, execution, and termination of a contractual obligation and the compliance with any associated contractual and legal obligations. The same applies to the use of our website and the various features offered by it. We have summarised these for you in the section above. 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.

We collect and process the following data for contact enquiries:

• Your name
• Your company
• Your phone number
• Your e-mail address
• Your message

 
In the case of online applications, we collect and process the following data:

• Surname, first name
• Address
• Contact details
• Message field entries
• Please specify all other data that are collected and processed
  

Contact form / contact by email (GDPR Art. 6(1) (a) and (b))
Our website offers a contact form that can be used for contacting us electronically. If you contact us using the contact form, we will process any of your data that you provided in the contact form in order to contact you and to reply to your enquiries and requests.

Here, we observe the principles of data minimisation and data avoidance by only asking you to enter the mandatory information which we absolutely need to contact you. This means your email address as well as the message field itself. Additionally, we process your IP address due to technical necessity and for legal protection purposes. All other information is voluntary and entering this information is optional (e.g. for a more individualised reply to your enquiry).

If you contact us by email, we will only process the personal information communicated in the email for the purpose of handling your request.

Applicant portal (GDPR Art. 6(1) (a) and (b))
We appreciate your interest in working for us. We are aware of the importance of your data and will process the personal data provided by you in the application form only for the purpose of the effective and correct management of the application process and for contacting you in the context of the application process. The data will not be passed on to third parties without your consent.

As part of the application form, you will be asked to provide personal data. In doing so, we observe the principle of data economy and data avoidance, in that you only have to provide us with the data that we need for the complete examination of your application documents, such as your CV, school and/or training certificates as well as work certificates or internship certificates, or those which we are legally obliged to collect. This mandatory information is marked with a *(star).

Without this information, we are unable to check your application documents, so our application system will not allow you to upload the application documents. Of course, you have the option to provide voluntary information in the application form. 

We store your data for the above purposes until the application process is completed and deadlines have expired – at the latest six months after receipt of a decision. However, you have the option of us saving your application documents for a longer period of time and comparing them with other vacancies corresponding to your profile.

For this we will need your consent, which you can give us by clicking on the checkbox before uploading your application documents. In this case, we will store your data for 12 months. Of course, you can revoke your consent at any time without giving reasons and with future effect, by telephone on +49 9332 40458 or by email to infopersonal@gok.de.

Automated decisions in individual cases
We do not utilise fully automated processing methods for making decisions.

Cookies (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR, Section 25 (2) TDDDG / Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR, Section 25 (1) TDDDG with 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. But 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 setting of cookies, it may not be possible to use all features of our website to their full extent.

Using the Consent Banner from Usercentrics

Our website uses cookie consent technology to obtain your consent to the storage of certain cookies in your browser and to document them in accordance with data protection regulations. 

When you enter our website, a cookie is stored in your browser, in which the consents you have given or the withdrawal of these consents are stored. This data will not be passed on to the provider.

The data collected will be stored until you request us to delete it or until the cookie itself is deleted or the purpose for data storage no longer applies. Mandatory statutory retention periods remain unaffected.

Cookie consent technology is used in order to obtain the legally required consent for the use of cookies. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 (1) (c) GDPR.

User profiles/web tracking procedure (Art. 6(1) (f) GDPR)

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 any other data that Google may have about you.

Data is transmitted to third countries. Google uses standard EU contractual clauses on data protection as the basis for the transmitting of personal data to the US. 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=de.

The legal basis for this data processing in the context described is your consent, Art. 6(1) (a) GDPR, Section 25 (1) TDDDG, which you can control yourself using our consent management (setting your cookie preferences).

You can revoke your consent at any time with future effect 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 your not being able to use our site, or no longer being able to use it without restriction.

The data processed using Google Analytics 4 is stored for a period of at most 24 months and then automatically deleted.

Using Google Tag Manager

We use Google Tag Manager of Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland. 

This service allows website tags to be managed through an interface. The Tag Manager tool itself (which implements the tags) is a cookie-free domain. This means: In principle no cookies are used and no personal data is collected. Google Tag Manager triggers other tags, which in turn may collect data. However, Google Tag Manager does not access this data. If a deactivation has been made at the domain or cookie level, it remains in place for all tracking tags that are implemented with Google Tag Manager.

The legal basis for this data processing in the context described is your consent, Art. 6(1) (a) GDPR, Section 25 (1) TDDDG, which you can control yourself using our consent management (setting your cookie preferences).

You can revoke your consent at any time with future effect by using the appropriate functions in our consent management (cookie settings). If you do not agree to the use of Google Tag Manager 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.

The data processed using Google Tag Manager is stored for a period of at most 14 months and then automatically deleted.

For more information, visit http://www.google.com/tagmanager/use-policy.html

Integration of Google Maps (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR, Section 25 (1) TDDDG)
On our website we use Google Maps (API) from Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (“Google”). 

To ensure privacy, Google Maps is disabled the first time you enter this site. A direct connection to the Google servers is only established if you activate Google Maps independently (consent according to Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR, Section 25 (1) TDDDG). You can revoke your consent at any time by bringing up the consent banner. This prevents your data from being transferred to Google the first time you enter the site. Once activated, Google Maps will store your IP address. This is then usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

A third-country transfer takes place, so that in this case there is a risk that your data can be processed by US authorities for control and monitoring purposes, possibly without your having any legal remedy. However, we take the possible and necessary measures under data protection law in accordance with Art. 44 et seq. GDPR to establish the data protection level in the third country. Data processing or storage in third countries can also be carried out on the basis of your consent (point (a) of sentence 1, Art. 49(1) GDPR).

The company is certified according to the “EU-US Data Privacy Framework” (DPF). The DPF is an agreement between the European Union and the United States that aims to ensure compliance with European data protection standards in data processing in the United States. Each DPF-certified company commits to comply with these data protection standards. For more information, please contact the provider under the following link: 

https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search/participant-detail?contact=true&id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active

Additional information on the handling of user data can be found in Google’s privacy policy:

https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/

Use of rapidmail to send and evaluate newsletters
We send our email newsletter using the service provider rapidmail GmbH, Augustinerplatz 2, 79098 Freiburg (“rapidmail”). This processing is done on the basis of our legitimate interest in the direct transfer of interesting information about GOK, our activities and products to you, Art. 6(1) (f) GDPR. We have received the data we use for sending our newsletter to you in the course of our business relationship (e.g. your email address). This is stored on rapidmail servers in Germany for the implementation of our newsletter campaigns. This information is used by rapidmail on our behalf to send and statistically evaluate the newsletters, and gives us the option to carry out a statistical evaluation.

The newsletters sent contain – if you have given your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR, Section 25 (1) TDDDG – so-called web beacons or tracking pixels, which represent one-pixel image files stored on our website. These are used for evaluation: Hereby we can find out – also in real-time – whether a newsletter has been opened, what links were clicked on, which content was particularly interesting to you, in what order you read the information, which activities the newsletter motivated you to initiate and in which geographical area (federal state) your IP address is situated (however, this does not enable us to identify your exact location). For functional optimisation, rapidmail is integrated into Google Analytics when used by us.

Moreover, this conversion tracking enables us to trace whether a pre-defined action (such as the purchase of a product in our online shop) was performed after the link in the newsletter was clicked. In addition, technical data is collected (e.g. time of access, IP address, browser type and operating system). The data is always pseudonymised before it is collected and is not combined with any of your other personal data that may be stored with rapidmail so that it cannot be directly linked to any particular individual, and it is only used for the statistical evaluation of newsletter campaigns. We can use the results of such evaluations in order to customise our newsletter more exactly to your interests in the future and to personalise your user experience.

You can object to this data evaluation at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter. You can do this by clicking the unsubscribe link that is included in each of our newsletters or by otherwise informing us about your intention, by email to newsletter-registration@gok.de. 

We concluded a data processing agreement with rapidmail to protect your personal data during its processing by rapidmail. You can find further information on data protection at rapidmail in rapidmail’s privacy notice at https://www.rapidmail.de/datenschutz.

Online offers for children
Persons under the age of 16 may not transmit personal data to us or make a declaration of consent without the consent of their guardian. We encourage parents and guardians to actively participate in their children’s online activities and interests.

Social media links
On our website you will find links to the social media services LinkedIn and YouTube. Links to the websites of the social media services can be recognised by the respective company logos. If you follow these links, you will reach our company presence at the respective social media service. Clicking a link to a social media service will connect to the social media service’s servers. This will send information to the social media service servers that you have visited our website. In addition, further data is transferred to the provider of the social media service. Examples include:

• Address of the web page where the activated link is located
• Date and time when the web page was accessed or the link was activated
• Information about the browser and operating system used
• IP address

If you are already logged in to the relevant social media service at the time of activating the link, the social media service provider may be able to determine your user name and, if applicable, even your real name from the transmitted data and assign this information to your personal user account with the social media service. You can exclude this possibility of mapping to your personal user account if you log out of your user account beforehand.

Social media servers are located in countries outside the European Union. The data can therefore also be processed by the provider of the social media service in countries outside the European Union. Please note that companies in these countries are subject to a data protection law that generally does not protect personal data to the same extent as is the case in the Member States of the European Union.

Please note that we have no influence on the scope, type and purpose of data processing by the provider of the social media service. For more information on the use of your data by the social media services integrated on our website, please refer to the privacy policy of the respective social media service.

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. We therefore cannot make any guarantees or accept responsibility for their content. The respective provider or operator of the websites is always responsible for the content of these websites.

The linked websites were checked with 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.

Social media privacy notice
We maintain presences on “social media”, at present on YouTube and LinkedIn. As far as we have control over the processing of your data, we ensure compliance with the applicable data protection regulations. 

In the following, you will find the most important information on data protection law in relation to our presences.

Name and address of the persons responsible for the establishment
Aside from ourselves, those responsible for company presences in the sense of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data protection regulations 

• LinkedIn (LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland)
• YouTube (Google Ireland Ltd., Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) 

However, the responsibility for using these platforms and their features lies with you. This applies in particular to the use of interactive functions (e.g. commenting, sharing, rating). 

We would also like to point out that your data may be processed outside the European Union.

Purpose and legal basis
We ourselves maintain fan pages in order to communicate with visitors to these pages and inform them about our offers in this way. 

In addition, we collect data for statistical purposes in order to be able to develop and optimise the content and make our offers more attractive. The data required for this (e.g. total number of page views, page activities and data provided by the visitors, interactions) are processed by the social networks and made available to us. We have no influence on generation and presentation. 

In addition, your personal data will be processed by the social media providers for market research and advertising purposes. This makes it possible, for example, to create usage profiles based on your usage behaviour and the interests that result from it. This allows, among other things, advertisements to be placed inside and outside the platforms that suit your interests. Cookies are usually stored on your computer for this purpose. Regardless of this, data that are not collected directly on your devices can also be stored in your user profiles. Storage and analysis also takes place across devices. This applies in particular, but not exclusively, if you are registered as a member and logged in to the respective platforms.

Beyond that, we do not collect and process any personal data.

The processing of your personal data by us takes place on the basis of our legitimate interests in effective information and communication in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

If you are asked for your consent to the processing of your data, i.e. if you declare your consent via a button or similar (opt-in), the legal basis for processing is Art. 6 (1) (a), Art. 7 GDPR.

Your rights / opt-out
If you are a member of a social network and do not want the network to collect data about you through our presence and link it to your stored member data on the respective network, you must

• log out of the respective network before you visit our fan page,
• delete the cookies present on the device, and
• exit and restart your browser.