Data Protection Declaration

1. Information on the Collection of Personal Data

1.1 Below we provide information about the collection and processing of personal data when using our website. Personal data is any data that can be personally attributed to you, e.g., name, address, email addresses, user behavior. Processing means any operation or set of operations performed on personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collecting, recording, organizing, structuring, storing, adapting or altering, retrieving, consulting, using, disclosing by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, aligning or combining, restricting, erasing, or destroying.

1.2 The controller pursuant to Art. 4 para. 7 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is Sommerfeld, Majka, Reifig Partnership mbB, Am Stadtgraben 49-51, 48143 Münster (see our imprint). Our data protection officer is: GDI Gesellschaft für digitale Informationsdienste mbH, Attn: Mr. Olaf Tenti, Körnerstraße 45, 58095 Hagen, Phone: 02331-356832-0, Fax: 02331-356832-1, Email: datenschutz@gdi-mbh.eu or datenschutz@sommerfeld.pro or by mail to our postal address with the addition “Data Protection Officer.”

1.3 Data protection is important to us. Therefore, this website uses SSL encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as inquiries you send to us. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the change of the browser’s address line from “http://” to “https://” and by the lock icon in your browser bar.

When SSL encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

1.4 When you contact us by email or via a contact form, the data you provide (your email address, if applicable your name and phone number) will be stored by us to answer your questions. The data collected in this context will be deleted after storage is no longer necessary or processing restricted if legal retention obligations exist. Legal retention obligations typically last 10 or 14 years for tax mandates, considering the limitation suspension. The period starts after the mandate ends. Some notarial documents, such as special deeds (e.g., the deed roll), must be kept for 100 years; notarial ancillary files are retained for 7 years. The data collected in this context will be deleted after the storage period is no longer necessary or processing restricted if legal retention obligations exist.

1.5 If we use commissioned service providers for individual functions of our offering, we will inform you below in detail about the respective procedures, including the specified storage duration criteria.

2. Your Rights

2.1 You have the following rights regarding your personal data held by us:

– Right to access
– Right to rectification or erasure
– Right to restriction of processing
– Right to object to processing
– Right to data portability

2.2 Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority regarding our processing of your personal data.

3. Collection of Personal Data When Visiting Our Website

3.1 When you use the website for informational purposes only, i.e., when you do not register or otherwise provide information to us, only the personal data that your browser transmits to the server of our hosting providers is collected. If you want to view our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display our website and ensure stability and security (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR):

– IP address
– Date and time of the request
– Time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
– Content of the request (specific page)
– Access status/HTTP status code
– Amount of data transferred
– Website from which the request originates
– Browser
– Operating system and its interface
– Language and version of the browser software

3.2 Use of Cookies

We use the WordPress plugin **Polylang** on our website to provide our content in multiple languages and to ensure that the selected language is displayed correctly. The provider of the plugin is **WP SYNTEX, 8 rue Joseph Cugnot, 38307 Bourgoin-Jallieu, France**. For this purpose, Polylang may set a technically necessary cookie named **`pll_language`**. This cookie stores the language selected or last used by the user. This enables our website to be displayed in the appropriate language when it is accessed again or during technical page requests, such as AJAX requests or login pages. The cookie is used exclusively to provide the language functionality and to display our website in the language requested by the user. It is not used for analytics, marketing or tracking purposes. The storage of or access to this cookie is based on **Section 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG**, as the cookie is strictly necessary for providing the expressly requested language functionality of our website. Consent is not required for this. To the extent that personal data is processed, the processing is carried out on the basis of **Article 6(1)(f) GDPR**. Our legitimate interest lies in providing a user-friendly and technically error-free multilingual website. According to the provider, Polylang does not transmit any personal data of website visitors to WP SYNTEX. The cookie is stored by default for **1 year**, unless a different duration has been configured on our website.

This website does not use any other cookies. In addition to the cookies mentioned above neither our own cookies nor third-party cookies are set or stored on your device.

4. Objection or Revocation of Processing of Your Data

4.1 If you have given consent to the processing of your data, you can revoke this consent at any time. Such revocation affects the permissibility of the processing of your personal data after you have declared it to us.

4.2 If we base the processing of your personal data on a balancing of interests, you can object to the processing. This applies especially if the processing is not necessary for the fulfillment of a contract with you, as described in the following function descriptions. When exercising such an objection, please state the reasons why we should not process your personal data as we have done. In the event of a justified objection, we will examine the matter and either stop or adjust the data processing or inform you of the compelling legitimate grounds on the basis of which we continue processing.

5. Contact Form

Our website offers the possibility to contact us by email or contact form.

In this context, the information you provide in the form (and/or in the email) including the contact details you provide will be stored and processed by us for the purpose of handling your request and in case of follow-up questions. These data (name, address, telephone number, email address) will not be passed on to third parties without your consent. No merging of this data with other data collected on this website takes place. The data may be stored within the scope of notarial/legal/tax advisory activities if an order or engagement has been placed.

The contact form is transmitted using TLS encryption. The encryption is intended to prevent unauthorized third parties from accessing your personal data.

The processing of this data is based on Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b GDPR if your inquiry is related to the fulfillment of a contract or necessary for pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, processing is based on our legitimate interest in the effective handling of inquiries directed to us (Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR). The data you provide in the contact form or by email remains with us until you request its deletion, object to processing, or the purpose of data storage ceases (e.g., after your inquiry has been fully processed). Mandatory legal provisions, especially retention periods, remain unaffected.

You have the right to revoke your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its revocation. You can revoke consent at any time by email to datenschutz@sommerfeld.pro or in writing to our postal address with the addition “Data Protection.”

6. Social Media Presence

Our presences on social networks and video platforms named below serve active and contemporary communication with our clients and interested parties. We provide information there about our services, events, and interesting news about our firm and our services. Further information about us as the provider of the social media channel can be found in our imprint.

Below we provide you with the data protection information pursuant to Art. 13 GDPR regarding the social media profiles we operate:

https://www.facebook.com/Sommerfeld-Majka-Reifig-Partnerschaftsgesellschaft-mbB-109315995078372%20

https://www.instagram.com/smr.partnerschaftsgesellschaft

https://www.xing.com/pages/sommerfeld-majka-reifig-partnerschaftsgesellschaft-mbb%20

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/?trk=guest_homepage-basic_nav-header-signin%20

Facebook Fanpage / Facebook Profile

The social network Facebook is operated by Meta Platforms, Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA, or if you have your company or residence in the EU, Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland (“Facebook”).

When visiting our online presences on social media, your data may be automatically collected and stored for market research and advertising purposes. Pseudonymized usage profiles are created from this data. These may be used to display advertising within and outside the platforms that presumably match your interests. For this purpose, Facebook usually uses cookies on your device. For information, please refer to Facebook’s privacy policy.

These cookies store visitor behavior and user interests. This serves to safeguard our overriding legitimate interests in optimizing the presentation of our services and offers as well as effective communication with customers and interested parties within the framework of a balancing of interests. The legal basis for processing is therefore Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR.

The legal basis for collection and processing of data is your consent under Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR, which you may have given to Facebook when accessing their website. You can revoke your consent to data processing at any time with effect for the future; please contact Facebook directly for this. Revocation does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out until revocation.

Detailed information on data processing and use by the providers on their sites, as well as contact options and your rights and settings to protect your privacy, especially objection options (opt-out), can be found in Facebook’s privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/.

The opt-out can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads

Data processing is based on a joint controller agreement pursuant to Art. 26 GDPR, which you can view here: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/page_controller_addendum

Since there is no adequacy decision by the EU Commission for the transfer of personal data to the USA, we have concluded standard contractual clauses with Facebook pursuant to Art. 46 para. 2 lit. c GDPR.

Instagram Account

The social network Instagram is operated by Meta Platforms, Inc., 1