Data protection statement

Welcome to our website. Thank you for visiting it and showing an interest in our content.

We take the protection of your privacy and your personal data very seriously.

On our websites, we only collect, use and store your personal data in line with the provisions of the German General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO), the German Act to Adapt Data Protection Law to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and to Implement Directive (EU) 2016/680 (DSAnpUG-EU), and the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

The nature, extent and purpose of the data collection and use is set out below.

It is largely possible to use our website without providing any personal data. Whenever personal data (e.g. name, address, e-mail addresses) is collected on our web pages, it is always provided on a voluntary basis. This data is not collected, stored or used without your express consent. We do not forward your data to third parties unless we have explicitly sought your agreement. In addition to online contact forms or online queries, we always provide a blank form which can be downloaded so that you can contact us by post. The form for registering as a senior expert which asks for information about your personal details and qualifications is only available to download.

Server log files

Every time you visit our website, access data will be stored in a log file, otherwise known as the server log. Each data set contains the following information:

• the page from which you accessed a page of our website
• the page that you accessed on our website
• the date on which you accessed the page, including the time
• the volume of data transferred
• access status (whether access was successful or not)
• the browser used (e.g. Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari etc.)

The legal basis for the collection of this data is Article 6 (1) point (f) of the GDPR (legitimate interest). We are unable to offer the right to object to collection of this data because the server log is necessary to ensure the operation of this website and is essential in the event of an attack on the website.
The data will automatically be deleted from the server log after 14 days.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a text file which is transmitted when a user visits a website and stored in the cache memory on his/her hard drive. Cookies enable the web browser to be recognised and do not cause any damage. If the user wishes to prevent the use of cookies, he/she can do this by making local changes to the settings in the web browser on his/her computer. In this case, it may not be possible to make full use of all the website’s features. The cookies we use are session cookies, which are automatically deleted when the user leaves the website.

Matomo web analytics service

Based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. e of the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO) in conjunction with § 3 of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG), the SES evaluates usage information for statistical purposes as part of its public relations work and for the demand-oriented provision of information. This is done with the web analytics service “Matomo”.

When individual pages of our website are accessed, the following data is stored:

• Page title
• Search terms referring visitors to the page
• Search engines
• Page URL
• Number of pages visited
• Location of the visitor (country)
• Provider
• Browser
• Operating system
• Screen resolution
• Browser plug-ins
• Visiting times
• Visit duration
• Entry pages
• Exit pages
• Downloads
• Referring web pages.

Matomo uses so-called "cookies", which are text files that are stored on the user's computer to facilitate an analysis of the use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about the use of this website remains under the data sovereignty of the Senior Experten Service. Your IP address is immediately anonymised during this process.

For this purpose, the usage information generated by the cookie (including your shortened IP address) is transferred to our server and stored for the purpose of usage analysis, which serves to optimise our website. Every time a user accesses a page from this offer and every time a file is retrieved, data about this process is stored in a log file. The stored data is only evaluated for statistical purposes. The data will not be passed on to third parties.

By using this website, you consent to the processing of data collected by SES in the manner and for the purposes described above. All IP addresses are anonymised by shortening them.

If you do not agree to the storage and analysis of this data from your visit, you can object to its storage and use at any time. In this case, a so-called opt-out cookie is stored in your browser so that your session data is not collected in the first place.  Please note: If you delete your cookies, the opt-out cookie will also be deleted. In this case, it must be activated again.

Objection

The collection and storage of data can be objected to at any time with effect for the future.

Use and forwarding of personal data

SES does not forward any personal data to external third parties without obtaining the prior consent of the user in question. In particular, no data is forwarded to third parties for advertising purposes.

When someone registers as an SES senior expert, the SES collects the data which is necessary to send him/her on SES assignments. These details are only used for this specific purpose. This information consists of his/her: surname, first name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, date of birth, nationality, professional experience and qualifications.

These details are provided voluntarily. The senior experts explicitly consent to this information being collected, stored and used for the purpose specified. This is essential for registration. You can view your data and request that it be deleted at any time.

Personal details (e.g. the expert’s professional profile) are passed on by the SES for the purpose of suggesting senior experts to potential SES clients for a voluntary SES assignment in Germany or abroad. The consent of the SES experts in question is obtained in each case.

As part of the VerA scheme, the SES collects data from apprentices who request an SES expert. This information consists of their surname, first name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, date of birth, an information about the training. These details are provided voluntarily. The apprentices explicitly consent to their data being collected and stored for the purpose of finding a suitable SES expert.

Any data is only stored or forwarded to the extent necessary for order processing. External partners of the SES are included in our data protection guidelines by means of a data protection statement.

Disclaimer

Our website contains external links to other providers’ websites and integrated services. They do not form part of this declaration. We cannot guarantee the functionality, correctness, completeness or quality of the information it contains (written by both in-house and external authors), the links, and in particular the information on the third-party websites to which links are provided (including the lawfulness of the content). The rights to these web pages and the responsibility for their content lie solely with the third-party provider.

We distance ourselves from the content of any linked sites which are inconsistent with the charitable nature of our service or contain discriminatory statements. This applies in particular to content which may not be distributed under German and foreign legislation and where aiding and abetting such distribution is subject to criminal prosecution.

Furthermore, we cannot guarantee that our web pages, links or link collections or the linked web pages themselves do not contain any harmful software. We cannot accept any liability for material or notional damage – and especially for consequential damage – resulting from use of the information provided by us, unless it was caused deliberately or by gross negligence on our part.

Copyright

All rights to the content and design of the website are held exclusively by the Senior Expert Service (SES). The photos featured on our website are not approved for publication and use by third parties. Our website may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted (electronically or in any other way), modified or used for public or commercial purposes – either in whole or in part – without our prior written consent. We welcome links to our web pages and ask to be informed of any such links.

PayPal

Donation buttons which use the PayPal service are embedded in our website. If you have a PayPal account and would like to make a donation to us, you can do this by clicking on the corresponding button. Using the PayPal donation button establishes a connection between your browser and the PayPal server. This tells PayPal that you have visited our site with your IP address. Data is also transmitted to PayPal as part of this process. As a website provider, we are not informed of the content of the data transmitted and its use by PayPal. For more information about this, please refer to the PayPal data protection statement.

Contact form

The details you transmit to us by using a contact form on our website are stored by us to be processed as necessary and to answer any questions which may subsequently arise. We do not share this data without your consent.

Embedding of content from social media platforms

On this website contents from social media platform servers are embedded. While visiting a page on our website, where content is embedded, your browser connects to the server of the social media provider, to load the embedded content. In doing so your Ip address and the current website that you are on will be transmitted to the social media provider. Any further processing or use of personal data is unbeknownst to us. On our website content from the following external source can be loaded:

Facebook Content Distribution Network

To ensure our legitimate interest in displaying content appealingly and to avoid potential copyright conflicts the content will be loaded directly from the servers of the aforementioned providers. The processing of your IP address required to establish the connection is carried out for these purposes on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR

Social media plug-ins

On our website only links to platforms from social media providers are embedded. Some of these links include parameters that, depending on the platform, will transmit information for the use of interactive functions. AS of now our website contains interactive links to the platforms of Facebook and Twitter.

When clicking on a share button, your browser makes a connection to the servers of Facebook Inc., 1601 S California Ave, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA („Facebook“).

In doing so, Facebook is notified that you visited the according subpage on our website, regardless of whether you are registered with the service provider or logged in.

If you are logged in to the respective service provider at the time of access, this information will be assigned to your user account and may be displayed publicly. Furthermore, the service provider will process your IP address and may store cookies on your device. We have no influence on the type and scope of the processing of personal data on the pages of the service provider and merely link to their offer.

Further information on the providers' data protection provisions can be found here:

Facebook

Requesting information, deleting and blocking data

You have the right to request details of the personal data stored about you and its origins, use, any recipients and the purpose of data processing at any time, free of charge. You also have the right to amend, block or delete this data. To do this or to ask any other questions about personal data, you can e-mail us using the following address:

Senior Expert Service (SES) gGmbH
Marion Sodemann
Data Protection Officer
Kaiserstraße 185
53113 Bonn
Germany
+49 228 26090-50

Security

We use technical and organisational security precautions to protect your data from being lost, destroyed, manipulated or accessed without authorisation. Our security measures are constantly updated in line with the latest technology.

Complaining about data protection breaches to the supervisory authorities

Anyone who believes that their personal details have been collected, processed or used in a way which violates their rights can contact the relevant data protection supervisory authority, who will look into the complaint and inform the individual affected of their findings.

Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen
Kavalleriestraße 2-4
40213 Düsseldorf
Germany
+49 211 38424-0