Data Protection

The following pertains to the use of this website. As the party responsible for the data processing (controller), we process the personal data collected via our website and store them for the period, which is required to achieve the specified purpose and to comply with the statutory requirements. The following text informs you of the data we collect and the way we process the collected data. We also inform you about on data privacy rights as they pertain to the use of our website.

Pursuant to Article 4 No. 1 GDPR, personal data are all data referring to a specific or identifiable natural person.

1. Name and contact information of the person who signs responsible for the data processing (controller) and of the society’s data protection officer

This data protection information shall apply to the processing of data on our institute’s website  www.lasercongress.org by the controller, the:

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
Hansastraße 27 c
80686 München, Germany

on behalf of its Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT,
Steinbachstraße 15, 52075 Aachen, Germany
E-Mail: info@ilt.fraunhofer.de
Telefphone: +49 241 8906-0
Fax: +49 241 8906-121

The corporate data protection officer at Fraunhofer can be reached at the above-mentioned address in Munich, c/o Data Protection Officer or at datenschutzzv.fraunhoferde.

Please feel free to contact the data protection officer directly at any time with your questions concerning your data protection rights and/or your rights as affected person.

2. Processing of Personal Data and Purposes of the Data Processing

a) During your Website Visit

Every time you visit our web pages, our website servers save a protocol of your device accessing our website. This storage is temporary and lasts only until the automated deletion. Our website server saves the following access data until their automated deletion:

• The IP address of the requesting device
• Access date and time
• Name and URL of the accessed data
• The transmitted data volume 
• The message whether the access was successful
• The used browser and operating system
• Name of the Internet Provider (ISP)
• The referring website (referring URL)The server processes these data for the following purposes:

The server processes these data for the following purposes:

1. To enable the use of the website ((link connection)
2. Administration of the network infrastructure
3. Appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure IT systems and data security commensurate with the available state of the art technology
4. To offer user-friendly service
5. To optimize the Internet offering

Legal foundations for the above processing purposes:

• Processing in response to a website visitor according to numbers 1-2 Article 6 para. 1, page1, lit. b (Requirement for compliance with provisions of the website user contract)
  
• Processing pursuant to numbers 3, Article 6 para. 1, page 1, lit. c GDPR (legal obligation to implement technical and organisational measures to ensure secure data processing according to Article 32 GDPR and Article 6 para. 1, page 1, lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests in data processing for the network and information security) as well as
• Data processing pursuant to numbers 4 – 5, Article 6 para. 1, page1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) - our legitimate interests in the processing of data are based in our desire to offer user-friendly optimised web pages. 

After the specified period of 30 days, our web server automatically deletes the above-mentioned data. To the extent that data are processed longer for purposes according to numbers 2 – 5, we will anonymise or delete the data as soon as their storage no longer serves the respective purpose(s).

Furthermore, we place cookies on the devices of our website visitors and use analytical services. For more information on the use of cookies and analytical services, please see Sections 4 and 5 of this Data Protection Statement.

b) Visitor Registration for Events

Paid Event
In the course of accepting the registration for events, we collect the following required data:

• Gender
• Last name, first name
• Email address
• Address
• Company Data
• Payment information, dependent on the selected payment procedure (e.g. credit card, bank account)

We collect the required data in order to identify you as participant of the event, to check the provided information for plausibility, to reserve a place for the participant in the event and to establish a contract with you. We also want to supply the participant with information during and after the event, offer the participant an optimal participation and allow us to plan and execute a smooth running event.

We need the payment data to collect the participation fees.

Collecting the voluntary information allows us to plan and conduct the event according to the interests of the participants in an age-appropriate fashion.

We process the data based on your enquiry and for the declared purposes as prescribed by Article 6 para. 1, page 1, lit. b GDPR to perform the contractual obligations toward the participants and meet the conditions precedent to entering into the contract.

We will store the personal data collected in context with the event until the end of the regular limitation period of three (3) years following the end of the year of the event. We will then delete the data unless we are obligated by law to store the data for a longer period according to compulsory safekeeping and documentation obligations pursuant to Article 6 para. 1, page 1 lit. c GDPR and in particular according to § 147 AO [General German Fiscal Code]) or unless you have agreed to a longer data storage according to Article 6 para. 1, page 1 lit. a GDPR. In case of longer data storage, we shall process the data solely to the extent mandated by law or according to your permission. As for all else, the further processing of the data shall be barred.

In the context with event registrations via Internet form, we work with our service providers

• cubos Internet GmbH, Goethestraße 5, 52064, Aachen, Germany
  
• BS PAYONE GmbH, Niederlassung Kiel, Fraunhoferstraße 2-4, 24118 Kiel, Germany
  
• Concardis GmbH, Helfmann-Park 7, 65760 Eschborn, Germany

The purpose of this collaboration is the professional management of online registrations to our events. In the process, our service provider cubos Internet GmbH, BS PAYONE Gmbh and Concardis GmbH in Germany stores the provided data.

We entered into an order processing contract with cubos Internet GmbH. In this contract, cubos Internet GmbH  agrees to process the data on our behalf in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and guarantees to comply with the rights of the affected person.

c) Subscriptions to our PR Distribution List

We will send regular press releases and media information to your email address providing you consent explicitly to joining our PR distribution list and the use of your email address for this purpose according to Article 6 para. 1, page 1, lit. a GDPR. We ask you for the following required data to complete your PR distribution list subscription:

• Salutation
• Last name, first name
• Press medium / Company
  
• Departement
• Street, House Number
• ZIP, City, Country
  
• Email address
• Press Mailing List Language

You may also volunteer your title.

We need your title and name to address our communications to you personally.

We use your company name and/or the name of your communication medium to identify you as member of the media and to send you invitations by mail.

Once we receive your subscription, we will send you a subscription confirmation email. We need you to reply to this email to confirm that you are indeed the person who wants to subscribe to our PR distribution list (double opt-in procedure). Only after this confirmation will we include you in our mailing list.

You may unsubscribe at any time either by using the unsubscribe link at the end of every press release or announcement or alternatively by email presse@ilt.fraunhofer.de.

Upon receiving your unsubscribe notification, we will immediately delete your email address from our subscriber list.

3. Transfer of Personal Date to Third Parties

With exception of the above-mentioned cases of data processing by service providers on our behalf (see Registration for Events, Subscriptions to our PR Distribution List, …), we give your personal data only to third parties (i.e. to natural and legal persons other than you, the affected person), the controller or the service provider or his/her vicarious agents under the following circumstances:

• You consented explicitly to the data transfer to a third party according to Article 6 para. 1, page 1 lit. a GDPR
• The data transfer is required for the contractual performance of the contract with you according to Article 6 para. 1 page 1, lit. b GDPR
  • Data transmission to the mail order firm which will deliver the goods you ordered
  • Payment data transmission to payment service providers and credit institutes for payment transactions

• We are legally obligated to surrender the data to financial or judicial authorities according to Article 6 para. 1, page 1 lit. c GDPR
• Giving your data to third parties is required to exercise, enforce or defend legal claims, and there is no reason to assume that you as affected person could have an overriding interest worth protecting in the non-transfer of your personal data according to Article 6 para. 1 S. 1 lit. f GDPR. Such a data transfer to government and/or law enforcement authorities may occur in cases of attacks on our IT systems.

Third parties may use the transferred data only for the above-mentioned purposes.

If you have registered for an event, it may be necessary in the course of the contractual performance that your personal data are transmitted to an external organiser. The confirmation of your event registration will name the event organiser and tell you whether he/she is an external organiser. This event organiser will not only organise and manage the event but also process the registration data.

According to Article 28 GDPR, our service providers host our websites on servers located in Germany exclusively.

• cubos Internet GmbH, Goethestraße 5, 52064, Aachen, Germany
• BS PAYONE GmbH, Niederlassung Kiel, Fraunhoferstraße 2-4, 24118 Kiel, Germany
• Concardis GmbH, Helfmann-Park 7, 65760 Eschborn, Germany

The transfer/transmission of personal data to countries outside the EU or an international organisation shall be excluded.

4. Cookies

We use server-side cookies. Cookies are small files, which are automatically created by the browser of the user device and stored in your device (PC, laptop, tablet, smart phone or similar device) when you visit our website.  Cookies do not harm your computer, and they do not contain viruses, Trojans or other malware.

Cookies contain information pertaining to the specific device, which accessed our website. However, this does not give us direct knowledge of your identity.

One reason for us to use cookies is making the use of our website more convenient for you. We use session cookies to allow session controls such as controls for inserting data into forms or saving shopping carts. At the latest, session cookies are deleted when you close your browser.

We also use temporary cookies to optimise the user-friendliness of our website. Your device stores these cookies temporarily for a specific time. The next time you visit our website, our server recognises your device as prior visitor and remembers your settings and preferences. You will not have to enter these parameters again.

We also use cookies to gather data for our website statistics. This helps us to evaluate and optimise our web offerings (see Section 6). These cookies allow us to recognise repeat visits from your device. These cookies will be deleted automatically after a specific time.

The data obtained with the help of cookies serve our legitimate interests and the legitimate interests of third parties according to Article 6 para. 1, page 1 lit. f GDPR.

Most browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you are able to configure your browser in such a way that the application does not store cookies on your computer or always shows an alert before storing new cookies. However, the complete exclusion of cookies may prevent you from using all functions on our website.

5. Webanalysis/Tracking

For our website, we use the Leadlab service of the service provider Wiredminds GmbHand the company's pixel counting technology to analyse the habits of our website users. The analysis helps us to optimise our website. The service allows us to recognise, which companies visit our website. The data do not enable us to identify users directly.

In context with the Leadlab web services, we use cookies and tag pixels (also known as web or tracking bugs). These cookies and tag pixels allow our service to analyse how our website visitors use our website.  The cookie stores information including personal data on the activities of website visitors and transmits this information directly to Wiredminds if Wiredminds does not collect these data directly. Wiredminds uses pseudonyms and anonymises the data whenever possible before processing and analysing the data and creating a user profile.

Without your specifically given explicit consent, neither Wiredminds nor we use the so collected data to identify you personally, and your personal data are never commingled with data under a pseudonym associated with you.

To the extent that the web analysts collect IP addresses, these addresses are stripped of their last control number block upon collection to anonymise the addresses instantly.

You find the Wiredminds Data Protection Statement on the Wiredminds Website.

The provider processes the statistical data based on our legitimate interests in the optimisation of our online offerings and our web presence according to Article 6 para.1 lit. f GDPR. Wiredminds processes the data on our behalf, and we have entered into an order processing agreement with Wiredminds. Wiredminds agrees to process the data on our behalf and in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Wiredminds also agrees to protect the rights of the affected persons.

In case you reject the collection of data and the analysis of your user activities, please use our opt-out cookie to prevent the installation of our cookies. This will prevent the future collection of data when you use our website.  The opt-out cookie in your device works only in the used browser and applies only to our website. If you delete the cookies in the computer’s cookie folder, you have to install the opt-out cookie again.

6. Social Plugins

We use social plug-ins (media buttons) on our website. These are small box-like buttons. Click on them to place the content of our website under your profile in social network sites.

If you click on such a button, a link will be established between our website and the social network to which you subscribe. Aside from the respective content, the social network provider will receive other personal information. This includes the information that you visit our website at that time.

For the integration of the social plug-in we use the Shariff Solution  This solution prevents your device from creating a link to the social network merely because you visit a website featuring a social plug-in button without clicking on it. This means that a link is only established if a when you click on the social plug-in button.

We integrate the following social plug-in on our website:

Sometimes, information is transmitted to the US domicile of the parent company Facebook Inc. This company complies with the data protection regulations of the ‘US Privacy Shield’ and is registered with the US Privacy Shield Program of the US Department of Commerce.

Purpose and scope of the data collection and further processing and use of the data by Facebook and your user rights in your relationship with Facebook as well as your ability to influence your privacy rights by changing your browser settings are subject to your privacy agreement with Facebook. Please consult the Facebook Data Protection Statement.

Sometimes, information is transmitted to the US parent company Twitter Inc. The Twitter International Company complies with the data protection regulations of ‘US Privacy Shield’. Twitter Inc. is registered with the US Privacy Shield Program of the US Department of Trade.

Please find more information on the data protection in the Twitter Data Protection Statement.

c) Google+ Sharing Google LLC

Google complies with the Data Protection Regulations of ‘US Privacy Shield’ and is registered with the US Privacy Shield Program of the US Department of Trade.

Please find more information on Google data protection in the Google Data Protection Declaration.

d) Xing Sharing by Xing SE

Please find more information on Xing data protection in the Xing SE Data Protection Declaration.

e) Pinterest Sharing by Pinterest Europe Ltd. 

Please find more information on Pinterest data protection in the Pinterest. Data Protection Statement.

7. YouTube

Based on the agreement according to Article 6 Para. 1, page 1 lit. f GDPR, we use components (videos) of YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Avenue, 94066 San Bruno, CA (USA) (in the following referred to as ‘YouTube’), a company of Google Inc., Amphitheatre Parkway, 94043 Mountain View (USA),  (in the following referred to as ‘Google’).

In the process, we use the ‘extended data protection mode’ option provided by YouTube.

Upon requesting an Internet page with embedded video, our website connects to the YouTube servers and renders the content on the Internet page using your browser.

According to the information provided by YouTube, in the ‘extended data protection mode’, your data will be transmitted to the US YouTube servers only while you watch the video. The transmitted data include the Internet page you just viewed and device-specific data including your IP address. By clicking ‘run’ on the video you agree to this mode of transmission.

Should you be logged into your YouTube account at the same time, YouTube will associate these collected data with your member account. You are able to prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

Google complies with the data protection regulation of US Privacy Shield and is registered with the US Privacy Shield Program of the US Department of Trade.

You find further information on the data protection in context with YouTube in the Google Data Protection Regulations.

8. Your Rights as Affected Person

You have the following rights: 

• According to Article 7 para. 3 GDPR, you have the right to revoke any consent declaration at any time, which you may have given to us before. This has the consequence that we are no longer privileged to continue the respective activity.
• According to Article 15 GDPR, you have the right to demand information on your personal data, which we have processed. In particular, you have the right to information on the following:
  • Purposes of the data processing
  • The categories of personal data,
  • The categories of recipients to which we transmitted/disclosed or will transmit your data
  • The planned storage periods of data
  • The existence of the right to correction, deletion, restriction of processing and objection
  • The right to appeal
  • The right to know the origin of data in the event that we did not collect these data
  • The right to meaningful and detailed information on the existence on automated decision-making including profiling

• According to Article 16 GDPR, you have the right to the correction of incorrect and/or the completion of incomplete personal data in storage at the Fraunhofer Society
• According to  Article 17 GDPR, you have the right to the deletion of your personal data providing the deletion does not interfere with the execution of the right to the free expression of opinions and with the compliance with legal obligations, providing the deletion is not against public interest and providing the deletion does not hamper the enforcement, execution or defence of legal claims
• According to Article 18 GDPR, you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data if you contest or challenge the accuracy of these data, the processing of the data is illegal but you reject the deletion of these data and we no longer need the data while you still need the data to enforce, execute or defend legal claims or you have raised an objection against the data processing according to Article 21 GDPR
• According to Article 20 GDPR, you have the right to receive the personal data you provided to us in a structured, well-established and machine-readable format or to demand the transmission to another authority and
• According to Article 77 GDPR, you have the right to complain to a superior authority. As a rule, you may find such authority at your place of residence, your workplace or our company domicile.

Information on your Right of Objections according to Article 21 GDPR

You have the right to object at any time against the processing of your personal data, based on Article 6 para. 1, lit. f GDPR (data processing in the public interest) and Article 6, para. 1, lit. e GDPR (data processing based on fair balancing) for reasons, which arise from your specific situation. This shall also apply to the profiling as prescribed by Article 4 No. 4 GDPR, which is supported by this provision.

Once you file an objection, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can establish compelling evidence, which is worthy of protection and outweighs your interests, rights and privileges, or unless the processing serves the enforcement, exercise or defence of legal claims.

To the extent that your objection addresses the processing of data for direct advertising, we will stop the processing immediately. In this case, citing a special situation is not required. This shall also apply to profiling in as far as it does not relate to such direct advertising.

If you like to claim your right to object, an email to datenschutz@zv.fraunhofer.de will suffice.

9. Data Security

We transmit all your personal data using the generally used and secure encryption standard TLS (Transport Layer Security). The TLS protocol is a proven and secure standard. Bankers use the standard for online banking transactions. You recognise a secure TLS connection by the s following the http (https://...) in your browser URL or by the lock symbol in the lower section of your browser.

By the way, we use suitable technical and organisational safety procedures to protect your data against inadvertent or wilful manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against the unauthorised access by third parties. We constantly improve these security measures as the technology advances.

10. Timeliness of the Data and Amendments to this Data Protection Information

This data protection information as amended on June 2018 is currently applicable.

Due to improvements of our website and website offers or based on statutory or government standard, it may become necessary to amend this data protection information.

You may read or print this updated and amended version at any time.