Data Privacy Policy

The protection of your personal data is particularly important to us. With this declaration, we would like to inform you about how your data is collected and processed by us in accordance with the provisions and requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the German Federal Data Protection Act.

1. Name and contact information of the data controller and the data protection officer

This Data Privacy Policy applies to data processing by: Bruski Smeets & Lange Rechtsanwälte und Steuerberater Partnerschaft mbB (hereinafter referred to as the "Firm"), Berliner Str. 72, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

E-mail: info@bruskismeetslange.com
Telephone: +49 (0)69 - 400 50 13 0
Fax: +49 (0)69 - 400 50 13 99

The data protection officer of the Firm can be reached at the above address, attention: Mr. Yannick Thoma, Esq., or at datenschutz@bruskismeetslange.com.

2. Collection and storage of personal data, type and purpose of data use

When you visit our website www.bruskismeetslange.com, the browser used on your device automatically sends data and information to the server of our website. This primarily technical information is temporarily stored in a so-called log file.

The following information is collected without any action on your part and stored until it is automatically erased:

• The IP address of the requesting computer,
• The date and time of access,
• The name and URL of the accessed file (referrer URL),
• The browser used and, if applicable, the operation system of your computer and the name of your access provider.

The aforementioned data will be processed by us for the following purposes:

• To guarantee smooth connection to our website,
• To guarantee convenient use of our website,
• To evaluate system security and stability, and
• For other administrative purposes.

These data will not be merged with other data sources. The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f of the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter referred to as "GDPR"). Our legitimate interest is based on the purposes of data collection listed above. Under no circumstances will we use the data collected for the purpose of drawing inferences about your identity.

When you visit our website, we will also place cookies and use web analysis services. For more detailed information please refer to section 5 (Cookies) and section 6 (Use of Tools) of this data protection declaration.

3. Hosting

We host the content of our website with the following provider: IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur (hereinafter referred to as "IONOS").

When you visit our website, IONOS collects various log files including your IP addresses. For details, please refer to the IONOS privacy policy.

IONOS is used on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR. We have a legitimate interest in ensuring that our website is displayed as reliably as possible. If a corresponding consent has been requested, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR and Section 25 para. 1 Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act (hereinafter referred to as "TDDDG"), insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information in the user's terminal device (e.g. device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TDDDG. Consent can be revoked at any time.

4. Transfer of data

Your personal data will not be transferred to third parties for any purposes other than those listed below.

We will transfer your personal data to third parties only if:

• You have expressly consented to a transfer of your personal data in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sent. 1 letter a of the GDPR,
• Transferring your personal data is necessary for asserting, exercising, or defending legal rights or claims within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 sent. 1 letter f of the GDPR and there is no reason to assume that you have a prevailing protected interest in not having your data transferred,
• Transferring your personal data is required by law within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 sent. 1 c of the GDPR, or
• Transferring your data is permitted by law and is necessary for the performance of a contract with you within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 sent. 1 letter b of the GDPR.

5. Cookies

We use cookies on our website. These are small text files that your browser automatically creates and that are stored on your end device (laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.) when you visit our website. Cookies do not cause any harm to your terminal device and do not contain any viruses, Trojan horses or other malware.

Information (e.g. the time of your server request, the operating system you are using, the browser type, the previously visited website and the IP address) is stored in the cookie, which results in each case in connection with the specific end device used. However, this does not mean that we obtain direct knowledge of your identity.

On the one hand, the use of cookies serves to make the use of our website more pleasant for you. For example, we use so-called cross-session cookies to recognize that you have already visited individual pages of our website. These are automatically deleted after you leave our website.

In addition, we also use temporary cookies to optimize user-friendliness, which are stored on your end device for a specified period of time. If you visit our website again to use our services, it is automatically recognized that you have already visited us and which entries and settings you have made so that you do not have to enter them again.

On the other hand, we use cookies to statistically record the use of our website and to evaluate it for the purpose of optimizing our offer for you (see section 6 (Use of tools)). These cookies enable us to automatically recognize that you have already visited our website when you visit it again. These cookies are automatically deleted after a defined period of time.

The data processed by cookies is required for the purposes mentioned to protect our legitimate interests and those of third parties in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR and Section 25 para. 2 no. 2 TDDDG.

Most browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you can configure your browser so that no cookies are stored on your computer or a message always appears before a new cookie is created. However, if you fully deactivate cookies, you may no longer be able to use all functions of our website.

6. Use of tools

Cookiebot

Our website uses the cookie consent technology of Cookiebot by Usercentrics to obtain your consent to the storage of certain cookies in your browser or to the use of certain technologies and to document them in accordance with data protection regulations. The provider of this technology is Usercentrics GmbH, Sendlinger Straße 7, 80331 Munich, Germany (hereinafter referred to as "Cookiebot").

When you enter our website, a Cookiebot cookie is stored in your browser, in which the consent you have given or the revocation of this consent is stored. This data is not passed on to the provider of Cookiebot cookies.

The data collected will be stored until you ask us to delete it or delete the Cookiebot cookie yourself or until the purpose for storing the data no longer applies. Mandatory statutory retention periods remain unaffected.

Cookiebot cookie consent technology is used to obtain the legally required consent for the use of cookies. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. c GDPR.

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google LLC (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, hereinafter referred to as "Google") for the purpose of needs-based design. Google Analytics uses so-called "cookies" (see section 5 (Cookies)), text files that are stored on your computer and enable your use of the website to be analyzed. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. Cookies store information that result in connection with the specific terminal device used. This does not mean, however, that we will learn your identity as a direct result of using cookies. One reason for using cookies is to make it more convenient for you to use our website. Thus, we place so-called session cookies to recognize that you have previously visited certain pages of our website. Session cookies will be automatically deleted after you leave our website. If IP anonymization is activated on this Website, your IP address will however first be masked by Google in member states of the European Union or other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transferred to a Google server in the United States and masked there. On behalf of the operator of this Website Google will use such information to analyze your use of the Website, to compile reports about website activity, and to provide the Website operator with additional services related to website use and Internet use. The IP address transmitted by your browser in connection with Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data of Google.

You may block cookies by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser; we advise you however that if you do so, you may no longer be able to use all features of this Website to the full extent. Moreover, you may prevent Google from collecting data related to your use of the Website and generated by the cookie (including your IP address) and from processing such data by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

As an alternative to the browser add-on, in particular for browsers on mobile terminal devices, you can also prevent Google Analytics from collecting your data by clicking on this link. If you do so, an opt-out cookie will be placed preventing any future collection of your data when you visit this website. The opt-out cookie will be valid only for that particular browser and only for our website and will be placed on your terminal device. If you delete cookies in that browser, you will have to place the opt-out cookie again.

The processing of the data collected by us through the analysis cookies is based on your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR and Section 25 para. 1 TDDDG.

7. Our company profile on social media

We maintain an online presence on LinkedIn with our company profile. User data is also processed here outside the European Union, where legal enforcement on the basis of the GDPR is not possible. The terms and conditions and data protection guidelines of the platform operator apply. You can find out more about the forms of processing in detail and how to object at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy?_l=de_DE.

8. Right of access, right to object and other rights

We hereby further inform you that you have the following rights. We therefore ask that you notify us if any of your personal information should change, so that we can promptly make the appropriate changes in our systems.

In accordance with Art. 15 GDPR, you have the right to receive information about your personal data processed by us at any time. In particular, you are entitled to be informed about the processing purposes, the category of personal data, the categories of recipients to whom your data has been or will be disclosed, the planned storage period, the existence of a right to rectification, erasure, restriction of processing or objection, the existence of a right to lodge a complaint, the origin of your data if it was not collected by us, as well as the existence of automated decision-making including profiling and, if applicable, meaningful information about its details;

In accordance with Art. 16 GDPR, you have the right to demand the immediate correction of incorrect or incomplete personal data stored by us.

In accordance with Art. 17 GDPR, you have the right to request the deletion of your personal data stored by us, unless the processing is necessary to exercise the right to freedom of expression and information, to fulfill a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest or to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.

In accordance with Art. 18 GDPR, you may request the restriction of the processing of your personal data if the accuracy of the data is disputed by you, the processing is unlawful but you refuse to delete it and we no longer need the data, but you need it to assert, exercise or defend legal claims or you have lodged an objection to the processing in accordance with Art. 21 GDPR.

In accordance with Art. 20 GDPR, you have the right to receive your personal data that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to request that it be transferred to another controller.

If your personal data are processed on the basis of legitimate interests in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in accordance with Art. 21 GDPR, provided that there are reasons arising from your particular situation or the objection is directed against direct advertising. In the latter case, you have a general right to object, which will be implemented by us without specifying a particular situation. If you wish to exercise your right to object, simply send an email to datenschutz@bruskismeetslange.com.

In accordance with Art. 7 para. 3 GDPR, you have the right to revoke your consent to us at any time. As a result, we will cease the data processing that was based on this consent for the future and will no longer continue it.

To exercise your rights, you can contact us in writing, by fax or by email at datenschutz@bruskismeetslange.com. We would like to point out at this point that we will process your personal data in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. c GDPR in order to process an application to exercise the rights of the data subject and for identification purposes.

9. Right to lodge a complaint

In accordance with Art. 77 GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe that your personal data is being processed unlawfully. As a rule, you can contact the supervisory authority of your usual place of residence or workplace or our Firm (Der Hessische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 1, 65189 Wiesbaden).

10. Data security

We attach great importance to the security of our data processing systems and our website. For this reason, we use the widespread SSL (Secure Socket Layer) method in conjunction with the highest level of encryption supported by your browser when you visit our website. As a rule, 256-bit encryption will be used. If your browser does not support 256-bit encryption, we will use 128-bit v3 technology instead. To check whether any particular page of our website is transmitted in encrypted form, look for the closed key or lock symbol in the lower status bar of your browser.

In addition, we have implemented appropriate technical and organizational safeguards to protect your data from accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss or destruction, and unauthorized access by third parties. Our safeguards are continuously updated as technology evolves.

11. Validity and modification of this Data Privacy Policy

This Data Privacy Policy is currently valid and has been updated to reflect changes introduced by the General Data Protection Regulation as of August 2024.

As a result of upgrades to our website, services offered on our website, or new laws or regulatory requirements, it may be necessary to modify this Data Privacy Policy in the future. The most recent version of this Data Privacy Policy can be found on and printed out from our website at Bruski Smeets & Lange Rechtsanwälte (bruskismeetslange.com) at any time.