Privacy policy

§ 1 Information about the collection of personal data

1. In the following, we inform you about the collection of personal data when using our website. Personal data is all data that can be related to you personally, e.g. name, address, e-mail addresses, user behavior.
2. The responsible party pursuant to Article 4 (7) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is Mepa Metallhandels-Partner GmbH & Co KG, Burgstr. 9a, 44867 Bochum, Germany.
   
   You can reach our data protection officer at:
   
   AGAD Service GmbH
   Waldring 43 – 47
   44789 Bochum
   dsgvo@mepa-metallhandel.de

or at our postal address with the addition "the data protection officer".

3. When you contact us by e-mail or via a contact form, the data you provide (your e-mail address, your name) will be stored by us in order to answer your questions. The provision of further information is voluntary and merely facilitates our contacting you in order to answer your inquiry. We delete the data accruing in this context after the storage is no longer necessary, or restrict the processing if there are legal obligations to retain data.
4. If we use contracted service providers for individual functions of our offer or would like to use your data for advertising purposes, we will inform you in detail about the respective processes below. In doing so, we will also state the defined criteria for the storage period.
   
   § 2 Your rights

1. You have the following rights with respect to personal data concerning you:
   
   o Right to information,
   o Right to rectification or deletion,
   o right to restriction of processing,
   o right to object to processing,
   o right to data portability.
2. You also have the right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority about the processing of your personal data by us.

§ 3 Collection of personal data when visiting our website

1. during the mere informational use of the website, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise transmit information to us, we only collect the personal data that your browser transmits to our server. If you wish to view our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display our website to you and to ensure stability and security (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f DS-GVO):

o IP address
o Date and time of the request
o Time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
o Content of the request (specific page)
o Access status/HTTP status code
o Amount of data transferred in each case
o Website from which the request comes
o Browser
o operating system and its interface
o language and version of the browser software.

1. In addition to the aforementioned data, cookies are stored on your computer when you use our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your hard drive associated with the browser you are using and through which certain information flows to the entity that sets the cookie (here by us). Cookies cannot execute programs or transfer viruses to your computer. They serve to make the Internet offer more user-friendly and effective overall.

3. Use of cookies:  

a) This website uses the following types of cookies, the scope and functionality of which are explained below:

o Transient cookies (for this purpose b)
o Persistent cookies (c).

4. b) Transient cookies are automatically deleted when you close the browser. These include, in particular, session cookies. These store a so-called session ID, with which various requests of your browser can be assigned to the common session. This allows your computer to be recognized when you return to our website. The session cookies are deleted when you log out or close the browser.

5. c) Persistent cookies are deleted automatically after a specified period of time, which may differ depending on the cookie. You can delete the cookies in the security settings of your browser at any time.

6. d) You can configure your browser settings according to your preferences and, for example, refuse to accept third-party cookies or all cookies. Please note that you may not be able to use all functions of this website. 

§ 4 Further functions and offers of our website

1. In addition to the purely informational use of our website, we offer various services that you can use if you are interested. For this purpose, you usually have to provide further personal data, which we use to provide the respective service and for which the aforementioned data processing principles apply.
2. In some cases, we use external service providers to process your data. These have been carefully selected and commissioned by us, are bound by our instructions and are regularly monitored.
3. Furthermore, we may pass on your personal data to third parties if we offer promotions, competitions, contracts or similar services together with partners. You will receive more information about this when you provide your personal data or below in the description of the offer.
4. If our service providers or partners are located in a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we will inform you about the consequences of this circumstance in the description of the offer. 

§ 5 Objection or revocation against the processing of your data

1. If you have given consent to the processing of your data, you may revoke this consent at any time. Such revocation affects the permissibility of the processing of your personal data after you have expressed it to us.
2. Insofar as we base the processing of your personal data on the balance of interests, you may object to the processing. This is the case if the processing is not necessary, in particular, for the performance of a contract with you, which is presented by us in each case in the following description of the functions. When exercising such an objection, we ask you to explain the reasons why we should not process your personal data as we have done. In the event of your justified objection, we will review the situation and either discontinue or adjust the data processing or show you our compelling reasons worthy of protection on the basis of which we will continue the processing.
3. You can, of course, object to the processing of your personal data for advertising and data analysis purposes at any time. You can inform us of your advertising objection using the following contact details: dsgvo@mepa-metallhandel.de

§ 6 Use of our webshop

1. If you want to order in our webshop, it is necessary for the conclusion of the contract that you provide your personal data, which we need for the processing of your order. Mandatory data necessary for the processing of contracts are marked separately, other information is voluntary. We process the data you provide to process your order. For this purpose, we may pass on your payment data to our house bank. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b DS-GVO.We may also process the data you provide to inform you about other interesting products from our portfolio or to send you e-mails with technical information.
2. We are obliged by commercial and tax law to store your address, payment and order data for a period of ten years.
3. To prevent unauthorized access by third parties to your personal data, especially financial data, the ordering process is encrypted using TLS technology.
4. Credit information / scoring

If you wish to carry out a "purchase on account" with us, we would like to point out that we carry out a creditworthiness query with the credit agency (creditreform Bochum Böhme KG, Lise-Meitner-Allee 26, 44801 Bochum) in order to assess the credit risk. For this purpose, your personal data, which are necessary for the credit assessment, will be transferred to the creditreform credit agency. In particular, your company name and address will be taken into account. This storage, transfer and collection of your personal data is carried out for the purpose of avoiding a payment default and the credit assessment on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 p.1 lit. b DS-GVO and Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit f DS-GVO. The statistical probability of a credit default is calculated on the basis of this information and thus your solvency. If the credit check turns out to be positive, an order on account can be placed on your part. If the credit check is negative, we can unfortunately not offer you the option to purchase on account.

§ 7 Newsletter

1. With your consent you can subscribe to our newsletter, with which we inform you about our current interesting offers. The advertised goods and services are named in the declaration of consent.
2. For the registration to our newsletter we use the so-called double-opt-in procedure. This means that after your registration we will send you an e-mail to the specified e-mail address, in which we ask you to confirm that you wish to receive the newsletter. If you do not confirm your registration within 24 hours, your information will be blocked and automatically deleted after one month. In addition, we store your respective IP addresses used and times of registration and confirmation. The purpose of this procedure is to be able to prove your registration and, if necessary, to clarify a possible misuse of your personal data.
3. Mandatory information for sending the newsletter is only your e-mail address. The provision of further, separately marked data is voluntary and will be used to address you personally. After your confirmation, we store your e-mail address for the purpose of sending the newsletter. The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a DS-GVO.
4. You can revoke your consent to the sending of the newsletter at any time and unsubscribe from the newsletter. You can declare the revocation in the webshop in your customer account, by clicking on the link provided in every newsletter email or by sending a message to the contact details provided in the imprint.

Analysis tools

Use of Google Analytics

1. This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. 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. In the event that IP anonymization is activated on this website, however, your IP address will be truncated beforehand by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage to the website operator.
2. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with other data from Google.
3. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the collection of data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) to Google and the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available at the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.
4. This website uses Google Analytics with the extension "_anonymizeIp()". This means that IP addresses are processed in abbreviated form, thus excluding the possibility of personal references. Insofar as the data collected about you is related to a person, this is therefore immediately excluded and the personal data is thus immediately deleted. You can also prevent the collection by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set, which prevents the future collection of your data when visiting this website:
   
   Google Analytics deactivate
   
   
5. We use Google Analytics to analyze and regularly improve the use of our website. Through the statistics obtained, we can improve our offer and make it more interesting for you as a user. For the exceptional cases in which personal data is transferred to the USA, Google has submitted to the EU-US Privacy Shield, https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework. The legal basis for the use of Google Analytics is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f DS-GVO.
6. Information of the third-party provider: Google Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, Fax: +353 (1) 436 1001. user conditions: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html, overview of data protection: http://www.google.com/intl/de/analytics/learn/privacy.html, as well as the privacy policy: http://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.
7. This website also uses Google Analytics for a cross-device analysis of visitor flows, which is carried out via a user ID. You can disable cross-device analysis of your usage in your customer account under "My Data", "Personal Data". 

Social Media

Embedding of YouTube-Clips

1. We have integrated YouTube videos into our online offer, which are stored on http://www.YouTube.com and can be played directly from our website. [These are all integrated in "extended data protection mode", i.e. no data about you as a user is transmitted to YouTube if you do not play the videos. Only when you play the videos will the data mentioned in paragraph 2 be transmitted. We have no influence on this data transmission].
2. By visiting the website, YouTube receives the information that you have called up the corresponding sub-page of our website. In addition, the data mentioned under § 3 of this statement are transmitted. This occurs regardless of whether YouTube provides a user account through which you are logged in or whether no user account exists. If you are logged in to Google, your data will be directly assigned to your account. If you do not want the assignment with your profile at YouTube, you must log out before activating the button. YouTube stores your data as usage profiles and uses them for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or demand-oriented design of its website. Such an evaluation is carried out in particular (even for users who are not logged in) to provide needs-based advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles, whereby you must contact YouTube to exercise this right.
3. For more information on the purpose and scope of data collection and processing by YouTube, please refer to the privacy policy. There you will also find further information on your rights and setting options to protect your privacy: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy. Google also processes your personal data in the USA and has submitted to the EU-US Privacy Shield, https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.

Use of Social-Media-Plug-ins

1. We currently use the following social media plug-ins: Facebook. We use the so-called two-click solution. This means that when you visit our site, no personal data is initially passed on to the providers of the plug-ins. You can recognize the provider of the plug-in by the marking on the box above its initial letter or logo. We open up the possibility for you to communicate directly with the provider of the plug-in via the button. Only if you click on the marked box and thereby activate it, the plug-in provider receives the information that you have accessed the corresponding website of our online offer. In addition, the data mentioned under § 3 of this declaration will be transmitted. In the case of Facebook and Xing, according to the respective providers in Germany, the IP address is anonymized immediately after collection. By activating the plug-in, personal data is therefore transmitted from you to the respective plug-in provider and stored there (in the case of US providers, in the USA). Since the plug-in provider collects the data in particular via cookies, we recommend that you delete all cookies via your browser's security settings before clicking on the grayed-out box.
2. We have no influence on the collected data and data processing operations, nor are we aware of the full scope of data collection, the purposes of processing, the storage periods. We also have no information on the deletion of the collected data by the plug-in provider.
3. The plug-in provider stores the data collected about you as usage profiles and uses them for purposes of advertising, market research and/or demand-oriented design of its website. Such an evaluation is carried out in particular (also for users who are not logged in) for the display of needs-based advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles, whereby you must contact the respective plug-in provider to exercise this right. Via the plug-ins, we offer you the opportunity to interact with the social networks and other users so that we can improve our offer and make it more interesting for you as a user. The legal basis for the use of the plug-ins is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. f DS-GVO.
4. The data transfer takes place regardless of whether you have an account with the plug-in provider and are logged in there. If you are logged in to the plug-in provider, your data collected from us will be directly assigned to your account with the plug-in provider. If you click the activated button and link to the page, for example, the plug-in provider also saves this information in your user account and shares it publicly with your contacts. We recommend that you log out regularly after using a social network, but especially before activating the button, as this allows you to avoid an assignment to your profile with the plug-in provider.
5. For more information on the purpose and scope of data collection and processing by the plug-in provider, please refer to the data protection declarations of these providers provided below. There you will also receive further information about your rights in this regard and setting options for protecting your privacy.
6. Addresses of the respective plug-in providers and URL with their privacy notices:

a) [Facebook Inc, 1601 S California Ave, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA; http://www.facebook.com/policy.php; further information on data collection: http://www.facebook.com/help/186325668085084, http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info-on-other#applications, http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info#everyoneinfo.

Insofar as the provider of the plugin is located in the USA, the data transfer to this provider takes place on the basis of your express consent in accordance with Art. 49 I 1 a) DS-GVO. 

Google Fonts

"This website uses Google Fonts of Google Inc. Google Fonts is used to display text and fonts provided by Google. So that these fonts can be provided for a large number of pages, they are provided by Google on their servers when the page is called up. When using Google Fonts, the user's IP address is transmitted to Google's servers when the page is called up and the information on the fonts used is transferred. This may result in a data transfer to Google's servers in the USA. The information about the fonts is stored in the browser's cache.

We integrate Google Fonts in order to make our website more appealing and visually more consistent. The legal basis for the data collection is Art 6 I 1 f) DS-GVO. Google has submitted to the EU-US Privacy Shield, https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework. More information on Google's data processing can be found in Google's privacy policy https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de and in the FAQ on Google Web Fonts (English) https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq ."