Section 1 Introduction

This data protection policy informs you which of your personal data are collected, processed and/or used (activities henceforward summarised as “processing”) by us, FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mbH [FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management], Leimkugelstrasse 6, 45141 Essen (“website provider” or “we”), in connection with the use of our website www.e-comma.eu (“website”).

Section 2 Data controller

We are the data controller for the processing of personal data in connection with the use of our website. You can find further information about us in Section 18 of this data protection policy and in the legal notice on our website.

Section 3 Purpose of the data processing

Where personal data are processed in connection with the use of the website, this is carried out solely for the purpose of enabling proper provision of the website and of the functionalities provided to users in it.

Section 4 Legal basis of the data processing

Unless specified further below within this data protection policy, Article 6, paragraph 1, point b) of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) forms the legal basis for the processing of your personal data in connection with the use of our website and of the features provided there.

The processing of your personal data to support the operation of the website is a legitimate interest of ours in accordance with Article 6, paragraph 1, point (f) of the GDPR.

Please note that we may potentially not be able to provide you with the services within which we process your personal data in accordance with Article 6, paragraph 1, points (b), (c) or (f) of the GDPR if you do not provide us with the relevant personal data. This differentiates these processing purposes from processing activities based on any explicit consent that you may give.

Where you have given consent within the meaning of Article 6, paragraph 1, point a) 7 of the GDPR regarding the processing of personal data for specific purposes, your consent represents the legal basis for this specific processing purpose. Consent given in this way can be withdrawn at any time by contacting the contact address specified in Section 18. Please note that such withdrawal is only effective for the future. Any processing activities that have taken place prior to the withdrawal are not affected by it.

Section 5 Call-back request contact form

You may contact us in order to receive information on our study programmes. For this purpose, we have set up the contact option by telephone or email on our website. The personal data transmitted to us in this way are used solely to respond to your enquiry or contact and for the associated administration. Specifically, the following data may be processed in this context:

• First name

• Surname

• Telephone number

• Email address

Communication of these details is undertaken solely for the purpose of making contact with you.

Section 6 Contact form for the sending of information material

You may contact us in order to receive information material on our study programmes, which we will send to you by post. For this purpose, we have set up the “Order information material” contact option  on our website. You also have the option of having us send you information about events, research surveys and training courses by post, telephone or email. The personal data transmitted to us in this way are used for responding to your enquiry or contact and for providing information. Such information is provided only with your explicit consent as described in Article. 6, paragraph 1, point a) of the GDPR. You have the option at all times of opting out of receiving study information in the future by contacting the contact address specified in Section 18.

Specifically, the following data may be processed in this context:

• First name

• Surname

• Address

• Telephone number

• Email address

• Date of birth

• Highest educational level

• Preferred study location

• Preferred discipline

Section 7 Contact form for booking information sessions

You may contact us in order to receive information and events notifications. For this purpose, we have set up the “Book information event” contact option on our website. You also have the option of having us send you information about events, research surveys and training courses by post, telephone or email. The personal data transmitted to us in this way are used for responding to your enquiry or contact and for providing information. Such information is provided only with your explicit consent as described in Article. 6, paragraph 1, point a) of the GDPR. You have the option at any time of opting out of receiving information in the future by contacting the contact address specified in Section 18.

Specifically, the following data may be processed in this context:

• First name

• Surname

• Address

• Telephone number

• Email address

• Date of birth

• Highest educational level

• Preferred study location

• Preferred discipline 

Section 8 Newsletter for receiving study information

You have the option of having us send you regular information on our study programmes in our newsletter. For this purpose you can set up a user account. For registration, we utilise your name, your email address and a password used by you.

Such information is provided only with your explicit consent as described in Article. 6, paragraph 1, point a) of the GDPR. You have the option at any time of opting out of receiving study information in the future by contacting the contact address specified in Section 18 or unsubscribing from the newsletter on our website.

Section 9 Use of cookies

To ensure that visiting our website is a user-friendly experience and to enable certain functions to be used, we make use of “cookies” on various pages. These consist of small text files that are saved on your device. Some of the cookies we use are deleted again after the end of the browser session, i.e. after you close your browser (“session cookies”). Other cookies remain on your device and enable us to recognise your browser the next time you visit the website (“persistent cookies”). You can configure your browser so that you are informed when cookies are used, and decide whether to accept them on a case-by-case basis or else refuse to accept cookies for certain cases or as a general rule. You can also apply a setting within your browser so that your browser automatically deletes cookies when the browser is closed. If you choose not to accept cookies, the functionality of our website may be limited. 

Section 10 Anonymous data processing

Each time our website is accessed, various technical information (browser type/version, the user's IP address, date and time of access) is in addition stored anonymously on the basis of the information transmitted by your browser. This information is processed solely for statistical purposes and for the purpose of organising our website in line with user requirements. No merging takes pace of such data with data from the contact forms or the newsletter that might enable identification of the user concerned.

Section 11 Web analytics for advertising purposes

We use Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies” – text files that are stored on your computer and that help analyse the ways in which you use our website. We utilise Google Analytics in order to capture and improve the use made by individual users of our website and the content and functions provided on it. This is a legitimate interest of ours in accordance with Article 6, paragraph 1, point f) of the GDPR.

The information generated by the Google Analytics cookie about your use of this website is normally transferred to a Google server in the United States and stored there. Further information on how the user data collected by Google Analytics is handled can be found in the Google Analytics policies on security and data protection, at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de 

If IP anonymisation is enabled on this website, your IP address will, however, be truncated by Google within the member states of the European Union or within other states that are parties 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 truncated there. IP anonymisation is enabled on this website. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google uses this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, for compiling reports on website activity, and for performing other services relating to website activity and Internet usage for the website operator.

Google will not associate the IP address transferred by your browser for the Google Analytics service with other data held by Google. You can prevent 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 access all of the functions provided on this website to the full extent. You can also prevent the data generated by the cookie concerning your use of the website (including your IP address) from being sent to Google and from being processed by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available at the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de

You can prevent data collection by Google Analytics by clicking the link below. This sets an opt-out cookie that prevents the future collection of your data when visiting this website: Disabling Google Analytics

Please note that on this website Google Analytics has been extended by the code “anonymizeIp” in order to ensure anonymous collection of IP addresses (known as “IP masking”).

Section 12 Use of social media plug-ins

On our website, we make use of what are termed social media plug-ins (“plug-ins”) associated with the Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Xing social networks. These plug-ins are offered by Facebook Inc., Google Inc., Twitter Inc. and Xing AG (“plug-in providers”).

In order to enhance the protection of your data when you visit our website, the plug-ins are not enabled by default but have to be specifically enabled by you. This integration ensures that no connection to the servers of the plug-in providers is established when you access a page of our website that contains such plug-ins. Only when you activate the plug-ins and thereby give your consent to the transmission of data will your browser make a direct connection to the servers of the plug-in providers. The content of the relevant plug-in is then transmitted from the associated provider directly to your browser and integrated into the page. By integrating the plug-in, the providers receive the information that your browser has accessed the corresponding page of our website even if you do not have a profile with the provider concerned or are not currently logged in. This information (including your IP address) is transmitted from your browser directly to a server belonging to the provider concerned and is stored there. If you are logged in to one of the services, the plug-in providers can directly associate the visit to our site with your profile on Facebook, Google+, Twitter or Xing. If you interact with the plug-ins, the associated information is also transmitted directly to a server belonging to the plug-in provider and stored there. The information is also published on the social network concerned and shown to you there.

For the purpose and scope of data collection and the further processing and use of data by the plug-in providers as well as the associated rights and settings options for protecting your privacy, please see the privacy policies of the relevant plug-in providers.

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/policy.php 

• Google: http://www.google.com/intl/de/+/policy/+1button.html

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/privacy

• Xing: https://www.xing.com/privacy 

If you do not want Facebook, Google+, Twitter or Xing to link your visit to our website with your profile, you should unsubscribe from the relevant service before the plug-ins are enabled.

Section 13 Use of Google Remarketing

We utilise the Remarketing feature offered by Google Inc. (“Google”). This feature is designed to show visitors to our site interest-based ads via the Google advertising network service. The website visitor’s browser stores “cookies” – text files that are stored on your computer and that allow the visitor to be recognised when he or she visits websites forming part of the Google advertising network. On such pages, the visitor can then be presented with advertisements related to content that the visitor has previously accessed on sites using the Google Remarketing feature. If you do not want use to be made of the Google Remarketing feature, you can disable it by configuring the appropriate settings at http://www.google.com/settings/ads. Alternatively, you can disable the use of cookies for interest-based advertising through the ad network initiative by following the instructions shown at http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

The legal basis for processing your data is described in Article 6, paragraph 1, sentence 1, point f of the GDPR.

Section 14 Integration of a social wall

On our website, a “social wall” has been integrated, which is operated by the provider Juicer. This provider currently collects no data from visitors to the website. You can find the provider’s data protection statements at https://www.juicer.io/privacy

Section 15 Integration of YouTube videos

Videos from the YouTube platform are embedded within our website by means of a YouTube plug-in. The platform operator is the Google Inc. subsidiary YouTube LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. For the embedding of YouTube videos, we regularly activate the enhanced data protection mode. This ensures that any YouTube information about you is only stored when you view the embedded video. In that case, a connection is then made to the YouTube servers and the YouTube server is informed which of our pages you have visited. If you are logged in to your YouTube account, you are allowing YouTube to associate your browsing behaviour directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account. Further information about the way user data are handled can be found in YouTube’s privacy policy at https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy

Section 16 Transmission of your data

As a general principle, personal data shall only be transmitted to persons or entities only to organisations affiliated to the website provider within the meaning of Sections 15 et seq. of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) and furthermore only in those cases in which this is necessary for the performance of the service or for contractual execution. No further transmission of data shall take place. 

Section 17 Duration of storage of your data

Your personal data are stored by us to the extent that and for as long as this is necessary for the processing purposes pursued by us. When you utilise the features provided by us on our website such as sending an enquiry to us or indicating that you wish to receive information, we store your data collected in this context until the completion or termination of the associated usage arrangement. Where legal or contractual retention periods exist beyond this time that require continued storage of your data, your personal data shall be erased on completion of the relevant retention periods unless you have expressly consented to the further use of your data.

Section 18 Rights of the data subject, Articles 15 et seq. of the GDPR

a) Right of access, rectification, restriction, erasure and portability

On request, we shall gladly provide you with information as to which of your personal data is being processed. In the event that your stored data are inaccurate, you shall have a right to rectification or restriction with regard to the data concerned. You shall also have the right to have the data stored by us in relation to you blocked or erased if the purpose of the processing of the data is no longer valid or other legal requirements exist (Article 17 of the GDPR). In the event that the erasure is counter to legal, contractual or fiscal/commercial law-related retention periods or other legally based grounds, then your data may be blocked instead of being deleted. In addition, you also have the right to portability in respect of your data.

b) Right to lodge an objection

You have the right to object at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation to the processing of personal data concerning you that is taking place on the basis of Article 6, paragraph 1, point f) of the GDPR (data processing on the basis of a balance of interests).

If you lodge an objection, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms or where the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. Objections can be lodged in an informal manner.

In some cases, we process your personal data in order to carry out direct marketing. You have the right to object at any time to the processing of personal data concerning you for the purpose of such marketing; this also applies to profiling insofar as it is related to such direct marketing.

If you object to processing for direct marketing purposes, then we will no longer process your personal data for these purposes.

To enforce the aforementioned rights and/or to obtain more detailed information about these, please contact us or our data protection officer:

FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mbH
Leimkugelstrasse 6
45141 Essen
Telephone: +49 201 - 81 00 40
Email: info@fom.de 

Contact details for the data protection officer:

FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mbH
Data protection officer
Leimkugelstrasse 6
45141 Essen
Email: datenschutz@bcw-gruppe.de 

c) Right to lodge a complaint

If you believe that the processing of your personal data described in this data protection policy infringes legal regulations, you may lodge a complaint about this, without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, with the responsible supervisory authority, in particular in the member state of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement.

The supervisory authority with responsibility for us is:

State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in North Rhine-Westphalia,
Postbox 20 04 44
40102 Düsseldorf, Germany

Section 19 Changes to the data protection policy

We reserve the right to amend this data protection policy at any time in accordance with applicable data protection regulations. The current document represents the version dated May 2018.