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    • Privacy Policy

    1) Introduction and contact details of the controller

    1.1 We are pleased that you are visiting our website and thank you for your interest. Below, we inform you about how we handle your personal data when you use our website. Personal data is any data by which you could be personally identified.

    1.2 The controller responsible for data processing on this website within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is Ernst Westphal e.K.
    Owner: Thomas Krim, Vinzenzweg 5a, 21077 Hamburg, Germany, Tel.: +49 40-284 119 360, Fax: +49 40-284 119 370, Email: info@ernst-westphal.de. The controller for the processing of personal data is the natural or legal person who, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.

    2) Data collection when visiting our website

    2.1 In the case of merely informational use of our website, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise provide us with information, we only collect the data that your browser transmits to our server (so-called “server log files”). When you access our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display the website to you:

    • The website visited
    • Date and time of access
    • Amount of data sent in bytes
    • Source/reference from which you came to the page
    • Browser used
    • Operating system used
    • IP address used (if applicable: in anonymised form)

    Processing takes place in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR on the basis of our legitimate interest in improving the stability and functionality of our website. The data is not passed on or otherwise used. We reserve the right to subsequently check the server log files if there are concrete indications of unlawful use.

    2.2 For security reasons and to protect the transmission of personal data and other confidential content (e.g. orders or enquiries to the controller), this website uses SSL or TLS encryption. You can recognise an encrypted connection by the string “https://” and the padlock symbol in your browser bar.

    3) Hosting & Content Delivery Network

    For hosting our website and displaying its content, we use a provider that delivers its services, either itself or through selected sub-contractors, exclusively on servers within the European Union.
    All data collected on our website is processed on these servers.
    We have concluded a data processing agreement with the provider that ensures the protection of our website visitors’ data and prohibits unauthorised disclosure to third parties.

    4) Cookies

    To make visiting our website attractive and to enable the use of certain functions, we use cookies, i.e. small text files that are stored on your device. Some of these cookies are automatically deleted after you close your browser (so-called “session cookies”), while others remain on your device for longer and enable page settings to be saved (so-called “persistent cookies”). In the latter case, you can find the storage period in the cookie settings overview of your web browser.

    If personal data is also processed by individual cookies we use, this processing takes place either in accordance with Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR for the performance of a contract, in accordance with Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR where consent has been given, or in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR to safeguard our legitimate interests in the best possible functionality of the website as well as a customer-friendly and effective design of the site visit.

    You can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and decide individually on their acceptance, or exclude the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or in general.
    Please note that if you do not accept cookies, the functionality of our website may be limited.

    5) Contacting us

    When you contact us (e.g. via contact form or email), personal data is collected. Which data is collected in the case of using a contact form can be seen from the respective contact form. This data is stored and used exclusively for the purpose of responding to your enquiry or for contacting you and the associated technical administration.

    The legal basis for processing this data is our legitimate interest in responding to your enquiry in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. If your contact is aimed at concluding a contract, the additional legal basis for processing is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. Your data will be deleted once your enquiry has been finally dealt with. This is the case when it can be inferred from the circumstances that the matter in question has been conclusively clarified, and provided there are no statutory retention obligations to the contrary.

    6) Website functionalities

    Google Web Fonts

    This site uses so-called web fonts for the uniform display of fonts, provided by: Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland

    When you access a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into its browser cache in order to display texts and fonts correctly, and establishes a direct connection to the provider’s servers. In doing so, certain browser information, including your IP address, is transmitted to the provider.

    Data may also be transmitted to: Google LLC, USA

    Processing of personal data in connection with establishing a connection to the font provider only takes place if you have given us your express consent in accordance with Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future by deactivating this service via the “cookie consent tool” provided on the website. If your browser does not support web fonts, a standard font from your computer will be used.

    For data transfers to the USA, the provider has joined the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which ensures compliance with the European level of data protection on the basis of an adequacy decision by the European Commission.

    Further information on Google’s privacy policy can be found here: https://business.safety.google/intl/de/privacy/

    7) Tools and other services

    Cookie consent tool

    This website uses a so-called “cookie consent tool” to obtain effective user consent for cookies and cookie-based applications that require consent. The “cookie consent tool” is displayed to users when the page is accessed, in the form of an interactive user interface on which consent for certain cookies and/or cookie-based applications can be given by ticking a box. The use of this tool ensures that all cookies/services requiring consent are only loaded if the respective user has given their consent by ticking the relevant box. This ensures that such cookies are only set on the user’s respective device if consent has been given.

    The tool sets technically necessary cookies to save your cookie preferences. As a general rule, no personal user data is processed in doing so.

    If, in individual cases, personal data (such as the IP address) is nevertheless processed for the purpose of storing, assigning or logging cookie settings, this takes place in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR on the basis of our legitimate interest in legally compliant, user-specific and user-friendly consent management for cookies, and thus in a legally compliant design of our website.

    A further legal basis for processing is also Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR. As the controller, we are subject to the legal obligation to make the use of technically unnecessary cookies dependent on the respective user’s consent.

    Where necessary, we have concluded a data processing agreement with the provider that ensures the protection of our website visitors’ data and prohibits unauthorised disclosure to third parties.

    Further information about the operator and the setting options of the cookie consent tool can be found directly in the corresponding user interface on our website.

    8) Rights of the data subject

    8.1 Applicable data protection law grants you the following rights as a data subject (rights of access and intervention) with respect to the controller regarding the processing of your personal data, with reference made to the relevant legal basis for the respective conditions of exercise:

    • Right of access pursuant to Art. 15 GDPR;
    • Right to rectification pursuant to Art. 16 GDPR;
    • Right to erasure pursuant to Art. 17 GDPR;
    • Right to restriction of processing pursuant to Art. 18 GDPR;
    • Right to notification pursuant to Art. 19 GDPR;
    • Right to data portability pursuant to Art. 20 GDPR;
    • Right to withdraw consent given pursuant to Art. 7(3) GDPR;
    • Right to lodge a complaint pursuant to Art. 77 GDPR.

    8.2 RIGHT TO OBJECT

    IF, AS PART OF A BALANCING OF INTERESTS, WE PROCESS YOUR PERSONAL DATA ON THE BASIS OF OUR OVERRIDING LEGITIMATE INTEREST, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT AT ANY TIME, FOR REASONS ARISING FROM YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, TO OBJECT TO THIS PROCESSING WITH EFFECT FOR THE FUTURE.

    IF YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO OBJECT, WE WILL CEASE PROCESSING THE DATA CONCERNED. HOWEVER, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CONTINUE PROCESSING IF WE CAN DEMONSTRATE COMPELLING LEGITIMATE GROUNDS FOR THE PROCESSING WHICH OVERRIDE YOUR INTERESTS, RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS, OR IF THE PROCESSING SERVES THE ASSERTION, EXERCISE OR DEFENCE OF LEGAL CLAIMS.

    IF YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS PROCESSED BY US FOR THE PURPOSE OF 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. YOU CAN EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO OBJECT AS DESCRIBED ABOVE.

    IF YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO OBJECT, WE WILL CEASE PROCESSING THE DATA CONCERNED FOR DIRECT MARKETING PURPOSES.

    9) Duration of storage of personal data

    The duration of storage of personal data is determined by the respective legal basis, the purpose of processing and, where applicable, the respective statutory retention period (e.g. retention periods under commercial and tax law).

    When personal data is processed on the basis of express consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, the data concerned is stored until you withdraw your consent.

    Where statutory retention periods exist for data processed within the framework of contractual or quasi-contractual obligations on the basis of Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, this data is routinely deleted after the retention periods expire, unless it is still required for the performance of the contract or the initiation of a contract, and/or we no longer have a legitimate interest in continued storage.

    When personal data is processed on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, this data is stored until you exercise your right to object pursuant to Art. 21(1) GDPR, unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims.

    When personal data is processed for the purpose of direct marketing on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, this data is stored until you exercise your right to object pursuant to Art. 21(2) GDPR.

    Unless otherwise stated in the other information in this policy about specific processing situations, stored personal data will otherwise be deleted once it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed.

    Copyright notice: This privacy policy was created by the specialist lawyers of IT-Recht Kanzlei and is protected by copyright (https://www.it-recht-kanzlei.de). English translation provided for informational purposes; the German original remains the legally authoritative version.

    Last updated: 01.09.2025, 15:46:01 (CET)