Your data.

Protecting Your Privacy

Welcome to our privacy section. At our company, we place great importance on privacy. That’s why we are committed to protecting your personal data and ensuring that it is handled in a secure and responsible manner.

In this section, you will find information about how we collect, use, and store your personal data. We take great care to comply with all applicable data protection laws and regulations, and we are committed to making our data processing practices transparent. Please take a moment to read through our privacy section to learn more about how we protect your privacy.

Table of Contents

1. Purpose and responsible entity
2. General information on data processing
3. Processing of personal data
4. Collection of access data
5. Cookies & reach measurement
6. Integration of third-party features
7. Newsletter
8. Integration of third-party services and content
9. User rights and deletion
10. Changes to this privacy policy

1. Purpose and Responsible Entity

This privacy policy provides information about the nature, scope, and purpose of the processing (including collection, processing, use, and obtaining consent) of personal data within our online offering and the associated websites, functions, and content (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “online offering” or “website”). This privacy policy applies regardless of the domains, systems, platforms, and devices (e.g., desktop or mobile) used to access the online offering.

The provider of the online offering and the data controller under data protection law is Studio Merkas, Owner: Nikola Merkas, Pischekstraße 19, 70174 Stuttgart (hereinafter referred to as “provider”, “we”, or “us”). For contact options, please refer to our legal notice.

The term “user” includes all customers and visitors of our online offering. The terminology used, such as “user”, is to be understood as gender-neutral.

2. General Information on Data Processing

We process users’ personal data only in compliance with the applicable data protection regulations, in accordance with the principles of data minimization and data avoidance. This means that user data is only processed if there is legal permission, in particular if the data is necessary to provide our contractual services and online services, required by law, or if consent has been given.

We take organizational, contractual, and technical security measures in line with the current state of the art to ensure compliance with data protection laws and to protect the data we process against accidental or intentional manipulation, loss, destruction, or unauthorized access.

If, within the scope of this privacy policy, content, tools, or other means from other providers (hereinafter collectively referred to as “third-party providers”) are used and their stated location is abroad, it must be assumed that data is transferred to the countries where these third-party providers are based. The transfer of data to third countries takes place either on the basis of legal permission, user consent, or specific contractual clauses that ensure the legally required security of the data.

3. Processing of Personal Data

In addition to the uses explicitly mentioned in this privacy policy, personal data is processed for the following purposes based on legal permissions or user consent:

– Provision, execution, maintenance, optimization, and security of our services and user offerings;
– Ensuring effective customer service and technical support.

We only transfer user data to third parties if this is necessary for billing purposes (e.g., to a payment service provider) or for other purposes required to fulfill our contractual obligations to users (e.g., transmitting addresses to suppliers).

When contacting us (via contact form or email), the user’s information is stored for the purpose of processing the request and in case follow-up questions arise.

Personal data is deleted when it is no longer required for its intended purpose and no statutory retention obligations prevent deletion.

4. Collection of Access Data

We collect data on every access to the server on which this service is hosted (so-called server log files). Access data includes the name of the accessed website, file, date and time of access, amount of data transferred, notification of successful retrieval, browser type and version, the user’s operating system, referrer URL (the previously visited page), IP address, and the requesting provider.

We use log data without assigning it to the user or creating user profiles in accordance with legal provisions solely for statistical evaluations for the purpose of operating, securing, and optimizing our online offering. However, we reserve the right to review log data retrospectively if there is justified suspicion of unlawful use based on concrete evidence.

5. Cookies & Reach Measurement

Cookies are information transmitted from our web server or third-party web servers to users’ web browsers and stored there for later retrieval. Users are informed about the use of cookies within the scope of pseudonymous reach measurement in this privacy policy.

It is also possible to view this online offering without cookies. If users do not want cookies to be stored on their device, they are asked to deactivate the corresponding option in their browser’s system settings. Stored cookies can be deleted in the browser’s system settings. Disabling cookies may result in limited functionality of this online offering.

Users can manage many online advertising cookies via the US website www.aboutads.info/choices or the EU website www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/your-ad-choices/.

6. Integration of Third-Party Features

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited. Google Analytics uses cookies that enable analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by cookies about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. We use Google Analytics with IP anonymization enabled, so your IP address is shortened by Google within the EU. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address transmitted to Google in the USA and shortened there. The collected data helps us better understand user behavior and optimize our website.

You can prevent the storage of cookies by adjusting your browser settings or disable data collection by Google using the following browser plugin: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en. Further information can be found in Google’s privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

We do not use any Google re/marketing services.

We do not use any Facebook plugins.

We do not use any Facebook remarketing services.

We do not use the “etracker” analytics service provided by etracker GmbH.

The Jetpack plugin (specifically the “WordPress Stats” feature), which provides statistical analysis of visitor access and is operated by Automattic, Inc., is not used on this website.

We do not use any Twitter buttons.

We do not use any Pinterest (“Pin It”) buttons.

We use the reCAPTCHA function from Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland (“Google”). This function is used to determine whether an input is made by a natural person or abusively by automated processing (bots). The service includes sending the IP address and possibly other data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service to Google and is carried out in accordance with Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR based on our legitimate interest in preventing misuse.

As part of the use of Google reCAPTCHA, personal data may also be transmitted to the servers of Google LLC in the USA. Further information about Google reCAPTCHA and Google’s privacy policy can be found at: www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

7. Newsletter

We currently do not offer newsletters.

8. Integration of Third-Party Services and Content

It may happen that content or services from third-party providers, such as maps or fonts from other websites, are integrated within our online offering. The integration of third-party content always requires that these providers perceive the user’s IP address, as they would not be able to send the content to the user’s browser without it.

The IP address is therefore required for displaying this content. Additionally, third-party providers may set their own cookies and process user data for their own purposes. Usage profiles may be created from the processed data. We aim to use such content in a data-minimizing manner and choose reliable third-party providers with regard to data security.

The following overview provides information about third-party providers and their content, along with links to their privacy policies:

– Google Fonts by Google Inc., www.google.com/fonts. Privacy policy: www.google.com/policies/privacy/
– Google Maps by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Privacy policy: www.google.com/policies/privacy/
– YouTube by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Privacy policy: www.google.com/policies/privacy/

9. User Rights and Deletion

Users have the right to request information free of charge about the personal data we have stored about them. In addition, users have the right to correct inaccurate data, withdraw consent, restrict processing, and delete their personal data, as well as the right to file a complaint with the competent supervisory authority in the event of unlawful data processing.

The data stored by us will be deleted as soon as it is no longer required for its intended purpose and no statutory retention obligations prevent deletion.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy in order to adapt it to changing legal requirements or changes to our services and data processing. However, this only applies to statements regarding data processing. If user consent is required or parts of the privacy policy contain provisions of the contractual relationship with users, changes will only be made with user consent.

Users are asked to regularly inform themselves about the content of the privacy policy.

Respect

We want you to be able to trust that your personal data is safe and secure with us. Whether you are a customer, partner, or simply interested in our services, we handle your data with the utmost care and respect.

You can direct any questions or concerns to us — you will find the appropriate contact point here. We look forward to hearing from you and assisting you in any way we can. Thank you for your trust. We will continue to strive to provide you with excellent service. Respecting your privacy is a fundamental requirement for us.