Privacy Policy

NEW VERSION – May 2018, Version 2.0:

Privacy Policy

Welcome to the Mülheim Water Award website. Please read the following information that will inform you how we treat and protect your personal data.

We will strictly follow the German privacy law regulations as well as the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Since it became effective at the 25.05.2018, we have updated our Privacy Policy accordingly.

We are happy about your interest in Mülheim Water Award and about your visit on our website.
We appreciate your trust in us and promise you to use the highest safety standards to protect your data from unauthorized access.

We also would like to inform you what kind of data we save and how we use it. As a private company we are subject to data protection requirements and the provisions of the German Data Protection Law. We have undertaken technical and organisational measures to meet all their requirements and to ensure that the requirements are also met by external service providers.

All personal data occurring within this framework will be referred to, processed and used for the objective of contract processing and for the business interests of Mülheim Water Award regarding the support of our customers, according to the applicable regulations regarding the protection of personal data.

The personal data you submit on the internet will not be passed on to any unauthorised third party outside of the company. Data logged during access to the internet gateway will only be transferred to third parties if we are obliged to do so by law or by order of a court, or if such a transfer is required for taking legal action. No data will be transferred for any other reason.

If you have provided us with personal data, you can request that we delete your data at any time. Data for invoicing, legal and accounting purposes are excluded from the deletion process.

You are entitled at all times to be informed about the data that has been stored in respect to your person. We have summarized the details according to §4e BDSG in our public directory of procedures.

You may, however, browse our Mülheim Water Award website without submitting any personal data and without registering at the website. In addition, it is possible to browse the website privately, using the privacy function of your browser. With that function you can control what kind of data is saved and which of your activities are visible.

We collect basic information (such as the language you are using or which browser or device you are using to access our websites) to provide better access to you. We would like to inform you that data transfer over the internet (e.g. during the communication by email) may have security holes. A complete data protection against access of third parties is therefore not possible.

The rapid development of the internet means that we might have to amend our privacy policy from time to time. You will be informed about anything new here.

The German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) specifies that the data protection officer must provide the following Information:

1. Name of the company responsible

IWW Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wasserforschung gemeinnützige GmbH

2. Management

Dr. Wolf Merkel (technical managing director)
Lothar Schüller (commercial director)

2.1 Data protection officer

Helmut Pelster
SIC GmbH
Harscheidweg 18a
45472 Mülheim

3. Address of company responsible

Moritzstr. 26
45476 Mülheim an der Ruhr

4. Purpose of use, collection and processing of data

Objects of the company are to provide service in the fields of resource protection, water catchment, water technology, water quality control, -transport and –distribution, as well as management consulting regarding water in accordance with the benefit of the public, the broadening and deepening of professional competence in the fields of sustainable use of water in consideration of the scientific, ethnological, ecologically, economically and social context in accordance with the benefit of the public.

Those are the only purposes for recording, processing and using data.

5. Description of groups of people concerned and the regarding data and data categories

Employee data and customer data as well as data of suppliers, if they are required to fulfil the purposes mentioned at 4.

6. Receivers or categories of receivers that might receive the data

Public authorities in the case of overriding legal provisions according to §11 BDSG.

7. Standard terms for data deletion

The legislators have released a number of obligations and deadlines regarding data storage. Following expiry of these deadlines or the elimination of the purposes listed at 4, the corresponding data will be routinely erased.

8. Planned data transfer to third countries

A data transfer to third countries is not planned and will not happen.

Collection of general data and information

The Mülheim Water Award website is hosted at IWW Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wasserforschung gemeinnützige GmbH and collects a series of general data and information when you or an automated system calls up the website. This general data and information are stored in the server log files. Collected may be (1) the browser types and versions used, (2) the operating system used by the accessing system, (3) the website from which an accessing system reaches our website (so-called referrers), (4) the sub-websites, (5) the date and time of access to the internet site, (6) an internet protocol address (IP address), (7) the internet service provider of the accessing system, and (8) any other similar data and information that may be used in the event of attacks on our information technology systems.

When using these general data and information, the IWW Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wasserforschung gemeinnützige GmbH does not draw any conclusions about you. Rather, this information is needed to (1) deliver the content of our website correctly, (2) optimize the content of our website as well as its advertisement, (3) ensure the long-term viability of our information technology systems and website technology, and (4) provide law enforcement authorities with the information necessary for criminal prosecution in case of a cyber-attack. Therefore, the IWW Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wasserforschung gemeinnützige GmbH analyzes anonymously collected data and information statistically, with the aim of increasing the data protection and data security of our enterprise, and to ensure an optimal level of protection for the personal data we process. The anonymous data of the server log files are stored separately from all personal data provided by you.

Server-Log-Files

The provider who is authorized with the hosting of this websites automatically collects and saves information in so called log-files. These are:

1. Browser and browser version
2. Operating system
3. Referrer URL
4. Hostname of the accessing computer
5. Time and date of visit

These data can’t be connected to a certain person. A combination of these data with other data sources is not carried out. We reserve the right to review the data subsequently if there are concrete indications for illegal activities.

Privacy Statement for Google Fonts

To display external fonts, we use Google webfonts on our website. This is a service of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 USA, in the following only called “Google”.

By certification through the EU-US Privacy Shield
https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active Google guarantees to follow EU data protection guidelines when processing data in the USA. In order to display certain fonts on muelheim-water-award.com, the website connects to the Google servers in the USA. Legal basis for this is Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. f) DSGVO.

Our legitimate interest lies in the optimization and the economical operation of our website. By connecting with the Google servers, Google will receive the information from which website you send your request and to which IP-address to transmit the display of the fonts.

Google offers further information about this and the opportunity to prevent data use under the following link: https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Cookies

The Mülheim Water Award website uses cookies. They don’t contain any viruses or do any damage to your computer. Their purpose is to make our website more service-orientated, effective and safer. Cookies are text files that are stored in a computer system via an internet browser.
Most Cookies are ‘session cookies’ that are automatically being deleted when you leave our website again. Other cookies stay on your computer or device and allow us to recognize you when you visit our website again.
You may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies through our website by means of a corresponding setting of the internet browser used, and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via an internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular internet browsers. If you deactivate the setting of cookies in the internet browser used, not all functions of our website may be entirely usable though.

Information and deletion of data

We shall at any time provide information upon your request as to what personal data are stored about you. In addition, we shall correct or erase personal data at the request or indication of you, insofar as there are no statutory storage obligations. The entirety of the IWW’s employees are available to you in this respect as contact persons.

APPLICATION FORM

During the prequalification phase we offer an online application form, where interested parties can apply and introduce their project shortly. This contact form offers a quick contact with us and an easy opportunity for a direct communication. If you contact us by the application contact form, the personal data transmitted by you voluntarily (all data you enter into the form as well as the description of your project) is automatically stored for the purpose of processing or contacting you. There is no transfer of this personal data to third parties.

We shall process and store the personal data of you only for the period necessary to achieve the purpose of storage, or as far as this is granted by the European legislator or other legislators in laws or regulations to which we are subject to. If the storage purpose is not applicable, or if a storage period prescribed by the European legislator or another competent legislator expires, the personal data are routinely blocked or erased in accordance with legal requirements.

Data protection provisions about the application and use of Matomo

On this website, we have integrated the Matomo component. Matomo is an open-source software tool for web analysis. Web analysis is the collection, gathering and evaluation of data on the behavior of visitors from internet sites. A web analysis tool collects, inter alia, data on the website from which you came to a website (so-called referrer), which pages of the website were accessed or how often and for which period of time a sub-page was viewed. A web analysis is mainly used for the optimization of a website and the cost-benefit analysis of internet advertising.
The software is operated on our server, the data protection-sensitive log files are stored exclusively on this server.
The purpose of the Matomo component is the analysis of the visitor flows on our website. We use the obtained data and information, inter alia, to evaluate the use of this website in order to compile online reports, which show the activities on our internet pages.

Matomo sets a cookie on the information technology system of you. The definition of cookies is explained above. With the setting of the cookie, an analysis of the use of our website is enabled. With each call-up to one of the individual pages of this website, the internet browser on the information technology system of you is automatically through the Matomo component prompted to submit data for the purpose of online analysis to our server. During the course of this technical procedure, we obtain knowledge about personal information, such as the IP address of you, which serves to understand the origin of visitors and clicks.

The cookie is used to store personal information, such as the access time, the location from which access was made, and the frequency of visits to our website. With each visit of our internet pages, these personal data, including the IP address of the internet access used by you, are transferred to our server. These personal data will be stored by us. We do not forward this personal data to third parties.
You may, as stated above, prevent the setting of cookies through our website at any time by means of a corresponding adjustment of the web browser used and thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Such an adjustment to the used internet browser would also prevent Matomo from setting a cookie on the information technology system of you. In addition, cookies already in use by Matomo may be deleted at any time via a web browser or other software programs.
In addition, you have the possibility of objecting to a collection of data relating to a use of this internet site that are generated by Matomo as well as the processing of these data by Matomo and the chance to preclude any such. For this, you must set a “Do Not Track” option in the browser.

With each setting of the opt-out cookie, however, there is the possibility that our websites are no longer fully usable for you.

Further information and the applicable data protection provisions of Matomo may be retrieved under https://matomo.org/privacy/.

This websites uses SSL encryption for safety reasons and to protect the transmission of data, e.g. the requests you send us. You recognize the SSL encryption when the address of the website changes from to „http://“ to „https://“ and at the small lock symbol in your browser.
When the SSL encryption is active, third parties can’t read the data you submit to us.

Data protection provisions about the application and use of Facebook

On this website, we have integrated components of the enterprise Facebook. Facebook is a social network.
A social network is a place for social meetings on the internet, an online community, which usually allows users to communicate with each other and interact in a virtual space. A social network may serve as a platform for the exchange of opinions and experiences, or enable the internet community to provide personal or business-related information. Facebook allows social network users to include the creation of private profiles, upload photos, and network through friend requests.

The operating company of Facebook is Facebook, Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, United States. If a person lives outside of the United States or Canada, the controller is the Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland.
With each call-up to one of the individual pages of this internet website, which is operated by us and into which a Facebook component (Facebook plug-ins) was integrated, the web browser on the information technology system of you is automatically prompted to download display of the corresponding Facebook component from Facebook through the Facebook component. An overview of all the Facebook Plug-ins may be accessed under https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/. During the course of this technical procedure, Facebook is made aware of what specific sub-site of our website was visited by you.

If you are logged in at the same time on Facebook, Facebook detects with every call-up to our website by you—and for the entire duration of their stay on our internet site—which specific sub-site of our internet page was visited by you. This information is collected through the Facebook component and associated with the respective Facebook account of you. If you click on one of the Facebook buttons integrated into our website, e.g. the „Like“ button, or if you submit a comment, then Facebook matches this information with your personal Facebook user account and stores the personal data.
Facebook always receives, through the Facebook component, information about a visit to our website by you, whenever you are logged in at the same time on Facebook during the time of the call-up to our website. This occurs regardless of whether you click on the Facebook component or not. If such a transmission of information to Facebook is not desirable for you, then you may prevent this by logging off from your Facebook account before a call-up to our website is made.
The data protection guideline published by Facebook, which is available at https://facebook.com/about/privacy/, provides information about the collection, processing and use of personal data by Facebook. In addition, it is explained there what setting options Facebook offers to protect the privacy of you. In addition, different configuration options are made available to allow the elimination of data transmission to Facebook. These applications may be used by you to eliminate a data transmission to Facebook.
We have no information about or take any responsibility for what is happening with your data at Facebook.

Data protection provisions about the application and use of LinkedIn

We have integrated components of the LinkedIn Corporation on this website. LinkedIn is a web-based social network that enables users with existing business contacts to connect and to make new business contacts. Over 400 million registered people in more than 200 countries use LinkedIn. Thus, LinkedIn is currently the largest platform for business contacts and one of the most visited websites in the world.
The operating company of LinkedIn is LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court Mountain View, CA 94043, UNITED STATES. For privacy matters outside of the UNITED STATES LinkedIn Ireland, Privacy Policy Issues, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland, is responsible.

With each call-up to one of the individual pages of this internet site, which is operated by us and on which a LinkedIn component (LinkedIn plug-in) was integrated, the internet browser on the information technology system of you is automatically prompted to the download of a display of the corresponding LinkedIn component of LinkedIn. Further information about the LinkedIn plug-in may be accessed under https://developer.linkedin.com/plugins.
During the course of this technical procedure, LinkedIn gains knowledge of what specific sub-page of our website was visited by you.

If you are logged in at the same time on LinkedIn, LinkedIn detects with every call-up to our website by you—and for the entire duration of their stay on our internet site—which specific sub-page of our internet page was visited by you. This information is collected through the LinkedIn component and associated with the respective LinkedIn account of you. If you click on one of the LinkedIn buttons integrated on our website, then LinkedIn assigns this information to the personal LinkedIn user account of you and stores the personal data.
LinkedIn receives information via the LinkedIn component that you have visited our website, provided that you are logged in at LinkedIn at the time of the call-up to our website. This occurs regardless of whether you click on the LinkedIn button or not. If such a transmission of information to LinkedIn is not desirable for you, then you may prevent this by logging off from your LinkedIn account before a call-up to our website is made.
LinkedIn provides under https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls the possibility to unsubscribe from e-mail messages, SMS messages and targeted ads, as well as the ability to manage ad settings. LinkedIn also uses affiliates such as Eire, Google Analytics, BlueKai, DoubleClick, Nielsen, Comscore, Eloqua, and Lotame. The setting of such cookies may be denied under https://www.linkedin.com/legal/cookie-policy. The applicable privacy policy for LinkedIn is available under https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy.
We have no information about or take any responsibility for what is happening with your data at LinkedIn.

Data protection provisions about the application and use of Xing

On this website, we have integrated components of XING. XING is an internet-based social network that enables users to connect with existing business contacts and to create new business contacts. The individual users can create a personal profile of themselves at XING. Companies may, e.g. create company profiles or publish jobs on XING. The operating company of XING is XING SE, Dammtorstraße 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany.
With each call-up to one of the individual pages of this internet site, which is operated by us and on which a XING component (XING plug-in) was integrated, the internet browser on the information technology system of you is automatically prompted to download a display of the corresponding XING component of XING. Further information about the XING plug-in may be accessed under https://dev.xing.com/plugins. During the course of this technical procedure, XING gains knowledge of what specific sub-page of our website was visited by you.
If you are logged in at the same time on XING, XING detects with every call-up to our website by you—and for the entire duration of your stay on our internet site—which specific sub-page of our internet page was visited by you. This information is collected through the XING component and associated with the respective XING account of you. If you click on the XING button integrated on our internet site, e.g. the “Share”-button, then XING assigns this information to your personal XING user account and stores the personal data.
XING receives information via the XING component that you have visited our website, provided that you are logged in at XING at the time of the call to our website. This occurs regardless of whether you click on the XING component or not. If such a transmission of information to XING is not desirable for you, then you can prevent this by logging off from your XING account before a call-up to our website is made.
The data protection provisions published by XING, which are available under https://www.xing.com/privacy, provide information on the collection, processing and use of personal data by XING. In addition, XING has published privacy notices for the XING share button under https://www.xing.com/app/share?op=data_protection.
We have no information about or take any responsibility for what is happening with your data at Xing.

The old version from June 2017 (Version 1.0) has been replaced with this one.