Privacy Policy of Engel & Völkers GmbH

This Privacy Policy for the use of the website www.engelvoelkers.com (hereinafter referred to as "Website") is valid as of 25 May 2018.

Engel & Völkers GmbH, Vancouverstraße 2, 20457 Hamburg, Germany, in its capacity of data controller (hereinafter also referred to as "Engel & Völkers'), informs users that personal data is processed when this Website is used, in particular the following:

•         personal data (e.g. email address, first name, last name, title, address, telephone number - hereinafter referred to as "data" or "personal data") that is made available by users in case of registration on the Website (e.g. in the context of contact requests and newsletter mailings);

•         personal data transmitted by the user’s internet browser each time the Website is accessed, which is stored in the form of log files, also known as server log files. This data includes: Internet Protocol (IP) address of the accessing computer; the name of the accessed page; the date and time of access; referring URL from which the user accesses the page; the amount of transferred data; status message for successful access; session ID number.

Purposes of the processing

Engel & Völkers as the data controller processes the personal data of the user of the Website for the following purposes:

•         the fulfillment of user requests (legal basis is the fulfilment of the contract, as well as the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to relay contact requests within the Engel & Völkers Group to the relevant companies. The “Engel & Völkers Group" in the above sense refers to Engel & Völkers GmbH and its domestic and foreign subsidiaries within the meaning of Section 15 et seq. German Stock Corporation Act, as well as the (master) licence partners connected with this group of companies. A current overview of these licence partners can be found here:

https://www.engelvoelkers.com/company/locations-offices-map-overview/;

 •        to enable the registration of users on the Website (legal basis is the fulfilment of the contract as well as the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to identify their contracting partners):

 •        the provision of the services available on the Website (e.g. management of the registration process and access to the account, etc. (legal basis is the fulfilment of the contract as well as the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to enable third parties to offer their services on the Website);

●            the sending of an email newsletter to promote its services, as well as own and third party advertising to the extent permitted by law or consent-based (legal basis is the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers in direct marketing, as long as the marketing is carried out in accordance with data protection and competition law requirements);

●            analysis of the Website for the determination of usage behaviour (legal basis is the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to analyse usage behaviour on the Website in order to continuously improve this service or to be able to adapt to the interests of our users.);

●            integration of social media plug-ins (legal basis is the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to fulfil the request of users with enabled social media plug-in to share their information with the corresponding social network.);

●            the identification and, if necessary, the blocking of users who have installed a so-called adblocker to block advertising (legal basis is the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to provide users who do not block advertising with offers that are wholly or partly financed by advertising.);

•         the technical administration of the Website and its operational functions, including the solving of technical problems, statistical analysis, testing and research (legal basis is the fulfilment of the contract, as well as the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers in a technically flawless and continuously optimized operation of the Website for the best possible customer experience);

•         to prevent fraudulent or unlawful activities on the Website or in connection with the site and comply with the requirements of the law (legal basis is the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to eliminate faults, ensure system security and detect illegal access attempts or access.)

The legal basis for the processing of personal data is Art. 6 I lit. a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), provided that the processing is based on consent, Art. 6 I lit. b GDPR, provided that the processing is based on the contractual relationship, and Art. 6 I lit. f GDPR, provided that the processing is based on the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers. 

In the context of the Website, services of companies affiliated with the Engel & Völkers Group are offered. This includes, for example, the property search, a so-called online marketplace, in which members of the global Engel & Völkers Group (also referred to as "Providers") offer real estate for brokerage purposes. The user has the possibility to directly contact the respective Providers arising from the Website without the need for a storage of the contact data by Engel & Völkers. The global Engel & Völkers Group comprises Engel & Völkers GmbH and its domestic and foreign subsidiaries within the meaning of Section 15 et seq. German Stock Corporation Act and (master) licence partners (hereinafter also referred to as "Engel & Völkers Group"). An overview of the current licence partners can be found here: https://www.engelvoelkers.com/company/locations-offices-map-overview/. The contact information that is shared for this purpose: first name, last name, email address (as required field), as well as phone numbers, street, house number, postal code (if specified by the user). If you use these services and supply personal data about yourself or give permission for data storage, the use of your data is subject to the data protection rules of the Provider.

Nature of providing personal information and the consequences of a refusal

The provision of personal data by the user is voluntary. You are free to decide whether or not to provide personal data to Engel & Völkers, and you can subsequently revoke previously provided consent to the processing of personal data. Revoking your consent could lead to you not being able to use the Website of Engel & Völkers.

Processing modalities

The processing of the personal data of the user occurs only when needed and is carried out exclusively in electronic form, in particular by: collection, registration, organization, storage, consultation, processing, modification, selection, extraction, comparison, use, interconnection, access and communication, blocking, deletion or destruction of data. The processing operations can be carried out electronically and non-electronically.

Access to data

The personal data is processed by Engel & Völkers, in particular by:

 •        employees and consultants who are authorised to administer the Website and provide the associated services (e.g. customer service, IT department, etc.);

•         employees and consultants in the areas of marketing, finance, administration and accounting and other relevant departments of Engel & Völkers;

•         third-party companies (e.g. IT service providers, hosting providers, etc.) to which Engel & Völkers has outsourced services with processing activities in the framework of order processing.

•         Providers offering real estate in the framework of the real estate search to which the user sends a contact request.

Communication of data

As data controller, we can supply information about your personal data. However, this information is only shared for the following purposes:

 •        for the fulfilment of legal obligations and obligations arising from regulations and directives of national or European legislation;

 •         for legal defence purposes in a court of law in the case of a legal dispute.

Transfer of data

If you are using the services of member companies of the Engel & Völkers Group on the Website and establish contact with them, Engel & Völkers will share the personal data you have provided in this case with the respective company from the Engel & Völkers Group you wish to contact once your consent has been obtained or on the basis of legitimate interest.

Since Engel & Völkers cannot verify the use of your data by the respective company from the Engel & Völkers Group, you should inform yourself about their handling of your data before using their services.

Engel & Völkers will not share your personal data in any other way.

Data transfer to non-EEA countries

Engel & Völkers does not transfer personal data to non-EEA countries without your consent.

The servers used by Engel & Völkers are located within the European Union.

If your inquiry relates to member companies of the Engel & Völkers Group outside of the European Union, we will pass on your data after your consent has been obtained.

Storage and deletion of data

Engel & Völkers stores personal data for the time necessary to achieve the purposes for which the data is collected and processed, including any retention period required under the applicable legislation (e.g. retention of accounting documentation) and, in any case, for a maximum of 24 months from the collection of the personal data.

Use of cookies

In order to improve the surfing experience on the Website, Engel & Völkers uses so-called cookies. Cookies are small text files, generally made up of letters and numbers, that are saved by the users’ web browser on their PC and contain pseudo-anonymized data. Cookies permit a website to recognize the users’ computer, to trace their browsing through several pages of a website and to identify those users who return to a website. There are cookies for technical, analytical and profiling purposes.

Here is a summary of the direct and indirect cookies used by Engel & Völkers.

The Website uses the following technical cookies:

To store the language selection _icl_visitor_lang_js, _icl_current_language, evlocale; To store the selection of units of measure engelundvoelkersconfig;To store the last search queries LAST_SEARCH;To store the ID of the watchlist watchlist_id; To save the test assignment as part of AB tests user_ab;To store allocation to distributed systems in load balancers BIGipServergroup-rz-webfe-prod.

Engel & Völkers informs users that they can deactivate or remove cookies in their web browser following the instructions given at the following links:

•         Internet Explorer (https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies).

 •        Mozilla Firefox (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/delete-cookies-remove-info-websites-stored).

 •        Safari (https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19214?viewlocale=en_US&locale=de_DE).

The Website also uses analytical cookies set by third-party providers, for example by Google (see also provisions regarding the use of analysis programs and tracking tools) and Adroll (https://www.adroll.com/de-DE/about/privacy) as well as Haufe (https://de.onlinehelp.umantis.com/index.php/Cookies).

These are as follows:

a) Google Analytics

Engel & Völkers uses the web analytics service Google Analytics by Google Inc. ("Google") in order to analyse the use of the web pages. The information generated by the cookies about the use of the web pages is generally sent to a Google server in the USA and stored there. Engel & Völkers uses Google Analytics solely with the extension “ga (‘set’, ‘anonymizeIp’, true)”, ensuring that IP addresses are only processed as a shortened version, in order to exclude any direct reference to individuals. Google may share data with third parties, provided that this is required by law or third parties process data on behalf of Google. Google will not associate the IP address of the user with any other Google data. Users can prevent the recording and storing of data by Google Analytics at any time by installing a browser plugin released by Google which can be downloaded at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

b) Universal Analytics

Engel & Völkers uses the Universal Analytics functions provided by Google. With these functions, Engel & Völkers can record and analyse socio-demographic data about users with the help of a Google ID (if available) and cookies generated by Google from advertising content (DoubleClick). If a Google ID is available, the data controller will also record this data across all devices (e.g. if users use a smartphone and a PC), in order to analyse visitor streams across all devices. Users can prevent the recording and saving of data by Google at any time by installing a browser plugin released by Google which can be downloaded under the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

c) Google remarketing and retargeting

Engel & Völkers uses the Google Analytics advertising functions, which allow users who have already visited the Website and have shown an interest in particular offers to be re-addressed by targeted advertising on the pages of Google partner networks. Advertising is displayed through the use of cookies, which are used to analyse the user behaviour during a visit to the Website and can then be utilized for targeted product recommendations and advertising based on users’ areas of interest. Users can prevent Google remarketing and deactivate the use of cookies by Google for these purposes by accessing the deactivation page for DoubleClick. Alternatively, users can deactivate the use of cookies by third parties by accessing the deactivation page of the Network Advertising Initiative. Google also offers users the option of managing their own cookies for advertising parameters: https://www.google.de/intl/en/policies/technologies/ads/.

d) Facebook remarketing and retargeting

Engel & Völkers uses remarketing technology for advertising on Facebook. With this technology, users who have already visited the Website and have shown interest in an offer will be re-addressed by targeted advertising on Facebook in the form of displayed advertisements. The advertising is implemented through the use of cookies by the service provider AdRoll (AdRoll EMEA, Level 6; 1, Burlington Plaza Burlington Road; Dublin 4, Ireland). Users can prevent the targeted advertising via the Facebook remarketing technology by deactivating the use of cookies by third parties on the deactivation page of the Facebook Advertising Initiative under the following link: http://optout.networkadvertising.org/.

Social media plug-ins

This Website uses social media plug-ins from the main social networks (e.g. Facebook and Twitter). When you visit the website the browsing data can be transmitted directly to the respective social networks, even without direct user interaction. Users acknowledge and agree that the operation of social network plug-ins is managed directly by the company providing the respective plug-in. When users use the plug-ins available through the Website (e.g. log in with their access credentials to a social network, or link their accounts, click on the Facebook “Like” or “Share” button), the users’ browser establishes a direct connection with the server of that social network, which sends the contents of the plug-in directly to the users’ browser.

Engel & Völkers may therefore receive data relating to users in accordance with the social network’s terms of use and privacy policy and may add data to users’ personal data already collected through its own services. If the user opts to share information with social networks, the user will also automatically share this data with Engel & Völkers. To prevent social networks from collecting personal user information, please check the relevant terms and conditions on the social network website.

In particular, the website uses:

a) Facebook

This Website uses Facebook social plug-ins operated by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (“Facebook”). If users access the website of Engel & Völkers via Facebook or vice versa, the user’s browser will establish a direct link to Facebook servers. If the user is logged in to Facebook, Facebook can associate the user’s visit with the user’s Facebook account. If the user interacts with the plug-ins, e.g. by clicking the “Like” button or posting a comment, the respective information is transmitted directly from the user’s browser to Facebook and stored there. The purpose and scope of the processing of data by Facebook, as well as the respective user rights and settings options for the protection of privacy, can be found in the Facebook Privacy Policy (https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/).

b) Google “+1”

This Website uses the “+1″ interface of the social network Google Plus, which is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States (“Google”). If the user presses the “+1″ button, the user’s browser will establish a direct connection to Google servers. The content of the “+1″ interface is transmitted directly from Google to the user’s browser and integrated into the website from here. The purpose and scope of the processing of data by Google, as well as the respective user rights and settings options for the protection of privacy, can be found in the “+1″ Privacy Policy (https://developers.google.com/+/web/buttons-policy).

c) Twitter

This Website uses the functions of the short messaging service Twitter, which is provided by Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. By using the Twitter functions, the websites visited by the user will be linked to the user’s Twitter account and made known to other users. During this process, data is also transmitted to Twitter. Engel & Völkers does not have any knowledge about the type, content and scope of the data transferred. The users themselves can alter their data protection settings on Twitter in their account settings. For further information, please refer to Twitter’s privacy policy. In order to prevent the providers of the respective social media plug-ins from collecting information about users, users can sign out of the social media network once they start visiting the Website and delete any cookies that might exist from their browser.

Data subject rights

You are entitled to information about the processing of your personal data (e.g. the origin of this data, the processing purpose, the data processing modalities). Under certain circumstances, you are also entitled to object to future data processing, restrict the processing of your data or demand data deletion. Finally, you can at any time opt out of receiving unsolicited advertising material and commercial communications or being contacted for market research purposes.

To summarize, you have a right to

 - access information

 - rectification

 - deletion (or “to be forgotten”)

 - restrict processing

 - data portability

 - object against the processing of your personal data

- lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority

Please note that your right to deletion is subject to legal restrictions. For example, we are not permitted to delete data that is subject to statutory retention periods. Data we need for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims is also excluded from your right to deletion.

In order to exercise the above rights and request information, users can contact us at the email address: info@engelvoelkers.com or at the postal address: Engel & Völkers GmbH, Vancouverstraße 2, 20457 Hamburg, Germany. In the same way, users can at any time revoke their consent to the processing of their data or request rectification or deletion of their data.

Contacts

Data controller: Engel & Völkers GmbH, with headquarters in Vancouverstraße 2, 20457 Hamburg, Germany. Should you have any questions regarding our external processors, we will be happy to provide you with an up-to-date list on request.

If you have any questions concerning this Privacy Policy and data protection, please contact the external data protection officer of Engel & Völkers:

Dr. Stefanie Wegener

Mittelweg 1020148 Hamburg, Germany

Swegener@wegener-ra.de

If you have a complaint about the way we process your data, you have the possibility to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. For this purpose, please contact:

Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg

Der Hamburgische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Prof. Dr. Johannes Caspar

Klosterwall 6 (Block C), 20095 Hamburg

mailbox@datenschutz.hamburg.de