Data privacy statement

Your data will be processed in the name and on behalf of

ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V.
Charlottenplatz 17
70173 Stuttgart

Controller and Secretary General: Gitte Zschoch

You can contact our data protection officer at the address above or via e-mail at datenschutzbeauftragter(at)ifa.de

Your browser automatically transmits data to our web server for technical reasons when you access the ifa website. This data includes the date and time you accessed our site, the URL of the referring website, any retrieved files, the volume of data sent, the browser type and version, the operating system and your IP address. This data is stored separately from any other data you enter while using our website. It does not make or contain reference to your identity as a person. This data is logged in order to ensure system integrity, analyzed anonymously for statistical purposes and then deleted.

Personal data is also collected and processed any time you decide to provide it to us on our websites. You may provide your data to us via any of the following:

• When you sign up for our newsletter
• When you fill out our contact/registration/application/application forms
• When you fill out our press mailing list form

Which personal data you provide to us will depend on which contact form you fill out.

The personal data you enter is collected and stored for the following internal purposes:

• Providing services on our website
• Sending out our newsletter
• Processing enquiries/requests/applications received via the contact/enquiry forms provided, including any communication with you that is necessary for these purposes (by telephone, letter, email, digital tools, etc.)
• Storing in our systems to the extent necessary
• Passing on your application data to third parties (e.g. German Federal Foreign Office and its embassies, state agencies and host organizations, ICRRA Steering Committee) if this is necessary for the process and you have given your consent where required
• Adding you to our press mailing list, which is used to send out press releases and invitations
• Sending out information and invitations to future ifa events

We have the right to transfer your data to one or more processors, including service providers and companies affiliated with us, who will exclusively use your personal data for the internal purposes necessary to provide us with services.

We will not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling.

You are required to enter your email address when signing up to our newsletter. Your email address will be used to send you the newsletter. Our newsletters mainly contain information on ifa events and projects.

We will store your email address for as long as you are signed up to our newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time by sending a message to newsletter(at)ifa.de. By unsubscribing, you object to the use of your email address. We will immediately delete your email address upon receiving your message. Your subscription to our newsletter is logged by our website.

Your subscription and declaration of consent are subject to a double-opt-in. In other words, once you have subscribed to our newsletter you will receive an email verification that you can then confirm by responding to the email.  Please note that our newsletter is only sent to people who have confirmed their subscriptions. Unconfirmed subscriptions are deleted after two weeks.

By subscribing to our newsletter, you consent to the following use of your data:

Our newsletter is sent out through Episerver Campaign, an email marketing software provided by Episerver GmbH, Wallstraße 16, 10179 Berlin, Germany, to which we transfer the data you provide when you sign up for our newsletter. Episerver uses this information to send out the newsletter and analyze newsletter statics as commissioned by us.

Episerver does not use the data provided by recipients of our newsletter to contact them and does not pass on this information to third parties. You can find additional information at https://www.episerver.de/produkte/plattform/episerver-campaign/sicherheit/.

We use Episerver's services to evaluate the analytics of our newsletter campaign. When you open an email sent by Episerver, a file contained in the email (called a web beacon) connects to the servers at Episerver. This enables us to determine whether you have opened the newsletter notification, and which links you clicked on, if any. Technical information is also collected (such as time of access, IP address, browser type and operating system). This information is not associated with the specific recipient of the newsletter.  It only serves to help us conduct a statistical analysis of our newsletter campaign. We use the results of this analysis to more effectively tailor our newsletter to the interests of our readers.

The fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory as we need this data to process your application.

We also require your consent to data processing for use in activities related to the funding programme, such as:

• Processing the request
• Transmitting offers of assistance
• Onward transmission to participating organizations, to the extent necessary
• Sending invitations and event notices  
• Sending relevant information on the funding programme

Actively enabling applicants to network with each other.

As part of its remit, ifa organizes or co-organizes numerous events.

When we invite you to an event or you attend an event, we process your personal data as necessary for this purpose (name, email address, address, etc.). Your data can be collected through a variety of channels, for example, by filling out a form, a web form, by email, by telephone or by handing out a business card.

The personal data that you provide depends on the specific contact form, input screen or the information requested in a conversation.

If you are invited to an event and other people accompany you, their data will also be collected and processed. These persons, as well as all other persons affected by the data processing, are entitled to the data subject rights set out in section 9. Therefore, please also inform anyone who accompanies you to an event about this data privacy statement and their associated rights.

Your personal data will not be passed on to third parties without your consent but will be stored and processed for our internal use and for the purpose of organizing and handling events (such as creating guest lists, controlling access, realisation of video conferences, and so on). We have the right to transfer your data to one or more processors, including service providers and companies affiliated with us, who will exclusively use your personal data for internal purposes necessary to provide us with services.

Depending on the type of event, we may work alongside another party as co-organizers. In this case, the data collected for the purposes of the event purposes will be passed on to our co-organizers, who may also use the data exclusively for the purpose of the proper handling of the event. The names of our co-organizers will be communicated separately as part of the organization of each event.

The data will only be stored for as long as is necessary for the organization and handling of the events and for the execution of PR tasks.

As a recipient of correspondence and invitations, you can object to receiving further correspondence and invitations at any time.

As part of ifa’s press and PR work (website, social media, newsletters, press releases, print products, etc.) photos and other recordings may be taken at events and meetings and subsequently published. It may be possible to identify you in these recordings. You have the right to object to such recording and/or publication. Please speak to the photographer on site, use the objection options that we provide at the event, or use the contact information below to object after the event.

Please note that we have no influence on recordings made by representatives of the press and media. They have their own responsibilities as data controllers under GDPR.

The legal basis according to which your data is processed stems from your consent (according to Art. 6 para. 1 (a) GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)) or exists for the purpose of executing a contract or pre-contractual measures (according to  Art. 6 para. 1 (b) GDPR). In cases in which ifa pursues its legitimate interests, processing is conducted in compliance with Art. 6 para. 1 (f) GDPR.

We store your data as long as your consent remains valid or until the purpose of such data storage has been fulfilled. This data is then deleted unless subject to other legal obligations requiring continued storage of such data.

Any data you provide when using our forms is always transferred in encrypted form.

We only pass on your personal data to third parties for the purpose of processing the transaction. It is particularly necessary that we pass on your contact data to service providers so that they can send you our newsletter. 

Other than this, we only pass on your personal data to third parties after first obtaining your consent unless we are under legal obligation to do so or in order to protect the rights, property and security of ifa.
In cases where external service providers come into contact with personal data, we enforce mandatory legal, technical and organizational measures to guarantee compliance with data protection regulations.

We use cookies on our website to help make our website more user-friendly, effective and secure. Cookies also allow us to offer you additional functions.

Cookies also enable us to gauge how often our website is accessed as well as general navigation practices.  Cookies are small text files that are stored in your computer. Please note that some of these cookies are transferred from our server to your computer system, typically as "session cookies". Session cookies are automatically deleted from your hard disk at the end of the browser session. Other cookies stay on your computer and allow us to recognize your computer the next time you visit our website ("persistent cookies").

When visiting our website, you can set your cookie preferences and allow the cookies/services to be stored and run on your system. You can change your saved settings at any time by clicking the button on the bottom left of our web pages.

Our website uses the web analytics service Piwik Pro. Piwik Pro also uses cookies that are saved on your computer and allow us to analyze your use of our website, assuming you have given your consent.

The user information generated by the cookies (including your abbreviated IP address) is transferred to our servers and then stored for analysis purposes to help us optimize our website. During this process, your IP address is immediately anomynized so that you as a user remain anonymous to us.  We do not pass on the information generated by the cookies regarding your use of our website to third parties. You can prevent the use of cookies by changing the settings on our website.

Our website contains embedded YouTube videos. We only enable access to YouTube. YouTube is a service offered by Google Inc. Please refer to YouTube’s data privacy policy http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy for information on the purpose and scope of data collection and use by Google as well as your rights and settings options for your data protection as a YouTube customer.

We have also structured the way we embed YouTube videos so that data is not transferred to YouTube until you click on "load video". You can also decide whether YouTube videos should not be loaded until you confirm or can instead be loaded without the need for confirmation.

Our website contains embedded SoundCloud audio files. We only enable access to SoundCloud.

SoundCloud is a service offered by SoundCloud Limited. Please refer to SoundCloud’s data privacy policy https://soundcloud.com/pages/privacy for information on the purpose and scope of data collection and use by SoundCloud as well as your rights and settings options for your data protection as a SoundCloud customer.

Datawrapper enables us to integrate information on our web pages in a visual form. We cannot provide our web pages without using this service. When you visit our web pages that feature graphics created by Datawrapper, your IP address is transmitted to Datawrapper GmbH, Raumerstraße 39, 10437 Berlin, Germany. Click here for more information about Datawrapper’s privacy policy: https://www.datawrapper.de/privacy.

We use a consent management platform (CMP) provided by consentmanager AB, Håltegelvägen 1b, 72348 Västerås, SE to inform you about the cookies, trackers and external function calls used on our website and to manage your consent/refusal/revocation. Click here for more information about consentmanager’s privacy policy: https://www.consentmanager.net/datenschutz/.

When forms are used on our website, personal data is transmitted to Friendly Captcha, the processor commissioned by us. This involves technical connection data of the server access such as IP address, date, time, requested page, browser information, data on the use of the website and the logging of clicks on individual elements (here especially the verification button). 
Friendly Captcha does not set or read any cookies on the visitor's end device. The transmitted IP addresses are only stored in encrypted form and do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about an individual person.
The purpose of the processing is to prevent the misuse of non-human and automated entries in our forms. 
The legal basis for the processing results from a legitimate interest that outweighs the rights and freedoms of the data subjects in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. In this context, our legitimate interest lies in the secure and functioning operation of our technical systems and in preventing our employees from being burdened by massive amounts of spam content. 
Data is transmitted to the service provider Friendly Captcha GmbH, Am Anger 3-5, 82237 Wörthsee, Germany, which we have commissioned (information on the provider's data protection can be found here friendlycaptcha.com/de/privacy/). 
Your personal data will be stored for a maximum of 30 days and the data will then be deleted.

ifa displays aggregated content from multiple social media channels on its website. To do this, we use Flockler, a social media aggregation tool from Flockler Oy Rautatienkatu 26 B 32, 33100 FIN-Tampere. This allows us to display social media content that we think you will find interesting and inspiring. We currently offer content from Facebook, Soundcloud, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo.

A connection to Flockler’s servers is established when you visit one of these pages on our website. This involves the transmission of your IP address. Flockler does not store any information about your visit. When loading the social media content, you will be redirected to the respective social media provider. Depending on the platform, social media services may store information about you if you choose to interact with the content (e.g., play a video or visit our social media profile page). For more information on data privacy, refer to the respective privacy policies of the social media providers.

Use of the Flockler plugin is based on your consent according to Art. 6 para. 1 (a) GDPR. The privacy policy and further information about this service provider can be found at: https://flockler.com/privacy-policy.

Our website uses Google Maps to display an interactive map. This service is provided by Google Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA ("Google"). By using Google Maps, information about your use of this website (including your IP address) may be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

Google may transfer the information transmitted by Maps to third parties if required to do so by law, or if such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Click on the following link to see which of your data is processed in the process: https://www.google.com/intl/de_de/help/terms_maps.html.

We also use the Google Tag Manager service from Google.

Google Tag Manager is an auxiliary service and processes personal data itself only for technically necessary purposes. Google Tag Manager ensures that other components are loaded, which in turn may collect data. The Google Tag Manager itself does not access this data.

You can find more information about Google Tag Manager in Google's data protection information (https://support.google.com/tagmanager/answer/9323295?hl=de).

Please note that American authorities, such as intelligence agencies, could potentially gain access to personal data that is inevitably exchanged with Google via the Internet Protocol (TCP) when integrating this service due to American laws such as the Cloud Act. We therefore only use this service if you have given us your consent to do so.

The legal basis for data processing is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.

We use the web analysis and optimisation service "Google Optimize" on our website, which is also provided to us by Google LLC. We use the service to measure and improve the attractiveness and functionality of our website.
Google Optimize uses cookies, which are stored on your end device and enable us to analyse your use of our website. The legal basis for this processing is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR. The information generated by the cookies about the use of the online offer by the users is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. The processing takes place on the basis of EU standard contractual clauses.

Further information on the use of data by Google, setting and objection options, can be found in Google's privacy policy, which you can view at policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

Our website contains links to other websites. We have no influence over whether the operators of other websites comply with data protection regulations.
As a provider, we are responsible for our own content according to general law. Our content is not to be mistaken with linked content of other providers. We assume no responsibility for third-party content, which is provided via links for use, and do not adopt their content as our own.
Liability for illegal, inaccurate or incomplete content and, in particular, for damages resulting from the use or non-use of such information is the sole responsibility of the provider of the site to which links are provided.

According to the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to obtain information about your stored personal data free of charge and, if necessary, the right to correct, restrict or delete such data at any time. To the extent we are required to comply with legal storage obligations, we shall block your data from further processing so that your data can no longer be used for the purposes mentioned above.

You also have the right to request that we send you in electronic form any of your personal data stored by us.
You may withdraw your consent to the storage or processing of your data at any time.  Should you choose to exercise this right, we will immediately delete your stored data and block processing of any data that cannot be deleted due to legal requirements.

Please send us your request using the contact details below.

If you feel that ifa is not processing your data in compliance with current data protection laws, you have the right to appeal to a data protection supervisory authority of your choice.

You have the right to object to your personal data being processed for direct marketing purposes without giving a reason. If we process your data to protect legitimate interests, you have the right to object to this processing on grounds relating to your particular situation. We will then no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves the purpose of asserting, exercising or defending legal claims.

Your personal data is transmitted online in encrypted form. We use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption technology.  Please note that online data transmission (including emails) may exhibit security gaps. It is not possible to guarantee that your data can never be accessed by third parties.

We use technical and organizational security measures to secure our website and other systems, keeping your data safe from loss, destruction, access, modification or processing by unauthorized parties.  We continually update these security measures in line with the latest technology.

The ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen fulfills its duty to implement the Whistleblower Protection Act. The aim of the Act is to protect whistleblowers, collect information about violations and forward it to the appropriate reporting bodies. In the ifa's GDPR-compliant whistleblower system, suggestions or criticism can be sent to the ifa, anonymously if desired. You can submit your suggestions here.

Please contact us should you have any further questions about data privacy. If your questions concern collection, processing or use of your personal data, if you would like more information or to request that we correct, restrict or delete your data or if you would like to revoke your consent, please contact our data protection officer or use the contact information below:

Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen
Carmen Groll
Charlottenplatz 17
70173 Stuttgart
Phone: +49.711.2225-135
Email: info(at)ifa.de

datenschutzbeauftragter(at)ifa.de

Note: This is a translation of the legally accurate and binding German original. In case of discrepancy, the German original shall prevail.