Transparency Register

Data Privacy Statement

1. General

Responsible for this website is:
Bundesanzeiger Verlag GmbH
Amsterdamer Str. 192
50735 Köln

Tel.: +49 (0) 2 21 / 9 76 68-0
Fax: +49 (0) 2 21 / 9 76 68-278
E-Mail: service(at)bundesanzeiger.de

Bundesanzeiger Verlag GmbH operates this website as a service and information offering. Your personal data will only be processed by us in accordance with the provisions of applicable data protection law. The following provisions inform you about the type, scope and purpose of the collection, processing and use of personal data. This privacy policy only relates to our web pages. If you are forwarded to other pages via links on our pages, please inform yourself there about the respective handling of your data.

To the greatest extent possible, your personal data is encrypted by digital security systems and protected against damage, destruction or unauthorised access by technical and organisational measures.

2. Processing of personal data

We process your transmitted personal data (for example: your name, address and telephone number or e-mail address as well as the data required for billing) to the extent this is necessary for the processing of enquiries, orders (e.g. fee-based retrieval of register data or notifications for registration) or technical administration of the websites, for purposes to which we are obliged or for which you have given your consent. The legal basis for processing these data is laid down in Article 6 (1) (a), (b), (c), (e) and (f) GDPR (DSGVO), § 3 BDSG in conjunction with the relevant special laws, Geldwäschegesetz – GwG (Money Laundering Act), Transparenzregisterbeleihungsverordnung – TBelV (Transparency Register Lending Ordinance), Transparenzregistereinsichtnahmeverordnung – TrEinV (Transparency Register Inspection Ordinance), Transparenzregistergebührenverordnung – TrGebV (Transparency Register Fees Ordinance) and Transparenzregisterdatenübermittlungsverordnung – TrDüV (Transparency Register Data Transmission Ordinance).

To facilitate this task, your data may be exchanged with service providers involved in order and billing processing. Beyond this, we will not pass on your personal data to third parties unless we are obliged to do so due to mandatory regulations, this is necessary for the collection of payment or you yourself determine this.

Your personal data, to the extent it is required for the establishment, content or modification of a user relationship (inventory data), shall be used exclusively for the processing of the user relationship. We expressly reserve the right to take recourse to legal permissions and legal foundations.

If you contact us by e-mail, fax or telephone, we may request some personal information from you. In each case, we request the data that we need to be able to process your contact request in a useful manner, but at least your surname and first name, e-mail address and telephone number, the legal basis for which is Art. 6 (1) (c) and (e) GDPR. In addition, you can voluntarily provide us with further data as part of the contact request. The data shall be stored by us and used for the purpose of answering your contact request. The voluntary provision of these data constitutes consent to the use of the data in the above sense. Consent to the collection and use of data is recorded by us. The legal basis of the data processing is also the consent of data subjects in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR.

For example, your name and address must be passed on to the billing service provider for the billing of chargeable services. Without your express consent or without a legal basis, your personal data shall not be passed on to third parties that are not involved in the processing of the user relationship.

By order of the authorities in charge, we may provide information on inventory data in individual cases to the extent that this is necessary for the purposes of criminal prosecution, for the police authorities of the Federal states of Germany to take action to preclude dangers and hazards, to fulfil the statutory tasks of the federal and Federal states authorities relating to protection of the German Constitution, the Federal Intelligence Service or the Military Counter-Intelligence Service or to enforce intellectual property rights.

We carefully examine such requests - should these be made - within the framework of the means available to us and only pass on your data if the legal obligation appears to be compelling for us. The legal basis for data processing in these cases is then deemed to be the fulfilment of legal obligations of the responsible party in conjunction with the relevant special laws in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (c) GDPR.

Your personal data shall be erased or blocked as soon as the purpose of storage ceases to apply. Storage may also be performed if such has been provided for by European or national lawmakers in Union regulations, laws or other provisions to which the data controller is subject. Data shall also be blocked or deleted if a storage period prescribed by the aforementioned standards expires, unless there is a need to continue storing the data on the basis of other legal foundations.

No automated decision-making, including profiling, takes place in accordance with Art. 22 GDPR.

3. Registration with user profile

a. Creating a user profile (registration)

You have the option of registering on our website and hence creating a user profile. If you register on our website, we collect and use the following data in addition to the data that your Internet browser automatically transmits to us, which are marked as mandatory or voluntary depending on the purpose of processing:

- Date and time of registration
- First name and surname or company name
- Telephone number
- Your e-mail address.

Extract from Art. 2 of TrEinV:

1. In the event that the user is a natural person

a) First name and surname,

b) E-mail address and telephone number as well as

c) Address and, if different, billing address and

2. In the event that the user is not a natural person

a) The company name or name of the non-natural person,

b) Address of the registered office of the non-natural person and, if different, the billing address,

c) The first and surname of the natural person responsible for registration; and

d) The e-mail address and telephone number of the natural person in charge of registration.

§ 3 Proof of identity for registration or inspection

(1) The user shall demonstrate his or her identity by providing suitable proof in the registration process or the request for inspection, in accordance with the requirements of the registration authority.

(2) The following shall be deemed to constitute suitable proof of identity

1. In the case of natural persons

a) A copy of a valid official identity document which contains a photograph of the holder and which fulfils the passport and identity document obligation in Germany, in particular

aa) A copy of a domestic passport, identity card or substitute for a passport or identity card, or

bb) A copy of a passport, identity card or substitute of a passport or identity card recognised or approved in accordance with the provisions of immigration law governing aliens,

b) A copy of the documents referred to in § 1(1) of the Payment Account Identity Regulation (Zahlungskonto-Identitätsprüfungsverordnung); and

c) One of the types of proof provided for in § 12 (1) (1) nos. 2 to 4 of GwG and

2. In the case of non-natural persons

a) A copy of one of the types of proof provided for in § 12 (2) nos. 1 and 2 of GwG and

b) The valid identification code for legal entities.

The legal basis for the data processing is Article 6 (1) (c) and (e) of GDPR in conjunction with § 23 (3), (5) GwG in conjunction with § 2 and § 3 of TrEinV. The data shall be processed exclusively for the proper fulfilment of the tasks of the Transparency Register and shall be deleted after the end of the purpose while taking into account any retention obligations. Identification documents shall be deleted after 2 years.

b. Orders, applications and notifications

After successful registration, you may submit orders as well as file applications and reports on our website. For this purpose, we collect the information and evidence required by law, each of which is marked as mandatory or voluntary information, in particular the following:

Information on the beneficial owner:
1. Title (optional)
2. First and surname
3. Date of birth
4. Place of residence, country of domicile
5. Nature and extent of beneficial interest and
6. Nationality.

Information on contact persons of legal entities:
1. Salutation
2. Title
3. First name
4. Surname
5. Telephone number
6. Fax number

as well as the required proof (e.g. identification documents, excerpts from the Commercial Register, lists of shareholders) and invoice data.

The legal basis for the processing is Article 6 (1) (c) and (e) in conjunction with §§ 18 ff GwG and TrEinV. The data shall then be processed exclusively for the proper fulfilment of the tasks of the Transparency Register and erased after the end of the purpose. The Transparency Register is kept as a chronological collection of data. Identification documents are erased after 2 years.

c. Logging of inspection

Pursuant to § 10 (1) and (2) of TrEinV, the registration authority is obliged to log which user has accessed which data of the Transparency Register and when, so that abusive access to the Transparency Register can be detected, prevented and prosecuted. This is performed by logging the user ID and the IP address.

d. Discrepancy reports

For communication regarding discrepancy reports, you can provide us with your e-mail address as a contact address. This will only be used for communication regarding the respective discrepancy report. The legal basis is Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR. It will not be passed on to third parties unless we are legally obliged to do so, and it will not be processed in third countries. The contact address will be deleted after expiry of statutory retention periods or revocation of consent.

4. Provision of the website and creation of logfiles

a. Browser data

For technical reasons and to maintain and improve functionality, information that your Internet browser transmits to us is automatically collected and stored by us and, if necessary, passed on to third parties. Our legitimate interest in processing is the operational security of the website in accordance with Article 6 (1) (e) of GDPR, Art. 3 BDSG in conjunction with TBelV.

These data are:

- Browser type and version
- Operating system used
- The website from which you are visiting us (referrer URL)
- The website you are visiting
- Date and time of your access
- Your Internet protocol data (IP address)
- Amount of data transferred
- Access status (files transferred, file not found, etc.).

These anonymous data (with the exception of the IP address) are stored separately from any personal data you may have provided and thus do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about a specific person. They can be evaluated for statistical purposes in order to optimise our Internet presence and our services on offer. After evaluation, these data shall be deleted by us and our service providers.

b. Anonymised usage profiles

Unless stated otherwise here, it is not necessary for you to provide personal data in order to use our website. Each time a user accesses the above-mentioned web pages and each time a file is retrieved, data about this process are stored in a logfile. We use these data to make your visit to our website technically possible. We furthermore use these data for statistical purposes in order to improve the design and layout of our website. No personal use is made of these data.

In particular, the following data record is stored for each retrieval:
- Name of the retrieved file
- Date and time of the retrieval
- Transmitted data volume
- report whether the retrieval was successful
- Description of the type of web browser used
- Requesting domain
- Country of origin of the domain

After evaluation, these data are erased by us and our service providers.

5. Cookies and analysis tool

We use so-called "cookies" on our website. These are small text files that are sent from our web server to your computer to store certain information (e.g. identification features).

If you use our website anonymously, cookies are used to carry out statistical analyses of usage, including the recording of new and returning visitors. We also use cookies to measure the usage of free content. In order to be able to determine this usage volume, our website sends a so-called unit ID to your browser. This is an anonymous code that serves the sole purpose of recording the content that has already been used free of charge.

If you use our website, thereby using your user profile, cookies are used to identify your browser for the duration of your visit, including when you call up various pages. The presentation of our website is also possible without the storage of cookies. You can deactivate the storage of cookies in the settings of your browser or set it in such a way that it informs you of intended storage by an Internet site. In this case, you decide whether to accept the cookie. For the full functionality of our website, however, it is necessary for technical reasons to allow temporary cookies in their entirety. Even if cookies are deactivated, our website sends the unit ID described to your browser in order to measure the extent of use of free content. In the case of cookies that are not required, the legal basis is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (a) of GDPR.

Further information on blocking cookies can be found on the help pages of your Internet browser. For Microsoft Edge for example, this can be found at support.microsoft.com and for Firefox at support.mozilla.com.

a. Technically necessary cookies

In accordance with Art. 25 (2) No. 2 of TDDDG (German Act on Data Protection and Privacy in Telecommunications and Digital Services), the user's consent is not required for technically necessary cookies. Without the use of these technically necessary cookies, the services of the transparency register cannot be provided. We use the following technically necessary cookies on our website to operate the website.

6. Chatbot

For service requests, we offer you the possibility to obtain information on our website through our chatbot.

No further information is required from you to use the chatbot. If you nonetheless provide us with personal information, it will be rendered anonymous. In order to optimise the algorithm, which makes it possible for the chatbot to independently assign enquiries to topical fields using the keywords that come up, log files and chat histories are stored in anonymous form for 90 days. We would like to note in particular that you do not have to provide any personal data.

Should you have any questions concerning your customer account, you can contact us directly by telephone or e-mail, as it is not possible to automatically route such enquiries.

The data processing is performed without any use of cookies (cookieless) as laid down in Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 letter e) GDPR in conjunction with §§ 18 ff GwG in conjunction with the Transparency Register Lending Ordinance - TBelV.

7. Your rights / contact details / objection

Objection and revocation

You can object to the use of your data without prior consent at any time with effect for the future.

We would like to note that you can also partially revoke any consent you may have provided at any time with effect for the future. To do so, we suggest you contact the data protection officer(s) by e-mail at:

dsb(at)bundesanzeiger.de
or by post to:

Datenschutzbeauftragte/r (Data Protection Officer)
Bundesanzeiger Verlag GmbH
Amsterdamer Straße 192
50735 Köln, Germany.

Please note that your revocation of consent will only have effect for the future and will not affect the lawfulness of processing in the past. In some cases, despite your revocation, we are entitled to continue processing your personal data on another legal basis - such as for the performance of a contract.

You also have the following rights:

Articles 13, 14 of the EU GDPR - Right to information.

Article 15 of the EU GDPR - Right of access: If you so request, we will be happy to inform you about the data stored about you. The information will be provided in text form. Contact: see above.

Article 16 of the EU GDPR - Right to rectification.

Article 17 of the EU GDPR - Right to erasure with its restrictions, in particular laid down in Art. 17 (3) (b)

Article 18 of the EU GDPR - Right to restriction of processing.

Article 19 of the EU GDPR – Notification

Article 20 of the EU GDPR - Right to data portability

Article 21 of the EU GDPR - Right to object

Article 22 EU GDPR - Automated individual decision-making, including profiling

Article 23 of the EU GDPR – Restrictions

Article 77 of the EU GDPR - Right to lodge a complaint

The registration authority processes personal data and other data on this website for the fulfilment of legal obligations and for the performance of tasks in the sovereign interest and in the exercise of official authority. The registration authority is subject to legal and technical supervision by the Federal Administrative Office (Bundesverwaltungsamt/BVA).

In addition, lawmakers have enacted a variety of retention obligations and time limits,

e.g. § 147 of the German Tax Code (AO).

Notice:

We make every effort to store your personal data in such a way that these are not accessible to third parties by taking all technical and organisational measures. Your data will not be transferred to third countries.

8. Scope of application

This Privacy Policy applies to the domain www.transparenzregister.de.