Privacy Information | Meraxis Group

Meraxis appreciates your interest in our company and our products. We want you to feel comfortable when you contact Meraxis. The security of your personal data, such as your name, address, telephone number or e-mail address, which is collected when you contact Meraxis, is therefore very important to us.

This data protection information is intended for all persons with whom Meraxis interacts, including customers, suppliers, service providers, other business partners, interested parties, visitors to our websites, users of our apps/applications, other users of our products or services and visitors to our locations (hereinafter referred to as «you»). It contains the information in accordance with Art. 13 and 14 GDPR and the Data Protection Act applicable in Switzerland (DSG (CH)).

1. Terms

The processing of personal data takes place within the framework of the statutory provisions.

The term «personal data» refers to any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. «Processing» includes any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, reproduction or linkage, restriction, erasure or destruction.

Other data protection terms are used in accordance with the definitions in Art. 4 GDPR and Art. 5 DSG (CH).

2. Name and address of the responsible bodies

Meraxis AG
Worbstrasse 50
3074 Muri b. Bern, Switzerland

3. General processing purposes and legal basis

Meraxis collects and processes your personal data in particular in the following cases:

If you contact us directly, e.g. via our website, via Meraxis customer service or if you visit us at our locations, participate in our events, customer satisfaction surveys and competitions and you are interested in our products or services or have any other concerns.
If you or your employer purchase products or services directly from us.
If you or your employer request information about our products and services (e.g. transmission of brochures or price lists).
When you purchase or use Meraxis products.
When you or your employer offer or sell products or services to us.

Please help us to keep your details up to date by informing us of any changes to your personal data, in particular your contact details.

Insofar as Meraxis processes personal data, it relates in particular to your name and your business contact details such as company, function, telephone number or e-mail address as well as contract and transaction data. Other categories of data may be collected for specific purposes, which are described in detail below.

In addition to collecting your data via our contact forms on our website, we also collect the data directly from you or via generally accessible sources (e.g. commercial register, authorities, Internet), insofar as this is necessary for the purpose.

4. Individual processing purposes and legal basis

In the following, we will inform you about the purposes for which Meraxis processes which personal data. In the case of non-repetitive circumstances, Meraxis will generally draw your attention to this information again separately in the specific processing situation and, if necessary, provide additional information.

4.1 Processing of data for the preparation, conclusion and performance of contracts

4.1.1 General

As a trading company, Meraxis processes personal data as part of the acquisition (see also 4.11.) and sales processes as well as for the execution of contracts. For this purpose, data is processed in particular for appropriate communication and salutation, contract initiation, offer processing, customer and supplier advice, procurement and delivery of goods, contract management and complaints processing.

The following categories of data in particular are processed as part of these activities:

Contact data/personal master data (title, surname, first name, address, e-mail address, etc.)
Logistics data such as delivery address
Contract data, payment data

It may be necessary for us to pass on the data to third parties involved in the supply chain or otherwise required for the fulfilment of the contract in order to prepare an offer and process the contract

For the purpose of credit checks of our business partners, we process data that we receive from credit agencies (e.g. from Schufa) observing the legal requirements. In addition, Meraxis reserves the right to report our experience with our customers' payment behaviour to a payment experience pool of a scoring company (e.g. Dun & Bradstreet, credit risk insurance companies) in order to further minimise the risk of default. Payment histories with natural persons are excluded from this.

In order to optimise financial transactions, Meraxis reserves the right to assign receivables from its business customers to a refinancing company as part of debt financing. Only company-related data (name of the debtor, reason, amount, due date of the receivable) will be passed on for the purpose of debt financing. If necessary for the verification of the claim, the refinancing company will pass on the aforementioned company data to third parties for the purpose of a credit check.

The legal basis for debt financing/factoring, insofar as personal data is affected in exceptional individual cases, is Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)).

Insofar as data is collected directly for the processing of an enquiry or the execution of a contract, Meraxis will inform you in each case which data is absolutely necessary. If the contractual partner is not you, but your employer or another third party contractually connected to you or your employer, the data is processed on the basis of Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)).

The data is processed insofar as the data is required to fulfil the contract or to fulfil other legal obligations and duties, e.g. obligations under product liability law (e.g. notification, information and warning obligations). If the processing is carried out on the basis of Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)), you can object to this at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation.

4.1.2 Communications

Microsoft Teams

Meraxis utilises Microsoft Teams to communicate effectively with you and to exchange information. In some cases, it may be necessary to record or transcribe meetings to make important content and discussions available for later reference purposes or for people who were not present. We would like to explain to you how we handle your personal data in connection with the recording of meetings.

Before any recording, the meeting leader will inform you about the start of the recording. In case you do not wish to be recorded visually, you have the option to disable your camera.

The meeting leader decides, taking into account the interests of those affected, whether a recording is necessary. A recording or transcript may be required for the following reasons:

Documentation and tracking of meeting contents - evidentiary function
Knowledge exchange and training purposes
Providing the recording for participants who were not present
Archiving of information for later reference purposes

The legal basis for processing your data is Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)). Our legitimate interest lies in the effective conduct of meetings and the documentation of meeting contents. You may object to the recording at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation. Please inform the meeting leader about this.

Insofar as you have activated the video camera of your system and the recording also extends to these video contents, this recording is based on your consent according to Art. 6 I a GDPR. By turning on your camera after the start of the recording or not deactivating the turned-on camera, you consent to the recording of the video contents. You may revoke this consent at any time without giving reasons by deactivating the camera function on your end device.

The following personal data may be collected during the recording of meetings via Microsoft Teams:

Personal master data such as name, display name, profile picture, and email address of the participants
Data on company affiliation and position in the company
Audio and video data of the participants; the audio files are automatically transcribed
Chat messages, preferred language, and files shared during the meeting
Screen sharing and presented contents
Meeting metadata, e.g., date, time, meeting ID, phone numbers, location

We store your personal data only as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as long as storage is legally required or ordered within the framework of regulatory requirements. We delete or block your data as soon as it is no longer needed. Furthermore, we will delete or block your data immediately upon revocation of your consent or upon a justified objection to the processing.

Please note that the recording is usually made available to every meeting participant. Insofar as the purpose of the recording is to inform third parties or other persons about the content of the meeting, they will also receive the data. The respective recipient of the data is responsible for the further processing of the data, including deletion. If the purpose of the recording requires it, the data may also be transferred to Meraxis and/or Rehau companies outside the European Economic Area. This is done either on the basis of an adequacy decision by the Commission or on the basis of standard contractual clauses that contain appropriate guarantees for the affected parties.

Answering Machine Function

When using the answering machine by employees of the Meraxis Group, the message is automatically transcribed. The spoken text is sent as a file via email to the connection owner and printed there in the original language and in English translation. These emails are subject to the retention period set for emails.

WhatsApp Business

Some divisions offer you the opportunity to contact Meraxis via WhatsApp for any type of query. By initiating contact via WhatsApp, you agree that we receive your phone number and access to your WhatsApp profile (including profile picture). The processing of data for the purpose of contacting us is carried out according to Art. 6 I a GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)) based on your voluntarily given consent.

You can also revoke your consent at any time with a message to your WhatsApp contact partner at Meraxis.

If your enquiry is related to the preparation of a contract, the legal basis is Art. 6 I b GDPR and Art. 6 DSG (CH). In this case, we store your data for the duration of the legal retention periods. In addition, the privacy policy of WhatsApp Inc. applies when using WhatsApp: www.whatsapp.com/legal.

4.2 Use of Customer Portal

Meraxis maintains a customer portal that stores personal data (name and contact information). During registration, you will be informed about the data required for the use of the customer portal. We use your personal data for the preparation and delivery of offers, quality assurance measures, management of customer relationships, contract processing, risk management, use of information and communication systems, and administration of the customer portal. The purpose and legal basis are described in section 4.1. Additional voluntary data is used for contact purposes (see section 4.11).

For the maintenance of the customer portal, your data is stored on an independent (secure AWS) cloud server. If you provide us with data with your consent, you can revoke this consent to use your data at any time. The data processing and data transfer remain lawful until the revocation. Meraxis will neither sell your personal data to third parties nor market it otherwise. When using the customer portal, individual transactions are stored and archived according to the legal retention requirements based on Art. 6 I c GDPR of the Swiss DSG.

You can terminate the use of the customer portal and the storage of your personal data in the customer portal at any time, as far as it is not necessary for the fulfilment of a contract. Please contact the responsible contact person for you or log in to the Meraxis customer portal: The storage of the transactions remains unaffected.

4.3 Use of Supplier Portal

Meraxis maintains a supplier portal. When registering as a supplier, you will be informed about the type and extent of data required for registration. The data is used for all business processes related to the procurement of goods and services, including quality assurance measures, management of supplier relationships, contract processing, risk management, use of information and communication systems, optimization of internal processes, and administration of the supplier portal. For these purposes, it may also be necessary to pass on your personal data to other companies of the Meraxis Group and for these group companies to make contact.

4.4 Application Process (Art. 6 I b GDPR, Art. 6 DSG (CH))

Additional data protection notices exist for the application process, which are communicated separately during the application. In addition, the following notes apply to all applications: Notes.

4.5 Participation in Events and On-Site Visits (Art. 6 I f GDPR, Art. 6 DSG (CH))

We are very pleased to meet you personally during an on-site visit or at one of our events. In this context, we process your personal data to organize and conduct events and to provide you with informational material. At events, we may pass on the data to speakers and participants. This is important to ensure the smooth running of the event. We also use the data collected to evaluate and follow up on our events. As a rule, you will receive further data protection information when you register for an event.

For feedback collection, Meraxis also uses the functions of Microsoft Forms. If you participate in a corresponding survey, the data protection information of Microsoft Forms applies (https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement)

For the documentation of events as well as press and public relations work, image and video recordings of the events may be created. In this process, personal (image) data is also processed. You can object to the processing at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation. In that case, we ask you to communicate your reasons to the photographers or organizers in advance. They will take your objection into consideration and initiate the necessary measures.

4.6 Use of Service Offers (Consultation, Dealer Search)

In addition to our products and system solutions, Meraxis offers extensive service offerings. These include consulting and service offerings that we provide to you via telephone, email, contact form, and possibly also on-site. With this service, we want to support you in selecting, deploying, and using Meraxis systems.

As part of this service, the necessary data that you provide to us in connection with the service request, such as contact details/personal master data (name, first name, address, email address, etc.) along with the affected products and the issue, may be stored. This ensures that we can continue to advise you specifically based on the previous service history in case of any later enquiries.

As part of the dealer search, we give you the opportunity to provide us and a dealer you have selected with your contact details for a contact method defined by you. The dealer processes this data under his responsibility for the purposes of the request. Meraxis uses this data to verify the quality of the service provided by the dealer.

The basis for this storage is the legitimate interest in consistent and effective consulting activities over time. Your data is stored exclusively in direct connection with the service case. Insofar as the service data is relevant for the defence of liability cases, especially product liability cases, Meraxis will also process it for this purpose. The data will be deleted when it is no longer necessary for this purpose, at the latest after the expiration of the limitation periods for this liability. Insofar as the data is processed solely on the basis of Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)), you have the right to object to the storage for reasons related to your person.

4.7 Access to the Company Premises for Delivery of Goods or Performance of a Service or Work

In this case, in addition to your data that is directly necessary for the execution of a contractual relationship, such as name, first name, company, billing data, vehicle identification data, we also record the duration of your stay at Meraxis based on Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)). The goal is to be aware of the people who are in the building or on the premises in case of an emergency and a necessary evacuation. If you are staying for business purposes, the duration of the stay can also be used to check and optimize internal processes and to verify the consistency of performance claims (e.g., invoices).

Based on legal requirements or Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)) to prove the fulfilment of traffic safety obligations, the safety instructions received by the visitor are also documented. Of course, you can object to the uses based on Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)) at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation.

4.8 Corporate Communication and External Representation (Art. 6 I f GDPR, Art. 6 DSG (CH))

As part of participating in events, visiting our trade fair appearance, and other events, image and video recordings of these events are made for the documentation of the event, press and public relations work, and corporate communication. In this process, personal (image) data is also processed.

The publication of the image material takes place both electronically in social media such as LinkedIn and in print media. The legal basis processing corporate communication is Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)) and, where applicable, § 23 KunstUrhG (Germany).

Where factually possible and legally reasonable, at each event you will be reminded again of the image recordings. If the processing of the images is based on Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)), you can object to this use at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation. You can exercise this right by communicating these reasons to the photographers in advance, who will then consider this in their work. We will be happy to provide you with details related to each respective event.

4.9 Compliance, Legal Enforcement, and Prevention of Crimes (Art. 6 I f GDPR, Art. 6 DSG (CH))

So far as it is legally required, Meraxis uses personal data to assert legal claims and defend against legal disputes. Within the framework of the company’s compliance guidelines, the data can also be used for the prevention and investigation of criminal offenses.

In addition to the previously mentioned categories of data, as far as they are necessary for the purpose, we also use creditworthiness data, visit data, account data, as well as correspondence, purchasing, and sales data. Meraxis also uses an internal whistleblower system for named and anonymous tips on compliance violations. This data is deleted or completely anonymized within the framework of the applicable legislation or immediately after the conclusion of the respective case.

For security purposes we are also using systems for building and facility security as well as for securing our data processing facilities, such as access controls or video surveillance. The mentioned controls only take place openly at our locations. You can find out more about this on-site.

We further process your personal data in connection with the usual checks of business partners within the framework of compliance requirements. If we have not directly requested your personal data from you, we have collected it from publicly accessible sources and databases as part of due diligence. The data collected from these sources is processed exclusively for this purpose and deleted as soon as it is no longer required for this purpose. The processing is based on Art. 6 I c GDPR and Art. 6 DSG (CH), insofar as the due diligence is based on legal requirements, or on Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)), the legitimate interest of the company in evaluating its business partners to reduce risks. You can object to this for reasons related to your person, if the processing is based on Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)).

4.10 Advertising Communication and Market Research

As far as legally permissible based on Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)) or if you give us your consent (Art. 6 I a GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)), we process your data for advertising communication, customer satisfaction surveys, promotional activities, the conduct of sweepstakes, and other market and competitive analyses. This allows us to further improve our range of products and services and act more targeted.

In the course of these activities, the necessary data such as contact details/personal master data (name, first name, company, address, telephone number, IP address, email address, etc.) can be processed. Only if there is corresponding consent, further data, (1) which you provide to us for this purpose, such as interests, personal preferences, professional situation, or (2) which we collect through analysis, individual measurement, storage, and evaluation of opening rates and click rates in recipient profiles for the purpose of designing future newsletters or other communication, are processed.

If there is an existing customer relationship or if you have consented to it, you will usually receive the mentioned information by electronic mail. Otherwise, for business partners who are not consumers, the information is provided by telephone, fax or letter.

Within the framework of legitimate interest, we analyse the data available to us (e.g., business transactions, contracts, enquiries, and other relevant business behaviour) for further development of our products, services, and business processes as well as for market research.

For all the purposes mentioned, it may be necessary for us to share your personal data with third parties who support us in the pursuit of our goals as part of order processing. Data may also be shared with other companies within the Meraxis Group to better address your wishes or to continuously improve our products and services.

Of course, we respect if you do not wish to provide us with your personal data to support our customer relationship – especially for direct marketing or market research. Therefore, you can object to the use of your data for direct advertising purposes at any time according to Art. 21 II GDPR or revoke any given consent at any time according to Art. 7 III GDPR with effect for the future. You can send the revocation of consent or the objection to processing to any contact option mentioned in the imprint. You can also unsubscribe from newsletters at any time via the unsubscribe link at the end of each email.

4.11 Surveys

For external surveys and enquiries, such as the evaluation of actions taken, registration for company events, etc., we use the tool «Microsoft Forms». Microsoft Forms is a service of Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited. The data of users from the European Union is processed within the European Economic Area (EEA).

Nevertheless, it may be necessary for the provision of the service and within the framework of support that data is processed at the headquarters of Microsoft Inc. in the USA. We have agreed on the EU standard contractual clauses with Microsoft for any necessary data transfer to third countries (see section 6). To ensure adequate data protection, Microsoft has taken technical and organizational measures. In particular, data via Forms is only transmitted encrypted. Furthermore, Microsoft has contractually committed to legally defend against disclosure requests from US authorities as far as possible. Microsoft is generally a data processor. For more information on data protection at Microsoft, visit https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement.

When using Microsoft Forms, various types of data are processed. The scope of the data depends on the questions asked and any upload of additional services. In general, the following personal data is involved:

Name, first name
Email address
Preferred language
Status (optional, if stored in Microsoft 365)
Date and time of opening the questionnaire
Date and time of sending the response

If you participate in an anonymous survey, your response does not contain contact information and cannot be traced back to you. The data from surveys/forms/questionnaires (questions and answers) are stored in the Microsoft Cloud and retrieved from there by the project team. In principle, all personally identifiable data is deleted within one year after the purpose has been served.

Participation in our surveys is voluntary. Insofar as consent is given by participating in the survey, the legal basis is then Art. 6 I a GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)). A given consent can be revoked at any time with effect for the future. There are no disadvantages due to revocation or non-granting of consent. Personal data processed in connection with participation in Microsoft Forms surveys and forms are generally not shared with third parties unless the data is specifically intended for sharing or necessary for the purpose. Data may be shared with external service providers to fulfil the purpose of its collection.

4.12 Fulfilment of Legal Obligations (Art. 6 I c GDPR, Art. 6 DSG (CH))

Meraxis is subject to a multitude of legal obligations for the processing and storage of personal data. These include, for example, commercial and tax law retention requirements according to the Commercial Code and the Fiscal Code. To comply with these obligations, we process your data to the necessary extent and, if necessary, pass it on to the responsible authorities as part of statutory reporting obligations and tax legislation.

4.13 Additional Processing Purposes

Data processing also takes place within the framework of quality management, for the determination and improvement of customer satisfaction, for the further development of products and services, for the conduct of research and development, and for the improvement of IT security and IT operations. The last point also includes processing for the detection and defence of unauthorized access to personal data.

The legal basis for the processing of this data is Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)). In the absence of consent, no conclusions are generally drawn about individual natural persons.

In individual cases, you can object to this processing for reasons arising from your particular situation.

4.14 Disclosure of Data to Third Parties

For the aforementioned purposes, the data may be disclosed to third parties who assist the responsible entity in pursuing the stated purposes. The disclosure is made either within the framework of order processing according to Art. 28 GDPR and Art. 9 DSG (CH), a joint responsibility according to Art. 26 GDPR, or as data transmission within the framework of commissioning professional services.

For data transmission to recipients in third countries (see section 6).

5. Duration of storage

Furthermore, we delete or block your data immediately upon revocation of your consent or upon a justified objection to the processing.

6. Planned Data Transfer to Third Countries

For the purposes mentioned in this privacy statement, we may transfer your personal data to other Meraxis and/or Rehau companies. These other companies may use your personal data for the same purposes in their own interest as we do. In particular, they may process your personal data for the mentioned purposes in their own interest. Within the Meraxis Group, employees only have access to your personal data as far as it is necessary for the fulfilment of their activity.

The data transfer to branches outside the European Economic Area is carried out either on the basis of an adequacy decision by the Commission (Art. 45 III GDPR (issued for Switzerland)) or on the basis of standard contractual clauses (Art. 46 II c GDPR, which contain appropriate guarantees for the affected person). The text of the standard contractual clauses is published at https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/international-dimension-data-protection/standard-contractual-clauses-scc_de.

We may also transfer your personal data to third parties outside the Meraxis and/or Rehau companies to use technical or organizational services that we need for the fulfilment of the mentioned purposes or our other business activities. Our service providers are contractually obliged to process the personal data exclusively on our behalf and according to our instructions. We also oblige our service providers to comply with technical and organizational measures that ensure the protection of personal data. If the service providers are located in countries where the applicable laws do not provide protection of personal data comparable to European law, we will contractually ensure that the relevant service providers comply with the legally required level of data protection (standard contractual clauses). You can obtain more detailed information from our data protection officer.

7. Online Data Usage/Visiting Our Websites

Below you will find information in respect of the data we may collect when you visit our websites and how we handle such data. Meraxis websites may contain links to websites of other providers, which are not covered by this privacy policy.

When you visit our website, we store information about the browser and operating system you use, the date and time of the visit, and the IP address. This data is necessary for the functionality of the pages to ensure a smooth connection setup and reasonable use of our website. We cannot associate this data with you.

Without your participation, we do not collect any personal data via our websites. It is entirely up to you whether you want to provide us with such data, for example, during registration, ordering, or surveys.

Additionally, we use the following technologies on our website:

7.1 Google Analytics - Web Analysis Service

If you agree to cookies on the preliminary pages of our web presence, this website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service provided by Google Inc. Google Analytics uses cookies, text files stored on your computer, that enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to and stored on a server operated by Google in the USA. Meraxis has activated IP anonymization on this website, so Google will truncate your IP address within member states of the European Union or other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area, beforehand. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and truncated there.

On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, compile reports on website activity, and provide other services related to website and internet usage to the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data. You can prevent the storage of cookies by adjusting your browser software settings; however, please note that if you do so, you may not be able to use all the functions of our website to its full extent.

You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) and from processing this data by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

The data we collect at the user and event level, which is linked to cookies, user identifiers, and advertising IDs, is automatically deleted after 14 months. The retention period for the user identifier is reset to 14 months with each new event (e.g., page view) by this user on our website. Standard aggregated Google Analytics reports are not affected by this. For more information on terms of use and privacy, please visit https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us or https://policies.google.com.

Please note that on our website, Google Analytics has been extended with the code «gat._anonymizeIp();» to ensure anonymized collection of IP addresses (so-called IP masking).

7.2 Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a solution that allows website tags to be managed via an interface. The Tag Manager itself does not collect personal data. The tool triggers other tags and is therefore necessary for Meraxis to provide a tele media service you have explicitly requested. Google Tag Manager itself does not access personal data. If deactivation has been carried out at the domain or cookie level, it remains in place for all tracking tags implemented with Google Tag Manager. You can find Google’s privacy notice for this tool here: Privacy Policy – Privacy & Terms – Google.

7.3 Google Ads Remarketing

If you agree to cookies on the preliminary pages of our web presence, our website will use the functions of Google Ads Remarketing. With this, we advertise our website in Google search results, as well as on third-party websites. The provider is Google Ireland Limited. For this purpose, Google sets a cookie in the browser of your device, which automatically enables interest-based advertising using a pseudonymous Cookie-ID based on the pages you have visited. Further data processing only takes place if you have agreed with Google that your internet and app browsing history is linked to your Google account and information from your Google account is used to personalize ads that you view on the web. If you are logged into Google during the visit to our website, Google uses your data along with Google Analytics data to create and define audience lists for cross-device remarketing. To this end, your personal data is temporarily linked with Google Analytics data to form target groups. You can permanently disable the setting of cookies for ad preferences by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated?hl=en.

Alternatively, you can get further information at the Digital Advertising Alliance (www.youradchoices.com) about the setting of cookies and adjust your settings accordingly. Finally, you can set your browser to inform you about the setting of cookies and decide individually about their acceptance or exclude the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or in general. If cookies are not accepted, the functionality of our website may be limited. You can view further information and the privacy regulations regarding advertising and Google here: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads?hl=en.

7.4 Google reCAPTCHA

We use the Google reCAPTCHA service in our contact forms, which allows you to submit service and information requests to Meraxis. The query serves the purpose of detecting hostile attacks on our websites by distinguishing human input from automated machine input. The use of this application is necessary for providing the service that Meraxis offers through its contact forms and is therefore based on Art. 6 I b GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)). It is necessary for the provision of the service, as otherwise, the website would not be sufficiently protected against automated espionage, abuse, and spam. The use is also in the interest of the service recipients. For this purpose, your input is transmitted to Google and processed there. The IP address and, if applicable, other data used by Google for the service are transmitted to Google.

The use of Google reCAPTCHA is inseparably linked with Google Fonts. When you use Google reCAPTCHA, fonts are loaded via a Google server without us or you being able to prevent it. Google Fonts are fonts provided by Google Inc. For Europe, the company responsible is Google Ireland Limited. You can read details about data protection issues related to Google Fonts at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq/privacy.

In principle, no more or other personal data is processed through Google Fonts than is necessary for the use of Google reCAPTCHA. The legal basis for the use of Google Fonts in connection with the use of reCAPTCHA is the legitimate interest in defending against automated espionage, abuse, and spam.

Please note that you can only use our contact forms if you consent to the use of Google reCAPTCHA (and Google Fonts) to protect the page. In exceptional cases, your data may also be processed in countries outside the European Union without an adequate level of data protection (so-called third countries). To ensure an adequate level of data protection in the transmission of personal data in this case, we take additional measures according to Art. 44 ff. GDPR and Art. 6 para. 2 DSG (CH), thus ensuring that the transmission is generally permissible (e.g., by concluding EU standard contractual clauses).

For more information about Google reCAPTCHA, please visit https://www.google.com/recaptcha or https://www.google.com/privacy. The responsible entity for this data processing is Google Ireland Limited. The following data is transmitted to the responsible entity for the independent provision of the service, «defence against hostile attacks»: Your web request, IP address, browser type, browser language, date and time of your request, and one or more cookies that may identify your browser.

If you do not agree to the use of Google reCAPTCHA, you must not fill out the contact forms in which Google reCAPTCHA is used. If you wish to use Meraxis’ services without the use of Google reCAPTCHA, you are welcome to send us an email or a letter at any time, and we will take care of your request in another way.

7.5 YouTube plugin

If you give your consent in the cookie preference pages for our website, we use plugins from YouTube LLC (represented by Google Inc.), among others, to integrate videos on our websites. In this case, as soon as you use our website, a connection to the YouTube servers is established and the plugin is displayed. This tells the YouTube server which of our pages you have visited. If you are logged in as a YouTube member, YouTube assigns this information to your personal user account. When using the plugin, this information is also assigned to your user account after clicking the start button of a video, for example. You can prevent this assignment by logging out of your YouTube user account and other user accounts of YouTube LLC and Google Inc. before using our websites and deleting the corresponding cookies of the companies. Further information on data processing and notes on data protection by YouTube (Google) can be found at: https://policies.google.com/privacy.

7.6 Microsoft plugin

If you give your consent in the cookie preference pages for our website, our website uses conversion tracking from Microsoft Corporation. This involves Microsoft Bing Ads placing a cookie on your computer if you have reached our website via a Microsoft Bing advert. In this way, Microsoft Bing and we can recognise that someone has clicked on an ad, has been redirected to our website and has reached a predetermined target page (conversion page). We only learn the total number of users who clicked on a Bing advert and were then forwarded to the conversion page. No personal information about the identity of the user is disclosed. If you do not wish to participate in the tracking process, you can also reject the setting of a cookie required for this - for example, by changing your browser settings to generally deactivate the automatic setting of cookies. Further information on data protection and the cookies used by Microsoft Bing can be found on the Microsoft website: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement .

7.7 Outbrain

If you give your consent in the cookie preference pages for our website, we use the technology of the provider Outbrain UK Ltd. on our website, with which our users are referred to further content within our website and on third-party websites that may also be of interest to them. The further reading recommendations integrated by Outbrain, e.g. below an article, are determined on the basis of the content previously read by the user. Outbrain uses cookies to display this further interest-related content. To anonymise the IP address, the last octet of the IP address is removed to ensure full anonymisation. You can object to tracking by Outbrain to display interest-based recommendations at any time at https://my.outbrain.com/recommendations-settings/home.

7.8 Adform

If you give your consent in the cookie preference pages for our website, the technology of Adform A/S, DK is used on this website. This system uses cookies for tracking and controlling digital advertising campaigns. Adform does not store any personal data such as names, e-mail addresses or other personal details by setting cookies. All information is purely anonymised and contains technical information such as the frequency and date of display of advertisements, the browser used, or the operating system installed. It is not possible to draw any conclusions about your person. Since IP addresses are considered personal data in Germany, Adform never stores complete IP addresses in Germany, but truncates the last octet in order to comply with data protection regulations.

You can revoke your consent at any time. Use this link to do so: https://site.adform.com/privacy-policy-opt-out. This will store an opt-out cookie on your device, which signals to the technical systems that no further data may be measured and no cookies may be set in future.

7.9 Other cookies

Cookies are small text files that are usually placed on the PC by a website. Cookies fulfil a variety of purposes. However, they are never technically risky as they lack any «active» capability. This means that they cannot execute any malicious applications. They contain almost exclusively information that is necessary for convenient Internet use. We have also set ourselves a deadline for deleting cookies. Without your renewed consent, these are stored for a maximum of 12 months from the time they are first collected. To this end, we take technical precautions to ensure automatic deletion. Classic examples of the tasks of cookies: login data, saving the shopping basket, user analysis, form fields. Information that can be stored in cookies includes lifetime, server name, unique ID, content data.

Use of cookies:

Function
Functional or session cookies are purely technical cookies that are necessary for the proper functioning of our website.

All other cookies are only used if you have given your consent in the context of our Consent Manager default pages. We have structured these cookies as follows

Statistics
Statistics and tracking cookies are used to evaluate user behaviour when visiting our website - in a completely anonymised form, of course. This provides Meraxis and, where applicable, the data controller with valuable information on how the website is used, which enables Meraxis and, where applicable, the data controller to better tailor the website to the interests of visitors.
Marketing
In addition to our own cookies, we use third-party cookies to display personalised advertising on our and other websites. This process is called «retargeting». It is based on your activity on our website.
Other cookies
The plugins used on our website also use their own cookies. You can find out more about the types and purposes of cookies on the third-party providers' websites.

7.10 Consentmanager

We have integrated the consent management tool «consentmanager» (www.consentmanager.net) from Jaohawi AB, SWE on our website in order to request consent for data processing or the use of cookies or comparable functions. Consentmanager offers you the option of granting or rejecting your consent for certain functionalities in full or differentiated according to individual functions of our website. This applies, for example, to the integration of external elements or streaming content, statistical analysis, reach measurement or personalised advertising. You can also change the settings you have made at a later date. The purpose of integrating consentmanager is to allow the users of our website to decide on the aforementioned matters and to offer the option of changing settings that have already been made during the further use of our website. In the course of using consentmanager, personal data and information about the end devices used, such as the IP address, are processed.

The legal basis for the processing is Art. 6 I c i.V.m. Art. 6 I a in conjunction with. Art. 7 I GDPR and Art. 6 DSG (CH). By processing the data, consentmanager helps us (the controller under the GDPR) to fulfil our legal obligations (e.g. obligation to provide evidence). Our legitimate interests in the processing lie in the storage of user settings and preferences in relation to the use of cookies and other functionalities. Consentmanager stores your data for as long as your user settings are active. Two years after the user settings have been made, consent will be requested again. The user settings made will then be saved again for this period.

You can object to the processing. You have the right to object on grounds relating to your particular situation. To object, please send an email to info@consentmanager.net.

8. Data security

We have technical and organizational security procedures in place to maintain the security of your personal data and to protect your personal data against unauthorized or unlawful processing and/or against accidental loss, alteration, disclosure or access.

9. Your Rights

Compliance with data protection regulations is monitored by the following bodies, which anyone can contact:

Meraxis AG
Worbstrasse 50
3074 Muri b. Bern, Switzerland

Respresentative within the European Union:
Meraxis Services GmbH
Regnitzlosauer Straße 12
95111 Rehau, Germany

Contact details of the data protection officer:
Dr. Alexander Walter
Otto-Hahn-Straße 2
95111 Rehau, Germany
E-Mail: datenschutz@rehau.com

Name and address of the responsible body (lead company):
Meraxis AG
Worbstrasse 50
3074 Muri b. Bern, Switzerland

Contact details Meraxis:
Meraxis AG
Worbstrasse 50
3074 Muri b. Bern, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 31 950 3112
E-Mail: compliance@meraxis-group.com

The contact person is responsible for all Meraxis companies in an advisory capacity.

Data protection representative for Meraxis Services GmbH:
Dr. Alexander Walter
REHAU Industries SE & Co. KG
Rheniumhaus, Helmut-Wagner-Str. 1
95111 Rehau, Germany
Telephone: +49 9283 770
E-Mail: datenschutz@rehau.com

Lead supervisory authority within the meaning of Art. 56 GDPR:
Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht
Promenade 18
91522 Ansbach, Germany

Authorities and institutions:

Germany: Der Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit (BfDI)

Switzerland: Eidgenössischer Datenschutz- und Öffentlichkeitsbeauftragter (EDÖB)

European Union: Institutionen und Einrichtungen der EU

You also have the opportunity to check Meraxis' compliance with data protection regulations yourself. You have the following rights:

Right to information
Right to information about the data processed by you
Right to object For all processing operations based on Art. 6 I f GDPR (Art. 6 DSG (CH)) (see above), you can object to the processing for reasons that arise from your particular situation.
Right to object to direct advertising You have the right to object to the processing of your data for direct marketing purposes at any time. This also applies to profiling that is associated with such direct advertising.
Right to rectification, deletion and restriction
Right to data portability
Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

If you have any questions about these rights regarding the processing of your personal data, you can contact our data protection officer, who is also available in the event of requests for information, suggestions or complaints. Upon request, Meraxis will inform you as soon as possible in writing in accordance with applicable law whether and what personal data we have stored about you. If, despite our efforts to ensure that the data is correct and up-to-date, incorrect information is stored, we will correct it upon your request.