Privacy policy

We use this privacy policy to inform you about what personal data we collect when you use the online platform Ambista and the purposes for which these data are used.

Ambista is a B2B network that enables market participants in the furniture and interior design sector to find and cultivate business contacts in your sector within a closed communication and contact portal.

1. Data controller / contact

a. The data controller responsible under the German Federal Data Protection Act is

Koelnmesse GmbH
Messeplatz 1
50679 Köln
Germany

b. Data Protection Officer

Koelnmesse GmbH
Data protection officer
Messeplatz 1
50679 Köln
Germany
e-mail: datenschutz-km@koelnmesse.de

2. Subject of the data protection

Personal data in the sense of this privacy policy are any individual information relating to your personal or material circumstances. This includes in particular your name, your e-mail address and your telephone number.

Personal data in the sense of this privacy policy also includes information about your use of our website (“access data”). In addition to the access data, personal data are only stored by us when you freely provide us with this information, e.g. in the context of placing your online order. Personal data are also only processed to the extent necessary and only for the purposes to which you have given consent or for legally permissible purposes.

This website uses SSL encryption for reasons of security and the protection of your personal data and additional confidential content (e.g. in the context of orders or enquiries).

3. Collection and use of your data

3.1 Collection of access data

When you access our website, your terminal automatically transfers data for technical reasons. The following data are stored separately from other data that you may possibly transmit to us:

•    IP address
•    the user tool (i.e. web browser, operating system) you have used to access the site
•    the action that you carried out on our website
•    the term you used in the search engines and in the site search and the search result
•    whether a site was successfully accessed or not
•    what information was called up (incl. downloads)
•    from which server you accessed the website and the website from which you reached the current website

The handling of your personal data for the purposes of providing this website and of communicating via this website are carried out on the basis of our legitimate interest pursuant to Article 6 (1) (f) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It is technically necessary for us to process specific personal data (e.g. IP address) in order to provide this website. However, the data are not stored.

In the context of the necessary balancing of interests we have balanced your interest in the respective privacy of your personal data and our interest in the provision of this website with one another. Your interest in privacy is outweighed in both cases. If this were not the case, we would be unable to provide this website or to react to your order query.

3.2 Customer registration (login)

Insofar as you as a company have decided to use Ambista, we offer you the possibility, subject to your registering with us, of using the following functions to their full extent:

i.    Community:
The Community area offers market participants in the furniture and interior design sector the possibility of creating a company profile during the registration process (login). In addition, articles can be posted and provided with comments.

ii.    Content
The Content area consists of a magazine with the current trends in the furnishing sector and a newsletter.

iii.    Product:
The Product area consists of a search function to search for products, a platform for product presentation (including naming categories) and a marketplace.

iv.    Online shop:
The Shop area offers companies the possibility to purchase business packages for the improved presentation of their goods and services.    

With the provision of your login information, you declare your consent to the storage of your data and its processing for the purpose of fulfilling the contract (Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR and Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR). Which personal data are transferred to the party responsible for the processing is determined by the respective data entry dialogues, which are used for the login process.

Registered persons have the possibility of changing the personal data provided during the process of registration or, subject to the exemptions in Item 3.5, of obtaining its complete erasure from the pool of data stored by the party responsible for the processing.

3.3 Transfer of data

The data are transferred to external service providers for the purpose of fulfilling the contract. These are service providers who have been commissioned with the maintenance, development and technical support of the website. In addition, there is an interface to the ticket shop, which is operated with the involvement of a third-party provider.

If you use the translation service of DeepL GmbH, Im Mediapark 8a, 50670 Cologne, which is integrated on the pages of ambista and you find personal data in the text to be translated, these will also be transmitted to DeepL GmbH within the scope of the translation. You can view DeepL GmbH's data protection notice here: https://www.deepl.com/privacy.html

In addition, we enable you to pay for the selected purchasable Business Package by credit card or direct debit procedure when purchasing it from our online shop. This service is operated with the involvement of the payment service provider BS PAYONE GmbH (Lyoner Straße 9, 60528 Frankfurt/Main, Germany). The data necessary for this purpose are embedded directly in the payment service provider’s form and are transferred to said provider. You expressly consent to the transfer of your personal data (given and family name, address, purchase price) and the restriction of the purpose for which this data can be used to the carrying out of the payment process.
This consent can be withdrawn with future effect at any time by contacting BS PAYONE.

3.4 Duration of the storage

The login data are deleted as soon as they are no longer required for the fulfilment of the purpose for which they were collected. This is the case where the user deletes his or her profile or requests the deletion via Support. Furthermore, the confirmation link that forms part of the registration process, including the information you have provided, remains valid for a period of 9 days.

Insofar as a contractual or legal retention obligation exists, the personal data are also stored to the extent necessary after the deletion of the profile.

3.5 Possibility of objection and erasure

If the data are required for the fulfilment of a contract or the carrying out of pre-contractual measures, a premature erasure of the data is only possible insofar as it is not opposed by a contractual or legal obligation.

4. Cookies

We employ “cookies” on various pages in order to make your visit to our website appealing and allow you to use certain functions. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your terminal. Some of the cookies we use are deleted when you end your browser-session, i.e. you close your browser (“session cookies”). Other cookies remain on your terminal and enable us or our partner companies (cookies from third parties) to recognize your browser again the next time you visit (persistent cookies). If cookies are stored, they collect and store an individual scope of specific user information such as browser and location data and IP address values. Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a preset time. This time can differ, depending on the cookie.
Insofar as individual cookies implemented by us also process personal data, the processing takes place under Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR for the purposes of our legitimate interest in the best-possible functioning of the website and of a customer-friendly and effective structuring of the visit to the page.

Please note that you can set your browser in such a way that it tells you when cookies are placed so that you can reject them in general, accept them under certain conditions, or decide on a case by case basis if you wish to accept them. Every browser differs in the way it administers the cookie settings. This is described in the help menu of every browser, which explains how you can change your cookie settings. You can find these for your respective browser under the following links.

Internet Explorer: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-vista/Block-or-allow-cookies
Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en&hlrm=en
Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/manage-cookies-and-website-data-sfri11471/mac
Opera: https://help.opera.com/en/latest/web-preferences/

Please note that non-acceptance of cookies may limit the functionality of our website.

4.1. Tools for website analysis

Google Analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics, a Web analysis service from Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files that are stored on your computer and make it possible to analyse how you are using the website. The information created by the cookie concerning your use of this website is normally transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. In the event of the activation of IP anonymization on this website, your IP address is, however, shortened by Google within the member states of the European Union or in other states that are signatories of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases is the complete IP address transferred to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. Google uses this information at the request of, and on behalf of, the operator of this website to evaluate your use of the website, to create reports on the website activities, and to provide the website’s operator with additional services connected with the use of the website and the Internet. The IP address that is transferred by your browser as part of the operation of Google Analytics is not combined with any other information.

You can prevent the storage of the cookies by carrying out a corresponding setting in your browser software; however, we expressly inform you that in this case you may not be able to use the full scope of all of the features of this website. In addition, you can disable the cookie’s collection of the data it has created concerning your use of this website (including your IP address) to Google and the processing of this data by Google if you download and install the browser plugin that is available under the following link: (http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en)

You can prevent recording by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. This results in the setting of an opt-out cookie that prevents the future recording of your data when you visit this website. Activate Google Analytics Opt-out
Further information on the terms of use and privacy policy is available at www.google.com/analytics/terms/en.html and at https://policies.google.com/?hl=en&gl=de.

The use of Google Analytics takes place on the basis of our legitimate interest in a needs-based design, the statistical evaluation and the efficient promotion of our website and the fact that your legitimate interests are not overriding pursuant to Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a solution that enables us to manage various website tags using a single interface. The Tool Tag Manager itself (which implements the tags) is a cookie-free domain and does not collect any personal information. The tool triggers other tags which could themselves collect data. Google Tag Manager does not access these data. If deactivation has been carried out at domain or cookie level, this remains in force for all tracking tags that have been implemented using Google Tag Manager.

4.2 Tools for the purposes of marketing and optimization

Use of Google AdWords and Remarketing

We also place advertisements using Google AdWords, in order to draw attention to our services outside the display network. The corresponding advertisements are displayed by Google after a search query on the part of the user.

Cookies are subsequently used to help register on our website how many users reached our website via one of our advertisements. The anonymous statistics that we gain from this process enable us to optimize our advertisements. The cookie is stored with the click on an advertisement.

We also use Google Analytics for the statistical evaluation of the data from AdWords. The storage of the cookies can be prevented using the settings of your browser. In this case your visit to our website also does not appear in the anonymous user statistics.

You will find further information about how Google uses your data in Google’s Privacy Policy under https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ and under https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

You can permanently deactivate the use of cookies for personalized advertising by Google by downloading and installing the corresponding plugin provided under the following link: https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996?hl=en.

The use of Google AdWords and Remarketing takes place on the basis of our legitimate interest in the efficient promotion of our website, the success monitoring of our advertisements and the fact that your legitimate interests are not overriding pursuant to Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

Facebook Conversion Pixel

We use the “Facebook Pixel” provided by the company Facebook (for EU: Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland; International: Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA). This is a small invisible pixel which establishes a connection to Facebook servers when visiting our website. In the process personal data such as the IP address and further information such as browser type / version, operating system used, the page you visited previously, the hostname of the accessing terminal, the IP address and time of the query can be transferred. This enables Facebook to identify the visitors to our website and to show targeted advertising to the users who are interested in our website. In addition, with the help of the Facebook Pixel we can verify the effectiveness of our Facebook advertising.

As soon as data are processed outside the EEA, where the level of data protection does not correspond to the European standard, the processing takes place on the basis of the EU-US Privacy Shield: https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC

You will find the privacy policy of Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

You can object to the collection of data by the Facebook Pixel and the use of your data here: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads.

LinkedIn Insight Tag

We also use the 'LinkedIn Insight Tag' at our website. This is a conversion and retargeting tool of the LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland. This tool allows us to receive information about the use of our website, in order to be able to show you appropriately matched advertisements on LinkedIn. There is also a possibility to create anonymous reports on the effectiveness of the advertisements and website interaction, which we are provided by LinkedIn in the context of anonymised reports. A cookie is placed in your browser for this function. The collected data are encoded, anonymised within seven days and the anonymised data deleted within a period of 90 days. The legal basis for the processing of personal data is Art. 6, Par. 1 lit. f GDPR. In the process, our justified interest in an effective advertising and marketing campaign takes priority. In the data protection guidelines of LinkedIn, you will find further information on data collection and usage, as well as on your possibilities and rights with regard to the protection of your privacy. You can deactivate LinkedIn Insight with opt-out under the following link: www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-out

YouTube

Our websites make use of the video service “YouTube” of the YouTube LLC to optimize your user experience. In the process, YouTube LLC makes use of cookies in order to analyse your user behaviour and to present you with targeted advertising. To this end, YouTube LLC collects your use data and processes it in the USA.

As part of the extended data protection mode, a cookie is first placed on your terminal when the video is played. If you wish to ensure that no personal data are collected and processed by YouTube, please do not click on the embedded videos.

YouTube LLC — a subsidiary of Google LLC — is certified under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (which can be viewed under this link), so that the maintenance of an appropriate level of data protection is guaranteed when your personal data are processed in the USA.
Further information on how YouTube LLC processes your data can be found at: www.youtube.com/t/privacy_at_youtube.

5. Making new contacts

Personal data are collected as part of the process of making contact with us (e.g. via e-mail). These data are stored and used exclusively for the purpose of answering your enquiry and/or for the purpose of establishing contact and the associated technical administration. The legal basis of the data processing is our legitimate interest in the answering of your query pursuant to Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR. If the purpose of your contacting us is to conclude a contract, then an additional legal basis for the processing is provided by Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR. Your data are deleted after completion of the processing of your enquiry, this is the case when it is evident from the circumstances that the situation in question has finally been resolved and insofar as there are no legal retention obligations preventing such deletion.

6. Newsletter

It is possible to subscribe to a free newsletter. Here the data are transferred to us from the data entry dialogue during the process of registering to receive the newsletter.

Your consent to the processing of the data is obtained during this registration process and you are referred to this privacy policy. The legal basis for the processing of the data after the user’s registration to receive the newsletter is the existence of the consent by the user pursuant to Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR. The collection of the user’s e-mail address is to enable delivery of the newsletter. The collection of other personal data in the context of the registration process is to prevent a misuse of the service or of the e-mail address used.

The user’s data are stored for as long as the subscription to the newsletter is active. We use an external service provider for the technical dispatch of the newsletter (currently Mailingwork).
The subscription to the newsletter can be cancelled by the affected user at any time. A link is provided for this purpose in every newsletter. Alternatively you can send an informal message to support@ambista.com.

7. Your rights as an affected individual

7.1 Right to information

Pursuant to Article 15 GDPR, you have the right to request us at any time to provide you with information concerning personal data relating to you that we process. You can make this request by sending a postal letter or e-mail to the above address.

7.2 Right to rectification of incorrect data

You have the right to request us to immediately rectify your personal data if they are inaccurate. To do so, please contact the above addresses.

7.3 Right to erasure

You have the right to obtain from us the erasure of your personal data on the grounds described in Article 17 GDPR. These grounds especially give you the right to erasure if the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed, if the personal data have been unlawfully processed, if we have received an objection to the processing, or the personal data have to be erased in compliance with a legal obligation in Union or Member State law to which Koelnmesse is subject. To exercise the aforementioned right, please contact the above addresses.

7.4 Right to restriction of processing

You have the right to request us to restrict processing pursuant to Article 18 GDPR. This right applies, in particular, to the following cases: When the accuracy of the personal data is contested between the user and ourselves, for a period enabling us to verify the accuracy of the personal data; the user has an existing right to erasure but opposes the erasure of the personal data and requests the restriction of their use instead; the data are no longer needed for our purposes, but they are required by the user for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; the user has objected to processing pending the verification whether our legitimate grounds override those of the user. To exercise the aforementioned right, please contact the above addresses.

7.5 Right to data portability

You have the right to receive the personal data concerning yourself, which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format pursuant to Article 20 GDPR. To exercise the aforementioned right, please contact the above addresses.

7.6 Right to object

Pursuant to Article 21 GDPR, you have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, at any time to processing of personal data concerning yourself which is based on point (e) or (f) of Article 6 (1) GDPR. In that case, we shall no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

7.7 Right of appeal

If you have a complaint, you also have the right to appeal to the responsible regulatory authority. The responsible regulatory authority is:

Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit
Nordrhein-Westfalen
Postfach 20 04 44
40102 Düsseldorf, Germany
Tel.: +49 211/38424-0
fax: +49 211/38424-10
e-mail: poststelle@ldi.nrw.de

8. Changes to this privacy policy

The current version of this privacy policy can always be called up under “Data Protection”. Status: May 2018