You and your cookies.

Hereinafter we set out our intended purposes for the usage of cookies and similar technologies on our websites. Additionally we offer options for consent management to withdraw your consent at any time or to reject the usage.

What are cookies?

Cookies, and web storage technologies such as local storage and session storage (“cookies”), make your interaction on our sites easier and smoother – with no extra effort on your part. For example, they are small text files that are downloaded by your internet browser to your device when you visit our websites. While you interact with our websites, technologies from third-party providers such as scripts, pixels and tags, which we integrate on our websites for advertising purposes, also set cookies on your device. In the following sections, you will find information and specific details in the corresponding lists regarding what we use these technologies for, and how you can change your settings to suit your requirements.

How cookies help us to help you.

Seamless experience.

Cookies do a lot of different jobs which help making to make your online experience much smoother and more interactive. This assumes, however, that you are using the same device and the same browser as before. Some specific cookies are essential for running and maintaining our websites and they enable us to:

Provide you with 24/7 access to the services you have requested
Give you consistent and accurate information
Ensure you enjoy a seamless and comfortable experience

Recognition and response.

Cookies enable us to improve our websites by looking at how our visitors use them. We analyse what content is popular and draw conclusions about what else they might be interested in or find useful. This helps us to:

Understand how visitors use our sites so we can make them better and enhance the experience
Try out different ideas and display content that is most relevant to individual visitors

Continuous improvement.

Cookies enable us to improve our website by looking at how our visitors use it. We analyse what content is popular and draw conclusions about what else they might be interested in or find useful. This helps us to:

Understand how visitors use the website so we can make it better and enhance their experience
Try out different ideas and display content that is most relevant to individidual visitors

Advertising and retargeting.

Our websites may use advertising and targeting cookies for retargeting purposes. These cookies store information from your browsing history to record your interests and your browsing journey on our sites. This enables us or our partners to:

Target advertising of our services to you on other websites, based on your visits to our sites
Match and combine more relevant information with targeted information so that our online advertisements you see are genuinely relevant to you and your interests.

Categories of cookies.

Data processings and corresponding cookies are used on our websites. We divide data processing into various categories depending on its function and purpose. The usage of categories is described and can be managed below. Within each category, any data processing that may be used is listed including the cookies it generally uses.

In detail.

What do you need to know about cookies?

Cookies help to provide a better and faster experience. A cookie is a small text file that stores Internet settings. Almost every website uses cookie technology. The cookie is downloaded by your internet browser the first time you visit a website. The next time you visit this website on the same device, the website that originally triggered the setting of the cookie then recognises that you have been here before, and in some cases, it tailors what appears on screen to take account of that fact. In this way, it can be made more relevant to your personal interests and needs.
Cookies referred to below are synonymous with HTML5 Session Web Storages and HTML5 Local Web Storages.

First-party cookies.

First-party cookies are cookies that we deploy on the website that you are currently visiting and those with which you will interact when you continue your journey on our websites.

Third-party cookies.

Our websites may also contain content from other websites which may deploy their own cookies. These cookies are set by someone other than the owner of the website you’re visiting. Such third-party providers can set cookies while you are visiting our websites and thus receive information such as the fact that you have loaded one of our websites. Please visit the websites of third-party providers to obtain further information on how they use cookies. You can find information about the respective third-party controlling such a third-party cookie in the detailed description above. You can reject or withdraw your consent to third-party cookies at any time by using the corresponding functionality on our websites. If you object to all third-party cookies, you will only be provided with those functionalities on our websites which we can guarantee will work without these cookies. Sections of our website that potentially have the technical means to incorporate third-party contents and thus set third-party cookies will in this case not be available to you. You will be informed about this by a corresponding notice. If you still wish to use the content of the website in such a case, this will only be possible if you agree to the use of cookies that are subject to consent. To do so, please use the function provided in the relevant position on our websites to give your consent. For more details, please refer to the list of cookies which details all integrated 3third-party codes (e.g. tags/scripts/pixels).

What happens if you reject cookies?

If you decide to reject cookies that require consent, we will accept your decision and not use such cookies. If you decide to withdraw your consent, we ensure that your withdrawal is respected when you visit a subsequent webpage and hence we will no longer deploy cookies which were active based on our genuine and legitimate interest when you initially visited our website nor cookies that require consent. We will delete them whenever this is technically possible and if they are first-party cookies. This means, however, that in the case of functional cookies, you will not be able to take advantage of all the features and functionality of our websites. Similarly, it is possible for you to object to performance cookies. Doing this, however, it prevents us from being able to learn what you like or don’t like about our website so that we can make it better. Please note that we cannot delete third-party cookies. If you wish to delete all third-party cookies, you need do this in your browser settings. Please note that if you want to withdraw your consent to cookies for marketing purposes, this does not mean that you will see less advertising. It just means that the advertising you see will not be as customised to your needs.

Managing your browser’s cookies.

You can manage (enable/disable and delete) the cookie settings on our websites via the functionalities above but also by altering your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to manage your cookies by either accepting or rejecting all cookies or accepting only certain types of cookies. The procedure for managing and deleting cookies can be found in your browser’s integrated help function. It is important to note that if you change your settings and block certain cookies, you might not be able to take full advantage of some features of our sites, and we might not be able to provide some content you have previously seen or used."