1) Introduction and contact details of the controller
1.1 We are pleased that you are visiting our website and thank you for your interest. Below, we inform you about the handling of your personal data when using our website. Personal data refers to any data that can be used to personally identify you.
1.2 The party responsible for data processing on this website within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is Özgür Balaban, Helfano, Johann-Appler-Straße 16, 91126 Schwabach, Deutschland, Tel.: +49 173 9989331, E-Mail: info@helfano.de. The controller responsible for the processing of personal data is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.
2) Data collection when visiting our website
2.1 When using our website for purely informational purposes—i.e., if you do not register or otherwise transmit information to us—we only collect the data that your browser transmits to the server (so-called "server log files"). When you access our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display the website to you:
- The specific page of our website visited
- Date and time of access
- Volume of data transmitted in bytes
- Source/reference from which you arrived at the page
- Browser used
- Operating system used
- IP address used (if applicable: in anonymized form)
Processing is carried out in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR based on our legitimate interest in improving the stability and functionality of our website. The data is not passed on or used in any other way. However, we reserve the right to subsequently check the server log files should concrete evidence point to unlawful use.
2.2 For security reasons and to protect the transmission of personal data and other confidential content (e.g., orders or inquiries sent to the data controller), this website uses SSL or TLS encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the character string "https://" and the lock symbol in your browser bar.
3) Hosting & Content Delivery Network
To host our website and display its content, we use a provider that delivers its services—either directly or through selected subcontractors—exclusively on servers located within the European Union.
All data collected on our website is processed on these servers.
We have entered into a data processing agreement with the provider that ensures the protection of our site visitors' data and prohibits unauthorized disclosure to third parties.
4) Contacting Us
4.1 WhatsApp Business
You have the option to contact us via the WhatsApp messaging service provided by WhatsApp Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland. For this purpose, we use the so-called "Business version" of WhatsApp.
If you contact us via WhatsApp regarding a specific transaction (such as an order you have placed), we store and use the mobile number you use on WhatsApp—as well as your first and last name, if provided—in accordance with Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR to process and respond to your inquiry. Based on the same legal basis, we may ask you via WhatsApp to provide additional data (order number, customer number, address, or email address) so that we can link your inquiry to a specific transaction.
If you use our WhatsApp contact for general inquiries (such as regarding our range of services, availability, or our website), we store and use the mobile number you use on WhatsApp as well as—if provided—your first and last name, in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, based on our legitimate interest in efficiently and promptly providing the requested information.
Your data is used solely to respond to your inquiry via WhatsApp. It is not shared with third parties.
Please note that WhatsApp Business accesses the address book of the mobile device we use for this purpose and automatically transmits phone numbers stored in that address book to a server belonging to the parent company, Meta Platforms Inc., in the USA. For the operation of our WhatsApp Business account, we use a mobile device whose address book stores only the WhatsApp contact details of users who have initiated contact with us via WhatsApp.
This ensures that every person whose WhatsApp contact details are stored in our address book has already consented—upon first using the app on their device and accepting the WhatsApp Terms of Service—to the transmission of their WhatsApp phone number from the address books of their chat contacts, in accordance with Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. Consequently, the transmission of data regarding users who do not use WhatsApp and/or have not contacted us via WhatsApp is excluded.
For information regarding the purpose and scope of data collection, the further processing and use of data by WhatsApp, and your rights and privacy settings in this regard, please consult WhatsApp’s privacy policy: https://www.whatsapp.com
We have entered into a data processing agreement with the provider that protects our site visitors' data and prohibits disclosure to third parties.
As part of the processing operations mentioned above, data may be transmitted to servers operated by Meta Platforms Inc. in the USA.
For data transfers to the USA, the provider has joined the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which ensures compliance with the European level of data protection based on an adequacy decision by the European Commission.
4.2 When you contact us (e.g., via contact form or e-mail), personal data is processed—exclusively for the purpose of handling and responding to your inquiry and only to the extent necessary for that purpose.
The legal basis for processing this data is our legitimate interest in responding to your inquiry pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. If your contact aims to conclude a contract, an additional legal basis for processing is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. Your data will be deleted when the circumstances indicate that the matter in question has been conclusively resolved, provided there are no statutory retention obligations to the contrary.
5) Tools and Other Items
5.1 Finom
We use the cloud-based accounting software service provided by the following company to handle our accounting: PNL Fintech B.V., Jachthavenweg 109H, 1081KM Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The provider processes incoming and outgoing invoices as well as, where applicable, our company’s bank transactions in order to automatically record invoices, match them to transactions, and generate financial accounting records through a semi-automated process.
To the extent that personal data is processed in this context, such processing is based on our legitimate interest in the efficient organization and documentation of our business operations pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.
5.2 Lexware Office
We use the cloud-based accounting software service provided by the following company to handle our accounting: Haufe-Lexware GmbH & Co. KG, Munzinger Straße 9, 79111 Freiburg, Deutschland
The provider processes incoming and outgoing invoices as well as, where applicable, our company’s bank transactions in order to automatically record invoices, match them to transactions, and generate financial accounting records through a semi-automated process.
To the extent that personal data is processed in this context, such processing is based on our legitimate interest in the efficient organization and documentation of our business operations pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.
6) Rights of the data subject
6.1 Applicable data protection law grants you the following data subject rights (rights of access and intervention) vis-à-vis the controller regarding the processing of your personal data; please refer to the cited legal basis for the respective conditions for exercising these rights:
- Right of access pursuant to Art. 15 GDPR;
- Right to rectification pursuant to Art. 16 GDPR;
- Right to erasure pursuant to Art. 17 GDPR;
- Right to restriction of processing pursuant to Art. 18 GDPR;
- Right to be informed pursuant to Art. 19 GDPR;
- Right to data portability pursuant to Art. 20 GDPR;
- Right to withdraw consent pursuant to Art. 7(3) GDPR;
- Right to lodge a complaint pursuant to Art. 77 GDPR.
6.2 RIGHT TO OBJECT
WHERE WE PROCESS YOUR PERSONAL DATA BASED ON OUR OVERRIDING LEGITIMATE INTEREST WITHIN THE SCOPE OF A BALANCING OF INTERESTS, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OBJECT TO SUCH PROCESSING AT ANY TIME ON GROUNDS RELATING TO YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, WITH EFFECT FOR THE FUTURE.
IF YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO OBJECT, WE WILL CEASE PROCESSING THE DATA CONCERNED. However, we reserve the right to continue processing if we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, fundamental rights, and fundamental freedoms, or if the processing serves the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.
If your personal data is processed by us for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object at any time to the processing of personal data concerning you for such marketing. You may exercise this right to object as described above.
If you exercise your right to object, we will cease processing the data concerned for direct marketing purposes.
7) Duration of storage of personal data
The duration of the storage of personal data is determined by the respective legal basis, the purpose of processing, and—where applicable—any relevant statutory retention periods (e.g., retention periods under commercial and tax law).
When personal data is processed based on express consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, the data concerned is stored until you withdraw your consent.
Where statutory retention periods apply to data processed in the context of contractual or quasi-contractual obligations pursuant to Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, such data are routinely deleted after the retention periods expire, provided they are no longer required for the performance or initiation of the contract and/or we no longer have a legitimate interest in their continued storage.
Where personal data are processed pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, such data are stored until you exercise your right to object under Art. 21(1) GDPR, unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or the processing serves the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.
Where personal data are processed for the purpose of direct marketing pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, such data are stored until you exercise your right to object under Art. 21(2) GDPR.
Unless otherwise stated in the other sections of this notice regarding specific processing situations, stored personal data are otherwise deleted when they are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed.
