Data Privacy

The controller as per the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:

Mercedes-Benz Consulting GmbH („We“)
Esslinger Str. 1
70771 Leinfelden-Echterdingen
Deutschland
E-Mail: info@mercedes-benz-consulting.de

Data Protection Officer:
Chief Officer Corporate Data Protection Mercedes-Benz Group AG
HPC G353
70546 Stuttgart
Germany
E-Mail: data.protection@meredes-benz.com

Data Protection Coordinator:
Mercedes-Benz Consulting GmbH
Esslinger Straße 1
70771 Leinfelden-Echterdingen
Germany
Phone: +49 711 1770402
Fax: +49 711 1770403
E-Mail: data.protection@mercedes-benz-consulting.de

1. Data Protection

We appreciate you visiting our website and your interest in the products we offer. Protecting your personal data is very important to us. In this Privacy Policy, we explain how we collect your personal information, what we do with it, for what purposes and on what legal foundation we do so, and what rights you have on that basis. We will also refer you to Mercedes-Benz’s Data Protection Policy:

Mercedes-Benz Data Protection Policy.

Our Privacy Statement on the use of our websites and the Mercedes-Benz Data Protection Policy do not apply to your activities on the websites of social networks or other providers that can be accessed using the links on our websites. Please read the data protection provisions on the websites of those providers.

2. Collecting and processing your personal data

a. Whenever you visit our websites, we store certain information about the browser and operating system you are using; the date and time of your visit; the status of the interaction (e.g. whether you were able to access the website or received an error message); the usage of features on the website; any search phrases you entered; how often you visit individual websites; the names of the files you access; the amount of data transferred; the Web page from which you accessed our website; and the Web page you visited after visiting our website, whether by clicking links on our websites or entering a domain directly into the input field of the same tab (or window) of the browser in which you have our websites open. In addition, we store your IP address and the name of your Internet service provider for seven days. This is for security reasons; in particular, to prevent and detect attacks on our websites or attempts at fraud.

b. We only process other personal data if you provide this data, e.g. as part of a registration, contact form, chat, survey, price competition or for the execution of a contract, and even in these cases only insofar as this is permitted to us on the basis of a consent (including consent to international data transfer, see section 12) given by you or in accordance with the applicable legal provisions (see section 7).

c. You are neither legally nor contractually obligated to share your personal information. However, certain features of our websites may depend on the sharing or personal information. If you do not provide your personal information in such cases, you may not be able to use those features, or they may be available with limited functionality.

3. Purpose of use

a. We use the personal information collected during your visit to any of our websites to make using them as convenient as possible for you and to protect our IT systems against attacks and other unlawful activities.

b. If you share additional information with us – for example, by filling out a registration form, contact form, chat, survey, contest entry or to execute a contract with you – we will use that information for the designated purposes, purposes of customer management and – if required – for purposes of processing and billing and business transactions within the required scope in each instance.

c. For other purposes (e.g. display of personalized content or advertising based on your usage behaviour), we and, if applicable, selected third parties, use your personal data if and to the extent you give your consent through our consent management system. You will find further information and decision-making options here.

d. In addition, we use personal data to the extent that we are legally obliged to do so (e.g., storage for the fulfilment of commercial or tax-related retention obligations, release in accordance with official or judicial orders, e.g. to a law enforcement authority).

4. Transfer of Personal Information to Third Parties; Social Plugins; Use of Service Providers

a. Our websites may also contain an offer of third parties. If you click on such an offer, we transfer data to the respective provider to the required extent (e.g. information that you have found this offer with us and, if applicable, further information that you have already provided on our websites for this purpose).

b. When we use social plug-ins on our websites from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, we integrate them as follows:

When you visit our websites, the social plug-ins are deactivated, i.e. no data is transmitted to the operators of these networks. If you want to use one of the networks, click on the respective social plug-in to establish a direct connection to the server of the respective network.

If you have a user account on the network and are logged in when you activate the social plug-in, the network can associate your visit to our websites with your user account. If you want to avoid this, please log out of the network before activating the social plug-in. A social network cannot associate a visit to other Mercedes-Benz websites until you have activated an existing social plug-in.

When you activate a social plug-in, the network transfers the content that becomes available directly to your browser, which integrates it into our websites. In this situation, data transmissions can also take place that are initiated and controlled by the respective social network. Your connection to a social network, the data transfers taking place between the network and your system, and your interactions on that platform are governed solely by the privacy policies of that network.

The social plug-in remains active until you deactivate it or delete your cookies (see section 5.d).

c. If you click on the link to an offer or activate a social plug-in, personal data may reach providers in countries outside the European Economic Area that, from the point of view of the European Union (“EU”), may not guarantee an “adequate level of protection” for the processing of personal data in accordance with EU standards. Please remember this fact before clicking on a link or activating a social plug-in and thereby triggering a transfer of your data.

d. We also use qualified service providers (e.g., IT service providers, marketing agencies) to operate, optimize and secure our websites. We only pass on personal data to the latter insofar as this is necessary for the provision and use of the website and its functionalities, for the pursuit of legitimate interests, to comply with legal obligations, or insofar as you have consented there to (see section 7). You will find more information regarding recipients of personal data in our consent management system.

5. Cookies

a. Cookies may be used when you are visiting our websites. Technically, these are so-called HTML cookies and similar software tools such as Web/DOM Storage or Local Shared Objects (so-called “Flash cookies”), which we collectively refer to as cookies.

b. Cookies are small files that are stored, and later read out, on your desktop, notebook or mobile device while you visit a website. Cookies make it possible, for example, to determine whether there has already been a connection between the device and the websites; take into account your preferred language or other settings, offer you certain certain functions (e.g. online shop, vehicle configurator) or recognize your usage-based interests. Cookies may also contain personal data.

c. Whether and which cookies are used when you visit our websites depends on which areas and functions of our websites you use and whether you agree to the use of cookies that are not strictly, typically for technical reasons, required in our Consent Management System. You will find further information and decision-making options here.

d. The use of cookies also depends on the settings of the web browser you are using (e.g., Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox). Most web browsers are preset to automatically accept certain types of cookies; however, you can usually change this setting. You can delete stored cookies at any time. Web/DOM storage and local shared objects can be deleted separately. You can find out how this works in the browser or device you are using in the manual of the learner.

e.The consent to, and rejection or deletion of, cookies are tied to the device and also to the respective web browser you use. If you use multiple devices or web browsers, you can make decisions or settings differently.

f. If you decide against the use of cookies or delete them, you may not have access to all functions of our websites or individual functions may be limited.

6. Security

We take technical and organizational security measures in order to protect your information managed by us from being tampered with, lost, destroyed or accessed by authorized individuals. We are continuously improving our security measures in line with technological advancements.

7. Legal Foundations for Data Processing

a. If you have given us your consent to process your personal information, then that is the legal foundation for processing it (Art. 6, para. 1, letter a, of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR). Regarding consent to transfer of data to recipients outside of the European Economic Area (Art. 49 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR), please refer to section 12.

b. Art. 6, para. 1, letter b, of the GDPR is the legal basis for processing personal information for the purpose of entering into a contract or performing a contract with you.

c. If processing your personal information is required to fulfill our legal obligations (e.g. data retention), we are authorized to do so by Art. 6, para. 2, letter c, of the GDPR.

d. Furthermore, we process personal information for purposes of protecting our legitimate interests as well as the interests of third parties in accordance with Art. 6, para. 1, letter f of the GDPR. Examples of such legitimate interests include maintaining the functionality of our IT systems as well as the (direct) marketing of our products and services (to the extent not covered by your consent) and those of third parties and the legally required documentation of business contacts. As part of the consideration of interests required in each case, we take into account various aspects, in particular the type of personal information, the purpose of processing, the circumstances of processing and your interest in the confidentiality of your personal information.

8. Deleting your personal data

Your IP address and the name of your Internet service provider, which we store for security reasons, are deleted after seven days. Moreover, we delete your personal information as soon as the purpose for which it was collected and processed has been fulfilled. Beyond this time period, data storage only takes place to the extent made necessary by the legislation, regulations or other legal provisions to which we are subject in the EU or by legal provisions in third-party countries if these have an appropriate level of data protection. Should it not be possible to delete data in individual cases, the relevant personal data are flagged to restrict their further processing.

9. Rights of the Data Subject

a. As a data subject affected by data processing, you have the right to information (Section 15 GDPR), Correction (Section 16 GDPR), Deletion (Section 17 GDPR), Restricted processing (Section18 GDPR) and Data Transferability (Section 20 GDPR).

b. If you have consented to the processing of your personal information by us, you have the right to revoke your consent at any time. Your revocation does not affect the legality of the processing of your personal information that took place before your consent was revoked. It also has no effect on the continued processing of the information on another legal basis, such as to fulfill legal obligations (see section titled “Legal Foundation of Data Processing”).

d. We ask you to address your claims or declarations to the following contact address if possible: data.protection@mercedes-benz-consulting.de.

e. If you believe that the processing of your personal data violates legal requirements, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR).

10. Newsletter

If you subscribe to a newsletter offered on our website, the information provided during registration for the newsletter will be used solely for the purpose of mailing the newsletter unless you consent to its use for additional purposes. You may cancel the subscription at any time by using the option to unsubscribe contained in the newsletter.

11. Mercedes-Benz Group AG’s Central Registration Service

With the Central Registration Service offered by Mercedes-Benz Group AG, you can sign up for every website and application belonging to the Mercedes-Benz Group and its brands that are connected to the service. The applicable terms of use contain specific data protection provisions. Those terms of use can be found on the registration pages of affiliated websites and applications.

12. Data transmission to recipients outside the European Economic Area

a. When using service providers (see section 4. d.) and passing on data to third parties based on you consent (see section 3.c.), personal data may be provided to recipients in countries outside the European Union (“EU”), Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (= European Economic Area) are transferred and processed there, in particular USA, India.

b. In the following countries, from the EU’s point of view, there is an adequate level of personal data protection (so-called “adequacy”), in compliance with EU standards: Andorra, Argentina, Canada (limited), Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland, South Korea, United Kingdom, Uruguay. We agree with recipients in other countries on the use of EU standard contractual clauses, binding corporate rules or other applicable instruments (if any) to create an “adequate level of protection” according to legal requirements. For more information, please use the contact details given in section 9.d. above.

To the extent that you consent within our Consent Management System, you also consent to the transfer of data to recipients in countries outside of the European Economic Area in which no “adequate level of protection” exists. You may find information on data transferred, data recipients or categories of data recipients, and the relevant countries in our Consent Management System under “Cookie Settings” in the footer at the bottom of the website. Data protection law in these countries may not be fully comparable to that in the European Economic Area (e. g., regarding data subject rights, see section 9 above), no data protection authorities and/or no comparable options to oppose data protection violations. Among other things, public bodies (e. g., authorities) in these countries potentially may have easier access to data processed there and use such data for other purposes than in the European Economic Area. These circumstances may only partially be compensated through specific measures.

Last update: April 2022