Privacy policy

Data Privacy Policy

The following text provides information on the collection of personal data when you use our website. The term personal data applies to all data that can be personally linked to you as a user, for example your name, address, e-mail addresses and information on your user behaviour.

General Information on the Collection of Personal Data

(1) The Controller in accordance with Article 4 paragraph 7 of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the company Wolfsburg AG, Major-Hirst-Strasse 11, 38442 Wolfsburg, Germany; telephone: +49 5361 8970; e-mail: kommunikation@wolfsburg-ag.com; website: www.wolfsburg-ag.com (please also refer to our Legal Notice). You can contact our Data Protection Officer at datenschutz@wolfsburg-ag.com or via our postal address (see above) with the recipient “Datenschutzbeauftragter” (Data Protection Officer).

(2) We generally only process the personal data of our users insofar as this is required in order to provide a fully functioning website together with our content and services. The processing of the personal data of our users only takes place on a regular basis after consent has been granted by the user. Exceptions to this rule only apply in cases in which we are unable to obtain consent in advance for factual reasons and the processing of the data is permitted by legal provisions.

(3) The legal basis for the processing of personal data: When we obtain the consent of a data subject to process their personal data, Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) forms the legal basis. When we process personal data that is required in order to fulfil a contract in which the data subject is the contracting party, Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. b GDPR is the legal basis. This also applies to processing activities required for the completion of pre-contractual measures. If we need to process personal data in order to fulfil a legal obligation to which our company is subject, Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. c GDPR forms the legal basis. If processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests of our company or a third party and these interests are not overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject, Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR forms the legal basis for the processing.

(4) The personal data of the data subject will be deleted or blocked as soon as the purpose of the storage of the data no longer applies. Storage of the data past this point may occur when stipulated by European or national law in Union regulations, ordinances or other laws to which the Controller is subject. The data will also be blocked or deleted when a storage period stipulated by the standards specified above expires, unless the continued storage of the data is necessary for the conclusion or execution of a contract.

(5) Wolfsburg AG does not process personal data in countries located outside the EU.

Your Rights

(1) You have the following rights against us with regard to your personal data:

• Right to information
• Right to rectification or erasure
• Right to restriction of processing
• Right to object to the processing
• Right to data portability

(2) You additionally have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority for data protection with regard to the processing of your personal data by our company.

The Collection of Personal Data when You Visit Our Website

(1) When you solely use our website for informational purposes and therefore do not register or provide us with information in any other way, we only collect the personal data that your browser transfers to our server. If you want to view our website, we collect the following data, which we require in technical terms in order to show you our website and guarantee its stability and security (in accordance with Article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR as the legal basis):

• Your IP address
• The time and date of your request
• The time-zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
• The content of your request (the concrete web page requested)
• Your access status/HTTP status code
• The data volume transmitted
• The website from which the request stems
• Your browser
• Your operating system and its user interface
• The language and version of your browser software

These data are also stored in our system’s log files. These data are not stored together with the user’s other personal data.

The legal basis for the temporary storage of these data and the log files is Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR.

(3) The data are deleted as soon as they are no longer required to meet the purpose for which they were collected. In the case of data recorded in order to provide the website, this occurs when the user ends their visit. In the case of the storage of the data in log files, this occurs after seven days at the latest. Storage of the data past these deadlines is possible. In this case, the user’s IP address will be deleted or anonymised so that the client accessing the website can no longer be associated with the address.

The Use of Cookies

(1) Alongside the collection of the data specified above, we also store cookies on your computer when you use our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your hard drive and allocated to the browser that you are using. The party responsible for storing the cookie (in this case Wolfsburg AG) uses it to access specific information (e.g. search terms entered, frequency of page visits, use of website information and navigation on the website). Cookies are unable to run any programs or transmit viruses to your computer. They are used to make the website more user-friendly and efficient on the whole.

(2) The use of cookies:

1. a) This website uses the following types of cookies, the scope and functions of which are explained below:
   - Transient cookies (see b)
   - Persistent cookies (see c).
2. b) Transient cookies are automatically deleted when you close your browser. Session cookies are a particularly common example of transient cookies. These store a so-called session ID that enables the different requests made by your browser to be allocated to the shared session. They enable your computer to be recognised when you return to our website. The session cookies are deleted when you log off or close your browser.
3. c) Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a specific length of time, which can vary according to the cookie in question. You can use the security settings of your browser to delete these cookies at any time.
4. d) You can configure your browser settings according to your wishes, for example by accepting third-party cookies or rejecting all cookies. You should be aware that by doing so, you may not be able to make full use of all of the functions of this website.

(3) The legal basis for the processing of personal data using cookies is Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR.

(4) The duration of storage and option of objecting to and removing cookies: Cookies are stored on the user’s computer and transmitted from this computer to our website. As the user, you therefore have full control of the use of cookies. You can change your Internet browser settings to deactivate or limit the transmission of cookies. You can delete cookies that have already been stored at any time. This can also be done using an automated process. If you deactivate cookies for our website, you may no longer be able to make full use of all of the functions of the website.

Web Analysis and Website Optimisation Using

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Google Analytics uses so-called "cookies". These are text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

Google Analytics cookies are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its website and its advertising.

IP anonymization

We have activated the IP anonymization feature on this website. Your IP address will be shortened by Google within the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area prior to transmission to the United States. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide other services regarding website activity and Internet usage for the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data held by Google.

Browser plugin

You can prevent these cookies being stored by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. However, we wish to point out that doing so may mean you will not be able to enjoy the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the data generated by cookies about your use of the website (incl. your IP address) from being passed to Google, and the processing of these data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Objecting to the collection of data

You can prevent the collection of your data by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set to prevent your data from being collected on future visits to this site: Disable Google Analytics.
For more information about how Google Analytics handles user data, see Google's privacy policy: support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245.

Outsourced data processing

We have entered into an agreement with Google for the outsourcing of our data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

Demographic data collection by Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics' demographic features. This allows reports to be generated containing statements about the age, gender, and interests of site visitors. This data comes from interest-based advertising from Google and third-party visitor data. This collected data cannot be attributed to any specific individual person. You can disable this feature at any time by adjusting the ads settings in your Google account or you can forbid the collection of your data by Google Analytics as described in the section " Objecting to the collection of data".

Online Advertising

Google AdWords

(1) We use the services provided by Google AdWords to attract attention to our attractive services and offers by means of advertising material (so-called Google AdWords) on external websites. The data relating to these advertising campaigns enable us to determine the degree of success of our individual advertising measures. By doing so, we pursue the interest of showing you advertising that is interesting to you, making our website more interesting for you and achieving fair calculation of advertising costs.

(2) This advertising material is provided by Google via so-called “ad servers”. We use ad server cookies that enable us to record specific parameters for measuring success, for example the appearance of advertisements or clicks by users. If you access our website via a Google advertisement, a Google AdWords cookie will be stored on your computer. These cookies normally expire after 30 days and are not designed to identify you personally. The analysis values stored with these cookies are normally the unique cookie ID, the number of ad impressions per placement (frequency), the last impression (relevant for post-view conversations) and opt-out information (a mark stating that the user no longer wants to view adverts).

(3) These cookies enable Google to identify your Internet browser. If a user visits specific pages of the website of an AdWords customer and the cookie stored on their computer has not yet expired, Google and the customer can identify that the user has clicked on the advertisement and been taken to the web page in question. A different cookie is assigned to each AdWords customer. Cookies can therefore not be traced via the websites of AdWords customers. Wolfsburg AG does not collect or process any personal data itself when using the advertising measures specified above. We only receive statistical evaluations from Google. These evaluations enable us to identify which of our active advertising measures are particularly effective. We do not receive any further data from the use of this advertising material and are especially unable to use this information to identify users.

(4) Based on the marketing tools used, your browser automatically establishes a direct connection with the Google server. We have no influence on the scope or further use of the data collected as a result of the use of this tool by Google and therefore provide the following information according to our current state of knowledge: The integration of AdWords Conversion provides Google with the information that you have accessed the corresponding area of our website or have clicked on one of our advertisements. If you are registered with a Google service, Google can allocate your visit to your account. Even if you are not registered with Google or have not logged into your account, the provider may be able to find out and store your IP address.

(5) You can use one of a number of different options to prevent participation in this tracking procedure, namely: a) by changing the corresponding setting in your browser software, especially by blocking third-party cookies in order to ensure that you do not receive any advertisements from third-party providers; b) by deactivating cookies for conversion tracking by changing your browser settings so that cookies from the domain “www.googleadservices.com” are blocked (via the link http://www.google.com/settings/ads, although this setting will be deleted if you delete your cookies); c) by deactivating the interest-based advertisements of providers involved in the "About Ads" consumer choice campaign via the link www.aboutads.info/choices, although this setting will be deleted if you delete your cookies; d) by permanently deactivating advertising cookies in your Firefox, Internet Explorer or Google Chrome browser via the link www.google.com/settings/ads/plugin. You should be aware that by doing so, you may not be able to make full use of all of the functions of this website.

(6) The legal basis for the processing of your data is Article 6 paragraph 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR. You can find out more about data protection at Google here: policies.google.com/privacy and services.google.com/sitestats/en.html. You can alternatively visit the website of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) at www.networkadvertising.org. Google has agreed to comply with the requirements of the EU-US Privacy Shield, www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.

Google Remarketing

Alongside AdWords Conversion, we also use the Google Remarketing application. This is a procedure that we use to get back in touch with you after you have visited our website. Once you have visited our website, this application can be used to show you our advertisements when you continue to use the Internet. It does so via cookies stored in your browser that record and evaluate your user behaviour when visiting different websites via Google. This enables Google to identify that you have previously visited our website. According to Google, the data collected during the Remarketing procedure are not combined with any personal data that may be stored by Google. Google also emphasises the fact that it uses an anonymisation function in its Remarketing application.

Newsletter / Promotional Mail

(1) You can provide us with your consent to send you our newsletter, which we use to inform you about our current interesting products and services. The products and services advertised in this newsletter are specified in the declaration of consent.

(2) When you sign up to receive our newsletter, we use the so-called double opt-in method. This means that once you have submitted your e-mail address during the registration process, we send a confirmation e-mail to the e-mail address provided in which we ask you to confirm that you want to receive the newsletter. If you do not confirm your registration within [24 hours], your information will be blocked and automatically deleted after a month. We also store the IP addresses used and the times of your registration and confirmation. We do so in order to be able to provide evidence of your registration and, where applicable, to explain any possible misuse of your personal data.

(3) The only information that you are required to provide in order to be sent the newsletter is your e-mail address. The provision of any other data marked as optional occurs on a voluntary basis. These data are used to personalise our newsletter for you. Once you have confirmed your registration, we will store your e-mail address in order to send you our newsletter. In the case that the user has provided consent, the legal basis for the processing of the data after a user has signed up to receive our newsletter is Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR.

(4) You can withdraw your consent to being sent the newsletter and cancel your subscription at any time. You can do so by clicking on the link provided in each newsletter e-mail or by sending a message to the contact details specified in the Legal Notice.

(5) If you provide your e-mail address in connection with the sale of a product or service, we may subsequently use this e-mail address to contact you via e-mail. In such cases e-mails will only contain direct advertising for our own similar products or services. The legal basis for sending such information e-mails after selling products or services is Section 7 paragraph 3 of the German Act Against Unfair Competition (UWG). You can ask us to stop sending you such information e-mails at any time. You can do so by clicking on the link provided in each newsletter e-mail or by sending a message to the contact details specified in the Legal Notice.

(6) The data are deleted as soon as they are no longer required to meet the purpose for which they were collected. Users’ e-mail addresses are then only stored for the period in which their newsletter subscription is active. Other personal data collected during the registration procedure are normally deleted after a period of seven days.

Integration of YouTube Videos

(1) We have integrated YouTube videos into our website. The videos are stored at www.YouTube.com and can be played directly on our website. These videos are all embedded in "extended data protection mode", meaning that no data concerning you as the user will be transmitted to YouTube if you do not play the videos. The data specified in paragraph 2 are only transmitted when you play the videos. We have no influence on the transmission of these data.

(2) When you visit the website, YouTube is informed that you have visited the corresponding page of our website. It is also provided with the data specified in Section 3 of this Privacy Policy. This occurs irrespective of whether YouTube offers a user account and you are logged into this account or you do not have a user account with YouTube. If you are logged into a Google account, these data will be directly associated with your account. If you do not want YouTube to associate your actions with your profile, you must log out of your account before activating the button. YouTube stores your data as a use profile and uses them for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or the needs-oriented design of its website. The evaluation of the data is particularly (even in the case of users who are not logged in) carried out in order to provide needs-based advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles but must contact YouTube in order to exercise this right.

(3) You can find more information on the purpose and scope of the collection and processing of data by YouTube in its privacy policy, which will also provide you with further information on your rights and the settings that you can use to protect your privacy: www.google.de/intl/en/policies/privacy. Google also processes your personal data in the USA and has agreed to comply with the requirements of the EU-US Privacy Shield, www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework

Registration Function

(1) On various pages of our website, we offer users the option of registering by providing their personal data. The data provided in the registration process are used in order to enable users to use the services in the customer area of the website. Users are required to provide their data on a form, which is subsequently transmitted to us and stored. The data are not disclosed to third parties. The data collected can be read from the form during the registration process. The compulsory data required for registration are the user’s first name, surname and e-mail address. Users can also choose to voluntarily provide further details such as their street, postcode, town/city, telephone number, fax number and job title. The following data are also stored during the registration process: the user’s IP address and the time and date of their registration. The user’s consent to the processing of these data is obtained as part of the registration process.

(2) In the case that the user has provided consent, the legal basis for the processing of data is Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR. If the registration is required for the fulfilment of a contract in which the data subject is the contracting party or for the completion of pre-contractual measures, the additional legal basis for the processing of the data is Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. b GDPR.

(3) The data are deleted as soon as they are no longer required to meet the purpose for which they were collected. This applies to the data collected during the registration process if the registration on our website is cancelled or amended. This applies to the data collected during the registration process for the fulfilment of a contract or the completion of pre-contractual measures if the data are no longer required for the execution of the contract. We may still be required to store the personal data of the contracting party even after the conclusion of the contract in order to comply with contractual or statutory obligations.

(4) As a user, you can cancel your registration at any time by contacting us via the contact details provided. You can request that amendments be made to your stored personal data at any time. If the data are required for the fulfilment of a contract or the completion of pre-contractual measures, your data can only be prematurely deleted insofar as contractual or statutory obligations do not conflict with the erasure of these data.

You can cancel your registration in the customer area at any time. Users can withdraw their consent via e-mail or by sending a message to the contact details specified in the Legal Notice.

Contact Form and E-Mail Contact

(1) Our website contains a contact form that can be used to contact us via the Internet. If a user decides to use this contact form, the data provided on the form are transmitted to us and stored. The following data are also stored when the user submits their message: the user’s IP address and the time and date of the registration. The user will be asked to provide their consent to the processing of these data and their attention will be drawn to this Data Privacy Policy when they submit their message. Users can also contact us via the e-mail address provided. In this case, we will store the user’s personal data provided in their e-mail. The data provided in the case of contact via our contact form or e-mail are not disclosed to third parties. The data are only used to process the conversation.

(2) In the case that the user has provided consent, the legal basis for the processing of data is Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR. The legal basis for the processing of data transmitted when an e-mail is sent is Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR. If the objective of the e-mail contact is the conclusion of a contract, an additional legal basis for the processing is Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. b GDPR.

(3) We only process the personal data provided on the form to process your contact request. If you contact us via e-mail, this is also the required legitimate interest for the processing of the data. The other personal data processed when you submit our contact form are used to prevent misuse of the contact form and to ensure that our IT systems remain secure.

(4) The data are deleted as soon as they are no longer required to meet the purpose for which they were collected. With regard to the personal data entered on the contact form and the personal data sent via e-mail, this applies when the corresponding conversation with the user has come to an end. The conversation is deemed to have come to an end when the circumstances indicate that the issue in question has been conclusively clarified. The other personal data collected when you send us an e-mail are normally deleted after a period of seven days.

(5) The user is able to withdraw their consent to the processing of these personal data at any time. If a user contacts us via e-mail, they can object to the storage of their personal data at any time. If they do so, the conversation cannot be continued. Users can withdraw their consent via e-mail or by sending a message to the contact details specified in the Legal Notice.

All personal data stored when the user contacts us will then be deleted.

Online Application Platform

The following information explains the processing of your personal data in connection with your application submitted on our online application platform (which can be accessed at jobportal.wolfsburg-ag.com).

(1) What data do we process and from which sources do we obtain these data? We process personal data that we receive from you during the application process. These data are either obtained from the application form on the application platform that you fill out online or from the files that you upload (your cover letter, passport photograph, curriculum vitae and certificates). We also process technical user data when you visit the online portal and our website.

(2) For what purposes do we process your data and on which legal basis? We process your personal data in accordance with the provisions of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) for different purposes. The legal basis of the processing is particularly Section 26 paragraph 1 sentence 1 BDSG (new) and Section 26 paragraph 2 BDSG (new).

(4) Who receives my data? Within Wolfsburg AG, your data are only provided to the departments and offices responsible for the preparation and implementation of the application process, namely the staff in the Human Resources Department, the divisions in which a job vacancy is available and the managers and potential supervisors connected to this position. The Works Council also receives the application documents. The data may additionally be processed by service providers commissioned by us and working on behalf of us (so-called processors) for the purposes specified above.

(5) How long will my data be stored? Where necessary, we process and store your personal data for the duration of the application process. If you join our company as an employee/trainee/intern after the application process, your data will initially continue to be stored and transferred to your personnel file. If this is not the case, the application process will end when the applicant receives a rejection letter. Their data will then be deleted six months after receipt of the rejection letter at the latest. This does not apply if the processing and storage of your personal data is required in the concrete case of asserting, exercising or defending legal claims (for the duration of a legal dispute).

(6) In some cases, you may receive an invitation to join a so-called “talent pool” for future job vacancies at Wolfsburg AG despite receiving a rejection letter in a concrete application process. If you consent to being added to this talent pool, your application data will be stored for three more months. You must then grant us your consent to remain in the pool of applicants again every three months. If you do not respond to our request within 14 days, your documents will be deleted after six more months unless the deletion is prohibited due to statutory periods of retention and limitation.

(7) The data are transferred as https-encrypted data before being stored in Wolfsburg AG systems that are particularly strongly secured against unauthorised access.

(8) Are data transmitted to a third country or an international organisation? Data are not transmitted to third countries.

Social Networks

Links (flags) to the social network Facebook (Facebook Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, California, 94025, USA) and the business network XING (XING AG, Dammtorstrasse 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany) are integrated into the Wolfsburg AG website. When you visit our website and click on one of these links, you will automatically be connected to Wolfsburg AG’s Facebook or XING profile. We hereby expressly draw users’ attention to the fact that as the provider of these pages, we acquire no knowledge of the content of the data transferred or the use of these data by Facebook or Xing. You can find more detailed information on the service providers Facebook and XING in their corresponding data privacy policies at www.facebook.com/policy.php and privacy.xing.com/en/privacy-policy.

Third-Party Links

We may offer third-party links. Although we carefully check the links offered, we hereby inform you that we have no influence whatsoever on the design and content of the linked pages and expressly dissociate ourselves from their content. Wolfsburg AG assumes no responsibility for how your data is handled on these websites. We therefore ask that you find out about how these third parties handle your personal data in advance.

Last updated: 20th March 2019