Conditions of Participation and Data Protection Information for Events

1. Purpose of Meetings and Events

The meetings and events organized by the Volkswagen Foundation pursue the aim of strengthening relations between science/scholarship and society in general as well as providing impetus for innovation through the transfer of research. As a rule, therefore, participation is free of charge.

2. Participants

Notwithstanding, the Volkswagen Foundation does reserve the right to charge fees for certain meetings and events. This will be clearly indicated in the respective registration forms. In such cases, registering to participate in a meeting or event shall constitute a contract between the Volkswagen Foundation and the person(s) participating, and the conditions of registration and these conditions for participation shall apply.

3. Refusal of Registration

The Volkswagen Foundation expressly reserves the right to refuse admission to meetings and events without the submission of grounds.

4. Reservations for Accommodation and Side Events

For events lasting several days, a contingent of hotel rooms is sometimes reserved. However, the participants themselves shall be responsible to carry out the actual hotel reservation(s) in their own name and for their own account. The same shall apply to participation in side events that are subject to charge, such as visits to theater performances, museums, and other incentives.

5. Cancelation

In the case of meetings and events with fees, the cancelation conditions contained in the respective registration forms shall apply. In the case of meetings and events that are free of charge, registration can be canceled at any time. Should this be necessary, the Foundation would be grateful to receive timely notification per email addressed to events@volkswagenstiftung.de or by telephoning the following number +49/511/83 81-200.

6. Liability

The Volkswagen Foundation may be held liable for culpably caused loss of life, bodily harm, or damage to health, and otherwise solely in the case of intent or gross negligence.

7. Cancelation of Meetings/Events

The Volkswagen Foundation retains the right to cancel meetings and/or events due to insufficient numbers of participants, economic or other considerations. It is expressly agreed that the Foundation shall not be held liable for refunds of any reservation or cancelation fees for accommodation and/or travel to and from the venue that may subsequently be incurred.

8. Changes to Contents of Meetings/Events

The Volkswagen Foundation reserves the right to make changes to the publicized course and/or content of meetings and/or events, in particular with regard to substituting or canceling individual talks and/or lectures.

9. Content of Talks/Lectures

The meetings and events organized by the Volkswagen Foundation provide speakers with a forum to present their views and research results within the framework of the purpose of the meeting/event in question – cf. Item 1 above. In doing so the Foundation takes great care to invite suitable speakers. Notwithstanding, solely the individual experts, facilitators and/or artists themselves are responsible for the content of their presentations.

10. Use of Event Materials and/or Documentation

The lectures and event documentation are subject to copyright of their authors. The use of such documentation by third parties, in particular on the part of participants, may be permitted solely for scientific purposes. For every other use, especially commercial exploitation, it is absolutely necessary to obtain the written permission of the copyright holder. Participants are not allowed to make copies of any event materials or documentation distributed for the purpose of training and information.

11. Film and Photographic Rights

Photographers, camera crews and media representatives can be present at events of the Volkswagen Foundation and may document the event or broadcast it live. Should you not agree with the storage or use of photographs in which you as an individual participant (possibly with other persons) are the focus, please inform the photographers and/or camera teams and members of our staff on site. Please also inform attendees accompanying you. Our project partners and we ourselves reserve our rights to use and publish shots and recordings for public relations (on- and offline including Social Media) without any time limit. The shots and recordings may be used for the webpage of the VolkswagenStiftung and our project partners, printed materials (e.g. our foundation’s bulletin, leaflets) also as a headline and presentations. In case of video recordings, we may use freezed images as well as the audio and the video tracks independently. Please note that shots and recordings, which show the event taken as a whole, may include pictures of several people including yourself (e.g. as one among many other people).

12. Information in accordance with Section 13 and 14 General Data Protection Regulation

The Volkswagen Foundation attaches great importance to compliance with data protection regulations. We would like to inform you below about how we handle your personal data:

Responsible body:
The Volkswagen Foundation is responsible for the collection of data you supply and its processing.

Data we need:
We collect data from you that we need for our participant management in connection with our events. These are essentially: name, address, email address, telephone number, food intolerances (only for events with catering). When using our participant management system you will be asked to provide these details with your registration to attend meetings and events. The information you provide is voluntary. The personal data gathered in connection with registering for meeting or event is solely to facilitate registration and, in the case you give your consent, may also be used for sending information about further events of the Volkswagen Foundation. Any other processing or use of your data for the purpose of consultation, advertising or market research may only take place if you have expressly given your prior approval.

The legal basis for this is laid down in Section 6 lit. a) and b) GDPR.

You may revoke your approval with regard to the sending of information on future meetings and events at any time by contacting the Volkswagen Foundation via events@volkswagenstiftung.de or +49/511/8381-200. This shall also apply to your agreement concerning any other use of your data.
We hereby expressly prohibit the use of the contact data published as part of our legal duty to publish an imprint.

Data deletion:
Insofar as no consent on your part or no legal retention period exists, the data will be deleted as soon as storage is no longer deemed necessary. In individual cases, certain data may be stored for a longer period (e.g. travel expense reports). The duration of the storage then depends on the legal storage obligations e.g. from the tax code (6 years) or the commercial code (10 years).

Confidential treatment of your data:
Your data will of course be treated confidentially and will not be passed on to third parties. 

If necessary, we use strictly instruction-bound service providers who support us, for example, in the areas of EDP or archiving and the destruction of documents and with whom separate contracts for order processing have been concluded.

Your privacy rights:
As a data subject, you have the right to obtain information about personal data concerning you and to have incorrect data corrected or deleted if one of the reasons stated in Section 17 GDPR applies, e.g. if the data are no longer required for the purposes pursued. Furthermore, there is a right to limitation of processing if one of the conditions specified in Section 18 GDPR applies and the right to have your data transferred in case of the eventualities covered by Section 20 GDPR. 

Any data subject has the right of appeal to a supervisory authority if he or she considers that the processing of data concerning him or her is in breach of data protection legislation. The right of appeal may be exercised in particular before a supervisory authority in the Member State of residence or employment of the person concerned or the place of alleged infringement. 

Our data protection officer:
You also have the right at any time to contact our data protection officer, who is bound to secrecy regarding your request. The contact details of our data protection officer are as follows:

datenschutz nord GmbH
Konsul-Schmidt-Straße 88
28217 Bremen
Web: www.datenschutz-nord-gruppe.de 
E-Mail: office(a)datenschutz-nord.de

Further information is available on request.