Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2026

1. Controller

The controller responsible for the processing of personal data on this website within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:

Michael Backes GmbH
Kaiserstrasse 170
66386 St. Ingbert
Germany

Represented by its Managing Director, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Michael Backes

Email: info@michaelbackesoffice.com

No Data Protection Officer has been appointed.

2. At a Glance

• We use no analytics, tracking or advertising services and do not build user profiles.
• The website embeds no third-party content. Fonts, images and videos are served from our own web server; there are no social-media plugins, no embedded video platforms and no maps.
• We store in your browser only what the website technically needs: your language choice and, for the duration of the session, whether the short opening animation has already been shown. We use no technologies that require consent.
• We process personal data only when you visit the website (technically necessary access data) and when you write to us.

3. Hosting and Delivery of the Website

This website is hosted by Vercel Inc., 440 N Barranca Avenue #4133, Covina, CA 91723, USA, and delivered through that provider’s global server network. When you access the website, Vercel automatically processes information transmitted by your browser:

• IP address
• date and time of access
• requested page or file
• amount of data transferred and response status code
• browser type and version
• operating system
• referrer URL (the previously visited page)

These data are required to deliver the website, to ensure its stable and secure operation, and to detect and prevent misuse and attacks. They are not combined with other data sources. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest lies in the secure, fast and reliable provision of the website.

Vercel retains log data only briefly and then deletes it automatically, unless further retention is necessary to investigate a specific security incident.

We have concluded a data processing agreement with Vercel pursuant to Article 28 GDPR, under which Vercel processes the data only on our instructions.

Vercel is based in the United States, so personal data may be transferred there. Vercel is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. The transfer is based on the European Commission’s adequacy decision of 10 July 2023 (Article 45 GDPR); in addition, the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses have been agreed with Vercel (Article 46(2)(c) GDPR).

4. Contact Form

Through the contact form we collect:

• your name
• your email address
• the area of potential collaboration you select
• your message

The information is transmitted in encrypted form to our web server and forwarded from there as an email to our mailbox (section 6). It is not stored on the website itself. We use your email address to reply to you and to communicate with you in connection with your enquiry.

To protect against automated mass submissions, the web server briefly holds your IP address in working memory to count how many messages it has sent in the last ten minutes. It is neither stored permanently nor transmitted with your message. The form also contains a field invisible to people, which is used to recognise automated submissions.

Where your enquiry concerns a potential contract or pre-contractual steps, the legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. In all other cases it is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest lies in answering enquiries addressed to us and assessing potential collaborations. The protection against misuse is likewise based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.

We delete your enquiry once it has been fully dealt with and no follow-up is to be expected. Statutory retention obligations, in particular under commercial and tax law for business correspondence, remain unaffected.

5. Contact by Email

If you write to us at info@michaelbackesoffice.com, we process your email address, your name if you provide it, and the content of your message in order to answer your enquiry. The legal bases and retention period are those set out in section 4.

6. Email Mailbox

Our email, including messages sent through the contact form, is received and stored using Microsoft 365. The provider is Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, One Microsoft Place, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, D18 P521, Ireland.

Microsoft processes the data as a processor under its Data Protection Addendum, which implements the requirements of Article 28 GDPR. Processing by Microsoft Corporation in the United States cannot be ruled out. Microsoft is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework; the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses apply in addition.

The legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR, depending on the enquiry as described in section 4; our legitimate interest lies in secure and reliable business email communication.

7. Cookies and Browser Storage

The website stores exactly two items in your browser:

• the cookie “BACKES_LOCALE”: the language version you last used (English or German), so that your next visit opens in your language. It is set by us, shared with no one and deleted after one year.
• the entry “backes.seen” in session storage: a note that the short opening animation has already been shown, so that it does not reappear on every page change. It is deleted as soon as you close the tab.

Neither item contains an identifier that identifies you, and neither is used for analytics or advertising. Both are strictly necessary to provide the website you have requested as intended; the legal basis for storing them is Section 25(2) no. 2 of the German Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act (TDDDG), and for any processing of personal data Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. You can delete both at any time in your browser settings.

8. Fonts, Images and Videos

Fonts, images and videos are stored on our own web server. Loading them establishes no connection to Google Fonts, YouTube, Vimeo or any other third party. The video clips accompanying the six beliefs are only loaded when you start playback.

9. Recipients of Personal Data

Personal data are received only by:

• Vercel as hosting provider (section 3)
• Microsoft as provider of our email mailbox (section 6)
• advisers bound by professional secrecy, such as tax advisers or lawyers, where necessary in an individual case
• public authorities and courts, where we are legally obliged to disclose

We do not sell data or pass it on for advertising purposes.

10. Transfers to Third Countries

Through Vercel and Microsoft, personal data may be processed in the United States. Both companies are certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, for which an adequacy decision of the European Commission exists; Standard Contractual Clauses apply in addition. Details are set out in sections 3 and 6.

11. Storage Period

We store personal data only for as long as necessary for the respective purpose. We retain them longer only where statutory retention obligations require it or where the data are needed to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. They are deleted thereafter.

12. Your Rights

Subject to the GDPR, you have the right to:

• access the data processed about you (Article 15 GDPR)
• rectification of inaccurate data (Article 16 GDPR)
• erasure (Article 17 GDPR)
• restriction of processing (Article 18 GDPR)
• data portability (Article 20 GDPR)
• object to processing (Article 21 GDPR, see section 13)

An informal message to info@michaelbackesoffice.com is sufficient.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data-protection supervisory authority (Article 77 GDPR), in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement. The authority competent for us is:

Independent Data Protection Centre Saarland
(Unabhängiges Datenschutzzentrum Saarland)
Fritz-Dobisch-Strasse 12
66111 Saarbrücken
Germany

Email: poststelle@datenschutz.saarland.de

13. Right to Object under Article 21 GDPR

Where we process your data on the basis of Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, you have the right to object to that processing at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation. We will then no longer process your data 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 defence of legal claims.

We do not use your data for direct marketing. Should that ever change, you may object to it at any time and without giving reasons. An objection requires no particular form; the simplest way is to write to info@michaelbackesoffice.com.

14. Provision of Data and Automated Decision-Making

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide us with personal data. Without your contact details, however, we cannot answer your enquiry. No automated decision-making, including profiling, within the meaning of Article 22 GDPR takes place.

15. Security

The website is delivered exclusively over encrypted HTTPS (TLS) connections; this also applies to submissions through the contact form. You can recognise the encrypted connection by “https://” in your browser’s address bar. In addition, we use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, alteration and unauthorised access, and adapt them to the state of the art.

An ordinary email is not necessarily encrypted all the way to us. For confidential content we recommend the contact form.

16. Changes

We update this privacy policy when the website, the services used or the legal requirements change. The version published here at the relevant time applies.