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Privacy Policy

Status: 16 May 2022

Thank you for visiting our website and for your interest in our company. In accordance with the applicable data protection regulations, we would like to inform you below about the personal data we collect when you visit our website and, if applicable, when you receive promotional emails, the purposes for which we use this data and how we use it to optimize our services for you. We reserve the right to publish locally deviating provisions in addition to this privacy policy; the former shall take precedence in the event of a conflict.

A. General

1. Person responsible, data protection officer

Information regarding the company responsible for processing your data, the contact details of the data protection officer and the competent supervisory authority can be found below: 

Endress+Hauser Group Services AG
Kägenstrasse 2, 4153 Reinach, Switzerland

You can reach the data protection officer at the aforementioned address or via:

Telefon: +41 61 715 7700
E-mail: dataprotection@endress.com

Local data protection supervisory authority:

Adrian Lobsiger
Feldeggweg 1
CH - 3003 Berne
Phone: +41 (0)58 462 43 95
Fax: +41 (0)58 465 99 96

2. Type of data processed

We do not collect any personal data via our websites without your consent. You alone decide whether you want to disclose this data to us or not, for example in the context of a registration or a download. We need your personal data to process your enquiry or to provide you with access to special information or offers. These data are, among others:

  • Inventory data/CRM data (e.g. names, addresses, customer history, customer statistics)
  • Contact details (e.g. email, telephone numbers)
  • Meta-/Kommunikationsdaten (z.B. Geräte-Informationen, IP-Adressen)
  • Usage data (e.g. websites visited, interest in content, access times)
  • Meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses)

You will find out which data we process in individual cases, for what purpose and on what legal basis in the course of this privacy policy.

3. Category of persons affected

Our website is aimed at visitors and users of the same as well as the online offers. Accordingly, we process data from the following groups of persons:

  • Visitors and user of the website and its online offerings
  • Customers, interested parties and business partners
  • Newsletter subscribers
  • Other communications partners

4. Your rights

If the processing of your personal data is covered by the GDPR, you have the following rights, otherwise the legal provisions applicable to the processing apply. If your personal data is processed, you are a data subject within the meaning of the GDPR and you have the following rights vis-à-vis us as the data controller. If you would like to assert your rights or would like more detailed information, please contact us or our data protection officer:

a) Rights according to Art. 15 ff. GDPR

You as a data subject have the right to obtain confirmation from the controller as to whether personal data concerning you are being processed; if this is the case, you have a right of access to such personal data and to the information specified in Article 15 of the GDPR. Under certain legal conditions, you have the right to rectification under Article 16 GDPR, the right to restriction of processing under Article 18 GDPR and the right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") under Article 17 GDPR.

In addition, you have the right to receive the data you have provided in a structured, common and machine-readable format (right to data portability) in accordance with Article 20 of the GDPR, insofar as the processing is carried out with the help of automated procedures and is based on consent in accordance with Article 6 (1a) or Article 9 (2a) or on a contract in accordance with Article 6 (1b) of the GDPR.

b) Withdrawal of consent pursuant to Art. 7 (3) GDPR

If the processing is based on consent, you can revoke your consent to the processing of personal data at any time. Please note that the revocation is only effective for the future. Processing that took place before the revocation is not affected.

c) Right of appeal

You have the option of contacting us or a data protection supervisory authority with a complaint (Article 77 GDPR). Information regarding the company responsible for processing your data and, if applicable, the data protection officer as well as the competent supervisory authority can be found on this website.

d) Right to object pursuant to Article 21 of the GDPR

In addition to the above rights, you have the right to object as follows:

(1) Right to object on a case-by-case basis: You have the right to object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to the processing of personal data relating to you which is carried out on the basis of Article 6 (1e) GDPR (data processing in the public interest) and Article 6 (1f) GDPR (data processing on the basis of a balancing of interests); this also applies to a profiling based on this provision within the meaning of Article 4 no. 4 GDPR.

If you object, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.

(2) Right to object to the processing of data for advertising purposes: In individual cases, we process your personal data for direct marketing purposes. You have the right to object at any time to the processing of personal data for the purposes of such marketing; this includes profiling insofar as it is related to such direct marketing. If you object to processing for direct marketing purposes, we will no longer process your personal data for these purposes.

5. General information on transfer of data to third parties

(1) Apart from the cases described in this privacy policy and unless otherwise regulated in additional privacy policies, your personal data will not be passed on to third parties or otherwise disseminated without your express consent.

(2) Within the responsible Endress+Hauser company, access to your data is granted to those offices that need it to fulfil our contractual and legal obligations or to protect legitimate interests. Furthermore, affiliated companies of the Endress+Hauser Group as well as service providers and vicarious agents employed by us and authorities or third parties may receive data for these purposes.

Service providers, vicarious agents, etc. commissioned by us will be contractually obliged to comply with the applicable data protection laws.

(3) As part of the hosting of our website, your data processed by us is processed by the provider Amazon Web Services, Inc. acting on our behalf on the basis of a processing agreement.

(4) The processing of the promotional email dispatch is carried out using the services and IT systems of the external service provider Oracle (Eloqua), which we have commissioned within the scope of a processing agreement. Further information on this can be found below.

(5) In order to be able to provide you with targeted information and advice on products, we or service providers may use web analysis tools, in particular tracking technology, on our behalf. These enable communication based on needs and advertising. Further information can be found below.

6. Transfer to third countries

(1) Data is only transferred abroad within the scope of the applicable data protection regulations. In particular, as far as this is necessary for the execution of your orders, is required by law (e.g. reporting obligations under tax law), in case you have given us your consent or within the scope of a processing agreement. Furthermore, we transmit data to affiliated companies for the protection of legitimate interests. In case of transfer of personal data to third countries, we ensure an appropriate level of data protection.

(2) Within the scope of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the following shall apply additionally: Data transfer to countries outside the EU or the EEA (so-called third countries) only takes place within the framework of the applicable data protection regulations.

In the event of the transfer of personal data to third countries, we ensure an appropriate level of data protection, e.g. through special guarantees, such as the adequacy decision by the EU commission that the levels of data protection are essentially equivalent to the EU (e.g. for Switzerland) or compliance with recognized special contractual obligations (so-called "EU standard contractual clauses").

7. Security

(1) We have taken technical and organizational security measures (for the EU according to Art. 24, 32 GDPR) to protect your personal data from loss, destruction, manipulation and unauthorized access. All our employees and all third parties involved in data processing are obliged to comply with the applicable data protection laws and to handle personal data confidentially.

(2) For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or enquiries that you send to us as the site operator, this site uses SSL or TLS encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from "http://" to "https://" and by the lock symbol in your browser line. If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

8. Links to other websites

Our websites may contain links to websites of other providers; these websites are not subject to this privacy policy. We carefully check the content of other websites before linking to them. In doing so, we ensure that we only link to websites that adhere to the same high standards of data protection as Endress+Hauser. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such other websites. If we become aware of any infringements by third party content, we will remove the content or link immediately.

9. Changes to our privacy policy

We reserve the right to change our security and data protection measures if this becomes necessary due to technical developments or legal changes. In these cases, we will also adapt our privacy policy accordingly. Please therefore note the current version of our privacy policy.

B. Visiting our websites

In the following, we would like to inform you about which personal data we process for which purpose and on the basis of which legal basis when you visit our websites.

1. Purpose of the processing

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

  • For the provision of the website and the online offer, its functions and contents.
  • For responding to contact requests and communicating with users.
  • For the assertion, enforcement, exercise or defense of and against legal claim(s) and legal dispute(s), and for the detection, investigation and prevention of crime. 
  • For security measures.
  • Zur reach measurement.
  • For the purpose of direct marketing, e.g. in the form of a promotional email or postal advertising.

2. Contact forms

(1) At various points on our website, you have the opportunity to enter your personal data in order to contact us or to leave us your feedback. We have marked the respective mandatory information as such. Without these, we cannot provide you with the requested service. At the time of entry, we store this information as well as your IP address and the time (date and time) of submission.

(2) For the processing of data, reference is made to this privacy policy during the submission process. Alternatively, it is possible to contact us via the email addresses provided. In this case, the user's personal data transmitted with the email will be stored. The data will be used exclusively for processing the enquiry.

(3) The legal basis for the processing of data transmitted in the context of the use of the contact form or in the course of sending an email is our legitimate interest (for the EU Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR) or the fulfilment of contractual obligations (for the EU Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b) GDPR) if the email contact is aimed at the conclusion of a contract.

(4) The processing of the personal data from the contact form serves us solely to process the contact. In the case of contact by email, this also constitutes the necessary legitimate interest in processing the data. The other personal data processed during the sending process serve to prevent misuse of the contact form and to ensure the security of our information technology systems.

(5) The data shall be deleted as soon as it is no longer required to achieve the purpose for which it was collected. For the personal data from the contact form and those sent by email, this is the case when the respective conversation with the user has ended. The conversation is ended when the circumstances indicate that the matter in question has been conclusively clarified.

3. Provision of the website and log files

(1) In the case of mere informational use of the website, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise transmit information to us, we only collect the personal data that your browser automatically transmits to our server. If you wish to view our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display our website to you and to ensure stability and security (legal basis in the EU is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR):

  • IP address
  • Date and time of the request
  • Time zone difference from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
  • Content of the request (concrete page)
  • Access Status/HTTP Status Code
  • Data volume transferred in each case
  • Website from which the request comes
  • Browser as well as language and version of the browser software
  • Operating system and its interface

 

(2) The IP addresses of the users are deleted or anonymized after termination of use. In the case of anonymization, the IP addresses are changed in such a way that the individual data on personal or factual circumstances can no longer be assigned to a specific or identifiable natural person or can only be assigned with a disproportionately large effort.

4. Cookies

In addition to the log file data mentioned above, cookies are stored on your computer when you use our website. You can find a detailed overview of the cookies used and their storage duration here.

C. Promotional email communication & web analytics services

1. Promotional email communication

1.1. Registration to receive email

(1) You have the option to sign up for our promotional email communications, with which we will regularly inform you about new content on this website. 

(2) Our promotional email communications will only be sent to you on the basis of your active consent (opt-in) and, if required, after additional confirmation of your email address (double opt-in). If you do not confirm your registration within 14 days, your registration will not be considered complete, and you will not receive any promotional email communication from us.

In addition, we store your IP addresses used for registration and confirmation and the times of registration and confirmation. The purpose of this procedure is to be able to prove your registration and, if necessary, to clarify a possible misuse of your personal data. After your confirmation, we store your email address for the purpose of sending you promotional email communication.

(3) The legal basis for the above-mentioned processing operations in the context of promotional email communication is your consent (for the EU Art. 6 para 1 lit. a) GDPR).

(4) If you no longer wish to receive promotional email communications from us, you can unsubscribe at any time, e.g. by clicking on the link provided in each email.

1.2 Service Provider for Promotional Email Sending

(1) We use Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation for optimal communication with our customers. The servers are located in the EU. Within the scope of support and administration services, it cannot be ruled out in individual cases that individual employees of the service provider outside the EU may also have access to user data within the scope of their contractual service provision, whereby an appropriate level of data protection is always ensured.

(2) Further information on data protection in connection with the use of Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation can be found here: Oracle Privacy Policy

1.3 Evaluation of promotional emails

(1) We would like to point out that we evaluate the user behavior of the recipients of our promotional email communication, provided that you have given a corresponding declaration of consent. For this evaluation, the emails sent contain so-called web beacons or tracking pixels, which are single-pixel image files. For the evaluations, we link the collected data or parts thereof and the web beacons with your email address and an individual ID.

Links received in promotional email communications also contain this ID. With the data obtained in this way, we create a user profile in order to better tailor the promotional email communication to your interests. In doing so, we record when you read our emails, which links you click on in them and infer your personal interests from this. We may link this data to actions you have taken on our website.

(2) The legal basis for the evaluation described above is your consent (for the EU Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a) GDPR), which you can give us voluntarily as part of the registration for promotional email communication.

(3) In the case of sending a promotional email communication after a purchase without a separate registration for email communication and declared consent, the legal basis for the tracking described above is the legitimate interest (for the EU Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR). Our legitimate interest in data processing in the context of tracking is our need to better tailor our promotional email communications to the interests of our customers.

(4) You can object to the tracking described above at any time by unsubscribing from promotional email communications.

2. Web analytics and advertising

2.1 Web analysis through Matomo 

Our website uses the analysis service Matomo (formerly Piwik). Matomo is an open source software for statistical analysis of visitor access. By using Matomo, it is possible for us to learn how the website is used. This enables us to continuously improve the quality of our website and its content.

Matomo uses cookies. These text files are stored on your computer and make it possible for us to analyze the use of our website. For this purpose, the information about usage obtained by the cookie is transmitted to our servers and stored so that usage behavior can be evaluated. Information on cookies can be found above under "Cookies". Information on the processing of personal data on the occasion of calling up our website can be found above under "Information on the occasion of calling up the website".

The following data is collected when individual pages of our website are called up:

  • 2 bytes of the IP address of the user's calling system.
  • The website called up
  • The website from which the user accessed the accessed website (referrer)
  • The subpages that are accessed from the accessed website
  • The time spent on the website
  • The frequency with which the website is accessed
  • It is not possible to draw conclusions about a specific person when using Matomo, as your IP address is anonymized.

The legal basis for the processing of personal data when using Matomo is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO ("legitimate interest").

If you do not agree to the storage and use of your data, you can deactivate the storage and use here. In this case, an opt-out cookie will be stored in your browser that prevents Matomo from storing usage data. If you delete your cookies, this will have the effect that the Matomo opt-out cookie will also be deleted. The opt-out must be reactivated when you visit our site again.

You can also find more information about Matomo here.

2.2 LinkedIn Lead Generation and LinkedIn Matched Audiences

(1) In the context of new customer acquisition, we use the "LinkedIn Lead Generation" and "LinkedIn Matched Audiences" services of LinkedIn Unlimited Company, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland, in order to be able to target interested parties more precisely.

(2) LinkedIn Lead Generation is a form that enables advertising on the LinkedIn social network (sponsored content). If you are a member of the LinkedIn platform, LinkedIn can assign the call-up of such forms to your profile on LinkedIn.

(3) As a member of LinkedIn, you can provide us with your email address or other user information via the aforementioned forms. The legal basis for the use of LinkedIn Lead Generation is our legitimate interest (for the EU Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR). You have the option to prevent this in the future by setting an opt-out cookie: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-out

(4) LinkedIn Matched Audiences is a service that enables us to display targeted advertisements about our offers to you on the websites of the LinkedIn network. For this purpose, in the course of so-called contact retargeting, the LinkedIn database is matched with the contact data transmitted by Endress+Hauser to LinkedIn.

(5) We carry out the aforementioned matching and the advertising on LinkedIn on the basis of our legitimate interest (for the EU Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR). You have the option to prevent the processing by changing your settings in your LinkedIn profile. You can make the corresponding changes under "Interaction with companies", which can be found in your settings in the "Display data" area under "Advertising settings".

(6) Further information on data protection with LinkedIn Lead Generation and LinkedIn Matched Audiences can be found in LinkedIn's privacy policy: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy