Data Protection

Privacy Notice

Last revision: December 2021

With this privacy notice, we inform you how we process your personal data. Your personal data means any information relating to you (Personal Data). Processing means any handling of your personal data such as collection, retention, storage, adaption, usage, transfer, disclosure etc. (Processing). If “USM”, “we” (or “us”) is used hereinafter, this primarily refers to USM U. Schärer Söhne AG, Thunstrasse 55, 3110 Münsingen, Switzerland or another company of the USM Group if the respective business as set out below is primarily provided by another national company.

1. Who we are

The controller of your personal data is:

– With regard to the website:

USM U. Schärer Söhne AG, Münsingen, Thunstrasse 55, 3110 Münsingen, Switzerland, Phone +41 31 720 72 72, info.ch@usm.com

– With regard to online sales:

USM U. Schärer Söhne AG, Münsingen, Thunstrasse 55, 3110 Münsingen, Switzerland, Phone +41 31 720 72 72, info.ch@usm.com

USM U. Schärer Söhne GmbH, Siemensstrasse 4 A, 77815 Bühl, Germany, Phone +49 7223 80940, info.de@usm.com

– With regard to marketing and advertising:

USM U. Schärer Söhne AG, Münsingen, Thunstrasse 55, 3110 Münsingen, Switzerland, Phone +41 31 720 72 72, info.ch@usm.com

USM Airportsystems AG, Brita Forrest-Hampson, Thunstrasse 55, 3110 Münsingen, Switzerland, Phone +41 31 720 70 80, b.forrest@usm.com

and additionally the local USM Companies:

USM U. Schärer Söhne GmbH, Siemensstrasse 4 A, 77815 Bühl, Germany, Phone +49 7223 80940, info.de@usm.com

USM U. Schaerer Sins ltd., Ground Floor, 49-51 Central St., EC1V 8AB London, United Kingdom, Phone +44 207 183 3470, info.uk@usm.com

USM U. Schärer Fils SA, Showroom 23, rue de Bourgogne, 75007 Paris, France, Phone +33 1 53 59 30 37; info.fr@usm.com

USM U. Schaerer Sons Inc., 28-30 Green Street, New York, NY 10013, USA, Phone +1 212 371 1230, info.us@usm.com

USM U. Schaerer Sons K.K., 2-1-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005, Japan, Phone +81 3 5220 2221, info.jp@usm.com

USM U. Schärer Söhne GmbH, Siemensstrasse 4 A, 77815 Bühl, Germany, has appointed a Data Protection Officer who can be contacted as follows: USM U. Schärer Söhne GmbH, Data Protection Officer, Siemensstrasse 4 A, 77815 Bühl, Germany, email: datenschutzbeauftragter@de.usm.com.

2. Personal data we process and our sources

Personal data we process about you includes:

– your name and contact details (for example name, address, phone number or e-mail address), information about your employer, occupation, industry or business category, your title, academic degree, your business address, and date of birth, your marital status, and other basic information);

– information about your affiliation to the USM client base;

– identification and background information provided by you or collected as part of our on-boarding process;

– financial information, for example payment-related information;

– information provided to us by or on behalf of our customers or generated by us in the course of providing services to customers;

– information provided to us for the purposes of attending meetings, seminars and events;

– information in relation to materials and communications we send to you electronically, for example your use of marketing e-mails;

– any other information relating to you which you may provide to us.

We collect this information when you interact with us, for example when you communicate with our staff, order in our online shop, sign up to receive information and/or brochures or other marketing material, or when you participate at a meeting, seminar or other event. We also may collect your personal data from other sources, for example to keep your information up to date using publically available sources.

3. How we use your personal data

We use your personal data:

– to communicate with you;

– to provide and improve our services to you and our customers, including personal data of others provided to us or collected by us on behalf of our clients, for example processing identification and background information as part of our online-shop, on-boarding, finance, administration and marketing processes;

– to administer our relationship with you and with our customers;

– for the processing of our services, especially for the processing of orders in our online-shop. We also use the information provided to us internally to contact you when necessary or for billing purposes;

– to provide and improve our websites, including monitoring and evaluating its use (see “Use of our websites and e-mails” below for additional information);

– for customer care and to promote our services, including by sending alerts, updates, event invitations etc.;

– to comply with our legal, regulatory and risk management obligations, including establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

4. Use of our websites and e-mails

Our websites use Google Analytics, a service provided by Google, Inc. that tracks and reports on the manner in which our websites are used. Google Analytics does this by placing small text files called “cookies” on your computer or other device. Cookies collect information about the number of visitors to the websites, the pages visited and the time spent on the websites. This information is aggregated and not personally identifiable

While visiting our website and our online shop, cookies named Sessionid are being used. Our website saves such small files on your computer in order to be able to show you e.g. complex and dynamic content, in order to recognize you on your next visit or for the authentication users that have identified themselves with a password. These cookies are not used to for analysing or even storing the behaviour of visitors individually. The cookie Sessionid is automatically deleted after 30 days.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. Note however that this may affect your experience of our websites. To find out more about cookies, including how to manage, reject and delete cookies, visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

What Are Cookies and Pixel Tags?

Cookies” are small strings of text or computer code stored locally on your device that allow us, ad networks, our service providers, and other third parties, to identify your browser and/or device as you browse the Internet. Cookies can be placed, read, and/or written to by our Website, or other websites or services that recognize a particular cookie, which allows the website to “remember” or “recognize” a particular browser or device and, in some cases, store information about that browser or device.

Certain features of the Website place and activate cookie-like functionality through browser add-ons, including, but not limited to, Adobe Flash (also known as “local stored objects” or “Flash cookies”) to collect and store information, including information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our Website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies and are stored differently, but their functionality and purpose is generally similar to other cookies.

Cookies may allow us and our service providers, for example, to customize your experience and make your visit to the Website easier (for example, recognizing when you return, remembering your viewing preferences, enabling social media sign-ins on the Website, facilitating social media sharing, and, if you are a registered user, remembering your password), measure activity on the Website, track conversions, target ads, and provide analytics. While some cookies are deleted when you close your browser, others remain even after you close your browsing session.

Cookies are often used in conjunction with “pixel tags” (also known as “web beacons” or “clear gifs”). Pixel tags are small images that we, our service providers (including analytics and advertising providers) and other third parties can use to interact with cookies and other tracking technologies. We use these technologies to allow us and our service providers to track conversions, to send emails to you in a format you can read, to count users who have visited our Website, seen our ads, opened our emails or clicked on any links in our emails, to inform us what content and advertising is effective, to optimize the Website and its content, to reduce or eliminate messages sent to customers, to enhance Website usability, to provide you ads and other promotions and content that may be of interest to you, and to collect other information about you and your visit when you use the Website. In addition, when you click on a link in an email, we or our service providers record that individual response to allow us to customize our offerings to you.

We and our service providers analyze the information derived from cookies, pixel tags, and other technologies and match or combine that information with data provided by you or another party. We engage various service providers who use unique identifiers, cookies, pixels, web beacons, and other web tracking technologies to provide analytics and to deliver you advertisements and content that may be of interest to you.

How Long Are Cookies Stored On My System?

Session Cookies. “Session cookies” are stored for the duration of a browser session; when you close the browser, the cookie is deleted.

Persistent Cookies. “Persistent cookies” are stored for a preset amount of time (often between 90 days and two years, depending on the application) and are typically not deleted when a browser session is closed.

Your choices may affect whether we use session or persistent cookies for a particular application. For example, ordinarily the Website stores signed-in status on a session cookie, and each time you start a new browser session you must log in again. However, if you select “Remember Me,” signed-in status is instead stored on a persistent cookie.

What Cookies Do We Use, and Why?

Performance Cookies. We use performance cookies to collect information about how our users use and interact with the Website, such as what pages are visited most often, how the Website are used and function, or how users navigate the Website. We use this information to improve the Website and their content. These cookies only collect aggregated and/or demographic information about the use of the Website, and do not collect information that can be used to identify you personally. Examples include:

Cookie Name or Provider

More Information

Google Analytics

You can learn about Google’s practices by going to www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, and opt out of Google Analytics tracking by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

 

 

 

 

Disabling or removing these cookies generally does not interfere with the functionality or performance of the Website.

Functionality Cookies. We use functionality cookies to remember information that you have provided or choices you have made on the Website, such as saving your logged-in status, site preferences, or the contents of your shopping cart. This allows us to provide a more personalized and convenient browsing experience.

Disabling or removing these cookies may make browsing the Website less convenient or may prevent certain functionality (such as the shopping cart or booking functionality) from working correctly.

Targeting or Advertising Cookies. We allow third party advertisers, including advertising providers and ad networks, to place and/or activate cookies, pixel tags, and/or other tracking technologies designed to enable advertising on your device and deliver it to you across the Internet.

These services may collect information and data about your activities online, both on the Website and across third-party pages or platforms that participate in the ad network. This process helps us track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and deliver advertising to you. These ad networks, in connection with cookies, pixel tags, and other tracking technologies: (i) help deliver online behavioral advertisements, either by us, our affiliates, or third parties; (ii) may prevent you from seeing the same advertisements too many times; and (iii) help us, our service providers, and/or our other partners (as further described below) understand the effectiveness of the advertisements that have been delivered to you.

Disabling or removing these cookies, resetting your advertising identifier, or opting out of online behavioral advertising altogether (as applicable) will not prevent you from seeing advertising, but may result in advertising that is repetitive or less relevant to you.

Third-Party Functionality. We do not have access to or control over cookies or other features that advertisers and third party sites may use, and the information practices of those advertisers and third party websites are not covered by our Privacy Notice or this Cookie Notice.

For example, we provide social media buttons on the Website that allow users to visit, share, sign into the Website with, or bookmark web pages through third-party social media platforms. We do not control how those platforms collect information about you, nor whether or how they may track you or may activate their own cookies on your computer.

For more information about how third parties collect and use information about your activities, please review their applicable Terms of Use and Privacy Policies.

How Do I Control or Make Choices About Cookies and Tracking Technologies?

Managing Cookies. Most browsers automatically accept cookies by default, but you can adjust your device and/or browser settings to delete and/or block some or all cookies (except Flash cookies), or provide notifications when you receive a new cookie. Consult the “Help,” “Tools,” or “Preferences” menus on your browser, or the documentation for your device, for more information about how to do this. Please note, however, that blocking or deleting certain cookies may negatively affect your user experience.

Flash Cookies and Local Stored Objects. Additionally, you can generally disable or delete cookies placed and used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies and local stored objects, by changing the add-on settings or visiting the website of its provider. Information and controls that allow you to manage Flash cookies may be found at https://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html. Note that if you disable Flash cookies or similar technologies, you may not have access to certain features and services (such as consistent volume settings for videos) that make your online experience more efficient and/or enjoyable.

Analytics. We use a tool offered by Google Inc. called Google Analytics to collect information about your use of our Website. If you wish to opt out of Google Analytics, you can download and install an opt-out browser add-on for certain browsers at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. You can also prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to this Website by disabling cookies on your browser, as described above.

We also may receive reports and analytics from Google’s advertising network, including without limitation regarding Website optimization, traffic data, and the effectiveness of our online advertising.

Advertising. Certain devices and browsers allow you to reset your advertising identifier at any time by accessing the privacy settings on your device in order to restrict the delivery of tailored in-application advertisements. Consult your device’s documentation for more information about how to do this.

In addition, you can consult the “Targeting or Advertising Cookies” section above for more information about how to opt out of specific advertising networks or providers.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) to serve ads based on your past visits to the Website. The Google privacy policy may be found at https://policies.google.com/privacy.

You can opt out of Google’s use of cookies and/or customize Google display network ads by visiting the Google Ads Settings at https://adssettings.google.com/. Alternatively, you can opt-out of Remarketing by visiting http://www.networkadvertising.org/.

You also can learn more about opting out of our vendors’ and other advertisers’ use of cookies used to tailor ads and other content to you by visiting http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp and http://www.aboutads.info/choices.

Please keep in mind that even if you opt out of receiving ads tailored to your apparent interests, you will continue to see ads from online advertising networks. However, those networks will not be able to apply any of your apparent ad preferences and the ads that you see therefore may be less relevant to your interests.

We may use your name and e-mail address(es) to send you alerts, updates, event invitations and other information by e-mail, but will ask for consent first unless we have obtained your contact details from you in the context of our services. If you receive marketing communications from us and no longer wish to do so, you may unsubscribe at any time by following the link included in these e-mails.

5. On what basis we use your personal information

We process personal data on the following grounds:

– to perform a contract, such as engaging with an individual to provide services;

– for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or proceedings;

– to comply with legal and regulatory obligations;

– for legitimate interests.

Please see “How we process your personal data” above for additional details.

6. Who we share your personal data with

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties including:

– Our sales partners who either sell our products or support us for deliveries and logistics; this applies in particular to our sales partners who have integrated our “configurator” into their website and can therefore support us in the delivery of USM products purchased in our online shop and can send you information about USM products and offers for USM products unless you object to such communication;

– third parties involved in our processing, in particular for processing credit card payments, for transport or as external service providers for data processing on our behalf;

– IT service providers;

– our auditors;

– third parties involved in hosting or organising events or seminars.

In addition, we may disclose Personal Data if we are required or permitted to do so by law or legal process, for example due to a court order or a request from a law enforcement agency, when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate for our legitimate interest, for example in preventing harm or financial loss, in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual fraudulent or other illegal activity, and in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets (including in the event of a reorganization, dissolution, or liquidation).

7. Countries we transfer your personal data to

We may transfer your personal data to recipients abroad (they may even be located outside the European Union), including countries that do not provide the same level of protection as Swiss and/or EU/EEA law. Before we do so we will implement appropriate measures to protect your personal data, for example by requiring the recipient to agree to data processing agreements. (If you would like to receive a copy of these agreements, please contact us at the addresses indicated above. These agreements are usually based on the EU standard clauses, which you can find under the following link http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/international-transfers/transfer/index_en.htm). We may also transfer personal data with your explicit consent and in certain other situations as permitted by applicable law.

8. How we retain your personal data

We retain your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which the data is collected, and as long as we have a legitimate interest in keeping personal data (for example to enforce or defend claims or for archiving purposes and IT security). We also retain your personal data as long as it is subject to a legal retention obligation.

9. How we protect your personal information

We use various technical and organisational measures to help protect your personal data from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, alteration or destruction.

10. Your rights

You have the following rights:

– You are entitled to ask for details of the information we hold about you and how we process it and to receive a copy of your personal data.

– You may also have your data rectified or deleted, restrict our processing of that information, and object to the processing of your personal data.

– You may also choose to withdraw your consent. Please note that even after you have chosen to withdraw your consent we may be able to continue to process your personal information to the extent required or permitted by law.

– You may also lodge a complaint in relation to our processing of your personal data with a local supervisory authority.

To exercise your rights, you can contact us as indicated above.

We must ensure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. Therefore, please advise us of any changes to your information by contacting us at the addresses indicated above.

11. Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Police may be adjusted over time, especially if we change our data processing or if new legislation becomes applicable. We actively inform persons whose contact details are registered with us of such changes in the event the changes are significant, if this is possible without disproportionate effort. In general, however, the data protection declaration in its current version at the beginning of the respective processing applies to data processing