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1. Privacy Statement

HETTICH recognises that privacy of personal information is important to individuals. We strive to ensure personal information that we collect, use, hold and disclose is to be minimal, private, correct, safe and, to the extent possible, largely in the control of the individual.

By using our website, you represent to HETTICH that you have read and consent to our collection, use and storage of your personal information as described in this policy. 

2. What is personal information?

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether the information is recorded in a material form or not.  This document sets out our policy in relation to the protection of personal information, under the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth) the (“Act”) and the Australian Privacy Principles (“APP”) but does not replace or limit the requirements of the Act. The APPs regulate the handling of personal information.

3. Types of personal information collected, stored and use

HETTICH collects and holds personal information about individuals for the provision of our products and services and purposes connected to those products and services.  Consistent with those purposes, HETTICH may collect personal information including, but not limited to:

a) Automatically generated data

If you only visit our website to obtain information, data will automatically be collected in non-personal form. This relates to the following data:

• date and time of opening one of our web pages
• country of origin, language setting
• the type of your browser and your operating system
• the page you last visited
• access status (file transferred, file not found etc.)
• the time spent on our web pages as well as
• your IP address.

These data are collected and processed to make it at all possible for you to use the web pages you have opened, for statistical purposes as well as to improve the content and functionalities of our web pages. Data are processed anonymously, i.e. data is never matched up to your person.

b) Personal information and consent

Personal data, such as your name, e-mail address or postal address will only be collected if you make these available to us, e.g. as part of registering, ordering products or services or on requesting images from our image database.

The data you provide will only be used for completing the activities you request, e.g. for processing orders or for providing the images you have requested from our image database.

The personal data you provide us with will only be collected, processed and used for other purposes after you have given us your prior consent. Your personal data will only be used for the purpose and to the extent stated in your consent. For example, we will only send you our newsletter after you give us permission to do so.

You can withdraw your consent at any time with immediate effect for the future. Please submit your withdrawal of consent to the address stated in clause 10.

4. Third-party access to your personal information

Personal data will be collected, processed and used ether by us or by other companies belonging to the Hettich Group (“affiliated companies”).

To process orders, your data may be passed on to service providers supporting us (e.g. shipping, logistics and payment service providers). If we make advance deliveries or payments, e.g. for a purchase made in return for an invoice, we will reserve the right to obtain information on creditworthiness from a credit reporting agency in order to safeguard our legitimate interest.

We will make sure that our affiliated companies and supporting service providers supporting us observe the pertinent statutory rules on data protection and the obligations arising from this privacy statement.

Otherwise no third party will have access to your personal data. In particular, we will neither sell them nor will we utilise them in any other way. Only if we are officially requested or obliged to do so in law will we communicate data to the government authority responsible.

5. Accuracy of personal information

HETTICH takes reasonable steps to ensure that all information we hold is accurate and up to date. We invite you to contact HETTICH to correct your personal information, if you feel the personal information, we have is inaccurate, not up to date or incomplete (see contact details below).

6. Use of cookies

We use cookies for our website. Cookies are small text files that are sent from our web server to your browser when you visit one of our web pages and saved by your browser on your computer. We use “permanent cookies” as well as “session cookies”.

The data stored in permanent cookies (stored for a maximum of 12 months) have the purpose of automatically recognising your computer the next time you open one of our web pages and of displaying information geared specifically to your interests.

The data filed in session cookies have the purpose of providing you with unrestricted usage of our services as well as making our web pages as convenient as possible to use while you are visiting our website. Session cookies are deleted as soon as you close your browser.

No personal data are stored in the cookies we use. We do not use any technologies either that associate information accruing through cookies with your personal data.

Settings in your browser let you yourself determine whether cookies are set and retrieved. In your browser, for example, you can completely deactivate cookies being stored, restrict such to specific web pages or configure your browser so that it automatically notifies you as soon as a cookie is to be set and you request feedback. If you deactivate session cookies you may not be able to use all of the functions provided by our web pages.

7. Use of personal information

The purposes for which HETTICH requires your personal information include:

Our website and sub-pages give you the opportunity to register for our newsletter. On the basis of the consent you previously gave us (Art. 6 (1) a) of the GDPR), we collect and use the e-mail address you gave us on registering to send you the newsletter. The provision of further data is voluntary and is used to address you personally.

To register for our newsletter, we use the double opt-in procedure. This means that after registration, we send you a message to the e-mail address you gave us in which we ask you to confirm your registration. If you do not confirm your registration, it will be automatically deleted.

When you register for the newsletter, we store your IP address as well as the date and time of your registration in order to trace any potential misuse of your e-mail address at a later time.

With immediate effect for the future, you can at any time withdraw your consent to the newsletter being sent. You can withdraw your consent via the link provided in every newsletter by using the “unsubscribe” button.

Our newsletters contain a click-tracking script. This click-tracking script is used to record a log file or analyse a log file. The embedded click-tracking script tells us whether and when you have opened an e-mail and which links in the e-mail you have clicked. Personal data collected via the click-tracking script contained in the newsletters are saved and evaluated by us in order to optimise delivery of our newsletters and match the content of future newsletter to your interests even better. You are entitled at any time to withdraw the declaration of consent you have given to receiving newsletters.

8. External services

We incorporate external services or contents (e.g. map service providers) on our website. If you use services of this type or if contents from third parties are displayed to you, communication data will be exchanged between you and the relevant provider for technical reasons.

The provider of the particular third-party services or contents may sometimes also process your data for further purposes of their own. To the best of our knowledge and belief, we have configured services or contents from providers who are known to process data for their own purposes in a way that either no communication takes place for purposes other than to display contents or services or in a way that any communication only takes place if you actively decide to use the service. As we have no influence on the data collected by third parties or on the way in which they process them, we cannot provide any binding information on the purpose for which and on the extent to which your data are processed.

For further information on the purpose for which and the extent to which your data are collected and processed, please therefore refer to the data privacy information given by the providers of the services and contents we incorporate and who are responsible in law for protecting data.

9. Links to third-party websites

This website contains links to websites of third parties (e.g. our sales partners). These are external websites, the contents of which are beyond our control. For this reason, we expressly exclude any liability for the content of external websites. We are not responsible for the data-protection precautions implemented by the operators of such websites.

10. Privacy rights

If you have a particular concern or query about your personal information held by us, you should contact HETTICH as per our contact details below. If you do not consider our response satisfactory, you may contact the Australian Privacy Commissioner at its website www.oaic.gov.au or by telephone on 1300 363 992.

11. Changes to the policy

HETTICH reserves the right to amend this policy from time to time as we see fit.  While we endeavour to notify you as soon as reasonably possible of any changes to our policies by email or by a notice on our website, it is your responsibility to keep up to date with any changes or amendments by checking this page.

12. Disclaimer

This Policy does not replace or limit the requirements of the Privacy Act. For more information about privacy issues in Australia and protecting your privacy, visit the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner’s website; http://www.privacy.gov.au/.

13. Complaints

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how your personal information has been handled by us, you may contact us at any time. If you wish to make such a complaint, you should first contact the Privacy Officer in writing. Your complaint will be dealt with in accordance with our complaints procedure and we will provide a response within a reasonable period. The contact details for our Privacy Officer are set out below under the section ‘Contacting Us’.

We will endeavour to consider and respond to your complaint within a reasonable period. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, or you consider that we may have breached the APP or the Privacy Act, you are entitled to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner can be contacted by telephone on 1300 363 992. Full contact details for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner can be found online at www.oaic.gov.au.

14. Contacting us

If you have any further questions about this privacy policy or wish to update your information, by using the Contact Us form by submitting an enquiry.

Last updated:  July 2024