Privacy Statement
Data Protection
Protection of the personal data you entrust to us is a priority for us, and we want you to feel safe and secure when you visit our website or use our online offers.
It is important to us that you are fully informed about the personal data that we collect when you use our online offers and services, and are familiar with how we use them.
Intended Use of Data Processing
TÜV SÜD is a leading technical service organization operating in the market segments of industry, products, and transport. Its range of services embraces advisory, inspection, tests, and expert reports as well as certification and training. Its objectives are reliability, safety, security, and quality, environmental protection, and profitability. Wherever TÜV SÜD processes personal data, such processing is carried out for the purposes defined in this data privacy statement.
Processing of Personal Data
Visiting our Website
We record and save your computer's IP address in order to send the contents of our website visited by you to your computer (e.g. texts, pictures, and files provided for downloading, etc.) (cf. Art. 6 (1) lit. b GDPR). We also process these data to identify and pursue any misuse. Legal basis in this case is Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. In this context, our legitimate interest in data processing is to ensure the due functioning of our website and the business transacted via the website.
In as far as we process your data as described above for the purpose of providing the functions of our website, you are contractually bound to make these data available to us.
Other Purposes
We also process personal data that you provide voluntarily, e.g. when you make an inquiry or online appointment, or when you order information material or newsletters. Legal basis in this case is Art. 6 (1) lit. b GDPR. The data processed by us in this context include the data of customers, employees, and suppliers to the extent necessary for the purposes specified within the scope of this data privacy statement.
In as far as we process your data as described above for the purpose of accepting and processing your inquiry, appointment, or newsletter registration, you are contractually bound to make these data available to us. We are unable to process your request without the data.
Where you have given your consent to the processing of personal data (cf. Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR), you can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent up to the time of withdrawal of consent.
Transfer to Third Parties
We generally transfer your data to the relevant TÜV SÜD company where it is processed to deliver the service and support you requested.
This means that information may also be processed by other legal entities of the TÜV SÜD Group. However, such processing is limited to the extent required for the purposes defined in this data privacy statement or to which the other legal entity acting as a service provider / processor has to follow the instructions given by the controller.
In this context, we sometimes use service providers which process data on our behalf (e.g. in email marketing or software design and development, or to support processing of customer inquiries). In these cases, the information is transferred to third parties to enable further processing. External service providers are selected carefully and audited at regular intervals to ensure protection of your data privacy.
These service providers / processors are bound by instructions. Given this, they are subject to our requirements, which include processing of your data exclusively in line with our instructions and in compliance with the applicable Data Protection Act. In particular, they are contractually bound to treat your data with strict confidentiality, and are not permitted to process data for other purposes than the ones agreed.
Data transfer to the data processor is affected on the basis of Art. 28 (1) GDPR.
We will not sell your data to third parties or otherwise share them for commercial purposes.
Beyond the above, we will transfer your personal data to prosecution authorities and, if applicable, damaged third parties without your explicit consent where this is necessary for clarifying illegal use of our services or for legal prosecution. However, such a transfer will only take place if there is concrete evidence of illegal conduct or misuse. Transfer of your data may also take place where this contributes to enforcing the conditions of use or other agreements. We are also under legal obligation to provide information to certain public bodies on request. These comprise prosecution authorities, authorities prosecuting offences punishable by a fine, and financial authorities.
The transfer of these data is based on our legitimate interest in fighting misuse, prosecuting criminal acts, and securing, asserting, and enforcing claims unless our interests are overridden by your rights and interests in the protection of your personal data, Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR.
Intended Data Transfer to Third Countries
At present, data transfer to third countries is not planned. Otherwise we will establish the required legal conditions. In particular, you will be informed of the respective recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data in line with the legal requirements.
Security
TÜV SÜD takes appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect any personal data you provide to TÜV SÜD from accidental or intentional manipulation, loss, destruction, or access by unauthorized parties. This also applies to any external services purchased. We verify the effectiveness of our data protection measures and continuously improve them in line with technological development. Any personal data entered are encrypted during transfer using a secure encryption process
Cookies and other Tracking Technologies
A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first party cookies. Depending on which of our Websites you are visiting, we may also use third party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts, as well as to understand your browsing of the Website (for example, which page you visit or how long you stay on each page).
More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:
Assisting you in navigation;
Assisting in registration to our events, login, and your ability to provide feedback;
Analysing your use of our products, services or applications;
Assisting with our promotional and marketing efforts (including behavioural advertising).
Use of Google Universal Analytics
This website uses Google Universal Analytics, a web analysis service offered by Google Inc. ("Google"). Google Universal Analytics uses ‘cookies,’ text files stored on your computer, to help us analyze how you use our website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website (including your IP address) is transferred to Google servers in the USA and saved there.
We have activated IP anonymization on this website, so that the IP address of users within EU Member States or other States party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area will be truncated by Google beforehand. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address sent to Google servers in the USA and truncated there. On behalf of the website provider, Google will use this information for the purpose of analyzing your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity, and providing us with other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google will not associate the IP address transmitted by your browser within the operations of Google Universal Analytics with any other data held by Google. You may prevent cookies from being installed by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, please note that in this case you may not be able to use the full range of functions of this website. Furthermore, you can prevent Google from collecting and using the data regarding your use of the website generated by the cookies (including your IP address) by downloading and installing the browser plugin from the following link http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
For more detailed information on the conditions of use and data privacy, go to http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and/or http://www.google.de/privacy.html.
Please note that this website uses Google Universal Analytics with the code extension “anonymizeIp” to ensure anonymized recording of IP addresses (known as IP masking) and exclude direct personal references.
Standard Periods for Deletion of Data
Legislation has defined numerous data storage periods and obligations. At the end of these periods, the relevant data will be routinely deleted. Data that are not affected by the above storage periods and obligations are deleted or anonymized as soon as the purposes defined in this data privacy statement no longer apply. Unless this data privacy statement includes other deviating provisions for data storage, we will store any data we collect for as long as they are required for the above purposes for which they were collected.
Other Data Use and Deletion of Data
Any further processing or use of your personal data will generally only be carried out to the extent permitted on the basis of a legal regulation or where you have consented to data processing or data use. In the case of further processing for other purposes than the ones for which the data were originally collected, we will inform you about these other services and provide you with all other significant information before further processing.
Identification and Prosecution of Misuse
We will store any information for the identification and prosecution of misuse, in particular your IP address, for a maximum period of 7 days. Legal basis in this case is Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. Our legitimate interest in keeping your data for 7 days is to ensure the functioning of our website and the business transacted via this website and to be able to fight off cyberattacks and similar malicious actions. Where appropriate, we may use anonymous information to tailor the design of our website to user needs.