Data protection information

Data Protection Information SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co. KG

SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG (hereinafter: SEW-EURODRIVE) appreciates you visiting our website, using our mobile apps and your interest in our products and our company. The privacy and protection of your personal data are important to us, and we take this into account in all our business processes. We therefore process your personal data by taking the applicable data protection regulations into account, in particular the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

On this website, we wish to provide you with information on data processing in cases where SEW‑EURODRIVE carries out processing procedures. Please select in the below table which processing you would like to receive more detailed information about.

The "controller," as defined by Article 4, No. 7 of the GDPR is SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG, Ernst-Blickle-Str. 42, 76646 Bruchsal, Germany, tel. +49 7251 75-0, fax +49 7251 75-1970, e-mail sew-webmaster@sew-eurodrive.de . If you have questions about our processing of your personal data, or about data protection in general, please contact our data protection officer at the above address or by e-mail at datenschutz@sew-eurodrive.de .

I. Personal data

II. Data protection notice for our websites and apps (with cookie policy)

III. Data protection information for customers and interested parties of SEW-EURODRIVE

IV. Data protection information on the processing of personal data in connection with trade fairs and other events

V. Data protection information for the creation and publication of photo, audio and video recordings as well as press and advertising texts

VI. Your rights as the data subject

I. Definition of personal data

Personal data is defined as all information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person. This includes, for example, your name, your (business) contact details, your phone number or e-mail address and relationship to a company, and your interactions/activities with us.

When you use our website or apps, personal data for, example information about your use of our website or apps, may be processed. This includes, for instance, connection data or sources accessed by you. This information is usually collected by using log files and cookies.

In the case of applications, personal data includes your name, your (business and private) contact details, your address, hobbies or information about sicknesses and your tax status (with your religious affiliation). We shall treat all information you send us, in addition to your resume, if applicable also your picture, any information about your health condition or other private information as application data.

II. Data protection information for our websites and our apps (with cookie policy)

Below, SEW‑EURODRIVE, the operator of various websites and developer of various mobile apps, would like to provide you with an overview of how we ensure the protection of your personal data on our website and further online contact forms and what type of personal data we process for which purposes and to what extent.

1. Data processing – Offers on our website

When you access our website, general information is automatically collected. This information (server log files) includes the type of web browser, the operating system used, the domain name of your internet service provider and the like. In addition, the IP address is transmitted and used to utilize the service you requested. This information is essential when using the Internet and is technically necessary in order to ensure the constant availability of the website. Following a period of a few weeks as a rule, this logfile data will be anonymized by us or deleted, unless we describe extended data processing below. If you send us an inquiry by e-mail, we collect data you provide for processing your inquiry and fulfill your requests, if applicable. The legal basis for this is Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR.

If you use any services offered on our website, further personal data may be collected from you. We process this data to the extent necessary to provide the services you requested. In addition, you may create further personal data voluntarily. We describe the legal basis in the following individually presented functions and offerings.

If you provide us with your contact details in the context of concluding a contract or via registration in our customer portal, please take note of the information on data protection mentioned under III.

Further processing of your data by us or other group companies or service providers for purposes which go beyond those above takes place as set out below in accordance with the use selected by you or if you have issued your consent.

2. General inquiries and business correspondence via the online contact form

In addition to contacting us by telephone and e-mail, you can also use the online contact form to send us your general inquiries about us or our products and services. We process the data that you have entered in the form on our servers in Bruchsal. The form includes required information, which we need in order to process and respond to your inquiry, as well as largely voluntary information that you enter voluntarily in the free text fields. The data is as follows:

• E-mail address (required information)

• Country/region (required information)

• Subject of your inquiry (voluntary)

• Content of your message (voluntary)

• Academic title (voluntary)

• Customer number (voluntary)

• First name, last name (voluntary)

• Company name (voluntary)

• Street name, house number, town/city (voluntary)

• Zip code (voluntary)

• Telephone number (voluntary)

• Telephone extension (voluntary)

• Cell phone number (voluntary)

• Attachments that you upload via the form (voluntary)

We process and save the data to the extent and for the duration necessary to process and respond to your inquiry and/or to comply with retention obligations.

The legal basis for requesting and processing required information is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. We require this information, such as your e-mail address and country/region, to enable us to automatically forward your inquiry to the relevant internal department and to process and respond to your inquiry. In this respect, the collection and processing of this required information is in your interest.

The legal basis for processing the information that you enter on a voluntary basis in the free text form fields is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. By voluntarily entering this information in the online form, you express that the processing of this information is in your interest and that you knowingly wish it to be processed. In this respect, the processing is in your interest.

The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR if your details and the correspondence between you and us is necessary so that you as an employee of our customers, suppliers or other third parties are able to do your job and contact us in a business capacity, for example, to order products and services or to report a support case if you are an existing customer.

3. Security information and external links

We take technical and organizational security precautions on our websites to protect personal data stored by us against access by third parties, loss or misuse, and to enable secure data transfer.

We wish to inform you that due to the structure of the Internet and the sending of e-mails when transferring information, unwanted third-party access may occur. It is therefore also your responsibility to protect your data by encryption or any other method against misuse.

Our websites contain links to other websites from other providers. SEW-EURODRIVE is not responsible for the data protection policies or the content of these other websites.

4. Customer and online support

We offer you comprehensive interaction with us in our online support account at https://www.sew-eurodrive-partner.com/en_us/online_support/. Once you register, you will have access to many functions and services of SEW‑EURODRIVE. The processing purposes and processed data can be ascertained from the individual functions, e.g. drawing up sales contracts, requesting the delivery status or carrying out troubleshooting.

The legal basis for your registration with online support is Article 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR. Please note our supplementary data protection notice under III regarding ordering specific services and the further processing of your data.

5. Advertising mailings

If you have given your consent (e.g. via the following link www.sew-eurodrive.de/consent, or if we received your contact details as part of concluding a contract, we can send you information about our products and services by e-mail. The processing in accordance with your consent is described under the following link. We can continue to send you information concerning events, trade fairs, products and services by post if we have obtained your address and you have not objected to the information. Further information on how your data is used for advertising purposes if a business relationship exists can be found under number III) 1) c) below.

You may, of course, revoke your consent to receive advertising mailings, or object to the use for advertising purposes, at any time. The easiest way to revoke your consent is to visit www.sew-eurodrive.de/consent or send us an e-mail at abbestellen@sew-eurodrive.de .

6. Use of external links

Our websites contain links to other websites from other providers. SEW-EURODRIVE is not responsible for the data protection policies or the content of these other websites.

7. Processing of online data at SEW-EURODRIVE (“cookie policy“)

a) Information concerning the use of technical aids (in particular cookies)

Our website (and some of our apps) use technical aids for various functions, in particular so-called cookies. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your end device and that are saved by your browser. They are used to make our offerings more user-friendly, effective and secure. We use so-called temporary cookies that are automatically deleted once you close your browser ("session cookies"), as well as persistent (permanent) cookies.

When accessing our website (or using the apps) and at any time subsequently, you have the choice of whether you wish to permit the setting of cookies and individual additional functions. You can carry out changes in your browser settings or via our consent manager. Should you reject functions or cookies, you may not be able to fully use our service.

When using cookies, we make a distinction between essential cookies (to display and operate the website) and supplementary cookies, such as the anonymous measurement of access numbers (functional cookies) and marketing cookies (advertising purposes, display or relevant and personalized content). Below, we wish to inform you of the various processing purposes and the services which are used in concrete terms. We will also describe the data processing which will take place.

b) Essential functions and cookies when using the website / apps

We use functions which are essential for the use of our websites / apps. These include so-called session cookies, which enable us to recognize you once again when you visit the site during an individual session. These session cookies contribute to safe use of our offering by, for instance, enabling you to use the online support functions. These functions can be viewed in the cookie consent tool. The legal basis of the processing is Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR.

c) Use of functions for the recording of use behavior (tracking) with right to object:

The use of tracking functions which primarily gather information by means of cookies enables us to analyze the use of our website and to improve it as a result. For this purpose, we can either use utilization statistics (anonymous results) or functions which enable us to recognize users once again when our website is accessed, which allows us to assign utilization processes to an internally allocated number (pseudonym). This allows us to record access to our website and to analyze it systematically. Specifically, we use the following tracking functions:

(1) Creation of utilization statistics via etracker

Services of etracker GmbH based in Hamburg, Germany (www.etracker.com) are used on this website to analyze utilization data. In this context, cookies are generally used to enable a statistical analysis of the utilization of this website by its users, and to display utilization-related content or advertising. etracker cookies do not include any information that would make it possible to identify a user. In addition, we can also use etracker variants without cookies, in which we carry out the data processing described here to a lesser extent.

The data which is generated as a result is processed on our behalf by etracker exclusively in Germany according to our specifications and is therefore subject to the strict German and European data protection laws and standards. etracker does not carry out any data processing for its own purposes and has been independently audited, certified and awarded the ePrivacyseal data protection seal of approval with regard to compliance with EU data protection standards.

The data processing takes place on the basis of the legal provisions of Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR. Our concern under the GDPR (legitimate interest) is to analyze the use of our website and to obtain statistics relating to its use, in order to guarantee the regular optimization of our online service and web presence, so that our website can be made more interest for you as a user. Since the privacy of our visitors is important to us, any data that may allow for a reference to an individual person, such as the IP address, login and device identifications, is pseudonymized or anonymized as quickly as possible. There is no other processing or combination with other data of etracker or transfer to third parties.

You may object to the above data processing at any time, should this be related to personal data:

I object to data processing by etracker on this website here
Your Opt-out was successful!
.

You can find more information about data protection at etracker here.

(b) Creation of utilization statistics by SEW‑EURODRIVE

In addition, we use our own internally developed tool in order to analyze the use of our website and to allow us to improve our website regularly. With the acquired statistical reports, we are able to improve our offering and make it more interesting for you as a user. During this process, we use an anonymization function, which means that no personal data relating to you can be saved following generation of the statistics. The legal basis for creation of this analysis is Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR. Within the scope of the analysis, cookies are saved on your end device. Information that has been collected in this manner is saved by us exclusively on our servers in Germany.

Preventing company-related tracking so that we can also collect general data is possible if you object to tracking using the tool of SEW‑EURODRIVE at the following link. If you do not want any type of analysis during use via your end device, object to tracking with the tool of SEW‑EURODRIVE here.
Your Opt-out was successful!

d) Functions with use of cookies following your consent

Below is an overview of the functions which we use on receiving your consent when you start using our website. These are functions which are used for advertising purposes and use cookies for this purpose.

Use of functions for advertising purposes

We use functions which deploy cookies for marketing purposes, for example in order to tailor advertising to the interests of a website visitor. They are also used to limit the frequency with which ads are displayed and to measure the effectiveness of the adverts. They record which websites and which items are clicked. This enables us to record information about user habits in order to provide interest-based advertising. The advertising networks used may share this information with third parties. In such cases, the advertising partner regularly sets the cookies directly.

The following functions are used for advertising purposes in particular:

(1) Use of Google Ads /Google Remarketing
We use the service of Google Ads to draw attention on external websites to our attractive products by using advertising tools (so-called Google advertising). These advertising tools are delivered by Google by means of so-called "ad servers." Ad server cookies that allow for the analysis of performance parameters are used in this process, e.g. ad impressions, clicks and conversations. This allows us to determine how successful individual advertising measures are in relation to the data of the advertising campaigns.

If you access our website via a Google ad, Google Ads will save a cookie on your end device. These cookies are not intended to identify you personally. By means of the integration of the cookies, Google is informed that you have visited the corresponding page of our website or have clicked on one of our advertisements by including tracking tools. If you are registered with a Google service, Google can allocate the visit to your account. Even if you have not registered with Google or are not logged in, it is possible that the provider finds out and saves your IP address. With the company's conversion remarketing technologies, users who have already visited our website and online services and shown interest in our products will see further related advertisements on other websites in the Google Partners network. As a rule, the following analysis values are also saved:

  • Unique cookie ID
  • Number of ad impressions per placement (frequency)
  • Last impression (relevant to post-view conversions)
  • Opt-out information (marking that the user no longer wants to be contacted)

The cookies set by Google enable Google to recognize your Internet browser once again in the future. If a user visits certain pages of a website of an Ads customer and the cookie that has been saved on his or her end device has not expired, Google and the customer can detect that the user has clicked the advertisement and was forwarded to this site. A different cookie is assigned to each Ads customer, so that cookies cannot be traced via the websites of Ads customers. Your browser automatically establishes a direct connection to the Google server based on the marketing tools deployed. We ourselves do not independently gather personal data during the named advertising measures, rather we only provide Google with the possibility of obtaining the data. In this respect, we are jointly responsible with Google for the data gathering and transfer. Google is responsible under data protection laws for the subsequent data processing. We are only provided with statistical analysis by Google. This analysis allows us to identify which of the deployed advertising measures are particularly effective. We do not receive any further data from the deployment of advertising measures, and, in particular, we are not able to identify users based on this information. The legal basis for processing your data is Article 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR.

Please note that Google may process data outside of the area of the European Union. Google also processes your personal data in the USA and has undertaken to comply with a standard which corresponds to the former EU-US Privacy Shield. We have also agreed so-called standard contractual clauses with Google, the purpose of which is compliance with a reasonable level of data protection in the third country.

We use Google Ads with the Google Remarketing function in order to provide you with advertising which is tailored to your interests. This application enables displaying our advertising when you are visiting other websites after visiting our website. This is accomplished with the use of cookies that are saved in your browser via which your utilization behavior is captured and analyzed by Google when you visit various websites. This enables Google to determine your previous visit to our website. According to Google, the data collected within the scope of remarketing is not combined with your personal data that may have been saved by Google. In particular, according to Google, pseudonymization is used during remarketing. You can prevent the remarketing function by not consenting to its use and also by revoking your consent subsequently, as described in the paragraph below. The legal basis is your consent in accordance with Article 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR.

Should you not wish for advertising which is tailored to your interests to be displayed after you have issued your consent or should you not wish for the remarketing function to be used, you can revoke your consent in our cookie settings or de-activate this in your browser cookies. You can also notify Google of this directly for the future via the following link: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/. In addition, you can object to the Google remarketing via the website of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI): http://optout.networkadvertising.org. Alternatively, you can de-activate the use of cookies by third-party providers by accessing the de-activation site of the Network Advertising Initiative (http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp) or administering the use of the device identifiers via the device settings (https://support.google.com/ads/answer/1660762#mob). Further information of the provider can be found at https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2549063?hl=de/. Full information concerning data protection at Google can be found on their website at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en and https://services.google.com/sitestats/de.html.

(2) Integration of YouTube videos into our website
On individual websites, we have integrated YouTube videos which are saved at http://www.youtube.com and can be played back directly on our website. These videos are included in the "extended data protection mode," i.e. no data about you as a user will be transmitted to YouTube unless you play back the videos. The below data is only transmitted when you play back the videos. We cannot influence this data transmission.

By playing back the embedded videos, YouTube receives the information that you have accessed the corresponding page on our website, and it is furthermore possible that other data is transmitted to YouTube of which we have no knowledge. This will occur regardless of whether YouTube has provided a user account through which you have logged in or if no user account exists. If you are logged into YouTube, your data will be directly allocated to your account. If you do not want this allocation to your profile with YouTube, you must log out before you activate the button. YouTube saves your data as utilization profiles and uses it for the purposes of advertisements, market research and/or the needs-compliant design of its website. Such an analysis can be carried out (even for users that are not logged in) especially for providing needs-compliant advertisements and to inform other YouTube users about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles. Such requests must be addressed to YouTube.

YouTube also processes your personal data in the USA and has undertaken to comply with a standard which corresponds to the former EU-US Privacy Shield. Further information concerning the purpose and scope of the data gathering, the subsequent processing and the safeguarding of the data transfer to a third country can be found in the data protection policy of YouTube. This is also where you will find further information about your rights and setting options to protect your privacy: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy. The legal basis of the processing of your data for the purposes referred to above is your consent in accordance with Article 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR. You can revoke your consent at any time. The easiest way to do this is to de-select the function in our cookie settings.

8. Integration of Google Maps

Via an API, this site uses the map service of Google Maps, which is provided by Google Inc.

It is necessary to process your IP address and further utlization data in order to use the functions of Google Maps. This information is normally sent to a Google server in the US and stored there. The provider of this page cannot influence this data transmission. Google can connect the utilization data with other data and assign it to your Google account, should you be logged in to this.

Google Maps is used for the purpose of providing an attractive online service and helping to easily find the locations given on our website. This represents a legitimate interests in accordance with the legal basis being used, Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR.

Further information concerning the processing of your user data can be found in the data protection policy of Google: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/ .

9. SEW-EURODRIVE profiles on social networks

a) Facebook fan page
For the information services offered here, we use the technical platform and services of Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland. We wish to inform you that use of our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/sew.antriebstechnik and its functions takes place under your own responsibility. This applies, in particular, to the use of interactive functions (e.g. Comment, Share, Rate).

When you visit our Facebook page, Facebook records, among other things, your IP address as well as additional information which is found on your PC in the form of cookies. This information is used to supply us as the provider of the Facebook pages with statistical information about the use of our Facebook page (so-called Facebook “insights”). Facebook provides further information via the following link: http://de-de.facebook.com/help/pages/insights.

The data collected in this context is processed by Facebook Ltd. and may be transmitted to countries outside the European Union, in particular the US. Your data may be transferred to the USA, whereby according to the information provided by Facebook, it complies with a reasonable level of data protection which corresponds to the former EU-US Privacy Shield (www.privacyshield.gov). Facebook describes which information it receives and how it uses it in general terms in its Data Use Guidelines. They also provide information about how to contact Facebook and how to change your advertising settings. The data use policies are available via the following link: http://de-de.facebook.com/about/privacy/. The full Facebook Data Use Policy can be accessed here: https://de-de.facebook.com/full_data_use_policy. The following Facebook support pages provide details on how to manage and delete existing information about you: https://de-de.facebook.com/about/privacy#

Facebook does not conclusively and clearly state, nor do we know, the extent to which Facebook uses data from your visit to the Facebook pages for its own purposes, the extent to which activities on the Facebook pages are allocated to individual users, for how long Facebook stores this data and whether data from a visit to the Facebook page is passed on to third parties. Data processing by Facebook may vary depending on whether you are registered with, and logged into, Facebook, or whether you access the site as a non-registered and/or not logged in user.

When you access a Facebook page, or make a contribution, the IP address allocated to your end device is transmitted to Facebook. According to Facebook, this IP address is anonymized (for “German” IP addresses) and deleted after 90 days. In addition, Facebook saves information about the end devices of its users (e.g. as part of the “Log-in notification” function); this may allow Facebook to allocate IP addresses to individual users. If you as a user are currently logged into Facebook, a cookie containing your Facebook ID is currently saved on your end device. This enables Facebook to track that you have visited this page and how you used it. This also applies to all other Facebook pages. With the help of Facebook buttons embedded in websites, Facebook can record your visits to these websites and allocate them to your Facebook profile. Based on this data, contents or advertising can be tailored to you.

If you want to avoid or restrict the data processing described above by Facebook, you should log out of Facebook or disable the “remain logged in” function, delete any cookies on your device and restart your browser. This deletes Facebook information, which can be used to identify you. You can thereby use our Facebook page without disclosing your Facebook ID. If you try to use the page's interactive functions (Like, Comment, Share, Messages, etc.), a Facebook login screen is displayed. After you log in, Facebook can again identify you as a specific user.

In addition to this, we as the provider of the information service only process the data from your use of our service which you provide and which requires interaction. For example, if you ask a question which we can only answer by e-mail, we will save your information in accordance with our General Data Protection Principles, as described in our Data Protection Information. The legal basis for processing your data on the fan page is Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR.

You can contact either us or Facebook to exercise your rights as the data subject. If a party is not responsible for providing a reply, or must receive information from the other party, we or Facebook will forward the query to the relevant other party. Please contact Facebook directly for any queries concerning the setting up of your profile, the processing of your data when using the website and insights (see above for the link). If you have any questions regarding how we process your interaction with us on our site, please do not hesitate to contact us at datenschutz@sew-eurodrive.de .

If you have any questions regarding our information offering, please do not hesitate to contact us by using the above contact details. The concept underlying the service is available via the following Internet address: https://www.facebook.com/sew.antriebstechnik. For more information on Facebook, other social networks and how you can protect your data, see www.youngdata.de.

b) Other sites on social media platforms

We also maintain sites on other so-called social media platforms. We also have sites with the following providers:

media platforms

Twitter

YouTube

LinkedIn

Instagram

Xing

To provide these information services, we access the providers’ technical platform and services. We hereby inform you that use of our sites on social media platforms and their functions is at your own risk. This applies, in particular, to the use of interactive functions (e.g. Comment, Share, Rate). When you visit our pages, the social media platform providers record, among other things, your IP address as well as additional information found on your PC as cookies. This information is used to supply us as the provider of the accounts with statistical information about the interaction with us.

The details relating to Facebook described above also apply here. In particular, your data may be transmitted to the USA; all of the above providers state that they comply with a reasonable level of data protection which corresponds to the former EU-US Privacy Shield (with the exception of Xing, as this provider’s head office is located in the EU). We do not know in what way the social media platforms use the data from your visit of our account and from the interaction with our contributions for their own purposes, for how long they store this data and whether they pass on the data to third parties. Data processing may vary depending on whether you are registered with, and logged into, the social network, or whether you access the site as a non-registered and/or not logged in user. When you access a contribution or the account, the IP address assigned to your end device is transmitted to the provider of the social media platform. If you are currently logged in as a user, a cookie on your end device can be used to track how you surfed the internet. If you want to avoid this, you should log out, delete any cookies on your device and restart your browser.

In addition to this, we as the provider of the information service only process the data from your use of our service which you provide and which requires interaction. For example, if you ask a question which we can only answer by e-mail, we will save your information in accordance with our General Data Protection Principles, as described in our Data Protection Information. The legal basis for processing your data on the social media platform is Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR.

You can contact either us or the provider of the social media platform to exercise your rights as the data subject. If a party is not responsible for providing a reply, or must receive information from the other party, we or the provider of the social media platform will forward the query to the relevant other party. Please contact the provider of the social media platform directly for any queries concerning setting up your profile or the processing of your data when using the website. If you have any questions regarding how we process your interaction with us on this site, please do not hesitate to contact us at datenschutz@sew-eurodrive.de .

In their data protection policies, the providers describe what information the social media platform receives and how this is used (see table above for the link). These also provide information about how to contact them and how to change your advertising settings. For more information on social networks and how you can protect your data, see www.youngdata.de.

III. Data protection information for customers and interested parties of SEW-EURODRIVE

1 Scope of data processing and designated uses

a) Contract performance
SEW‑EURODRIVE processes the data that we receive from you as part of your inquiries or existing contractual relationships. In addition to your business contact details, this comprises all information that is exchanged, such as e-mails, orders, requests for our products, and payment details. If you have business relationships with us, you must provide the personal data that is necessary for the preparation or performance of the contracts or that we are legally required to process; otherwise we cannot fulfill the contracts.

SEW-EURODRIVE processes the data provided during order placement for use in fulfillment of the contract and may employ specialized and monitored service providers for this purpose. Processing of the data for the purpose of contract fulfillment comprises using the data to render the service stipulated by the contract, including rendering of services defined in service agreements or handling of any warranty claims. In addition, if a request for financing is made, the data required for generating a quotation may be used by SEW-EURODRIVE and, if necessary, passed on to contractual partners. Further details regarding the purposes of use can be found in the relevant contractual documents. This data processing is carried out on the basis of Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR.

Data collected by SEW-EURODRIVE regarding the purchase of our products or use of our services may also be passed on to the external auditors and/or tax consultants of SEW-EURODRIVE for consulting and auditing purposes. SEW-EURODRIVE saves the data collected for fulfillment of the contract in its operative system as long as warranty claims or other purposes of use laid out in this declaration still apply. Thereafter, data that is subject to the retention obligations specified in sections 146 et seqq. German Fiscal Code or Section 257 German Commercial Code is archived and then deleted once these retention obligations expire. All other data is deleted immediately, unless this declaration specifies other designated uses for this data. Data is processed for warranty claims on the basis of Article 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR, and for the fulfillment of legal obligations in accordance with Article 6(1)(1)(c) GDPR.

b) Verification of address and credit worthiness

To verify your address and credit rating, SEW EURODRIVE accesses databases from external agencies in order to gather address details and credit data about your company, including data that was calculated using statistical methods (scoring). This is done as long as SEW-EURODRIVE is undertaking a commercial risk in concluding the contract and seeks to safeguard itself through this credit check. This information is used by SEW-EURODRIVE to grant trade credit for goods or services.

The following agencies provide addresses and credit data to SEW-EURODRIVE:

  • Bisnode D&B Deutschland GmbH
  • Deutsche Bank AG
  • German Debtor's Register (Deutsches Debitorenregister, DRD), a payment records pool from the Verband der Vereine Creditreform e.V. organization
  • Verband der Vereine Creditreform e.V.

The information provided by the agencies and the internal information regarding payment behavior is internally evaluated by SEW-EURODRIVE, which then creates its own rating for use as the basis for granting a credit limit. The credit data is deleted 5 years after the last delivery of goods. This mode of data processing is performed in accordance with Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR in order to grant you trade credit for goods and services.

c) Promotional use of data by SEW-EURODRIVE
SEW-EURODRIVE and engaged service providers (printing companies, lettershops, etc.) use your name and address as a contact person in ongoing business relationships or of interested persons for additional measures for entering into and activating business partnerships.

This includes the sending of advertising by post in relation to interesting products and services, so that potential customers and business partners can become aware of products which may be of interest and in order to form a long-term business relationship. Last but not least, we would like to stay in touch with you on special occasions and send you Christmas greetings, for example. SEW-EURODRIVE uses your telephone number for promotional purposes only if you have given your consent or if consent can be reasonably presumed – for example, within an existing business relationship or after previous contact. SEW-EURODRIVE also uses your e-mail address which was obtained from the contact persons during the conclusion of contracts in order to advertise similar products and services. In all other cases, we only use your e-mail address for advertising purposes with your separate consent. Of course, you have the right to refuse these promotional contacts. We notify you of your right to object to advertising in each separate case.

Furthermore, SEW-EURODRIVE processes the data collected within the framework of the business relationship (contact information, product purchases, services ordered) and obtained when the services on the website are used, at trade fairs or during other advertising campaigns (use of data when accessing the website or when participating in advertising campaigns, as well as the voluntary information which you disclose when using the website) in order to provide you with offers which are tailored to your interests. By means of the above, we use the data which is collected over the course of the business relationship and the data which is obtained when using products / services in order to inform you of offers, information and current developments in relation to our products and services which may be of interest. Thereby SEW-EURODRIVE provides further information concerning products and services of the SEW-EURODRIVE Group. By means of this data processing, we can showcase the products and services which we think may be of interest to you by means of personalized offers (website, e-mail or postal advertising).

We may also send you - as an existing customer or if we have otherwise received your contact details - information in relation to special promotions, events or trade fair events by post within the framework described above. In this case, you will receive post from us with information about the specific campaign and how you can participate and what information you must issue us with. We will then often register your participation via an event-related website and process your data for the stated purposes indicated, for example to provide the products offered or send you information. We may use the information received as part of the processing described here. At the time of selection and sending of the initial information, your data is processed on the basis of a consideration of our interests, Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR; when you participate in a campaign and register, your data is processed for the performance of the contract, in accordance with Article 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR.

As a rule, your data is saved in the EU for advertising purposes. Thereby we can use service providers whom we have carefully inspected and audited. Should data be transferred to and processed on servers in third countries outside the EU/EEA in individual cases, i.e. in particular the USA and, where applicable, the United Kingdom (UK), we use engaged and monitored service providers who have undertaken to guarantee an reasonable level of data protection and with whom the EU standard data protection clauses of the EU Commission have been agreed in principle. In individual cases, permission for data transfer may also arise under Article 49 GDPR, for example fulfillment of a contract with an international focus or if you have issued your consent.

To achieve the goals associated with this promotional usage, we process your data over the service lives of our products and as long as you remain a customer. Exceptions are made if you consent to a longer period of usage and/or if the data is subject to statutory retention obligations. In the latter case, the data is deleted after the retention period has elapsed. The processing period may be shorter if you exercise your right to object, of which we inform you in Section V.

The legal basis for this promotional usage is Article 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR or, if you have given your consent, Article 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR. We will inform you below of your rights regarding use for advertising purposes, in particular your right to object.

d) Processing of personal data due to legal obligations
SEW-EURODRIVE, like every other company in Germany and Europe, is subject to various legal obligations to verify the data of our customers and business partners. In such cases, we process your personal data only to the extent legally required. To fulfill these legal obligations, it may be necessary to process some of your data automatically in order to evaluate personal aspects (profiling). Unless you are expressly notified, automated individual decision-making is conducted. The legal basis for this processing is Article 6(1)(1)(c) GDPR in conjunction with the applicable statutory provisions.

These statutory provisions relate to, in particular:

  • Prevention of fraud and money laundering
  • Tax auditing and reporting requirements
  • Evaluation and management of risks in the Group
  • Sanctions lists
  • Export control, customs regulations
  • Auditing, in particular by tax consultants and auditors

2 . Distribution of data within the SEW-EURODRIVE Group

SEW-EURODRIVE may pass on your master data (company name, contact persons, address and contact details such as telephone number and e-mail address) to other companies within the SEW-EURODRIVE Group and possibly update it in order to ensure that all SEW-EURODRIVE companies involved with you in a transaction (for example fulfilling a contract) have the same master data. This is intended to simplify our processes and may help you avoid having to provide the master data again when contacting another company within the Group. The legal basis for this mode of data processing is Article 6(1)(1)(b or f) GDPR. Your rights are safeguarded by internal contractual policies that ensure a high standard of data protection.

Furthermore, in addition to master data, data relating to a concrete order (order data) or data for the preparation of such an order in case of your inquiry can be passed on to other EURODRIVE companies, should this be necessary due to your order. For example, different SEW-EURODRIVE products are manufactured by different SEW-EURODRIVE companies, so data may need to be transferred to simplify order processing and delivery. In such cases, you will be informed of this transfer upon conclusion of the contract. The legal basis for this processing is Article 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR.

If your company is based outside Germany, an SEW-EURODRIVE subsidiary associated with us will be responsible for managing and processing your contracts or inquires. Therefore, if you wish to receive contract offers or additional information about SEW-EURODRIVE and our products, the personal information we have stored for you (in particular: name, contact details, associated company, products in which you are interested) must be transferred to the SEW-EURODRIVE subsidiary that is responsible for your company's location. This international representative of ours will use your personal data unless you object to the dissemination or saving of your data in these subsidiaries.

The processing procedures referred to above may result in your master data being processed by SEW-EURODRIVE companies outside of the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA). In cases where the EU Commission has not specified an reasonable level of data protection, we have made contractual commitments; generally, we have concluded the EU standard contractual clauses and checked the level of protection of the country in detail. You can find a list of the companies belonging to the Group here. This data is subject to the same deletion policies described above.

IV. Data protection information on the processing of personal data in connection with trade fairs and other events

If you visit us at a trade fair or other networking event, we may exchange information about our products or about existing or future collaboration, or for the purpose of contacting each other for future business affairs, i.e. to initiate, carry out or conclude business.

We will process the following information about you, depending on the individual situation/case or what information you share with us:

• First name, last name.

• address.

• Title.

• (Business) phone number.

• (Business) e-mail address.

• Contents of your e-mail/messenger messages in connection with our correspondence before, during or after a trade fair or event.

• Name and address of your company.

• Department in which you work.

• Your role at the company.

• Your industry.

• Information contained on the business cards that we exchange or that you give us.

• Information taken from your (public) website or (public) social media profile.

• Your likeness/appearance on foto, audio recording or video recording, if we make and publish recordings as part of the event. If you are the focus of the foto/recording, i.e. you are specifically to be seen or heard, we will obtain your consent in advance.

• The information you enter in the Process Modules Questionnaire. In addition to your name and contact details, this consists mainly of our questions and your answers about products and processes (see Process Modules Questionnaire). If you answer the questions on site using a tablet, the date and time will also be recorded.

• The information that is recorded and documented in the conversation note. In addition to your name and contact details, this includes but is not limited to information about your industry, project planning, your visitor category (customer, OEM, potential customer, supplier, press, student, applicant, other service providers), main topics of the conversation, notes from the conversation, excerpts of your statements (original audio) from the conversation, your requested contact method (telephone, mail, e-mail, messenger), interest in advertising, your planned orders.

• Other information from our correspondence before, during and after the trade fair.

• Documentation/comment on the conversation note that you have objected to the processing and storage of your data in our IT systems and files.

If you are a new customer, existing customer or prospective customer, the information listed here will be entered into our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and processed. The information is processed on SEW EURODRIVE servers (on premises) in Bruchsal, Germany and in the cloud environment of external cloud providers. To protect our IT systems from cyber attacks and hackers, we do not publish the names of the external system providers directly, but on request we will provide you with the (company) names of the external recipients, system providers and/or cloud providers. The data centers of SEW EURODRIVE and the external cloud providers are located in the EU. The CRM can be accessed by employees working in sales and customer support, as well as by those who maintain the IT systems and provide support services.

If you are a supplier, the information presented here will be entered and managed in our supplier management system.

If you contact us in a professional capacity, i.e. in the performance of your job at the trade fair or event, the data processing will be based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b) GDPR, as the data processing (exchanging contact details, initiating business/projects) is necessary for you and our employees to complete your/their tasks.

The legal basis is also Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Managing contacts, initiating business and conducting business constitute both our and your legitimate interest.

For the purpose of public relations, we may make and publish still images, audio recordings and video recordings of the event or our trade fair booth. If you are the focus of the image/recording, i.e. you are specifically to be seen and/or heard, we will obtain your consent. We will also obtain your consent if we interview you and publish this interview or a statement (original audio) from you in the media. The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a) GDPR. If you are not the focus of the recording but rather a peripheral person, e.g. one person among many, then our legitimate interest in making and publishing the recordings takes precedence. The legal basis is then Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Please read our data protection information on the creation and publication of fotos, audio recordings and video recordings of the data protection information.

If you participate in an on-site survey/questionnaire, we will obtain your consent in advance. The legal basis is then Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a) GDPR.

The information is stored insofar and as long as is necessary to fulfill the aforementioned purposes and/or to comply with legal retention obligations.

If you are a customer or potential customer, we will also process your data as described in Section III.

If you take part in an on-site survey, the data protection information in Section III. 3 also applies.

If we connect on a social network such as XING or LinkedIn in connection with the event, the privacy policy of the social network in question must also be observed.

V. Data protection information for the creation and publication of photo, audio and video recordings as well as press and advertising texts

If you attend one of our events or training sessions or visit us at a trade fair or for other reasons and make contact with us in person, we or an authorized external agency may for the purposes of public relations work or employer branding create and publish photo, audio and video recordings of the proceedings and the people at our events (training sessions, trade fairs etc.), in which you are either the focus of the photo/recording or are recognizable as a peripheral person, i.e. one person among many and not in the focus of the respective photograph/recording. In individual cases, you may talk to us or we may ask you specifically about the particular event, our products or our cooperation, for example, and we may process and publish a quote or statement from you in a press release. In addition to your outward appearance (photograph and video recording), voice and language (video and sound recording), we may in certain circumstances also collect – depending on the situation – your name, position in the company, e-mail address, phone number, for example, if we mention you in a press release, social media post or in an image caption. If you are the focus of the photographs/recordings, we will assign a tag ID to enable us to subsequently identify you on the photographs/recordings.

Depending on how and where the images/recordings and the press releases in which you are mentioned are published, they may be seen, heard, saved, evaluated or reproduced internally within SEW EURODRIVE and externally, that is, worldwide by anyone who has access to the particular medium. Media are, for example, the worldwide web, local, regional, national, global online and print media, printed advertising materials, such as brochures and fliers from SEW EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG and its affiliated companies (https://www.sew-eurodrive.de/meta-pages/contacts_worldwide.html), on the websites, mobile apps and blogs of SEW EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG and on the websites, mobile apps and blogs of its affiliated companies (https://www.sew-eurodrive.de/meta-pages/contacts_worldwide.html), in regional, national and international trade magazines, on the local, regional and national radio and television stations, online journals, social media platforms, in digital media, on the pages/profiles of SEW EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG and its affiliated companies, in social networks such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, XING as well as in internal SEW EURODRIVE media (e.g. the global SEW EURODRIVE intranet DriveNet, SEW EURODRIVE company magazines such as EURODRIVER/Direkt, News Center, mitarbeiterinfo.sew), in newsletters or e-mails from SEW EURODRIVE GmbH & Co KG and in newsletters or e-mails from its affiliated companies. If we publish images/recordings and press releases, for example, in our EURODRIVER employee magazine, the images and, for example, your statements and quotes may be read by SEW EURODRIVE customers worldwide or by former SEW EURODRIVE employees who receive the magazine. If we publish images/recordings and press releases on our Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Xing, LinkedIn or Instagram channels, all users of these social media platforms can access them. If we publish recordings on the radio and television, everyone who receives these channels can watch and listen to them.

If you are the focus of an image/recording and can be clearly and unambiguously recognized or heard and/or are mentioned by name in a press release/advertising text, for example, together with a quote and your position at the company and are published in the stated media, we will obtain your informed consent in advance. When we obtain your consent, we will also assign a tag ID. The purpose of this is to enable us to subsequently identify you in the images/recordings. The legal basis in this case is Art. 6(1)(a), 7 GDPR. In accordance with Art. 7(3) GDPR, you can withdraw your consent at any time without stating the reasons for doing so. You can do this, for example, by sending an e-mail to datenschutz@sew-eurodrive.de.

If you have granted us unlimited consent, we will publish and save the press releases/advertising texts and images/recordings for an unlimited period of time. If you withdraw your consent within one month, we will delete the images/recordings in which you alone are the focus. Passages in press releases/advertising texts in which you are specifically mentioned will be deleted within one month provided that this is legally, technically and economically possible and reasonable for us.

If you are not the focus of the images/recordings, but are merely a peripheral person in a recording or depicted group, then our legitimate interest (for example public relations work and employer branding) in the publication of this image/recording may in certain circumstances also outweigh your interest in non-publication. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. In accordance with Art. 21(1) GDPR, you can raise an objection to this at any time without stating the reasons for doing so. You can do this, for example, by sending an e-mail to datenschutz@sew-eurodrive.de. If you have raised an objection, we will try to make you unrecognizable and/or inaudible in the texts and/or images/recordings within one month by pixelating (image, photograph, video) and/or distorting them (voice, sound) and/or deleting the text, provided that this is legally, technically and economically possible and reasonable for us.

We also wish to inform you that we cannot exclude the possibility that press releases/advertising texts or images/recordings that were published on the Internet with your consent or based on our overriding interest, may continue to circulate on the Internet even after they have been deleted or made unrecognizable (for example, by pixelating) by us and the media/portals for which SEW EURODRIVE is responsible. We also cannot exclude the possibility that they may have been previously downloaded, copied and further processed by third parties in their original "uncensored" state.

VI. Your rights as the data subject

As a data subject, you have various rights. You can find general contact details and the contact details of our data protection officer at the start of this website. The relevant chapters in the text of this data protection information describe the solution most suited to you for exercising your rights.

Every data subject is entitled to the following rights:

  • Right of access (Article 15 GDPR)
  • Right to rectification of incorrect data (Article 16 GDPR)
  • Right to erasure (Article 17 GDPR)
  • Right to restriction of processing of personal data (Article 18 GDPR)
  • Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR)
  • Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Article 77 GDPR)

You can object to the processing of personal data for promotional purposes – including the analysis of customer data – or the dissemination to third-parties for promotional purposes at any time without providing a reason.

Furthermore, every data subject is entitled to a general right to object (see Article 21(1) GDPR). In this case, the objection to data processing must be justified. If the data is processed with your consent, you may revoke this consent at any time with immediate future effect. Revoking your consent does not affect the legality of the data processing that occurred with your consent until the time of revocation.

Last modification: 11/2022