Privacy policy

Thank you for your interest in our business and our websites. We take the protection of your personal data and your privacy very seriously. Hereinafter we would like to inform you about the handling of your data. The responsible party is:

igus® GmbH
Spicher Str. 1a
D-51147 Cologne
Tel.: +49 2203 9649 0
Fax: +49 2203 9649 222
E-Mail: info@igus.de

When you utilize a service by igus®, such as by using our websites or applying for a position, we will process your personal data.

We process your personal data confidentially and exclusively for the purpose that we communicate to you collecting the data. Our benchmarks for the processing of your data are the European general data protection regulation (GDPR), the German federal data protection act (BDSG) as well as any other applicable data protection provisions.

Please note that this privacy policy exclusively covers data processing through igus® GmbH. For any data processing through our local distributor, please refer to their privacy policy under: https://www.hennlich.com/gdpr.

1. Provision of our websites

With each visit of our websites, we collect a series of general data and information, including personal data through our systems. The following data is saved within the log files of our websites:

• IP-address (possibly in anonymized, shortened form)
• Date and time of request (timestamp)
• Request details and target address (protocol version, HTTP-method, referer, UserAgent-string)
• Name of retrieved file and transferred data size (requested URL including query string, size in byte)
• Information on whether retrieval was successful (HTTP Status Code)
• Website that the request originates from
• Browser type and used app
• Operating system and interface
• Language and version of browser software

 
When processing this data, we draw no conclusions on your person. There is no personal evaluation, evaluation for marketing or profiling of any kind.
 
The legal basis for the processing of this data is Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR. This processing of data is strictly necessary for the provision of our websites as well as to ensure the safety and stability of our systems. Within this lies our legitimate interest. There is no way of using our websites without this processing of data, meaning you have no option to object.
 
Your data is deleted upon exiting our websites and ending the current session. Your IP-address will be deleted within 7 days of the end of your visit.

2. Use of cookies

Our website utilizes cookies. Cookies are saved on your device and then transmitted to our website. A cookie contains a characteristic string which enables a clear identification of your web browser upon repeated visit.
 You many configure the handling of cookies yourself. By adjusting your browser settings, you are able to deactivate or restrict the transfer of cookies. Previously saved cookies can be deleted at any time. This can also happen automatically. When deactivating cookies on our website, this may result in you not being able to fully utilize all of our website’s features.
 
More in-depth information on cookies can be found in our Cookie-Policy.

3. Integration of other services

3.1 Integration of Google services
We have integrated the listed services by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (“Google”). When using these services, Google may process your personal data. In this event it is possible that Google may also transfer your personal data towards an US American server. Google is obliged to comply with the EU-US privacy shield framework, additional information on this can be found under https://policies.google.com/privacy/frameworks.
We have no influence over which personal data Google processes and how that data is processed by Google. According to Google’s privacy policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy?gl=de#infocollect),the following types of personal data may be processed:

• Information on which apps, browsers, and devices you use while accessing Google’s services.
• Unique identifiers, the type and settings of your browser, the type and setting of your device, operating system, information on the used mobile network (name of provider, phone number, app version number).
• Data on the interactions of your apps, browsers, and devices with Google services (e.g., IP-address, crash reports, system activity as well as date, time, and referrer URL of your request).
• Data on your activity (e.g., searched terms, watched videos, ads and content that you interact with).

Additional information on how Google uses data from websites with integrated Google services can be found under  https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
You can find more information on the purpose and scope of the data processing through Google as well as your rights and options under https://policies.google.com/privacy. Additionally, see https://safety.google/privacy/privacy-controls/ for information on your privacy options.

3.1.1 Google Maps
We are using Google Maps. Google Maps is a map service meant to make it easier to find the locations we list on our websites. When using Google Maps, data on your use of the service may be processed by Google.
The legal basis for the data processing is Art. 6 (1) a GDPR.
Information on Google’s privacy shield certification and additional notes on data processing when using Google services can be found under „3.1 Integration of Google services“.
You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, you choosing not to provide us with your personal data may inhibit the functionality of our websites.

3.1.2. Google Web Fonts
We use Google Web Fonts in order to make sure our content is displayed correctly and is visually appealing across browsers. When accessing our websites, your browser will load the web fonts provided by Google into its cache to properly display texts and fonts. Your browser establishes a connection to the servers of Google in the process. To establish this connection, Google will process your IP address. Should your browser not support this function, one of your devices‘ standard fonts will be used instead. Your information may be forwarded to an US-American server by Google in the process. The legal basis for the processing of data is Art. 6 (1) f GDPR.
Information on Google’s privacy shield certification and additional notes on data processing when using Google services can be found under „3.1 Integration of Google services“.
You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, you choosing not to provide us with your personal data may inhibit the functionality of our websites.
 
3.2 Implementation of other services
3.2.1 Font Awesome
Our websites use Font Awesome by Fonticons, Inc. (https://fontawesome.com), to present fonts consistently. When accessing our websites, your browser will load the web fonts provided by Fonticons into its cache to properly display texts and fonts. Your browser establishes a connection to the servers of Google in the process. To establish this connection, Fonticons will process your IP address.

The legal basis for the data processing is Art. 6 (1) a GDPR.
Further information can be found in Fonticon’s privacy policy under https://fontawesome.com/privacy.
You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, you choosing not to provide us with your personal data may inhibit the functionality of our websites.

3.2.2 Mouseflow
Our websites use Mouseflow, a web analytics tool by Mouseflow ApS, Flaesketorvet 68, 1711 Copenhagen, Denmark. We use Mouseflow to analyse the use of our websites as well as of individual functions and offers in order to optimize our websites.
The legal basis for the data processing is Art. 6 (1) a GDPR.
Further information on Mouseflow's terms of use and privacy policy can be found at https://mouseflow.de/privacy/.
You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, you choosing not to provide us with your personal data may inhibit the functionality of our websites.

4. Contact

You have multiple options for contacting us.

4.1 Scope of Data Processing
We provide multiple ways for you to contact us through our websites (e-mail, mail, phone, chat). When you use any of these to contact us, we save any personal data provided (e.g., e-mail-address, address, phone number or any other information that may be inferred from the content of your contact request).
 
4.2 Legal Basis
If your contact request refers to an existing contract or is pre contractual in nature the legal basis is art. 6 (1) b) GDPR. In any other case the legal basis is art. 6 (1) f) GDPR. It is our legitimate interest to process your contact requests.
 
4.3 Purpose of Processing
The purpose of data processing is to handle your contact request. Your data will exclusively be processed for this purpose and will not be forwarded to any third parties.
 
4.4 Retention Period of you Data
Upon finishing processing your request, your data will be restricted for further processing. Your data will be deleted upon the expiration periods set by tax and trade law. These are 10 years for booking voucher as of § 147 (1) of the German fiscal code (AO) and 6 years for business records as of § 257 (1) of the German commercial code (HGB).
 You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, without providing your data you may not be able to use all provided contact options.

5. Newsletter

On our websites we provide the option to subscribe to our free newsletter.

5.1 Scope of Data Processing
When subscribing to our newsletter, we process the following data:

• Company name (optional)
• First Name (optional)
• Last Name (optional)
• Salutation (optional)
• E-mail Address
• Post code
• Country
• IP-Address of used Device
• Date and Time of Request

We collect your consent for the processing of your data as part of the sign-up process. We secure the sign-up through a so-called double opt-in process. We do this to ensure that the e-mail address provided really belongs to you. After entering the required information, you will receive an automated e-mail with an activation link. You must confirm this link to subscribe to our newsletter.Our promotional emails use tracking pixels. These are miniature graphics that are embedded in e-mails sent via HTML-format.They allow us to do statistical logfile analysis, as we can tell how many users opened each e-mail by how many users loaded the tracking pixel. We use this information to optimize our marketing campaigns.

5.2 Legal Basis
Legal basis for the processing of your data is art. 6 (1) a) GDPR.
5.3 Purpose of Processing
Your data is processed for the purpose of providing a newsletter subscription and is exclusively processed for this purpose. We lawfully transmit your data to our service provider Hubspot. You can find additional information on data processing through HubSpot within their privacy policy under https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy.

5.4 Retention Period of your Data
We save your data for as long as you remain subscribed to our newsletter.You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, it is not possible to subscribe to our newsletter without providing your data.

6. Providing of Product Information

6.1 E-Mail-Marketing in Relation to our Newsletter and Document Downloads
6.1.1 Scope of Data Processing
When subscribing to our newsletter or providing your personal data to download documents (this is optional, downloading documents is possible without providing any personal data), we process the personal data provided by you to periodically send you information on products, news, fairs and events via e-mail.
Our promotional emails use tracking pixels. These are miniature graphics that are embedded into e-mails sent via HTML-format. They allow us to do statistical log file analysis, as we can tell how many users opened each e-mail by how many users loaded the tracking pixel. We use this information to optimize our marketing campaigns.

6.1.2 Legal Basis
Legal basis for the processing of your data is art. 6 (1) a) GDPR.
6.1.3 Purpose of Processing
Your data is processed for the purpose of providing a newsletter subscription and is exclusively processed for this purpose. We lawfully transmit your data to our service provider Hubspot. You can find additional information on data processing through HubSpot within their privacy policy under https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy.

6.1.4 Retention Period of your Data
We save your personal data until you revoke your consent. Upon your revocation, we will delete all of your personal data unless you have explicitly consented to it also being processed for other purposes or we have a legal reason for keeping it that we communicated to you.
 You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, in that case we are unable to send you any information on our products and services.

6.2 E-Mail Marketing in Relation to the Sale of Products
6.2.1 Scope of Data Processing
If we received your personal data (first/last name, e-mail-address) as part of the sale of our products and you do not object to this, we reserve the right to regularly send you information on similar products by e-mail as per § 7 (3) UWG.
Our promotional emails use tracking pixels. These are miniature graphics that are embedded in e-mails sent via HTML-format. They allow us to do statistical logfile analysis, as we can tell how many users opened each e-mail by how many users loaded the tracking pixel. We use this information to optimize our marketing campaigns.

6.2.2 Legal Basis
Legal basis for the processing of your data is art. 6 (1) f) GDPR. We have a legitimate interest in contacting our customers.
6.2.3 Purpose of Processing
The purpose of processing is to conduct marketing measures. We lawfully transmit your data to our service provider Hubspot. You can find additional information on data processing through Hubspot within their privacy policy under https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy.
In Addition, we also lawfully transmit your data to our service provider Salesforce. You can find additional information on data processing through Salesforce under https://www.salesforce.com/privacy/overview/.
 
6.2.4 Retention Period of your Data
We save your personal data until you revoke your consent. Upon your revocation, we will delete all of your personal data unless you have explicitly consented to it also being processed for other purposes or we have a legal reason for keeping it that we communicated to you.
 You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, in that case we are unable to send you any information on our products and services.

6.3 Guarantee Certificate
6.3.1 Scope of Processing
Through the online tools on our website, you have the option of requesting a guarantee certificate for your specific application. For this purpose we process your personal data (name & e-mail address).
 
6.3.2 Legal basis
Data processing in connection with the creation of your certificate is based on Art. 6 (1) b GDPR, i.e. it is a pre-contractual process.
6.3.3 Purpose of Processing
The purpose of the data processing is to offer guarantee certificates to our customers and interested parties. It is necessary to process your data to properly assign the certificate as well as to send it to you.
We reserve the right of conducting matching in our CRM software Salesforce based on the data provided by you. For this, we lawfully transmit your data to our service provider Salesforce. You can find additional information on data processing through Salesforce under https://www.salesforce.com/privacy/overview/.
 
6.3.4 Retention Period of your Data
We save your personal data until you revoke your consent. Upon your revocation, we will delete all of your personal data unless you have explicitly consented to it also being processed for other purposes or we have a legal reason for keeping it that we communicated to you.
You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, it is not possible to create your guarantee certificate or have it sent to you without you providing your data.

7. User Surveys

We conduct user surveys on our websites. These surveys can be initiated through or feedback form or as a reaction to various user behavior such as canceling the order process. Should you choose to fill out the feedback form, the following data may be transferred to us (as entered by you):

• Company name (optional)
• Salutation (optional)
• First Name (optional)
• Last Name (optional)
• Address (street, house number, postal code, city, country) (optional)
• E-mail Address (optional)
• Phone Number (optional)
• Any information entered into the survey
• IP-Address of used Device
• Date and Time of Request

Depending on the context of each form we may in certain cases deem some of the data listed as optional above as required if we consider it necessary for later communication.
The legal basis for the data processing is Art. 6 (1) a GDPR. We exclusively process your data for the purpose of evaluating survey results and any potential follow-up communication. To this end, we forward you data to our sub-processor Survicate.
Survicate, Przyrynek 14, 00-219 Warszawa, Poland, is a service for creating and evaluating of surveys. We use Survicate for the purpose of collecting feedback from users in order to improve our websites and other services. You can find additional information on the processing of your data through Survicate in their privacy policy under: https://help.survicate.com/en/articles/3943207-terms-of-service-privacy-policy-gdpr-and-dpa.
We reserve the right of conducting matching between the data provided via surveys and our customer database Hubspot. By assigning your contact request to your customer profile, we are able to respond to your contact requests more effectively.

We delete the results of each survey as soon as we stop using the results of that survey.

8. Data Processing when using our Online Shop

8.1 Registration
8.1.1 Scope of Data Processing
You have the option of creating a user account on our websites. Any personal data transmitted during account creation is processed by us. Specifically which data is processed can be inferred from the respective form. We only list those fields as mandatory that are absolutely necessary for the use of the respective service.
After completing the form, you will receive a registration e-mail to the specified address containing a link leading to a confirmation page to complete the registration process. After registration you may log in to your user account at any time by entering your e-mail address and password.

8.1.2 Legal Basis
Legal basis for the processing of your data is art. 6 (1) a) GDPR.
8.1.3 Purpose of Processing
We process your data to manage your user account. If necessary, we pass on your data to our partner companies within the scope of what is legally permissible, if doing so is necessary for contract fulfilment. These companies are obligated to comply with the applicable data protection regulations; in particular, these companies may process the data exclusively for the fulfilment of their tasks on our behalf and only in accordance with our instructions.

8.1.4 Retention Period of your Data
Your data is saved for as long as your account remains activated.
You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, in that case it is not possible to complete the registration process.

8.2 Order Process
8.2.1 Scope of Data Processing
On our websites, you have the option of making orders in our online shop. In order to process this order, we process the data provided by you through the order process (including name, billing & delivery address, e-mail address, payment information). We use this data to process your order and communicate back to you if necessary. 

8.2.2 Legal Basis
The legal basis for the processing of your data for the purpose of order processing is art. 6 (1) b) GDPR. The processing of your data is necessary for the processing of your order.

8.2.3 Purpose of Processing
The purpose of processing is the execution of purchase contracts made through our online shop as well as customer support services. In addition, we also use your personal data to assert rights arising from contracts concluded or initiated with you.

8.2.4 Retention Period of your Data
We process your data for the duration of our contractual relationship. This also includes the initiation of a contract (pre-contractual legal relationship). Your data will be deleted after expiry of the retention periods under tax and commercial law. These are 10 years for accounting documents in accordance with Section 147 (1) of the German Fiscal Code (AO) and 6 years for business documents in accordance with Section 257 (1) of the German Commercial Code (HGB).
The provision of your personal data is necessary for the conclusion of the contract.

9. Social Media

We operate online presences on social networks and platforms (social media presences). We regularly publish and share content, offers and product recommendations on our social media presences.
 
9.1 Scope of Processing
With every interaction on our social media presences, your personal data is automatically collected and stored by the operators of the respective social network for market research and advertising purposes. It cannot be ruled out that the collected data may also be processed outside the European Union. Among other things, this may make it more difficult to enforce the rights of data subjects. So-called usage profiles are created from the collected data using pseudonyms. These can be used, for example, to place advertisements within and outside the social networks that presumably correspond to your interests. For these purposes, cookies or similar technologies that record your usage behaviour are stored on your device.
 
We generally collect all communications, content, and other information you share with us when you visit our social media presences, such as when you post something on one of our social media presences or send us private messages. In addition, if you have an account with the relevant social network, we may see your public information, such as your username, information in your public profile, and content you share with a public audience, depending on your privacy settings.
 
The type, scope and purposes of the processing of your personal data in social networks are primarily determined by the operators of the social networks. For further information on data processing by the respective provider as well as your rights in this regard and options for protecting your privacy, please refer to the privacy policies of the respective provider:
 

• Facebook (Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland) https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/
• Instagram (Instagram LLC., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA) http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/
• Twitter (Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA) https://twitter.com/de/privacy
• LinkedIn (LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy
• Xing (XING AG, Dammtorstraße 29-32, 20354 Hamburg) https://privacy.xing.com/
• Pinterest (Pinterest Europe Ltd., Palmerston House, 2nd Floor, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, Ireland) https://policy.pinterest.com/en/privacy-policy
• Tik Tok (TikTok Technology Limited, 10 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, D02 T380, Ireland) https://www.tiktok.com/legal/privacy-policy-eea?lang=de

 
9.2 Usage Analytics (Page Insights)
We operate a Facebook fan page. In this context, Facebook provides us with page insights. With each of your interactions with fan pages, Facebook records your usage behaviour by means of cookies and similar technologies. These are anonymized statistics that can give us information about how users interact with our posts or other content. An assignment to your person is not possible. We have no access to the personal data used by Facebook to create page insights ("page insights data"). The selection and processing of page insights data is done exclusively by Facebook.
 
Page Insights provide us with insights into how you use our fan pages, what your interests are in our fan pages, and what topics and content are particularly popular. This allows us to optimize our fan page activities, for example, by better responding to the interests and usage habits of our audience when planning and selecting our content.
 
We and Facebook are jointly responsible for processing your data in connection with Page Insights. To this end, we and Facebook have entered into an agreement specifying which company fulfills which data protection obligations under the GDPR with respect to the processing of Page Insights data.
 
You can view the agreement with Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/page_controller_addendum
A compilation of the main contents of this agreement (including a list of Page Insights data can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/information_about_page_insights_data
 
9.3 Legal Basis
If you are asked for consent by the respective social network operator, the legal basis for data processing is article 6 (1) a) GDPR. Otherwise, the legal basis is article 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. We have an overriding legitimate interest in the optimized presentation of our offers and effective communication with our customers and interested parties. 
9.4 Purpose of processing
Through our online presences we intend to achieve effective communication with our customers and interested parties as well as to optimize the presentation of our offers.
 You are under no obligation to provide your personal data, neither legally nor contractually. However, you choosing not to provide us with your personal data may inhibit the functionality of our websites.

 

10. Social Plugins

Our websites use social plugins, which are provided by third-party providers of social networks. These plugins can be interaction elements or content (graphics, videos or text contributions). We use the social plugins of the following third-party providers:

10.1 YouTube
YouTube is a service of the provider YouTube LLC ("YouTube"), 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. YouTube LLC is a subsidiary of Google Ireland Limited ("Google"), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland and Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. For Youtube videos that are embedded on our site, the extended data protection setting is enabled. This means that your personal data is only processed by YouTube when you play a YouTube video provided on our web pages.At https://policies.google.com/privacy you can find more information about data processing by YouTube and your rights and protection options in this regard.

11. Rights of the Data Subject

If we process your personal data, you are a data subject according to art. 4 No. 1 GDPR with the following rights towards us:

• Right to information (Art. 15 GDPR)
• Right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR)
• Right to deletion (Art. 17 GDPR)
• Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
• Right to consultation (Art. 19 GDPR)
• Right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)
• Right to objection (Art. 21 GDPR)
• Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR)
• Right to revoke your declaration of consent under data protection law (Art. 7 (3) GDPR)
  You have the right to revoke your consent at any time, for example by sending an e-mail to de-data-protection@igus.net. The revocation of consent does not affect the lawfulness of the data processing carried out on the basis of the consent until the revocation.

 
Should you wish to enact one of these rights, please contact us via de-data-protection@igus.net.
 
We wish to inform you that in some cases, we may need to inquire additional information from you to confirm your identity. This is necessary to ensure that, for example, we don't hand over your data to unauthorized parties by accident.
We do not conduct any automated decision-making on our websites.

12. Security

We use technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data against coincidental or intentional manipulation, loss, destruction or access through unauthorized persons. We are continuously improving our security measures according to the state of the arts.

13. Responsibility for external content

Our websites contain links to websites of external parties. We have no influence on and do not control if these parties comply with the applicable data protection regulations. If you believe that linked external sites violate applicable law or host otherwise inappropriate content, please let us know. We will review your notice and remove the external link if necessary. We are not responsible for the content and availability of the linked external websites.

14. Validity of this privacy policy

Through continued development of our websites it may become necessary to adjust the privacy policy. We reserve the right to make changes to this privacy policy at any time with effect for the future. The version available at the time of your visit to the website is applicable.