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Headquarters Canada
Beckhoff Automation Ltd.

4 Schiedel Court, Unit 1-3
Cambridge ON N3C 0H1, Canada

+1 226-765-7700
www.beckhoff.com/en-ca/

Privacy statement

Introduction

Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG and Beckhoff Automation Ltd. (collectively, “Beckhoff”, "we", “our”, and “us”) take the protection of your (“you” or “your”) privacy and personal information very seriously. We collect, use and disclose your personal information with your consent or as permitted or required by Canadian privacy laws.

This privacy statement (“Privacy Statement”) is intended to inform you about our privacy practices, including how we collect, use and disclose your personal information. This Privacy Statement applies to all of our operations in Canada or operations in connection with Canada, unless we have provided you with a separate privacy statement for a particular product, service or activity.

Please review this Privacy Statement carefully. By submitting your personal information to us, by registering for or using any of the services we offer, by using our website, or by voluntarily interacting with us, you consent to our collecting, using and disclosing your personal information as set out in this Privacy Statement, as revised from time to time.

What’s in this Privacy Statement?

This Privacy Statement covers the following topics:

  • Personal information
  • Your consent to collection, use and disclosure
  • Information security
  • International data transfer and storage of information
  • How we use your personal information
  • How we share your personal information
  • Retention of personal information
  • Personal information that we collect
    • Use of our website:
      • Information on your computer
      • Use of cookies
      • Google Maps
      • Vimeo
      • Matomo
      • Targeting advertising and behavioural marketing
      • Webinars
      • Registration
    • Job Applicant Portal
    • Communicating with us
      • Newsletters
  • Your rights and contacting us
    • Accessing and updating your personal information
    • How to contact us
  • Additional information and changes
    • Children’s information
    • Links to third party websites and services
    • Changes to this Privacy Statement

Personal information

“Personal information” means any information relating to an identifiable individual under Canadian privacy laws. This information may include (without limitation) your name, e-mail address, or postal address. Information that cannot be directly associated with your identity (such as statistical data, for example on the number of users of our website) is, on the other hand, not considered to be personal information.

Personal information does not include any business contact information that is solely used to communicate with you in relation to your employment, business or profession, such as your name, position name or title, work address, work telephone number, work fax number or work electronic address.

Personal information also does not include information that has been anonymized or aggregated in such a way that there is no serious possibility it can be used to identify an individual, whether on its own or in combination with other information.

You can use the main features of our website without providing your personal information to us. We may collect general information from you, or about your visit to and activities on our website. However, personal information about you will be collected in connection with certain services that we offer. When collecting personal information, you will only be required to provide information that is absolutely essential. You may provide other information on a voluntary basis. We will always indicate whether input fields are mandatory or optional. We will inform you concerning the specific details in the relevant section of this Privacy Statement.

When using our website, no automated decision is made on the basis of your personal information.

Your consent to collection, use and disclosure

We collect, use and disclose your personal information with your consent or as permitted or required by Canadian privacy laws. How we obtain your consent (i.e., the form we use) will depend on the circumstances, as well as the sensitivity of the information collected. Subject to applicable laws, your consent may be express or implied, depending on the circumstances and the sensitivity of the personal information in question.

If you choose to provide personal information to us, we assume that you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of that personal information as outlined in this Privacy Statement.

If you wish to withdraw your consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, please contact us using the contact information in the “How to Contact Us” section below. However, before we implement the withdrawal of consent, we may require proof of your identity. In some cases, withdrawal of your consent may mean that we will no longer be able to provide certain products or services.

If you provide personal information about another individual to us, it is your responsibility to obtain the consent of that individual to enable us to collect, use and disclose his or her information as described in this Privacy Statement.

Information security

We have implemented physical, organizational, contractual and technological security measures with a view to protecting your personal information and other information from loss or theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. For example, your personal information is transmitted in encrypted form over the Internet. We use TLS/SSL encryption (Transport Layer Security/Secure Socket Layer) for data transmission. We have also taken steps to ensure that the only personnel granted access to your personal information are those with a business ‘need-to-know’ or whose duties reasonably require such information.

Despite the measures outlined above, no method of information transmission or information storage is 100% secure or error-free, so we unfortunately cannot guarantee absolute security. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of any information that you provided to us has been compromised), please contact us immediately using the contact information in the “How to Contact Us” section below.

International data transfer and storage of information

Your personal information will be stored and processed by us on server located in Frankfurt am Main/Germany. Other jurisdictions may have different data protection rules than Canada. While your Personal Information is outside of Canada, it is subject to the laws of the country in which it is located. Those laws may require disclosure of your personal information to authorities in that country. For written information about our policies and practices regarding service providers outside of Canada, please see below and/or contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information provided in the “How to Contact Us” section below.

How we use your personal information

We may use your personal information for purposes such as:

  • providing you with our products and services and supporting your use of our products and services;
  • contacting you relating to our products and services;
  • monitoring the usage of our products and services to support their proper functioning and further improvement;
  • analyzing the needs and activities of our customers to help us better serve them;
  • generating de-identified data to conduct research and analysis related to our business, products and services;
  • responding to inquiries and other requests;
  • collecting opinions and comments about our products and services;
  • providing you with information that we think may interest you, including information about our products and services; and
  • investigating legal claims.

We may use your personal information for purposes for which we have obtained your consent, and for such other purposes as may be permitted or required by applicable Canadian privacy laws.

We do not use the information we collect to advertise third party products and services or targeted advertising of Beckhoff products and services across third party websites or service offerings.

How we share your personal information

We only use your personal information to provide the services you request. We rely on third party service providers to perform a variety of services on our behalf, such as (without limitation) hosting data storage.

If we provide your information to service providers, then we require that the service providers keep your personal information secure, and only handle it for limited purposes for which it is provided. We do not authorize the service providers to disclose your personal information to unauthorized parties or to use your personal information for their direct marketing purposes. If you would like more information about our service providers, please contact us using the contact information in the “How to Contact Us” section below.

Additionally, we may use and disclose your information when we believe such use or disclosure is permitted, necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (b) to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (d) to enforce the terms of the agreements for our products and services; (e) to protect our rights, operations or property; or (f) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

In addition, we may transfer your personal information and other information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, brands, affiliates, subsidiaries or other assets.

If we otherwise intend to disclose your personal information to a third party, we will identify that third party and the purpose for the disclosure, and obtain your consent.

Retention of personal information

We will use, disclose or retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which that personal information was collected and as permitted or required by Canadian privacy laws.

Personal information that we collect

Use of our website

Information that we automatically collect

Every time you visit our website we automatically collect the following information about your computer regardless of whether or not you have registered with us: the IP address of your computer, the request from your browser, as well as the time this request was made. In addition, the status and amount of data transferred as part of this request is also recorded. We also collect product and version information about the browser used and your computer's operating system. We furthermore record the website from which our website was accessed.

We use this data to operate our website, in particular to identify and resolve errors, to determine the utilization of our website, and to make adjustments or improvements.

Use of cookies

As with many other websites, we may use cookies for our website or we may enlist third party services which use cookies to track your preferences and activities on our website. Cookies are small text files stored on your computer, which save specific settings and data for exchange with our website via your browser. A cookie generally contains the name of the domain from which the cookie file was sent as well as information on the age of the cookie and an alphanumeric identifier.

Cookies allow us to identify your computer and make any default settings available immediately. We use different cookies to achieve this purpose.

Essential cookies allow basic functions to be performed and are required for the website to function properly.

In addition, we also use marketing cookies that are used by third-party providers to display personalized advertising, as well as third-party cookies that allow access from content implemented on our page. We use these providers to improve our website and to offer you a better service that is more tailored to your needs. We only use these cookies if you have given your explicit consent to do so.

The cookies we use are known as session cookies, which are deleted again automatically at the end of the browser session. Cookies that are stored for a longer period can also be used occasionally, so that your default settings and preferences can be taken into account the next time you visit our website.

Most browsers are set up to accept cookies automatically. However, you can disable the storage of cookies or set your browser to notify you as soon as cookies are sent. It is also possible to manually delete previously saved cookies via the browser settings. See your browser’s help files for more information. Please note that if you refuse to allow storage of cookies or delete essential cookies, then some of the services available on our website may not work properly or at all.

Privacy settings

You can edit your privacy and cookie settings here.

Google Maps

We use Google Maps to create access routes and show the locations of branch offices on maps. This is a service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.

Whenever our website is accessed, a connection is established to the Google server in the U.S. in order to display the maps and associated text.

If you launch Google Maps when visiting our website, Google stores a cookie on your device via your browser. Your personal information is processed by Google to display the location and to create directions. It is possible that Google will use servers in the U.S. for this purpose.

Google can use the data transmitted to it to identify the website from which your request has been sent and the IP address to which the directions are to be transmitted.

If you do not agree to this storage and processing, you have to prevent the installation of cookies by making the appropriate settings in your browser. We refer you in this respect to the information provided in the “Use of cookies” section above.

Use of Google Maps is subject to Google's terms of use as well as general terms and conditions. You can find Google's Data Privacy Policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Vimeo

We use "Vimeo" to show videos on our website (Vimeo LLC, 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA, hereinafter referred to as "Vimeo").

Some user data is processed on Vimeo servers in the U.S.

If you give your consent to embed Vimeo videos, a connection is established to Vimeo servers in the U.S. in order to show the video. Your IP address is therefore transmitted and processed by Vimeo for technical reasons. In addition, the date and time of your visit to the relevant page is also recorded.

If you are logged into Vimeo when you visit one of our websites on which a Vimeo video is embedded, Vimeo assigns the collected user data to your personal user account. To prevent this from happening, you either have to log out of Vimeo before visiting our websites or configure the account settings in Vimeo accordingly.

Vimeo uses the web analytics service Google Analytics for analysis purposes. Google Analytics stores cookies on your device via your Internet browser and sends information on the use of our websites, in which a Vimeo video is embedded, to Google. It is possible that Google will store and process the information on servers in the U.S.

If you do not agree to this storage and processing, you have to prevent the installation of cookies by making the appropriate settings in your browser. We refer you in this respect to the information provided in the “Use of cookies” section above.

Further information on the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information by Vimeo as well as on your rights and options for protecting privacy can be found at http://vimeo.com/privacy.

Matomo

We use the open source software Matomo (formerly Piwik) to statistically analyze the use of our website. This is a web analytics service. The data collected by Matomo is stored in a database for the purpose of analyzing usage, which serves to optimize our website. The data collected includes the shortened IP address, the time, the website visited, the website from which you came to ours (referrer URL), the browser used, the duration of your visit to our website, and the frequency of your visits.

The analyses generated with Matomo are fully anonymized and cannot be used to identify individual persons. The data stored by Matomo is not linked with other data sources nor is it transferred to third parties. You can opt out of analysis of your data by Matomo by following this link. A cookie is stored on your device via your Internet browser, which prevents further analysis. Please note that you have to confirm the link above again if you delete the cookies stored on your device.

Webinars

You can use various links on our website to take part in webinars that we hold online. If you wish to take part in a webinar, we may collect, use and disclose the personal information that you enter in a registration form, including (without limitation) your name, e-mail address, and company or organization. We collect, use and disclose personal information transferred via the registration form exclusively for the purpose of conducting the webinar, making contact with you in relation to the event, and providing you with further information in relation to the webinar.

Our webinars are carried out on GoToWebinar platform. The GoToWebinar platform is managed by GoTo Technologies Ireland Unlimited Company, The Reflector, 10 Hanover Quay, Dublin 2, D02R573, Ireland. We have no influence on the data processed by GoToWebinar. You will find further information on data processing by GoToWebinar at https://www.goto.com/company/legal and https://www.goto.com/company/legal/privacy.

Registration

You can register for a customer account in order to use certain features on our website. You are required to provide the personal information that we may reasonably request during the registration process, including (without limitation) name, address, and e-mail address. In addition, we collect the date and time of registration and your IP address. As part of the registration process, we seek your consent to use the personal information. The benefit for you is that you do not need to enter this data again each time you use our website or place an order.

Job applicant portal

You can apply for job positions via the job applicant portal on our website. In this respect, we offer you the possibility to complete an application form and to submit the information and documents required for the application to us by means of a file upload. Use of the job applicant portal is voluntary. You can also send us your application in other ways, including (without limitation) via e-mail or post.

When you submit your application via the job applicant portal, your documents are forwarded electronically to the responsible employee in our company. The personal information that you provide in your application may be used, disclosed or retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which the personal information was collected and as permitted or required by Canadian privacy laws. You can request the deletion of your application at any time.

Communicating with us

You can contact us in a variety of ways.

Newsletter

When you register for our e-newsletter, your email address will be used for our own promotional purposes until you unsubscribe. You will regularly receive information via email in this regard on current topics as well as emails for specific events and special promotions. The emails may be personalized and individualized based on the information saved about you.

We use the double-opt-in process when you register for our newsletter, assuming you have not given us your consent in writing. This means that we will only send you a newsletter via email if you have explicitly confirmed to us in advance that we should activate the newsletter mailing. We will then send you a notification email and ask you to confirm by clicking a link in this email that you would like to receive our newsletter. We record the opening of the newsletter and any links that it may contain. In addition, we collect, use and disclose the following personal information in relation to use of the newsletter: the email program you are using, your operating system, the time of access, and your abbreviated IP address.

In accordance with applicable law, you may receive our newsletter from us without your explicit consent, because you have ordered goods or services from us, we have received your e-mail in this respect, and you have not opted out of receiving information by e-mail.

Should you no longer wish to receive newsletters from us in general, you can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future and object to any further receipt of the newsletter without any costs arising (beyond the basic cost of transmission). You may opt-out by using the unsubscribe link contained in any newsletter or by contacting us directly using the contact information in the “How to contact us” section below.

We will endeavour to respond to your opt-out request promptly, but we ask that you please allow us a reasonable time to process your request. Please note that if you opt-out from receiving marketing-related emails, we may still need to send you communications about your use of our products or services, or other matters.

Your rights and contacting us

We take great care to ensure that our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information is explained as transparently as possible and that you are also informed about your rights. Should you require more detailed information or want to exercise the rights to which you are entitled, you can contact us at any time, using the contact information in the “How to contact us” section below, so that we can take care of your request.

Accessing and updating your personal information

You have extensive rights available to you in relation to any of your personal information that we have collected, used or disclosed.

We expect you, from time to time, to supply us with updates to your personal information, when required. We will not routinely update your personal information, unless such a process is necessary.

You may make a written request to request to review any personal information about you that we have collected, used or disclosed, and we will provide you with access to any such personal information to the extent required by applicable laws. You may also challenge the accurate or completeness of your personal information in our records, and can request to have your personal information corrected and/or deleted, or blocked if necessary. If you successfully demonstrate that your personal information in our records is inaccurate or incomplete, we will amend the personal information as required.

We may require that you provide sufficient identification to fulfill your request to access or correct your personal information. Any such identifying information will be used only for this purpose.

If you would like to assert one of your rights and/or receive more detailed information in this regard, please contact us using the contact information in the “How to contact us” section below.

How to contact us

We have appointed a Privacy Officer to support us in relation to privacy issues and with whom you can also make contact directly. Our Privacy Officer is available to you to deal with queries relating to our handling of personal information or to provide other information on privacy issues. All comments, questions, concerns or complaints regarding your personal information or our privacy practices should be sent to our Privacy Officer as follows:

Data privacy contact
Address: Hülshorstweg 20, 33415 Verl, Germany
E-mail: datenschutz@beckhoff.de

Additional information and changes

Links to third party websites and services

Our website may contain links to third party websites. These links are generally identified as such. This Privacy Statement does not extend to any websites, products or services provided by third parties. We have no influence on the extent to which applicable privacy laws are observed by such third parties, and we do not assume responsibility for the privacy practices of such third parties. We therefore recommend that you also familiarize yourself all third party privacy policies prior to using the third party websites, products or services.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement is current as of the version date indicated below. We reserve the right to change this Privacy Statement from time to time. When changes are made to this Privacy Statement they will become immediately effective when published in a revised Privacy Statement posted on our website unless otherwise noted. We may also communicate the changes through our services or by other means. Changes may arise especially in the case of technical modifications to the website or revisions to applicable privacy laws. The up-to-date version of the Privacy Statement can be accessed directly via our website at all times. We recommend that you familiarize yourself regularly with any changes to this Privacy Statement.

Version of Privacy Statement: December 2020