Online Privacy Statement

The SGS Group is committed to the responsible handling and protection of your personal data.

We have created this statement to provide you with clear and understandable information regarding our privacy practices when you are accessing or using our websites so that you can make informed choices about the use of your personal data by SGS.

When accessing other services or applications through our website, please read the specific privacy conditions which may apply to them.

SGS reserves the right to update this statement from time to time by publishing a new version online. This statement was last updated in May 2018.

When this statement refers to SGS, it means SGS as the controller of your data, namely the SGS Affiliates with which you had, have or will have a business relationship or that otherwise decides which of your data is collected and how it is used, as well as SGS SA (Registration number CH-660.0.023.919-0 Switzerland). You may obtain a list of our German SGS Affiliates by visiting www.sgsgroup.de.

Personal Data We Collect

SGS collects personal data that you provide to us directly when you request information about our services; subscribe to our website services, email notifications and/or newsletters; make an enquiry through our different enquiry forms and helplines such as our Integrity Helpline; or carry out a transaction or place an order through our website. This may include:

• Identification and contact data such as name, surname, job title, phone number, email, address and country
• Financial and transactional data such as credit card details
• Any information that you voluntarily share with us such as feedback, opinions or information provided via any of our helplines 

SGS also collects personal data automatically when you visit our website. This may include:

• Device information such as IP address, referring website, SGS pages your device visited and the time that your device visited our website
• Internet log information and details, collected through our third parties such as Google Analytics, that does not specifically identify you
• Information collected by cookies (for further information please see the Cookie Policy)

Contact form

If you send enquiries to SGS via the contact form, your data entered into the contact form, including the stated contact information, are stored for the purpose of dealing with your enquiry and in case of additional enquiries. Those data will not be passed on without your permission to third parties, where third parties in this case are not the affiliated subsidiaries of SGS Holding Deutschland B.V. & Co. KG. By submitting the contact form, you give your consent to the storage, processing and use of your personal data from the form within the aforementioned companies. Your legal rights to information, modification and deletion of your personal data will of course not be affected. For further information, please see our privacy policy.

The processing of your data that you entered into the contact form is therefore exclusively based on your consent (Art. 6 (1) lit. a EU GDPR). You can revoke this consent at any time. An informal message by e-mail to us is sufficient. The legality of the data processing operations carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

The information you provide in the contact form will remain in our contact and administration databases until you ask us to delete it, revoke your consent to storage, or the purpose for data storage does no more apply (for example, after your request has been processed). Mandatory statutory provisions - especially retention periods - remain unaffected.

Use of Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA („Google“). On this website the function "anonymizeIp" is implemented to the Google Analytics code which enables to only collect anonymized IP addresses (IP-masking). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will – depending on the work processes of Google – be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. In case of activation of the IP anonymization, Google will truncate/anonymize the last octet of the IP address for Member States of the European Union as well as for other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases, the full IP address is sent to and shortened by Google servers in the USA. On behalf of SGS Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for SGS and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage to SGS. SGS uses Google Analytics in order to optimize the content offered on this website for existing and potential customers and to continuously improve the offer and presentation of the services of SGS on this website. The legal basis for the use of Google Analytics is § 15 para. 3 TMG or Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f EU GDPR. Sessions and campaigns will be stopped after a certain amount of time. By default, sessions will end after 30 minutes of no activity and campaigns after six months. Campaign timeout can be a maximum of two years. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. Furthermore you can prevent Google’s collection and use of data (cookies and IP address) by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en-GB.
You can refuse the use of Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set on the computer, which prevents the future collection of your data when visiting this website: Disable Google Analytics
The opt-out cookie is valid only in this browser and on our website and is stored on your device. If you delete the cookies in this browser, you must set the opt-out cookie again.

You can find Google Analytics Terms of Service & Privacy here:
http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/gb.html

Server-log-files

Our web hoster automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files which your browser automatically transmits to us, such as:

• browser type/version
• used operating system
• referrer URL
• host name of the accessing computer
• time of query
• IP address

Those data cannot be associated with individual persons. We do not merge this data with other sources. The basis for this data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b EU GDPR, which allows the processing of data to fulfill a contract or pre-contractual measures.

Google Web Fonts

For the homogenous display of fonts, this website uses so-called web fonts that are provided by Google. On retrieving a website your browser downloads the necessary web fonts to your browser cache in order to correctly display texts and fonts. If your browser does not support web fonts, your computer uses a standard font.

For further information, please see https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq as well as Google’s Privacy Policy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/

Cookies and how SGS uses them

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that SGS websites place onto your computer.

Why do we use them?

Cookies are used to help us improve your experience when using our websites – for example, storing your preferred language setting for the next time you visit.

The information we collect from cookies enables us to:

• Tailor our websites to your personal needs
• Remember the notifications that you have been shown, so that you are not shown them again
• Make improvements and updates to our websites based on the way you want to use them

We do not use cookies to identify you personally.

What kind of cookies do we use?

We use the following categories of cookie:

Strictly necessary cookies

Cookies in this category enable you to use our websites and all their features, such as enabling access to secure areas of the website. Without these cookies you may not be able to use all the features of our websites.

The following cookies are necessary for full functionality:

• Session cookie: this cookie manages your user profile information, which is anonymous by default, in the context of your visit of this website.
• Cookie "hinweis": this cookie manages the information whether you agreed to the use of cookies on this website and it's anonymous.

Performance cookies

Cookies in this category collect information about how you use our websites so we can improve them for you in future. For example, they collect information on which pages you visit most often and any error messages you may get. The information collected by these cookies is anonymous. They do not collect any information that can identify you personally.

We use the following cookies in this category:

• _ga, _gid, _gat _gac: we use these cookies for Google Analytics to help us understand how our websites are performing.
  Below is a full list of the cookies that are essential for the functionality of the service.

Functionality cookies

Cookies in this category enable us to provide you with a more personalized experience. They help us to remember data, such as your username and language preference to save you having to enter them again next time you visit. The information these cookies collect is anonymous. They cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.

We use the following cookies in this category:

• Language cookie: this cookie is used to remember your preferred language when you access one of our country websites

How can you manage your cookie settings?

To ensure you get the best possible experience when visiting our websites, we recommend that you accept cookies.

You can control whether you are happy to accept cookies through your browser settings. However, if you do not wish to accept cookies, you may not have access to all the features of our websites.

You can find out more about managing your cookies by accessing the 'help' button on your browser.

Other cookie types

We only use cookie types that fall into the categories listed above. Please email us if you have found cookies that are not listed above.

Why We Use Personal Data

SGS will use your personal data for the following different purposes:

• To improve our website with the objective of ensuring that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your device
• To send email and communicate with you via email regarding our services and events which may be of interest to you if this is in accordance with your marketing preferences
• To analyze your use of our website for trend monitoring and promotional purposes
• To respond to enquiries and comments and provide you with support via communication channels, such as customer or contact center support
• To keep our website safe and secure and comply with our legal requirements and obligations
• To perform or finalize any transaction or order which you have placed on SGS Group websites
• To set up and manage your user account
• To share it with SGS Group companies so that they may offer you their products or services 
• For any other new purpose for which we notify you before collecting any personal data

How We Share Personal Data

SGS shares and transfers your personal data as described here and only in accordance with all privacy practices and local privacy requirements. We may occasionally share non-personal, anonymized and statistical data with third parties for our own business purposes.

The following are the parties with whom we may share personal information and why:

1. To other SGS Group companies and those companies in which SGS owns more than 50% where it is necessary to meet the purpose for which you have submitted your personal data and in particular if necessary for the provision of services, account administration, sales, marketing and support. We take steps to ensure that SGS Affiliates, including the ones located outside the EEA, follow our global data protection policy, this privacy statement and applicable local law when handling personal data.
2. Occasionally to third party contractors and providers which perform certain functions on behalf of SGS, such as picking up and delivering samples, fulfilling inspection orders, sending email, removing repetitive information from client lists, analyzing data and processing credit card payments, direct marketing services, and cloud hosting services. These parties only have access to such information as necessary to perform their functions and may not use it for any purpose other than to provide services to us.
3. For any reason if, in SGS's sole discretion, SGS believes it is reasonable to do so, including to satisfy any laws, regulations, or governmental or legal requests for such information; in the event of a merger, sale, restructure, acquisition, joint venture or assignment to disclose information that is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our Business Principles values or other terms and conditions; or to otherwise protect the SGS Group of companies.

How Long We Keep Personal Data

SGS will retain your personal data for the period of time that is necessary to fulfil the original purposes for which it has been collected. Please keep in mind that in certain cases a longer retention period may be required or permitted by law or to allow SGS to pursue its business interests, conduct audits, comply with our legal obligations, enforce our agreements or resolve any dispute.

The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

• How long is the data needed to provide you with our products or services or to operate our business?
• Do you have an account with us? In this case, we will keep your data while your account is active or for as long as needed to provide the services to you
• Are we subject to a legal, contractual, or similar obligation to retain your data? Examples can include mandatory data retention laws in the applicable jurisdiction, government orders to preserve data relevant to an investigation, or data that must be retained for the purposes of contract or litigation

How Personal Data Is Protected

SGS follows strict security procedures in the storage and disclosure of information which you have given us in order to prevent unauthorized access, loss or destruction of your personal data. These may include:

• Physical safeguards, with locked doors and file cabinets, controlled access to our facilities and secure destruction of media containing your personal data
• Technology safeguards, like the use of anti-virus and endpoint protection software, and monitoring of our systems and data centers to ensure that they comply with our security policies 
• Organizational safeguards, like training and awareness programs on security and privacy, to make sure employees understand the importance and means by which they must protect your personal data

SGS does not seek to collect sensitive personal data (also known as special categories of data). If we do so we will always collect the data in accordance with local data privacy requirements. If you choose to provide us with unsolicited sensitive personal data, you will be asked to consent to our processing of such data on a case-by-case basis by using a specific express consent form.

SGS does not knowingly collect or solicit personal data from anyone under the age of 16. If you are aged under 16, please speak to your parent/guardian to get their permission before you provide any personal information to SGS because without this consent, you are not allowed to provide us with your personal data. If we learn that we have collected data from a person aged under 16, we reserve the right to delete such data with no prior notification or consent.

How You Can Access and Control Your Personal Data

We are committed to ensuring that you can exercise your right of access and you can control your data.

If you have registered for an account on www.sgs.com and/or its local equivalents, you may directly and autonomously access your online profile and other personal details and update, amend, if legally possible, add or delete the data about yourself by logging into the applicable website or service with your account credentials.

Otherwise, and in accordance with our internal procedures, we will respond to the following requests as described below. All requests shall be addressed via our online privacy request form or by contacting us in writing as described in the section “contact us”:

• Access to personal information: you have the right to request what personal data we hold about you subject to our right to identity verification. If you request a copy of your data, we may charge you a fee, except where this is not permissible under local law.
• Correction and deletion: in some jurisdictions, including the EU (according to data protection laws for data subjects in the EU), you have the right to correct or amend your personal data if it is inaccurate or needs to be updated. You may also have the right to request the deletion of your personal information, however this may not be always possible due to legal requirements and other obligations to keep such data. If we are asked to delete your data, we may keep some minimal information about you to be able to demonstrate that we have fulfilled our obligations.
• Filing a complaint: Any complaints about our adherence to the practices described in this Statement shall be addressed as described here. In some jurisdictions, including according to data protection laws in the EU for complaints issued from subjects in the EU, you have the right to lodge a formal complaint with a data protection authority.
• Marketing preferences: SGS may send you regular marketing communications about our services, via different channels such as email, phone, SMS, postal mailings and third-party social networks, in accordance with relevant marketing laws. When required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent before starting these activities.

In order to provide you with the best personalized experience, these communications may be tailored to your preferences by using our subscription center. Our targeted emails contain email messages which use web beacons, cookies and similar technologies to allow us to know whether you open, read or delete the message and which links you open. When you open a link in a marketing email you receive from SGS, we will also use a cookie to log what pages you view and what content you download from our websites, even if you are not registered or signed into our site.

In addition, you can exercise your right to prevent marketing communications to you by opting out of emails we send to you. In such cases, we will retain minimum personal data to note that you opted out in order to avoid contacting you again. Please note that even if you opt out from receiving marketing communications, you might still receive administrative communications from us, such as technical updates for our products or services, order confirmations, notifications about your account activities, and other important notices.

How You Can Contact Us

If you have questions or concerns about your privacy, please write to us:

SGS Group Germany
Legal Department
Rödingsmarkt 16
D-20459 Hamburg
t: +49 40 301 01 - 0

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Online privacy request form

SGS continually strives to improve its service to its current or potential customers and job applicants.