Privacy Policy

The member companies of the SGS Group Germany (hereinafter: "SGS") take the security and data protection (privacy) of their contacts about which they hold information very seriously. That is why we operate our website in compliance with current data protection legislation. The text below explains the type of information we store, how we handle the information and with whom we might share the information.

By visiting the website of any of the SGS member companies, you expressly agree to the practices described in this data privacy statement.

I. Privacy policy

The SGS member companies endeavour to make most services on their websites available to anonymous users.
However, if it should become necessary to store your personal information, we will do so only in accordance with current law or in accordance with your permission and we will only use the information accordingly. The member companies of the SGS Group Germany will not share any personal information with third parties without your express consent unless SGS is required by law to disclose such information.

II. What information do we collect?

In principle you can open and access all SGS websites without having to disclose your identity or provide personal information.
So that we can offer you a better range of products and services and also give you the opportunity to submit a job application online, certain websites of SGS member companies may, however, need to hold one or more types of personal information about you:

1. Personal identification data:

Personal identification data is information that makes it possible to identify you. Personal information is required if you order a service, set up an account, send us feedback or want to submit a job application to us online. Such information includes, in particular, your name, date of birth, address (billing and home addresses), e-mail address and telephone number as well as, in specific instances, details about your line of business and products as well as credit card details or other payment details.

2. Data without personal identification:

Data without personal identification relates to information of a purely statistical nature and that does not in itself identify any specific individual or corporate entity. Such information is dependent on your visit to the websites of SGS companies. It includes, for instance, the domain from which you access the website of an SGS company, the operating system you use, the date and time as well as the IP address from which you access the internet.

Use of Google Analytics
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). 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 (including your IP address) will 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 the website provider Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage to the website provider. 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

The SGS-TÜV Saar has addionally implemented the function "anonymizeIp" to the Google Analytics code which enables to only collect anonymized IP addresses (IP-masking).

III. What happens to the information we collect?

Subject to your agreement, personal information may be entered in the databases we keep for contacts and for administrative purposes. This allows us to manage our relationship with you efficiently, to select items or services of interest to you, and, if appropriate, send you relevant information.

Data evaluation without personal identification is standard procedure: it is necessary to safeguard our server operation and to generate general access statistics so that we can make our website services more user-friendly, as well as improving them in line with the preferences and requirements of our users. This information is not merged with information from other sources. Furthermore, the information is deleted once the statistical evaluation has been carried out.

IV. Does SGS share the information it receives?

The information about our current or potential customers and about our job applicants is an important element of our successful business operation. Consequently we do not under any circumstances sell the information received to others.

Essentially the information you submit to us via the websites of SGS companies is held solely in the databases of the relevant SGS company. Only in exceptional instances will information be shared with other SGS companies. In such cases you will be notified before you provide such information and you will be able to choose whether or not you expressly agree to the sharing of your information.

SGS companies will only share the personal information you have submitted online in the following instances:

1. Information is shared with another SGS company in so far as this is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which the information was provided.
2. If information is submitted via the website of an SGS company, for instance during a job application process, the information is also forwarded to other SGS companies (including companies in other countries), provided that you have expressly agreed to such transmission of information.
3. Information is forwarded to third parties and subcontractors who perform certain functions on behalf of SGS, but only in so far as this is necessary to allow them to perform their functions.
4. Legal obligation on the part of SGS to disclose information: This obligation applies if government institutions (e.g. law enforcement agencies) request information, if we receive a court order to provide information or if this is necessary to substantiate or protect legal claims or to defend against claims. In all other cases we will of course keep your identity confidential.

V. How does SGS protect your information?

We follow strict security procedures as regards the storage and disclosure of information that you have given us so that we can prevent unauthorised access. Only authorised employees of SGS can access your personal information.
However, the websites of SGS companies may contain links to other websites. SGS has no influence over these sites and consequently does not accept any liability for their data protection procedures or the content of those other websites.

VI. Your rights

It is of course entirely your decision whether, how long and for which purposes you allow us to use your information. Furthermore, you alone can determine whether we can share your information with third parties or other SGS companies and whether we can use your information for consultation, advertising and market research purposes. You can withdraw your consent at any time, either in writing or by e-mail. Your withdrawal of consent should be sent to the postal or e-mail address shown below.

Regarding the information held about you by SGS, you are entitled to ask us to provide you with a list and description of such information. Furthermore you can ask us to correct any inaccuracies, notify us that you no longer consent to utilisation of the stored information and that you want us to delete the information about you that we have collected.

You can also control the use of cookies. If you decide not to accept our cookies, our website might be displayed at a lower quality or might not appear in its entirety, and some website functionalities might no longer be available.

We also welcome your questions and comments about our data privacy statement.

How to contact us:
SGS Group Germany
Legal Department
Rödingsmarkt 16
D-20459 Hamburg
t: 040 – 301 01 – 0

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

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