Data Protection

Privacy Notice

As of January 2022

Personal data means any information that can be linked to a particular person. Processing means any handling of personal data, such as collection, storage, management, alteration, usage, sharing, disclosure etc.

The Privacy Notice applies to all persons whose personal data we process (you), regardless of how you contact us, e.g. whether in a branch, over the telephone, in an online shop, on a website, in an app, via a social network, at an event etc.

In certain situations, a special privacy policy may apply, for example to particular products and to job applications and employees, instead of this Privacy Notice or as a supplement to this Privacy Notice.

The Privacy Notice is applicable to the processing of personal data already collected as well as to the processing of personal data collected in future.

USM, we (or us) primarily refers to USM U. Schärer Söhne AG, Thunstrasse 55, 3110 Münsingen, Switzerland. If the respective service is rendered by another USM Group company, the respective national company as specified under Section 1.1 shall be responsible.

We have based this Privacy Notice on the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as the GDPR has established itself globally as a benchmark for strong data protection. Whether and to what the GDPR is applicable depends, however, upon the particular case concerned. For Swiss customers, for example, the Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (FDPA) may also be applicable or be exclusively applicable.

1. Who we are

The controller for your personal data is:

1.1. With regard to the website and in respect of marketing and advertising:

  • USM U. Schärer Söhne AG, Münsingen, Thunstrasse 55, 3110 Münsingen, Switzerland, telephone +41 31 720 72 72, info.ch@usm.com

1.2. In all other respects, also in the case of online sales: the respective national company

  • USM U. Schärer Söhne AG, Münsingen, Thunstrasse 55, 3110 Münsingen, Switzerland, telephone +41 31 720 72 72, info.ch@usm.com
  • USM U. Schärer Söhne GmbH, Siemensstrasse 4 A, 77815 Bühl, Germany, telephone +49 7223 80940, info.de@usm.com
    USM U. Schärer Söhne GmbH, Bühl, Germany has appointed a data protection officer, whom you can contact as follows:
    USM U. Schärer Söhne GmbH, Data Protection Officer, Siemensstraße 4 A, 77815 Bühl, email: datenschutzbeauftragter@de.usm.com
  • USM U. Schaerer Sons Ltd., Marylebone Square, 12 Cramer Street, London W1U 4EA, United Kingdom, telephone +44 20 7183 3470, info.uk@usm.com
  • USM U. Schärer Fils SA, Showroom 23, Rue de Bourgogne, 75007 Paris, France, telephone +33 1 53 59 30 37, info.fr@usm.com
  • USM U. SCHAERER FIGLI S.r.l., Via Tortona 25, 20144 Milan (MI), Italy
  • USM U. SCHAERER SONS, S.L.U., Calle Roc Boronat, 147, 10a planta, 08018 Barcelona, Spain
  • USM U. Schaerer Sons Inc., 28-30 Green Street, New York, NY 10013, USA, telephone +1 212 371 1230, info.us@usm.com
  • USM U. Schaerer Sons K.K., 2-1-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005, Japan, telephone +81 3 6635 9420, info.jp@usm.com

2. What personal data we process

We process various categories of personal data. You can find the key categories below for your information. However, we may also process further personal data in individual cases.

  • Master data: This encompasses, in particular, your name and your contact details, information about your relationship with us, possibly information about your employer, the title of your occupation, industry or business, academic degree, year of birth, civil status, and comparable basic information;
  • Contract data: This encompasses all personal data arising in connection with the conclusion and/or processing of the contract, including information relating to the initiation and conclusion of contracts, the date, application process, type and duration of the contract, contact details, delivery addresses, deliveries, payment instruments, acquired claims and demands, and customer satisfaction;
  • Communication data: This encompasses, in particular, name and contact details such as address, email address and telephone number, content of emails and written correspondence, communication via social media, answers to customer and satisfaction surveys, and marginal data relating to communication;
  • Behaviour and transaction data: This includes information such as purchasing behaviour in our online shop and elsewhere on our website, shopping baskets, watch lists, viewed items, search terms, ratings, comments, event participation, competition participation, mobile app usage, and interaction with electronic messages;
  • Preference data: In order to tailor our offerings and services to you, we process data relating to your interests and preferences. This may involve linking behaviour and transaction data with other data and evaluating these on a personalised and non-personalised basis;
  • Technical data in connection with use of the website, product configurator, or one of our apps. This includes IP address, device ID, cookie identifiers, browser information, website movements, Internet provider, approximate location, time of use, and system log data.

3. How we collect personal data

We receive the aforementioned data when you contact us, e.g. when you contact our employees with an enquiry, order something in our online shop or otherwise establish a business relationship with us, when you register to receive newsletters, information and/or brochures and other marketing material, when you download and install one of our apps and register to use it, or when you participate in a competition or prize draw, a meeting, a seminar or any other event.

In certain circumstances, we also receive your personal data from third parties or in collaboration with third parties:

  • In particular, such third parties may be sales partners that have been diligently selected by us and support us in the distribution of our products. Our sales partners’ contact details can be viewed here.
  • Third parties may also include advertising partners. For example, we collect together with our advertising partners data from persons interested in our products on social media. In particular, we use Facebook Lead Ads to collect personal data about you via ads on Facebook.

In certain circumstances, we also access publicly accessible databases. If necessary, we use search engines on the web, for example, to contact you or update your details.

4. What we use your personal data for

We use your personal data as follows:

  • For communication purposes, including answering enquiries, customer service, customer care, authentication, quality assurance and training;
  • For processing the contract, including orders, app registration, contractual relations, payment processing and payment collection;
  • For customer care and marketing purposes, including newsletters, updates, invitations, personalised advertising, competitions and events;
  • For market research and product development, including surveys, polls, studies, statistical evaluations, and optimisation of websites and apps;
  • For compliance with legal requirements, including complaints, court orders, authority requests and measures against improper use;
  • For ensuring IT security and prevention, including log evaluation, cyber attack prevention, malware defence, system tests and access monitoring;
  • For the protection of rights, including enforcing or defending claims before courts or authorities;
  • For administration and support within the Group, including IT administration, accounting, archiving, education and training.

5. The legal bases for the data processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases insofar as such basis is required according to applicable data protection law:

  • For the performance of a contract, including steps to be taken prior to entering into a contract;
  • On the basis of your consent expressly given;
  • For asserting or defending legal claims or civil cases;
  • For compliance with statutory or regulatory provisions;
  • If we have a legitimate interest in the data processing, which shall be determined in the particular case concerned.

6. With whom we share personal data

We may share the personal data we receive from you or from third-party sources with other USM Group companies. Sharing may serve to facilitate administration within the Group or support the Group companies concerned and their own processing purposes.

If necessary, we transfer your personal data to other companies, such as:

  • Sales partners that sell our products and support us in dispatch, logistics, customer service and marketing;
  • Cooperation partners that support us in operation and maintenance of certain products, e.g. BURG Lüling GmbH & Co. KG;
  • Third parties involved in order processing, including credit card payments, transport and external data processing;
  • Third parties involved in competitions or prize draws;
  • Advertising partners such as Facebook, Instagram and Google;
  • Third parties involved in organising events or seminars;
  • IT service providers and cloud solution providers;
  • Our auditors.

Where the aforementioned companies process personal data as processors, they are obliged to process personal data exclusively in accordance with our instructions and to take suitable data security measures.

Moreover, we may be compelled to disclose personal data under statutory provisions or legal proceedings, e.g. due to a court order or a request from a law enforcement agency, or where sharing is necessary or appropriate for the protection of our rights.

7. How we carry out profiling

“Profiling” means any automated processing of personal data for analysing personal aspects or making predictions, e.g. analysing personal interests, preferences, affinities and habits or predicting likely behaviour.

For example, profiling may be carried out in the event of the automated processing:

  • Of master, contract, behaviour and transaction data when purchases are made at our showrooms, at sales partners and in our online shop;
  • Of behaviour and transaction data as well as technical data in connection with our websites and apps;
  • Of information in connection with the visiting of events and participation in competitions, prize draws and similar events;
  • Of communication data, e.g. your response to advertising and other messages.

Profiling helps us continually improve our offerings, present our content and offerings to you in line with your needs, show you relevant ads and offerings, support customer service and, in certain circumstances, decide on the basis of a credit check which payment options to offer you.

8. When your personal data are transferred abroad

We may possibly transfer your personal data to foreign recipients, including recipients outside Switzerland, the European Union and the European Economic Area. The countries concerned may possibly not have laws that protect your personal data to the same extent as those of Switzerland and/or the EU/EEA.

If we transfer your personal data to a country that does not have an adequate level of data protection, we are obliged to ensure that your personal data are adequately protected, e.g. by concluding data transfer agreements with the foreign recipients beforehand. Normally, we agree in this way to the application of EU standard contractual clauses, which are accessible here.

Moreover, we reserve the right to transfer personal data abroad with your express consent or on the basis of further circumstances constituting authorisation under applicable data protection law.

9. For how long we retain your personal data

We store your data in personalised form as long as this is necessary for the specific purpose for which we collected the data and as long as we have a legitimate interest in retaining your personal data, e.g. for enforcing or defending against legal claims, archiving purposes or IT security. Additionally, we store your personal data as long as these data are subject to a statutory retention duty.

10. How we protect your personal data

We take appropriate security measures of a technical and organisational nature in order to protect your personal data against unauthorised or unlawful access and processing, as well as to counter the risk of loss, unintended alteration or unwanted destruction of data. We continually improve our security measures in line with technological development.

11. Your rights

You have the following rights:

  • You have the right to obtain information on the personal data we hold about you and how we process these data.
  • In certain circumstances, you have the right to receive certain personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
  • You have the right to rectification of incomplete or inaccurate personal data.
  • You have the right to obtain the erasure, destruction or anonymisation of your personal data.
  • You have the right to obtain restriction of the processing of your personal data.
  • Where processing is based on consent given by you, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future.

To exercise your rights, you can contact us at the addresses stated above. Please note that your rights may possibly be limited or precluded in individual cases, for example where there are doubts about your identity, or where this is necessary for protecting other persons, safeguarding legitimate interests or complying with statutory obligations.

Additionally, you have the right to lodge with a relevant supervisory authority a complaint about the way in which your personal data are processed.

12. Changes to this Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice may be updated over time, especially if we change our data processing activities, or if new legal provisions become applicable. In the event of significant changes, we actively communicate these to persons whose contact details are registered with us, if this is possible without disproportionate effort and expense. In general, the respective version of the Privacy Notice in effect at the time when the data processing activity concerned commences shall be applicable.

13. Information about cookies, social media and the sending of newsletters and other marketing emails

13.1 Cookies

13.1.1. What is this about?
This Cookie Notice describes how and for what purpose we collect, process and use personal data and other data — particularly in connection with cookies and similar technologies — when our website and apps are used.

13.1.2. What are log data?
Every time our website is used, certain data automatically arise for technical reasons and are temporarily stored in log files, so-called log data. These include the following technical data for example:

  • IP address of the requesting terminal device and information about the operating system of your terminal device;
  • Information about the browser used, your Internet service provider and the referring URL;
  • Date and time of access and content accessed when visiting the website.

These data are processed for the purpose of enabling the use of our website and ensuring its functionality, safeguarding system security and stability, enabling optimisation of our Internet offering, and for statistical purposes.

In the event of attacks on the IT infrastructure or other potentially unlawful use or improper use of the website, the IP address together with other log data and further data available to us may be evaluated for investigation and defence purposes.

13.1.3. What are cookies and similar technologies?
Cookies are data files that your browser automatically stores on your terminal device when you visit our website. Cookies contain a unique identification number that enables us to distinguish individual visitors from others, normally without identifying them.

We may also use similar technologies such as pixel tags, fingerprints and other technologies for storing data in the browser.

13.1.4. How can cookies and similar technologies be deactivated?
In some cases, you have the option, when accessing our website, of activating or deactivating certain categories of cookies via a button displayed in the browser. Furthermore, you can configure the settings in your browser to block certain cookies or similar technologies or delete existing cookies and other data stored in the browser.

13.1.5. What types of cookies and similar technologies do we use?

  • Necessary cookies help us make websites usable by enabling basic features such as page navigation and access to secure areas of the website.
  • Preference cookies enable information affecting the appearance or content of the website to be remembered.
  • Statistical cookies help us understand how users interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
  • Marketing cookies help us and our advertising partners approach you with ads for products or services that may be of interest to you.

A list of our cookies currently used is accessible in our cookie table under point 13.4.

13.1.6. How do we use cookies and similar technologies from other companies?
The cookies and/or similar technologies that we use may originate from us or from third-party companies, e.g. when we use features provided by third parties. Such third-party providers may also be located outside Switzerland and the EU/EEA insofar as the protection of your personal data is adequately safeguarded.

For example, we use analysis services to evaluate your use of our website in order to optimise and personalise it. Additionally, cookies and similar technologies from third-party providers enable these providers to approach you with individualised ads on our website, on other websites and in social networks.

Two of the key third-party providers are Google and Facebook.

Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics, an analysis service from Google LLC and Google Ireland Ltd. Google uses cookies and similar technologies to record certain information about the behaviour of individual users on the website concerned and the terminal device used for this. You can find further information about this at this link.

We have configured the service in such a way that the IP addresses of website visitors are truncated by Google within Europe prior to being forwarded to the USA. Information about Google Analytics’ data protection can be found here; if you have a Google account yourself, you can find further information here.

Facebook Custom Audiences
Furthermore, our website may use the so-called Facebook Pixel and similar technologies from Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland. We use these technologies to display Facebook ads to users who are on Facebook and on partner sites cooperating with Facebook and have shown an interest in us or whose characteristics correspond to those we communicate to Facebook for this purpose.

Further information about this can be found here.

We are responsible jointly with Facebook for the exchange of data that Facebook collects or receives via the pixel or comparable features. We have concluded a corresponding additional agreement with Facebook.

13.2 Data collection via social media: Facebook Lead Ads

We use Facebook Lead Ads to collect contact details from persons interested in our products. Facebook users can enter their contact data in the lead ads via a contact form. We process the contact details only if the users have consented to our using the contact details for sending newsletters and marketing measures.

We are responsible jointly with Facebook for the collection of data via Facebook Lead Ads. We have concluded a corresponding additional agreement with Facebook.

Further information about how Facebook processes personal data can be viewed in Facebook’s data policy.

13.3 Sending of newsletters

If you give us your consent, we use your name and your email address to email you newsletters, notifications, updates or invitations for events, as well as further information. If you receive ads from us and no longer wish to receive these, you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in the emails concerned.

We evaluate your user behaviour when sending the newsletter and associate your user behaviour with your email address or user profile within our database. In particular, the newsletter sent by us provides us with receipt and read confirmations as well as information about the links you have clicked on in our newsletter.

If you have subscribed to our newsletter and have consented to data processing by third-party providers, we may also use your contact details to approach you on third-party providers’ platforms with advertising.

Specifically, we use the following tools:

  • We use “Custom Audience” from Facebook to approach you on Facebook and Instagram. Facebook Custom Audience’s privacy policy can be accessed here. The agreement on joint responsibility can be accessed here. How Facebook otherwise collects and processes data can be viewed here.
  • We use “Google Customer Match” to approach you in the Google ad ecosystem. More information about customer match by Google can be found here. How Google otherwise collects and processes data can be viewed here.
  • We use “LinkedIn Matched Audiences” to address you on LinkedIn. Information on contact targeting can be found here. How LinkedIn collects and processes data can be viewed here.

13.4 Cookies

This website uses cookies. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You can change your cookie settings at any time using the link in the “Change cookie settings” footer.

Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user’s experience more efficient.

The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission.