Privacy policy

This Privacy Policy describes the ways in which IMI collects, holds and uses information about individual persons who visit IMI website or make use of IMI mobile applications and sales platform. This site, mobile applications called "HyTools App", "HyTune App" "IMI Heimeier neo App" and sales platform called "IMI online web store" (together, the "website") are operated by IMI International SA ("we" or "us").

BY USING IMI HYDRONIC ENGINEERING WEBSITE, MOBILE APPLICATIONS OR SALES PLATFORM, YOU CONSENT TO THE COLLECTION AND USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AS SET FORTH IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY. YOU ALSO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IMI HYDRONIC ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL SA MAY PERIODICALLY CHANGE, MODIFY, ADD OR REMOVE OR OTHERWISE UPDATE THIS PRIVACY POLICY AT ITS DISCRETION, WITHOUT PRIOR NOTIFICATION.

However, we will always handle your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy that was in effect at the time of collection. Our Privacy Policy is located on our homepage and is also available on any page where personal information are requested. At such data collection points, further explanation may be provided, where appropriate, as to the purposes for which the data will be used.

1. The information we collect about you

When you visit our website, applications or register for our services, we may collect personal information and any other information relating to you which you may provide "Personal Information".

We will only collect information which is necessary, relevant and adequate for the purpose you are providing it for.

The information we collect includes some or all of the following:

Name (including title);
Address;
Phone number;
Date of birth;
Email address;
The date and time you used our services;
The pages you visited on our website and how long you visited us for;
Your IP address;
Your GPS location (where you have permitted access to this);
The internet browser and devices you are using;
Cookie, Pixels or Beacon information (for more information please see our Cookie Policy;
The website address from which you accessed our website;
Details of any transactions between you and us;
Where you engage with us in a business context, we may collect your job title, company contact details (including email addresses);
"Live chat" records; and
Any information within correspondence you send to us.

2. How do we use the information about you

Most of our services do not require any form of registration, allowing you to visit our site without telling us who you are. However, some services may require you to provide us with your personal information.

In these situations, we will only process personal information that is necessary for the purpose for which it has been collected. You will always have the option not to receive marketing communications from us (and you can withdraw your consent or object at any time). We will never send you unsolicited ‘junk’ email or communications, or share your personal information with anyone else who might.

There are various ways in which we may use or process your personal information. We list these below:

Consent

Where you have provided your consent, we may use and process your personal information to contact you from time to time about promotions, events, products, services or information which we think may be of interest to you (don’t worry, we won’t bombard you);

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us on the details provided within the 'How can you manage the personal information we hold about you' section below or, in relation to any marketing messages you receive, by using the unsubscribe option included in those messages.

Contractual performance

We may use and process your personal information where this is necessary to perform a contract with you and to fulfil and complete your orders, purchases and other transactions entered into with us.

Legitimate interests

We may use and process your personal information as set out below where it is necessary for us to carry out activities for which it is in our legitimate interests as a business to do so.

Processing necessary for us to support customers with sales and other enquiries

To respond to correspondence you send to us and fulfil the requests you make to us (for example: service requests, seminars, marketing materials and software requests, brochure requests or information about specific products);

Processing necessary for us to respond to understanding customers’ needs
To analyze, evaluate and improve our products and services so that your visit and use of our website, applications, customer service are more useful and enjoyable (we will generally use data amalgamated from many people so that it doesn’t identify you personally);
To undertake market analysis and research (including contacting you with customer surveys) so that we can better understand you as a customer and provide tailored offers, products and services that we think you will be interested in. We will only send marketing communications to you if you have provided your consent for us to do so or which we have obtained in the ways mentioned in the paragraphs above;
For product development purposes (for example to improve product quality, performance and safety);
In some cases we may use automated methods to analyze, combine and evaluate information that you have provided to us (including the sharing of your personal information within our group of companies). We collect and analyze this information in this way so that we can deliver the most appropriate customer experience to you by tailoring and making relevant all our service and communications;

Processing necessary for us to promote our business, brands and products and measure the reach and effectiveness of our campaigns
To send you marketing information from time to time after you have purchased a product or service from us or made a purchasing enquiry, closed your browser with items in your shopping basket or requested a brochure or other information of interest. We will only contact you with information about our own products and services (and in ways the law allows), which we hope you will like. You have the right to object to us sending you this information at any time;
To contact you from time to time with marketing information (unless you object) if you have expressly indicated to us that you are acting on behalf of a business or where we have obtained your business contact details from our authorized reseller network or an online or public business directory. In relation to any such information we send by email, we will include an option allowing you to object to receiving future messages by unsubscribing;
To contact you with targeted advertising delivered online through social media and other platforms operated by other companies, unless you object. You may receive advertising based on information about you that we have provided to the platform or because, at our request, the platform has identified you as having similar attributes to the individuals whose details it has received from us. To find out more, please refer to the information provided in the help pages of the platforms on which you receive advertising from us;
To identify and record when you have received, opened or engaged with our website or electronic communications (please see our Cookie Policy);
To administer competitions and promotions that you enter with us from time to time and to distribute prizes;

Processing necessary for us to operate the administrative and technical aspects of our business efficiently and effectively
To verify the accuracy of information that we hold about you and create a better understanding of you as a customer;
For network and information security purposes i.e. in order for us to take steps to protect your information against loss, damage, theft or unauthorized access;
To comply with a request from you in connection with the exercise of your rights (for example where you have asked us not to contact you for marketing purposes, we will keep a record of this on our suppression lists in order to be able to comply with your request);
To inform you of updates to our terms and conditions and policies.

Legal obligation

We may process your personal information to comply with our legal requirements or dialogue with regulators as applicable, which may include disclosing your personal information to third parties, the court service and/or regulators or law enforcement agencies in connection with enquiries, proceedings or investigations by such parties anywhere in the world or where compelled to do so. Where permitted, we will direct any such request to you or notify you before responding unless to do so would prejudice the prevention or detection of a crime.

3. How do we share your personal information

We are part of the IMI Group, which is a global group of companies and has databases in different countries, some of which are operated by the local IMI Group Company, and some of which are operated by third parties on behalf of IMI Group Company.

Your personal information may be transferred, accessed, processed or stored to one of the Group's databases outside your country of domicile, potentially including the US and other countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) in which data protection laws may be of a lower standard than in the EEA.

Regardless of location, we will, where necessary, put in place appropriate safeguards to ensure your information is adequately protected.

Certain countries outside the EEA have been approved by the European Commission as providing essentially equivalent protections to EEA data protection laws and therefore, no additional safeguards are required to export personal information to these jurisdictions . In countries which have not had these approvals, (see the full list here http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/international-transfers/adequacy/index_en.htm), we will either ask for your consent to the transfer or transfer it subject to European Commission approved contractual clauses for data transfers between EU and non-EU countries, unless we are permitted under applicable data protection law to make such transfers without such formalities.

Personal information may also be transferred to third parties who act for or on our behalf, for further processing in accordance with the purpose(s) for which the data were originally collected or may otherwise be lawfully processed, such as services delivery, evaluating the usefulness of this website, marketing, data management or technical support. These third parties have contracted with us to only use your personal information for the agreed upon purpose, and not to sell your personal information to third parties, and not to disclose it to third parties except as may be required by law, as permitted by us or as stated in this Privacy Policy.

We take steps to ensure that any third-party partners who handle your personal information comply with data protection legislation and protect your information just as we do. We only disclose personal information that is necessary for them to provide the service that they are undertaking on our behalf. We will aim to anonymize your personal information or use aggregated none specific data sets wherever possible.

Personal information collected from you may also be transferred to a third party in the event that the business of this site or a part of it and the customer data connected with it is sold, assigned or transferred, in which case we would require the buyer, assignee or transferee to treat personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Your personal information may also be disclosed to a third party if we are required to do so because of an applicable law, court order or governmental regulation, or if such disclosure is otherwise necessary in support of any criminal or other legal investigation or proceeding here or abroad.

4. How do we protect your personal information

We take all reasonable measures to safeguard your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. However, no data transmission over the Internet or site can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, where we have given (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

To ensure the security and confidentiality of personal information that we collect online, we use data networks protected, inter alia, by industry standard firewall, browser certification technology, limited access and the use of passwords.

5. How long do we keep your personal information

We will not hold your personal information in an identifiable format for any longer than is necessary. If you are a customer or otherwise have a relationship with us, we will hold personal information about you for a longer period than if we have obtained your details in connection with a prospective relationship.

We will keep your information for as long as is necessary for the processing purpose(s) for which they were collected and any other permitted linked purpose (for example certain transaction details and correspondence may be retained until the time limit for claims in respect of the transaction has expired or in order to comply with regulatory requirements regarding the retention of such data).

We restrict access to your personal information to those persons who need to use it for the relevant purpose(s). Our retention periods are based on business needs and your information that is no longer needed is either irreversibly anonymized (and the anonymized information may be retained) or securely destroyed.

By way of example:

(a) use for marketing: in relation to your personal information used for marketing purposes, we may retain your personal information for that purpose for 1 year and 6 months from the date we have obtained a consent to market to you, or the date you last responded to a marketing communication from us (other than to opt out of receiving further communications);
(b) use to perform a contract: in relation to your personal information used to perform any contractual obligation with you, we may retain that personal information whilst the contract remains in force [plus a further 6 years] to deal with any queries or claims thereafter;
(c) where claims are contemplated: in relation to any information where we reasonably believe it will be necessary to defend or prosecute or make a claim against you, us or a third party, we may retain that information for as long as that claim could be pursued.

The only exceptions to the periods mentioned above are where:

The law requires us to hold your personal information for a longer period, or delete it sooner;
Where you have raised a complaint or concern regarding a product or service offered by us, in which case we will retain your information for a period of 6 years following the date of that complaint or query; or
You exercise your right to have the information erased (where it applies) and we do not need to hold it in connection with any of the reasons permitted or required under the law (see further How can you manage the personal information we hold about you);

6. Cookies and similar information-gathering technologies

When you visit our website, we may send a ‘cookie’ to your computer. Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. The information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. For further information about cookies employed by us, please see our Cookie Policy which forms part of this Privacy Policy. You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above website tell you how to remove cookies from your browser.

We would like to inform you, however, that if you do not accept, you may not be able to use all functionality of your browser software.

7. How can you manage the personal information we hold about you?

You have the right as an individual to access your personal information we hold about you and make corrections if necessary. You also have the right to withdraw any consent you have previously given us and ask us to erase information we hold about you. You can also object to us using your personal information (where we rely on our business interests to process and use your personal information).

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information under data protection law. In relation to most rights, we will ask you for information to confirm your identity and, where applicable, to help us search for your personal information. Except in rare cases, we will respond to you within 30 days after we have received any request (including any identification documents requested).

You have the right to:

Be informed about what we do with your personal information;
Ask for a copy of the information that we hold about you;
Correct and update your information;
Delete your information (or restrict the use of it), provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process that information;
Transfer your information in a structured data file (in a commonly used and machine readable format), where we rely on your consent to use and process your personal information or need to process it in connection with your contract.
Withdraw your consent (where we rely on it). Please see further How do we use this information;
Object to our use of your information (where we rely on our legitimate interests to use your personal information) provided we do not have any continuing lawful reason to continue to use and process the information. When we do rely on our legitimate interests to use your personal information for direct marketing, we will always comply with your right to object.

You can exercise the above rights and/or manage your information (including opt-out for future marketing) by contacting IMI International SA as the data controller in respect of your personal information processed by us under this Privacy Policy.

IMI International SA
Route de Crassier, 19
1262 Eysins, Switzerland

If you are unhappy with our use of your personal information or our response to any exercise of these rights, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection regulator in Europe, in particular, in a country you work or live or where your legal rights have been infringed.

If you contact us, please note the name of the website where you provided the information, as well as the specific information you would like us to correct, update or delete plus a proper identification of you. Requests to delete personal information will be subject to any applicable legal and ethical reporting or document filing or retention obligations imposed on us.

8. Changes to privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. If we change our privacy policy, we will post the changes on this page, and place notices on other pages of the website, so that you are fully aware of the types of information we are gathering, how we use it and under what circumstances it may be disclosed. This Privacy Policy was last updated on 15th May 2018.

9. Links to other websites

Our website contains links to third party websites which we believe may be of interest to our visitors. However, we cannot guarantee the privacy standards of websites to which we link or be responsible for the contents of websites other than this one and this privacy policy applies only to this website and not to websites owned by third parties.

10. Contact Us

We welcome your views about our website and our Privacy Policy. If you would like to contact us with any queries or comments, please email us at data.privacy@imiplc.com.